Browse content similar to 22/03/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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on HPV, and we're looking at it in detail to see how we take it | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
forward. We must now move on. Point of order, Mr Pat McFadden. | :00:07. | :00:13. | |
I wonder if I could ask you if there have in any discussions on the | :00:14. | :00:25. | |
terrible unfolding event in Brussels. We do not know the facts, | :00:26. | :00:29. | |
but a number of innocent people have been killed. We do not yet know if | :00:30. | :00:34. | |
there are any British victims, but there will be many families and just | :00:35. | :00:39. | |
to find news of relatives, and I'm sure all sides of the House would | :00:40. | :00:43. | |
welcome the opportunity to question the Prime Minister and the Home | :00:44. | :00:46. | |
Secretary about the ongoing efforts of the police and security services | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
here to protect the public in the UK from similar attacks. I thank him | :00:52. | :00:58. | |
for his point of order and the terms on which he put it to me. As members | :00:59. | :01:07. | |
present will know, condolences have expressed by members on both sides | :01:08. | :01:16. | |
of the House to the fit them is of this terrible outrage, and to their | :01:17. | :01:21. | |
loved ones, who will be living with the consequences. The short answer | :01:22. | :01:26. | |
to him is that I have had no such discussions with any minister to | :01:27. | :01:32. | |
date. I think it is a matter of public record that the Prime | :01:33. | :01:36. | |
Minister has been chairing an important meeting of Cobra this | :01:37. | :01:42. | |
morning, and I think also it will be accepted in all parts of the House, | :01:43. | :01:46. | |
not least by the right honourable gentleman, that the Minister will | :01:47. | :01:52. | |
come to the House to address these matters at such point as he feels he | :01:53. | :01:57. | |
has the requisite level of information to impart to colleagues | :01:58. | :02:04. | |
and is best placed to be informative and helpful. I think we should await | :02:05. | :02:12. | |
the development of events. At the serious concern registered by him | :02:13. | :02:15. | |
will be keenly felt across the House, and I thank again. Point of | :02:16. | :02:23. | |
order, Bicester bill esters and folds up -- I understand that | :02:24. | :02:36. | |
ministers will have the priority of working with our colleagues in | :02:37. | :02:40. | |
Brussels and putting security in this country first. I have been | :02:41. | :02:45. | |
contacted by a number of my constituents in Brussels, who | :02:46. | :02:49. | |
travelled there today and are trying to get home. They have been told by | :02:50. | :02:57. | |
Ryanair that it will cost them ?6,000 to be brought back to this | :02:58. | :03:04. | |
country. I wondered if I can ask ministers if perhaps they might | :03:05. | :03:07. | |
intervene and suggest to Ryanair and other carriers that all efforts are | :03:08. | :03:12. | |
made to help people come back to this country in a reasonable way. I | :03:13. | :03:17. | |
thank him for his attempted point of order. It is not a matter for the | :03:18. | :03:24. | |
chair, but again he has raised a matter of real and immediate | :03:25. | :03:28. | |
concern. That the real and immediate concern will have been heard on the | :03:29. | :03:34. | |
Treasury bench, and knowing the ingenuity of the honourable | :03:35. | :03:39. | |
gentleman, I feels sure that if he does not receive the assurance from | :03:40. | :03:44. | |
an appropriate quarter, he will not rest on continuing to highlight his | :03:45. | :03:53. | |
concern. On Friday the government were taken to the Supreme Court for | :03:54. | :04:00. | |
failing to meet air quality standards resulting in 40,000 deaths | :04:01. | :04:05. | |
a year at the cost of ?20 billion a year. | :04:06. | :04:24. | |
The honourable gentleman has put his concerns on the record and they will | :04:25. | :04:30. | |
have been heard. Doubtless he will return to this if he does not | :04:31. | :04:36. | |
receive satisfaction. May I seek your advice and guidance on a matter | :04:37. | :04:40. | |
of principle of this House. Select committees have the power through | :04:41. | :04:47. | |
this House to obtain evidence to allow them to undertake their work. | :04:48. | :04:53. | |
The Business, Innovation and Skills committee chair is taking evidence | :04:54. | :05:00. | |
from the owner of sports direct, Mr Mike Ashley, on the treatment of his | :05:01. | :05:06. | |
staff. Workers at his warehouse say they are not being paid the minimum | :05:07. | :05:10. | |
wage. I have received correspondence from workers at sports direct to | :05:11. | :05:17. | |
have told me that employees have the clock out but continued to work so | :05:18. | :05:20. | |
that wages are not overbudget, staff being kept over one hour passed | :05:21. | :05:25. | |
their finishing time, and workers finishing at 5am and being required | :05:26. | :05:32. | |
back at work two hours later. We wish to question him on the review | :05:33. | :05:41. | |
of working conditions that he would investigate personally. Last week | :05:42. | :05:48. | |
the committee formally ordered him to attend after the refused our | :05:49. | :05:57. | |
invitation. Yesterday he announced to the press that he has no | :05:58. | :06:05. | |
intention of attending. I do not think that scrutinising reports like | :06:06. | :06:15. | |
this are a joke. Has the committee acted in accordance with the | :06:16. | :06:19. | |
procedures of this House? Could you also advise me what steps can now be | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
taken to ensure that he complies with the very reasonable request of | :06:24. | :06:34. | |
the Business Select Committee? I am grateful to the honourable | :06:35. | :06:42. | |
gentleman. The chair of the Business, Innovation and Skills | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
committee. The House delegates to nearly all its select committees the | :06:47. | :06:50. | |
power to send her persons, papers and records. Each committee is free | :06:51. | :06:57. | |
to decide whom to invite to give oral evidence, and if the invitation | :06:58. | :07:03. | |
is refused, the committee may decide to make an order. In response to the | :07:04. | :07:13. | |
honourable gentleman's question, it appears that the proper procedures | :07:14. | :07:20. | |
have so far been followed. As long as the committee is acting within | :07:21. | :07:24. | |
its terms of reference, the House expects its witnesses to obey the | :07:25. | :07:34. | |
committee's order to attend. If, after due consideration, his | :07:35. | :07:40. | |
committee wishes to take further action, the next step, which is to | :07:41. | :07:49. | |
report to the House, setting out the facts. The honourable gentleman may | :07:50. | :07:55. | |
then wish to apply to me to consider the issue as a matter of privilege, | :07:56. | :08:00. | |
and to ask me to give it priority in the House. Under procedures agreed | :08:01. | :08:09. | |
to buy the House in 1978, and set out on page 273, this application | :08:10. | :08:18. | |
should be made to me in writing, rather than a point of order. I | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
would then be happy to advise him on the options open to him. Point of | :08:24. | :08:33. | |
order, Mr Dennis Skinner. This could be a long drawn-out process based | :08:34. | :08:38. | |
upon what Mike Ashley has been doing and saying over the years. He | :08:39. | :08:47. | |
operates 0-hours contracts with many it thousands of people. There are | :08:48. | :08:52. | |
very few full-time people. He believes that he can do as he likes | :08:53. | :08:58. | |
as a billionaire, but I put it on the record for you, Mr Speaker, | :08:59. | :09:01. | |
you'd better that very firmly with the person concerned. There used to | :09:02. | :09:11. | |
be a woman in the House call won called Mary Frampton, and we need | :09:12. | :09:17. | |
one to deal with him. We have such a person! And I can say only that I | :09:18. | :09:26. | |
shall always profit by the councils of the honourable gentleman. I do | :09:27. | :09:36. | |
not know that there is more to add, but I will give him the benefit of | :09:37. | :09:40. | |
the doubtful stop I have tried to treat this matter the early and | :09:41. | :09:44. | |
factually, but I will take a point of order if he persists. I wish to | :09:45. | :09:50. | |
ask simply this, in view of the obvious contempt of this person -- | :09:51. | :09:55. | |
content this person has shown, would it not be appropriate for him to | :09:56. | :10:01. | |
appear at the bar of the House? There have been occasions in the | :10:02. | :10:06. | |
past when this has occurred under House of Commons has shown it will | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
not tolerate such content. Haps this could be considered. | :10:12. | :10:14. | |
Very grateful to the honourable gentleman for his point of order, | :10:15. | :10:20. | |
irregular eyes are historical precedents but it is only right for | :10:21. | :10:26. | |
me to say that it is not for me to make any such decision. If we were | :10:27. | :10:32. | |
to get to that point and I'm not suggesting that we shall do so, I'm | :10:33. | :10:36. | |
not seeking to anticipate events, that would be a matter for the house | :10:37. | :10:42. | |
to decide but I hope that I have dealt fairly, squarely and | :10:43. | :10:47. | |
intelligibly the important matter that the chair of the select | :10:48. | :10:53. | |
committee and others have raised. Perhaps we can now move to the ten | :10:54. | :10:56. | |
minute rule motion. Thank you Mrs Bika, I beg to move | :10:57. | :11:06. | |
that lead be given to bring in a bill to make provision about the | :11:07. | :11:09. | |
skills and knowledge required of a person driving a taxi or private | :11:10. | :11:13. | |
hire vehicle related responsibilities of taxi or private | :11:14. | :11:18. | |
hire vehicle operators and service providers to require operators of | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
taxi or private hire vehicle companies and service providers to | :11:23. | :11:26. | |
hold specified types and levels of insurance to make provision about | :11:27. | :11:30. | |
the tax liability of taxi or private hire vehicle companies and service | :11:31. | :11:34. | |
providers and for connected purposes. I am grateful for the | :11:35. | :11:38. | |
opportunity to present this bill and am delighted by the trends -- | :11:39. | :11:42. | |
strength of support from right Honourable members across the house, | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
reflected in the attendance today. This is a bill that seeks to put | :11:48. | :11:51. | |
fair competition and passenger safety at the heart of the taxi and | :11:52. | :11:55. | |
private hire vehicle industry in London and across the country. The | :11:56. | :11:59. | |
advent of new technology in the taxi and private hire industry is | :12:00. | :12:03. | |
revolutionising the way that people are able to navigate our great C T | :12:04. | :12:09. | |
stop indeed, it is revolutionising transport in cities across the | :12:10. | :12:13. | |
United Kingdom and across the world. -- our great city. At the best, | :12:14. | :12:17. | |
disruptive technology drives innovation and increases competition | :12:18. | :12:20. | |
with enormous benefits for businesses and consumers alike. As | :12:21. | :12:26. | |
we had seen on the streets of London, it also brings significant | :12:27. | :12:29. | |
challenges. This bill seeks to address some of the challenges that | :12:30. | :12:32. | |
have been neglected for far too long. The debate about the future of | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
London's taxi industry has been unfairly characterised as a debate | :12:38. | :12:42. | |
between those who support competition and innovation on one | :12:43. | :12:45. | |
hand and those who want to cling to the past on the other. Mr Speaker, | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
this is lazy and analysis. It is true that London's iconic black taxi | :12:51. | :12:54. | |
trade is at risk and I would school is far too said that the threat to | :12:55. | :12:58. | |
the blackcap trade is existential but the cabbies I represent aren't | :12:59. | :13:02. | |
afraid of change and innovation, they are not afraid of you | :13:03. | :13:05. | |
technology and the not of competition either. -- of new | :13:06. | :13:11. | |
technology. They are finding it hard to compete in a changing marketplace | :13:12. | :13:16. | |
with both hands tied behind their back. It is great to see even the | :13:17. | :13:24. | |
chance like taking an interest in their plight. The Chancellor might | :13:25. | :13:33. | |
need a taxi, Mr Speaker. I represent many black cab drivers, Ilford North | :13:34. | :13:41. | |
was once known as Green badge Valley and still not unusual to see taxis | :13:42. | :13:48. | |
parked on the banks of Woodford. I represent hundreds of minicab | :13:49. | :13:51. | |
drivers and drivers who work for new market entrants like Uber. I use | :13:52. | :13:57. | |
black taxis, particularly in central London and I also use minicabs and | :13:58. | :14:05. | |
Uber locally. I welcome the choice and welcomed the benefit of | :14:06. | :14:08. | |
competition but I also recognise that the explosion in the number of | :14:09. | :14:12. | |
private hire vehicles in London presents regulatory challenges and | :14:13. | :14:15. | |
risks for passengers. An investigation for LBC exposed the | :14:16. | :14:22. | |
ease with which individuals can access a private hire licence | :14:23. | :14:25. | |
without adequate insurers. We know that the number of vehicles are | :14:26. | :14:28. | |
already on the road without appropriate insurers. Last year the | :14:29. | :14:33. | |
Guardian was able to demonstrate how easy it was for an Uber to pick up a | :14:34. | :14:41. | |
customer having provided fake insurance paperwork via its | :14:42. | :14:43. | |
operating system. Some private hire vehicles are illegally applying for | :14:44. | :14:48. | |
hire and heading, increasing the risk passengers getting into cars by | :14:49. | :14:53. | |
unlicensed and unknown drivers with considerable risk to their safety. | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
Mr Speaker, this is in legal practice and one for the regulator | :14:58. | :15:03. | |
to act a lot harder on. Guide dogs UK found in a survey of assistance | :15:04. | :15:08. | |
dog owners that 43.5% of respondents had been refused access to private | :15:09. | :15:14. | |
hire vehicles and it is all too common or LGBT passengers to | :15:15. | :15:19. | |
experience discrimination. Although I enjoy price competition as much as | :15:20. | :15:23. | |
anyone else, is it really fair to expect cabbies to compete on fears | :15:24. | :15:27. | |
while TEFL continue to put regulated fares or black taxis up while Uber | :15:28. | :15:35. | |
can drive their prices down as profit shifting allows them to avoid | :15:36. | :15:39. | |
paying their fair share of tax here in the UK. If we fail to act, | :15:40. | :15:47. | |
London's iconic black taxis will be driven off our streets. This is bad | :15:48. | :15:50. | |
for competition, bad for passengers and bad for London. This will | :15:51. | :15:56. | |
proposes action in three areas to improve passenger safety and make | :15:57. | :16:01. | |
competition fairer so our black taxi industry can continue continue to | :16:02. | :16:06. | |
survive and thrive alongside other operators. Firstly, on the issue of | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
training, live at hire vehicle drivers only undertake a rudimentary | :16:11. | :16:14. | |
topographical test and in many cases do not undergo full training. This | :16:15. | :16:18. | |
sees many relying on sat nerve which means the risk of collision is | :16:19. | :16:23. | |
increased due to sharp braking or not focusing on the road ahead. This | :16:24. | :16:29. | |
bill proposes that in order to or obtain a license, all drivers must | :16:30. | :16:34. | |
complete an enhanced DVLA assessment requiring additional skills such as | :16:35. | :16:38. | |
how to drop off and pick passengers up and wheelchair exercise is to | :16:39. | :16:43. | |
learn how to support the disabled. PHP drivers should undertake an | :16:44. | :16:47. | |
assessment on the principle of applying for hire and toting | :16:48. | :16:49. | |
regulations so there can be no excuses for breaching regulations. | :16:50. | :16:55. | |
The age of the driver should be properly and assessed and their | :16:56. | :16:59. | |
obligations in the equalities act so that protected groups such as LB GT | :17:00. | :17:03. | |
people and disabled people can travel with confidence. The second | :17:04. | :17:09. | |
point of this bill seeks to address the issue of insurance, the current | :17:10. | :17:12. | |
system requires higher and reward insurers for all drivers and the | :17:13. | :17:17. | |
responsibility of insurance rests with drivers. There is a higher cost | :17:18. | :17:22. | |
for this insurers which means many private hire vehicle drivers can be | :17:23. | :17:26. | |
tempted to opt for a cheaper form of insurance when accepted by | :17:27. | :17:28. | |
unlicensed operator. In order to resolve this issue, I propose moving | :17:29. | :17:33. | |
to a system of operators ensuring that places the responsibility on | :17:34. | :17:38. | |
operators as a pre-requisite for obtaining a licence, this would | :17:39. | :17:40. | |
deliver three key benefits for passengers and industry are | :17:41. | :17:43. | |
guaranteeing that cars managed by the operator have confidence that | :17:44. | :17:48. | |
they are safe, reducing the cost of insurance through bulk purchasing | :17:49. | :17:52. | |
and delivering better value for money and making the regulator 's | :17:53. | :17:56. | |
case easier because checking a few thousand operators is easier than | :17:57. | :17:59. | |
checking over 100,000 individual policies. Some companies such as | :18:00. | :18:04. | |
Addison Lee already do this voluntarily which is why customers | :18:05. | :18:08. | |
and businesses can book with the confidence that are sometimes | :18:09. | :18:10. | |
lacking around five at hire operators. Only, my bill makes | :18:11. | :18:16. | |
provision for tax liabilities for taxi and private hire vehicle | :18:17. | :18:19. | |
companies, it cannot be right that some companies in this industry are | :18:20. | :18:24. | |
making huge profits but not paying their fair share of taxes. Lower | :18:25. | :18:28. | |
fares are great but some operators are frankly trying to drive their | :18:29. | :18:32. | |
competition off the road through new applications by offering lower fares | :18:33. | :18:35. | |
made possible by offshore tax arrangements, effectively robbing | :18:36. | :18:40. | |
Peter to pay Paul. I would like to pay particular tribute to my right | :18:41. | :18:44. | |
now friend member for Don Valley who brought her own ten minute rule | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
motion forward for transparency for multinationals and her proposals | :18:50. | :18:52. | |
would be a refreshing step in the right direction. This bill would | :18:53. | :18:55. | |
introduce a requirement for the Chancellor or financial Secretary to | :18:56. | :18:58. | |
the Treasury to make an annual steam into this has on the progress of the | :18:59. | :19:04. | |
OECD -based erosion and profit shifting project and the action the | :19:05. | :19:06. | |
government is taking to make sure the proper scrutiny in this area | :19:07. | :19:09. | |
hopefully this Chancellor might be better at making progress in this | :19:10. | :19:16. | |
area rather than his own targets. It would indicate the government needs | :19:17. | :19:20. | |
to do much more to tackle tax avoidance and these changes would go | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
some way to levelling the playing field. TEFL need to go further than | :19:25. | :19:30. | |
the proposed. These challenges also exist in towns and cities across our | :19:31. | :19:34. | |
country. Mr Speaker, Gwyneth Paltrow once said, it's our far more | :19:35. | :19:41. | |
intelligent and civilised than Americans was that I love the fact | :19:42. | :19:44. | |
you can hail a taxi and just pick up your pram and put it in the back of | :19:45. | :19:50. | |
a cab without having to collapse it. Perhaps more profoundly, Professor | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
John O'Keefe, a Nobel prize-winning unit neuroscientist said some of the | :19:55. | :19:58. | |
best navigators in the world are London taxi cab drivers, they have | :19:59. | :20:02. | |
delivered 25 Thousand St and how to get from one to the other. Mr | :20:03. | :20:07. | |
Speaker, I'm sure the whole house will agree that Brits are more | :20:08. | :20:11. | |
intelligent and taxi cab drivers are the best navigators in the world and | :20:12. | :20:14. | |
they are also small business men and women providing a world-famous | :20:15. | :20:17. | |
service and struggling to make sure that they or their families and make | :20:18. | :20:22. | |
their families a good living. We owe them a chance to compete fairly and | :20:23. | :20:28. | |
we owe it to our great capital city to ensure this iconic black taxi | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
industry and that great iconic black taxi itself is not confined to | :20:34. | :20:39. | |
London's history books. For these reasons and so many more, Mr | :20:40. | :20:42. | |
Speaker, I commend this bill to the house. | :20:43. | :20:46. | |
The question is the honourable member has leave to bring in the | :20:47. | :20:49. | |
bill. I think the ayes habit. When Brown, | :20:50. | :21:04. | |
Neal Coyle, John Pryor, five effort, Mr David Lambie, Kate also more, | :21:05. | :21:12. | |
Joan Ryan, Gareth Thomas, Charles Walker and myself will bring in the | :21:13. | :21:13. | |
bill. Taxi and private hire vehicle | :21:14. | :21:49. | |
operators regulation Bill. Second reading what day? Friday 22nd April. | :21:50. | :21:58. | |
We will proceed to read the orders of the day. | :21:59. | :22:05. | |
The question is as on the order paper. Before I call the Chancellor | :22:06. | :22:11. | |
of the Exchequer, I should inform the house that I have selected both | :22:12. | :22:20. | |
amendments be and a, so both can be debated together with the budget | :22:21. | :22:24. | |
motions today. With the leave of the house I will call the Shadow | :22:25. | :22:28. | |
Chancellor to move amendment be after the Chancellor has opened the | :22:29. | :22:32. | |
debate. At the end of the day's debate, the question will first be | :22:33. | :22:38. | |
put on amendment be as long as time permits before 7pm, ice shall then | :22:39. | :22:43. | |
call the honourable member for Dewsbury to move amendment A | :22:44. | :22:50. | |
formally on the question on that amendment will be put, the house | :22:51. | :22:54. | |
will then proceed to decide on the budget resolutions to open the | :22:55. | :22:58. | |
debate, call the Chancellor of the Exchequer. | :22:59. | :23:07. | |
Mr Speaker, let me start by offering all of our condolences to the | :23:08. | :23:19. | |
victims and their families of the attacks in Belgium. The full details | :23:20. | :23:23. | |
of this morning in an horrific attacks are still emerging but we | :23:24. | :23:26. | |
know that at least 13 people died in the attack at Brussels airport and | :23:27. | :23:31. | |
there are reports of multiple deaths at the metro station. As details of | :23:32. | :23:35. | |
these events continue to unfold, my thoughts and prayers and indeed | :23:36. | :23:38. | |
those of honourable and right on more members on all sides of the | :23:39. | :23:42. | |
house with those who have lost loved ones or have been injured. This | :23:43. | :23:46. | |
morning the prime Mr Cheddar meeting of Cobra, attended by the Home | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
Secretary, myself and others. -- cheered a meeting. On a | :23:52. | :23:54. | |
precautionary basis, the policing presence is being increased in key | :23:55. | :23:58. | |
locations including transport hubs to protect the public and provide | :23:59. | :24:01. | |
reassuring. In London, the Met police have the Clwyd additional | :24:02. | :24:06. | |
officers and on the transport network and border force efforts | :24:07. | :24:11. | |
have been intensified. The is still too soon to comment on the details | :24:12. | :24:14. | |
of the attacks but the government would reiterate that the UK threat | :24:15. | :24:19. | |
level remains at severe, meaning that an attack is highly likely. We | :24:20. | :24:23. | |
urge the British people to remain vigilant and the Home Secretary will | :24:24. | :24:27. | |
keep the house updated. Let's be clear, terrorist seek to threaten | :24:28. | :24:31. | |
our values and our way of life and they will never succeed. | :24:32. | :24:34. | |
Mr Speaker it is a reminder of what a precious thing our democracy is | :24:35. | :24:41. | |
and this budget debate as part of that democratic process. This is the | :24:42. | :24:46. | |
first time in 20 years that a Chancellor has spoken on the last | :24:47. | :24:49. | |
day of the budget debate and I think it is fair to say we have had a | :24:50. | :24:56. | |
lively debate about this budget. Let's be clear, the key principles | :24:57. | :24:59. | |
behind this budget that if we are going to deliver a and compassionate | :25:00. | :25:05. | |
society to the next generation, we have to live within our means, we | :25:06. | :25:09. | |
have two back business to create jobs and we had to make sure work | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
pays by putting more money into the pockets of working people. That is | :25:15. | :25:18. | |
what we committed to in our manifesto, that is what the British | :25:19. | :25:22. | |
people elected us to deliver on that is what this budget does and that is | :25:23. | :25:26. | |
what we are going to vote on tonight. | :25:27. | :25:30. | |
I will give way in a moment. Let me address the resignation of my right | :25:31. | :25:40. | |
honourable friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green. I am | :25:41. | :25:43. | |
sorry that he chose to leave the government, and let me recognise his | :25:44. | :25:49. | |
achievements in helping to make work pay, protecting the vulnerable and | :25:50. | :25:54. | |
breaking the decades-old cycle of welfare dependency. Together we had | :25:55. | :26:00. | |
to confront a huge deficit, and uncontrolled welfare spending. Of | :26:01. | :26:04. | |
course, there is always the bus discussion between the Treasury and | :26:05. | :26:08. | |
spending department, when money needs to be saved. Where we do not | :26:09. | :26:18. | |
get decisions right, I have always been prepared to listen and learn. | :26:19. | :26:22. | |
But I am very proud that my right honourable friend and I worked | :26:23. | :26:27. | |
together longer than any two people doing our jobs before us in any | :26:28. | :26:31. | |
government, and we have been part of a team that has reduced the number | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
of people on out of work benefits to levels not seen for 40 years. Seeing | :26:37. | :26:44. | |
child poverty fall, pensioner poverty fall, and got a record | :26:45. | :26:59. | |
number of people... I am grateful to the Chancellor for giving way. It is | :27:00. | :27:03. | |
less than a week since he stood up in the budget and made the decision | :27:04. | :27:07. | |
affecting disability payments, something which upset many hundreds | :27:08. | :27:09. | |
of thousands of people across the country. He has made a welcome | :27:10. | :27:16. | |
U-turn, but he should not -- should he not acknowledge it was a mistake | :27:17. | :27:21. | |
he should apologise for? I am going to speak about their disability | :27:22. | :27:25. | |
benefits, and I made it very clear, where we made a mistake, where we | :27:26. | :27:30. | |
have got things wrong, we listen and learn. That is precisely what we | :27:31. | :27:35. | |
have done. But where is the apology from the Labour Party for the things | :27:36. | :27:43. | |
they got wrong? Why don't they take a leaf out of the book? Why do they | :27:44. | :27:48. | |
not apologise for the countless decisions adding to the deficit but | :27:49. | :27:54. | |
a drop in the country? The progress we have made on social justice did | :27:55. | :28:01. | |
not happen by accident. It happened because in this government, we set | :28:02. | :28:08. | |
out to turn round our economy, to control spending and bag business, | :28:09. | :28:14. | |
and to reform welfare. That reform... I will give way in a | :28:15. | :28:24. | |
moment. The D4 has meant difficult decisions to strengthen the | :28:25. | :28:27. | |
incentives, to find work and the sanctions for not doing so. To make | :28:28. | :28:33. | |
sure that extra that people work is rewarded, rather than seeing them | :28:34. | :28:39. | |
trapped in dependency. The welfare system should be feared to those who | :28:40. | :28:44. | |
need it handles who pay for it. It has not been easy. The in any | :28:45. | :29:00. | |
