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Order, order. Questions to Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer. Craig | :00:00. | :00:10. | |
Williams. Britain is in a much stronger | :00:11. | :00:24. | |
economic position manager was five years ago with employment up and the | :00:25. | :00:28. | |
deficit down. However, as I set out in my speech to business leaders in | :00:29. | :00:32. | |
Cardiff, we face a dangerous cocktail of economic risks from | :00:33. | :00:36. | |
around the world this year. That situation is reflected in the IMF | :00:37. | :00:40. | |
forecast which was published one hour ago which shows world growth is | :00:41. | :00:44. | |
down but the positive forecast for the UK on change. It sure is the | :00:45. | :00:47. | |
best thing we can do here is continued to fix our public | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
finances, back business and deliver our long-term economic plan. Thank | :00:53. | :00:57. | |
you. The Chancellor was very welcome when he was in Cardiff two weeks ago | :00:58. | :01:02. | |
and brought a sense of urgency to the Cardiff city deal process with a | :01:03. | :01:07. | |
deadline for the budget and a clear sense of direction. If we are to | :01:08. | :01:10. | |
maximise the potential of Cardiff in the Welsh economy presented and our | :01:11. | :01:17. | |
long-term economic plan, is it not time we had tangible plans from | :01:18. | :01:25. | |
Labour given the have had years to come up with them? It was good to | :01:26. | :01:28. | |
meet with my honourable friend and business leaders in Cardiff and to | :01:29. | :01:34. | |
back investment in the new semiconductor catapult and the | :01:35. | :01:40. | |
brilliant work being done at the university there. I hope we can | :01:41. | :01:44. | |
agree with the wealth of Ramadan with authorities in Cardiff a | :01:45. | :01:46. | |
Cardiff city deal before the budget. He poses the rate question, which is | :01:47. | :01:54. | |
after 16 years after being in power the Labour Party in Wales has not | :01:55. | :01:57. | |
delivered incredible economic plan for Wales is it not time for change? | :01:58. | :02:04. | |
If the Chancellor keeps sucking off the threat to the very existence of | :02:05. | :02:10. | |
some of Britain's's course at Egypt industries like still cause -- like | :02:11. | :02:21. | |
steel, is there not eight danger that it might just not be the at all | :02:22. | :02:26. | |
in the future? Of course the redundancies at Tata Steel and | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
elsewhere in the industry are a real matter of regret. We are providing | :02:31. | :02:35. | |
all these aboard we can to families, helping them get back into work. We | :02:36. | :02:39. | |
are also responding to a quest from the steel industry to cut energy | :02:40. | :02:46. | |
costs. That comes into effect today. -- requests from the steel industry. | :02:47. | :02:53. | |
We are making sure that internationally we take action | :02:54. | :02:56. | |
against the chief imports from China. Not one of these things were | :02:57. | :03:00. | |
done under a Labour Government, and during that period, the number of | :03:01. | :03:04. | |
steel jobs fell by 50% in this country. So we will not take | :03:05. | :03:08. | |
lectures from the party opposite, but we will back our steel industry. | :03:09. | :03:15. | |
Does the tiles were think that the stamp duty surcharge announced in | :03:16. | :03:20. | |
the Autumn Statement, the effect of that on the buy to let market will | :03:21. | :03:25. | |
be to inhibit or advance labour mobility? I think it will help | :03:26. | :03:31. | |
promote homeownership, because it will mean there is a more level | :03:32. | :03:39. | |
playing field between an order occupier buying a house at the buy | :03:40. | :03:44. | |
to let landlords. There is nothing wrong with people investing in | :03:45. | :03:48. | |
property, there should just be a level playing field so that we | :03:49. | :03:51. | |
reverse the decline in home ownership in this country. A | :03:52. | :03:56. | |
long-term economic plan means supporting small businesses across | :03:57. | :04:00. | |
the country. On the 26th of December 250 businesses in my constituency | :04:01. | :04:07. | |
employed 2500 people were inundated by floodwaters. Bobby tiles for Dick | :04:08. | :04:10. | |
Best opportunity to commit to a proper school -- well the Chancellor | :04:11. | :04:17. | |
take the opportunity to commit to proper flood defences? I know the | :04:18. | :04:25. | |
Environment Agency and indeed the Government is conducting a review | :04:26. | :04:29. | |
after what was the highest level of rainfall in our modern history in | :04:30. | :04:32. | |
Yorkshire. But of course by committing the additional ?2 billion | :04:33. | :04:38. | |
to flood investments we are able to afford these things. We would not be | :04:39. | :04:41. | |
able to afford any of this sort of thing if we had wrecked the economy | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
in the last couple of years. Does my honourable friend agree that as part | :04:46. | :04:51. | |
of his long-term economic plan be helped by Isil will help people in | :04:52. | :05:05. | |
my constituency where -- help to buy ISA will help? The help to buy ISA | :05:06. | :05:11. | |
has been a huge success as it has been launched. 170,000 families have | :05:12. | :05:16. | |
taken it up because that is helping people get on the ladder, the | :05:17. | :05:20. | |
property ladder, helping them save for that deposit and doing | :05:21. | :05:24. | |
everything we can to support the aspirations of the families of | :05:25. | :05:30. | |
Britain. The Government's plan requires the doubling of exports by | :05:31. | :05:40. | |
2022 ?1 trillion, -- by 2020. Can the Chancellor tell us, does he | :05:41. | :05:44. | |
still hauled to the intention and the promise to the UK exports rise | :05:45. | :05:50. | |
by ?100 billion per year every year for the next five years? We do hold | :05:51. | :05:57. | |
to the target, but quite frankly it will be very challenging to meet, | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
because while we have been improving exports, and frankly many of our | :06:03. | :06:05. | |
main export markets have been very weak, we would like to see further | :06:06. | :06:08. | |
economic reform on the continent of Europe. Some of those emerging | :06:09. | :06:13. | |
markets are struggling at the moment, although we have a very good | :06:14. | :06:18. | |
economic dialogue team plays today with India. British exports to India | :06:19. | :06:25. | |
are increasing. There are a lot of challenges, but I am not one who | :06:26. | :06:28. | |
thinks we should knock the challenges or ditched the target. | :06:29. | :06:33. | |
Increasing exports is a key target for the UK. We should set ambitious | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
targets but they have to be credible. Given that all beer -- or | :06:39. | :06:50. | |
they are say it will be feel -- will feel to be met, should we not set a | :06:51. | :07:01. | |
realistic and achievable targets? I think it is right to set the | :07:02. | :07:04. | |
scratching target and tried to meet it even if it will be challenging. | :07:05. | :07:10. | |
He talks about realistic and credible numbers. If Scotland had | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
listened to the Scottish nationalists, it would be becoming | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
separate from the United Kingdom in two months' time and the Scottish | :07:20. | :07:24. | |
Government and its claim on independence on an oil price of | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
$115. Scotland now would be heading for economic catastrophe if there it | :07:30. | :07:35. | |
had listened to the honourable gentleman and the members from the | :07:36. | :07:39. | |
Scottish Nationalist party. So before they talk about credible and | :07:40. | :07:45. | |
realistic economic policies anywhere else in the UK, they should get one | :07:46. | :07:50. | |
themselves. Motor manufacturing is crucial to our long-term economic | :07:51. | :07:56. | |
plan. Surely the Land Rover defender. Production in Solihull. | :07:57. | :08:12. | |
--. Production. Well the Chancellor pay tribute to the workers in | :08:13. | :08:24. | |
Solihull? This iconic model has been produced over decades and been seen | :08:25. | :08:27. | |
all over the world and producible peacetime and wartime. Good news for | :08:28. | :08:33. | |
Solihull and the whole country is that they continue to produce | :08:34. | :08:38. | |
brand-new models of great cars and are one of the real success stories | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
