Lord Livermore (Lab)

I am grateful to the noble Lord for his question. There was a lot there; let me see if I can cover some of that. He is absolutely right to draw attention to the fact that, as the previous Government found, credibility is hard won but easily lost. That is why ongoing market volatility further underlines the importance of a robust fiscal framework and non-negotiable fiscal rules. I assure him that we will continue to meet our fiscal rules. He talks about reducing borrowing, and we have set out a very clear path to reduce borrowing across this Parliament. The noble Lord has told me many times that we should raise taxes on working people. We have clearly said that that is not our intention, and we have a manifesto commitment to that effect. I will not give a running commentary now on the fiscal forecast or speculate on the next Budget. As he draws attention to, there has been much speculation in the newspapers, as is usual ahead of a Budget. A lot of that speculation is irresponsible, but I will not comment on individual tax measures now. We will do things in the usual way: the Chancellor will ask the OBR to produce a new forecast in the autumn, she will take decisions based on that forecast and we will set out our fiscal plans at the Budget in the usual way. The Chancellor will do so mindful of the importance of growth and investment to businesses and the economy.