democracy you have to fight to make lasting improvements in society, | :29:01. | :29:04. | |
which is what we have done. I thank the Chancellor for giving way. I | :29:05. | :29:09. | |
want to associate myself with his remarks about the situation in | :29:10. | :29:12. | |
Brussels. Would he agree that the one thing more dangerous for the | :29:13. | :29:15. | |
economy than him remaining Chancellor is that we might leave | :29:16. | :29:21. | |
the European Union? Him being called out by his former colleague as | :29:22. | :29:24. | |
acting not in the economic interests of the country, and acting in a | :29:25. | :29:33. | |
short-term political way brings a risk on him and not for the future | :29:34. | :29:38. | |
of our role in Europe. Will he resign? Could I remind members that | :29:39. | :29:45. | |
interventions should be brief! We want to hear from both frontbenchers | :29:46. | :29:50. | |
and we want to hear from dozens of backbenchers. Interventions, brief. | :29:51. | :30:02. | |
It is like one of those things where I would prefer to be in the Council | :30:03. | :30:06. | |
and not. Reforms we are making to the economy... I will give way. Is | :30:07. | :30:16. | |
he aware that had the Chancellor stuck with Labour's plans for fuel | :30:17. | :30:24. | |
duty, petrol would now cost 18p more than it actually does, and has he | :30:25. | :30:29. | |
assessed the impact on the lowest earning people? He is absolutely | :30:30. | :30:38. | |
right. If we had stuck with the fuel duty escalator that we inherited | :30:39. | :30:41. | |
from the last government, it would cost much more to fill a car, much | :30:42. | :30:52. | |
more for small businesses. Wheater -- we took action, because we are on | :30:53. | :30:55. | |
the side of working people. I will give way. To put this debate in | :30:56. | :31:04. | |
context, would he like to share with the House, in financial and | :31:05. | :31:10. | |
non-financial terms, how much help this government since May 2010 has | :31:11. | :31:16. | |
given to assist the second the disabled? I am coming on to talk | :31:17. | :31:26. | |
about disability benefits, but he is right, to draw attention to the | :31:27. | :31:29. | |
support we give, close to ?15 billion in support to disabled | :31:30. | :31:36. | |
people, and that has gone up, when you just look at disability payments | :31:37. | :31:43. | |
and DLA, from ?15 billion to ?16 billion today, and up to 18 billion | :31:44. | :31:49. | |
in the future. As the new welfare secretary made clear, we will | :31:50. | :31:56. | |
continue to give support to disabled people. Let me give way. He boasted | :31:57. | :32:03. | |
that this was the first time a Chancellor had opened the final day | :32:04. | :32:07. | |
of the budget debate. He will know that is because it is the first time | :32:08. | :32:10. | |
that a Chancellor has had to drop the biggest revenue raiser in his | :32:11. | :32:15. | |
budget within two days of announcing it. The Work and Pensions Secretary, | :32:16. | :32:22. | |
who has just resigned, who he paid tribute to, described his budget is | :32:23. | :32:27. | |
deeply unfair, drifting in the wrong direction that will divide the | :32:28. | :32:30. | |
country, not unite it, and he said those words after the Chancellor | :32:31. | :32:35. | |
announced he was ditching the PIP cuts. Is the former work and pension | :32:36. | :32:47. | |
secretary deleted? I have done some research, and when she was the Chief | :32:48. | :32:53. | |
Secretary to the Treasury, I wish we had seen a few more revenue raisers | :32:54. | :32:58. | |
in budget, such as savings in welfare and public expenditure. | :32:59. | :33:03. | |
During the period she was chief Secretary, the deficit went from ?76 | :33:04. | :33:10. | |
billion a year to 154 billion pounds. The measures my right | :33:11. | :33:17. | |
honourable friend and I have been taking at the clean-up MS they left | :33:18. | :33:31. | |
in government. -- to clean up the mess. These difficult changes are | :33:32. | :33:36. | |
worthwhile. I will give way in a moment. Let me make progress. Okie, | :33:37. | :33:44. | |
I will give way, I have said where we made a mistake we have listened | :33:45. | :33:48. | |
and learned, when it is she going to apologise and say she made mistakes | :33:49. | :33:51. | |
and her colleagues made mistakes during that period in government, | :33:52. | :33:56. | |
which is what we have been cleaning up? The Chancellor did not address | :33:57. | :34:08. | |
the issue about the unfairness of his budget. Will he address the | :34:09. | :34:13. | |
issue of the revenue behind his budget? He has abandoned ?4.4 | :34:14. | :34:23. | |
billion in revenue raisers from his budget. Wave is the money going to | :34:24. | :34:28. | |
come from or will he change the scorecard with which he set out? Al | :34:29. | :34:32. | |
tell you what is unfair, to saddle the next generation with debts there | :34:33. | :34:37. | |
is no way of paying off. That is what she did. I will come on | :34:38. | :34:49. | |
specifically to disability benefits. But let me tell you about fairness. | :34:50. | :34:54. | |
We have taken action which means half a million fewer children | :34:55. | :34:59. | |
growing up in workless households, 1 million fewer people on out | :35:00. | :35:03. | |
benefits. Over 2 million more people in work than when we came to office. | :35:04. | :35:12. | |
That is the social office on the side of the House that I am proud | :35:13. | :35:22. | |
of. The work we take takes further steps to improve this. Is action to | :35:23. | :35:25. | |
reduce sugar intake and give children better health care. There | :35:26. | :35:31. | |
is support for savings of lower-income families, more help and | :35:32. | :35:33. | |
housing for homeless people. Personal allowance increases that | :35:34. | :35:40. | |
left a million of the low paid out of tax credit altogether. There is | :35:41. | :35:45. | |
an increased minimum wage ahead of the introduction of the first-ever | :35:46. | :35:49. | |
national living wage into weeks, all in the budget we debate today, all | :35:50. | :35:55. | |
the actions that are compassionate one Nation Conservative Vermont are | :35:56. | :36:00. | |
determined to deliver social justice and economic security. The new | :36:01. | :36:09. | |
Secretary of State for work and pension is yesterday in his first | :36:10. | :36:13. | |
statement said that the government would not be making any further cuts | :36:14. | :36:17. | |
to welfare during this parliament, but later he said there were no | :36:18. | :36:21. | |
plans to make further cuts to welfare during this Parliament. | :36:22. | :36:26. | |
Could the Chancellor confirmed for the sake of disabled people and | :36:27. | :36:30. | |
others, that there will be no further cuts to the welfare budget | :36:31. | :36:36. | |
in this Parliament? My right honourable friend said yesterday | :36:37. | :36:43. | |
exactly what the plans where that there were no plans to make welfare | :36:44. | :36:48. | |
savings beyond the savings legislated for two weeks ago, which | :36:49. | :36:53. | |
we will focus on implementing. I will come on to address the specific | :36:54. | :36:58. | |
issue of welfare savings and disability, but she could have got | :36:59. | :37:01. | |
to her feet and thanked the government for delivering her flood | :37:02. | :37:07. | |
defence schemes that she asked for her city and that were in the budget | :37:08. | :37:14. | |
statement one week ago. Let me turn to the disability benefits. We are | :37:15. | :37:17. | |
all proud that this government is giving more support to the most | :37:18. | :37:23. | |
disabled people. While the reforms proposed two weeks ago drew on the | :37:24. | :37:28. | |
work of an independent review, they did not command support. We have | :37:29. | :37:36. | |
listened and they will not go ahead. The government is spending more than | :37:37. | :37:40. | |
disabled people than the last Labour government ever did, and let me | :37:41. | :37:57. | |
directly address what that means. First, over 3 million disabled | :37:58. | :38:01. | |
people are now in work, 300,000 more than just -- a couple of years ago. | :38:02. | :38:10. | |
The budget has risen, will continue to rise, and is much greater than | :38:11. | :38:15. | |
the one we inherited. We will take time, listen and consult widely to | :38:16. | :38:21. | |
build disability support which works better with health and social | :38:22. | :38:25. | |
services. As my honourable friend said yesterday, we will continue to | :38:26. | :38:30. | |
support disabled people and work with them to continue the work we | :38:31. | :38:42. | |
do. Second, on the welfare gap, I will give way. Beer can only be a | :38:43. | :38:45. | |
compassionate conservative government if we have a strong, | :38:46. | :38:57. | |
stable economy... He is absolutely right, I am coming onto precisely | :38:58. | :39:03. | |
that point. Let me deal with the measures we take to control spending | :39:04. | :39:07. | |
and then I will take interventions. On the welfare cap, this is the | :39:08. | :39:11. | |
instrument we have introduced to set out in a transparent way to | :39:12. | :39:15. | |
Parliament what we aim to spend on welfare of the stop it is judged by | :39:16. | :39:19. | |
the OBR every autumn, and that is when we have to comply with the cap | :39:20. | :39:25. | |
or explain to Cabinet and the country why we have not done so. It | :39:26. | :39:29. | |
is incredible to hear the party opposite protesting about the | :39:30. | :39:33. | |
welfare gap. It has never existed under the devious government. Did is | :39:34. | :39:42. | |
no control on the largest single area of transparency, no independent | :39:43. | :39:45. | |
forecasts, and as a result welfare cost soared on the country was | :39:46. | :39:51. | |
brought to the brink of bankruptcy. On Friday, a couple came to visit me | :39:52. | :39:58. | |
at my surgery. He is in a wheelchair, unable to feed himself, | :39:59. | :40:05. | |
dress himself, they let on 590 5p a month plus ?63 a week carers | :40:06. | :40:10. | |
allowance. They still have a mortgage to pay and have a teacup -- | :40:11. | :40:15. | |
80 years of contributions between them. Will the Minister please | :40:16. | :40:20. | |
apologise to these people for the distress? | :40:21. | :40:24. | |
I have already said we're not going ahead with those changes. And I have | :40:25. | :40:33. | |
addressed these issues. The truth is, that family and many others are | :40:34. | :40:39. | |
getting increased support and this government and we would not be able | :40:40. | :40:43. | |
to provide any of that unless we had a strong economy and controlled | :40:44. | :40:47. | |
public spending because the people who suffer most... I apologise for | :40:48. | :40:58. | |
interrupting. Order. Members are shouting from sedentary position is | :40:59. | :41:04. | |
very nicely. If people put questions to the Chancellor, they must leave | :41:05. | :41:10. | |
him to respond and the same will go to the government backbenchers | :41:11. | :41:12. | |
challenging members from the opposition. Let us try to restore | :41:13. | :41:16. | |
some order to this debate. The Chancellor... | :41:17. | :41:28. | |
I think the Chancellor forgiving way, will he confirm that this | :41:29. | :41:34. | |
government is spending ?2 billion more on support for the disabled but | :41:35. | :41:38. | |
according to the ISS, inequality is at its lowest rate for 25 years and | :41:39. | :41:43. | |
thanks to this government there are 2 million people more in work. Is | :41:44. | :41:47. | |
that what we're doing for the vulnerable? My right honourable | :41:48. | :41:53. | |
friend is right, more people in work, reduced inequality and | :41:54. | :41:58. | |
poverty, or disabled people in work and we got a freeze on beer duty as | :41:59. | :42:07. | |
well! Let me make some progress. By not proceeding with the PIP changes | :42:08. | :42:12. | |
it means that spending on disabled people would be just over ?1 billion | :42:13. | :42:16. | |
higher than by the end of the decade than set out in the budget. This | :42:17. | :42:19. | |
will be an important factor but only one of many that will affect the | :42:20. | :42:24. | |
overall forecast for welfare that the OBR will make in the autumn. The | :42:25. | :42:31. | |
overall forecast, and at that point we shall assess the level of the cap | :42:32. | :42:37. | |
and what my right honourable friend suggest today, with my full support, | :42:38. | :42:40. | |
we will not have further plans to make further welfare savings to | :42:41. | :42:45. | |
replace the ?1 billion more spent on PIP. We made substantial savings in | :42:46. | :42:51. | |
the welfare reform and work act that has just passed through Parliament | :42:52. | :42:57. | |
so we have legislated for ?12 billion a year of working age well | :42:58. | :43:01. | |
first savings, that will be committed to in the manifesto and we | :43:02. | :43:06. | |
shall focus on and lamenting that. Let me just say... About ten to | :43:07. | :43:13. | |
pensioners because it has been raised. In the same breath, some | :43:14. | :43:16. | |
people say that we are not saving enough from pensioners while at the | :43:17. | :43:20. | |
same time complaining about everything from long-term increases | :43:21. | :43:24. | |
in the state pension age to keep pace with rising life expectancy to | :43:25. | :43:28. | |
restrictions on the left-hand allowances for the largest pension | :43:29. | :43:33. | |
pots. The truth is, we have made substantial savings from pensioner | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
welfare, half of ?1 trillion of savings and are vital to the vital | :43:39. | :43:42. | |
that in ability of public finances and we have made these in a way that | :43:43. | :43:47. | |
enables us to go on giving people who have worked hard for all of | :43:48. | :43:52. | |
their lives a decent, generous, basic state pension that we | :43:53. | :43:55. | |
committed to in our manifesto and I am not going to take that away from | :43:56. | :44:05. | |
people. Would he accept that very people spend a higher proportion, if | :44:06. | :44:09. | |
not all, of their income and richer people save it so in his budget, | :44:10. | :44:12. | |
which is transferred money from April the rich, he is like a Sheriff | :44:13. | :44:22. | |
of Nottingham budget. Does it accept that will undermine growth and | :44:23. | :44:29. | |
deficit reduction, morally and economically, that is wrong? Under | :44:30. | :44:35. | |
this government the richest 1% are paying a higher proportion of income | :44:36. | :44:42. | |
tax than any single -- than in any single year of the last Labour | :44:43. | :44:44. | |
government that he would support as a Member of Parliament for Croydon | :44:45. | :44:48. | |
until he was replaced by a veteran Member of Parliament for Croydon! -- | :44:49. | :44:57. | |
better. I will say this and takes a more interventions later. Let me | :44:58. | :45:03. | |
turn to the numbers. I do find it ironic to get all of these | :45:04. | :45:06. | |
expressions of concern from members opposite about making things add up | :45:07. | :45:10. | |
when they decided over the biggest single fiscal fiasco in the history | :45:11. | :45:15. | |
of the country and they had a black hole any current plans so large it | :45:16. | :45:19. | |
would break the Large Hadron Collider. That is the truth about | :45:20. | :45:25. | |
them, the central fiscal judgment of the government is clear, borrowing | :45:26. | :45:36. | |
has been cut... From ?155 billion when it came to office ?255 billion | :45:37. | :45:43. | |
next year, it falls every year, higher spending on disability will | :45:44. | :45:46. | |
be reflected in the Autumn Statement forecast and we do not propose to | :45:47. | :45:49. | |
make any further changes ahead of that. These are the changes you can | :45:50. | :45:55. | |
afford to absorb when you are getting public spending under | :45:56. | :45:58. | |
control so we can make these changes and still achieve a sensible surplus | :45:59. | :46:08. | |
of 0.5% of GDP by 19 -- 2019. In short, we go on delivering the | :46:09. | :46:11. | |
economic security that this country elected us to provide. I am grateful | :46:12. | :46:16. | |
to my right honourable friend. Talking of Labour fiascoes, what | :46:17. | :46:21. | |
about the 10p tax fiasco from Gordon Brown? Taking the lowest paid | :46:22. | :46:31. | |
workers out of tax altogether! My right honourable friend is right, | :46:32. | :46:36. | |
what a contrast, we turned 10p into zero. As we raise the personal | :46:37. | :46:42. | |
allowance. And of course, these improvements, I will give way to my | :46:43. | :46:49. | |
right honourable friend. If it has been so simple to absorb this | :46:50. | :46:55. | |
change, why on earth did he put it in the first place and frighten the | :46:56. | :47:01. | |
life of disabled people? People are terrified about what has been | :47:02. | :47:05. | |
proposed and you have just said we can absorb this easily. While earth | :47:06. | :47:13. | |
do it in the first place? -- why on earth. If you take the decisions to | :47:14. | :47:17. | |
control expenditure, you destroy the finances and the people who suffer | :47:18. | :47:20. | |
are precisely the most honourable in society. Yes, we have taken | :47:21. | :47:26. | |
difficult decisions and where we have not got the right, we have | :47:27. | :47:30. | |
listened and learned but if we had not taken all of these decisions the | :47:31. | :47:33. | |
country would be in an even bigger mess than the one we inherited. I | :47:34. | :47:38. | |
will take the member from the Scottish and lasts and then make | :47:39. | :47:45. | |
progress. -- nationalists. He mentions security. He mentions the | :47:46. | :47:53. | |
security of the poor. Does he not realise that until Monday, 340,000 | :47:54. | :48:00. | |
people on PIP were worried that their benefits were going to be cut? | :48:01. | :48:05. | |
If you just apologised and change, we could move on and discuss | :48:06. | :48:11. | |
economics. I could not have been clearer, we have listened and | :48:12. | :48:13. | |
learned and made a mistake and withdrew those proposals. He talks | :48:14. | :48:21. | |
about... On Thursday, it'll be the day when separated from the UK if | :48:22. | :48:27. | |
the nationalists had their way. They would have plunged the country into | :48:28. | :48:32. | |
a fiscal crisis likes of which few Western countries have ever seen. | :48:33. | :48:40. | |
And they would have been impoverished Scottish people and | :48:41. | :48:43. | |
driven business away, they based their numbers on oil forecasts that | :48:44. | :48:47. | |
were fanciful and it is time they apologised for leading the Scottish | :48:48. | :48:52. | |
people down that potential trap. Thankfully, the Scottish people saw | :48:53. | :49:01. | |
better. Let me make some progress. We have taken difficult decisions to | :49:02. | :49:05. | |
control public expenditure, costs and reduce the crippling deficit. We | :49:06. | :49:09. | |
took more decisions last week. I will give way to my right honourable | :49:10. | :49:14. | |
friend. I will explain what we have done to clear up this mess. More | :49:15. | :49:21. | |
decisions in the budget. We also have lamented decisions today to | :49:22. | :49:23. | |
make sure the work of reducing the deficit is done fairly and we ask | :49:24. | :49:27. | |
more from the well-off. Look at the measures. On dividends, lifetime | :49:28. | :49:33. | |
pension allowances, stamp duty on second property, banks and hedge | :49:34. | :49:38. | |
funds is and a host of measures to tackle aviation and avoidance. The | :49:39. | :49:43. | |
ISS, which has been quoted a lot, says... The head said this... Be | :49:44. | :49:53. | |
very highest earners have seen significant tax increases and that | :49:54. | :49:56. | |
has been a reasonable thing to ask of the most well-off when faced with | :49:57. | :50:01. | |
such a budget deficit because we're all in this together. I am grateful | :50:02. | :50:11. | |
to my right honourable friend. On the question of personal economic | :50:12. | :50:14. | |
security, during his statement, my constituent, Dan, from Addington, | :50:15. | :50:22. | |
tweeted that this lifetime I get one? Does this demonstrate that | :50:23. | :50:27. | |
young people around the country see opportunity in this budget? An | :50:28. | :50:33. | |
opportunity to save, an opportunity for their generation. My right | :50:34. | :50:41. | |
honourable friend is right to raise the concerns of his constituent | :50:42. | :50:46. | |
about where he can get hold of the new lifetime icer, it will come in | :50:47. | :50:50. | |
from April but he can open a Help To Buy 19, rule into that, keep the | :50:51. | :50:55. | |
government bonus and then choose about saving for his home by saving | :50:56. | :51:00. | |
for his pension and not have to face the agonising choice that summary | :51:01. | :51:03. | |
people have faced in the choice of a crew in the past. I will give way... | :51:04. | :51:12. | |
I will make some progress and then takes a more interventions. It is a | :51:13. | :51:21. | |
classic socialist illusion to think you can solve all of society 's | :51:22. | :51:26. | |
problems with taxes on the rich. The age-old excuse for not managing | :51:27. | :51:29. | |
public spending were welfare costs and this brings me to a central | :51:30. | :51:35. | |
point I wish to make to the House today. There is no inherent conflict | :51:36. | :51:40. | |
between delivering social justice and the savings required to deliver | :51:41. | :51:47. | |
sound finances. They were one and the same thing. Without sound public | :51:48. | :51:51. | |
finances, there is no social justice. Of course, I will give way | :51:52. | :52:03. | |
in a moment to the taxi business... Let me say this... Without sound | :52:04. | :52:10. | |
finances there is no social justice and of course, Mr Speaker, it is the | :52:11. | :52:14. | |
easiest thing in the world to do this job and so, yes, to every new | :52:15. | :52:19. | |
demand for government spending and pleasing all the people all the time | :52:20. | :52:23. | |
but we know where this leads, because we had a chance before me | :52:24. | :52:29. | |
who spent a decade going around the country saying yes to even more | :52:30. | :52:32. | |
spending, yesterday even higher welfare bills and yes, we know what | :52:33. | :52:37. | |
happens then. It brought other country to the brink of collapse. -- | :52:38. | :52:43. | |
brought this country. It was economic cruelty and that price for | :52:44. | :52:48. | |
the people, they were the people who always pay the price when spending | :52:49. | :52:52. | |
is out of control and Welfare Bill 's spiral, it was not the | :52:53. | :52:56. | |
politicians at the time he pay that price, although they're happy | :52:57. | :53:00. | |
sitting on the benches opposite... It was the poorest who paid the | :53:01. | :53:02. | |
price. And the most foldable suffered. These are the people who | :53:03. | :53:08. | |
lost their jobs and had their livelihoods snatched from them. | :53:09. | :53:12. | |
These are the people I am fighting for, decent, hard-working people. | :53:13. | :53:18. | |
Not numbers on a spreadsheet. But people whose lives would be | :53:19. | :53:20. | |
impoverished and hopes and aspirations would be crushed if we | :53:21. | :53:24. | |
had gone on spending more and more than the country earns. Getting | :53:25. | :53:28. | |
things right for these people is what I am all about. And it weighs | :53:29. | :53:33. | |
in every decision I have taken as Chancellor over the last six years. | :53:34. | :53:37. | |
These are the people we in this party have been elected to serve. He | :53:38. | :53:47. | |
rightly talks about learning lessons but it is also important that we | :53:48. | :53:51. | |
have clarity about the future. The government line seems to be that | :53:52. | :53:55. | |
there are no plans to further reduce the welfare budget but yesterday, | :53:56. | :53:59. | |
the new Secretary of State said in this House, we will not be seeking | :54:00. | :54:03. | |
alternative offsetting savings and the government will not be coming | :54:04. | :54:07. | |
forward with further proposals for welfare savings. Wetherby any | :54:08. | :54:13. | |
further welfare cuts or not? What is the answer? He has not offered any | :54:14. | :54:19. | |
clarity. That is exactly the position set up by my friend. We | :54:20. | :54:26. | |
understand that if you do not control spending, then you have a | :54:27. | :54:31. | |
fiscal crisis, and because we're controlling spending and we have | :54:32. | :54:36. | |
passed welfare legislation in recent months, we have got the deficit | :54:37. | :54:39. | |
coming down and we're delivering economic Secretary for people. I | :54:40. | :54:45. | |
think the Chancellor. Given what he said about the importance of fiscal | :54:46. | :54:49. | |
responsible at it, will he confirm that had he listened to the advice | :54:50. | :54:51. | |
of the party opposite in the last five years national debt would be | :54:52. | :54:59. | |
?900 billion higher? My right honourable friend is right. The | :55:00. | :55:04. | |
analysis shows that if we had not taken the decision is to reduce the | :55:05. | :55:08. | |
structural deficit, it would have added ?1 trillion further to the | :55:09. | :55:12. | |
national debt, proof you can never trust Labour with the nation 's | :55:13. | :55:13. | |
public finances. I give way to my honourable friend. | :55:14. | :55:23. | |
Would he agree with me that members of this side will not take lectures | :55:24. | :55:29. | |
in fiscal management from the party office it? 13 years in government, | :55:30. | :55:39. | |
then an old saying no money left. She is right, a letter saying, I am | :55:40. | :55:46. | |
sorry, there is no money left. After 13 years of a Labour government, | :55:47. | :55:53. | |
that was the summary of the economic achievement. Let me make a little | :55:54. | :55:58. | |
progress then give way. We will go on driving down the budget deficit, | :55:59. | :56:07. | |
down from borrowing ?1 on every four macro, then onto security and good | :56:08. | :56:12. | |
times of a budget surplus. A country earning more than it spends, but | :56:13. | :56:17. | |
does not pass on debts to its children and grandchildren. We | :56:18. | :56:21. | |
committed to this, we were elected to do this, and it is what the | :56:22. | :56:27. | |
budget delivers. Let me turn to the measures in the budget, again I | :56:28. | :56:33. | |
completely refute those on the other side who say that there is a choice | :56:34. | :56:37. | |
between backing business and promoting social justice. You cannot | :56:38. | :56:43. | |
have social justice without a strong economy. And you cannot have a | :56:44. | :56:49. | |
strong economy unless you have a tax system that backs business and | :56:50. | :56:58. | |
enterprise. I will give way. Is it not the case that when you inherit | :56:59. | :57:03. | |
an unprecedented budget deficit like we did, it is not just about | :57:04. | :57:07. | |
controlling spending. The country has too earned more. And the only | :57:08. | :57:12. | |
way to do that is to cut corporation tax, capital gains tax, so | :57:13. | :57:16. | |
entrepreneurs can go out into the world on their own this country what | :57:17. | :57:26. | |
it needs. He is right. Without a strong economy you cannot have | :57:27. | :57:28. | |
social justice, and you cannot have a strong economy without successful, | :57:29. | :57:41. | |
vibrant businesses. He spoke a lot about the next-generation. One thing | :57:42. | :57:46. | |
he said last week which was welcomed by many young people in Southampton | :57:47. | :57:51. | |
and across the South was to back the new Children's Hospital with ?2 | :57:52. | :57:55. | |
million of matched funding. That is what looking after the next | :57:56. | :57:59. | |
generation looks like, and can I just say on the half of many people | :58:00. | :58:04. | |
across the South, thank you. My honourable friend campaigned for the | :58:05. | :58:09. | |
extra money for the hospital in Southampton. He raised it countless | :58:10. | :58:14. | |
times in the chamber, and it shows that if you persevere, you have a | :58:15. | :58:21. | |
government that listens to you and delivers to you. Let me make a | :58:22. | :58:27. | |
couple of more points and then I will take an intervention. Yesterday | :58:28. | :58:33. | |
the Leader of the Opposition stood and replied to my right honourable | :58:34. | :58:38. | |
friend the Prime Minister, and people have focused on what he | :58:39. | :58:45. | |
failed to save. I am focused on what he said, we should not be reducing | :58:46. | :58:50. | |
taxes on business. He thinks the answer to the challenge of low | :58:51. | :58:56. | |
productivity is that taxes on business should be higher. I totally | :58:57. | :59:01. | |
disagree. That is Labour's answer these days. Increase the basic rate | :59:02. | :59:08. | |
of income tax on working people, as they propose in Scotland, and again | :59:09. | :59:15. | |
the price would not be paid by those opposite, it would be paid by young | :59:16. | :59:17. | |
people who cannot get jobs in countries where business taxes are | :59:18. | :59:23. | |