of the British economy and in general, Wilder have been | :08:44. | :08:47. | |
conservatives in the Treasury and in Downing Street, car production in | :08:48. | :08:51. | |
this country is up 50%. -- while there have been Conservatives. The | :08:52. | :08:59. | |
Chancellor has promised an economic recovery for all felt in all parts | :09:00. | :09:04. | |
of our nation. On the day the IMF has warned about the global economy | :09:05. | :09:11. | |
and called for governments to increase public spending, will be | :09:12. | :09:13. | |
Chancellor now reconsider his economic plan and his investment and | :09:14. | :09:21. | |
in particular? The economic plan has seen employment, unemployment fall. | :09:22. | :09:26. | |
It has meant that on those IMF forecasts the UK's forecast has not | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
changed. It remains one of the strongest of all the advanced | :09:32. | :09:35. | |
economies in the world. I might suggest he might want to treat his | :09:36. | :09:39. | |
own economic policy, since in the last week he has called for the | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
return of flying pickets, was to ban companies paying dividends, and | :09:45. | :09:49. | |
wants to spend billions of pounds on nuclear missile submarines without | :09:50. | :09:52. | |
any nuclear missiles. Today he said he will tour the country with the | :09:53. | :09:58. | |
former Greek finance minister to educate us all about economics. I | :09:59. | :10:01. | |
think the one thing they have in common is they have both lost their | :10:02. | :10:11. | |
marbles. If the Chancellor will not reconsider his investment plans, can | :10:12. | :10:16. | |
he at least appreciate how angry families of steelworkers South Wales | :10:17. | :10:19. | |
are this morning knowing that when the bankers bonuses were threatened, | :10:20. | :10:25. | |
he immediately shot across to Brussels with an army of lawyers to | :10:26. | :10:30. | |
defend them. He will jump into a helicopter for a Tory fundraiser but | :10:31. | :10:34. | |
it has taken him for months to lift a finger for a steelwork, to receive | :10:35. | :10:40. | |
Steelworkers' jobs. Does that not prove he is actually the bankers' | :10:41. | :10:47. | |
Chancellor? We want a successful financial services industry because | :10:48. | :10:49. | |
hundreds of thousands of people across the country work in it. | :10:50. | :10:56. | |
We have taken action to reduce energy costs, which hadn't happened | :10:57. | :11:01. | |
previously, and that comes into effect today. That's why we're | :11:02. | :11:05. | |
taking action to change procurement rules so that the British Government | :11:06. | :11:12. | |
and others are encouraged to by British Steel, which never happened | :11:13. | :11:15. | |
when the Labour Party were in office, and we are acting | :11:16. | :11:18. | |
internationally to deal with things like the dumping of Chinese steel. | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
Of course it is an incredibly difficult situation but, as he | :11:23. | :11:25. | |
knows, and everyone in this House knows, there are steel jobs being | :11:26. | :11:28. | |
lost in every single country in the world at the moment. The question | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
is, what can you do nationally to defend your steel industry and | :11:33. | :11:35. | |
protect it, and we are doing everything we can. If he has got | :11:36. | :11:39. | |
constructive suggestions, he should put them to me. Number two, please. | :11:40. | :11:48. | |
With permission, I'd like to group this question with question 13. The | :11:49. | :11:52. | |
Financial Conduct Authority is an independent regulator. No Treasury | :11:53. | :11:59. | |
minister or official had discussions with the SCA before it took the | :12:00. | :12:02. | |
decision to continue this review. Given that the popular image of | :12:03. | :12:07. | |
bankers right now is probably on a par with used-car salesmen or MPs, | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
even, would she not agree with her honourable friend, the Member for | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
wire forest, but to abort this review now, which could have looked | :12:17. | :12:21. | |
at regulating challenger banks as well as historic mis-selling, is a | :12:22. | :12:26. | |
missed opportunity all-round? Well, I find it hard to take lectures from | :12:27. | :12:31. | |
the party opposite in terms of regulating the financial sector. In | :12:32. | :12:37. | |
fact, since my right honourable friend became Chancellor, we set up | :12:38. | :12:41. | |
the Financial Conduct Authority. We've moved on from the failed | :12:42. | :12:44. | |
regulatory system that was there under the Labour government and we | :12:45. | :12:48. | |
made it a criminal offence to manipulate the UK's key benchmark. | :12:49. | :12:53. | |
We brought in the toughest rules on bankers' pay of any financial centre | :12:54. | :12:56. | |
and we are bringing in a new criminal offence so that any senior | :12:57. | :13:00. | |
managers whose reckless decisions bring down banks face jail time. | :13:01. | :13:05. | |
With the terrible impact of bad banking practices that was | :13:06. | :13:09. | |
highlighted in the Tomlinson report, particularly commercial lending to | :13:10. | :13:13. | |
small businesses, still unresolved one of my constituents, does the | :13:14. | :13:16. | |
Minister agree that both the public and small businesses still have | :13:17. | :13:19. | |
significant concerns about the behaviour of many individuals in the | :13:20. | :13:24. | |
banking sector? I completely agree with the honourable lady that we | :13:25. | :13:27. | |
need to see the highest levels of conduct from the banking sector. We | :13:28. | :13:31. | |
also need to continue to take steps in terms of our long-term economic | :13:32. | :13:37. | |
plan to secure access to funding for small businesses, which is why we've | :13:38. | :13:42. | |
taken steps to back peer-to-peer lending, with extended funding for | :13:43. | :13:45. | |
lending for another two years and we continue to benefit from record low | :13:46. | :13:49. | |
interest rates, axed our prudent to, management. There has certainly been | :13:50. | :13:59. | |
speculation that the Treasury has influenced the SCA and one metres | :14:00. | :14:03. | |
fanciful, it is important but that it was set up independently in 2012. | :14:04. | :14:09. | |
But does my honourable friend agree that one of the ways that we could | :14:10. | :14:14. | |
potentially underpin that independence of the Financial | :14:15. | :14:16. | |
Conduct Authority would be to adopt a similar process that we have with | :14:17. | :14:19. | |
the office of budget responsibility, whereby the Treasury committee can | :14:20. | :14:24. | |
have a power of veto over the apartment of the chief Executive? | :14:25. | :14:29. | |
The honourable gentleman, who is very constructive and engaged as a | :14:30. | :14:34. | |
member of the Treasury select committee, I know we'll have the | :14:35. | :14:37. | |
opportunity to ask westerns of the acting chief executive and the chair | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
of the Financial Conduct Authority at his committee on Wednesday. But | :14:42. | :14:47. | |
what I would agree is that it is very useful for the committees such | :14:48. | :14:53. | |
as to have a pre-appointment hearing with any executive of the Financial | :14:54. | :15:01. | |
Conduct Authority. The symphony interbank immigration software | :15:02. | :15:03. | |
allows for the permanent deletion of e-mails and advertises itself as, | :15:04. | :15:08. | |
this will save the banks billions of pounds in fines. Will the Minister | :15:09. | :15:12. | |
join my campaigning conduction with the Secretary of State business to | :15:13. | :15:16. | |
ensure that the FCA retains the encryption codes for the software as | :15:17. | :15:22. | |
they do in America, for seven years? He asks a very salient question and, | :15:23. | :15:28. | |
of course, it is something that the FCA is currently investigating and | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
he will be aware that new rules in terms of a particular requirement | :15:34. | :15:37. | |
will require firms to keep that information for a significant period | :15:38. | :15:40. | |
of time at this the subject of ongoing discussion. With the | :15:41. | :15:43. | |
Minister agree that one of the biggest problems in the banking | :15:44. | :15:47. | |
culture is that banks are too big to fail and would she looked at the | :15:48. | :15:51. | |
issue of diversity in the sector, including new lending platforms | :15:52. | :15:55. | |
market disrupters, and would she looked, in particular, at new | :15:56. | :15:58. | |
