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  • Alistair Darling – 1998 Speech at the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities

    Alistair Darling – 1998 Speech at the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities

    The speech made by Alistair Darling, the then Chief Secretary to the Treasury, on 24 April 1998.

    Introduction

    The Chief Secretary is usually as welcome as the grim reaper. And we usually come with the same message.

    Today I want to set out how we must build a stable economic platform to provide sound public finances in the future. And how it is essential that we take a new approach to Government. How the process of modernisation in Government and economic management has to continue.

    We were elected to government just under a year ago. The night of 1 May last year saw a complete change in the political landscape – not just in Scotland but throughout the whole of the United Kingdom.

    We are very conscious of the faith invested in us. People right across the country give us their trust. And we are determined to return that trust – delivering our election pledges – doing what we said we would do.

    The People voted for change – not just for a new Government but for a new political approach. Not for a return to old fashioned corporatism any more than a misplaced faith in neo-Liberal individualism. They voted for a new approach which recognised the complimentary role of government and individual effort.

    And they voted for a Government that would look to the long-term.

    We said that rebuilding the country would take time. And it will. But in this, the first year of the new Government, we have begun to put in place the building blocks we need.

    Economic Stability. Sustainable public finances to provide high quality public services. Modernising the Welfare State. Encouraging work and making work pay. Promoting enterprise. Encouraging investment. Building a fairer society. Supporting families with children. Tackling poverty.

    And of course constitutional change – handing power to the people.

    Constitutional Change

    Constitutional change. A year ago many people said it would never happen. Now – less than a year after we were elected – the Scotland Bill has almost completed its passage through the House of Commons. And elections to Holyrood will take place next year.

    The Welsh Assembly Bill will shortly be going to the House of Lords with elections in Wales next year too. And that’s not all.

    We’ve incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights. A Freedom of Information Act will be introduced. Abolition of the right of the Hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords is on its way.

    But people will judge those constitutional reforms not as an end in themselves but by what they do to improve the quality of our lives.

    The Scottish Parliament will be judged by the calibre of its members, the quality of its decision making and above all by what it does to deliver a first class education system, an NHS we can rely on, a business environment that encourages job opportunities. It will be judged by its actions.

    That’s why we are determined to ensure, for our part, that candidates for Holyrood are of the highest possible standard. People expect nothing less.

    Partnership between Holyrood and Westminster

    And Scotland will expect Holyrood to work in partnership with Westminster. Last September we voted for partnership not conflict. We voted for a Scottish Parliament within the United Kingdom. We voted for change – not for the sake of change but in the justifiable expectation of better Government to Scotland.

    And just as Westminster will have to work closely in partnership with Holyrood, so too will Holyrood have to work in partnership with Councils across Scotland. After all it is Councils that deliver many of the services we all rely on.

    And preparations are already in hand to ensure that this partnership works.

    Donald Dewar and his team are already working up proposals to allow the Scottish Parliament to get into its stride as quickly as possible.

    Scottish Office and Welsh Office officials are already working with Treasury officials and other departments to ensure a smooth working relationship which is essential if Holyrood and Westminster are to work together effectively and efficiently.

    And arrangements are already in hand to ensure that Ministers work closely together in the interests in the people they serve.

    But we will only get what we voted for if Westminster and Holyrood work together. Because if you stop anyone in the street in Aberdeen, Glasgow or Stornoway and ask them what they want they will say exactly the same thing.

    Constitutional change, yes. But now let’s see what you can do.

    An education system we can be proud of. That provides opportunity and a first class education for all.

    A National Health Service – in this it’s 50th year – that we can rely on. A Health Service that not only cures but prevents illness. A Health Service that is efficient and effective.

    Quality housing, better transport. Safer streets.

    Constitutional change is being put in place. Holyrood will soon open its doors. Now is the time to prepare to deliver what the people want.

    The New Agenda

    And it’s to that new agenda that I now want to turn.

    Delivering that agenda will depend upon Westminster, Holyrood and councils working together. There can be great changes in the next few years but it depends on us all being engaged in the same common endeavour in the interests of the new Scotland.

    The setting up of a Scottish Parliament represents a radical vision. But delivering that vision depends on the determination to work towards the same goal. A dynamic vibrant economic environment. Improving our quality of life. A country of optimism and ambition. Building a new Scotland. Where Government and business work together in partnership.

    But that ambition must be built on a secure and lasting foundation.

    Delivering that agenda depends on a secure and sound economic platform.

    Planning for the long-term

    A year ago, this Government came to power because of the failure of the last Government.

    We said we would inherit a mess. And we did. Years of underachievement and underperformance.

    We said that it would take time to sort it out. And it will. There are no quick fixes.

    We said that we would rebuild and modernise this country. And we are.

    But rebuilding will take time. This is a Government that is planning for the long-term. For that we need stability.

    An end to the boom and bust that destroyed so many business in the past and undermined public services.

    A commitment to low inflation – an essential pre-condition of long-term sustainable economic growth.

    Without that stability, that long-term sustainable growth, we cannot provide the public services we need. Good quality schools and hospitals need stable public finances.

    We are determined to avoid the mistakes of the past. Where the economic miracle of the 1980s became the economic disaster of the 1990s. Where unsustainable booms ended in damaging bust.

    There are some who are telling us today that our troubles are behind us. Just like Nigel Lawson in the 1980s. Then he set off on a spending spree where in two years inflation doubled and interest rates soared to double figures.

    We will not heed those siren voices. We will not repeat those mistakes for which so many people paid with their jobs and homes.

    We will not repeat the mistakes of the late 1980s. Or the mistakes of 1964 and 1974 where the incoming government tried to deliver its promises before sorting out the problems they inherited. That path leads to both political and economic failure.

    There are no short-term fixes. That’s why we unashamedly take a long term view. We are determined to be put in place a stable economic platform on which to build for the future. Anything less would be to betray the trust of those who voted for a new approach: a Government that would act in our best long term interests.

    Our objective is to raise the rate of sustainable economic growth in this country so that everyone can share in rising levels of prosperity.

    After 18 years the people voted for a new start. Not just the same as before. And deliver our commitments we will. And built on a secure foundation.

    That’s why we said at the election we would take the tough decisions necessary. That’s why we said would to stick to existing spending limits for the first two years while we sorted out the mess we inherited.

    Stability

    We can only deliver the economic growth, job opportunities and stable public finances if we keep our attention firmly fixed on the prize of long term sustainable growth and stability. Because that is the only way to provide the schools and hospitals and other services we all want and need.

    So I make no apology for the need to repair and rebuild our economy. We are determined to provide stability for the future. It’s in all our interest that we succeed. That is why Gordon Brown in his two Budgets has set about the job of rebuilding and modernising the British economy.

    We inherited a situation where the national debt doubled in just 6 years. We spend over 25 billion Pounds a year servicing that debt – more than we spend on schools in the whole country. We inherited a situation where the last Government planned to spend some 19 billion Pounds more than it was going to get in.

