The Earl of Effingham (Con)

My Lords, I have two minutes so I will be brief. First, on UK debt and financing it, as my noble friend Lady Coffey put so well, the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, spent half his speech talking about the Opposition and, for whatever reason, certain noble Lords opposite wish to attribute to them the current national debt pile. It is there, it is not going away and simply blaming others for its existence and looking backwards, not forwards, solves zero. It is critical that it is reduced by every Government. The noble Baronesses, Lady Hazarika and Lady Royall, were spot on when they said that this is about problem-solving together, not point-scoring. My noble friend Lord Redwood knows what he is talking about. You need to respect the global bond markets. Bond yields and financing costs are at multidecade highs. The Prime Minister has spent the summer making welcome spending commitments but without explaining in any shape or form how they will be funded. We need clarification. If the markets have certainty, borrowing costs will be lowered and, ultimately, hard-working people will benefit. Secondly, on taxes and spending, will the noble Lord, Lord Collins, listen to the Prime Minister’s friend and adviser, the noble Lord, Lord O’Neill of Gatley? The noble Lord is a globally recognised and respected economist who said only last week that if Ministers raise taxes, it will show that “they’re not thinking about growth as sincerely as they claim”. The noble Lord, Lord Walker of Broxton, was entirely correct when, in a previous debate, he agreed that he supports the Labour Party, not the “Benefits Party”. Will the Minister listen to the advice of the noble Lords, Lord Walker and Lord O’Neill, and cut the welfare bill? Finally, we have heard about GDP from this Government and from the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, in his opening remarks. But as my noble friend Lord Hintze, one of the world’s most respected fund managers, often reminds the Government, we should be looking at GDP per capita. It is more important for measuring individual living standards than GDP. Please will the Government consider that? It is a benchmark universally agreed by economists as the measure of individual living standards.