primary duties for the SCA to look the of diversity? | :15:59. | :16:05. | |
Well, he will I'm sure welcomed the announcement that we are expecting | :16:06. | :16:09. | |
on Wednesday from both the Bank of England and the FCA and the PRA to | :16:10. | :16:13. | |
work together in terms of backing innovation in the financial sector. | :16:14. | :16:17. | |
That is part of our long-term economic plan to back competition in | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
the can accept and I'm pleased to say that in the last parliament | :16:22. | :16:24. | |
there were eight new entrants to banking and did this parliament we | :16:25. | :16:31. | |
are aiming to have 15. Interventions by HM Treasury and other bodies have | :16:32. | :16:37. | |
raised questions regarding the ball's independence. Not my words | :16:38. | :16:41. | |
but the words of an FCA commissioned external report regarding the SCA | :16:42. | :16:46. | |
board which was published last week. How will the chancellor demonstrate | :16:47. | :16:50. | |
that the appointment of the new Chief Executive of the FCA won't be | :16:51. | :16:53. | |
an example of an overreaching chancellor trying to get his own | :16:54. | :17:00. | |
way? Well, it was good of the honourable gentleman to turn up for | :17:01. | :17:04. | |
Treasury questions this time. I guess there wasn't a stop the War | :17:05. | :17:07. | |
march or a picket line to join today. But I can assure the | :17:08. | :17:11. | |
honourable gentleman that the Treasury does have the power to | :17:12. | :17:16. | |
appoint both the board and the Chief Executive, it sets the remit of the | :17:17. | :17:19. | |
FCA but from then on it has operational independence. Number | :17:20. | :17:27. | |
three. Latest ONS figures show real average weekly earnings were up 2.4% | :17:28. | :17:32. | |
year-on-year in the three months to October. Wage growth has outstripped | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
inflation for 13 consecutive months, the longest period of real wage | :17:37. | :17:40. | |
growth since before the recession, and the OBR forecasts were to grow | :17:41. | :17:43. | |
faster than in elation over the next five years. -- than inflation. Does | :17:44. | :17:49. | |
he agree with me that the key to delivering further wage growth, | :17:50. | :17:53. | |
particularly in rural areas like Somerset, is improving the skills | :17:54. | :17:59. | |
base, which underpins the Chancellor's economic plan for the | :18:00. | :18:04. | |
South West? He is quite right. Last year will be hourly pay of the | :18:05. | :18:07. | |
average Somerset employee grew well in excess of CPI inflation. The | :18:08. | :18:12. | |
south-west has a particularly strong rate of employment but driving real | :18:13. | :18:16. | |
wage growth we have to see productivity gains, hence the focus | :18:17. | :18:24. | |
on making sure we have an attractive tax regime that brings jobs to that | :18:25. | :18:30. | |
region and this country. There are 400,000 fewer people earning over | :18:31. | :18:37. | |
?20,000 and there were in 2010 because the Chancellor has been | :18:38. | :18:41. | |
cutting up full-time jobs and replacing them with more part-time, | :18:42. | :18:47. | |
low-paid jobs. What is he doing to lift productivity, research and | :18:48. | :18:51. | |
development to raise average wages and to raise median wages as well? | :18:52. | :18:57. | |
The lowest earners experience the fastest growth in medium earnings | :18:58. | :19:03. | |
last year and recent growth has been dominated by full-time workers in | :19:04. | :19:07. | |
contrast to what he says. We have comprehends a plan for driving | :19:08. | :19:13. | |
productivity and the national living wage is a very dramatic, long-term | :19:14. | :19:17. | |
structural change. Number four, Mr Speaker. Our long-term plan is to | :19:18. | :19:23. | |
turn round a decades-old economic divide between North and south by | :19:24. | :19:27. | |
building a northern powerhouse. We said we would create powerful new | :19:28. | :19:31. | |
elected mayors. That's happening. We said we'd speed up transport | :19:32. | :19:34. | |
connections across the North and we committed 13 billion of investment. | :19:35. | :19:38. | |
And into my honourable friend's Cumbria, there is a new enterprise | :19:39. | :19:41. | |
zone, new parents and nuclear research. The North is growing under | :19:42. | :19:45. | |
this government and we will do everything we can to keep it growing | :19:46. | :19:50. | |
strongly. I, like many of my constituents in Carlisle and | :19:51. | :19:53. | |
Cumbria, hope to be very much part of the northern powerhouse. Part of | :19:54. | :19:57. | |
this is ensuring that the private sector investor grows skills and of | :19:58. | :20:01. | |
the structure and then there is the proposed Cumbrian deal. Can the | :20:02. | :20:04. | |
Chancellor assure me that everything is being done from the government's | :20:05. | :20:08. | |
perspective to achieve this deal, and will an elected mayor be part of | :20:09. | :20:13. | |
it? As my honourable friend knows, and he is a real champion not just | :20:14. | :20:17. | |
of Carlisle but of Cumbria and the Cumbrian economy, we are working | :20:18. | :20:22. | |
with local authority leaders and other elected representatives on | :20:23. | :20:25. | |
whether we can have a new governance arrangement in Cumbria which might | :20:26. | :20:30. | |
include an elected mayor. This is a decision for Cumbria but they have | :20:31. | :20:33. | |
come to us with this proposal and we are working hard with the people of | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
Cumbria to see whether we can get an arrangement that boosts jobs, boost | :20:39. | :20:41. | |
investment and makes sure that decisions that affect Cumbria are | :20:42. | :20:48. | |
taken in Cumbria. Does the northern powerhouse occur in Redcar, where | :20:49. | :20:54. | |
the steel industry has been closed because of him allowing the Chinese | :20:55. | :21:00. | |
to break steel? Are they talking about it at Scunthorpe, where | :21:01. | :21:04. | |
they've lost more than 1000 jobs? Are they talking about it at Port | :21:05. | :21:08. | |
Talbot, where they are going to lose a lot more jobs? The truth is, they | :21:09. | :21:13. | |
don't talk about the northern powerhouse in the coalfields where | :21:14. | :21:17. | |
the Tories have shot the last three pits. They call it the northern Peru | :21:18. | :21:20. | |
house. That's its real name. -- He seems to forget that the Redcar | :21:21. | :21:36. | |
works closed under the Labour government that he supports. It is | :21:37. | :21:39. | |
also the case that during that government but he supported from | :21:40. | :21:42. | |
that bench there, the number of steel jobs lost in this country was | :21:43. | :21:46. | |
30,000. We are doing everything we can to preserve the steel jobs that | :21:47. | :21:49. | |
remain. We are working with the steel industry. We have ceded to | :21:50. | :21:55. | |
almost all their requests we are looking to the last one, which is | :21:56. | :21:58. | |
changes to business rates, which never happened under a Labour | :21:59. | :22:01. | |
government, and we will report in the budget on that. We are working | :22:02. | :22:05. | |
to make this a competitive place to do business and if one really | :22:06. | :22:09. | |
adopted the policies of the party opposite, where you don't pay | :22:10. | :22:13. | |
dividends to investors and you reintroduce flying pickets, do you | :22:14. | :22:17. | |
really think a single overseas investor would be expanding their | :22:18. | :22:25. | |
business in the UK? Number five. The government is fighting hard to fix | :22:26. | :22:29. | |
the aspects of our EU membership, the cause of so much restriction in | :22:30. | :22:33. | |
the UK, so we get a better deal for our country and secure our future. | :22:34. | :22:36. | |
We are confident that the right agreement can be reached. Jaguar | :22:37. | :22:40. | |
Land Rover have recently announced that they're going to double the | :22:41. | :22:46. | |
investment in a brand-new engine plant in my constituency, creating | :22:47. | :22:48. | |
hundreds of additional jobs on top of the 1400 they have or the amount. | :22:49. | :22:52. | |
Does the Minister agree with me that unfettered access to the single | :22:53. | :22:57. | |
market dries this sort of investment and if we were to walk away or | :22:58. | :23:03. | |
sacrifice that access, those jobs and that investment could be put at | :23:04. | :23:09. | |
risk? First of all, I also welcome the new jobs being created near her | :23:10. | :23:16. | |
constituency by Jaguar Land Rover. My honourable friend the Chancellor | :23:17. | :23:21. | |