    The deficit reduction plan will mean that public finances will come into balance over the next two years.

    Modernisation in economic approach

    We have introduced radical reforms which will build long term sustainable growth.

    Firstly, a commitment to economic stability. Our reforms to the Bank of England – giving it operational independence – creates one of the most open and transparent central banks in the world. It has already begun has already begun to deliver. We now have the lowest long term interest rates for 33 years.

    The last time they were this low was when Willie Ross was Secretary of State for Scotland – the first time around!

    Secondly, we have introduced new measures to help business. To encourage investment and innovation.

    Corporation tax is at its lowest level ever. And we have introduced measures to help small businesses and to encourage innovation and research and development. A new fund to convert good University research into good business prospects – helping business and education work together for the benefit of all.

    Measures that generate wealth and create new job opportunities.

    We are modernising the Welfare State. We have introduced one of the most radical reforms to the tax and benefits system. To make work pay. And to provide opportunities for all, to a whole generation excluded for too long.

    We inherited a situation where one child in three grows up in poverty. Where poor families bring up children who themselves become poor when they grow up. A second generation of people without experience of work – denied opportunity, denied hope.

    And the tax and benefit reforms will provide for those who need it most.

    Making Work Pay

    The new Working Families Tax Credit is the most radical reform of the tax and benefits system for a generation. It will make work pay.

    For families where someone works full-time, there is now a guaranteed income of at least 180 Pounds per week.

    And to that same working family a second guarantee, that no income tax at all will be paid on earnings below 220 Pounds a week.

    We inherited a system whereby a family with two children paid tax even when they earned only 25% of average earnings.

    Now they will pay no income tax until they earn over 50 % of average earnings.

    And we have taken other steps to remove barriers from work for parents.

    That is radical reform. A radical transformation that makes work pay.

    And as part of that reform we have introduced the new childcare tax credit as part of the Working Families Tax Credit. It will pay up to 70% of the cost of childcare, up to a limit of eligible costs of 100 Pounds per week for one child or 150 Pounds for two children ormore.

    We are introducing a National Childcare Strategy thoughout the country. An extra 25m Pounds of money for Scotland will help set-up new out-of-school provision.

    This is major and radical reform of the system. Modernising the Welfare State. Putting the emphasis on work. Helping people into work. Making work pay.

    This is essential to increasing the capacity in our economy. You all know that people are better off in work than they will ever be on the dole.

    Child Benefit will increase next year by the largest single amount ever. We are determined to channel resources to where they are needed most – to children.

    And the Government’s Welfare to Work initiative – the Pathfinder Project for 18-24 year olds – was piloted in Tayside. And it has been successful in Tayside. Over 1000 people have entered the New Deal in the first 14 weeks and over 420 employers have signed up to the programme.

    The New Deal is a flagship programme which shows how Government, public and private sectors can and work together. There is a common cause in getting people into work. Its good for them and its good for the country. The New Deal has already seen thousands of people sign up. Employers and employees coming together.

    For years now we’ve campaigned against unemployment. Now we are delivering real jobs. Good training. New opportunities..

    We have set up a new Employment Zone in Glasgow. This will pilot a range of initiatives to get people off benefit and into work. It will put us on the road towards the creation of Personal Job Accounts.

    These Accounts will allow unemployed people to move resources between benefits, training and part-time employment to help them get back into work. Glasgow will be at the forefront of new developments – it will be an example of our new approach. It will strike at the heart of the problem. It will link these without work, with the work that needs to be done.

    A Government that helps provide opportunity where there was none.

    And we recognise that the local government settlement in Scotland, England and Wales was tough this year. But it was tough for everyone. However, it was better than it would have been under the Tories. And it was necessary if we are to build for the future.

    So these reforms underpin our approach. Economic stability. Reform of the Labour Market. Modernising the Welfare State. Helping families with children. A fairer and therefore a more efficient society. And there are more reforms to come. The modernisation will continue.

    All these measures will build the economy and with it long-term sustainable growth. And that growth is necessary to generate the wealth we can depend on.

    Public Spending

    So we are building a platform for the future. And as we promised we are conducting a root and branch examination of all Government spending. Started last year, immediately following the election, the Comprehensive Spending Review, will be completed this Summer.

    We said that we would conduct a root and ranch examination of every penny spent by central Government – all 350 billion Pounds of it. And not just the amount spent, but the policies that underpin that spending. A radical Government must be prepared to reject failed policies of the past and embrace the changes needed for the future. A radical Government – like local government – has to make choices and set priorities.

    The conclusions of the Review will be published in the summer. It will set out the priorities of this Government for the rest of this Parliament and beyond.

    The Government will deliver its promises. But we will do so on a prudent sustainable basis. Hard choices do have to be made to meet our priorities. We will maintain rigorous control of public spending because that is necessary to achieve sustainable long- term growth.

    And we’ve already shown how choices can be made. How our priorities are different from the last Government. In the last year we have made significant changes to spending priorities because we maintained rigorous control over spending. We have redirected existing resources to meet our objectives.

    New Priorities

    We have invested an extra 2.5 billion Pounds to improving schools, including 1.3 billion from the windfall tax to improve school buildings and equipment. That would not have been done but for the change in Government.

    We introduced the Bill to abolish the assisted places scheme. A scheme under which the last Government unashamedly backed the few at the expense of the many. This money has instead been ploughed into public education. We abolished the nursery voucher scheme. Our priority is for the many and not for the few.

    We have invested an extra 2 billion Pounds in the National Health Service. We have scrapped the wasteful and inefficient Tory internal market. Sam Galbraith’s White Paper on the future of the Health Service has been widely welcomed.

    And all pensioners are getting cash payments to cope with winter fuel bills on top of the cut in VAT to just 5 per cent. The poorest pensioner households in income support are receiving 50 Pounds.

    And there’s more.

    We’ve introduced extra targeted funding to improve literacy for young children. A total of 24 million Pounds for the early intervention programme over the next three years.

    We’ve introduced 3 million Pounds alternative to exclusion grants scheme to develop additional alternatives to children being excluded from school.

    We’ve tackled the crisis in higher education funding with new plans for the funding of student maintenance and tuition. In the long term these will release funds to widen access to agreed standards at the universities and colleges.

    We have ensured that there will be an addition 8 million Pounds for further education institutions next year.

    And next year we’ll make an additional 17 million Pounds available to higher education institutions.

    And housing – we provided an extra 15 million Pounds this year and an extra 51 million Pounds next year to be spent on new housing partnerships – covering energy efficiency and other housing initiatives.

    The empty homes initiative gets 2 million Pounds this year and 7 million Pounds next year.

    The rough sleepers initiative will get 16 million Pounds in total across Scotland.

    And we have delivered many other measures in that short time. This is just the start. The CSR will set out our priorities for the rest of this Parliament and beyond.

