Budget Statement

Lord Sharpe of Epsom Excerpts

Friday 12th March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, I join in the general congratulation to all noble Lords who have made their maiden speeches today and welcome them to this House.

I also join many of my noble friends in congratulating and thanking the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the skill and sympathy with which he has handled the pandemic. Coming out of this pandemic was never going to be easy but, in broad terms, he has delivered a Budget that will fuel an investment-led recovery for the whole of the UK. It is good to see international and domestic commentators tweaking up their growth forecasts in its wake. This Budget displays a commitment to sound public finances in spite of the difficult circumstances.

Like many, I would have preferred not to see tax rises but I recognise their necessary expediency under current conditions. Corporation tax rises are delayed until after the recovery takes hold and it is very pleasing to see generous R&D exemptions; I hope that has the intended effect of stimulating productivity gains among SMEs. It is also worth reiterating that, even after these tax rises, Britain will still have the lowest corporation tax rate in the G7. We should remember that it is not only tax that makes us globally competitive. Meanwhile, I hope that the Minister can reassure me that the Treasury is in active discussions with those “new economy” corporations that score highly on ESG metrics but are adept at blurring their tax borders, which I believe is known in the jargon as base erosion and profit shifting. “Shifting” should not be the S in their ESG.

Time is short so I will confine the rest of my remarks to saying how welcome the free port decision is. I believe that these will make the case for more supply-side growth measures across the economy. Praise is also due to the Tees Valley Mayor, Ben Houchen. He and the Chancellor have been making the intellectual case for free ports for many years. Not only will these help us to level up; they are a manifestation of what global Britain can mean in practice.

With that in mind, it was particularly pleasing to see Wednesday’s news that GE Renewable is to open a new factory making wind turbine blades on Teesside, delivering 750 high-quality green jobs. It is probably too early to give the credit for that to the free port announcement, but it cannot have hurt. It is certainly not too early to say well done to Ben for being such a hands-on and excellent mayor who gets on with the job rather than jumping on every passing bandwagon.