visited that site very recently. In terms of our relationship with the | :23:22. | :23:24. | |
EU, the position of the Government is very clear. We want the benefits | :23:25. | :23:29. | |
of access to the single market but there are also aspects of our | :23:30. | :23:32. | |
relationship with the EU which can be improved upon and that's what we | :23:33. | :23:35. | |
are seeking to do in our renegotiation. Given that last year | :23:36. | :23:44. | |
we had a ?62 billion trade deficit with the European Union and given | :23:45. | :23:49. | |
that if we left the EU, the UK would be the EU's single biggest export | :23:50. | :23:52. | |
market, does the Minister think we could have a free trade agreement | :23:53. | :23:57. | |
with the EU from outside the European Union without handing over | :23:58. | :24:00. | |
?19 billion a year in membership fees? Well, I'm sure that that issue | :24:01. | :24:08. | |
will be one of the issues discussed at length during the referendum | :24:09. | :24:13. | |
debate, and the point is that under this government, the British people | :24:14. | :24:17. | |
will have an opportunity to express its views on where our future lies. | :24:18. | :24:27. | |
Britain has been a substantial net contributor to the EU budget. For 40 | :24:28. | :24:31. | |
years this has had a negative effect on UK growth in GDP, the cumulative | :24:32. | :24:35. | |
effect of which has been very large. Would not leaving the EU help UK | :24:36. | :24:41. | |
growth? I suppose 1.I would beg to the honourable member is that thanks | :24:42. | :24:46. | |
to Margaret Thatcher's renegotiation of the rebate and thanks to the | :24:47. | :24:49. | |
current Prime Minister's ago she Asian of the EU budget, resulting in | :24:50. | :24:57. | |
a real terms cut, we are paying less than we would have done. -- by | :24:58. | :25:02. | |
minister's renegotiation of the EU budget. Nonsense. | :25:03. | :25:13. | |
Would she not agree that it would be important to pay the real living | :25:14. | :25:18. | |
wage, ?8 25 per hour, in the rest of the UK and ?9 40 in London, as is | :25:19. | :25:23. | |
done by the Scottish Government and over 400 employees in Scotland, so | :25:24. | :25:27. | |
that it is fair for all employees, particularly those under 25? I'm | :25:28. | :25:33. | |
glad she welcomes the fact that, as of April this year, all employees | :25:34. | :25:38. | |
across the whole of the UK over 25 will be getting a significant pay | :25:39. | :25:41. | |
rise, and that's thanks to the strength of employment across the | :25:42. | :25:47. | |
UK, which is thanks to our long-term economic plan. | :25:48. | :25:54. | |
By my calculation someone earns ?7.85 per hour today will be | :25:55. | :26:03. | |
benefiting and by the end of this parliament will be more than ?1500 | :26:04. | :26:08. | |
later. Does my honourable friend agree that this shows that | :26:09. | :26:11. | |
Government is committed to making work pay? The honourable member | :26:12. | :26:16. | |
makes an excellent point, and in fact it has been highlighted that it | :26:17. | :26:24. | |
is not just that 2.5 million people will be directly benefiting from the | :26:25. | :26:28. | |
change to the National Living Wage, but also to 6 million people who | :26:29. | :26:33. | |
make salaries and very close to that hourly rate. When is the Chancellor | :26:34. | :26:42. | |
and the present Minister going to give public sector workers a decent | :26:43. | :26:48. | |
pay rise for the jobs that they do frost? Of course we believe that | :26:49. | :26:53. | |
every worker in this country will benefit from the change to the | :26:54. | :26:57. | |
National Living Wage, because it is an important part of the long-term | :26:58. | :27:01. | |
economic plan. But he will know that this year public sector workers | :27:02. | :27:07. | |
actually received raises that work above inflation. The Minister has | :27:08. | :27:12. | |
spoken importantly about the principle of making work pay. Will | :27:13. | :27:18. | |
she give further consideration to extending married couples' tax | :27:19. | :27:21. | |
allowance so that more families can keep more of what they earn? I will | :27:22. | :27:30. | |
take that as a budget 's omission. -- budget submission. The Government | :27:31. | :27:36. | |
is backing business by cutting their taxes. To support small businesses | :27:37. | :27:43. | |
the employment allowance will rise in April and we are doubling | :27:44. | :27:51. | |
business small rate relief. We will back companies not punish them with | :27:52. | :27:59. | |
the anti-business nonsense we hear from the party opposite. Will be | :28:00. | :28:16. | |
Chancellor join me in congratulating... I John with my | :28:17. | :28:22. | |
honourable friend in congratulating the work they are doing in investing | :28:23. | :28:29. | |
on South Wales transport infrastructure. We are back in | :28:30. | :28:31. | |
companies with this annual investment allowance of ?200,000, | :28:32. | :28:36. | |
the highest level it has ever been. Will the Chancellor tell us what | :28:37. | :28:42. | |
step he ensures to take to make sure the quarterly tax returns coming in | :28:43. | :28:47. | |
2020 will not harm small businesses in constituencies like mine and | :28:48. | :28:50. | |
actually affected their productivity and their ability to make profits? | :28:51. | :28:57. | |
My honourable friend is right that the objective of what we are seeking | :28:58. | :29:01. | |
to do is to make it easier for businesses and individuals to | :29:02. | :29:04. | |
complete their tax returns by making use of modern digital technology and | :29:05. | :29:10. | |
introducing a simple and secure at personalised digital tax account. We | :29:11. | :29:14. | |
estimate it will reduce the administrative cost to businesses. | :29:15. | :29:22. | |
The best way to support manufacturing businesses in the | :29:23. | :29:25. | |
Midlands would be to free the region from London's control. The region | :29:26. | :29:28. | |
has been stifled by Whitehall for too long. To strengthen the economy, | :29:29. | :29:37. | |
develop Brownfield sites and tackle congestion, we will deliver new | :29:38. | :29:43. | |
homes. We have a deal. That is exactly what we are doing with the | :29:44. | :29:48. | |
west Midlands and we worked across different political parties. I have | :29:49. | :29:52. | |
met with Labour and Conservative authority leaders and members of | :29:53. | :29:56. | |
Parliament from both parties in the West Midlands who collectively | :29:57. | :29:58. | |
agreed to have an elected mayor and you have significant powers from the | :29:59. | :30:03. | |
Government to the people of the West midlands. I think it is one of the | :30:04. | :30:08. | |
most exciting step forward in the devolution of power in this country. | :30:09. | :30:14. | |
What further discussions have taken place in devolved administrations | :30:15. | :30:24. | |
about the introduction of fiscal incentives for apprenticeships and | :30:25. | :30:27. | |
economic growth? We are in discussion with the Northern | :30:28. | :30:30. | |
Ireland's executive about what we can do to support the economy. One | :30:31. | :30:36. | |
of the things we would really like to see is the devolution of | :30:37. | :30:41. | |
corporation tax rates which we have legislated for and provided we can | :30:42. | :30:46. | |
reach agreement on the budget implications of that that would be a | :30:47. | :30:51. | |
massive boost for Northern Irish businesses. I welcome the chance | :30:52. | :30:55. | |
were's reduction in the corporation tax that has helped so many jobs to | :30:56. | :30:59. | |
be created. Does he agree that some businesses cannot grow despite this | :31:00. | :31:06. | |
measure because of a local infrastructure constraints such as | :31:07. | :31:10. | |
those that need addressing in my constituency? My honourable friend | :31:11. | :31:17. | |
is absolutely right. We are investing in transport | :31:18. | :31:21. | |
infrastructure in the Southampton area and along the south coast | :31:22. | :31:24. | |
because we understand that all parts of the country can benefit from | :31:25. | :31:27. | |
additional investment in transport infrastructure. That is why we are | :31:28. | :31:31. | |
increasingly transport budget even at a time when public budgets are | :31:32. | :31:35. | |
tight. None of these things would be affordable if you crash the economy. | :31:36. | :31:40. | |
The introduction of quarterly reporting for tax returns has been | :31:41. | :31:44. | |
described by the Institute for chartered accountants at an | :31:45. | :31:46. | |
additional burden for business. Does he understand the very real anger | :31:47. | :31:52. | |
among businesses and my constituency and around the country that they are | :31:53. | :31:57. | |