too high, and enterprise is stifled. It would be paid by people who work | :59:24. | :59:28. | |
in public services whose resources would be drained as the economy | :59:29. | :59:31. | |
became more and more uncompetitive. It would be paid by the country as | :59:32. | :59:36. | |
living standards declined and the nation became poorer. If that is the | :59:37. | :59:46. | |
budget you want, vote in the division lobby tonight. But if you | :59:47. | :59:50. | |
want one that takes 6000 businesses out of business rates, reforms | :59:51. | :59:57. | |
commercial tax, that is the budget we are voting on tonight. If you | :59:58. | :00:01. | |
want and enterprise budget that this investment in our small and medium | :00:02. | :00:08. | |
firms, dramatically reduces burdens on vital oil and gas industry, and | :00:09. | :00:14. | |
gives us the lowest headline business tax rates of any | :00:15. | :00:16. | |
competitors, that is the budget we are voting on tonight. And if you | :00:17. | :00:23. | |
want a one Nation budget but increases the resources for | :00:24. | :00:27. | |
education, supports children's health care, the volts power across | :00:28. | :00:34. | |
our nation, builds infrastructure for the future, that is the budget | :00:35. | :00:39. | |
we are voting on tonight. And if you want budget working people that | :00:40. | :00:45. | |
helps save for the future, freezing there fuel duty, cuts income tax or | :00:46. | :00:48. | |
they keep more money that they are, that is what we are voting on | :00:49. | :00:53. | |
tonight, a budget that delivers security, the health of the | :00:54. | :00:56. | |
next-generation, and that backs working people. It is a passionate | :00:57. | :01:01. | |
Conservative budget, and I ask the House to support it tonight. | :01:02. | :01:04. | |
CHEERING Order, I shall now call the Shadow | :01:05. | :01:31. | |
Chancellor to respond to the Chancellor and to move amendment be. | :01:32. | :01:52. | |
Mr John McDonnell. Mr Speaker, I and my party share the sentiments | :01:53. | :01:54. | |
expressed by the Chancellor Randles across the House, in condemnation of | :01:55. | :01:58. | |
what happened in Brussels today. Our thoughts and prayers are with the | :01:59. | :02:04. | |
Vic in Zambia families. We support the security measures taken by the | :02:05. | :02:07. | |
government, and we say to the people of Alger, we stand with you, we | :02:08. | :02:17. | |
stand with you. I wish to move amendment B. I am glad to see the | :02:18. | :02:21. | |
Chancellor turned up at the least today. In my view, and I believe | :02:22. | :02:35. | |
that of many others, I believe the behaviour of the Chancellor over the | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
last 11 days calls into question his fitness for the office he now holds. | :02:41. | :02:49. | |
Shouting . I also believe it calls into | :02:50. | :03:01. | |
question his fitness for any leading office in government. What we have | :03:02. | :03:09. | |
seen is not the actions of the Chancellor, a senior government | :03:10. | :03:17. | |
minister, but the grubby, incompetent actions of Chancellor. | :03:18. | :03:32. | |
Let's go back to last Friday week. The Chancellor personally forced to | :03:33. | :03:35. | |
cuts in Personal Independence Payment is. A statement issued by | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
the government that Freddie on the IPs was not a consultation. It was | :03:41. | :03:47. | |
not a suggestion, it was a statement of policy -- PIPs. Personal | :03:48. | :03:52. | |
Independence Payment are the benefits that for many disabled | :03:53. | :03:58. | |
people actually make life worth living. They help them get to work, | :03:59. | :04:07. | |
they help them have some normality in their lives. And they often keep | :04:08. | :04:14. | |
them out of residential care. The Chancellor was willing to cut away | :04:15. | :04:17. | |
this vital support to some of the coolest and most disadvantaged | :04:18. | :04:26. | |
members of our community. Do not tell us we are all in this together. | :04:27. | :04:37. | |
Disability groups... Give way. Wouldn't you help to dispel the | :04:38. | :04:42. | |
impression that the Chancellor is acting in his own political | :04:43. | :04:44. | |
interests rather than in the national economic interest. If he | :04:45. | :04:50. | |
had made clear today that he was not going to stand in the leadership of | :04:51. | :04:56. | |
the Tory party but in order to concentrate on his job as Chancellor | :04:57. | :05:05. | |
of the Exchequer. The reason I referred back to fitness for office | :05:06. | :05:15. | |
is because many of us know the distress this has been caused to so | :05:16. | :05:24. | |
many people over the last week. He makes a very personal point about | :05:25. | :05:29. | |
fitness for office on a day of major terrorism attack. Will he withdraw | :05:30. | :05:34. | |
his previous support for terrorist organisations that have attacked | :05:35. | :05:44. | |
this country? Mr Speaker, you heard me share the sentiments of the House | :05:45. | :05:50. | |
on the issue of Belgium. To bring that into the debate as a political | :05:51. | :05:55. | |
point at this stage is an acceptable. Order. Order. Order. I | :05:56. | :06:07. | |
made it clear earlier that attempts to shout down the Chancellor were | :06:08. | :06:13. | |
unacceptable. That was made very clear. I do not think anybody would | :06:14. | :06:20. | |
doubt or deny it. I make similarly clear that no attempt in this | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
chamber will be successful if it is an attempt to shout down the Shadow | :06:26. | :06:33. | |
Chancellor. Get the message, it will not happen. On the Friday before | :06:34. | :06:40. | |
last, disability groups were outraged. The Multiple Sclerosis | :06:41. | :06:47. | |
Society, the Parkinson Society, disability rights, why? Because all | :06:48. | :06:53. | |
of them, like many of us, had gone through the process of agreeing the | :06:54. | :06:58. | |
criteria, at least coming to some compromise on what would actually | :06:59. | :07:01. | |
constitute the criteria for access to this benefit. But the Chancellor | :07:02. | :07:10. | |
moved the goalposts. Those already agreed through consultation, | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
disabled people and their families, have been sick with worry about the | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
threats to their benefits. I will give way. He has called into | :07:20. | :07:25. | |
question the morality of the leadership of my right honourable | :07:26. | :07:28. | |
friend. Would he please discuss with the House the morale of the that | :07:29. | :07:35. | |
allows him to stand with bombers who murdered my friends in Northern | :07:36. | :07:38. | |
Ireland and question the Chancellor? Order! Order! Before we proceed | :07:39. | :07:50. | |
further, perhaps I could say to the House, and I do so on my own | :07:51. | :07:55. | |
account, but also on the basis of sound procedural advice, we must | :07:56. | :08:03. | |
stick to the matter of the budget. I do not require any comeback or | :08:04. | :08:09. | |
comment, agreement or disagreement. Let us proceed in a seemingly matter | :08:10. | :08:15. | |
with the debate. Batters in the interests of the House, and it is | :08:16. | :08:20. | |
what the country has a right to expect. This is a challenge to the | :08:21. | :08:28. | |
judgment of the Chancellor. I give way. During the Chancellor's opening | :08:29. | :08:34. | |
speech, we heard them say that the government will make savings in the | :08:35. | :08:44. | |
welfare budget, which means 4.4 billion regarding PIPs was in | :08:45. | :08:50. | |
addition. It shows this government is mean minded, and prepared to | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
attack people with disabilities, and it is not necessary to make these | :08:56. | :08:58. | |
cuts in welfare and they should give a guarantee that they will not | :08:59. | :09:04. | |
return with this cut. The proposals that came forward did not just shock | :09:05. | :09:08. | |
us at this side of the House, it shocked many members across the | :09:09. | :09:20. | |
House for the brutality. There is scheduled to be a 6% real terms | :09:21. | :09:27. | |
decline on spending on disability benefits between 2015 and 2020. When | :09:28. | :09:32. | |
it came after that Friday, to the Wednesday of the budget, we | :09:33. | :09:36. | |
discovered that these cuts to disabled people were being made to | :09:37. | :09:44. | |
pay for capital gains tax cuts, benefiting the richest 5% in | :09:45. | :09:49. | |
society. And four corporation tax cuts as well. Of course there was a | :09:50. | :09:55. | |
deep feeling of unfairness in this House on all sides. And I welcome | :09:56. | :10:03. | |
the right honourable member for Chingford and Woodford Green's | :10:04. | :10:06. | |
expression of concern during that period. His conversion to our cause | :10:07. | :10:15. | |
of opposing these benefit cuts. At the first person to call to question | :10:16. | :10:21. | |
was my honourable friend for Oldham East, who said in response to the | :10:22. | :10:25. | |
announcement, and I quote, and coming to this decision, the Tories | :10:26. | :10:31. | |
are yet again ignoring the views of disabled people, their carers and | :10:32. | :10:35. | |
experts in the field, trying to press ahead with changes just two | :10:36. | :10:40. | |
years since the introduction of the system itself. | :10:41. | :10:44. | |
After it became clear that cuts to PIPs the planned as a way to fund | :10:45. | :10:53. | |
tax cuts for the wealthy, it was my honourable friend, the leader of the | :10:54. | :10:57. | |
Labour Party, who made it a key part of his excellent response to the | :10:58. | :10:59. | |
budget last week and he was not alone. The members for Ilford North | :11:00. | :11:04. | |
and Nottingham East were among several others on these benches who | :11:05. | :11:08. | |
pressed the Chancellor on this issue. As I did in opening the | :11:09. | :11:14. | |
debate last Thursday. I want to give thanks to everyone on our benches | :11:15. | :11:20. | |
and across the House whose help forced this rethink and helped end | :11:21. | :11:27. | |
the wording which thousands of disabled people have been | :11:28. | :11:31. | |
experiencing in the past week. I thank the Shadow Chancellor. He is | :11:32. | :11:37. | |
right, but turns are embarrassing but I remember his embarrassing | :11:38. | :11:41. | |
U-turn on the charter for fiscal responsibility. Does he regard | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
himself at the moment as a socialist or Marxist and does he agree that | :11:47. | :11:50. | |
the politics of the far left only offer the people and equal share of | :11:51. | :11:56. | |
misery? This is a debate about the threat of cuts to some of the most | :11:57. | :12:00. | |
vulnerable people in society. This is not a time for student union | :12:01. | :12:14. | |
politics in this chamber. By Friday, the Chancellor was under so much | :12:15. | :12:17. | |
criticism, he needed to find someone to blame. I think he did one of the | :12:18. | :12:22. | |
most despicable acts we have witnessed in recent litigant | :12:23. | :12:26. | |
history- he sent out his team of spin doctors to lay the blame on the | :12:27. | :12:31. | |
former Secretary of State for work and that is. The right honourable | :12:32. | :12:34. | |
member for Chingford and Woodford Green. This was a disgraceful act of | :12:35. | :12:39. | |
betrayal of one of his own Cabinet colleagues. To save his own | :12:40. | :12:43. | |
political skin and his leadership post. Order! Mr cleverly. I have | :12:44. | :12:58. | |
known four years, you have always struck me as very polite fellow. Did | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
you get overexcited? You will have an opportunity to intervene in due | :13:04. | :13:06. | |
course but you do not do this in this way. I am surprised that he has | :13:07. | :13:14. | |
been taken by some of the crocodile tears from the Tories opposite in | :13:15. | :13:18. | |
his concern for the disabled. Surely have degrees of me that this is | :13:19. | :13:23. | |
nothing to do with new-found concern for the disabled, it is about the | :13:24. | :13:36. | |
Civil War. Let me move on... ! I appreciate the point made. Can I | :13:37. | :13:44. | |
just say, the reason the betrayal was why the member resigned. I have | :13:45. | :13:53. | |
agreed to be frank with not a single policy he has put forward but I do | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
not doubt his sincerity in the policies he has pursued. Would he | :13:59. | :14:06. | |
not agree with the words of the member for Chingford and Woodford | :14:07. | :14:10. | |
Green said, that the policies of the Chancellor are in danger of drifting | :14:11. | :14:14. | |
in a direction that divide society rather than unites it? I believe his | :14:15. | :14:21. | |
interview on the Andrew Marr programme professed effect that he | :14:22. | :14:26. | |
has concern about this budget, that we agreed with. I have not agreed | :14:27. | :14:30. | |
with the single policy he has pursued but I do not doubt his | :14:31. | :14:38. | |
sincerity. There is no need to shout. He saw the unfairness of the | :14:39. | :14:49. | |
cuts to PIPs contained in the budget, as he said, a budget that | :14:50. | :14:55. | |
benefits high earners. And he saw himself being set up by his own | :14:56. | :15:05. | |
Cabinet colleagues. I thank the Shadow Chancellor forgiving way and | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
he is right to say he does not agree with the former Secretary of State's | :15:10. | :15:13. | |
policies because even with this U-turn, to the PIPs, disabled people | :15:14. | :15:20. | |
are still left distressed by the current reforms that are still going | :15:21. | :15:23. | |
to be going through and will you join me in urging the Chancellor and | :15:24. | :15:28. | |
the new Secretary of State to look again at this very flawed process? I | :15:29. | :15:34. | |
fully concur. Because the same weakness was discussed, the ESA was | :15:35. | :15:43. | |
cut by ?30 per week as well. I think the member opposite. He has been | :15:44. | :15:52. | |
speaking for 14 minutes and West criticising people on my side of the | :15:53. | :15:55. | |
House for making this about politics and people, I was wondering if you | :15:56. | :15:59. | |
would get round to talking about any of the budget proposals? Can I say | :16:00. | :16:14. | |
to the honourable gentleman... The role of the opposition is to hold | :16:15. | :16:21. | |
government to account. We are holding this Chancellor to account | :16:22. | :16:26. | |
for a potential attack on disabled people which I believe would have | :16:27. | :16:31. | |
devastated their lives. In a minute... What I find most | :16:32. | :16:38. | |
disgraceful from all of this is that there has been not one word of | :16:39. | :16:43. | |
apology from its answer or any member on that side. Apologise, I | :16:44. | :16:51. | |
say. I say, apologise, for the pain and anguish he has caused disabled | :16:52. | :16:55. | |
people and their families, for the last two weeks. I understand when | :16:56. | :17:02. | |
mistakes are made, we all make mistakes, but when you make a | :17:03. | :17:06. | |
mistake, and you corrected, at least you should apologise. Does my | :17:07. | :17:12. | |
honourable friend share my view that the most distressing thing that the | :17:13. | :17:15. | |
former Secretary of State said throughout this weekend was the | :17:16. | :17:17. | |
point about it does not matter because they do not vote for us | :17:18. | :17:22. | |
anyway? Isn't there a constant thread, from the government cuts, in | :17:23. | :17:28. | |
this budget, it does not care unless people vote Tory? I find it a form | :17:29. | :17:37. | |
of electoral politics went just because a certain vulnerable group | :17:38. | :17:40. | |
does not vote for you, you target them. That is unacceptable. Not one | :17:41. | :17:52. | |
word of apology. One nation conservatism? It is a contradiction | :17:53. | :18:03. | |
in terms. Can I remind the Shadow Chancellor that the richest 2% are | :18:04. | :18:08. | |
paying 52% of all income tax, up from 49%, and the National Living | :18:09. | :18:12. | |
Wage is putting money into the pockets of the poorest citizens? Can | :18:13. | :18:17. | |
I say that he refers only to income tax. If he had seen last weekend the | :18:18. | :18:23. | |
analysis of the overall cuts and what has happened regarding tax and | :18:24. | :18:28. | |
benefits, he would see that it is actually the poorest but are paying | :18:29. | :18:33. | |
the most and the two groups hit hardest, young women with children | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
and older women with care and responsibilities. Cuts, Eddie 1% are | :18:39. | :18:44. | |
falling on women. That is a discriminatory budget. -- 81%. We | :18:45. | :18:55. | |
are all pleased that the Chancellor has found that attacking the | :18:56. | :19:03. | |
disabled, the cuts in this way, is one cut too far for this government | :19:04. | :19:07. | |
but would you agree that characterising all benefits | :19:08. | :19:10. | |
claimants as work-shy stay in bed, lazy scroungers, which the | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
Chancellor has done on many occasions, contribute to an | :19:16. | :19:22. | |
atmosphere in which it is acceptable to enrich the better off at the | :19:23. | :19:25. | |
price of the poorest amongst us? That language has been used. It has | :19:26. | :19:33. | |
been used. Let me return to the budget. The honourable gentleman, | :19:34. | :19:39. | |
who has left us, ask me to return. Can I say this... Even worse, there | :19:40. | :19:46. | |
is still no certainty about further welfare cuts. We were told yesterday | :19:47. | :19:55. | |
and we have repeated today, that there will be no further cuts in | :19:56. | :20:01. | |
this Parliament. Within minutes, the Treasury were briefing to correct | :20:02. | :20:04. | |
the Secretary of State. It became no planned cuts. There is complete | :20:05. | :20:13. | |
confusion, chaos upon chaos. Assurances, mealy-mouthed assurances | :20:14. | :20:16. | |
given today are being given but nobody believes or has any | :20:17. | :20:21. | |
confidence in them. In one second. The withdrawal of PIPs leaves a ?4.4 | :20:22. | :20:28. | |
billion hole in the budget, as pointed out consistently by my | :20:29. | :20:35. | |
honourable friend for Pontefract. The simple fact is, the sums in this | :20:36. | :20:41. | |
budget, as my honourable friend pointed out, simply do not add up, | :20:42. | :20:49. | |
they do not compute. On that point, the Shadow Chancellor will be aware | :20:50. | :20:52. | |
that page 26 says that the Chancellor will set out plans to | :20:53. | :20:58. | |
meet the welfare cap by this autumn and page 198 of the OBR report says | :20:59. | :21:05. | |
that would require further welfare savings of ?3 billion every year. | :21:06. | :21:11. | |
Did he hear the Chancellor clearly saying this afternoon that he was | :21:12. | :21:16. | |
going to ditch those plans for ?3 billion a year of additional welfare | :21:17. | :21:21. | |
cuts? By the end of this Parliament? Cuts upon cuts. And to the most | :21:22. | :21:33. | |
vulnerable in society. I believe the Shadow Chancellor is a decent man, | :21:34. | :21:38. | |
he said that I do not agree with the single policy of the former Work and | :21:39. | :21:42. | |
Pensions Secretary during his time in office and given his knee fiscal | :21:43. | :21:45. | |
responsibility and his new rules announced one week ago, could he | :21:46. | :21:49. | |
tell the House, because people will look at him as the Shadow | :21:50. | :21:52. | |
Chancellor, will he tell the House, would he keep the welfare cap? Or | :21:53. | :21:57. | |
tell me one single saving that he could take from the welfare budget? | :21:58. | :22:05. | |
We supported the welfare cap. I find it ironic that this is on behalf of | :22:06. | :22:09. | |
a government that is not meeting the welfare cap, it is then moving it | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
up. They are changing the goalposts again. Let us be clear. The ?4.4 | :22:15. | :22:22. | |
billion hole in the budget means that either further cuts in | :22:23. | :22:27. | |
departmental budgets or benefits or stealth taxes will come in. No | :22:28. | :22:34. | |
solution has been announced today. We were told this would be resolved | :22:35. | :22:39. | |
by the autumn so between nine and then, no public sector job, no | :22:40. | :22:47. | |
benefit, no service, will be safe. He is right to say that the | :22:48. | :22:53. | |
Chancellor has a ?4.4 billion black hole and it could be filled by cuts | :22:54. | :22:56. | |
to other public services or to stealth tax cuts. But also, that is | :22:57. | :23:03. | |
only in existence because he set himself a false target. Would he | :23:04. | :23:07. | |
agree with me that the real problem at the heart of the Chancellor's red | :23:08. | :23:12. | |
ability is the fiscal charter? -- credibility. I will come back to | :23:13. | :23:17. | |
that. I realise we are under pressure with time. There has been a | :23:18. | :23:25. | |
solution announced today. And I think this political manoeuvring has | :23:26. | :23:30. | |
real consequences. The drama also very the past budget week has | :23:31. | :23:36. | |
clouded a further astounding revelation about his behaviour. His | :23:37. | :23:41. | |
former college, David Laws, revealed at the weekend that the Chancellor | :23:42. | :23:44. | |
pressurised senior officials to reduce their estimates of the | :23:45. | :23:49. | |
funding needed to maintain the NHS. We discovered that the Chancellor | :23:50. | :23:53. | |
had been forced to cut by almost a half of the funding for the | :23:54. | :23:59. | |
independent assessment for what the NHS needs and the result is hospital | :24:00. | :24:03. | |
trusts cannot plan, they are facing a crisis, waiting times are rising, | :24:04. | :24:07. | |
staff are under intense pressure and morale is at rock autumn. At the | :24:08. | :24:13. | |
start of the year, the NHS recorded its worst ever performance as | :24:14. | :24:15. | |
services struggled to cope with demand. It is now facing its against | :24:16. | :24:22. | |
funding crisis for one generation. And it is putting patient care at | :24:23. | :24:29. | |
risk. I want to go back to the issue of the welfare cap. The existence of | :24:30. | :24:35. | |
the welfare cap and the support for the welfare cap, does that not imply | :24:36. | :24:43. | |
that if welfare spending goes up, then there will have to be a | :24:44. | :24:47. | |
revisiting of welfare spending? And at that stage, with the Shadow | :24:48. | :24:51. | |
Chancellor cease to support the welfare cap would he support | :24:52. | :24:52. | |
measures to keep within it? We supported it because we believed | :24:53. | :25:04. | |
he had better policies such as homes, -- we believe we have better | :25:05. | :25:11. | |
policies such as building homes. The NHS, and nothing says Embers | :25:12. | :25:16. | |
Budget that the NHS is capable of finding the ?22 billion in savings | :25:17. | :25:21. | |
over the next few years, and this idea is pure fantasy written into | :25:22. | :25:26. | |
this Budget. It is typical of this Chancellor to look for Spain and | :25:27. | :25:30. | |
presentation over addressing the real problem. I have been extremely | :25:31. | :25:33. | |
generous, I will come back to the honourable gentleman, we are running | :25:34. | :25:39. | |
out of time. He needs to stop living in the fantasyland and started being | :25:40. | :25:41. | |
honest with the public over his own numbers. On schools, this is far | :25:42. | :25:49. | |
from it being a Budget for the next generation, as the Chancellor | :25:50. | :25:52. | |
claimed. Not only is the plan to turn every school into an academy | :25:53. | :25:56. | |
unpopular with parents and teachers, we now know that schools face an 8% | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
real terms cut in their funding, the first time since the 1990s but | :26:01. | :26:09. | |
schools funding has been cut. At the heart of all this failure, and this | :26:10. | :26:12. | |
is the point the honourable gentleman made, at the heart of all | :26:13. | :26:17. | |
this failure, to be frank, is the Chancellor 's economic incompetence. | :26:18. | :26:21. | |
His huge mistake of forcing through a fiscal rule that has proved to be | :26:22. | :26:26. | |
unworkable against all sound economic advice, he put politics | :26:27. | :26:34. | |
above economic 's. He imposed a fiscal rule which, like his Budget | :26:35. | :26:39. | |
sums, now simply doesn't add up. Virtually every target he has set | :26:40. | :26:44. | |
himself has been missed. The deficit which he promised would be | :26:45. | :26:48. | |
eradicated last year, he has failed. The debt was supposed to be | :26:49. | :26:53. | |
rising... Supposed to be falling, but it is rising. I thank him for | :26:54. | :27:00. | |
giving way. The former Work and Pensions Secretary described the | :27:01. | :27:03. | |
cuts to PIP as deeply unfair when juxtaposed with the tax cuts to the | :27:04. | :27:08. | |
wealthy. Does he agree with me that the Chancellor should consider | :27:09. | :27:13. | |
scrapping that tax decrease for the wealthy to help fill the black hole | :27:14. | :27:18. | |
left of ?4.4 billion? Perhaps that would help? Those are the sort of | :27:19. | :27:23. | |
proposals we should be considering and voting for today. Let me finish | :27:24. | :27:30. | |
the next section. I understand I am straining your patience, Mr Speaker, | :27:31. | :27:34. | |
I will press on. On debt, the Chancellor is set to leave our | :27:35. | :27:40. | |
children with ?1.7 trillion of Government dead, hundreds of | :27:41. | :27:44. | |
billions borrowed under his watch. The welfare cap, the point the | :27:45. | :27:49. | |
honourable gentleman made, said to be breached this year until 2020. | :27:50. | :27:52. | |
The OBR confirmed it would be breached by ?20 billion over five | :27:53. | :27:58. | |
years. Having broken two of his own rules already, the third hangs by a | :27:59. | :28:04. | |
thread, and only thanks to some serious creative accounting will he | :28:05. | :28:08. | |
meet the overall surplus. Meanwhile, across the country, his economic | :28:09. | :28:13. | |
approach is failing, evidence last week by the OBR report. Forecasts | :28:14. | :28:20. | |
for growth, Daum. Forecasts for wages, down. Forecasts for | :28:21. | :28:26. | |
productivity, down. Forecasts for business investment, down again. Why | :28:27. | :28:29. | |
won't he take responsibility for the last six years? Would he give way? | :28:30. | :28:36. | |
Could I give way to the honourable lady? | :28:37. | :28:40. | |
I am very grateful for the honourable gentleman giving way. | :28:41. | :28:44. | |
Could he confirm that he celebrates the fact that 1700 of the lowest | :28:45. | :28:51. | |
paid in my constituency will be taken out of tax altogether as a | :28:52. | :28:55. | |
result of this Budget, and 1.3 million of the lowest paid are being | :28:56. | :29:02. | |
taken out of tax altogether in this Parliament already? Does he welcome | :29:03. | :29:07. | |
mat? That is why we support the increase in the lower rate | :29:08. | :29:12. | |
threshold, but we have concerns that shifting the thresholds benefits the | :29:13. | :29:17. | |
higher earners too much as well. If I can press on, please. At the | :29:18. | :29:28. | |
bottom, to be frank, of this whole Budget, is a Chancellor more | :29:29. | :29:31. | |
interested, as some have referred to, in his political career than the | :29:32. | :29:35. | |
welfare of disabled people, more interested in becoming leader of his | :29:36. | :29:40. | |
party than the health of our economy, not a Chancellor, but a | :29:41. | :29:44. | |
political Chancellor. Let me pay tribute to the colleagues in this | :29:45. | :29:49. | |
house on all sides who have forced the Chancellor to force this U-turn | :29:50. | :29:53. | |
on his proposed cuts to disabled people. Let me conclude with this, | :29:54. | :29:59. | |
this is not a one nation, passionate Budget, nobody believes that. It is | :30:00. | :30:03. | |
a Budget shot through with unfairness at its heart. Even his | :30:04. | :30:08. | |
own Cabinet colleague denounced it last month. It is fundamentally | :30:09. | :30:13. | |
divisive and unfair. This is not a competent budget, it fell apart | :30:14. | :30:17. | |
within a couple of days and the Chancellor is unable to explain how | :30:18. | :30:22. | |
he will fill the ?4 billion hole. It is not a Budget for the long-term, a | :30:23. | :30:26. | |
long-term economic Lambert lasted three days... | :30:27. | :30:31. | |
LAUGHTER It is a Budget built around | :30:32. | :30:34. | |
short-term political tactics that has backfired spectacularly. | :30:35. | :30:40. | |
They used to say a week is a long time in politics, under this | :30:41. | :30:46. | |
Chancellor the weekend 's counts as the length of a long-term economic | :30:47. | :30:51. | |
plan. What a failure. This is not a Budget for the economy or the | :30:52. | :30:56. | |
