This House of Lords Library briefing provides background information in advance of the second reading of the Budget Responsibility and National Audit (Fiscal Mandate) Bill in the House of Lords on Friday 9 September 2016.
Budget Responsibility and National Audit (Fiscal Mandate) Bill (151 KB , PDF)
The Budget Responsibility and National Audit (Fiscal Mandate) Bill [HL] is a private member’s bill introduced by Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat). The Bill received its first reading in the House of Lords on 24 May 2016, and is scheduled to have its second reading on 9 September 2016.
The Bill would amend the Budget Responsibility and National Audit Act 2011. The Act provided that the Treasury must prepare a Charter for Budget Responsibility and that the Charter must include a fiscal mandate to show how the Treasury’s objectives, in relation to fiscal policy, would be attained. The Bill contains two clauses. Clause 1 would provide that, in preparing the fiscal mandate under section 1(2)(b) of the Budget Responsibility and National Audit Act 2011, the Treasury must have regard to:
Clause 1 of the Bill would also ensure that, in considering the above provisions, the Treasury “must consult independent experts”. Clause 1 states that the meaning of “infrastructure” would be taken in accordance with section 1(2) of the Infrastructure (Financial Assistance) Act 2012; therefore “water, electricity, gas, telecommunications, sewerage or other services; railway facilities (including rolling stock), roads or other transport facilities; health or educational facilities; court or prison facilities, and housing”. Clause 1 defines the term “intergenerational fairness” as “the overall wealth of future generations”. Clause 2 states that the legislation would be applicable to the whole of the United Kingdom.
Budget Responsibility and National Audit (Fiscal Mandate) Bill (151 KB , PDF)
This briefing is the fifth of a series on the post-war history of the UK economy. The series proceeds decade-by-decade from the 1950s onwards, providing an overview of the key macroeconomic developments of each decade. This fifth briefing looks at the 1990s. In this decade the UK economy settled into a period of low inflation and steady growth; however, living standards growth was lower and more regionally concentrated than in previous decades.
The Budget Responsibility Bill would require ministers to request an assessment from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) for every major fiscal announcement and give the OBR the power to decide to publish one if the minister failed to request it. This follows the September 2022 ‘mini-budget’. The statement included plans that would have resulted in a projected £45bn reduction in tax income. It did not have an accompanying OBR assessment.
In November 2023, the Harrington review of foreign direct investment made recommendations about how the UK could attract more cross-border investment. The new Labour government has said tackling barriers to investment is a priority.
