Wealth

Lord Roberts of Conwy Excerpts

Monday 5th July 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Sassoon]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria, because he enables me to say yet again how important it is that wealth generation is created and that the balance of the economy is switched from overdependence on the public sector and debt to dependence on the private sector and equity. That is why he did not mention—but I will—the reduction in corporation tax, the fact that CGT did not go up anything like as much as people had feared and a number of other measures in the Budget. He is right to draw attention to child poverty because the previous Government failed to meet their target of halving it by 2010.

[Lord Roberts of Conwy]

My Lords, is it not true that the gap between the richest 10 per cent and the poorest 10 per cent is actually at its greatest for 40 years? The party opposite were in Government for the best part—no, not quite the best part, but for 18 years, or almost half—of that 40 years. If we were in the blame game should they not take responsibility?

[Lord Sassoon]

My Lords, I completely agree with my noble friend. The policy of this Government is to increase wealth across the wealth distribution for everybody.