country, it is a Budget constructed around a self imposed austerity, | :30:57. | :31:01. | |
about politics, not economic, incompetent politics which has blown | :31:02. | :31:05. | |
up in the Chancellor 's phase. Let me say to him... Let me say to him, | :31:06. | :31:12. | |
he might think of for the sake of his party, but I certainly think for | :31:13. | :31:16. | |
the sake of the country, it is time for him to go. | :31:17. | :31:22. | |
Order, the original question was as on the order paper, since when | :31:23. | :31:30. | |
Amendment B has been proposed as on the order paper. The question is | :31:31. | :31:37. | |
that amendment the be made. Mr Kenneth Clarke? | :31:38. | :31:45. | |
Mr Speaker, may I begin by congratulating my right honourable | :31:46. | :31:48. | |
friend the Chancellor on providing much addition of the Chancellor | :31:49. | :31:51. | |
speaking on the last day of the Budget debate. It is one of the many | :31:52. | :31:58. | |
things that should not have been abandoned by my successor, Gordon | :31:59. | :32:03. | |
Brown. It has, I think we will all agree, the effect of enlivening the | :32:04. | :32:10. | |
debate very considerably. I also congratulate him on the extremely | :32:11. | :32:12. | |
effective and spirited performance he has just made in defending the | :32:13. | :32:20. | |
Government and quite rightly taking pleasure in the achievements he has | :32:21. | :32:24. | |
made so far in his term as Chancellor. It is quite remarkable | :32:25. | :32:28. | |
that we are having such a lively debate on the Budget at a time when, | :32:29. | :32:32. | |
as we just discovered from listening to the Shadow Chancellor, there is | :32:33. | :32:37. | |
absolutely no alternative economic strategy or policy on offer of any | :32:38. | :32:43. | |
kind. No doubt my party will make up for that lack of challenge in its | :32:44. | :32:47. | |
own curious way. Meanwhile, I congratulate the Chancellor on where | :32:48. | :32:55. | |
he has got so far. In case he is worried about the controversy | :32:56. | :32:59. | |
surrounding his Budget, that is not unusual. I have been here so long, | :33:00. | :33:04. | |
let me assure him, I have seen much worse. The 1981 Budget of Geoffrey | :33:05. | :33:12. | |
Howe was extremely controversial and passions run far higher and more | :33:13. | :33:15. | |
seriously than on this particular occasion. Nigel Lawson had his | :33:16. | :33:21. | |
speech interrupt did and the House was suspended because of disorder | :33:22. | :33:26. | |
when he tried to cut the taxes on the higher paid. I merely had one | :33:27. | :33:34. | |
defeat on a finance Bill, I had a rebellion which I lost on the floor | :33:35. | :33:38. | |
of the house. My mitigation is it was not my proposal, it was Norman | :33:39. | :33:43. | |
Lamont who had proposed VAT on domestic fuel. I also had to say | :33:44. | :33:48. | |
that I think it was a perfectly sensible proposal, and I still do. | :33:49. | :33:55. | |
But what I did was come back immediately with more tax proposals | :33:56. | :34:00. | |
in order to get the revenue I had just lost. I think my right | :34:01. | :34:04. | |
honourable friend is quite right to wait for events and see what happens | :34:05. | :34:07. | |
between now and the Autumn Statement, and then continued the | :34:08. | :34:12. | |
fiscal discipline he has so far quite rightly maintained. I will | :34:13. | :34:19. | |
give way. The right honourable gentleman | :34:20. | :34:21. | |
probably knows that the Royal College of physicians has an that | :34:22. | :34:27. | |
40,000 people are dying a year at a cost of ?20 billion from diesel | :34:28. | :34:31. | |
emissions and pollution. Do you think the Chancellor should look | :34:32. | :34:35. | |
again at promoting green transport, public health and savings and | :34:36. | :34:39. | |
rebalance the tariffs on electric and diesel, on hydrogen and petrol, | :34:40. | :34:46. | |
to save lives and money? He is extremely active on that | :34:47. | :34:50. | |
front. Scientific knowledge is moving on. I remember when diesel | :34:51. | :34:53. | |
was positively subsidised by government because it was thought to | :34:54. | :34:57. | |
be more environmentally friendly. In a more appropriate debate, those | :34:58. | :35:02. | |
issues are quite well worth pursuing. | :35:03. | :35:05. | |
I do understand the problem. I turned to what the Chancellor has to | :35:06. | :35:12. | |
devote himself to, the Budget, and the Budget judgment and its | :35:13. | :35:15. | |
imprecations for the economy. The Chancellor did actually I accept, as | :35:16. | :35:20. | |
he has too, that is his principal responsibility. The Chancellor has | :35:21. | :35:24. | |
the most difficult job in Government because he has to spend all his time | :35:25. | :35:28. | |
challenging all the lobbies that demand extra expenditure, | :35:29. | :35:32. | |
challenging his colleagues to find savings or improvements in the | :35:33. | :35:36. | |
budgets of their departments in order to close the gap. What this | :35:37. | :35:40. | |
Chancellor has not done is take a short-term view at any stage, which | :35:41. | :35:46. | |
is why he has achieved such remarkable economic success. What I | :35:47. | :35:53. | |
liked about his Budget speech was when he stressed how it was for | :35:54. | :35:57. | |
future generations. I think what he just said a few moments ago, a sound | :35:58. | :36:02. | |
bite which I had not heard before, there is no social justice without | :36:03. | :36:08. | |
sound finance, it is one of the best summations of one nation | :36:09. | :36:12. | |
conservatism I have heard for a very long time. Let me just turn, I | :36:13. | :36:17. | |
should be in trouble with the Speaker and everyone else who wants | :36:18. | :36:20. | |
to speak if I gave way, otherwise I would love to give way for the | :36:21. | :36:31. | |
honourable member to Leicester. If I give way, I shall get even more... I | :36:32. | :36:36. | |
am trying to be reasonably concise, I apologise to the honourable | :36:37. | :36:43. | |
member. I tried to think of what I would have done had I been | :36:44. | :36:48. | |
Chancellor in the present situation. Before the Budget was delivered I | :36:49. | :36:52. | |
decided that if I were in that position, and thank the Lord I am | :36:53. | :36:56. | |
not, because I never face problems of the kind that my honourable | :36:57. | :37:03. | |
friends inherited from his predecessor, but I expected a much | :37:04. | :37:08. | |
tougher Budget. This is classic traditional stuff. When the iron of | :37:09. | :37:13. | |
the Treasury has entered one peers sole, this is the first Budget after | :37:14. | :37:19. | |
an election, we have not made fast enough progress in eliminating the | :37:20. | :37:22. | |
deficit and debt and we will not have sound future progress with a | :37:23. | :37:26. | |
modern rebalance the economy unless we do. My first thoughts would have | :37:27. | :37:31. | |
been to get on with it. I would have introduced a Budget, as I did in my | :37:32. | :37:36. | |
time, raising taxes and cutting public expenditure. And I am glad to | :37:37. | :37:40. | |
hear for reasons I will come onto again in a moment that my right | :37:41. | :37:45. | |
honourable friend has committed himself to his continuing long-term | :37:46. | :37:48. | |
objective, but he has decided to pause. I thought this was going to | :37:49. | :37:54. | |
be a popular Budget, people would speculate as to why we had a popular | :37:55. | :38:00. | |
Budget. The Chancellor has in the short-term relax the fiscal policy, | :38:01. | :38:04. | |
which is why it is very good that the Bank of England is retaining a | :38:05. | :38:15. | |
very, very relaxed monetary policy, he would tighten it if we were to | :38:16. | :38:18. | |
abandon fiscal discipline. In the short term he has lower taxation and | :38:19. | :38:25. | |
Lola Department spending target -- and lowered Department spending | :38:26. | :38:32. | |
targets. He has these are fun spending and lower taxation. I was | :38:33. | :38:37. | |
surprised by that. I assume it is partly caused by the quite | :38:38. | :38:40. | |
considerable uncertainty facing the economy. No one has addressed that | :38:41. | :38:47. | |
in any debate. The Chancellor did in his Budget speech. The global | :38:48. | :38:51. | |
economy is slowing down. The British economy is mainly, in consequence, | :38:52. | :38:57. | |
slowing down. The uncertainties to our economic prospects over 2016 are | :38:58. | :39:05. | |
very, very concerning. There are many uncertainties, all of which | :39:06. | :39:09. | |
would threaten most other developed if things go wrong. In China, we | :39:10. | :39:16. | |
still don't know if they will achieve a soft landing, I think they | :39:17. | :39:21. | |
will. In the emerging markets and, associated with that, the problems | :39:22. | :39:25. | |
of emerging market debt, the volatility in the market, some | :39:26. | :39:29. | |
uncertain as in the financial world and the risk of Brexit, I am very | :39:30. | :39:34. | |
glad that the governor of the Bank of England decided to reassure | :39:35. | :39:37. | |
people by setting out publicly that he was prepared to take action if we | :39:38. | :39:42. | |
had a flight of capital from this country. People get alarmed about | :39:43. | :39:48. | |
this referendum. So far it has only led to a big decline in the value of | :39:49. | :39:54. | |
sterling and the freezing of most people's investment plans, because | :39:55. | :39:58. | |
you are a bit of an idiot to invest in the British economy in anything | :39:59. | :40:03. | |
other than the slightest bit of risk when you do not know what the | :40:04. | :40:07. | |
circumstances will be in six months' time of the trading patterns in the | :40:08. | :40:11. | |
country in which you are investing. I assume that one of the features | :40:12. | :40:14. | |
that made my right honourable friend take a more relaxed view than a | :40:15. | :40:16. | |
judicial Chancellor would have done, not to make those big spending | :40:17. | :40:25. | |
cuts, not to increase taxation, T Eaves taxation on business in | :40:26. | :40:28. | |
particular and the low paid, was because to make sure that he didn't | :40:29. | :40:32. | |
make the mistake of being too severe when circumstances could well worsen | :40:33. | :40:35. | |
as the year goes on. A great deal of the debate centred | :40:36. | :40:56. | |
on the OBR forecast. The fact that it changed so dramatically just | :40:57. | :41:01. | |
underlines what I'm saying about the uncertainties for the immediate | :41:02. | :41:04. | |
future. Fortunately, thanks to my right honourable friend, the British | :41:05. | :41:11. | |
economy has been the fastest growing. The factors that this is a | :41:12. | :41:24. | |
time to be cautious. I would have maintained the squeeze, I put it all | :41:25. | :41:28. | |
off to the latter half of the parliament next, if you're not | :41:29. | :41:32. | |
careful, because long as the economy continues to grow, there was | :41:33. | :41:35. | |
reasonable spec that the British economy will continue to grow, we | :41:36. | :41:37. | |
should not be deficit of this percentage of GDP. | :41:38. | :41:42. | |
And piling up more debt for our successes. | :41:43. | :41:50. | |
If my only dose were this is internally justified. -- doubts. The | :41:51. | :41:58. | |
Shadow Chancellor plainly does not have an idea in his head about how | :41:59. | :42:02. | |
you would save any money I do anything other than spend money | :42:03. | :42:08. | |
which is totally profligate staff. I certainly am very glad that my right | :42:09. | :42:17. | |
honourable friend as changes to business taxation. When I was in | :42:18. | :42:21. | |
office put up taxes but never business taxes because trying to | :42:22. | :42:24. | |
encourage growth. We still need to make a economy stronger so it is | :42:25. | :42:30. | |
welcome that he stepped in, keeping the corporation tax level at | :42:31. | :42:36. | |
competitive rate and particularly I welcome help he has given to small | :42:37. | :42:40. | |
and medium-sized businesses, encouraging business is actually the | :42:41. | :42:46. | |
best way of protecting ourselves against economic risks of the future | :42:47. | :42:51. | |
in this uncertain world. And big business he has not been wholly | :42:52. | :42:55. | |
generous. He and the government have been reading in the OECD -- leading | :42:56. | :43:04. | |
in attempts to actually tackle this problem of tax evasion and tax | :43:05. | :43:10. | |
avoidance on the part of big multinational companies and he has | :43:11. | :43:12. | |
actually incorporated the first serious attempt to attack the | :43:13. | :43:20. | |
problem of tax relief on interest 20 to six budget and misuse, after | :43:21. | :43:24. | |
actually for royalties and tax relief on past losses. I get told a | :43:25. | :43:30. | |
lot about how the Chancellor should be electing more. No government has | :43:31. | :43:39. | |
done a blind thing about tackling tax avoidance for the last ten | :43:40. | :43:45. | |
years. In this budget he has started to act. We are told we have relieved | :43:46. | :43:55. | |
tax on the rich and everybody knows, I certainly know not just in the | :43:56. | :44:01. | |
newspapers, the Treasury have the looking at the idea of doing more on | :44:02. | :44:05. | |
tax relief for the wealthy when they contribute to their pension funds. | :44:06. | :44:12. | |
When you have very high earnings the tax relief on pension funds is our | :44:13. | :44:17. | |
way of avoiding tax and it is a very great way of making sure that you do | :44:18. | :44:22. | |
not pay 45% and a very considerable part of your income, or it was. We | :44:23. | :44:26. | |
have now put a cap on it but I do rather feel it is still rather too | :44:27. | :44:31. | |
generous at the moment that the taxpayer is predicting 45%. When | :44:32. | :44:41. | |
some delete that outside the scene after the pensions industry in ten | :44:42. | :44:46. | |
days flat so he was not actually allowed that occasion I suspect | :44:47. | :44:49. | |
because of fear on this side of the House to proceed with more of these | :44:50. | :44:53. | |
changes to tax relief for the rich. So far as other tax move see has | :44:54. | :45:03. | |
made, personal allowances and the thresholds for the higher rate, | :45:04. | :45:10. | |
because the higher paid wretch no peace education' tax, it is also | :45:11. | :45:14. | |
possible to ease the tax burden on the low paid and the ordinary | :45:15. | :45:20. | |
citizen without it being able to be demonstrated man thematically that | :45:21. | :45:26. | |
you have done quite a lot for the rich as well. -- mathematically. If | :45:27. | :45:31. | |
you bought this argument you would never move the threshold at which | :45:32. | :45:36. | |
people pay tax and he would never raise the 40% rate to stop people | :45:37. | :45:40. | |
and modest jobs at the moment who find it but a marginal rate of 40% | :45:41. | :45:44. | |
because Gordon Brown started this habit of freezing the threshold in | :45:45. | :45:52. | |
order to get still taxation. It is a welcome thing to raise thresholds | :45:53. | :45:55. | |
and collaborate my writable friend was able to do so. The pension | :45:56. | :46:02. | |
benefits, which I entitled to, get raised every now and again and I've | :46:03. | :46:08. | |
always told that we put things in a manifesto and I've yet to meet | :46:09. | :46:12. | |
candidate or elector in the last election and read this manifesto | :46:13. | :46:15. | |
which she was tough considerable detail in it that was not set the | :46:16. | :46:19. | |
crucial to my victory in my constituency nor I suspect in the | :46:20. | :46:27. | |
body else's. -- anybody. We have ruled out ever raising income tax | :46:28. | :46:30. | |
and national insurance are VAT and we appear to have ruled out to have | :46:31. | :46:34. | |
done anything at all the stops were very wealthiest people having feed | :46:35. | :46:39. | |
bus passes and winter fuel allowance and so on. I would not advocate the | :46:40. | :46:44. | |
breaking of manifestos but I know of no prosperous pensioners, certainly | :46:45. | :46:49. | |
nobody in full-time employment and myself would not object to two at | :46:50. | :46:55. | |
the very least making it taxable and I do think that there is case from | :46:56. | :47:00. | |
looking at these things and various other alternatives which I will not | :47:01. | :47:03. | |
risk going any further for time and secondary because today populist | :47:04. | :47:08. | |
politics means some unknown lobby are known not get to me to send only | :47:09. | :47:18. | |
and blow it out of the water in the next two or three days. -- not next | :47:19. | :47:29. | |
known to me. No two chancellors would ever have done exactly the | :47:30. | :47:37. | |
same on every measure and within our system we make an overall judgment | :47:38. | :47:43. | |
and the Chancellor retained my full confidence. I'm prepared to support | :47:44. | :47:46. | |
his judgment. On top of that, one of the reason for supporting his | :47:47. | :47:50. | |
judgment as I have already said that we are in a strange position this | :47:51. | :47:54. | |
government where that is absolutely no alternative opposition being made | :47:55. | :48:03. | |
by anybody outside. There are some pundits and some politicians as a | :48:04. | :48:08. | |
result we seem to believe that we are wrong to have this target of a | :48:09. | :48:11. | |
balanced budget of the cycle or however you would put it. But | :48:12. | :48:17. | |
actually that are not any problems, you always run a deficit on and on | :48:18. | :48:23. | |
and on. It is free money and it is troublesome that interest rates | :48:24. | :48:28. | |
might go back to normality one day and meanwhile just let it pile-up | :48:29. | :48:32. | |
that will sort itself out and people on the far right say tax cuts, | :48:33. | :48:36. | |
that's all we want. Tax cuts will inspire such tremendous | :48:37. | :48:41. | |
entrepreneurship that jobs will be greeted in both be created and you | :48:42. | :48:45. | |
will have all paid back and not be in debt long. On the left boost | :48:46. | :48:51. | |
every welfare payment and increase public spending every public service | :48:52. | :48:54. | |
which will generate such the man from the grateful recipients that | :48:55. | :48:57. | |
they will pump it into the economy and will pay for itself. This is a | :48:58. | :49:06. | |
Mickey Mouse economics. Mickey Mouse economics is practised by the last | :49:07. | :49:09. | |
Labour government and got us into this trouble that we are still, | :49:10. | :49:14. | |
faxed to my right honourable friend, getting out of now. Finally my | :49:15. | :49:17. | |
reason for backing his judgment, and this is my last point, is this is | :49:18. | :49:26. | |
aid budgets in six years now. His record is absolutely amazing. I have | :49:27. | :49:34. | |
to concede is one of his competitors are one point T is by far the most | :49:35. | :49:40. | |
successful departmental minister in this government so far. If anybody | :49:41. | :49:47. | |
had said when he took over the state of affairs that the Duke over more | :49:48. | :49:50. | |
than aid budgets ago, that he was going to come here in charge of the | :49:51. | :49:56. | |
fastest-growing economy in the world, near full employment and | :49:57. | :50:03. | |
employment at record-breaking heights and able to show her | :50:04. | :50:10. | |
steadily improving state, not only the public finances, but the | :50:11. | :50:16. | |
condition of the poor and the alleviation of social problems | :50:17. | :50:18. | |
across the country would not have been believed. There's quite a | :50:19. | :50:21. | |
remarkable informants and I back a judgment and I'm delighted that he's | :50:22. | :50:31. | |
helping us all to avert the risk of Brexit in the forthcoming referendum | :50:32. | :50:39. | |
which did really said things off the rails at a public bar as an advised | :50:40. | :50:45. | |
to vote for it. Before I called a spokesperson for the Scottish | :50:46. | :50:52. | |
National party it might be for the convenience of those to know that on | :50:53. | :50:55. | |
account of the level of demand to contribute to the debate there will | :50:56. | :51:00. | |
then have to be a five-minute limit on backbench speeches. That Levitt, | :51:01. | :51:05. | |
as I have said, will follow the honourable gentleman, Mr George | :51:06. | :51:18. | |
caravan. --Kerevan. I expressed sympathy to the peoples of Belgium | :51:19. | :51:27. | |
and recent immigrants in this tragic hour. To give the Chancellor his due | :51:28. | :51:38. | |
he gave a performance of his more assured the more interesting than we | :51:39. | :51:43. | |
got last week. I am always worried when the Chancellor goes into his | :51:44. | :51:48. | |
expansive and emotional mode. What is he hiding? We know what he had | :51:49. | :51:55. | |
last week which was the fact he would have to come back into the | :51:56. | :51:59. | |
peace budget and do a new one that what he always hides and was never | :52:00. | :52:04. | |
addresses is a crucial issue of productivity. -- to his budget into | :52:05. | :52:18. | |
pieces. There's no wage growth and low productivity growth. According | :52:19. | :52:23. | |
to this but it productivity growth has risen at an annual average of | :52:24. | :52:29. | |
0.1%. Since the top of the boom in 2007 the community of increasing UK | :52:30. | :52:39. | |
productivity is less than 1%. That is the failure of the Chancellor. | :52:40. | :52:42. | |
This is the Chancellor, and I have a great respect for him, never had a | :52:43. | :52:49. | |
real job. He is not a Chancellor ever worked in the private sector | :52:50. | :52:52. | |
are ever had to lie awake at night as I have had to do is ensure as | :52:53. | :52:57. | |
many other members have, and worry about how to pay the wage bill. This | :52:58. | :53:01. | |
is an intellectual Chancellor, that is his problem. A summary spent the | :53:02. | :53:10. | |
last 15 years setting up and running businesses and glad it is this | :53:11. | :53:14. | |
Chancellor who is sitting in that seat and grating jobs and helping | :53:15. | :53:22. | |
businesses like mine. Can I say for the benefit of the House, moderation | :53:23. | :53:31. | |
and good humour at the precepts and members of both side can learn order | :53:32. | :53:38. | |
from the right honourable Leonard gentleman who has just given a | :53:39. | :53:42. | |
textbook example of making a robust speech with good humour and there | :53:43. | :53:50. | |
are many members on the opposition benches who could do that. I served | :53:51. | :53:56. | |
with the honourable member on the Treasury Select Committee and I did | :53:57. | :54:02. | |
not take that personally. If we do not get productivity, what happens | :54:03. | :54:07. | |
question might we do not get growth. The right Honourable member for Rush | :54:08. | :54:13. | |
broke give a wise presentation as he always does. He said the UK has had | :54:14. | :54:20. | |
the fastest growth and develop world but that is not true. As he phrased | :54:21. | :54:24. | |
it, that is not true unless of course Australia is not developed by | :54:25. | :54:29. | |
the United States is not developed or Sweden is not developed or Korea | :54:30. | :54:33. | |
is not developed or Spain is not developed because they all had | :54:34. | :54:38. | |
faster GDP growth in 2015 than the UK. This is largely because they had | :54:39. | :54:43. | |
faster productivity growth. That is what this Chancellor has not | :54:44. | :54:47. | |
delivering. That is not what this budget contains and that is the | :54:48. | :54:51. | |
weakness of this budget. If you look at the weakness and failure in | :54:52. | :54:55. | |
productivity growth in the UK and at this Chancellor, you would be | :54:56. | :55:02. | |
interested to know that virtually every commercial industrial sector | :55:03. | :55:10. | |
has productivity lacking and falling 1% per year on average in the | :55:11. | :55:16. | |
financial services industry, a key service industry, the industry that | :55:17. | :55:24. | |
is leading a severed exports. -- our service exports. The Chancellor has | :55:25. | :55:29. | |
spent a lot of time reconstructing the service sector but we have | :55:30. | :55:34. | |
falling productivity so that as we speak, according to ONS, | :55:35. | :55:39. | |
productivity in the British financial sector is now behind | :55:40. | :55:46. | |
financial services activity in France and Italy. | :55:47. | :55:51. | |
That is not a great record, Chancellor. If you don't have | :55:52. | :55:58. | |
productivity growth, then the cash economy does not grow, wages do not | :55:59. | :56:03. | |
grow and, therefore, income to the Treasury does not grow. | :56:04. | :56:10. | |
I thank the honourable gentlemen for giving way. Does he not recognise | :56:11. | :56:14. | |
that in this Budget there is a mod to improve the performance of the | :56:15. | :56:18. | |
economy in that, does he not agree that a massive cut in business rates | :56:19. | :56:24. | |
is going to deliver exactly that productivity he is talking about? | :56:25. | :56:32. | |
Well, Madam Deputy Speaker, I utterly unacceptable point, it comes | :56:33. | :56:35. | |
to the core of what I'm going to say. The sort of cuts in business | :56:36. | :56:40. | |
rate to small companies the Chancellor has belatedly introduced | :56:41. | :56:45. | |
in this Budget have long been available in Scotland. What has | :56:46. | :56:49. | |
happened to productivity in Scotland, with the Scottish | :56:50. | :56:52. | |
Government's limited drivers for economic growth? Productivity in | :56:53. | :56:58. | |
Scotland, since the recession, has gone up 4.4%, more than four times | :56:59. | :57:02. | |
what this Chancellor has delivered, as we have been forced, with limited | :57:03. | :57:08. | |
tax powers, to concentrate on the supply side. The Chancellor does not | :57:09. | :57:12. | |
concentrate on the supply side. There are bits and pieces that I | :57:13. | :57:17. | |
welcome in his Budget, particularly the move to clamp down on transfer | :57:18. | :57:22. | |
pricing in multinational companies. But, in the end, the Chancellor has | :57:23. | :57:28. | |
no strategy apart from his rendezvous with 2020 and trying to | :57:29. | :57:37. | |
run a Budget surplus. Is he perhaps being a bit harsh insofar as there | :57:38. | :57:41. | |
are many supply-side matters in this Budget, including the improved | :57:42. | :57:48. | |
investment in infrastructure, the Digital economy, the cuts in | :57:49. | :57:52. | |
Corporation Tax and, as has been mentioned, the cuts in business | :57:53. | :58:00. | |
rates, all of which should help investment? Indeed, and I welcome | :58:01. | :58:03. | |
all the supply-side measures. We have had, wait for it, five Budgets | :58:04. | :58:11. | |
in the last 15 months. Why wouldn't they appear in the last four? If you | :58:12. | :58:17. | |
can't today at last week, we have had six Budgets, white or not they | :58:18. | :58:22. | |
appear before? It is not the Chancellor or the Treasury | :58:23. | :58:28. | |
officials, it is because there is no strategy apart from trying to run a | :58:29. | :58:32. | |
budget surplus and trying to run a budget surplus in a particular year | :58:33. | :58:36. | |
goes the Chancellor knows that if he does not deliver in 2020, what is | :58:37. | :58:41. | |
left of his reputation after this week is in shreds. | :58:42. | :58:45. | |
I just wish to draw his attention, he says this is precisely why the UK | :58:46. | :58:49. | |
has been working through its long-term economic plan. Since 2010, | :58:50. | :58:53. | |
the plan has been focused on reducing the deficit while | :58:54. | :58:58. | |
delivering the supply-side reforms necessary to improve long-term | :58:59. | :59:00. | |
productivity. Will he at least concede that the Chancellor has in | :59:01. | :59:05. | |
his Redbook was I see the kind of strategy that he is criticising? -- | :59:06. | :59:13. | |
precisely the kind of strategy? No. Because in the Chancellor's mind | :59:14. | :59:17. | |
there is a tension, like the good and evil on his shoulder. One sign | :59:18. | :59:25. | |
says, run a budget surplus. It is an easy road. It is not badly thought | :59:26. | :59:29. | |
out, given the number of financial rules that chancellors over the | :59:30. | :59:33. | |
years have thought up and failed to implement, it is extremely simple, | :59:34. | :59:38. | |
it is just too crude. It vies with the supply-side strategy. Following | :59:39. | :59:45. | |
on from my other friend from the Treasury's question, and OBR report | :59:46. | :59:51. | |
says looking at how the Budget supply-side measures will bear out, | :59:52. | :59:58. | |
the report says we expect smaller positive contributions to potential | :59:59. | :00:02. | |
output growth from population growth, while average hours worked | :00:03. | :00:12. | |
are expected to trend down. Average hours less, less growth in | :00:13. | :00:16. | |
population, less input, where will the productivity increase come from? | :00:17. | :00:21. | |
Would he agree that the reason we have such hopeless productivity | :00:22. | :00:26. | |
growth is firstly that research and development, by international | :00:27. | :00:30. | |
standard, is very, very low. Secondly, infrastructure investment | :00:31. | :00:36. | |