    But we will only be able to deliver the high quality public services that we need if we have a stable foundation on which to build them.

    Scotland and the Global Economy

    And that stability is essential for the whole country.

    Westminster, Holyrood, local authorities have the same long-term interest. We are all part of the same economy. And increasingly not just the British and European economy but the global economy. It isn’t possible to go it alone – create an economic island in isolation from the problems that everyone has to deal with.

    There is no room for opting out. Pretending that fundamental problems are for others.

    We recognise that the global economy has changed everything. We are interdependent. As we know, what happens on the other side of the world affects us here. And in the global economy what will mark us out are the skills, adaptability and employability of the workforce.

    We now have economic objectives which are open and clear – which look to the long term. And we have a new approach where Government – at levels – needs to work with business and individuals in partnership – recognising each others strengths. Finding new ways of working together.

    A New Approach

    As we prepare for the new Parliament at Holyrood, we realise that modernisation, not just of institutions, but of approach must continue.

    We must examine our approach right across the board.

    This Government is committed to increasing investment. But investment accompanied by reform – whether its in education, welfare to work, childcare or health. The successful economies are those which can adapt at every level. Where change is embraced.

    Scotland is rightly proud of its education system. But we cannot rely on reputation alone. We must examine our schools and universities and ask ourselves how standards can be improved.

    We cannot shy away from change and innovation. It was our ability to innovate that made Scotland in the past. And the same spirit of innovation will make Scotland in the future. But we can only do that if we embrace change – look at new ways of doing things.

    People don’t want the new Scottish Parliament to cling to the past. To seek refuge in the old ways. They voted for change.

    I want people to come to Scotland not just to see our heritage, but to praise our innovation. In business. In education. That’s what made us in the past and that’s what will make us in the future.

    We’ve put in place a new system for funding higher education with student tuition. Because aspirations for improvement are not enough. Aspirations have to be accompanied by reform if we are to ensure stable funding in the future.

    In the Health Service – there are far too many hospitals in desperate need of replacement and renewal.

    The public sector alone cannot meet all the problems we inherited in an acceptable timescale. And new forms of management -getting the best of both public and private sector – can deliver a better service. What matters is the quality of service that the patient receives.

    That’s why we are working in partnership with the private sector – to bring forward investment that would never otherwise have taken place. And why we have set up the new Business Forum – so that business and Government works closely together.

    And in local authorities too – where a substantial amount of innovation has taken place over the years.

    At its best the public service provides excellent service. But we all know that that service can and does fall below standards we deserve. Second best isn’t good enough.

    The people deserve better. Councils should be the champion of the people who elect them and not the defenders of institutions where they know they could do better. It is the quality of service that matters.

    For us – as it should be for you – what counts is what works. Public and private sectors in partnership.

    And that must be the approach for the Scottish Parliament.

    We must change – not just the procedures – how members address each other – where they sit. But fundamentally we need to look at the way in which services are delivered. If we don’t reform and modernise, we will not build a new Britain or a new Scotland. Not a doctrinaire approach – but a practical one. What counts is what works.

    Conclusion

    The people voted for change, not just in structures and procedures but for a better quality of life.

    This Government has a different economic approach. We are a radical reforming Government.

    So too must the Scottish Parliament embrace change. It starts with a clean slate.

    New ideas to be examined.

    Partnership between Westminster and Holyrood. Between public and private sector. Setting the old conflicts behind us. Pursuing new objectives shared in common. All of us – Government – Business – Education – Councils – working together.

    In May last year the people of Scotland voted, in large numbers, for change.

    And they voted in large numbers for constitutional change last September.

    It is now up to all of us – wherever we sit – Westminster, Holyrood or in Council chambers – to show what we can deliver that new modern confident Scotland.

    It is on that that we shall be judged.

  • Gordon Brown – 1998 Speech at the Scottish Business Forum in Glasgow

    Gordon Brown – 1998 Speech at the Scottish Business Forum in Glasgow

    The speech made by Gordon Brown, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 24 April 1998.

    I am delighted to be with Donald Dewar at the launch of Scotland’s new business forum.

    The creation of  the new Scottish Business Forum brings in the biggest change in  the government’s approach to business consultation since the introduction of the Scottish Economic Council in 1971 and it reflects the new challenges for Scotland of a changing global economy.

    In the 1960s when the old Scottish economic planning council, later known as the Scottish Economic Council, was formed, Scotland led the way in a new generation of regional policy, whose central objective was to raise the level of incentives for capital investment.

    Today I believe Scotland can lead the way again, to a new understanding of how there can be better relations between public and private sectors and to a new generation of regional policy.

    In fact for far too long political arguments about our economy have focussed on how here in Scotland we divide the cake, about how we spend money, about the relative shares between public and private sectors rather than what we have to do to increase our wealth and our productive capacity as a country, and how public and private sectors can work far more effectively together.

    And so I want a new partnership for prosperity.  Not a return of the old corporatism which ended up in weak compromises in smoke filled rooms far from the factory floor but the whole country engaged in the shared challenge of improving productivity.

    And in doing so we will have to look at every weakness, every handicap that has held us back,  every barrier to growth.

    Modern Budgets are not so much about dividing up the national cake as about implementing measures that can help us compete more effectively in the global economy.    So I want the period from now until the next Budget to be used constructively by all of us to examine what more we can do.

    It is a relentless and uncompromising agenda of modernisation in education, the welfare state and our approaches to business that we now need.

    Our first concern is stability.

    Of course it is businesses not governments that make profits and create jobs, but business needs governments to shape the environment in which profitable companies can grow.

    It is the government’s job to make sure it has done everything to ensure stability and I can promise that we will not take risks with inflation, we will not engage in the false trade-offs between inflation and unemployment. And  we will not compromise our hard-won reputation for prudence in economic management by short-term gestures.

    We will avoid short termism in all these areas by the clarity of setting down  clear long term  objectives against which we can be judged.

    •     An inflation target of 2.5 per cent
    •     An independent bank
    •     A golden rule for discipline in  public spending
    •     A five year deficit reduction plan

    Scotland needs this stable foundation because it has been the victim of stop-go policies – and whatever the temporary difficulties for exporters with the pound, the greater concern is avoiding a  return to the  boom-bust approaches that have deprived us  of the long-term investment funds we need.

    First investment

    Cutting the main rate of corporate tax from 33p to 30p, 40 percent investment incentives, a 10p long term rate of capital gains tax are all measures designed, alongside  monetary and fiscal stability, to create the best environment for new investment in our future.

    But we are prepared to look at further changes and I want the business forum to comment on whether our investment incentives should be placed on a permanent basis, whether the targeting to small and medium sized firms is effective, whether more needs to be done to help the tax position of start-up and small companies and what more we can do to build the successful enterprises of tomorrow.

    Second innovation

    Scotland has now a reputation for inventiveness that extends well beyond the traditional inventions for which we are famed.  Biotechnology, computer software and electronics all provide examples of the latest wave of Scottish innovations of global significance.