being penalised while many of the largest corporations are allowed to | :31:58. | :32:01. | |
avoid a tax altogether? We have increased our action against | :32:02. | :32:07. | |
large-scale corporate tax avoidance and evasion, and the new diverted | :32:08. | :32:10. | |
profits tax is designed to deal with the very real anger that people | :32:11. | :32:15. | |
feel, particularly in the small-business community, when the | :32:16. | :32:17. | |
see large businesses not being taxed. We are dealing also with the | :32:18. | :32:23. | |
burdens of tax administration, consulting with small businesses. It | :32:24. | :32:27. | |
would be crazy as a country not to make use of new digital technology | :32:28. | :32:31. | |
and the Internet to update and modernise our tax collection system, | :32:32. | :32:35. | |
and we would regret not taking those steps today as we let other | :32:36. | :32:38. | |
countries power ahead and reduce the burdens on business. Mr Speaker, the | :32:39. | :32:47. | |
Government has taken a range of steps to reduce the trade deficit. | :32:48. | :32:52. | |
The 2010, UK TI has more than doubled the number of businesses | :32:53. | :32:57. | |
supported and UK Export Finance has provided more than 15 billion pounds | :32:58. | :33:03. | |
of support. Allies are earlier this month when I met entrepreneurs in | :33:04. | :33:08. | |
Edinburgh, many start-ups and exporters in Scotland greatly | :33:09. | :33:11. | |
appreciate the UK TI systems. And welcome the Government's | :33:12. | :33:23. | |
announcement this morning. It is not credible for the Minister to | :33:24. | :33:26. | |
continue with a policy which has failed and resulted last year in a | :33:27. | :33:30. | |
deficit in the trade of goods. We all want to see reduced dependence | :33:31. | :33:34. | |
on consumer debt, but is it not time for him to admit the UK Government | :33:35. | :33:39. | |
policy has failed. I gently suggest revision. The trade deficit is | :33:40. | :33:45. | |
actually improving and the Cheryl GDP and is expected to continue to | :33:46. | :33:51. | |
do so in the OBR forecast. What I can say, what would be an absolute | :33:52. | :33:54. | |
disaster would BDSM people's Mac policy of call fiscal independence | :33:55. | :34:03. | |
-- the SNP's policy. Added to which would be the collapse in oil price. | :34:04. | :34:10. | |
Revenues would be down this year a staggering 94%. This would be a | :34:11. | :34:18. | |
disaster for Scotland. I welcome the Commons made earlier by the | :34:19. | :34:21. | |
Chancellor about export initiatives to India, but will my honourable | :34:22. | :34:26. | |
friend welcome the enjoy -- join me in welcoming efforts to boost | :34:27. | :34:32. | |
exports in the north-west the Northern Powerhouse? I very much and | :34:33. | :34:38. | |
my honourable friend in welcoming that, particularly with reference to | :34:39. | :34:42. | |
exporters to China and India which have been a great success. The UK TI | :34:43. | :34:50. | |
is doing what it can to support this, and providing tailored support | :34:51. | :34:57. | |
for first-time exporters, and additional 20 million, and | :34:58. | :35:04. | |
supporting Northern Powerhouse trade solutions. The British Chambers of | :35:05. | :35:12. | |
commerce are reporting that it will take not four years but another 18 | :35:13. | :35:18. | |
years. Will be Chancellor not accept that this is clearer evidence that | :35:19. | :35:25. | |
his effort to reduce the trade deficit are failing and will | :35:26. | :35:30. | |
continue to fail? I think the UK has a good future in terms of the trade | :35:31. | :35:36. | |
deficit and improving statistics. In terms of UK TI, I think the UK TI | :35:37. | :35:39. | |
will also be playing an important role. The announcements we made | :35:40. | :35:46. | |
today on trade policy, one of the most important things we can be | :35:47. | :35:49. | |
doing at the Hall of Government approach is improving the approach | :35:50. | :35:54. | |
we take to trade and boosting our exports. In South Thanet we have a | :35:55. | :36:00. | |
niche amusement machine manufacturer, and the supply global | :36:01. | :36:06. | |
export markets. What help and support can my honourable friend | :36:07. | :36:11. | |
offer so that we can really achieve that cross Government approach to | :36:12. | :36:16. | |
exports that has been lodged today -- launched today? I have been quite | :36:17. | :36:22. | |
a few times to his constituency over the last year and a half. I don't | :36:23. | :36:27. | |
think I have had the particular pleasure of meeting with that | :36:28. | :36:30. | |
company, but I'm happy to meet with my honourable friend and with that | :36:31. | :36:34. | |
company to see what could be done to help exporters in South Thanet. The | :36:35. | :36:44. | |
concrete products industry used to have a surplus on the balance of | :36:45. | :36:48. | |
payments but no has a deficit of hundreds of millions of pounds. This | :36:49. | :36:53. | |
is due to the levy on products made in the United Kingdom but not on | :36:54. | :36:57. | |
imported products and has been thousands of jobs in jeopardy. With | :36:58. | :37:01. | |
the Minister consider imposing the same tax on goods produced abroad as | :37:02. | :37:08. | |
is imposed on goods produced here in the UK? I am happy to look in detail | :37:09. | :37:13. | |
at the points he raised. My understanding is there have been | :37:14. | :37:16. | |
legal challenges to aspects of the aggregates Levy which are prevented | :37:17. | :37:20. | |
us from addressing some of these issues, but I'm happy to engage with | :37:21. | :37:24. | |
him on an ongoing basis to see what could be done better. Since 2010 we | :37:25. | :37:37. | |
have cut corporation tax and will cut its further to eating percent by | :37:38. | :37:42. | |
2020. Yup then the annual investment level at its highest ever level. -- | :37:43. | :37:50. | |
we have set. And UK TI announced today support for exporters. Is the | :37:51. | :37:57. | |
minister concerned about recent figures showing the manufacturing | :37:58. | :38:00. | |
sector is back in recession and what is he intend to do about it? We have | :38:01. | :38:05. | |
to get behind the manufacturing sector, that is at the heart of this | :38:06. | :38:09. | |
Government's approach and long-term economic plan and the heart of the | :38:10. | :38:14. | |
productivity plan. Do things like giving enhanced access to leading | :38:15. | :38:17. | |
technologies and catapult centres, things like the apprenticeship where | :38:18. | :38:22. | |
the making sure we build up our skills, making sure we attract more | :38:23. | :38:25. | |
teachers and to stem subjects, and a whole range of other initiatives. | :38:26. | :38:35. | |
Can I have my honourable friend what steps are being taken to assist and | :38:36. | :38:41. | |
encourage small businesses to become expanding, exporting businesses? -- | :38:42. | :38:47. | |
can I ask? UK TI has an ambition to increase the number of exporting | :38:48. | :38:54. | |
businesses. There are a number of aspects of that, moving to more | :38:55. | :38:57. | |
direct support as well as advice from some of the leading export | :38:58. | :39:05. | |
agencies in the world. And making sure that we leverage existing | :39:06. | :39:09. | |
Government relationships with firms and sectors for the whole of | :39:10. | :39:16. | |
Government approach. The UK economy is still to dependent on consumer | :39:17. | :39:21. | |
spending to drive growth and the Government should start being sought | :39:22. | :39:27. | |
complacent and self-congratulatory. With the risk of Brexit this year | :39:28. | :39:32. | |
only making things worse, what will this Government do to expand | :39:33. | :39:37. | |
manufacturing exports? Exports are a challenge. There has been a | :39:38. | :39:42. | |
long-term change in the UK's share of world trade, but I would say the | :39:43. | :39:46. | |
majority of it came before 2010. An honest point about -- on his point | :39:47. | :39:57. | |
about business expense of -- consumption expenditure... Will my | :39:58. | :39:59. | |
honourable friend please agree with me that supporting engineering and | :40:00. | :40:04. | |
manufacturing is absolutely essential to our economy and | :40:05. | :40:07. | |
productivity and we must do all we can to address the skills gap that | :40:08. | :40:10. | |
is threatening local jobs and businesses in my constituency and | :40:11. | :40:14. | |
around the country? I absolutely agree with my honourable friend | :40:15. | :40:17. | |
about the importance of engineering and the evidence that was shown in | :40:18. | :40:24. | |
the spending review and Autumn Statement with enhanced support for | :40:25. | :40:30. | |