is very, very low. Thirdly, rights at work security is very low, people | :00:37. | :00:40. | |
can be sacked. If they could stay in work, as in Germany, the employer | :00:41. | :00:47. | |
has to invest in their productivity because they can't get rid of them. | :00:48. | :00:53. | |
We are creating short-term jobs, lower pay and less productivity. I | :00:54. | :00:57. | |
could not agree more on all three points, so to be brief I will accept | :00:58. | :01:02. | |
them as agenda. In addition, if you look at the back of the red book you | :01:03. | :01:08. | |
will discover that public sector net investment, the capital investment | :01:09. | :01:12. | |
in the public sector, falls for the next four years. I have to ask | :01:13. | :01:16. | |
members on the other side of the house, if industry is in trouble, | :01:17. | :01:23. | |
manufacturing is contracting as it has, according to the latest data, | :01:24. | :01:28. | |
if in the public sector in order for the Chancellor to meet this | :01:29. | :01:34. | |
rendezvous with destiny in 2020 and have this budget surplus, if we have | :01:35. | :01:38. | |
to cut public sector net investment, how does that help budgeted at it? | :01:39. | :01:43. | |
You need investment in capital to have productivity, that is where it | :01:44. | :01:48. | |
comes from. In order to make the books balance, it is interesting to | :01:49. | :01:52. | |
see what the OBR thinks has to happen. The OBR thinks that UK | :01:53. | :01:55. | |
private sector business investment has to make up the difference. The | :01:56. | :02:00. | |
OBR thinks that UK private business investment will come to the rescue | :02:01. | :02:04. | |
and contribute a quarter of the expenditure contributions to GDP | :02:05. | :02:08. | |
growth in the period to 2020 in order to achieve the Chancellor's | :02:09. | :02:12. | |
fabled budget surpluses. Now what we have to say, to make all the sums | :02:13. | :02:17. | |
were, there has to be growth. According to the OBR, all the | :02:18. | :02:23. | |
growth, the expenditure between now and 2020, has to come from business | :02:24. | :02:31. | |
investment. There was me on the numbers, they are quite important, | :02:32. | :02:38. | |
-- bear with me on the numbers, they are quite important, the OBR has to | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
that are Chris says that business has to contribute 0.6%. Just let me | :02:44. | :02:53. | |
finish. There is only one problem. Historically, from 1990 to 2008, | :02:54. | :02:59. | |
what did British business manager as a percentage of GDP annually in | :03:00. | :03:05. | |
investment? 0.3%, was icy half in the boom years what OBR thinks | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
business has to invest between now and 2020 in order for the | :03:10. | :03:12. | |
Chancellor's numbers to work. That will not happen. The honourable | :03:13. | :03:19. | |
member says the Chancellor lacks strategy. He was not listening to | :03:20. | :03:24. | |
the same Budget that I was, we are seeing business tax down, | :03:25. | :03:27. | |
infrastructure improves, in the Northern powerhouse we are seeing | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
massive Government investment to tackle the challenges and private | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
sector investment on the back of it, ?1 billion in Manchester Airport | :03:36. | :03:38. | |
over ten years. Isn't that the sort of leverage that the Government | :03:39. | :03:43. | |
should be seeking? I think if the honourable member had been listening | :03:44. | :03:47. | |
carefully, rather than following the script, I am in | :03:48. | :03:48. | |
favour of all the supply-side measures that we can | :03:49. | :03:50. | |
get, that is how you get growth. I am pointing out that the Budget | :03:51. | :03:57. | |
figures we have been pointing out in the Redbook with the OBR has Mike | :03:58. | :04:01. | |
Weir independent analysis, business investment will be have to be double | :04:02. | :04:06. | |
what it is historical averages. The economy is slowing, in order for the | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
budget numbers to work. That will not happen. It comes to the | :04:12. | :04:16. | |
question, it is a reasonable point, how do we boost business investment? | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
In the Budget, first of all, we have a cut in corporation tax. It is | :04:22. | :04:27. | |
already the lowest in the G20. If it is already the lowest in the G20, | :04:28. | :04:34. | |
how can a cut in corporation tax actually produce any more inward | :04:35. | :04:37. | |
investment? It is the biggest incentive it will be, cutting its | :04:38. | :04:43. | |
even more will not be an increased incentive, it is wasting funds. I | :04:44. | :04:50. | |
have raised this with the House before, much of the profits from the | :04:51. | :05:01. | |
reduced Corporation Tax are going into shares, so that does not add to | :05:02. | :05:08. | |
productivity. The other issue in the Budget is the cut in capital gains | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
tax. There is an argument for cutting capital gains | :05:13. | :05:13. | |
tax, but here is the point. Who was at raise the capital gains tax in | :05:14. | :05:23. | |
2010? Which Chancellor raised capital gains tax? It is the | :05:24. | :05:27. | |
Chancellor sitting there. If he could raise it, and now here's | :05:28. | :05:31. | |
lowering it, what long-term plan is that? That confusion of signals is | :05:32. | :05:36. | |
exactly why business does not invest, they don't know what taxes | :05:37. | :05:40. | |
will be from one Budget to another which is, at the moment, every three | :05:41. | :05:50. | |
months. I wasn't seeking to make a point, but I will now. Surely the | :05:51. | :05:53. | |
Chancellor has demonstrated very nearly, he has his public finances | :05:54. | :05:56. | |
under control, he is now in a position to take forward these | :05:57. | :06:02. | |
changes referred to? Before I called the honourable gentleman, he has | :06:03. | :06:08. | |
been on his feet for 15 minutes, he has taken a lot of intervention, | :06:09. | :06:11. | |
there are around 40 members waiting to speak and I don't think we will | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
get everyone in, so if you could limit the number of interventions, I | :06:17. | :06:21. | |
would be grateful. As ever, I am at your service and the service of the | :06:22. | :06:25. | |
House. I final point, I am sure we will discuss this in another three | :06:26. | :06:29. | |
months at the next Budget. LAUGHTER | :06:30. | :06:35. | |
The Chancellor talks about living beyond our means. | :06:36. | :06:39. | |
He prioritises the Budget surplus. He talks about intergenerational | :06:40. | :06:43. | |
fairness, he says that if we don't get the deficit down, the overall | :06:44. | :06:48. | |
national debt down, it will be a burden on future generations. Let us | :06:49. | :06:54. | |
test that. Letters go back to the late 40s and 1950s when the national | :06:55. | :07:02. | |
debt as a share of GDP was more than twice what it is now. It was | :07:03. | :07:08. | |
coasting over 200% at one point, for most of the 50s it was at 150%, | :07:09. | :07:12. | |
twice what we have at the moment. That came from governments, | :07:13. | :07:17. | |
particularly conservative governments, borrowing money. Most | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
of the rise in national debt did not come through World War II, it was in | :07:22. | :07:25. | |
the late 40s and early 50s as we try to rebuild Britain's infrastructure | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
as a result of the degradations of the war. Harold Macmillan billing -- | :07:31. | :07:38. | |
building a million houses the year. -- each year. But if a huge national | :07:39. | :07:44. | |
debt like that weighed heavily on a future generation, let's go forward. | :07:45. | :07:48. | |
What happened to the baby boomers like myself and the other honourable | :07:49. | :07:53. | |
member? Our generation has houses, we have pensions, we have benefited | :07:54. | :07:59. | |
from that investment in national chair funded by the state. -- in | :08:00. | :08:08. | |
national structure. So the idea that if you invest and run up a deficit | :08:09. | :08:13. | |
it places a burden on the next generation is not true. Did the | :08:14. | :08:17. | |
economy grow faster through the 50s and early 60 's? Yes. What it | :08:18. | :08:24. | |
depends on, this is the message I will leave the Chancellor and I | :08:25. | :08:29. | |
would liken to reflect on, what it depends on when he was trying to | :08:30. | :08:32. | |
control public spending is what you spend it on. If like Harold | :08:33. | :08:37. | |
Macmillan and the Conservative governments of the 50s, you invest | :08:38. | :08:42. | |
in real infrastructure, rather than borrowing to invest in current | :08:43. | :08:45. | |
spending, which is blown away by the wind, like this Chancellor is, if | :08:46. | :08:51. | |
you do that, you will fail. The Chancellor wants to pretend he can | :08:52. | :08:56. | |
run a Budget surplus. It may never happen, even if it does for one | :08:57. | :09:01. | |
year, it is unsustainable. This Chancellor does not understand | :09:02. | :09:04. | |
business, he does not understand how the economy does, he talks a good | :09:05. | :09:09. | |
game but he has not delivered productivity, which is the core | :09:10. | :09:11. | |
thing we need. Maria Miller! Thank you, Madam | :09:12. | :09:18. | |
Deputy Speaker. It is a pleasure to follow the gentleman who always | :09:19. | :09:22. | |
speak so eloquently, but I disagree with absolutely every word he has | :09:23. | :09:26. | |
just said. At the heart of this Government | :09:27. | :09:30. | |
Klose Budget is boosting productivity, that is plain for | :09:31. | :09:35. | |
everyone to see. My right honourable friend the member from Rushcliffe | :09:36. | :09:40. | |
said extremely clearly that the global economy is slowing down and | :09:41. | :09:45. | |
we need to be fighting fit for the future, and this Budget will help | :09:46. | :09:49. | |
put Britain in that place. I would like to pay tribute to the | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
Chancellor for discovering such a strong Budget -- for delivering. But | :09:54. | :09:57. | |
we should also be paying tribute to the wealth creators of the nation, | :09:58. | :10:02. | |
it is them, not as in parliament, lab would Britain back on top with | :10:03. | :10:06. | |
one of the strongest economies in the world. It is the farmers I met | :10:07. | :10:10. | |
last week in Hampshire, the partners who run the new John Lewis | :10:11. | :10:13. | |
store in my constituency, small and medium-size businesses up and down | :10:14. | :10:20. | |
this country, people like Beryl Huntington who run absolute offices, | :10:21. | :10:26. | |
or J -- Graeme Murphy, who runs our DT, those innovators and | :10:27. | :10:29. | |
entrepreneurs putting Britain back on top. We have to acknowledge the | :10:30. | :10:34. | |
immense hard work of those people to put our country in the position that | :10:35. | :10:36. | |
it is. In what this government has been | :10:37. | :10:49. | |
able to do is to recognise its role in creating the conditions for that | :10:50. | :10:55. | |
business success because it is a government who have created | :10:56. | :10:57. | |
environment where businesses feel confident to invest to make sure | :10:58. | :11:03. | |
that the right reductions in business and job tax and in place to | :11:04. | :11:08. | |
encourage that business growth and success in the right infrastructure | :11:09. | :11:12. | |
and investment and ?100 billion going into infrastructure of this | :11:13. | :11:16. | |
Parliament including Crossrail two will do so much to reduce the | :11:17. | :11:19. | |
pressure and other parts of the rail network including I know for many | :11:20. | :11:25. | |
Honourable members here the Wessex route which is well overcapacity at | :11:26. | :11:28. | |
the moment. It is also a budget which is investing in people again | :11:29. | :11:36. | |
underlining the commitment to 3 million new apprenticeships by 2020 | :11:37. | :11:40. | |
mile in section six 5000 apprenticeships came through my | :11:41. | :11:46. | |
local college funding degree level apprenticeships and this is in that | :11:47. | :11:50. | |
particular point that I want to make my main points because it is people | :11:51. | :11:55. | |
who are the biggest assets of most organisations. When the CBI talks | :11:56. | :11:58. | |
with the biggest challenges facing business in the UK today, it is | :11:59. | :12:06. | |
retaining top cat talent and having appropriately skilled staff. We may | :12:07. | :12:09. | |
have recognisable is an employment which is to be applauded in the | :12:10. | :12:12. | |
highest numbers of women and were going to be fighting for the future | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
we need to make sure we're getting the best out of every single member | :12:17. | :12:22. | |
of accuracy. I believe that is much that is being done with still more | :12:23. | :12:27. | |
to do, particularly in regards to the role of women in the workforce. | :12:28. | :12:31. | |
As I said we have recognised as a said we have recognise women work | :12:32. | :12:36. | |
today the Chancellor is to be congratulated on that, particularly | :12:37. | :12:39. | |
because of the investment he has made sure as happened in Dublin | :12:40. | :12:45. | |
seeing the amount of free childcare. -- doubling. 1 million women who | :12:46. | :12:52. | |
work would like to work more but can't find the right job to do that. | :12:53. | :13:00. | |
41% of them in this country work part-time and may do so because they | :13:01. | :13:03. | |
cannot get hold of the right flexible work to be able to fit | :13:04. | :13:07. | |
around a family and caring responsibilities. I hope I can | :13:08. | :13:11. | |
gently draw the attention of the Chancellor to the second report of | :13:12. | :13:13. | |
the authority select committee which is all about one of the great | :13:14. | :13:18. | |
aspirations of this government which is to eliminate gender pay gap in a | :13:19. | :13:23. | |
generation and I believe can do that if we have all jobs be more flexible | :13:24. | :13:28. | |
and we have a better share of care for men in the family life and we | :13:29. | :13:35. | |
have national ways, pathways for women to get back into work. I would | :13:36. | :13:42. | |
like to draw his attention to report today that shows 77% of pregnant | :13:43. | :13:49. | |
mothers are enduring. This is not making the best use of in this | :13:50. | :13:55. | |
country outlet heard of -- and I would like to hear a pledge from | :13:56. | :13:57. | |
this government that they will take steps to make sure everybody can | :13:58. | :14:00. | |
take part in the job they want to do to make the biggest conservation can | :14:01. | :14:05. | |
to boost productivity of this country. I rise to move the tenant a | :14:06. | :14:20. | |
-- amendment A. I served on the finance committee with the | :14:21. | :14:23. | |
honourable member with Glasgow Central last year and she and I | :14:24. | :14:27. | |
first tabled amendment on this issue. We hope this year we can see | :14:28. | :14:32. | |
them finally reflected in legislation. I would like to thank | :14:33. | :14:38. | |
them Honourable member for Berwick-upon-Tweed for co-sponsoring | :14:39. | :14:41. | |
the amendment and I would like to thank many of my Honourable friends | :14:42. | :14:46. | |
for their support. It is the campaigning work so many others said | :14:47. | :14:50. | |
this chamber that has driven us forward including more than 300,000 | :14:51. | :14:54. | |
people who signed the petition on this issue. Campaign against the | :14:55. | :15:02. | |
tampon tax will serve as an example and inspiration to make positive | :15:03. | :15:08. | |
change the highest level. It is one of the absurdities of attacks resume | :15:09. | :15:13. | |
tampons and sanitary towels are treated as luxuries when periods are | :15:14. | :15:16. | |
simply a fact of life for women. Last week we had a pollen portion | :15:17. | :15:22. | |
food banks about women unable to afford tampons resorting to using | :15:23. | :15:28. | |
newspapers and socks. Would she join me in thanking the Treasury Minister | :15:29. | :15:34. | |
for the hard work is done in taking that fight directly to the European | :15:35. | :15:37. | |
Union are negotiating with change the government is able to bid on the | :15:38. | :15:43. | |
table today? I thank for intervention and I do thank the | :15:44. | :15:46. | |
Treasury minister in common with everybody who supported this | :15:47. | :15:50. | |
long-standing campaign throughout the service. It cannot be acceptable | :15:51. | :15:57. | |
women are having to use socks and newspapers as substitutes for | :15:58. | :15:59. | |
sanitary protection and I hope as well as cutting prices across the | :16:00. | :16:02. | |
board we can ensure that all women have access to the protection they | :16:03. | :16:08. | |
need. Nor is it just about money. It's about the stigma attached the | :16:09. | :16:12. | |
basic facts of women's lives. The Prime Minister suggested he will | :16:13. | :16:16. | |
always be expending this issue to the other 27 heads of government at | :16:17. | :16:19. | |
the European council but the fact they had to address this issue | :16:20. | :16:24. | |
directly is itself a great step forward for women. I am therefore | :16:25. | :16:27. | |
glad the government has taken on board the message of the campaign | :16:28. | :16:31. | |
and for making me the first opposition backbench MP to | :16:32. | :16:37. | |
successfully move an amendment to a budget resolution. If nothing else I | :16:38. | :16:44. | |
will least achieve lasting fame as a parliamentary pub quiz answer. But | :16:45. | :16:52. | |
that does not mean her pop the back -- that does not mean our work is | :16:53. | :16:57. | |
done. Most pressingly there's a question of what will happen from | :16:58. | :17:02. | |
those women charities were benefiting from the tampon fund. I | :17:03. | :17:08. | |
hope he will pledge she will continue to provide the financial | :17:09. | :17:11. | |
support they desperately need even after this tax was scrapped and will | :17:12. | :17:15. | |
need to take the final step by legislating through the Finance Bill | :17:16. | :17:18. | |
at European level and I think it would be fitting of this House that | :17:19. | :17:22. | |
chance to pass these moments prior to the referendum in June. I hope | :17:23. | :17:27. | |
the Minister can commit to that timetable today. I hope he will be | :17:28. | :17:32. | |
back at the dispatch box tomorrow with the expected announcement of | :17:33. | :17:37. | |
the EE VAT action plan. This also a challenge to make sure women get | :17:38. | :17:42. | |
full benefit and it does not simply increase profit phone manufacturers | :17:43. | :17:47. | |
and retailers of sanitary products and I'm waiting there myself and | :17:48. | :17:55. | |
would encourage the comment Ojomoh. I hope it will not be too much for | :17:56. | :18:00. | |
test of our powers of persuasion to encourage them to advertise women's | :18:01. | :18:04. | |
charities in the packaging and make donations themselves. Women have no | :18:05. | :18:08. | |
choice but to pay companies for these products and I do hope that | :18:09. | :18:11. | |
these companies will make the choice to help pay for our services. I | :18:12. | :18:19. | |
thank my Honourable sister for giving way and this point for | :18:20. | :18:23. | |
support and what the group is than this. Would she accept my concern | :18:24. | :18:34. | |
that perhaps the definition of sanitary products needs to be | :18:35. | :18:37. | |
slightly widened to cover things such as breast pads for mothers who | :18:38. | :18:41. | |
are breast-feeding and maternity pads for women who have just had | :18:42. | :18:44. | |
children and incontinence pads which are not always available to people | :18:45. | :18:52. | |
on free VAT. I very much look forward to campaigning with her on | :18:53. | :18:55. | |
the issues that she has just addressed. This evening we have the | :18:56. | :19:02. | |
opportunity to make right historic injustice and make clear our intent | :19:03. | :19:05. | |
to abolish VAT and female sanitary products and the amendment allows us | :19:06. | :19:09. | |
to do just that and I hope the whole House will support it. It is a | :19:10. | :19:17. | |
pleasure to follow the honourable lady for Dewsbury and at the two B | :19:18. | :19:24. | |
to the mark she has made this place and I think I can speak for the | :19:25. | :19:27. | |
whole House that she will be more than just the answer to a future pub | :19:28. | :19:36. | |
quiz. It was a pleasure to follow Kenneth Clarke who is turning out to | :19:37. | :19:41. | |
be a bit of a national treasure and outside of the House. This is a | :19:42. | :19:44. | |
budget that puts the next-generation first and I have three young | :19:45. | :19:52. | |
children. It continues our long-term plan to reduce the deficit and | :19:53. | :19:56. | |
achieve surpluses as a long-term solution to long-term problems. To | :19:57. | :20:00. | |
ensure that Britain is in a strong economic position for the future. | :20:01. | :20:06. | |
Back to work in my constituency neighbour, the Chancellor, -- thanks | :20:07. | :20:11. | |
to the work. The old BR protects growth rates for Britain in excess | :20:12. | :20:16. | |
of 2% for the remainder of the Parliament. Eyes-mac all BR. --OBR. | :20:17. | :20:30. | |
The challenges of the country faces a growing global stock markets have | :20:31. | :20:34. | |
had the worst performance for 45 years and the sharp fall in the | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
prices and commodities has contributed to slower global growth. | :20:40. | :20:44. | |
Eight years ago the UK was one of the worst prepared to face the | :20:45. | :20:49. | |
financial pricess crisis and today the UK is one of the best prepared | :20:50. | :20:54. | |
and we have fixed the roof of the sun was shining. Against the | :20:55. | :20:58. | |
backdrop of global uncertainty this budget that the lover 's security -- | :20:59. | :21:09. | |
deliver security. 60% of all private sector employment, the combined | :21:10. | :21:18. | |
annual turnover of S M E was nearly half of all private sector turnover | :21:19. | :21:24. | |
denied a kingdom. I welcome the announcement from last week | :21:25. | :21:29. | |
statement that business rate relief will be doubled permanently. | :21:30. | :21:31. | |
Businesses with a writable value of ?12,000 below will receive relief. | :21:32. | :21:40. | |
-- rateable. 6000 small businesses across the country will have no rate | :21:41. | :21:53. | |
at all. I welcome the 600,000 small businesses will be taken out of | :21:54. | :21:57. | |
business rates. But that does not happen for a year. Retail business | :21:58. | :22:04. | |
rate relief is worth ?1500 and that has been abolished so small shop | :22:05. | :22:09. | |
owners will still have to pay extra. Is that not disappointing? I bow to | :22:10. | :22:15. | |
his greater knowledge of small businesses. I know we does a great | :22:16. | :22:19. | |
job in Rochdale. We cannot do everything the same time but overall | :22:20. | :22:22. | |
I do welcome this budget and I'm sure he will welcome the overall | :22:23. | :22:25. | |
message to support businesses and help them with those relieves. There | :22:26. | :22:37. | |
will be tapered relief. 2000 properties in Holton and 7000 in | :22:38. | :22:42. | |
Cheshire West have a rateable value of the low ?50,000 and would benefit | :22:43. | :22:47. | |
substantially from these changes. Golding in northern powerhouse and | :22:48. | :22:49. | |
rebalancing the national economy is all part of the economic strategy of | :22:50. | :22:55. | |
this government. In 2015 doubled over have a million more businesses | :22:56. | :22:59. | |
established as a London in the south-eastern in 2010 and one third | :23:00. | :23:02. | |
of new businesses are in the northern powerhouse and overwhelming | :23:03. | :23:05. | |
evidence is that these new businesses are creating more and | :23:06. | :23:10. | |
more jobs. In my constituency unemployment is down by 57% since | :23:11. | :23:15. | |
2010 and almost three quarts of the growth employment has been in | :23:16. | :23:19. | |
full-time jobs and real wages are rising strongly. Since 2010 the have | :23:20. | :23:25. | |
been around 4000 new housing starts in Cheshire West and Chester and | :23:26. | :23:32. | |
just over 2000 in the Holton and Runcorn area. They are up by 91% | :23:33. | :23:40. | |
when compared by the low point in 2009. Local authorities will be able | :23:41. | :23:44. | |
to access 1.2 billion starter homeland funds to bail to prepare | :23:45. | :23:49. | |
more brown field sites for starter homes in my constituency which is | :23:50. | :23:57. | |
legacy Brownfield sites from ICI. This is helping young people in the | :23:58. | :24:00. | |
20s and 30s to buy their first home and crucially protecting our green | :24:01. | :24:06. | |
belt and helping more people on the property ladder. UK was the | :24:07. | :24:10. | |
fastest-growing major advanced economy 2014 in the second fastest | :24:11. | :24:15. | |
2015 and is forecasted by the old BCD to be the fastest-growing in | :24:16. | :24:29. | |
2016. -- old BCD. --OBCD. Under Labour one in every ?4 was borrowed | :24:30. | :24:34. | |
and now it is one in every 14. We will build up a surplus by the end | :24:35. | :24:38. | |
of this Parliament. The snooze button from a high tax on high | :24:39. | :24:44. | |
welfare low-wage economy and next year the long awaited messy Gateway | :24:45. | :24:50. | |
Bridge will be opened by a Conservative government. --Mersey. | :24:51. | :25:00. | |
This reminds the world that Great Britain and the north of England is | :25:01. | :25:07. | |
open for business. I would like FMA to advance the argument made by the | :25:08. | :25:10. | |
honourable gentleman for East Lothian. Productivity was central | :25:11. | :25:18. | |
economic challenge of the Parliament, according to the | :25:19. | :25:21. | |
Chancellor last year. It failed to address the productivity gap between | :25:22. | :25:26. | |
ourselves and our competitors and that would be addressed by the | :25:27. | :25:32. | |
government producing July 2015 productivity plan. In this like | :25:33. | :25:37. | |
committee of enquiry into the plan funded to somewhat worthy but vague | :25:38. | :25:45. | |
and without the firm delivery and implementation measures need to | :25:46. | :25:46. | |
truly addressed the productivity challenge. | :25:47. | :26:00. | |
The downgrade to productivity in last week's budget reinforces the | :26:01. | :26:06. | |
view of the select committee that although many measures in the Plan A | :26:07. | :26:10. | |
welcome they did not constitute a radical departure or step change | :26:11. | :26:15. | |
that would boost productivity. As the OBR stated in its report last | :26:16. | :26:19. | |
week, lower productivity growth means lower forecasts for company | :26:20. | :26:26. | |
profits and also consumer spending and business investment. In | :26:27. | :26:30. | |
aggregate this reduces tax receipts significantly. To ensure | :26:31. | :26:35. | |
productivity improvements, that requires a sustained approach to | :26:36. | :26:40. | |
business investment. It shows how much business investment that engine | :26:41. | :26:43. | |
that will power better competitiveness and create better | :26:44. | :26:49. | |
employment and higher living standards has actually stalled. Real | :26:50. | :26:52. | |
business investment fell in the final quarter of last year. The | :26:53. | :26:57. | |
manufacturing sector in our country is in recession. The OBR forecast | :26:58. | :27:05. | |
business investment will be 2.67% in 2015. A massive percentage point we | :27:06. | :27:07. | |
care than four months ago in the Autumn Statement. The | :27:08. | :27:15. | |
not helping. The Chancellor should be in courage in firms to invest in | :27:16. | :27:17. | |
the latest technology, plant and machinery, to ensure they can | :27:18. | :27:21. | |
compete with the most modern kit anywhere in the world. The most | :27:22. | :27:25. | |
modern kit anywhere in the world, as well as investing in research and | :27:26. | :27:29. | |
innovation to ensure British-based firms are coming forward with the | :27:30. | :27:34. | |
goods, services, and products the world will -- the world wants to | :27:35. | :27:40. | |
buy. Isn't that why the Chancellor has cut corporation tax and capital | :27:41. | :27:45. | |
gains tax? To encourage companies of all sizes to invest in research and | :27:46. | :27:53. | |
development and jobs of the future. Capital gains tax, I would suggest | :27:54. | :27:57. | |
it is contrary to having a long-term economic plan. You do not scale up, | :27:58. | :28:03. | |
you sell out quickly. That is a major structural concern. To a large | :28:04. | :28:08. | |
extent, the Chancellor, in this parliament, has done positive things | :28:09. | :28:11. | |
