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World Leaders Summit

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness the Leader of the House for repeating the Statement. I join her in the Prime Minister’s tribute to the family and friends of those servicemen killed in Afghanistan in the past week. All too frequently, we now seem to gather to hear Statements about the disastrous consequences of the most imprudent Government-stoked boom this country has ever seen. Since the previous Statement made by the noble Baroness on 20 October, sterling has fallen by 11.4 per cent against the euro and, in the past three months, by 30 per cent against the dollar. More families have had their homes repossessed. Savers have seen their incomes slashed and another 36,000 proud people were forced to sign on for the dole. Only this morning, the CBI forecast a deeper recession and warned that another 1 million people may lose their jobs over the next year. Will the noble Baroness therefore begin her response by apologising to those workers who are now being caught up in the bust that has followed the boom that the Prime Minister engineered? We hear a lot about the Prime Minister as the saviour of the world. We have had the boasts; is it not now time for the apology to the jobless and the homeless who are suffering as a result of these policies? The IMF says that the British economy will shrink faster than any major economy in the world. Even the European Commission puts our economic prospects in the fourth division with Latvia and Estonia. Can the noble Baroness tell the House—I ask for an explicit answer—whether any responsibility for this recession lies with the Government? Is that a significant amount or nothing at all, or was this recession pit dug entirely abroad? Before the G20 summit, the spinners in the Government were saying that countries with budget surpluses, such as Saudi Arabia, would put more funds into the IMF. Those in this House with a long memory will know that Labour Governments with deficits know a lot about the IMF. Therefore, can the noble Baroness tell the House what commitments were given by other G20 nations in Washington to provide additional funding to the IMF and other international financial institutions? What is the Government’s latest estimate for the deficit in trade in goods in 2008? Can she confirm that in 2007 it was £89 billion in what was once a proud manufacturing nation? Against this background, does she think that the unprecedented devaluation in sterling we have seen is a benefit or a problem? At the G20 meeting, there was talk of better regulation of financial services. Judging by what has happened in Britain, they could scarcely be worse regulated than in the system put in place by the Prime Minister in 1997. Will there be another apology for that? Will the noble Baroness acknowledge the immense importance of financial services to our country? Surpluses and services have offset half the UK’s deficit in goods. While collegiate co-operation is welcome, will she give a clearer assurance that the UK Government will not accept the imposition of external regulation that may strangle the success of the City of London, which is so vital to our national well-being? I greatly welcome the renewed commitment to the completion of the Doha round. Nothing would do more damage than renewed protectionism. Can the noble Baroness give the House the Government’s latest assessment of the intentions of President-elect Obama on this? Is it not essential that we impress on him how damaging US-first protectionism would be at this juncture? How is this message being transmitted? We will no doubt discuss a fiscal stimulus at length in the debate on the Pre-Budget Statement that we have been promised. This Prime Minister has taken more money from the British people in taxation than any Chancellor in history. There is general agreement that tax cuts are necessary: the issue is how they should be paid for. We have put forward some carefully funded proposals. We submit that there is waste and space enough in the public sector to provide room for greater efficiencies. The public sector cannot ignore the need to tighten its belt when families and businesses face these pressures day by day. Is it not clear, therefore, that more borrowing now, without knowing where the money is coming from, will inevitably lead to higher taxes later? That is what the Business Secretary admitted this morning when he talked about a medium-term adjustment some years ahead and a structural adjustment later on. Translated from the original Greek, that means tax cuts now, tax rises later. There is not a single family in the country that does not understand that what you borrow now you have to repay. Borrowing has its place, but it is like a drug; if you take too much for too long, it can kill you. So far this year, we have borrowed £100 each month for every man, woman and child in the country. In the Government’s view, is there any ceiling to the current growth in borrowing, including commitments to the nationalised banks, PFI and public sector pensions? The Business Secretary spoke of a ““medium-term adjustment””. What can this mean—higher taxes, spending cuts, printing money and higher inflation? What, my Lords, and when? The Government led us into this, not with the G20 but on their own. They now have a duty to chart the course that will lead us out. I hope that when the noble Baroness responds, she will give us an assurance that she will ask her right honourable friend the Chancellor to set out a clear strategy for repayment of the debt now being undertaken in the Pre-Budget Report next week. In his Statement, the Prime Minister calls this a, "““unique moment in our economic history””." I call it the mother of all economic crises. Let its father now accept some share of blame for the mess that he has made.