§ Lord Shore of Stepneyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to their Pre-Budget Statement and to the statement by Lord McIntosh of Haringey on 9 December (H.L., Deb., col. 1460) about low British investment and productivity, what are their present estimates of the time required to close the gap between United Kingdom productivity performance and that of our principal competitors, Germany, France and Italy, in the European Union. [HL416]
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyBritain's productivity gap with countries such as the US, France and Germany is substantial—up to a third. The Chancellor announced in his Pre-Budget Report that the Government's long-term economic ambition for the next decade is that Britain will have a faster rise in productivity than its main competitors as it closes the gap. The Government are putting in place the policies to achieve this aim, as set out in the Pre-Budget Report.