science as well as the apprenticeship levy which is an | :40:31. | :40:32. | |
important structural change in the way we invest in our skills base. | :40:33. | :40:41. | |
Five years ago the Chancellor said he would rebalance the economy | :40:42. | :40:46. | |
towards manufacturing, exports and the regions. The Director General of | :40:47. | :40:50. | |
the British Chamber of Commerce recently said, and I quote, none of | :40:51. | :40:54. | |
those things have actually transpired in practice yet. Why not? | :40:55. | :41:03. | |
Mr Speaker, we are rebalancing the economy and it is a long-term and | :41:04. | :41:07. | |
sustained programme. It is the long-term economic plan. We have | :41:08. | :41:12. | |
talked about some of the enhanced support for science, technology, | :41:13. | :41:16. | |
engineering and mathematics, and the apprenticeship levy, the catapult | :41:17. | :41:20. | |
centres giving British business access to the best in leading-edge | :41:21. | :41:24. | |
technology. There are some things in international trade we cannot | :41:25. | :41:27. | |
control. There is bad news from China. We cannot control the world | :41:28. | :41:31. | |
exchange rates but there are things we can control in terms of | :41:32. | :41:35. | |
supporting tissue exporters and we are absolutely doing those. There we | :41:36. | :41:38. | |
go again. It is everybody's fault but this | :41:39. | :41:53. | |
government. But here is the truth. The Chancellor promised to boost | :41:54. | :41:55. | |
manufacturing but instead it is in recession. Manufacturing output is | :41:56. | :41:57. | |
6.1% below its previous crisis peak and falling. The British Chamber of | :41:58. | :42:01. | |
Commerce's survey found manufacturing post to stagnation | :42:02. | :42:04. | |
with export, sales and orders falling. And yet instead of helping | :42:05. | :42:09. | |
the sector, the Chancellor close to the manufacturing advice service in | :42:10. | :42:12. | |
November without so much as a mention. Is it not true that British | :42:13. | :42:18. | |
businesses and families are now paying a heavy price for this | :42:19. | :42:24. | |
Chancellor's feelings? -- failings. That is not true. This promotion is | :42:25. | :42:31. | |
at the heart of the government's approach. We should not forget that | :42:32. | :42:35. | |
services are a big part of the economy, a bigger part. The overall | :42:36. | :42:39. | |
performance of the British economy is that we have the highest growth | :42:40. | :42:43. | |
rate of the G-7 countries in 2014, and the joint highest in 2015. We | :42:44. | :42:48. | |
have rising real wages and more people in jobs than ever before. | :42:49. | :43:00. | |
Question ten, Mr Speaker. Following on, employment stands at 31.3 | :43:01. | :43:04. | |
million, which as I have just said, is more people in work than ever | :43:05. | :43:08. | |
before. In the past year, growth has been driven by full-time employees | :43:09. | :43:11. | |
in high and medium skilled jobs, showing we are moving to the next | :43:12. | :43:17. | |
phase of the recovery with high-quality employment boosting | :43:18. | :43:19. | |
productivity and living standards nationwide. I thank the Minister for | :43:20. | :43:26. | |
his reply. In my constituency, youth unemployment has halved in the last | :43:27. | :43:31. | |
year and it is now lower for the whole of the West Midlands. Will the | :43:32. | :43:35. | |
Minister agree with me that this is excellent news for Telford and it | :43:36. | :43:37. | |
shows that the economic plan is working? I am delighted with that | :43:38. | :43:45. | |
news from my honourable friend's constituency and I agree with her. | :43:46. | :43:49. | |
Across the West Midlands, youth unemployment has fallen by almost a | :43:50. | :43:54. | |
quarter, with the rate returning to prerecession levels. Westminster saw | :43:55. | :44:00. | |
the fastest growth in earnings among the English regions and there are | :44:01. | :44:05. | |
140,000 more people in work than 2010. One of the leading employers | :44:06. | :44:09. | |
in Stoke on Trent is the supplement industry and part of the growth in | :44:10. | :44:14. | |
recent years has been due to the anti-dumping ruling by the EU on | :44:15. | :44:18. | |
subsidised Chinese imports. Shamefully, the British Government | :44:19. | :44:22. | |
opposed this. Will the Minister now commit the government to supporting | :44:23. | :44:25. | |
the renewal of this anti-dumping ruling when it comes up? The | :44:26. | :44:31. | |
government of course raises all issues about dumping and unfair | :44:32. | :44:36. | |
trade practices as and when they come up. I would be happy to look at | :44:37. | :44:41. | |
what he's saying about ceramics in Stoke-on-Trent. 12, Mr Speaker. HMRC | :44:42. | :44:47. | |
announced its location strategy on the 12th of November and as I have | :44:48. | :44:51. | |
stated, delivering that strategy will help HMRC to deliver more for | :44:52. | :44:59. | |
less and reduce costs by 2025. I and HMRC have received representations | :45:00. | :45:03. | |
from interested parties, most recently with my honourable friends, | :45:04. | :45:09. | |
the members for Rochdale and the south-west. Following the meeting | :45:10. | :45:12. | |
that my honourable friend had with myself and the honourable friend for | :45:13. | :45:19. | |
Rochdale, would my honourable friend reflect further on the points made | :45:20. | :45:23. | |
about Southend are becoming a regional centre. Will he make sure | :45:24. | :45:29. | |
that the hard work, dedicated staff of Alexandra house are treated well? | :45:30. | :45:35. | |
-- the hard-working. My honourable friend made his representations in a | :45:36. | :45:39. | |
robust and fourth White Way in our meeting yesterday and I'm sure that | :45:40. | :45:45. | |
HMRC are reflecting on that. -- robust and forthright. Redeeming the | :45:46. | :45:52. | |
staff relocated, the staff will have additional transport costs | :45:53. | :45:54. | |
compensated for for up to three years. And they will also benefit | :45:55. | :45:57. | |
from London weighting, given that they will be moving from Stratford. | :45:58. | :46:06. | |
Is anything going to be done about the depressing handling of HMRC and | :46:07. | :46:12. | |
can the Minister suggest an improvement? Coal handling is at a | :46:13. | :46:15. | |
higher level than it has been for many years. It was certainly the | :46:16. | :46:20. | |
case that in spring of last year, coal handling standards were not at | :46:21. | :46:25. | |
an acceptable level. HMRC have made improvements to that and I hope they | :46:26. | :46:33. | |
will continue to make that progress. Number 14, please, Mr Speaker. The | :46:34. | :46:39. | |
government is exploring options to ensure that the England and Wales | :46:40. | :46:43. | |
illegal moneylending teams have the funding they need to ensure that | :46:44. | :46:46. | |
consumers continue to be protected from illegal loan sharks and is | :46:47. | :46:49. | |
confident of transitional arrangements being agreed. Too many | :46:50. | :46:57. | |
of my constituents are victims of loan sharks. The illegal | :46:58. | :47:02. | |
moneylending team has helped nearly 24,000 across the country yet this | :47:03. | :47:06. | |
government has treated this service with disdain. Won't the cuts to this | :47:07. | :47:11. | |
vital team and to local trading standards make the poorest more | :47:12. | :47:18. | |
vulnerable? Far from agreeing with his point, we are finding ways to | :47:19. | :47:22. | |
put this team on a sustainable basis going forward to continue the | :47:23. | :47:26. | |
valuable work that they do protecting people from illegal | :47:27. | :47:30. | |
moneylending. Topical questions, Gareth Johnson. Question one. The | :47:31. | :47:37. | |
core purpose of the Treasury is to ensure the stability and prosperity | :47:38. | :47:43. | |
of the economy. I exit fees act as a disincentive for people to take | :47:44. | :47:48. | |
advantage of flexible pensions. Does the Chancellor agree with me that | :47:49. | :47:52. | |
tackling these higher fees is essential to give people freedom | :47:53. | :47:58. | |
over their own pensions? My honourable friend raises an | :47:59. | :48:00. | |
important issue. The pension freedoms we have introduced have | :48:01. | :48:04. | |
been widely welcomed. We have over 700,000 people eligible to pay some | :48:05. | :48:08. | |
form of early exit charge. The government is not prepared to stand | :48:09. | :48:12. | |
by and see people ripped off or blocked from accessing their own | :48:13. | :48:16. | |
money by excessive charges. We have listened to the concerns and the | :48:17. | :48:20. | |
newspaper campaigns that have been run. Today, we are known to change | :48:21. | :48:25. | |
