Budget Statement

Lord West of Spithead Excerpts

Friday 12th March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, I am delighted to follow my noble friend Lord Khan of Burnley and congratulate him on his splendid maiden speech. Born in 1979, he is the youngest ever mayor of Burnley. He makes me feel ancient; when he was born, I was a lieutenant-commander serving on HMS “Norfolk” in the South Pacific—noble Lords can imagine that it was hell out there. I was shocked to find that there had never been an HMS “Burnley”, but the town had an affiliation with a sister ship I fought alongside in the Falklands, HMS “Active”, so all is well.

My noble friend Lord Khan graduated in law in 2002 and gained a masters in 2004. As he mentioned, while studying he worked as a taxi driver. I think we will have to wait to find out who else he had in the back of his cab. He became a local councillor in 2007, was re-elected in 2011, was elected unopposed in 2015 and had 90% of the vote in 2019—which, I have to say, all sounds a bit like the Chinese legislature, but never mind. During this time, he was a university lecturer and he became an MEP in 2017. The Burnley race riots of 2001 had a huge impact on him and inspired him to develop numerous community cohesion projects. I think he should be particularly proud of his ground-breaking higher education programmes to increase academic participation among women of the south Asian community. Wajid, you are a very valuable Member of this House, and I extend to you all our warmest welcome.

The Budget says it delivers security today. It is a bold claim, and one that demands not just economic strength and financial security for our people but also robust defence. I have spoken after every Budget for the last decade and bemoaned the fact that defence normally gets only one sentence. In this Budget—admittedly, post Covid—it does not get any. The world is more dangerous and unstable than for many years, and the pandemic has exacerbated that trend. I hope that, after 11 years of cutting defence spending, the Government will not rest on their laurels of the welcome increase in the spending review last November, because without more resources our military capability will continue to decline. We all know that in 10 days’ time we will find out whether that is happening, and I look forward to that with interest.

On a more positive note, I welcome the formation of an ARPA equivalent and the increase in R&D funding. We need technological innovation, not least to ensure zero-carbon energy in the future. A small number of large nuclear reactors, supported by many advanced modular reactors, and a massive use of hydrogen in conjunction with renewables is the way ahead. We can no longer afford to delay the nuclear programme.

Lastly, on a subject close to my heart, how will the Government contribute to kick-starting the much-needed decarbonisation of the maritime sector? Will it be through the newly established infrastructure bank or other institutions?