🗣️ Speeches and Debates
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My Lords, I must admit that I had feared that this project was being very skilfully directed into the long grass, so I was delighted that the other place selected the most urgent of the options at its disposal—what I would call the “for heaven’s sake, let’s get on with it” choice. I am delighted and a little bit surprised, in that way when you think, “Yes, that was a bold...
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My Lords, my first experience of the courage of the noble Baroness, Lady Jowell, was watching her take on the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, to squeeze the Olympic budget out of him, which was as close as you can get to a combat sport. None of us who know her is in the least surprised that she should see her cancer challenge as an opportunity to help other people. I thank her for shining her very...
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I have made a statement under Section 19(1)(a) of the Human Rights Act 1998 that, in my view, the provisions of the Finance (No.2) Bill are compatible with the Convention rights. A copy of the statement has been placed in the Library of the House. Finance Bill ECHR (PDF Document, 320.24 KB)
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I thank noble Lords for an excellent and wide-ranging debate. When I first did a Budget debate, the discussion was all about whether growth would ever return. Today, we are discussing whether having the fastest-growing economy in the world, creating 2 million jobs and having zero inflation is a good thing or not. I will drill a little more into the detail on that. I had thought that we were...
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I am very happy to move on. I did not really bring it up. I was just expanding my perspective on a topic that many noble Lords opposite had rehearsed. With that incentive, I shall move on to living standards. I think everybody accepts that the financial crisis has created an extraordinarily difficult period. As I said in my opening remarks, it affects people at the bottom end of the income...
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I will try to deal with facts rather than with emotion. I referred earlier to what I think is one of the better legacies of the Government: the transparency with which we measure things. We do it at every fiscal event. The distribution impact of the fiscal changes under this Government has been more favourable to the bottom end of the income spectrum than in any year of the previous Labour...
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Inequality has not increased at all between the previous Government and this Government. That is not to diminish the problems that people at the bottom end of the scale face. This Government have tried to deal with the root causes of poverty: worklessness, low earnings and poor education. That is where the Government’s premier programmes have been addressed. The number of workless...
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Technically what happened was that we stuck to the spending plans, growth did not recover as we expected, principally because the rest of the world was in recession, so the tax receipts did not come in, and the deficit continued to go up. That is the reality of the situation. If you listen to the two sides on the deficit argument, one is asking why we have not cut fast enough and the other is...
More of Lord Deighton's speeches and debates
✍️ Written Questions and Answers
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Every year, The Royal Mint issues a series of coins to mark anniversaries that reflect British history, traditions and identity. In 2015, it commemorates the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo with a UK £5 coin. The design is an interpretation of the famous painting by Daniel Maclise, which depicts the meeting of the Duke of Wellington and Blucher after the Battle of Waterloo, and...
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In December 2014, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published its thematic review on non-advised annuities sales. This found evidence that firms’ sales practices were contributing to consumers potentially buying the wrong annuity for their circumstances, particularly in not buying an enhanced (higher return) annuity when they may be eligible for one, for example if they have a medical...
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In order to address the systemic risk posed by UK banks, Parliament has legislated, via the Banking Reform Act 2013 (BRA), for such action to be taken through structural separation. This Act is to be implemented by the Prudential Regulation Authority. In the context of the ongoing negotiations on the proposed EU regulation for Bank Structural Reform, the Government is working to ensure that...
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“The UK has played a leading role in the launch of the IMF’s new Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust earlier this year, and was the first country to publicly contribute to this. The Trust’s first role will be to provide grant aid that will be used for relief on debt service payments to the IMF for the three countries most affected by the Ebola epidemic: Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra...
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I refer the noble Lady to my answer of 9 March (HL5216) on the same topic.
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The effect of alcohol consumption is referred to in the policy costing note on alcohol duties published at Budget 2015, available at the gov.uk website[1]. [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachm ent_data/file/413895/Policy_Costings_18_00.pdf.
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The government recognises the health and social harms associated with those who consume excess alcohol. The government has therefore taken targeted action through the alcohol duty system to encourage responsible alcohol consumption. For example, the government increased duty on super strength lager. The Government is also taking other action to reduce alcohol related harms. This...
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The government does not forecast either UK GDP or GDP per capita. The independent OBR in the March 2015 Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) used the central ONS migration population projection. The ONS central migration projection is for net migration of 165,000 a year in 2018/19 and 2019/20. In the March 2015 EFO the OBR forecast that UK GDP per capita for those aged 16 and over will increase...
More of Lord Deighton's written questions