when it comes to encouraging investment, particularly with annual | :28:12. | :28:14. | |
investment allowances. These are very welcome. Other countries are | :28:15. | :28:20. | |
doing much more. Britain risks missing out. Addressing the huge | :28:21. | :28:25. | |
disincentive in business rates for firms wanting to invest in new plant | :28:26. | :28:28. | |
and machinery should have been at the very top of the Tunstall's list. | :28:29. | :28:34. | |
Although changes to business rates. All businesses constitute the | :28:35. | :28:39. | |
largest tax cut of this budget, it does seem ridiculous that the | :28:40. | :28:42. | |
Chancellor did not resolve what is a ludicrous situation. This is | :28:43. | :28:47. | |
important in terms of different sectors. The ludicrous situation | :28:48. | :28:53. | |
where a firm faces a larger tax bill in the form of big business rates by | :28:54. | :28:56. | |
investing in new plant and machinery. For a government pledging | :28:57. | :29:00. | |
all it can to be balanced the economy and specifically in the last | :29:01. | :29:05. | |
six to seven months to help the hard-hit British Steel industry, the | :29:06. | :29:09. | |
omission of a single measure from the budget was a significant blow, | :29:10. | :29:16. | |
particularly the steel industry. Thank you for giving way. It seems | :29:17. | :29:22. | |
there is only one club in the Conservative golf bag and that is | :29:23. | :29:26. | |
taxes alone. You have to face up to having a low-wage economy and the | :29:27. | :29:32. | |
lack of housing. House-building is low as well. Workers need houses. | :29:33. | :29:39. | |
Productivity will remain low. That is important point in terms of | :29:40. | :29:43. | |
infrastructure. There was little in this budget to address that. I | :29:44. | :29:46. | |
mentioned the possibility of rebalancing. The Government | :29:47. | :29:52. | |
announced proudly in 2012 target of ?1 trillion of exports by 2020. I am | :29:53. | :29:57. | |
all for ambition and stretching targets. Given the Government's | :29:58. | :30:00. | |
limited ability to shift the needle of the value of exports, this | :30:01. | :30:06. | |
ambition, this target, it seemed, at best, misplaced, and, at worst, | :30:07. | :30:11. | |
foolish. The OBR stated the Government will miss its target by | :30:12. | :30:20. | |
30%, ?357 billion. Net trade will actually be a drag on economic | :30:21. | :30:25. | |
growth for every single year of this Parliament. There was nothing in | :30:26. | :30:29. | |
this budget to boost exports. That did not pass from the Chancellor's | :30:30. | :30:34. | |
lips in his statement and was not mentioned this morning. Does this | :30:35. | :30:37. | |
mean the Government has shelved this target? Well the ministers consider | :30:38. | :30:42. | |
providing assistance and encouragement in the form of export | :30:43. | :30:46. | |
vouchers to ensure firms will Britain can invest and export? | :30:47. | :30:55. | |
Further way to boost productivity is by investing in skills. The flagship | :30:56. | :30:57. | |
skills policy is the target of 3 million apprenticeships by 2020. | :30:58. | :31:02. | |
Only 2% of large firms will be paying less. In terms of the 98 | :31:03. | :31:06. | |
cents of other firms and what will happen in terms of the detail of the | :31:07. | :31:11. | |
levy, we were promised by the Minister of State for skills in the | :31:12. | :31:14. | |
run-up to the budget all would be revealed, like this new shiny model, | :31:15. | :31:18. | |
in the Chancellor's budget statement. For a bill that is | :31:19. | :31:24. | |
putting the next-generation first, there is precious detail about how | :31:25. | :31:29. | |
the apprenticeship levy will actually operate in practice. As | :31:30. | :31:34. | |
with exports, the word apprenticeships was not mentioned by | :31:35. | :31:39. | |
the Chancellor. With the honourable member agree one of the biggest | :31:40. | :31:45. | |
drags skill wise is intermediate and higher intermediate skills level? We | :31:46. | :31:50. | |
have had this problem for 30 years. The honourable gentleman makes an | :31:51. | :31:53. | |
important point. While trying to ramp up the level, the quantity of | :31:54. | :31:59. | |
apprenticeships while having the major change to institutional | :32:00. | :32:03. | |
architecture of apprenticeship delivery, I think the Government | :32:04. | :32:07. | |
risks missing its target. The skills policy of this government will be | :32:08. | :32:17. | |
affected. This will be remembered but for all the wrong reasons. | :32:18. | :32:22. | |
Incompetence, callousness, clumsiness and the resignation of a | :32:23. | :32:28. | |
Cabinet minister. It will be remembered for downgraded | :32:29. | :32:31. | |
productivity and failure to address this, leading to falling living | :32:32. | :32:36. | |
standards, lower tax receipts and deteriorating public finances. The | :32:37. | :32:39. | |
budget has helped to make this country somewhat poorer. I rise to | :32:40. | :32:45. | |
support the budget and in particular to welcome the Government's reforms | :32:46. | :32:52. | |
which are most welcome. It has been du Matic budget. I feel like I would | :32:53. | :32:55. | |
be failing the Government if I did not concentrate my words on the | :32:56. | :33:00. | |
areas of drama and first on the disability reforms. The challenge | :33:01. | :33:04. | |
before the Government is very clear. It is to deliver a policy which all | :33:05. | :33:10. | |
of us can be proud to defend in our constituencies in front of any | :33:11. | :33:15. | |
objective scrutiny. I do not think we would have been able to lift the | :33:16. | :33:17. | |
Government had not made the decisions it has in the last few | :33:18. | :33:24. | |
days. When I look at the OBR report, page 150, the successive forecast | :33:25. | :33:28. | |
was spending on disability benefits, I can see the Government's envelope | :33:29. | :33:33. | |
to deliver this policy is very clear. When we came to power in | :33:34. | :33:39. | |
2010, the Government was spending ?12 billion on disability benefits. | :33:40. | :33:44. | |
It rose to 16 billion. By now an increase of a third. It is forecast | :33:45. | :33:49. | |
with the reverse of these measures to reach 18 billion by 20 20, 20 21. | :33:50. | :33:54. | |
It is clear the Government has an envelope in which to work to ensure | :33:55. | :33:58. | |
it has a world-class policy which any of us can defence, even in an | :33:59. | :34:03. | |
environment of fierce partisan political attack. I'd like to turn | :34:04. | :34:07. | |
to be a TV we have had two amendments tabled. The purpose of | :34:08. | :34:12. | |
signing these was to highlight the extent to which VAT was highlighted | :34:13. | :34:23. | |
in European Union. Neither amendment has legislative effect. As the | :34:24. | :34:27. | |
member for Dewsbury said, what it does is make clear our content to | :34:28. | :34:31. | |
zero rate tampons and other sanitary products. Both these amendments are | :34:32. | :34:37. | |
pursuing to government policy. This is the bitter irony to our | :34:38. | :34:40. | |
membership of the EU. We have had to have a dramatic row over the VAT in | :34:41. | :34:46. | |
the context of an EU referendum in order to secure a commitment as | :34:47. | :34:58. | |
follows from the European Council. There will be proposals for | :34:59. | :35:01. | |
increased flexibility for member states with respect to reduce rates | :35:02. | :35:12. | |
of VAT which would provide zero rating for sanitary products. It is | :35:13. | :35:16. | |
clear the wish of the house is that sanitary products would be zero | :35:17. | :35:20. | |
rated. It would be diverging from EU policy and it is welcome the | :35:21. | :35:24. | |
Government has secured this change of EU policy. I not want us to have | :35:25. | :35:33. | |
an EU membership referendum every time we want to have a different | :35:34. | :35:38. | |
policy on our second largest tax. I give way. When you say British | :35:39. | :35:44. | |
governments have always supported the framework on the 80, the problem | :35:45. | :35:50. | |
is you have pressure on governments to compete with each other in | :35:51. | :35:54. | |
lowering the tax on selected products where they think | :35:55. | :35:57. | |
manufacturers will benefit all producers will benefit. Also, it is | :35:58. | :36:03. | |
about having an open trade area where everyone will have | :36:04. | :36:07. | |
competitively different tax rates. The main beneficiaries are | :36:08. | :36:12. | |
smugglers. You mention some interesting points. I am grateful | :36:13. | :36:18. | |
for the minute he has given me. What he indicates is the difficulty in | :36:19. | :36:23. | |
operating a customs union amongst interventionist states. The old | :36:24. | :36:26. | |
doctrines of liberalism did not require one to get rid of non-trade | :36:27. | :36:33. | |
barriers because there were none. I abridge an argument one could make | :36:34. | :36:37. | |
over a much greater length. At the heart of the exchange we have just | :36:38. | :36:42. | |
had, at the heart of that is the difficulty we face of having | :36:43. | :36:46. | |
interventionist nation states attempting to engage in free trade. | :36:47. | :36:53. | |
In a world of globalisation and the internet, what we need is | :36:54. | :36:56. | |
harmonisation on a global scale which enjoys democratic consent. I | :36:57. | :37:02. | |
am grateful for your intervention. It is the case that until the aid to | :37:03. | :37:15. | |
directive, it -- until the EU directive, it will become law even | :37:16. | :37:20. | |
if it is not applied. A similar situation on insulation products | :37:21. | :37:26. | |
where a 4th of June judgment in the European Court of Justice ruled the | :37:27. | :37:32. | |
UK cannot apply a reduced rate of VAT to the supplying of energy | :37:33. | :37:39. | |
materials. That is solely for social housing. That is the position in law | :37:40. | :37:44. | |
while we are in the EU. I hear what my right honourable friend but it is | :37:45. | :37:47. | |
a fact that while we remain in the EU we cannot control what is | :37:48. | :37:51. | |
currently our second biggest tax. I am very grateful we have had this | :37:52. | :37:57. | |
opportunity to put this part of the EU membership debate on record and | :37:58. | :38:02. | |
discussed in the media. I'm grateful the Government will not oppose | :38:03. | :38:06. | |
either amendments. If there is a division, I will vote for a and | :38:07. | :38:12. | |
probably abstain on the other. I want to talk about what is possibly | :38:13. | :38:18. | |
the most Matic aspect of this budget. I have talked about it in | :38:19. | :38:23. | |
every budget. The subject I mentioned in the maiden speech. The | :38:24. | :38:27. | |
insane state of monetary policy all around the world. If the European | :38:28. | :38:32. | |
Central Bank was printing up 80 billion euros of new money every | :38:33. | :38:36. | |
month in paper and shipping it around the continent in articulated | :38:37. | :38:38. | |
lorries, I think they would already have undermined faith in paper | :38:39. | :38:44. | |
currency and destroyed it. Because it is done through corporate bonds, | :38:45. | :38:49. | |
we simply notice the recirculation of money. In 25 seconds I cannot | :38:50. | :38:56. | |
give a lecture on capital -based macroeconomics but if the honourable | :38:57. | :39:00. | |
members of is that like to call a backbench debate in in time, I would | :39:01. | :39:05. | |
be happy to give a lesson. The dramatic consequences will be felt | :39:06. | :39:08. | |
much later than they are today as a result of easy money. Thank you. The | :39:09. | :39:20. | |
Government was a story of missed targets for the Chancellor, missed | :39:21. | :39:26. | |
opportunities for our country. It is rapidly turning into a total and at | :39:27. | :39:31. | |
a mess. I am pleased to see some of the U-turns but much more is needed. | :39:32. | :39:36. | |
I would like to start by associating myself with the remarks made by my | :39:37. | :39:41. | |
honourable friend, the member for Hartlepool, and the chair of the | :39:42. | :39:45. | |
business select committee. He spoke about the importance of rebalancing | :39:46. | :39:48. | |
our economy. That is so much needed after some of the numbers we saw in | :39:49. | :39:55. | |
the budget last week. As a result of the lower productivity and the lower | :39:56. | :39:58. | |
exports and other things my honourable friend has spoken about, | :39:59. | :40:02. | |
economic growth has been revised down for every single year of this | :40:03. | :40:07. | |
Parliament. A staggering ?71 billion has been knocked off our tax | :40:08. | :40:11. | |
revenues. The Government is now set to borrow an extra ?38 million over | :40:12. | :40:16. | |
the next five years that is why, after breaking his promise to clear | :40:17. | :40:21. | |
the deficit in the last parliament, the Chancellor has broken his pledge | :40:22. | :40:25. | |
to bring the debt down as a share of GDP in this Parliament as well. | :40:26. | :40:41. | |
You would not have a lot more waiting credibility had her | :40:42. | :40:46. | |
government and thought opposed every single one of the cuts that had to | :40:47. | :40:54. | |
be made? I wonder if he still feels we should go ahead with cuts? It | :40:55. | :41:04. | |
sounds like it from those remarks. Let me go on with issues around | :41:05. | :41:07. | |
personal independence payments and the impact this comment is sad on | :41:08. | :41:14. | |
disabled people. Let's remember the border points. This is a government, | :41:15. | :41:21. | |
the Chancellor and by minister and former and present Secretary of | :41:22. | :41:24. | |
State for Work and Pensions who forced through the bedroom tax | :41:25. | :41:29. | |
affecting 500,000 people, the majority of those disabled, affected | :41:30. | :41:33. | |
by ?700 per year. They forced through the closure of the | :41:34. | :41:36. | |
independent living fund and forced to cuts in employment supported | :41:37. | :41:40. | |
living allowance affecting 500,000 people with around ?30 per week am | :41:41. | :41:44. | |
not one and a half thousand pounds per year. The U-turn and personal | :41:45. | :41:51. | |
independence payments, while welcome, was only a fraction of the | :41:52. | :41:55. | |
damage of the pain they of course to disabled people by constituencies. | :41:56. | :42:01. | |
Let's be clear as well about what the shooter naturally means because | :42:02. | :42:06. | |
the new Secretary of State into the chamber yesterday so the government | :42:07. | :42:09. | |
are not going to go back to the welfare bill and to disabled people | :42:10. | :42:13. | |
for further cuts that during the course of the statement yesterday | :42:14. | :42:15. | |
afternoon that became what down a little bit. They now have new plan | :42:16. | :42:29. | |
to combat the -- come back to the welfare budget and new plans. I will | :42:30. | :42:39. | |
idea from the Chief Secretary when he went up this evening whether | :42:40. | :42:44. | |
there are no plans for the government can guarantee that there | :42:45. | :42:47. | |
will be no further cuts to the welfare budget and will be no | :42:48. | :42:50. | |
further cuts to the benefits of disabled people. We do know after | :42:51. | :42:55. | |
all of those that that is a black hole in the public finances of ?4.4 | :42:56. | :43:01. | |
billion and if it is not for disabled people who will be the | :43:02. | :43:06. | |
people paying the price? Will be further cuts to education and health | :43:07. | :43:10. | |
and defence and police? Will be further increases in taxes and VAT | :43:11. | :43:14. | |
and taxes on ordinary working people? Something needs to give a | :43:15. | :43:20. | |
mini dance about how this black hole in this budget that we reported on, | :43:21. | :43:25. | |
we do not know what that means. What does it mean for all the different | :43:26. | :43:31. | |
groups of people? As the chair of the office for budgets but ability | :43:32. | :43:35. | |
told us at the select committee meeting this morning, it is not just | :43:36. | :43:41. | |
that that is ?4.4 billion black hole in the Social Security budget. The | :43:42. | :43:43. | |
government have failed to meet the well field target and warfare-- have | :43:44. | :43:57. | |
failed to meet the target and will feel every year. Why did the get | :43:58. | :44:06. | |
into this mess? Act-mac will fail. They wanted to cut capital gains tax | :44:07. | :44:15. | |
and want to increase the threshold for you started paying the 40p tax | :44:16. | :44:23. | |
and wanted to raise the ice limit to ?20,000 which is great if you have | :44:24. | :44:33. | |
the money. --ISA. That is why the government raided the Social | :44:34. | :44:38. | |
Security budget again to give tax breaks to their friends, the | :44:39. | :44:42. | |
wealthiest in society. The budget could've been different and the | :44:43. | :44:44. | |
government could have more money infrastructure investment. In my | :44:45. | :44:48. | |
constituency invades we are paying a heavy price for the floods on the | :44:49. | :44:52. | |
26th of December. The Chancellor said earlier that I should've | :44:53. | :44:57. | |
welcomed the money for flood defences but in truth 2011 Southern | :44:58. | :45:04. | |
government cancelling flood defence scheme and Leeds ?135 million and | :45:05. | :45:10. | |
have now put in money from Leeds for ?35. I'm sorry for not thanking him | :45:11. | :45:15. | |
that 35 million rather than 135 million is not really worth it | :45:16. | :45:19. | |
thanks and businesses are my constituency will pay a heavy price | :45:20. | :45:28. | |
of those come again. I was with the Environment Agency just last night | :45:29. | :45:31. | |
they were telling me that they will not have sufficient funds to put in | :45:32. | :45:36. | |
measures to stop future flooding, particularly with catching | :45:37. | :45:43. | |
management. -- catchment. The reality is that the government | :45:44. | :45:47. | |
announced last week under ?59 for York and Leeds and for Cumbria but | :45:48. | :45:53. | |
the scheme that was cancelled just in Leeds was worth ?135 million in | :45:54. | :46:00. | |
that 150 million is for flood defences and flood resilience and | :46:01. | :46:04. | |
flood maintenance see it again the government is short-changing the | :46:05. | :46:07. | |
people who at this time need the government to step up to the mark as | :46:08. | :46:13. | |
our volunteers and York and Leeds who was stepping in when the rains | :46:14. | :46:19. | |
fell and the visuals and houses and buildings were flooded. The budget | :46:20. | :46:23. | |
could be different last week, it could be a different budget for | :46:24. | :46:26. | |
disabled people there could've been a budget that helped ordinary | :46:27. | :46:30. | |
working people and those most vulnerable society and the could've | :46:31. | :46:34. | |
put them money into the northern powerhouse with the infrastructure | :46:35. | :46:37. | |
that we need to stop it was a different budget because this | :46:38. | :46:40. | |
government has different priorities which is why we need a Labour | :46:41. | :46:43. | |
government on the side of order working people and the most | :46:44. | :46:47. | |
honourable and our society. -- ordinary working people. The | :46:48. | :46:53. | |
honourable people makes a strong case but is is desperately flawed. | :46:54. | :46:57. | |
She knows in the 13 years of Labour government the gap between the | :46:58. | :47:01. | |
richest and poorest 10% actually widened and under her party this | :47:02. | :47:09. | |
situation where we sell recognise is of children workless households and | :47:10. | :47:15. | |
unemployment and youth unemployment rose. He makes a very powerful | :47:16. | :47:23. | |
point. So many gaps were created under 13 years of Labour and | :47:24. | :47:33. | |
particularly the north South divide. This high-speed train from | :47:34. | :47:40. | |
Manchester to Leeds will cut journey times to the magpie 30 minutes. -- | :47:41. | :47:46. | |
will cut journey times by 30 minutes. The previously but | :47:47. | :47:55. | |
government and economic circumstances driven by debt and | :47:56. | :47:59. | |
borrowing failed to do this. I welcome this budget in general terms | :48:00. | :48:04. | |
and I took issue with the comments of the Chancellor about Brexit. I | :48:05. | :48:11. | |
think the anodyne comments of the old BR were represented -- OBR were | :48:12. | :48:28. | |
misrepresented. It was largely a neutral budget and I welcome the | :48:29. | :48:35. | |
lifetime ISA and the tax crackdown on offshore property developers and | :48:36. | :48:39. | |
tax pricing and it was good to see the changes in personal loans which | :48:40. | :48:43. | |
will take many my constituents and Peterborough out of tax and in my | :48:44. | :48:46. | |
constituency women are in a very posh position. I pay tribute to the | :48:47. | :48:52. | |
charge before nothing short of jobs medical and we have seen the largest | :48:53. | :48:55. | |
reduction and youth unemployment in the history of my seat which is 70%. | :48:56. | :49:09. | |
That record apprenticeships -- that our record numbers apprenticeships. | :49:10. | :49:20. | |
I welcome the decision to resign from the commitment on PIP. It is a | :49:21. | :49:28. | |
U-turn. Very well spotted by the benches opposite. It was absolutely | :49:29. | :49:43. | |
right to do this. It was right for my honourable friend to point out | :49:44. | :49:53. | |
the juxtaposition of tax reductions for people back to the party | :49:54. | :49:56. | |
opposite voted against every single welfare change in the previous | :49:57. | :49:59. | |
government. Being in opposition actually you are encumbered in | :50:00. | :50:06. | |
coming through with a coherent and comprehensive alternative in terms | :50:07. | :50:13. | |
of fiscal policy. And in public expenditure and tax. Can I race to | :50:14. | :50:17. | |
particular issues which of Cosmo some concern with the budget? One is | :50:18. | :50:28. | |
concerning the problem the government has encountered which has | :50:29. | :50:32. | |
given rise to a proper debate about generational fairness and the need | :50:33. | :50:37. | |
to look again at pensioner benefits. It cannot be right to effectively be | :50:38. | :50:43. | |
making, and I very rarely agree with my right honourable friend and | :50:44. | :50:57. | |
everything but it is wrong morally I believe to make large-scale | :50:58. | :51:01. | |
transfers of wealth from the young to the old. I think there has to be | :51:02. | :51:05. | |
a consensus. One of the suggestions I would make is that if you are | :51:06. | :51:08. | |
going to means test pensioner benefits, he perhaps the event it | :51:09. | :51:16. | |
towards the most acute societal issue we have at the moment which is | :51:17. | :51:20. | |
adult social care and coordination and integration between acute | :51:21. | :51:24. | |
district hospitals and providing care and housing for older people. I | :51:25. | :51:27. | |
think that our older pensioners who would understand that and I think it | :51:28. | :51:30. | |
is something the Treasury would need to go forward with. They need to | :51:31. | :51:34. | |
look at it very seriously. The second issue of concern is, as we | :51:35. | :51:39. | |
speak, Cambridge county council, which is not my local authority, is | :51:40. | :51:46. | |
looking at the devolution plans for East Anglia. I think at the moment | :51:47. | :51:51. | |
they do not stack up. I think we have not had enough information and | :51:52. | :51:59. | |
we do not know and in some senses I am reprising the comments of my | :52:00. | :52:01. | |
honourable friend for Northwest North Fork yesterday? -- Norfolk | :52:02. | :52:11. | |
yesterday. , it needs to be finessed and we need to carry businesses with | :52:12. | :52:17. | |
this and both local enterprise partnership did not agree with that | :52:18. | :52:19. | |
and the majority of councils are at best ambivalent, including Cambridge | :52:20. | :52:24. | |
City Council which has refused it, we need to look at again. It may be | :52:25. | :52:33. | |
that there are synergies between Lowestoft and Peterborough are | :52:34. | :52:39. | |
between Norwich and Ipswich but I'm yet to see them. Let's have more | :52:40. | :52:44. | |
information about the funding and about governance and about | :52:45. | :52:47. | |
infrastructure spending in the role of executive may and what will | :52:48. | :52:55. | |
happen to existing local government structure. -- Maher. --Mayor. We | :52:56. | :53:08. | |
need more facts and that is the challenger gift to the Treasury fund | :53:09. | :53:13. | |
bends. We learned many things from the budget last week and perhaps | :53:14. | :53:17. | |
more from the followed sense but the overriding message we seem to be | :53:18. | :53:20. | |
getting is that six years into this job is Chancellor cannot keep a | :53:21. | :53:26. | |
promise and does not seem to learn from his past shambolic budget | :53:27. | :53:29. | |
mistakes. He promised to balance the books by last year and get debt | :53:30. | :53:36. | |
falling as a percentage of GDP each year and keep welfare spending | :53:37. | :53:39. | |
within his welfare cap but in virtually all his own fiscal targets | :53:40. | :53:46. | |
the independent Office for Budget Responsibility confirmed last week | :53:47. | :53:48. | |
that he has failed to deliver. Of course this government and its | :53:49. | :53:54. | |
shortcomings go much further than the meaningless targets of the | :53:55. | :53:57. | |
Chancellor. A mere six months ago the premise that all this party | :53:58. | :54:00. | |
conference that he would govern according to one nation modern, | :54:01. | :54:05. | |
compassionate conservatism. This is the same premise that featured on a | :54:06. | :54:12. | |
budget cut capital gains tax and further cut corporation tax and | :54:13. | :54:18. | |
which would see the poorest losing around ?1500 per year in the next | :54:19. | :54:22. | |
two years while some of the richest with action against ?200. To top it | :54:23. | :54:30. | |
off, the Chancellor pledged to slash disability benefits by up to ?1.3 | :54:31. | :54:34. | |
billion per year which the Office for Budget Responsibility estimated | :54:35. | :54:41. | |
it would see disabled people move an average of three and thousand pounds | :54:42. | :54:46. | |
per year. Context on the point of capital gains tax. I believe Jim | :54:47. | :54:52. | |
Callaghan crated capital gains tax when he was Chancellor in 1965. It | :54:53. | :54:59. | |
has always been under label Chancellor is the capital gains tax | :55:00. | :55:03. | |
has been lower than under Conservative chancellors. The | :55:04. | :55:05. | |
capital gains tax, even after this change, will be 2% higher under this | :55:06. | :55:11. | |
Chancellor than it was under Alistair Darling and indeed Gordon | :55:12. | :55:17. | |
Brown the last Labour government. -- in the last Labour government. | :55:18. | :55:25. | |
I do not understand the point made by the honourable gentleman. He is | :55:26. | :55:42. | |
talking about that and not the fact it impacts most on the poorest and | :55:43. | :55:48. | |
most bombed rubble in society. I am angry those people who rely on the | :55:49. | :55:56. | |
personal independent payment, 1100 people in Newcastle North, have | :55:57. | :55:59. | |
enjoyed days and weeks of anxiety about how they would cope if that | :56:00. | :56:04. | |
level of support were cut. It is unforgivable. I remain equally | :56:05. | :56:10. | |
concerned about how existing reforms to PIP are failing people. | :56:11. | :56:14. | |
Constituents continue to get in touch with me following my recent | :56:15. | :56:17. | |
question to the Prime Minister because they have been told they are | :56:18. | :56:22. | |
no longer eligible for a mobility vehicle, despite it being the only | :56:23. | :56:26. | |
means they leave the house or get to work. The new assessment is | :56:27. | :56:32. | |
fundamentally flawed. I strongly urge the Work and Pensions Secretary | :56:33. | :56:38. | |
and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury today to take some fresh | :56:39. | :56:43. | |
eyes and to revisit this issue and look at reforming the current PIP | :56:44. | :56:49. | |
changes before they embark on any further welfare reform. Despite the | :56:50. | :56:54. | |
Chancellor's called Revolution in the way we govern England with the | :56:55. | :56:59. | |
pledge last made to give local areas greater control over housing, skills | :57:00. | :57:04. | |
and health care, it appears the Chancellor does not place the same | :57:05. | :57:09. | |
faith in local communities when it comes to schools. Last week, they | :57:10. | :57:13. | |
confirmed far from handing control, the Government is about to embark on | :57:14. | :57:17. | |
the greater centralisation of a school system that will see the end | :57:18. | :57:26. | |
to a century-old role about education. There is a glaring lack | :57:27. | :57:33. | |
hole in the financing of this plan. That raises questions about the | :57:34. | :57:37. | |
extent to which the schools budget will be raided to make up the | :57:38. | :57:42. | |
shortfall. He mentioned the schools budget. I do not know whether she is | :57:43. | :57:48. | |
