Economic Affairs Committee
9 June 2026
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Economic Affairs Committee House of Lords
00:07 - 01:09
Speaker 1
Welcome to the Lords Economic Affairs Committee's second evidence session of its inquiry, of our inquiry into fiscal devolution in England. And we're delighted to have former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne here. We're very grateful for your time. Thank you so much. I should say the session is being broadcast live on Parliament Live TV and the full transcript will be taken, which we'll obviously share with you shortly afterwards to make any corrections of fact.
Can I start Mr. Osborne by asking you a general question about what the purpose of devolution is? What's the prize particularly of having fiscal devolution? Is it a prize in terms of accountability and local democracy? Do you think it's a prize about innovation and local, locally generated growth? Or is it a prize to do with greater equality?
And how do you see the trade-off between these different contending claims about what fiscal devolution might achieve? So just a small question to start off with.
01:09 - 01:40
Speaker 3
Yeah. Well, first of all, thank you very much for inviting me and I'm flattered and honored. So, you know, if I look back at my time as Chancellor, there were two major acts of fiscal devolution that I was involved in. And I think both of them speak to different motives for fiscal devolution to answer your question. So the first was post the Scottish referendum, the big devolution of tax-raising powers to the Scottish Parliament.
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