the law to place a duty on the Financial Conduct Authority to cap | :48:26. | :48:29. | |
excessive early exit charges, and we are determined that people who have | :48:30. | :48:32. | |
done the right thing and saved responsibly are able to access their | :48:33. | :48:38. | |
pensions fairly. Mr Speaker, recent statistics show that household debt | :48:39. | :48:42. | |
is now at a record high. Back in 2010, the Chancellor promised to | :48:43. | :48:47. | |
move from an economy built on debt to an economy that saves. Can the | :48:48. | :48:50. | |
Chancellor confirmed today why the figures contradict his original | :48:51. | :48:58. | |
promise? Isil debt as a proportion of household income was 168% in 2008 | :48:59. | :49:05. | |
and today it is 142%, so it has fallen. -- household debt. This | :49:06. | :49:10. | |
Chancellor has given more than any before him towards the cause of | :49:11. | :49:13. | |
looking after our veterans in this country and for that I thank him | :49:14. | :49:17. | |
wholeheartedly. Does he agree that whilst the charity sector has a key | :49:18. | :49:22. | |
role to play, ultimately there is a state responsibility and we must | :49:23. | :49:24. | |
make sure that government money is used on Intel agreed measured | :49:25. | :49:31. | |
treatments for our veterans and their families? -- empirically | :49:32. | :49:35. | |
measured. My honourable friend has personal experience in this area and | :49:36. | :49:38. | |
represents a constituency that has given so much to the defence of our | :49:39. | :49:42. | |
nation. He is right that as well as the live or fines, which were used | :49:43. | :49:47. | |
for one-off causes to help military charities, we have the Armed Forces | :49:48. | :49:50. | |
covenant and the annual commitment to support veterans. I'm always | :49:51. | :49:54. | |
happy to look at specific projects that we can invest in or on going | :49:55. | :50:00. | |
concerns we can deal with. The collapse of UK manufacturing has | :50:01. | :50:06. | |
been going on for 50 years, from 30% of the economy in the 1970s to less | :50:07. | :50:12. | |
than 10% today. More than 20% of all jobs in the 1980s, to only 8% today. | :50:13. | :50:20. | |
Given the length of the decline, why has the government not made | :50:21. | :50:23. | |
manufacturing and exports one of its top priorities? We have backed our | :50:24. | :50:28. | |
manufacturers and our exporters and we have cut corporation tax and cut | :50:29. | :50:32. | |
other taxes that affect these businesses. We have reformed UK | :50:33. | :50:37. | |
Trade Investment and as a result, the manufacturing sector is a larger | :50:38. | :50:40. | |
share of our economy than it was when I became Chancellor but there | :50:41. | :50:43. | |
is a lot more to do. I would say to her and the Scottish Government, we | :50:44. | :50:47. | |
want to work more closely with Scotland on overseas trade missions | :50:48. | :50:50. | |
where we can promote Scottish businesses. We do not always get | :50:51. | :50:53. | |
that cooperation but hopefully it will be forthcoming in the future. | :50:54. | :51:00. | |
Whilst I welcome the government's move towards the digitalisation of | :51:01. | :51:03. | |
tax, a number of small businesses and self across my region, | :51:04. | :51:11. | |
approximately 74% of them employ less than four people and they have | :51:12. | :51:16. | |
voiced concerns about the negative affect on their financial resources, | :51:17. | :51:18. | |
depending on their alliance with a county. Could my honourable friend | :51:19. | :51:23. | |
outline what support will be provided to our small businesses to | :51:24. | :51:30. | |
help adapt to the proposed changes? First of all, can I reassure the | :51:31. | :51:34. | |
House that there are no plans for quarterly tax returns as has been | :51:35. | :51:38. | |
reported. What HMRC are looking at is making greater use of digital | :51:39. | :51:44. | |
technology and that information is provided to HMRC more regularly. My | :51:45. | :51:47. | |
honourable friend raises an important point about ensuring that | :51:48. | :51:51. | |
there is support for businesses as they adapt to new ways of keeping | :51:52. | :51:55. | |
records and that is something that HMRC is determined to do. The | :51:56. | :52:06. | |
Midlands engine has been turbo-charged with recent figures | :52:07. | :52:11. | |
showing four Staffordshire constituencies in the top seven of | :52:12. | :52:15. | |
those ranked by the extent of falling claimant rates between May | :52:16. | :52:20. | |
of 2010 and November 2015, with Canada to chase being ranked fourth. | :52:21. | :52:27. | |
What matters is my honourable friend undertaking to make sure we maintain | :52:28. | :52:32. | |
this positive momentum? There has been good news in Cannock and across | :52:33. | :52:36. | |
the Midlands and employment is up in her constituency. Since coming to | :52:37. | :52:42. | |
this House, she has been a champion of the businesses in her area, we | :52:43. | :52:46. | |
are working together to give more power to people in the West | :52:47. | :52:51. | |
Midlands, to take control of the decisions that affect them. I | :52:52. | :52:55. | |
welcome her support for that. We are investing in transport | :52:56. | :52:57. | |
infrastructure and backing science in the West Midlands as well. If she | :52:58. | :53:04. | |
has specific ideas to help businesses in Cannock Chase, my door | :53:05. | :53:08. | |
is open. Can I ask the Chancellor how on earth a ?42 million cut over | :53:09. | :53:13. | |
the next two years to the UK TI budget will enable the UK to become | :53:14. | :53:18. | |
a world-class export and investment promotion agency? We have set out | :53:19. | :53:25. | |
today the strategy to give more direct help to our exporters across | :53:26. | :53:27. | |
the United Kingdom and Lord Maude presented at the proposals to | :53:28. | :53:32. | |
cabinets to do that. But getting lectures on public finances from the | :53:33. | :53:36. | |
SNP, we would be heading towards the break-up of our country in two | :53:37. | :53:39. | |
months' time if the people of Scotland have listened to the | :53:40. | :53:42. | |
arguments of the Scottish Nationalists. Their calculation is | :53:43. | :53:47. | |
were based on an oil price of $115, which the Member for Gordon | :53:48. | :53:52. | |
described as a conservative estimate at the time. The oil price is now | :53:53. | :53:56. | |
last than $30 and it would've been a catastrophe for the people of | :53:57. | :54:01. | |
Scotland. -- less than $30. It would been a catastrophe if they had | :54:02. | :54:03. | |
listened to the advice and figures of the SNP. | :54:04. | :54:08. | |
Whatever it is the government making to widen access to basic bank | :54:09. | :54:13. | |
accounts? -- what matters is the government making. I am delighted to | :54:14. | :54:19. | |
tell my constituency neighbour that at the end of last year we did | :54:20. | :54:24. | |
announce that all the major banks are now able to offer a basic bank | :54:25. | :54:28. | |
account to customers who require one. Many of my constituents who | :54:29. | :54:35. | |
watch Coronation Street will be following the story of Tyrone Dodds, | :54:36. | :54:40. | |
struggling with debt, with keen interest. Unsecured lending reached | :54:41. | :54:43. | |
a record high last year with over 3 million people in debt. The | :54:44. | :54:48. | |
government promised to review what creditors should give the people | :54:49. | :54:52. | |
engaged with a debt charities that their debts to not continue to | :54:53. | :54:56. | |
spiral out of control as they work to resolve them. That was due by the | :54:57. | :54:59. | |
end of 2015. When does the government plan to announce that? I | :55:00. | :55:05. | |
have just touched on that in answers to questions earlier, but the | :55:06. | :55:08. | |
importance that we place on the team that will tackle illegal | :55:09. | :55:14. | |
moneylending. But also, we have continued to support funding for | :55:15. | :55:20. | |
debt advice including excellent organisations like Christians | :55:21. | :55:23. | |
against poverty, step change and citizens advice, to help individuals | :55:24. | :55:25. | |
like the ones she mentioned. On Friday I visited Barclay's Bank | :55:26. | :55:35. | |
in Kingston to hear about the fantastic Barclays life skills | :55:36. | :55:38. | |
course which teaches young people, among other things, financial | :55:39. | :55:43. | |
literacy. I can see some candidates for the course here. By making | :55:44. | :55:48. | |
financial education more accessible, to she agreed that we can ensure the | :55:49. | :55:52. | |
financial sector itself supports young people and people through | :55:53. | :55:57. | |
every stage of their lives? I am delighted that he found his | :55:58. | :56:01. | |