    So we want to let the creative talents of Scotland flourish to turn new ideas into successful businesses created in Scotland. I want us to examine whether there is more we can and should do.

    So i would like the forum to comment on the practical advantages for business of more investment in science and technology in our universities, our new university challenge fund, the next phase of the UK foresight programme and the possibility of an r&d tax credit to build on developments such as the arrival of cadence and encouragement for the expansion of the venture capital industry.  This is a huge step forward and on these new developments we will build.

    A consultation paper was published in March, giving the business community in Scotland an opportunity to influence how this major initiative will be taken forward.  It provides us with a means of recognising Scotland’s needs and shaping the programme accordingly.  Foresight is about preparing for the future – in a very broad sense.  It is about future technologies, future markets, and their influence on the prosperous, modern and inclusive society that we want Scotland to become.  It is a UK guide to the future for today’s decision-makers – in business, in research, in government.

    That said, it takes relatively little foresight to come to the view that the Scottish venture capital industry needs to expand to American levels.  We need more high tech ventures and more risk capital.  We should consider what we can do together.

    Third small businesses

    The Scottish Enterprise business birthrate strategy now encompasses a range of initiatives to encourage individuals to set up businesses.  For example, there are 40 business shops offering assistance to new and small businesses.  And we want to build on these.

    We should ask whether we could do more to help men and women  start their own businesses and encourage small businesses to expand by using the jobs subsidy to take new people on.

    I want more young entrepreneurs, more Scots starting small businesses and the best motivators are those who themselves have worked their way up and know the pitfalls as well as the opportunities.

    And I am pleased that a number of business leaders have this week given a personal commitment to visit schools and colleges around Scotland, not just to talk to teenagers but to inspire them.  From this generation of business leaders will come the next.  And these school visits will help motivate young people to turn their ambition here in Scotland into achievement.  I am delighted that Richard Emanuel, Tom Farmer, David Murray, Belinda Robertson and Brian Souter have agreed to start this process off.

    Fourth getting people into work

    I want to  remove the barriers that deprive thousands of men and women of employment opportunities in Scotland today.  And so I want to discuss any barriers – tax, legal, regulatory and competitive  – that are unnecessary and that by their removal can help jobs be created.

    And I want employers to work with us on getting the New Deal right in Scotland not just for the young people who will benefit but for the companies to whom they will contribute.  Initiatives like the new futures programme  which is aimed at ensuring all young people have the social and life skills to make them job ready when they join a new employer.

    I want New Deal to become more than ambulance relief for young people in difficulty but the smart solution for companies looking for motivated young people they can train with new skills.

    Fifth, education

    Modern employers will succeed when we get the best out of all our people, and  the countries which succeed in mastering the waves of technological change and fiercer competitive pressures will be the ones that invest in their key national resource:  the people.

    One priority is improved standards in our schools and Donald Dewar and Brian Wilson have already acted  to ensure that for the first time individual targets are set for each school in Scotland.

    But equally because 80 per cent of those in employment today will be in the workforce in ten years time, education cannot stop at the school gates.  There must be lifelong learning if we are to achieve the productivity gains we want in the years to come.

    We must have a stronger relationship between education and business in charting the way forward.

    Scotland’s university for industry will enable people from their homes all over urban and remote  and rural areas  to benefit from education from home, on a range of areas beyond the university level courses catered for by the Open University.

    I believe we should consider the extra skills which Scotland’s university for industry should concentrate on expanding – whether it be for the expansion of call centres – or for computer software engineers – or for electronics as a whole, including starting your own business.

    So our aims – aims I believe we share in common – are of an open, dynamic Scottish economy  with  economic stability for investment rather than instability; a Scotland which is business-friendly, working with business rather than in isolation from it; a working Scotland with the vision to be a world leader in education the centre point of both our economic and social ambitions  for the long term.

    This modernisation for the future, is the way forward.  Setting the old conflicts behind us. Understanding the objectives we share in common.  Recognising the challenge must involve all of us, all of our workforces, working together.

    And the prize is a modern Scottish economy more fit for the challenges ahead, ready to ensure employment opportunity and greater prosperity for all our people in the years ahead.

  • Gordon Brown – 1998 Speech at CBI President’s Dinner

    Gordon Brown – 1998 Speech at CBI President’s Dinner

    The speech made by Gordon Brown, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 22 April 1998.

    I am grateful for the opportunity to address this CBI Dinner tonight, to be able to thank you as business Leaders of Britain for the contribution you and your Companies make to the success of Britain at home and Abroad.

    When I spoke to your conference in Harrogate in the final months before the general election of the need to modernise government’s relations with business we agreed that we needed as our building blocks:

    • First, stability with low inflation;
    • Second, sustainable public finances;
    • Third, not just open markets but a constructive engagement with Europe;
    • Fourth, a modern employment policy;
    • And finally higher levels of skills and productivity.

    And the Government has already made a start:

    • to achieve monetary stability – independence for the Bank of England;
    • to achieve fiscal stability – a five year deficit reduction plan to which we have adhered;
    • to boost investment – a cut in corporation tax and new incentives for investment in small and medium sized business;
    • and to boost skills and productivity – our education reforms and welfare to work programme.

    And it is the need to raise our game in productivity that I want to address many of my remarks this evening, and to make some suggestions on which I think we can agree.

    Stability with low inflation

    First stability

    When we have met representatives of the CBI we have been  agreed on the need for a credible framework for monetary stability for the long term.

    And I believe people now understand that the way to stability for national Governments in a modern global marketplace is to base monetary and fiscal policy on clear long term objectives by which you will be judged – in our case our inflation target and five year deficit reduction plan;

    • to have orderly procedural rules which guarantee certainty and therefore credibility in decision-making – making the Bank independent and legislating for a code for Fiscal stability;
    • and to have an open and transparent decision-making process which allows proper scrutiny and offers a confidence that a long term view is being pursued free of short term party political considerations.

    All to meet our aim, businesses aim:  In place of stop-go cycles, long term stability.

    Whatever one’s views of the month to month decisions of the monetary policy committee, the new system has, in my view, already freed interest rate decisions from short term political pressures and given greater credibility to monetary policy making.  And because people are now coming to believe that the inflation target will be met, long term interest rates have come down to below 6 per cent, the lowest for 33 years.

    At this point in every cycle in the past the British economy has been prone to inflation instability.  So when we came into power we faced inflationary pressures and had to act.  Because of the action we took inflation which when we came to power was heading well above our target is expected to be at 2« percent next year.

    And let me add just one thing –

    It would be the worst of short-termism now to pay ourselves more today at the cost of higher interest rates, fewer jobs and slower growth tomorrow.  All of us must therefore show greater responsibility.

