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Queen’s Speech

My Lords, I was pleased to hear the very good maiden speech of my fellow countryman, the noble Lord, Lord Martin. We have had several meetings. As chairman of the Clydesdale Bank, I was able to welcome him as the first Speaker of the House of Commons who had ever been a customer. I am pleased that he is here with us. I suppose that, at the beginning of a speech such as this, it is good to congratulate the Government on something that they have done. I am pleased to do that. Their decision, after a long gestation period, to build new nuclear power stations is extremely responsible. They have faced down criticism of nuclear power, which I happen to believe is essential for keeping the lights of the United Kingdom burning and the factories with enough power to exist. However, given that I come from north of the border, I am dismayed that the Government have not looked at the terms of the Scotland Act, which transferred to the Scottish Parliament powers over planning on matters such as power stations. This means that instead of being an exporter of power through the interconnector from Scotland to England, which is the case now, the reverse will happen, because apparently no new nuclear power stations are scheduled to be built in Scotland as a result of the Scottish nationalist Government’s views on nuclear power. This is wrong, and both the present Government and any future one should consider amending the Scotland Act to allow strategic industries such as nuclear power to come under the control of Westminster as opposed to a regional, devolved Parliament. The decision of the Scottish Government to remove any chance of nuclear power stations being built in Scotland, particularly to replace ageing ones like Torness in East Lothian, which has been very successful, is wrong. I do not see why those of us who live north of the border should be disadvantaged in this way, particularly when one considers how Scotland led the way on nuclear power at Dounreay and other places. Have the Government any plans to reconsider the terms of the Scotland Act regarding strategic planning for nuclear power stations north of the border? It may be helpful to remind the House of a recent report from the respected Fraser of Allander Institute, which warned that Scotland was facing a deeper recession than the rest of the United Kingdom and will take longer to recover. It predicts that unemployment will be significantly higher than previously forecast and that the Scottish economy will grow by just 0.1 per cent next year. It is not too late—surely Westminster understands the need to encourage the building of a successful nuclear industry in Scotland. After all, jobs are scarce. New jobs and employment in Scotland would give the flagging economy a welcome boost. I declare an interest as a director of a medium-sized firm manufacturing in Scotland. I welcome my party’s commitment to helping us to survive and flourish, hopefully by reducing corporation tax and certainly by not increasing national insurance contributions. Increasing taxes on small business stifles enterprise and employment. Fraser of Allander points to the fact that it will be another three years before Scottish economic output reaches pre-recession levels, partly because Scotland is more reliant than other parts of the United Kingdom on the public sector. Against that background, I maintain that those of us involved in the private sector must drive the recovery. The Scottish National Party Government must stop wasting time and money on a referendum Bill to break up the United Kingdom, thoughts of which destroy confidence—which, as my noble friend Lord Wakeham said, is so important at this time. On the subject of Scotland, another issue has already been mentioned in this debate. An extremely good, unanimous report from your Lordships’ House on the Barnett formula was published on 17 July. It is a weighty document, and to have a unanimous report on this subject is a very good thing. In the run-up to a general election, something should be said by the Government and the Opposition about the Barnett formula. It is totally outdated. It was good at one time, but with changes in population and need these matters must be reviewed urgently. I turn to my second subject, which no doubt the Government will not welcome me talking about—I got a pretty dusty answer on pensions last time I spoke in one of these debates. Offering final-salary benefits means serious cash commitments for a pension scheme. In a recession this means that companies feel that they are running into grave trouble because of the enormous burden that they have to face. The schemes were set up to provide members with a pension based on final salary, as opposed to the defined-contribution schemes that rely on the performance of the stock market. The threat of closure is a blow to private sector workers, many of whom are having to delay their retirement to earn the extra money needed to top up poorly performing schemes. I ask the Government: if this is happening in the private sector—and it is—what are they prepared to do about workers in the public sector who continue to enjoy gold-plated pensions? Recent figures suggest that town hall pensions cost council tax payers £300 each per year. I believe that local councils paid out £5.4 billion in pensions to retired council workers in the tax year ending 2009—almost double the £3.5 billion paid four years ago. Do the Government think that this is fair and reasonable to all workers? I do not and I would like to see action taken.