aware that in Coventry already one or two academies are in serious | :57:49. | :57:52. | |
trouble due to falling numbers as a result of changes in education | :57:53. | :57:58. | |
budgets. I appreciate the question raised by my honourable friend. It | :57:59. | :58:03. | |
is not just local academies that are in trouble. I think there are much | :58:04. | :58:07. | |
bigger than serious questions we need to raise. First of all, why is | :58:08. | :58:13. | |
the Government doing this? There is no proof whatsoever that academies | :58:14. | :58:18. | |
raise educational standards. It is a distraction that schools need to | :58:19. | :58:22. | |
focus on this rather than focusing on educational attainment in | :58:23. | :58:26. | |
schools. How will the Government unable that local political | :58:27. | :58:29. | |
leadership to drive up standards and work together when it has worked so | :58:30. | :58:37. | |
effectively with the London challenge. Power and decision-making | :58:38. | :58:41. | |
must be so centralised in Whitehall. If the Department for Education -- | :58:42. | :58:47. | |
is the Department for Education fit for purpose to deal with 20,000 | :58:48. | :58:53. | |
schools across the country? Almost 1700 primaries. There are signs it | :58:54. | :58:59. | |
is struggling with the current workload for the 4000 schools it | :59:00. | :59:04. | |
has. The education select committee has recently uncovered the | :59:05. | :59:07. | |
department could not deliver its annual accounts to Parliament in | :59:08. | :59:16. | |
time and is requiring a statutory extension. This will only add to the | :59:17. | :59:21. | |
current mess. The only have to look at the fiasco of the Free School | :59:22. | :59:25. | |
application process. There is no clear rhyme or reason to the | :59:26. | :59:30. | |
Department decisions to authorise new schools. We see a department in | :59:31. | :59:34. | |
disarray. A particular concern for my constituents is how this process | :59:35. | :59:38. | |
will fit alongside the large-scale house building that is planned for | :59:39. | :59:42. | |
our area as a result of the coalition's national planning | :59:43. | :59:48. | |
framework. There will be 21,000 new homes expected to be built in | :59:49. | :59:55. | |
Newcastle by 2030. It will require new school capacity. Who will be the | :59:56. | :59:59. | |
guiding mind in terms of matching and creating the new school capacity | :00:00. | :00:06. | |
in an area that is now going to be controlled by Whitehall? Newcastle | :00:07. | :00:09. | |
City Council ready finds itself in the impossible position of being | :00:10. | :00:13. | |
unable to establish new schools to cope with existing demand. How can | :00:14. | :00:18. | |
it deliver the right places across Newcastle North when every school is | :00:19. | :00:23. | |
accountable to be Secretary of State? Finally, Madam Deputy | :00:24. | :00:27. | |
Speaker, as well as apprenticeships not being mentioned in the | :00:28. | :00:33. | |
Chancellor's budget, there was another glaring omission, the lack | :00:34. | :00:35. | |
of any announcement as to how the Government intends to protect | :00:36. | :00:40. | |
regional airports as a result of devolving air passenger GT to | :00:41. | :00:44. | |
Scotland. It is crucial. It supports 12,000 jobs in the region and | :00:45. | :00:50. | |
exports ?300 million of goods in the New Year. All talk of the Northern | :00:51. | :00:54. | |
powerhouse is undermined if the Chancellor fails to deal with this | :00:55. | :01:00. | |
issue urgently. Thank you. It is a pleasure to follow you. This budget, | :01:01. | :01:06. | |
like my right honourable friend's review budget helps create jobs. | :01:07. | :01:09. | |
That is the right thing to do. That is why continue to support the | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
strategy of lowering business taxes to encourage growth. The business | :01:14. | :01:23. | |
rates measure will help 600,000 businesses cutting taxes. My | :01:24. | :01:27. | |
honourable friend in Newark has talked about this. There has been | :01:28. | :01:34. | |
reforms in stamp duty. This will help the smallest businesses of all. | :01:35. | :01:40. | |
This government has my whole hearted support in putting the next | :01:41. | :01:45. | |
generation first. On this side of the House, we will say debt is the | :01:46. | :01:50. | |
most unethical thing of all to lead to the next generation. We must pay | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
down the country's debts. Reducing spending and not having consent of | :01:56. | :01:59. | |
those yet to come and steer towards a surplus which puts public finances | :02:00. | :02:06. | |
in the strongest edition today. It is also crucial for | :02:07. | :02:08. | |
intergenerational fairness to make it feasible for young people to buy | :02:09. | :02:13. | |
a home, or to save into a pension. That is why I think a lifetime I | :02:14. | :02:20. | |
said in this budget is positive. -- Isa. Ultimately, building homes | :02:21. | :02:29. | |
itself is the most important way to ensure a home at prices that can be | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
afforded. I urge the Chancellor and housing ministers to continue to | :02:35. | :02:40. | |
build. With the average pay for someone on zero hours contract being | :02:41. | :02:51. | |
?189 a week. Does she expect them to save for an Isa or save for a house? | :02:52. | :02:57. | |
The percentage remains at 2.5% of the total number in work. As he will | :02:58. | :03:04. | |
know for every ?4 somebody saves, the Chancellor will give one. That | :03:05. | :03:10. | |
means, at the rate for example he cites, it is possible to consider | :03:11. | :03:16. | |
taking up a savings product. It is also vital, there is every | :03:17. | :03:23. | |
opportunity for a person may have of education and skills training. That | :03:24. | :03:26. | |
is why this government is right to keep up job creation and investment | :03:27. | :03:29. | |
in infrastructure. The description we look to represent the values of | :03:30. | :03:38. | |
this next generation. We talk about value enterprise. Many will set up | :03:39. | :03:42. | |
their own businesses and work in a totally different pattern over their | :03:43. | :03:46. | |
lifetime. The budget is smart to turn attention to the growing army | :03:47. | :03:49. | |
of the self-employed and many of the smallest businesses of all, as I | :03:50. | :04:00. | |
say, -- as I say. Could I congratulate the Government on the | :04:01. | :04:08. | |
start up scheme? I welcome that reminder. He would also agree with | :04:09. | :04:15. | |
me on my next point which is that we should also price the ethical value | :04:16. | :04:20. | |
towards business, which we see in many entrepreneurs. We should | :04:21. | :04:24. | |
welcome measures in this budget which continue to make sense at | :04:25. | :04:29. | |
taxing multinationals in the 21st century. We must ensure our tax | :04:30. | :04:33. | |
system demands and get a fair contribution from companies large | :04:34. | :04:39. | |
and small, domestic and global. Let meal so turn to the welfare measures | :04:40. | :04:47. | |
in this budget. It is well documented there is a sceptical | :04:48. | :04:53. | |
approach to the welfare state. This has steadily declined. We should | :04:54. | :04:57. | |
remind ourselves on the principles of welfare. It is a safety net for | :04:58. | :05:01. | |
when we are unable to look after ourselves, perhaps because of | :05:02. | :05:05. | |
sickness, old age and disability. We will all need this in one way or | :05:06. | :05:09. | |
another. You'll have responsibly tee to maintain it. Because we will | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
longer than previous generations, we need to make sure it is affordable | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
for the future. We expect the richest to pay the most. In summary | :05:19. | :05:22. | |
we need a sensible method of working out who needs the most support and | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
getting it to them. I do not support the measures that have been | :05:28. | :05:29. | |
announced in this budget which sought to reduce support for | :05:30. | :05:34. | |
disabled people through PIP. The manifesto which I stood for and they | :05:35. | :05:39. | |
stood for suggest we would spend less on the welfare budget and would | :05:40. | :05:42. | |
do so by protecting the most vulnerable. I have supported welfare | :05:43. | :05:51. | |
reforms since 2010. The most recent reform of the rates, for those who | :05:52. | :06:00. | |
get FAA, can work, puts work first. In the 21st-century we should not be | :06:01. | :06:05. | |
writing the blog from work and independence. That particular policy | :06:06. | :06:10. | |
is right on helping people to be able to work despite the disability | :06:11. | :06:16. | |
or a health condition. Some reforms have been about justice in other | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
ways. The removal of the spare room subsidy. Another way is the pay to | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
save policy which will relieve taxpayers are subsidising housing | :06:26. | :06:28. | |
and those who may well earn more than they do, such as the leader of | :06:29. | :06:34. | |
Norwich City council himself. Those are about fairness for taxpayers who | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
foot the bill for the benefit they themselves could not expect to | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
enjoy. I am here today to speak up for many constituents who simply | :06:44. | :06:46. | |
want us to use limited resources to provide properly for those who need | :06:47. | :06:53. | |
it. Helping constituents record their concerns about AIDS and | :06:54. | :06:58. | |
appliances. I am pleased my right honourable friend has stopped that | :06:59. | :07:00. | |
provision. We should protect the savings and make -- protect the | :07:01. | :07:10. | |
disabled and make savings elsewhere. Our manifesto did also pledge very | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
clearly that week back pensions. At some point in the future we will | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
have to look again at universal benefits. The welfare state is a | :07:20. | :07:24. | |
safety net. That means pensioners do need a decent income. That is why I | :07:25. | :07:28. | |
wholeheartedly support the triple lock. It does not necessarily mean | :07:29. | :07:33. | |
the most well-off pensioners need benefits as well. As my honourable | :07:34. | :07:36. | |
friend from Peterborough and my right on boyfriend for Rush lives | :07:37. | :07:42. | |
have already argued this afternoon. -- right honourable friend for Rush | :07:43. | :07:49. | |
Cliff. That needs to be balanced as well, maintaining those policies | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
into the future. Mrs Brown wrote to the Eastern evening news letters | :07:55. | :07:59. | |
page saying, I was brought up in post-war abject poverty. I work -- | :08:00. | :08:08. | |
worked for everything I have. She is right. I deeply respect her and all | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
of my constituents in any generation who have worked hard and done the | :08:13. | :08:16. | |
right thing. I making and arguing for fairness in the future. By | :08:17. | :08:21. | |
making an argument for those who need help the most and to balance | :08:22. | :08:32. | |
generations. Personal independence payments, Madam Deputy Speaker, | :08:33. | :08:36. | |
there is not a single member of this house who has not received scores of | :08:37. | :08:42. | |
letters in the last couple of weeks of people in deep concern for what | :08:43. | :08:49. | |
was proposed in the budget. Let me give you an example from my | :08:50. | :08:53. | |
constituency. A woman living in a rural area, about 15 miles from the | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
nearest railway station, was about to lose home most ability vehicle to | :08:59. | :09:04. | |
get to work. She had a pretty severe disability. I think it is abhorrent | :09:05. | :09:10. | |
the changes we have seen, whether they be you turned whatever, we | :09:11. | :09:14. | |
welcome them. Isn't it extraordinary this has come about to do with the | :09:15. | :09:21. | |
internal workings of the Tory Party and not the needs of people in the | :09:22. | :09:26. | |
most need and disabled people across our country? There is no morale it | :09:27. | :09:30. | |
in the way this decision was made and the Government should hang its | :09:31. | :09:35. | |
head in shame for all that has happened over the last few days. I | :09:36. | :09:41. | |
turn now to a different subject, that of infrastructure. Others have | :09:42. | :09:47. | |
noticed, my honourable friend, the member for Leeds West, wrote an art | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
good about and made the point. According to the latest figures from | :09:53. | :09:55. | |
the National infrastructure pipeline, which monitors public and | :09:56. | :10:00. | |
private sector projects at more than ?50 million, only 114 of 565 major | :10:01. | :10:09. | |
projects are in construction. The economists noticed in 20 to 2013, | :10:10. | :10:18. | |
they wrote an article, let's try to catch up with Marley, not to see | :10:19. | :10:24. | |
OECD figures to show how low Britain was in terms of investment on | :10:25. | :10:29. | |
infrastructure. Infrastructure, rail, road and energy. The | :10:30. | :10:34. | |
Chancellor mentioned the Government now claimed to be opening the door | :10:35. | :10:42. | |
on growth in North Wales. Madam Deputy Speaker, it is rather | :10:43. | :10:45. | |
difficult to open the door to anything if you cannot actually get | :10:46. | :10:49. | |
there. All the rhetoric about the Northern powerhouse matters precious | :10:50. | :10:55. | |
little if we do not deal with things like taxing the accident blackspots | :10:56. | :11:01. | |
and single-track highways on both sides of main roads. And we do not | :11:02. | :11:07. | |
make it quicker to travel on both sides of the border. You need to get | :11:08. | :11:17. | |
on with speeding away with HS2. We need to have more direct London | :11:18. | :11:22. | |
trains on the Wrexham to shrews realigned to take precious of the | :11:23. | :11:28. | |
chest lining the collectivity. Let's sort out a proper North Wales train | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
infrastructure to Manchester and Liverpool airports. Letters | :11:33. | :11:35. | |
all-seater let us try to see the reality of what should be happening | :11:36. | :11:43. | |
with 4G. -- let us all seen the reality. I was intrigued to see Tim | :11:44. | :11:48. | |
Peake wishing us all a happy Saint Davids Day. | :11:49. | :11:55. | |
Two further points very quickly. There has been, I believe the | :11:56. | :11:59. | |
previous speaker spoke about an ethical dimension in terms of | :12:00. | :12:02. | |
corporate taxation, there is one issue the Government didn't look at. | :12:03. | :12:07. | |
And that is the insidious closure of banks across our country. In Wales | :12:08. | :12:14. | |
130 bank branches have close or will close over four year, over FIA year, | :12:15. | :12:19. | |
that is simply unacceptable, that banks can do this, they have nothing | :12:20. | :12:24. | |
to pay back to wider society. My final point Madame developer is to | :12:25. | :12:32. | |
do with measures on philanthropy, in this budget. -- Deputy Speaker. We | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
have seen Gordon Brown bringing in millennium Gift Aid, I know if the | :12:38. | :12:42. | |
honourable member for up cliff would have been there he would have said | :12:43. | :12:46. | |
it was he or John Major who brought it in in 1990. There was no measure | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
of anything to do with philanthropy in this budget. I think it is time | :12:52. | :12:56. | |
that we consider this in greater detail, whether that is the | :12:57. | :13:00. | |
implementation of a Gift Aid package on text donations or a look again | :13:01. | :13:05. | |
after cop rat philanthropy. Those are the measures I am trying to fit | :13:06. | :13:10. | |
into a five minute speech on a mixed budget, but in the last few seconds | :13:11. | :13:14. | |
I welcome what the Chancellor had to say on EU membership there is three | :13:15. | :13:18. | |
MPs in Denbighshire, this might be the only one to welcome a stay in | :13:19. | :13:23. | |
vote, but I do. Madame Durham, I am grateful to have | :13:24. | :13:29. | |
the opportunity to speak in support of this one nation, responsible, and | :13:30. | :13:36. | |
pro enterprise budget. -- Madam Deputy Speaker. Tucks in the | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
Yorkshire dales is a thriving community, a community built on the | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
jobs provided by our small and medium sized businesses, businesses | :13:47. | :13:50. | |
like the Wensleydale creamery whose cheese has taken a slice of | :13:51. | :13:54. | |
Yorkshire to tables across the world. Or Tenants, one of the UK's | :13:55. | :14:01. | |
private auction house, before I arrived in this place I spent my | :14:02. | :14:04. | |
career round the world investing in companies like these. Providing the | :14:05. | :14:10. | |
capital to help them grow. And I am delighted that this budget | :14:11. | :14:13. | |
recognises what my own experience has taught me. That for growing SME | :14:14. | :14:23. | |
there are few more greeneds for success to sack Tess to finance. | :14:24. | :14:28. | |
There are a few more than growing SMEs, small and medium size | :14:29. | :14:31. | |
businesses account for over half of private sector employment. They are | :14:32. | :14:36. | |
responsible for three-quarters of the jobs created since the recession | :14:37. | :14:40. | |
and they are delivering social justice, with the unemployed being | :14:41. | :14:45. | |
six times more likely to find work with a smaller company. | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
These companies need the fuel of deep capital markets to power their | :14:51. | :14:53. | |
growth. However, despite improvement, it is still not always | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
easy for SMEs to get the funding they need. | :14:58. | :15:01. | |
The challenge they face fall into two distinct category, debt and | :15:02. | :15:05. | |
equities. When it comes to debt finance, companies can either go to | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
banks or the corporate bond market. However, our bond markets are under | :15:11. | :15:15. | |
developed. Europe's economy is the same size as the United States, yet | :15:16. | :15:20. | |
its bond market is only a third as big. This means our companies are | :15:21. | :15:24. | |
reliant on banks for their debt needs, indeed four times more | :15:25. | :15:27. | |
reliant than their American counter pars. And at a time when banks are | :15:28. | :15:33. | |
right he deliver ranging the reality for British companies is far too | :15:34. | :15:36. | |
many loan applications are going without success. | :15:37. | :15:40. | |
There are issues for companies wishes to access equity finance. | :15:41. | :15:45. | |
Although we are a European leader, the UK's Venture Capital markets | :15:46. | :15:51. | |
still has room to grow. Adjusted for GDP, the United States VC market is | :15:52. | :15:56. | |
seven times the size of the UK. We also lag behind Sweden, South | :15:57. | :16:01. | |
Africa, Ireland and Israel. This matters because equity is the kind | :16:02. | :16:05. | |
of capital that SMEs need to grow beyond their early stages. Thanks in | :16:06. | :16:09. | |
part the policies of this Chancellor, our nation has become | :16:10. | :16:13. | |
one of the world's start up capitals. But now, we must focus our | :16:14. | :16:17. | |
unEgyptian are growing the start ups. For just 3% of British | :16:18. | :16:22. | |
companies manage to expand beyond ten employee, which is half the | :16:23. | :16:27. | |
success rate of the companies in the United States. Madame Deputy Speaker | :16:28. | :16:32. | |
this Government has shown that it understands these challenges. That | :16:33. | :16:38. | |
is why it created the seed enterprise investment scheme which | :16:39. | :16:41. | |
has helped over 3,000 companies. That is why it launched the funding | :16:42. | :16:45. | |
for lending programme, to ease credit for SMEs, hand is why it | :16:46. | :16:51. | |
funds the British business bank to power our growing companies. | :16:52. | :16:56. | |
I thank him for giving away, I really agree with him wholeheartedly | :16:57. | :17:01. | |
on the fact that getting enough capital out there Venture Capital in | :17:02. | :17:06. | |
particular, and allowing a small business to grow, especially some | :17:07. | :17:10. | |
that may you know, the traditional banking systems don't necessarily | :17:11. | :17:14. | |
support, is absolutely key to stimulating more growth in our | :17:15. | :17:18. | |
economy, and I very much welcome his comments. | :17:19. | :17:23. | |
Very grateful for my colleague and chairman of the Defra Select | :17:24. | :17:27. | |
Committee for those comments, I will go on to sop of them in due course. | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
I an delighted this budget goes further to encourage investment in | :17:32. | :17:37. | |
our businesses, and our job creator, I am confident that reducing capital | :17:38. | :17:42. | |
gains tax rates together with a brand-new 10% rate for long-term | :17:43. | :17:45. | |
investment in private businesses will unlock millions in much-needed | :17:46. | :17:49. | |
funding. Speaking with investors this week, it is clear that these | :17:50. | :17:54. | |
policies have cut through and generated a fresh wave of enthusiasm | :17:55. | :17:59. | |
for investing in British companies. On the debt side, I welcome the | :18:00. | :18:04. | |
budge's further help for businesses rejected by traditional a big, they | :18:05. | :18:08. | |
will now be more easily be able to access ala terntive providers of | :18:09. | :18:14. | |
finance. Madame Deputy Speaker, whether it is cheese makers or | :18:15. | :18:19. | |
companies in Old Street, this Chancellor has always backed the | :18:20. | :18:21. | |
aspirations of Britain's growing companies. By continuing to close | :18:22. | :18:28. | |
the loopholes that Labour left open, this budget has another message, | :18:29. | :18:31. | |
Britain isn't only becoming the best place to do business, it is becoming | :18:32. | :18:35. | |
the fairest place to do business as well. This is a budget for the | :18:36. | :18:40. | |
little guy, for a new generation of British ideas and for a country | :18:41. | :18:44. | |
where the rules don't bend for big balance sheets. This is a | :18:45. | :18:48. | |
responsible, one nation, pro enterprise budget that will get our | :18:49. | :18:52. | |
companies the vital funding they need to unleash their potential and | :18:53. | :18:55. | |
I commend it wholeheartedly to this house. | :18:56. | :19:02. | |
I want to focus this section of the debate on apprenticeships because it | :19:03. | :19:05. | |
is key to tonnes for young people in Bristol South. I support the 3 | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
million target by 2020. It is ambitious but we should be for our | :19:11. | :19:14. | |
young people. In many ways Bristol is a booming city with the highest | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
household income outside London and easily the highest productivity of | :19:20. | :19:24. | |
any big conurbation outside the capital present ships are important | :19:25. | :19:32. | |
because it is the constituency that Ucas says sends fewer people into | :19:33. | :19:37. | |
higher education. Apprenticeships and training are the root to a | :19:38. | :19:42. | |
better future for so many people living in our communities. | :19:43. | :19:46. | |
While Bristol South isn't home to a large number of companies there are | :19:47. | :19:50. | |
have many small and medium size enterprises based in the | :19:51. | :19:55. | |
constituency, owned by and employing local residents. I am glad the | :19:56. | :20:01. | |
honourable member for Richmond. I a interested in the role SMEs will | :20:02. | :20:05. | |
play in the delivery role and how the Levy is going to work for them. | :20:06. | :20:10. | |
Last week, there have been three important interventions that have | :20:11. | :20:13. | |
merged that cause concern, firstly the co-chair of the Government's | :20:14. | :20:18. | |
delivery board confirmed SMEs won't be in the Levy system and the only | :20:19. | :20:21. | |
firms paying it will have access to a new funding system from April | :20:22. | :20:27. | |
2017. Secondly, at the FE conference, we have heard from the | :20:28. | :20:31. | |
former Business Secretary, that, about concerns that the Levy may in | :20:32. | :20:35. | |
fact be a revenue raising measure rather than a genuine one, and | :20:36. | :20:42. | |
thirdly, we have seen comments from the social mobility commission | :20:43. | :20:45. | |
concerned that the younger of numb apprenticeships has flat lined since | :20:46. | :20:49. | |
2010 and many don't offer people the foundation they can build on. | :20:50. | :20:52. | |
I would like the Government to be able to give a guarantee every penny | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
of the ?3 billion in Levy is expected to raise will be invested | :20:58. | :21:01. | |
back in to improving training and apprenticeships and the SMEs will | :21:02. | :21:05. | |
have their fair share that the special and unique opportunities and | :21:06. | :21:08. | |
challenges they bring to the apprenticeship table will be fully | :21:09. | :21:12. | |
taken into account. How will young people, business, | :21:13. | :21:16. | |
colleges and other training providerings be able to access the | :21:17. | :21:21. | |
opportunities and what guarantee can the Government give that my | :21:22. | :21:24. | |
constituency will receive its fair share? The Government plan for | :21:25. | :21:27. | |
apprenticeship seems to be at the drawing board stage so I am envying | :21:28. | :21:32. | |
firms in my constituency to help. I have been issued an open call to set | :21:33. | :21:36. | |
out their ambitions, for the shape of apprenticeship schemes over the | :21:37. | :21:41. | |
next decade. I am sure the Government agree that the reaction | :21:42. | :21:45. | |
of employers will make or break the target, so will the Government | :21:46. | :21:47. | |
please accelerate the publication of the action plan, that shows how the | :21:48. | :21:52. | |
target will be met, how the Levy will work, and o other fine details | :21:53. | :21:58. | |
of the plan so I and others can work alongside employer, colleges and | :21:59. | :22:02. | |
other training providers to promote and encourage full engagement. An | :22:03. | :22:06. | |
additional consideration is the number of Bristol South residents | :22:07. | :22:12. | |
who are not ready to take up a apprenticeship so details for | :22:13. | :22:13. | |
preapprenticeship training is of interest, it is essential we ensure | :22:14. | :22:19. | |
the residents are no blocked for accessing these valuable | :22:20. | :22:22. | |
opportunities. I have concerns about the realism of the 3 million target | :22:23. | :22:26. | |
by 2020. As does the Government agree with me there is a danger that | :22:27. | :22:31. | |
arbitrary target will risk a dangerous trade off between quality | :22:32. | :22:36. | |
and quantity. When I heard a call to my office about a young pep in | :22:37. | :22:40. | |
Bristol South who has been asked to work from 7.00am to 7pm with poor | :22:41. | :22:44. | |
support, it highlights the importance that driving towards the | :22:45. | :22:48. | |
3 million target we must not ignore the quality of that experience and | :22:49. | :22:54. | |
support to young people. I fear post 19 loans will deter people accessing | :22:55. | :22:58. | |
training, which have a negative effect. So I look forward to | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
reassurances from the minister. Earlier on today the Chancellor in | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
his opening, did say to a member of his own side, I hope he extends it | :23:09. | :23:14. | |
to others where constituency MPs raise vital services, this is a | :23:15. | :23:18. | |
government that is listening, because in concluding this is not a | :23:19. | :23:23. | |
party political issue. I make my points in the spirit of cooperation, | :23:24. | :23:26. | |
what is best for the people of south Bristol who sent me here to | :23:27. | :23:29. | |
represent their interest and this is key to their ambition and | :23:30. | :23:35. | |
aspiration. Parents will have wanted a budget | :23:36. | :23:39. | |
that would have said yes, we will make sure you get a good job, yes, | :23:40. | :23:44. | |
we are going to make sure you get a decent amount of pay, whatever job | :23:45. | :23:49. | |
you do, yes, we will make shoe you can keep as much of your tax as | :23:50. | :23:54. | |
possible and yes, we will deliver a budget, make sure your children have | :23:55. | :23:58. | |