    Whilst the public sector has understood the need for moderation, today’s wages figures suggest that private sector employers have some way to go sustainable public finances

    When I spoke to your annual dinner last year we were also agreed that responsible public finances are the cornerstone of stability.  We had already demonstrated a commitment to prudence with our two year ceiling on public spending.  We have now made it clear that this is not a one-off measure, but is part of a five year deficit reduction plan that has not only brought public borrowing down from an unacceptable 23 billion pounds in 1996-97 to 3 billion pounds last year but has allowed us to lock in a long term commitment to sustainable public finances while meeting our priorities.

    In July we will complete our comprehensive spending review and we will lock in our commitment to fiscal stability not just by the legislation for a code for fiscal stability but also by the conclusions of the Spending Review.  It is only if we manage to achieve spending discipline across the board, through the elimination of waste and rigorous focus on our priorities, that we will be able to ensure investment in and modernisation of our key public services, particularly education and health – consistent with both our golden rule of at least balancing the current budget over the economic cycle and our commitment to keep debt at a stable and prudent level.

    To achieve our aim, your aim: sustainable public finances and modernised public services.

    Trading relationships

    So stability and long term prudence are key building blocks for prosperity but there is another building block that for too many years we have undervalued – strong and lasting trading relationships with Europe.   We are not only one of the most open economies in the world – trading 25 per cent of our GDP.  But, in addition, nearly 60 per cent of our exports are to mainland Europe and astonishingly high levels of us and Japanese investment into Europe – 40 per cent of it – comes to the UK.

    The new Government has made four principled decisions on Europe which have decisively and unambiguously put this country on a new road.

    First, for the first time we are committed, in principle, to European monetary union.  second, we see no constitutional barrier that prevents us joining.  Third,  we are committed to making an economic rather than political assessment the decisive test as to whether and when we will enter and finally we have committed our country to full  preparations that will allow us to make a decision, subject to a referendum, early in the next Parliament.  Our strategy, to prepare and then decide, is being pursued.

    So this is a government that having declared for the principle will help to make sure that the preparations are made.

    Our slogan is Britain is ready for the Euro and we will be.

    All necessary steps are being made to ensure business will be able to use the Euro here from 1999 for a wide range of business activities, from filing company accounts, to paying certain taxes and issuing shares.

    And low corporate tax as well as our financial expertise  and our commitment to free trade and open markets will further underpin Britain’s position as the most profitable place in Europe from which to exploit new business opportunities after 1999.

    And I believe that a new national consensus on Europe – the very consensus that has eluded us for years – is now within our grasp.

    Modern employment policy

    The fourth building block is a modern employment policy that does not offer welfare irrespective of work, but is built on a system of matching rights with responsibilities, an active welfare state which provides new opportunities for work, and a tax and benefit system that makes work pay.  And I am grateful to many of the companies represented here today for signing up to the new deal, to help tackle our problems of youth and long term unemployment.

    And to create the right incentives to work and to cut the costs of hiring, we have already announced radical changes to the current tax and benefit  system;  changes in employers and employees national insurance for which I am grateful for the CBI’s support; and a new working families tax credit which, underpinned by a national minimum wage, is the means to ensure that work pays more than benefits.

    Higher productivity

    But our aim is high levels of employment and high levels of growth to secure prosperity for all.  And that brings me to my fifth building block – how, in Britain, we modernise to achieve the higher productivity on which lasting growth depends.

    Since I arrived at the Treasury I have been seeking to understand the extent of and the reasons for our productivity gap  with other major economies.

    The latest figures show a productivity gap with France and Germany of around 20-30% and a gap of 40% with the United States.

    There are great British success stories – world class firms that are beating competition all around the Globe, many represented here tonight, in whose achievements we all have pride.  But in manufacturing as a whole UK productivity is lower than in other major economies.  In the United States, productivity is twice that in the UK in the food and  beverages industry and in the machinery industry.  Even in the service sector we fail to lead the others in any major industry.

    I believe these disappointing figures can no longer be ignored.  And together we have to consider how to close the productivity gap.

    Today I want to set down a challenge to ourselves in Government, to you the country’s business leaders and to every shareholder, every employee, every citizen of this country.  The challenge is to work together to bridge the gap in productivity, the gap between what Britain is today and what we can become in the future.

    For decades governments of all parties have wrestled with these problems.

    Some say that first we managed decline. Then we mismanaged decline.

    Then we declined to manage.

    But I think we can all agree that fifty years of our economic history from 1945 was marred by a succession of sterile and self defeating conflicts between state and market, managements and workforce, public and private sectors.

    I believe that we should not only set aside for good these old battles but think of a Britain where public and private sectors are not just in some temporary truce but where public and private sector are constructively  working together to meet nationally Important and defined objectives.

    In other words it is time to develop a sense of national economic purpose, to agree a new long term direction for Britain.

    A new national purpose born out of the recognition that we need to work together;  focussed on removing the barriers to higher productivity whether they are regulatory, fiscal or cultural;  with the clear long term objective – to bridge the productivity gap with our competitors; and founded on the innate British strengths – our creativity, adaptability and internationalism.

    The British genius is our belief in hard work and enterprise,  and these are the strengths on which we can build: our creativity, our willingness to adapt, our belief in fair play and opportunity for all, our outward looking approach to the world.  The same strengths which built manufacturing in the 19th, are the platform on which to build our strength for the future, not just in fashion in London but in every manufacturing and service industry in every part of the UK.

    But we must turn ideas made in Britain into products made in Britain, make our strengths count with our team work and innovation in individual business and companies, and we must be sufficiently confident about our virtues to make  committed long term investments in our future.

    Margaret Beckett and I will look systematically and rigorously at every barrier to higher productivity that is identified.

    So let me say to exporters.

    I do understand your worries over the current strength of sterling, but what would be an even greater worry would be any risk of a return to the boom-bust we saw in the late 1980s and early 90s, when 1 million manufacturing jobs were lost, over 150,000 businesses went under and thousands who faced mortgage misery and negative equity are even now not yet recovered from it.

    It is for this reason we must all of us take a long term view, Government, Industry and the Financial  Community:

    • Government – by ensuring lasting stability;
    • Industry – by investing for the long term and
    • The Financial Community by refusing to resort to
    • The short-termism and stop-go attitudes which
    • Have bedevilled us since the war.

    I repeat our policy is a stable and competitive pound in the medium term.

    The countries that have succeeded over the long run are not those that have made a policy of continuously devaluing  their way to success, but those  who have travelled the long and hard road to high productivity.

    Now I know that it is businesses not Governments that make profits and create jobs, but I also know that business needs Governments to shape the environment in which profitable companies can grow.

    So today I make the promise that Government will do everything it can to create the conditions in which you can succeed.  To help set in place the basic building blocks for long-term economic success: stability and low inflation, responsible public finances, good trading relationships, a modern employment policy and improved skills and productivity.

    We have made a start in the last year.

    We have since we came to office reallocated money to education and training  allowing an additional 2.5 billion pounds to improve standards and facilities in our schools and to improve skills – 100 million pounds was made available in the budget to help reduce the skills gap in I.T. And high technology.

