Lord Howarth of Newport: My Lords, the cost of living crisis, so catastrophically intensified by Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng, has been developing for a long time. It was an illusion that inflation had been abolished. Eventually, printing money on an industrial scale by quantitative easing unleashed inflation and central bankers were wrong to suppose it would be transitory. Inflation generates inequality. More than a...
Lord Browne of Ladyton: ...by 80,000 people, and of the 640,000 who have become inactive since the onset of the pandemic, 55% say that they are long-term sick. Instead of tinkering about at the edges of this problem, as Kwasi Kwarteng was intending to do with benefits, all of the informed experts who write extensively on this are saying that we need significant investment in health, social care and childcare to...
Felicity Buchan: (a) The costs for the former Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng’s travel to Washington DC for IMF Annual Meetings was £8,533.56. (b) The costs for the former Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng’s one special advisor travel to Washington DC was £4,459.56. (c) The costs for the four civil servants that accompanied the former Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, to Washington DC was £17,746.58
Stephanie Peacock: ...energy crisis will not work. Implementing the process is expensive and returns simply not enough to make a significant difference to our energy sector. It was the right hon. Member for Spelthorne (Kwasi Kwarteng) who stated that fracking “won’t materially affect the wholesale market price”. It would do nothing to cut bills, costing far more than renewables, and it is unsafe. Even...
...in the growth plan and one of the most generous schemes in the world. It is a landmark policy for which I pay tribute to my predecessor, my right honourable friend the Member for Spelthorne (Kwasi Kwarteng), and it will support millions of people through a difficult winter, reducing inflation by up to 5%. I confirm today that the support we are providing between now and April next year...
Bambos Charalambous: ...for years to come. That is the worst aspect of this mess—the very real harm it will do to real people and real lives. People’s life choices have been shredded in the blink of an eye by a kami-Kwasi Budget. An ideological fixation with failed trickle-down economics has caused the Prime Minister to wreck people’s hopes and aspirations. I have heard from young couples who are no longer...
Lord Foster of Bath: ...advocated by numerous Conservative Ministers, past and present. I have a list of over 60 such statements by the Government as to the value of legally binding targets. I refer to just one, from Mr Kwasi Kwarteng MP, when he was the Business Secretary, two posts ago. He said two years ago: “Legislation has really shaped everyone’s approach to decarbonisation given that without that...
Ruth Jones: ...left people worried as they face higher mortgages and soaring costs, and have done nothing to show they understand how serious the situation is. On Friday, the right hon. Member for Spelthorne (Kwasi Kwarteng) was fired by the Prime Minister, who is his ideological bedfellow. They were in lockstep over every key element of Government policy announced since 6 September 2022. We do not...
Jeremy Hunt: ...expense in the growth plan and one of the most generous schemes in the world. It is a landmark policy for which I pay tribute to my predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Spelthorne (Kwasi Kwarteng), and it will support millions of people through a difficult winter, reducing inflation by up to 5%. I confirm today that the support we are providing between now and April next year...
Aaron Bell: ...hon. Friend has said, this will have been a difficult decision for the Prime Minister, both politically and personally because of her loyalty of my right hon. Friend the Member for Spelthorne (Kwasi Kwarteng). However, it is vital that we provide economic stability for the families and businesses in constituencies like mine and across the country. We have already seen that this morning...
Kwasi Kwarteng: The Bank of England decided to carry out temporary purchases of long-dated UK government bond (gilts) from 28 September through the Asset Purchase Facility (APF) on whatever scale is necessary to restore orderly conditions. These interventions will be strictly time limited, with auctions taking place until 14 October. I have therefore authorised an increase in the total size of the APF by...
Kwasi Kwarteng: Today I can inform the House that I have asked the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to bring forward the date of their next forecast to 31 October. Strong growth and sustainable public finances go hand in hand. Alongside the publication of the Economic and Fiscal Outlook, I will set out the government’s Medium Term Fiscal Plan. This will set out further details on the government’s...
Kwasi Kwarteng: My hon. Friend will know that the growth plan really was a very strong package for business and for small and medium-sized enterprises, and I am sure that many of his constituents will appreciate the strong measures that we introduced.
Kwasi Kwarteng: The hon. Gentleman will have seen that I have brought forward the publication of the medium-term fiscal plan to 31 October.
Kwasi Kwarteng: This Government are relentlessly focused on growing the economy. Putin’s barbaric war in Ukraine continues to put pressure on gas prices so, with predictions of typical bills reaching between £4,000 and £6,500 a year, people needed immediate support to get them through this winter. Last month we set out the growth plan, which will focus on breaking out of the high-tax, low-growth cycle in...
Baroness Wheatcroft: ..., successive Governments have talked this talk. The problem has been delivery. There have been numerous initiatives. George Osborne cut corporation tax and raised the investment allowance, just as Kwasi Kwarteng has done. It did not increase investment levels. He announced the creation of 26 new or extended enterprise zones. The productivity gap remained. Nevertheless, we are now promised...
Baroness Smith of Basildon: ...this House had risen for the Conference Recess, the new Chancellor made his first Statement to House of Commons—and what a Statement it was. Then, and in the days that followed, Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng set out the package, which ended any pretence of fiscal responsibility or levelling up—or indeed of understanding the pressures on families, individuals and businesses across the...
Paul McLennan: ...Lothian. This week is challenge poverty week and that is exactly why we are here with this bill. They say that a week is a long time in politics. It is an old saying but still so true—just ask Kwasi Kwarteng. The cost of living crisis has been building for a long time and it is hitting the poorest in our community. Again, that is why we are here today. Of course, the Russian invasion of...
Bill Kidd: The mini budget announced by Kwasi Kwarteng prioritises lining the pockets of the rich through cutting corporation tax and cutting the 45 per cent tax rate that is paid by the wealthiest individuals in the UK. Does the Deputy First Minister agree that we need to focus on rebuilding our economy post-Covid, post-Brexit and in the current context of international uncertainty, rather than take...
Michelle Thomson: ...gilt buying operation will be a temporary measure in the defences that are required against an incompetent Tory budget. Former monetary policy committee member Professor Blanchflower said that Kwasi Kwarteng has “crashed the ... markets ... I’ve never seen such raging incompetence, ever.” Does the cabinet secretary agree that Scottish people can simply no longer afford to pay the...