visit to Barclays Bank in his constituency so helpful, he will | :56:02. | :56:06. | |
welcome the fact that since 2014, financial education has been part of | :56:07. | :56:13. | |
the national curriculum. Conservative leader of Essex County | :56:14. | :56:15. | |
Council has told the Prime Minister that the 2% social care precept will | :56:16. | :56:20. | |
only cover half the council's increased costs. He has suggested | :56:21. | :56:25. | |
bringing better care funding forward to 2017 and asks for a fairer | :56:26. | :56:28. | |
redistribution of funds. Even Conservative councils had to wait | :56:29. | :56:33. | |
until 2019 for the funding that the Chancellor is allocated. Will he act | :56:34. | :56:37. | |
now to avoid a further crisis in social care? What I can say is that | :56:38. | :56:43. | |
in advance of the spending review, the Conservative leaders of the LGA | :56:44. | :56:47. | |
came to me, one of their specific oppose laws was to introduce the | :56:48. | :56:51. | |
social care precept to help address the shortfall that might otherwise | :56:52. | :56:58. | |
have been. We have put a lot of money into the Better Care Than to | :56:59. | :57:03. | |
make sure that local authorities and the NHS working together are able to | :57:04. | :57:06. | |
meet the challenges of social care over the next few years. Inaudible | :57:07. | :57:15. | |
in boosting the economy has been the creation of enterprise zones. I | :57:16. | :57:20. | |
wonder if he would talk about creating an enterprise zone in the | :57:21. | :57:23. | |
northern part of Nottinghamshire? I know that area and have been to the | :57:24. | :57:28. | |
site with my honourable friend. We were not able to give the go-ahead | :57:29. | :57:32. | |
to the enterprise zone because the business case did not quite stack | :57:33. | :57:36. | |
up, but I have committed to him that I will work with him and the local | :57:37. | :57:40. | |
community to try to get that over the line and get an enterprise zone | :57:41. | :57:45. | |
in place in that area. I had just shared a packed meeting | :57:46. | :57:53. | |
with the honourable member for South Northamptonshire. There was a lot of | :57:54. | :57:59. | |
anger to axe the funding for the CC competition projects. What a funding | :58:00. | :58:03. | |
will the Chancellor provide to come up with a new CC is project? -- CCS | :58:04. | :58:16. | |
project? Help we will double in. Don't leave the chamber, man, I | :58:17. | :58:18. | |
calling you! You are very kind. The member for | :58:19. | :58:27. | |
Sherwood had already asked the same question, that I will ask it again, | :58:28. | :58:32. | |
that is not unusual in this place. My parents formed their small | :58:33. | :58:35. | |
business in the first enterprise zone created when Margaret Thatcher | :58:36. | :58:41. | |
in Telford in 1984. My right honourable friend the Chancellor has | :58:42. | :58:45. | |
carried on in that great Conservative tradition. Could he | :58:46. | :58:48. | |
afford the same opportunities to get on in life and to create jobs to my | :58:49. | :58:54. | |
constituents and those in Sherwood by backing Thoresby colliery as the | :58:55. | :59:00. | |
next and best enterprise zone? I think he has just demonstrated that | :59:01. | :59:03. | |
he is a very smart thinker on his feet and always ready to stand for | :59:04. | :59:08. | |
the interests of his new constituents. As I said to the | :59:09. | :59:13. | |
member for Sherwood, I would love to get the full spree cholerae | :59:14. | :59:15. | |
enterprise zone into a condition where we can give it the go-ahead, | :59:16. | :59:21. | |
and I give him and his neighbour my personal commitment that we will try | :59:22. | :59:26. | |
to do that over the next year or so. The fact that question has been | :59:27. | :59:30. | |
asked does not stop others asking the same question. Repetition is not | :59:31. | :59:36. | |
a novel phenomenon and banners of commons. | :59:37. | :59:40. | |
Can I ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer to ponder the fact that we | :59:41. | :59:44. | |
still have not really tackled productivity in this country. Can I | :59:45. | :59:47. | |
guide him and say could he and his department look at the way in which | :59:48. | :59:52. | |
we further invest in manufacturing skills, because surely he will agree | :59:53. | :59:57. | |
with me that what we want in this country is high skills, high-paid | :59:58. | :00:00. | |
jobs, and you find those in manufacturing? I think the | :00:01. | :00:05. | |
honourable gentlemen is right to draw attention to the fact that the | :00:06. | :00:09. | |
UK has had a productivity challenge for many decades, and the financial | :00:10. | :00:13. | |
crisis caused a significant impairment which had an impact as | :00:14. | :00:17. | |
well. Productivity is improving, but the key weakness in the British | :00:18. | :00:22. | |
economy, consistently identified by everyone who looks at it, is a | :00:23. | :00:26. | |
weakness of skills. Hopefully the apprenticeship levy and the | :00:27. | :00:29. | |
expansion of the apprenticeship programme will go some way to | :00:30. | :00:33. | |
address that historic weakness. (INAUDIBLE) | :00:34. | :00:37. | |
In improving financial inclusion and creating a stronger savings culture. | :00:38. | :00:44. | |
With the opportunity of a Will Counsel For Credit Unions coming to | :00:45. | :00:48. | |
the UK and Northern Ireland later in media, will he continue to build on | :00:49. | :00:52. | |
the work of the credit union expansion programme and back this | :00:53. | :00:57. | |
vital work? I other constituency neighbour is a fine advocate for the | :00:58. | :01:01. | |
excellent industry of credit unions. As he will know, we have back the | :01:02. | :01:07. | |
industry with ?38 million of investment in terms of the credit | :01:08. | :01:10. | |
union expansion project, we will continue to seek ways to back the | :01:11. | :01:15. | |
credit unions. Given that manufacturing remained | :01:16. | :01:19. | |
6.1% below precrisis levels with worrying trends in the manufacture, | :01:20. | :01:24. | |
plant, machinery and pharmaceuticals, will he accept that | :01:25. | :01:27. | |
he and his domestic policy agenda has just as much should an impact as | :01:28. | :01:32. | |
the global factors which he is so keen to blame? He must bear in | :01:33. | :01:37. | |
measure of responsibility and come forward with proposals to halt the | :01:38. | :01:40. | |
decline. Manufacturing makes of a larger | :01:41. | :01:43. | |
sector of the economy than when I became the Chancellor, but there is | :01:44. | :01:48. | |
a huge amount more to do to make the UK more competitive, businesses more | :01:49. | :01:52. | |
competitive, improve skills for manufacturers and the like. I have | :01:53. | :01:57. | |
to say, I suspect she agrees, that the idea of banning manufacturers | :01:58. | :02:01. | |
from paying dividends would not be a particularly sensible way forward. | :02:02. | :02:06. | |
That is another policy of the Labour Party, unfortunately. | :02:07. | :02:10. | |
Is he aware that since he took office in May 2010, the claimant | :02:11. | :02:15. | |
count my constituency has fallen by 62% and the youth unemployment count | :02:16. | :02:21. | |
by 67%? Would he agree that reducing corporation Tax, increasing the | :02:22. | :02:24. | |
personal allowance and reforming welfare has caused these fantastic | :02:25. | :02:29. | |
figures, would he confirmed that his long-term economic plan will | :02:30. | :02:31. | |
continue? We will absolutely deliver the plan in these more difficult | :02:32. | :02:40. | |
global economic conditions. The IMF have not revised down the UK credit | :02:41. | :02:44. | |
forecast, even though they have revised down the global economic | :02:45. | :02:49. | |
forecast. We will invest in Croydon and South London with important | :02:50. | :02:51. | |
transport infrastructure and do everything we can to back homeowners | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
in his constituency, a group I know he particularly champions. | :02:56. | :03:02. | |
Can I return the City Minister to the issue of the cancelled FCA | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
inquiry into culture. The member for Chichester's Parliamentary banking | :03:08. | :03:11. | |
inquiry pointed out that murder on the orient express excuse, everyone | :03:12. | :03:16. | |
was partly responsible but no one was really to blame. She said that | :03:17. | :03:20. | |
ministers had no role in the cancellation of batting wary, will | :03:21. | :03:25. | |
she say, yes or no, whether any civil servants did? -- the | :03:26. | :03:32. | |
cancellation of that inquiry. No. We must move on, demand | :03:33. | :03:33. |