Lords to quiz George Osborne on state of the economy
The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee will next week take evidence from Rt Hon George Osborne MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer in an occasional l session with the Committee.
The session will cover a number of issues of relevance to the UK's economy including:
- Whether the recent upturn in the UK economy is sustainable in the medium term?
- How he explains the drop in productivity in the UK since 2008 and what can be done to reverse this?
- Whether he is concerned that UK house price inflation rose at three times the general rate of inflation in 2013?
- His views on Business Secretary Vince Cable's concern that London was a “giant suction machine draining life out of the rest of the country”?
- What the government can do to encourage individuals and households to save?
- What more can be done to improve the availability of credit to small and medium sized companies?
- Whether the City of London's bonus culture was now under control?
- Whether he would support the Scottish government's aspiration to retain sterling as part of a formal monetary union if Scotland becomes independent?
- What might be the impact on the UK economy of a withdrawal from the European Union.
The Committee will also ask Mr Osborne about the prospects for the development of the shale gas and oil industry in the UK and what contribution this can make to the national economy. Shale gas is the subject of the Committee's present inquiry, launched last year. It expects to publish its report by April.
The evidence session will start at 3:00pm on Tuesday 4 February in Committee Room 1 of the House of Lords.