a better future than you do and the Chancellor in his robust performance | :23:59. | :24:03. | |
today has demonstrated that this budget can deliver on all three of | :24:04. | :24:09. | |
those item, I was shocked to hear the response from the Shadow | :24:10. | :24:11. | |
Chancellor in as much as he seemed to spend 20 minutes of his speech | :24:12. | :24:16. | |
trying to hold the Chancellor to account, for something the | :24:17. | :24:19. | |
Chancellor is not doing. That, I think is part of the problem with | :24:20. | :24:25. | |
the party opposite have. There is no coherence in their approach to this | :24:26. | :24:29. | |
Government. So what I would like to dos, is provide a bit of coherence | :24:30. | :24:34. | |
in criticism on one aspect of this budget if I may. That relates to the | :24:35. | :24:42. | |
sugar tax. I do that because it isn't what it says it is, it won't | :24:43. | :24:47. | |
in my view will not raise the taxes that ares a scribed to it and it | :24:48. | :24:52. | |
will not achieve the health benefits that were its original vaunted | :24:53. | :24:57. | |
purpose. It is not a sugar tax, there will be no tax on sugar this | :24:58. | :25:03. | |
cakes, in puddings, confectionary which may be great for food | :25:04. | :25:08. | |
manufactures, and chefs. It is not a tax on sugar. In fact, it isn't even | :25:09. | :25:14. | |
a tax on soft drinks because sugar in milk based drinks or fruit juices | :25:15. | :25:19. | |
are not covered. Either in fact, it appears to be a tax not only sugar, | :25:20. | :25:28. | |
but on five companies, Coca-Cola, Britvic, AG Barr, Vimto and | :25:29. | :25:29. | |
Lucozade. I would say on that, government | :25:30. | :25:42. | |
ought to be very careful about having specific taxes targeted on | :25:43. | :25:47. | |
specific companies. They will be open to challenge. Thank you for | :25:48. | :25:53. | |
giving way. Jeering the budget, the Chancellor made it very clear that | :25:54. | :25:58. | |
one of the objectives of the sugar tax was to get companies to change | :25:59. | :26:02. | |
their behaviour and have low sugar drinks rather than full sugar. I | :26:03. | :26:07. | |
speak as someone who used to drink a lot of full sugar Vimto and now has | :26:08. | :26:14. | |
no added sugar content. It is bizarre for the Government to attack | :26:15. | :26:16. | |
a sector of British industry that has done a great deal of | :26:17. | :26:24. | |
innovations. As my honourable friend rightly says, at the core of this is | :26:25. | :26:29. | |
an issue about the impact on obesity. These statistics on obesity | :26:30. | :26:35. | |
show that between 1993 and 2013 there was a doubling of obesity | :26:36. | :26:39. | |
amongst adults. When it comes to children in that same report by the | :26:40. | :26:44. | |
ONS, they say a proportion of these children in 2013 was 9.5%, higher | :26:45. | :26:51. | |
than 2012 but lower than in 2006/ 2007. I would point out the products | :26:52. | :27:00. | |
being targeted came from way before the issue of obesity. Irn-Bru, often | :27:01. | :27:05. | |
described as the national drink of Scotland was originated in 1991. The | :27:06. | :27:10. | |
Government is ignoring advice from Public Health England. In October | :27:11. | :27:14. | |
2015, they said it is not possible to compare the impact of price | :27:15. | :27:20. | |
increases achieved by the sugar tax on sweetened drinks. It is also | :27:21. | :27:28. | |
about the impact of promotions in store on purchasing habits. The | :27:29. | :27:32. | |
effect of restrictions on marketing and promotions may be greater than | :27:33. | :27:37. | |
those from fiscal measures. I thank my honourable friend fray much for | :27:38. | :27:40. | |
giving way. Do not think it is better for the Government to work | :27:41. | :27:44. | |
with these companies and work with the amount of sugar in the drinks | :27:45. | :27:48. | |
and bringing any form of tax? Or you're going to do is make it more | :27:49. | :27:52. | |
expensive very often for poorer people to buy the drink. -- all you | :27:53. | :27:57. | |
are going to do. If you reduce the amount of sugar, it is having a | :27:58. | :28:02. | |
greater effect on diet. You speak with enormous sense and knowledge. | :28:03. | :28:08. | |
It is absolutely right. It is better to engage the industry than | :28:09. | :28:13. | |
arbitrarily imposed levy. I quote from the budget. The levy will | :28:14. | :28:19. | |
operate with a specific revenue target of ?500 million for the | :28:20. | :28:24. | |
second year of implementation. Then it says, from a pre-behavioural | :28:25. | :28:29. | |
yield of over ?900 million, behavioural responses lower the | :28:30. | :28:35. | |
yield to ?500 million. As a new tax likely to prompt a large behavioural | :28:36. | :28:40. | |
response, these estimates are subject to significant uncertainty. | :28:41. | :28:45. | |
There we have it. Not a clue at all. Thank you for giving way was surely | :28:46. | :28:51. | |
the idea behind the two-year lead into the sugar levy is the right way | :28:52. | :28:58. | |
to go. It is saying to manufacturers reformulate. Surely the future of | :28:59. | :29:01. | |
our children and their health is more important than anything else. | :29:02. | :29:07. | |
The health of our children is extremely important. As I have just | :29:08. | :29:12. | |
said, this sector is one of those sectors that is already innovating. | :29:13. | :29:15. | |
Remarkable reductions in the sugar content of soft drinks compared with | :29:16. | :29:20. | |
other sectors with no changes in that area at all. There are some | :29:21. | :29:24. | |
queries about whether it will achieve the impacts on health that | :29:25. | :29:28. | |
is supposed to make. In Mexico, when the sugar tax was recently | :29:29. | :29:32. | |
introduced, the calorie rejection amounted to six calories a day. | :29:33. | :29:39. | |
Madam Deputy Speaker, this is a regressive measure, much against the | :29:40. | :29:42. | |
principles the Chancellor himself rightly outlined as the overall, | :29:43. | :29:47. | |
overarching ethos of the budget. I will give way again. Would he agree | :29:48. | :29:53. | |
with me that this tax with so many ambiguities is simply indulging our | :29:54. | :29:57. | |
fellow British chefs in giving them credence, more than they deserve? I | :29:58. | :30:02. | |
could not be more delighted to have given way to the honourable lady | :30:03. | :30:07. | |
opposite. She is quite right. The sugar tax is a passion of the TV | :30:08. | :30:12. | |
chef, Mr Jamie Oliver. He is just the latest in a line of celebrities | :30:13. | :30:19. | |
to use his position to influence public policy. Think people like Mr | :30:20. | :30:24. | |
Russell Brand, Mr Benedict Cumberbatch. To quote the | :30:25. | :30:29. | |
Independent newspaper, the chief beneficiaries of star-studded | :30:30. | :30:31. | |
attempts to raise the profile of a good cause are the celebrity | :30:32. | :30:37. | |
themselves. So, Madam Deputy Speaker, can we have a new levy on | :30:38. | :30:44. | |
policy pronouncements by well-heeled celebrities, who sprinkle their fame | :30:45. | :30:49. | |
to dazzle ministers into ill thought through changes, so that the levy | :30:50. | :30:52. | |
can pay for the unintended consequences of the brief, highly | :30:53. | :31:00. | |
jaundiced opinions, on the public. Emma Thomson's announcement should | :31:01. | :31:05. | |
alone secure the defence budget. Thank you. The Chancellor of the | :31:06. | :31:12. | |
Exchequer's budget and the figures reported by the Office for Budget | :31:13. | :31:15. | |
Responsibility, considered by many as a contradiction in terms with the | :31:16. | :31:19. | |
mysteries yet again the Chancellor's ability to adequately manage the | :31:20. | :31:25. | |
economy he has failed in several key economic indicators and missed | :31:26. | :31:28. | |
targets set by Tories will stop notably debt, deficit and borrowing | :31:29. | :31:33. | |
levels are even worse than promised last autumn. Given time constraints, | :31:34. | :31:37. | |
I will mention a few the problems I have seen with the budget before | :31:38. | :31:40. | |
focusing on an issue of real concern that has not been adequately covered | :31:41. | :31:47. | |
by others. Inflation, the forecast shows inflation is set to see a | :31:48. | :31:50. | |
significant rise from as close to zero... I will give way. Does my | :31:51. | :31:57. | |
honourable friend agree that a sharp rise in inflation can have a | :31:58. | :32:01. | |
negative impact on working households? I thank you for your | :32:02. | :32:05. | |
intervention. I agree with my honourable friend. With the sterling | :32:06. | :32:16. | |
depreciation and uncertainty created by the EU referendum, consumer | :32:17. | :32:21. | |
inflation has begun to rise. OBR has predicted the CPI will rise from .7% | :32:22. | :32:27. | |
to 1.6% next year. Likewise the retail price index is set to rise | :32:28. | :32:34. | |
from 1.7% this year to 3.2% in 2017. Such a spike in inflation can impact | :32:35. | :32:39. | |
negatively, as my right arm ball friend mentioned, across the | :32:40. | :32:43. | |
economy. It means many households around the country and my | :32:44. | :32:49. | |
constituents in households that are already struggling will see the | :32:50. | :32:54. | |
price of necessities rise at a time they can least afford it. Exports | :32:55. | :32:58. | |
which are already weak will likely see further decline. Sales fell from | :32:59. | :33:08. | |
521,000,000,020 -- 2013 to 513 billion in 2014. No surprise it will | :33:09. | :33:16. | |
fall short of this target by 300 billion. That has been touched on by | :33:17. | :33:20. | |
the right honourable member for Hartlepool. On business investment, | :33:21. | :33:26. | |
touched on by my honourable friend brought East Lothian and my | :33:27. | :33:29. | |
honourable friend for Hartlepool, more bad news for the business | :33:30. | :33:37. | |
investment with the OBR predicting business investment will only grow | :33:38. | :33:42. | |
by 2.6% this year, substantially lower than the 7.4 predicted three | :33:43. | :33:46. | |
months ago in the Autumn Statement. Furthermore, the investment at 2019 | :33:47. | :33:53. | |
will be 10% lower than predicted in December. So far, not so good. | :33:54. | :33:58. | |
Moving on to an area of concern for myself on page 27 of the red book. | :33:59. | :34:04. | |
The Government expects to lose 25 billion from the sale of The Royal | :34:05. | :34:09. | |
Bank of Scotland. There are several factors and I feel this prize may be | :34:10. | :34:14. | |
somewhat exaggerated. Focusing on this issue, I would point out that | :34:15. | :34:21. | |
between 2011 and 2014, RBS arranged 14.3 billion in leveraged loans to | :34:22. | :34:25. | |
the oil and gas industry. It has been a leader among key banks in | :34:26. | :34:29. | |
arranging these high risk loans. The falling price of oil has resulted in | :34:30. | :34:39. | |
the default rates of these loans increasing. Many are in the form of | :34:40. | :34:51. | |
collateral loan obligations. It remains uncertain how many of these | :34:52. | :34:58. | |
loans RBS still has on its books, hence my concern for that 25 | :34:59. | :35:02. | |
billion. I would like to take a minute to highlight what I see is a | :35:03. | :35:05. | |
failure on the part of this government to the risk to the | :35:06. | :35:11. | |
financial system in relation to the price of oil. A number of US lenders | :35:12. | :35:19. | |
with large active presence in UK markets have high energy exposure, | :35:20. | :35:23. | |
due to leveraged lending on the oil/ gas sector. JP Morgan has 13.8 | :35:24. | :35:29. | |
billion outstanding debt relating to loans. Of the roughly 100 billion in | :35:30. | :35:34. | |
leveraged loans it issued to the oil and gas sector between 2011 and | :35:35. | :35:43. | |
2014. Wells Fargo arranged 20,000 leveraged loans to that sector in | :35:44. | :35:49. | |
that period. 17.4 billion of these are already outstanding. Alarm bells | :35:50. | :35:55. | |
should be ringing somewhere. When the price of Brent was at $50 a | :35:56. | :36:03. | |
barrel it was predicted, if the price of oil is to continue to fall, | :36:04. | :36:07. | |
there is a stark parallel with the collapse of the US property prices | :36:08. | :36:16. | |
index. The systemic risk inherent to the financial system due to these | :36:17. | :36:20. | |
high yield loans and the slice and dice nature of derivative products | :36:21. | :36:24. | |
relating to these loans which have been sold to investors are not even | :36:25. | :36:29. | |
mentioned in the most recent bank of England stress test results. | :36:30. | :36:34. | |
Finally, Madam Deputy Speaker, in the year since 2007 and 2008, the | :36:35. | :36:42. | |
Tory government has demonstrated its expectations that the most | :36:43. | :36:45. | |
vulnerable in society should pay the price for these institutions. The | :36:46. | :36:50. | |
bureau of investigative journalism found most of the funding came from | :36:51. | :36:57. | |
the city. This budget has clearly highlighted the fact this attitude | :36:58. | :37:04. | |
has not changed, as is evidenced in the ?3.5 billion of cuts. Madam | :37:05. | :37:08. | |
Deputy Speaker, this budget again is not good enough. If the Chancellor | :37:09. | :37:11. | |
really wants to be head boy, he should heed his report card which | :37:12. | :37:18. | |
should read, must do better. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Before I | :37:19. | :37:22. | |
start, in the five minutes I have, can I first of all condemned the | :37:23. | :37:29. | |
outrage in Brussels today? Those who perpetrate it have my symphonies and | :37:30. | :37:34. | |
prayers -- those who perpetrated it, my civvies and prayers go to the | :37:35. | :37:39. | |
loved ones of those who have had any losses. May I put in a plug for the | :37:40. | :37:48. | |
armed police in Dorset and around the country and the capital as well | :37:49. | :37:51. | |
that more money is spent on training? I know full well the | :37:52. | :37:58. | |
convocations of storming buildings and dealing with civilians fleeing | :37:59. | :38:02. | |
from bombs, as they were doing in the departure lounge this morning. | :38:03. | :38:06. | |
The chaos surrounding it, the blood, the Gore, the mess, the noise. To go | :38:07. | :38:13. | |
into a building that has been attacked, as an armed policeman, you | :38:14. | :38:16. | |
need an incredibly high degree of training. I am grateful to my | :38:17. | :38:26. | |
honourable friend for giving way. The Prime Minister did say after | :38:27. | :38:29. | |
Bataclan that he would support continued funding for the police, | :38:30. | :38:33. | |
particularly the armed police. I agree. I am making the point. I | :38:34. | :38:37. | |
welcome comments from the Prime Minister. What I am expanding on | :38:38. | :38:41. | |
this need for highly specialist training. You need buildings, images | :38:42. | :38:47. | |
that can change as you attack, different lights, all sorts of | :38:48. | :38:51. | |
things to make this sort of very highly strategic attack you would | :38:52. | :38:54. | |
have to do. Our armed police will not be able to stay outside and wait | :38:55. | :39:01. | |
for the special air they would have to get in and save lives, as I am | :39:02. | :39:05. | |
sure they would do. I do not doubt their courage and dedication. What I | :39:06. | :39:12. | |
am questioning is they should look very carefully at the money | :39:13. | :39:18. | |
available to meet what appears to be sadly and tragically a more common | :39:19. | :39:22. | |
use of the assaults we have seen this morning. Talking of military, | :39:23. | :39:27. | |
may I congratulate my right honourable friend, the Chancellor, | :39:28. | :39:32. | |
for resorting to military tactics. They say attack is the best form of | :39:33. | :39:36. | |
defence of his robust performance in the House of Commons today was a | :39:37. | :39:40. | |
very good example of that. Can I welcome much in the budget, raising | :39:41. | :39:45. | |
the tax-free personal allowance, increasing the higher threshold, | :39:46. | :39:52. | |
freezing beer and cider duties. Cutting taxes. Small businesses, may | :39:53. | :40:00. | |
I claim my next remark at the opposite benches. We heard the | :40:01. | :40:04. | |
Shadow Chancellor saying it is a tax cut for the rich. Can I remind them | :40:05. | :40:07. | |
the businesses that are the engine room of the country, they risk their | :40:08. | :40:13. | |
homes to invest in businesses and for many years struggled to make a | :40:14. | :40:18. | |
profit? They then pay for all the people we tried to get work and make | :40:19. | :40:22. | |
fast risks. The money they keep the more they | :40:23. | :40:32. | |
can re-invest in their companiesches it is not a matter of people jetting | :40:33. | :40:37. | |
off in their 747s and I know, because I have been to many | :40:38. | :40:41. | |
businesses, as I am sure they have in their constituency, small | :40:42. | :40:43. | |
engineering companies are having to buy equipment that is worth, 6, 7, | :40:44. | :40:49. | |
800,000 and the profits are minimal. We need to help them for the future | :40:50. | :40:54. | |
of our country, and for the future of those wanting to get back in to | :40:55. | :40:58. | |
work. I agree with my honourable friend about the sugar tax, I have | :40:59. | :41:03. | |
doubts on that and I hope the front bench will relook that the. Can I | :41:04. | :41:08. | |
ask them about the effect of raising the threshold of, business rates on | :41:09. | :41:12. | |
small businesses and taking some out of it all together. I understand, | :41:13. | :41:18. | |
unless, I am sure one will correct me if I am wrong, more and more | :41:19. | :41:23. | |
local authorities will rely more and more on business rates because | :41:24. | :41:27. | |
central Government funding will be reduced to zero. If that is the | :41:28. | :41:32. | |
case, and we are going to take businesses out of business rates | :41:33. | :41:35. | |
which I applaud, don't get me wrong, where is it going to come from for | :41:36. | :41:40. | |
small rural councils like mine? I would be grateful when the minister | :41:41. | :41:43. | |
sums up, if he could give an answer to that particular question. Can I | :41:44. | :41:48. | |
just touch on the personal dependent payments and all that has gone on, | :41:49. | :41:54. | |
may I too pay my huge praise to the member, right honourable member for | :41:55. | :41:57. | |
Chingford who has dedicated so up many of his life, having been the | :41:58. | :42:01. | |
leader of his party, a lesser man would have gone into a cave and | :42:02. | :42:04. | |
stayed there. Not this man, he went out there and he did all he could | :42:05. | :42:08. | |
and has done for the poorest in our society and I commend him for it. | :42:09. | :42:16. | |
Can I look at one aspect of this particular tax, and this particular | :42:17. | :42:22. | |
PIP payment and what concerns me, what I found in my surgeries, many | :42:23. | :42:29. | |
constituent say they have been unfairly assessed, and it is a tick | :42:30. | :42:36. | |
box culture, I have never liked tick boxing, what happens is in. So | :42:37. | :42:41. | |
cases, their support is withdrawn while the case is assessed. This, | :42:42. | :42:46. | |
despite the fact many have doctors certificates explaining why they | :42:47. | :42:49. | |
need the money they are going to get. Can I urge, urge, urge, please, | :42:50. | :42:57. | |
the Government we really look at the assessing system. We need | :42:58. | :43:01. | |
occupational therapist, we need family member, doctors, all to | :43:02. | :43:04. | |
contribute, yes it is more expensive probably but least then we will get | :43:05. | :43:09. | |
the assessment right. Rather than causing huge distress to frankly | :43:10. | :43:13. | |
those who least can deal with it, by taking away what support they have | :43:14. | :43:18. | |
and giving back to them, ex months later when an MP has got involved. I | :43:19. | :43:24. | |
make the point we have infenced everything to the front bench. What | :43:25. | :43:28. | |
can we stop ring-fencing and there are savings to be made in overseas | :43:29. | :43:33. | |
aid, which can can spend and target far better. | :43:34. | :43:42. | |
May I start by associating myself with the member South Dorset made | :43:43. | :43:45. | |
about the dreadful situation we saw in Brussels today. This debate has | :43:46. | :43:50. | |
seen more like a concern about astronomy than budget. We have all | :43:51. | :43:54. | |
been talking about black holes, but there is a very clear analogy to be | :43:55. | :44:01. | |
drawn, people will remember that Stephen has been, described what was | :44:02. | :44:05. | |
called the black hole paradox, the idea that information would | :44:06. | :44:10. | |
disappear into a black hole, never to be restored again, despite all | :44:11. | :44:16. | |
matter that was to be held forever. What an analogy for the budget we | :44:17. | :44:20. | |
face today, where we have no information about how it is going to | :44:21. | :44:24. | |
stack up. Our colleagues in local Government would rightly be | :44:25. | :44:27. | |
horrified. So where can we find information about the impact of this | :44:28. | :44:31. | |
budget? We can find it our constituencies and in those people | :44:32. | :44:35. | |
who we represent, and in the time I have, I want simply to offer three | :44:36. | :44:39. | |
areas of information on which we can judge the Chancellor's work. First | :44:40. | :44:43. | |
of all, on personal debt, secondly then on savings and finally on | :44:44. | :44:49. | |
productivity, three areas, into which this budget singly fails the | :44:50. | :44:53. | |
British people. Because we know it is not by accident that personal | :44:54. | :44:57. | |
household debt in this country is doing up and up and up. -- going up | :44:58. | :45:02. | |
and up and up. Unpress dented is the term the Office for Budget | :45:03. | :45:04. | |
Responsibility uses for the Chancellor's plans when it comes to | :45:05. | :45:10. | |
the impact on our constituents, that unsecured personal debt will reach | :45:11. | :45:15. | |
3% of GDP and stay there. It is indeed a black hole into which the | :45:16. | :45:18. | |
Chancellor issing is the public to pour their own money to pay for his | :45:19. | :45:22. | |
mistakes, just how bad is it? The Bank of England tell us that people | :45:23. | :45:27. | |
are now borrowing a billion pounds a month in this country, just in | :45:28. | :45:34. | |
January alone people put ?500 million on their credit cards, Aviva | :45:35. | :45:38. | |
tell us the average family debt is 13,00 pounds. Up 4,000 from last | :45:39. | :45:43. | |
summer alone. Now those on the opposite benches who are casual | :45:44. | :45:46. | |
about credit miss the point. Not even is paying the same levels of | :45:47. | :45:50. | |
credit. Some are being charged excessive amounts for the credit. | :45:51. | :45:54. | |
The debts they are getting into to pay for this Chancellor's mistake, | :45:55. | :45:58. | |
the member for South Dorset talks about people putting their houses up | :45:59. | :46:04. | |
to fund businesses but many in our community, home ownership is a dream | :46:05. | :46:08. | |
they have long given up on. When we see wages have risen 4% in the last | :46:09. | :46:13. | |
few years but house prices have gone up 76%, we know every single penny | :46:14. | :46:18. | |
matter, and that is why it is such a problem that people are in these | :46:19. | :46:23. | |
levels of debt. This Chancellor is banking on the British habit of | :46:24. | :46:27. | |
borrowing. It is like putting Wayne Rooney in charge of a stocktake in | :46:28. | :46:31. | |
the Nike shop. It is about the fact we are nation that can't savement we | :46:32. | :46:35. | |
are saving just 4% of our disposable income, half as much as we were four | :46:36. | :46:40. | |
years ago, the lowest levels of personal saving since 1963. So help | :46:41. | :46:46. | |
to save will do little to those 26 million people in our country, who | :46:47. | :46:51. | |
don't have access to ?1,000 for an emergency, they have no rainy day | :46:52. | :46:54. | |
money under this Government's watch. Lifetime Isas are out of reach for | :46:55. | :46:59. | |
those people who have too much month at the end of their money. | :47:00. | :47:03. | |
So we are seeing a situation of rising personal debt, and low or no | :47:04. | :47:07. | |
savings at all, into which wages are now stalling. That has an impact on | :47:08. | :47:13. | |
public finances too, it will lead to lower tax receipt, they are down ?44 | :47:14. | :47:18. | |
billion on the projections made in 2011, so yes, that is why we on this | :47:19. | :47:22. | |
side are angry when we see those who will do well are those who can well | :47:23. | :47:27. | |
afford to pay for it. That 80% of the games -- gains from this budget | :47:28. | :47:30. | |
will go top to the top half of the income distribution and half of that | :47:31. | :47:35. | |
to the top 20%. Debt is locking people out of opportunities, I will | :47:36. | :47:38. | |
happily give way. Is the member also wear the very act | :47:39. | :47:43. | |
of running a budget surplus, taking more out than you put in, forces the | :47:44. | :47:52. | |
public sector, the public accounts into private borrowing, increasing? | :47:53. | :47:57. | |
The member, my long held concerns about the way the government is | :47:58. | :48:01. | |
managing, we don't have time to go into the depth that is PFI or PF 2 | :48:02. | :48:06. | |
which will lead to many of the problems we are been say we get we | :48:07. | :48:10. | |
want to get the deficit down because every penny we are paying in | :48:11. | :48:14. | |
interest, every penny with are paying is money that could be going | :48:15. | :48:17. | |
into investing in our people, it is money that could be going into | :48:18. | :48:21. | |
investing in the public services that our communities need to suck | :48:22. | :48:25. | |
said. That is the point, it is not just the damage it is doing today to | :48:26. | :48:30. | |
people, the destitution they face today, it is narrowing of the | :48:31. | :48:33. | |
horizons it presents for tomorrow too. Because we see this Government | :48:34. | :48:39. | |
singly failing to deal with the productivity gap Britain faces, the | :48:40. | :48:43. | |
18% difference between ourselves and our competitor, failing to invest in | :48:44. | :48:49. | |
our young people, by the end of this Parliament, China intends to produce | :48:50. | :48:52. | |
195 million graduates and it is not just China that is investing in its | :48:53. | :48:57. | |
people. It is Brazil. Russia, Argentina, these are the country, | :48:58. | :49:00. | |
the graduates our children will have to compete with and this Government | :49:01. | :49:04. | |
is offering them nothing by return, and we see the consequences for | :49:05. | :49:08. | |
them, in that productivity gap. We see when the Government is trying to | :49:09. | :49:13. | |
force every school to become an academy abjecting their own | :49:14. | :49:16. | |
responsibility. How different from a year ago when we sat here and | :49:17. | :49:19. | |
listened to a Chancellor claim he was fixing the roof, that Britain | :49:20. | :49:22. | |
would be able to walk tall again. It seems to me this is one of those | :49:23. | :49:26. | |
builders you see the Watchdog programme about. I would encourage | :49:27. | :49:30. | |
the British people to go to Trading Standards about them but the | :49:31. | :49:33. | |
Government's cut that service too. They are left with their only | :49:34. | :49:37. | |
alternative which is to look to an alternative party of Government, | :49:38. | :49:42. | |
which is the Labour Party. To offer a genuine investment in | :49:43. | :49:47. | |
young people, a recognition of why fiscal responsibility matters this | :49:48. | :49:53. | |
is a black hole sucking everything out of this country, including | :49:54. | :49:56. | |
hopefully the Chancellor's career. A pleasure and honour to follow the | :49:57. | :50:02. | |
member for Walthamstow, who as a graduate of physics and maths from | :50:03. | :50:08. | |
Liverpool university, the fact she managed to get Steven hawkings and | :50:09. | :50:18. | |
Wayne Rooney in her speech at the same time I applaud her. Can I add | :50:19. | :50:24. | |
my condolences to the victims in Brussels and to their family, I was | :50:25. | :50:29. | |
in Brussels shortly after the Paris attacks, and the degree of security | :50:30. | :50:33. | |
that was being implemented there demonstrated that I were on high | :50:34. | :50:38. | |
alert already, and clearly it is a devastating tragedy that has taken | :50:39. | :50:43. | |
place there. In terms of the budget, we should be clear unfortunately the | :50:44. | :50:48. | |
events of the past few days seem to have overshadowed a remarkably good | :50:49. | :50:53. | |
budget from the Chancellor. A position where by reductions in | :50:54. | :50:57. | |
business taxes, to promote growth to allow people to have the dignity of | :50:58. | :51:02. | |
earning a living, rather than having a life on benefits should be | :51:03. | :51:05. | |
applauded by all sides, rather than condemned. I trust that | :51:06. | 3:44:10 |