    And we have made tax changes to create the right environment for investment.  I was delighted that last July’s 2 per cent cut in corporation tax, to its lowest level ever, the reduction to 21 per cent of small business corporation tax, and the new investment incentives for small and medium sized companies, could be followed last month by the announcement of a further reduction to 30p for the main rate of corporation tax and 20p for small business corporation tax.

    But just as in business the competition for economic success requires constant modernisation, business developing new approaches to achieve success in new circumstances, so too  rapid  change forces government to reconsider continuously its
    responsibilities and role.

    I believe that we must now combine a strategy for achieving stability by being prepared to consider major structural reforms of our product, capital and labour markets to equip us for the future.

    And I say tonight that where it is necessary modernisation,  wholesale modernisation and nothing but modernisation will be my policy.

    Just as there will be no room in the New Britain for penal taxation, wasteful public spending or for taking risks with inflation, there will be no room in the new Britain for complacency, old confrontational attitudes, short-termism, the undervaluing of education and investment or  restrictive practices from whatever quarter they come.

    We do not want a return of the old corporatism which ended up in weak compromises in smoke filled rooms far from the factory floor but a joint strategy to achieve a new dynamism which engages everyone in the workplace.

    On product markets the way forward is not stifling competition by over-regulation, or pursuing a free-for-all devoid of anti-trust, anti-monopolies legislation.  It is to vigorously pursue a pro-competition agenda, that involves opening up competition in financial services, telecommunications, energy – removing barriers that still thwart open trade.

    Any examination of price levels shows the need for more competition.  Let me give you some examples. According to the OECD, household appliances like washing machines and dishwashers are about 30% more expensive here than in the United States, prices in restaurants and hotels are more than 50% higher and furniture is nearly 60% more expensive.

    The challenge in a modern economy is to balance the minimum standards that are needed to make markets work effectively and fairly with rooting out excessive regulation and red tape.

    The competition bill will help achieve more competitive markets and I know it is welcomed by business.

    We also need to consider modernising our capital markets.

    In the first half of the 90s NASDAQ in the United States raised seven times more capital than all the European equivalents together.  Its listed companies employed nine million people and created 16 per cent of all new jobs.

    The challenge for Britain is to create a stronger venture capital industry and to orient venture capital to hi-risk, early stage and start-up companies.

    In the UK, only 5 per cent of venture capital funds go to start ups and early stage companies.  In the USA, nearly 25-30 per cent goes to these companies.  The amount of hi-tech in venture capital is 50 per cent in the USA, but only around 20 per cent in the UK.

    We need a new approach in Britain to risk taking, we need to increase the number of entrepreneurs and to raise the survival rate of small businesses.  So we must destroy the barriers that exist – fiscal, regulatory, economic, cultural – as a matter of urgency.

    We must also engage in far-reaching reform of our labour markets not just in employment policy but in welfare, education and taxation and social security policy.  The way forward is neither old style regulation or a crude form of deregulation, which leaves the unskilled without the training or education essential for employability.  But one that recognises that bringing out the best in people – by policies that ensure opportunities for – is the best route to prosperity in the modern world.

    That is why we are committed to widening opportunities in education and training: higher standards in our schools and lifelong learning.

    In fact about 80 per cent of people in employment today will still be in the workforce in 10 years time.  And yet only a fraction of today’s workforce ae upgrading their skills.  while their skills are all the time becoming obsolete.

    Our proposals for individual learning accounts and a University for industry recognise the new reality that not only should people upgrade their skills throughout life but they should be encouraged to take responsibility for doing so.

    I want the period from now until the next budget to be used constructively to examine what more we can do, focussing on modernisation in labour, product and capital markets and on the tax and spending reforms they imply, to meet the 40% productivity challenge.

    We need to work together -that is all of us, business, workforces and government – to increase our productivity as a nation.

    Margaret Beckett and the DTI have already undertaken a benchmarking study to identify some of the main constraints on UK productivity performance.  And subsequently set up a number of private sector led working groups to look at this in more detail.  In the Treasury we sponsored a business-led working group examining proposals to overcome barriers to finance in high-technology companies, and in the budget we launched a consultation exercise on ways of improving the UK’s record on R&D and innovation.

    Now Margaret Beckett and I have agreed to hold a series of seminars with business leaders, over the coming 10 months to address the British productivity gap and how we can catch up.

    The first seminar, to be held next month at number 11 Downing Street, will start by examining the global picture and Britain’s place in the productivity league. Mckinsey’s global institute are currently compiling an independent study of Britain’s performance in growth, employment and productivity, this is a follow-on to previous studies which have focussed on France and Germany.  Their report will analyse Britain’s record across a wide range of industries – and this will form the basis of discussion for the first seminar. Future seminars will focus on the sectors where our performance is weakest and the policy areas where government can play its role.

    These then are the challenges ahead: to lock in stability, to invest for the long-term, to reward work, to encourage new enterprise and skills so we can bridge the productivity gap.  So we must set old conflicts behind us . Understand the objectives we share in common .  And recognise that the challenge must involve all of us, Government, workforces and business working together.  The challenge is enormous but the prize is a more up-to-date and dynamic economy more fit for the challenges ahead, ready to ensure employment opportunity and  greater prosperity for all in the years ahead.

  • Robin Hodgson – 2022 Parliamentary Question on Retailers Accepting Cash (Baron Hodgson of Astley Abbotts)

    Robin Hodgson – 2022 Parliamentary Question on Retailers Accepting Cash (Baron Hodgson of Astley Abbotts)

    The parliamentary question asked by Robin Hodgson, Baron Hodgson of Astley Abbotts, in the House of Lords on 15 December 2022.

    Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts

    To ask His Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with retailers and other outlets concerning their acceptance of cash as legal tender.

    Lord Harlech (Con)

    My Lords, Ministers and officials have meetings with a variety of organisations in the public and private sectors, including on access to cash and related issues. Details of ministerial meetings are published on a quarterly basis. Regarding cash acceptance, it should remain the choice of organisations whether to accept or decline any form of payment. The Government’s legislation in the Financial Services and Markets Bill intends to support cash acceptance by ensuring that businesses have reasonable access to deposit facilities.

    Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Con)

    My Lords, I am very grateful to my noble friend, in particular for standing in at short notice when the noble Baroness, Lady Penn, was delayed. I think that this is the first time that he has answered a Question; can I be the first to congratulate him? However, are the Government aware of the scale of the problem faced? Some 5 million people—some of the most vulnerable in our society—depend on cash. Forcing such people to use plastic cannot be a good idea. Some 20 million of us use cash more than twice a week, and on average three cash machines are taken out of service every day. If my noble friend and his officials think that I am exaggerating, they might care to read the article in the Financial Times last week about offering lifelines to people struggling in a cashless society.

