Part of the debate – in the House of Lords am 5:56 pm ar 10 Medi 2024.
Lord Petitgas
Ceidwadwyr
5:56,
10 Medi 2024
I will do my best.
My Lords, I commend my friend the noble Lord, Lord Harrington, for his report, and for tabling today’s debate. I know what it takes to harness FDI in the UK. During my stint at No. 10, I worked across Whitehall on several major foreign direct investments. Together with my noble friend Lord Johnson we led the 2023 Global Investment Summit, which beat every investment and attendance record.
Our country has in recent years been a magnet for both capital and talent, topping global rankings. That said, reading the press and hearing from CEOs and entrepreneurs, I fear we have a boom in gloom—investor sentiment is shifting and souring. This is a pressing topic because investor confidence and conviction underpin our national growth priority. We need more investment.
Let me share three observations. First, FDI is a competitive sport, as the noble Lord, Lord Harrington, rightly said. This country has a tremendous hand to play, but there are serious concerns and we face global competition. Investors want stability and common sense. On the former, the Government can no doubt play up their strong Majority in Parliament, which is welcome. On the latter, the market is very worried that we will not stay competitive on tax and labour Laws. The Government need to back up their pro-business claims with pro-business policies. Business scepticism is now rampant.
Secondly, FDI is not the only capital in town. Our domestic pensions system is woefully under-indexed in both our UK stock market and infrastructure. It needs to get into the game alongside FDI and foreigners. This will boost investment and should also help pensions returns. Moreover, given that FDI often—or always—gets a government subsidy, it will ensure that pensions, not just foreigners, benefit from government largesse.
Thirdly, FDI is about talent—people—not just capital. Let me ask noble Lords which entrepreneur, British or foreign, is going to choose the UK if rumoured levies on capital through CGT, carry and inheritance taxes become uncompetitive. We need wealth creation to pay for our welfare state. We have a mismatch, I fear, between the rhetoric about attracting investment to drive growth on the one hand and policy actions or ideology that will drive entrepreneurs and investors away. I am sorry to be alarmist.
I therefore ask the Minister three questions. First, can he provide an update on the International Investment Summit and the appointment of the Investment Minister? Secondly, can he update us on the pensions review and reform, which is tied to FDI? Thirdly, can he say whether an analysis of the impact on FDI of the likely new tax and labour laws will be made in the Budget?
Laws are the rules by which a country is governed. Britain has a long history of law making and the laws of this country can be divided into three types:- 1) Statute Laws are the laws that have been made by Parliament. 2) Case Law is law that has been established from cases tried in the courts - the laws arise from test cases. The result of the test case creates a precedent on which future cases are judged. 3) Common Law is a part of English Law, which has not come from Parliament. It consists of rules of law which have developed from customs or judgements made in courts over hundreds of years. For example until 1861 Parliament had never passed a law saying that murder was an offence. From the earliest times courts had judged that murder was a crime so there was no need to make a law.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.
Whitehall is a wide road that runs through the heart of Westminster, starting at Trafalgar square and ending at Parliament. It is most often found in Hansard as a way of referring to the combined mass of central government departments, although many of them no longer have buildings on Whitehall itself.