    Lord Harlech (Con)

    The Government want to ensure that people have appropriate access to financial products and services, which includes bank accounts, payment services and cash. LINK, the operator of the UK’s largest ATM network, has established a number of initiatives to protect the broad geographic spread of free-to-use ATMs. LINK has committed to protecting free-to-use ATMs more than a kilometre away from the nearest free ATM or post office, and is held to account against this commitment by the Payment Systems Regulator.

    Baroness Kramer (LD)

    My Lords, I also welcome the Minister to his role. Thanks to the excellent work of the Access to Cash Action Group and LINK, new banking hubs are planned where a community is bereft of bank branches, which will permit the kind of deposits that the noble Lord named in his Question. Since the scheme is vital for access to cash, should the banks be permitted to veto approval of a hub in an area that meets the criteria?

    Lord Harlech (Con)

    Following the Government’s commitment to legislate, industry is working together to develop new initiatives to provide shared access to cash services. This includes a process for LINK to access a community’s cash needs in the event of a closure of a core cash service or a request from a local community. In circumstances where LINK considers that a community requires additional cash services, industry will ensure a suitable shared solution in that community.

    Baroness Bryan of Partick (Lab)

    My Lords, the Cash Census report published earlier this year warned:

    “While a cashless society would feel like progress for some … for millions it would lead to anxiety, economic exclusion, isolation, exploitation, debt”

    and “rising costs”. Does the Minister accept that cash is still the major means of spending for a substantial proportion of our society, and that retailers should be required to accept legal currency?

    Lord Harlech (Con)

    The definition of “legal tender” is quite narrow. However, the ongoing trend in payments in the UK has been away from cash and towards card payments and other digital transactions. However, cash continues to be used by millions of people across the UK, including those in vulnerable groups. The Government are legislating to ensure reasonable provision of cash withdrawal and deposit facilities.

    Lord Sandhurst (Con)

    Following that answer, I say that there is a real problem with the non-acceptance of cash. We all find it at different times. It is not a problem for me, but it is for those who do not have bank accounts, debit cards and credit cards. Will the Government consider having a proper review to address this, so that small businesses that find cash a nuisance can manage and that everyday people can use cash when they want to?

    Lord Harlech (Con)

    As my noble friend will know, technology and consumer behaviour are changing and it remains the choice of individual organisations whether to accept or decline any form of payment, including cash or card, based on a consideration of factors, such as customer preference and cost. However, the Government consider that their legislation in the Financial Services and Markets Bill will support organisations, including local businesses, to continue accepting cash by ensuring that they have reasonable access to deposit facilities. As I said, legal tender has a narrow technical meaning: it means that if you offer to fully pay off a debt to someone in legal tender, they cannot sue you for failing to repay.

    The Lord Bishop of St Albans

    My Lords, this is a problem that particularly affects rural areas, where there are far fewer cash-dispensing machines. Also, there are many parts of rural areas where there is no internet, so even if you want to pay by BACS or direct transfer, you just cannot do it. Will the Minister assure us that the Government will properly rural-proof this discussion so that we are able to ensure that rural areas can still function effectively?

    Lord Harlech (Con)

    As someone who comes from a rural community, I know only too well the trials and tribulations of getting a good connection. The Government recognise that digital inclusion needs to be promoted alongside financial inclusion. That is why we are committed to ensuring that everyone has access to digital infrastructure and the skills necessary to participate fully in society, and that very much includes rural areas. In 2021, the Government launched Project Gigabit, which committed a landmark £5 billion to support the rollout of gigabit connectivity in the hardest-to-reach areas.

    Lord Tunnicliffe (Lab)

    I too welcome the Minister to his place. I remember in similar circumstances when I was on that Front Bench explaining to the civil servants that Question Time is a blood sport—and you, my friend, are the fox. When a shop opts not to accept cash, in most cases customers are able to go elsewhere. However, when it comes to services such as car parks, there is often no alternative available. Many are happy to pay for parking on apps or over the phone, but a sizeable number are not. What does the Minister suggest that those people do when they arrive and find, without any consultation, that the pay machines have been decommissioned?

    Lord Harlech (Con)

    I have suffered that situation myself. A customer intending to park who has not been warned that payment has moved from a cash or coin system to digital-only should take that up immediately with the council or whoever is administering that parking space on behalf of the local council.

    Baroness Butler-Sloss (CB)

    My Lords, there is another problem. Because so many banks are closing their branches, one of the shopkeepers in my part of east Devon says that he cannot accept cash because he has to go seven or eight miles to the bank and cannot get there because his shop is open until six in the evening. Could the Minister look at the issue of bank branch closures set beside the question of cash?

    Lord Harlech (Con)

    Since 2019, the Government have chaired the Financial Inclusion Policy Forum, bringing together the financial services industry, consumer groups, the regulator and the third sector. We have also published an annual report on the Government’s work on financial inclusion. The most recent report was published in December 2021. Since 2019, the Government have allocated £100 million of funding from dormant assets towards financial inclusion.

    Lord Pickles (Con)

    My Lords, I too congratulate my noble friend on his first appearance at the Dispatch Box, and I assure the House that he is also an excellent Whip. I served on the House’s Select Committee on post-Covid recovery. We received evidence on this from retailers and individuals. The substantive point is that, if you do not have a bank account, you are excluded from shops and cafes that you have visited for many years. You are forced to go into other shops where the choice is not as great. What happens is a very strange and unusual piece of social exclusion in which you find yourself paying more for less choice. What discussions has my noble friend had with the banking industry to increase the availability of accounts for people who do not have them? Will he give us his best estimate of the number of households that do not have a single bank account?

    Lord Harlech (Con)

    My noble friend makes an excellent point that, to be fully included in society, a working bank account is essential. I will certainly take that back to the department to ensure that the Treasury communicates with the banking and financial services sector to make the opening of a bank account as easy and accessible as possible. I will try to write to him on the number of households which do not currently have a bank account.

  • David Ramsbotham – 2020 Speech on the Medicines and Medical Devices Bill (Baron Ramsbotham)

    David Ramsbotham – 2020 Speech on the Medicines and Medical Devices Bill (Baron Ramsbotham)

    The speech made by David Ramsbotham, Baron Ramsbotham, in the House of Lords on 11 November 2020.

    My Lords, I must declare two interests in explaining why I have put my name to the amendment—first, as co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Speech and Language Difficulties, and secondly, as an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. As always, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, and the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, both of whom know a great deal more about this subject than I do.

    As I reported on Second Reading, on 12 August the Minister in the other place wrote that the Bill would allow the Government to update those professional organisations that can prescribe medicines when it was safe and appropriate to do so. This is in line with what the Minister said on Second Reading, which was quoted by the noble Lord, Lord Hunt. If the experience of dieticians, orthoptists, diagnostic radiographers and speech and language therapists is anything to go by, the role of such people has expanded considerably during the pandemic, during which there has been ever-increasing pressure on health professionals.

    Prescribing responsibilities would enable allied professions to share the burden with their NHS colleagues and avoid unnecessary delay and duplication for patients. Their call for increased prescribing responsibilities is backed up by hard-pressed NHS trusts, which have identified a means of increasing their capacity. Therefore I hope that, on the basis of experience during the pandemic, the Minister will be able to announce proposals and a timetable for extending prescribing rights for certain carefully chosen health professional organisations within three months of the Bill being passed, as part of the NHS long-term improvement plan.

  • David Ramsbotham – 2021 Speech on the Substance Testing in Prisons Bill (Baron Ramsbotham)

    David Ramsbotham – 2021 Speech on the Substance Testing in Prisons Bill (Baron Ramsbotham)

    The speech made by David Ramsbotham, Baron Ramsbotham, in the House of Lords on 16 April 2021.

    My Lords, I strongly support the intention behind the Bill and am glad that the noble Baroness, Lady Pidding, began her excellent introduction with a tribute to the late Dame Cheryl Gillan, whose Bill it is, but I admit to being worried about the practicalities of delivery.

    I have always thought that the Ministry of Justice and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service set too much store by the effectiveness of mandatory drug testing, which, far from being the important tool that they claim, proves nothing except how many people test negative and has always been capable of manipulation.

    To illustrate how easy manipulation is, when I was chief inspector, I once went into a cell and noticed some certificates on the wall. On asking the prisoner what they were for, I was told that they were for testing drug-free, which it was known he was, and that if I came back the next month, there would be another one. Another time, I went into a prison where there were alleged to be no drug users, which I simply did not believe. I found that the prison made a practice of testing only vulnerable prisoners, who were notoriously drug-free. I ordered an immediate test of the whole prison, which found that 47% were users.

    The effects of apparently freely available psychoactive and other substances have been well documented, including increased violence against staff and other prisoners. The absence of, or the inability of many prisoners to access, treatment programmes is also a worry. I would be happier if, in addition to trying to prevent substances getting into a prison, there was evidence of a desire to achieve better testing and more access to treatment.

  • David Ramsbotham – 2021 Speech on the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill (Baron Ramsbotham)

    David Ramsbotham – 2021 Speech on the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill (Baron Ramsbotham)

    The speech made by David Ramsbotham, Baron Ramsbotham, in the House of Lords on 15 November 2021.

    My Lords, I strongly support all the amendments in this group, not least because the cause of prisoners serving indeterminate sentences has been languishing ever since such sentences were formally abolished by LASPO in 2012.

    I commend the tireless work of my noble and learned friend Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood on their behalf. For nearly 27 years, since my first inspection as Chief Inspector of Prisons, I have been campaigning for changes to be made to the operational management structure of the Prison Service to bring it in line with the practice in every business, hospital or school: to appoint named people responsible and accountable for particular functions within the organisation concerned.

    In the case of prisons, I have campaigned for separate directors to be appointed for every type of prison, and for certain types of prisoners—lifers, sex offenders, women, young offenders, the elderly, foreign nationals, and those serving indeterminate sentences. Imagine how easy it would be for Ministers interested in IPP, for example, to send for the relevant director and question him or her about what was happening or not happening to all prisoners in that category. I had hoped that somewhere in the 298 pages of this monstrous Bill, space might have been found for something so practical. However, as that is clearly not going to happen, I stringently commend the change to the Minister.

  • David Ramsbotham – 2022 Comments on the Nationality and Borders Bill (Baron Ramsbotham)

    David Ramsbotham – 2022 Comments on the Nationality and Borders Bill (Baron Ramsbotham)

    The comments made by David Ramsbotham, Baron Ramsbotham, in the House of Lords on 5 January 2022.

    My Lords, when you are speaking 51st on the Second Reading of a Bill which has already generated much controversy in the other place, the chances are that some other noble Lords will have already mentioned any point you wished to make. That is very true in this case, so I will make only one point, which I beg the Minister to take away and reflect on, because it is borne out by practical experience. I break off to thank James Tobin for a most comprehensive Library briefing.

    In 2010, I was asked to chair an inquiry into the death of an Angolan under restraint on an aircraft at Heathrow, on which he was being returned to Angola, guarded by G4S. We were shocked by the poor standard of the Home Office decision-makers and caseworkers involved in returns, to the extent that my committee commented on them in its final report. Worse even than this, there appeared to be no supervision of their work. The arrangements made for families appeared to be better than those for single people, a point which I advise the Minister to respect before embarking on this extremely controversial Bill, about which many noble Lords have expressed their unease.

  • David Ramsbotham – 2022 Speech on the Chagos Islands (Baron Ramsbotham)

    David Ramsbotham – 2022 Speech on the Chagos Islands (Baron Ramsbotham)

    The speech made by David Ramsbotham, Baron Rambotham, in the House of Lords on 28 February 2022.

    My Lords, I strongly support Amendment 1, to which I have added my name. I declare an interest as a vice-chairman of the Chagos Islands (British Indian Ocean Territory) All-Party Parliamentary Group. How do the Government have the neck to condemn others for far less, while at the same time standing condemned by both the International Criminal Court and the General Committee of the United Nations for refusing to allow the Chagos Islanders and their descendants citizen rights to return to their homeland, despite promises that they would be allowed to do so after 30 years? I remember, as long ago as 2013, reading out a letter from a Pentagon Minister to the then Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister saying that the Pentagon had no objection to the return of the islanders to Diego Garcia, being used to having indigenous people living alongside island military bases in the Pacific.

  • David Ramsbotham – 2022 Comments on the Queen’s Speech (Baron Ramsbotham)

    David Ramsbotham – 2022 Comments on the Queen’s Speech (Baron Ramsbotham)

    The comments made by David Ramsbotham, Baron Ramsbotham, in the House of Lords on 12 May 2022.

    My Lords, it is always a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Henig. I have three points to make. First, as other noble Lords have said, I deplore the number of times we were asked by the Commons response to our amendments to a number of Bills in the previous Session to break the rule of law. The noble Lord, Lord Wolfson, did the decent thing and resigned from the Government over the issue. I suggest that the Government Whips and those who voted in favour of the Commons rejection of our amendments ought to examine their consciences to see how happy they are to have voted for so many breaches of the law.

    Secondly, in the gracious Speech, mention is made of a Bill of Rights. Are the Government really happy about this, when the Secretary of State for Justice, who is presumably responsible for its introduction, has expressed the view that human rights should not apply to prisoners?

    Thirdly, my noble friend Lord Hastings of Scarisbrick referred to a question I asked a number of times in the previous Session. My noble friend indicated that, in the 2019 Queen’s Speech, mention was made of a royal commission into the criminal justice system. As successive Ministers have made clear, this is obviously not going to happen—no announcement has been made of either the name of the chairman or the terms of reference, and the team formed inside the Ministry of Justice to handle the royal commission has been broken up. Surely, the Government should now do the decent thing and apologise to Her Majesty for asking her to make an announcement which they had no intention of implementing.