Browse content similar to 26/05/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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resignation, but the four then he will continue to champion their | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
interests and I'm sure the House supports him in doing so. Order. | :00:00. | :00:08. | |
Statement, the Secretary of State for business, innovation and skills. | :00:09. | :00:18. | |
-- Business, Innovation and Skills. I would like to make a statement on | :00:19. | :00:23. | |
Britain's steel industry. Yesterday Tata Steel board met and reviewed | :00:24. | :00:28. | |
progress in the sale of their UK steel-making assets. Ahead of that | :00:29. | :00:34. | |
meeting our travel to India to discuss this with their leadership. | :00:35. | :00:37. | |
I arrived in London a few hours ago. I use the opportunity to stress the | :00:38. | :00:44. | |
importance of the strong and effective sales process that Tata | :00:45. | :00:49. | |
have done so far. I raised issues that had been flagged to me by | :00:50. | :00:52. | |
potential buyers, and reiterated the government's willingness to support | :00:53. | :00:57. | |
orders who can deliver a sustainable and successful future for British | :00:58. | :01:02. | |
steel making. Tata understandably wants the sales process to be as | :01:03. | :01:06. | |
swift and straightforward as possible, however they assured me | :01:07. | :01:09. | |
that they remain absolutely committed to being a responsible | :01:10. | :01:14. | |
seller. There are number of credible bids on the table, all of which we | :01:15. | :01:20. | |
discussed. Tata is now discussing the proposals closely before making | :01:21. | :01:23. | |
a decision on which to take through to the next stage of the sales | :01:24. | :01:27. | |
progress. We will be continuing our dialogue with bidders and Tata while | :01:28. | :01:33. | |
this happens. This remains an independent commercial process. It | :01:34. | :01:38. | |
is not the government was my job to choose a winner or back a specific | :01:39. | :01:44. | |
bed. What we can do is listen to Tata, to the bidders, and work with | :01:45. | :01:47. | |
everyone involved to remove potential barriers to a sale. For | :01:48. | :01:52. | |
example today we are launching a consultation on options to deliver | :01:53. | :01:56. | |
clarity and security for British Steel pension scheme members. This | :01:57. | :02:02. | |
follows representations from the trustees of the scheme itself, and | :02:03. | :02:06. | |
also from Tata. Let me take this opportunity to thank my right | :02:07. | :02:10. | |
honourable friend the Secretary of State for work and pensions and his | :02:11. | :02:14. | |
team for all the hard work and making this consultation happen. The | :02:15. | :02:19. | |
House will appreciate that commercial confidentiality stops me | :02:20. | :02:23. | |
from offering running commentary on the sales process itself. All the | :02:24. | :02:29. | |
bidders have themselves signed a nondisclosure agreement. I will | :02:30. | :02:32. | |
continue to update the House in progress whenever that is | :02:33. | :02:35. | |
appropriate to do so, and will continue to work round-the-clock to | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
support ready steel-making and steelworkers. That support has | :02:41. | :02:44. | |
already seen tens of millions of pounds of compensation paid to | :02:45. | :02:54. | |
energy intensive agencies. It is seen as -- we are the first | :02:55. | :02:59. | |
government to make it easier for other companies to buy British | :03:00. | :03:04. | |
Steel. It has seen a stand-up British Steel in Europe, calling for | :03:05. | :03:09. | |
a ban on Chinese imports where there is evidence of unfair trade. At | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
yesterday's demonstration by steelworkers, it reminded us that | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
this is ultimately about people, about the hard-working men and women | :03:19. | :03:21. | |
who make British Steel the best in the world. We owe it to them and | :03:22. | :03:27. | |
their families and communities to do everything we can to secure the | :03:28. | :03:32. | |
future of the industry, and that is why my colleague has been fighting | :03:33. | :03:35. | |
for British Steel since long before the current crisis hit the | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
headlines, which is why we will continue to fight for it but as long | :03:41. | :03:47. | |
as it takes. We are very pleased to be supported by the First Minister | :03:48. | :03:55. | |
of Wales. We're also receiving... By putting aside political point | :03:56. | :04:03. | |
scoring, we're together securing a secure and safe future for British | :04:04. | :04:06. | |
steel-making. I commend the statement to the House. Can I thank | :04:07. | :04:12. | |
the right honourable gentleman for his statement and advanced sight of | :04:13. | :04:16. | |
it. I am surprised that he has failed to mention any of the details | :04:17. | :04:20. | |
of the consultation paper on pensions. This is published today. I | :04:21. | :04:27. | |
agree with his assessment of the importance of the steel industry to | :04:28. | :04:33. | |
the UK economy. No one who saw the steelworkers marched through London | :04:34. | :04:37. | |
yesterday can felt to be moved by the sight of a dedicated unskilled | :04:38. | :04:43. | |
workforce fighting for the industry. I welcome his trip to Mumbai along | :04:44. | :04:48. | |
with the First Minister of Wales to meet with the Tata Borja study. His | :04:49. | :04:55. | |
direct engagement with them is better late than never. I also | :04:56. | :04:58. | |
welcome his confirmation that Tata are acting as a responsible seller. | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
That is vital for the future of the industry here, and I commend them | :05:04. | :05:09. | |
for it. The British Steel pension scheme, especially the liabilities | :05:10. | :05:12. | |
it now brings with it, is clearly an issue that requires resolution. Any | :05:13. | :05:19. | |
resolution must protect the pensions of the scheme's 130,000 | :05:20. | :05:23. | |
beneficiaries, but it must also ensure that it avoids setting a | :05:24. | :05:30. | |
potentially dangerous precedent for the millions of other occupational | :05:31. | :05:34. | |
pensioners who currently enjoy RBI indexation rights. I recognise that | :05:35. | :05:42. | |
there are no easy options. I welcome the consultation which has been | :05:43. | :05:45. | |
published today by the Department for work and, at the time frame for | :05:46. | :05:51. | |
responses is very short. This document has been published on the | :05:52. | :05:57. | |
last day before a recess. The suggested move from RBI to CPI for | :05:58. | :06:04. | |
the British steel pension scheme risks setting a worrying precedent | :06:05. | :06:07. | |
for other occupational schemes. The House will know that this change is | :06:08. | :06:13. | |
currently illegal. Why has the Secretary of State said nothing | :06:14. | :06:17. | |
about the details of the pension consultation that he has published | :06:18. | :06:22. | |
today? Can he now say a little more? Is there a agreement across the | :06:23. | :06:26. | |
government on the principle of the changes to section 67 and 68 of the | :06:27. | :06:31. | |
1995 act which would reduce indexation from RBI to CPI in this | :06:32. | :06:38. | |
particular scheme? What assurance can the Secretary of State give me | :06:39. | :06:41. | |
that this proposed change will not be extended in the future to other | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
occupational schemes? Can this change be sensibly and safely ring | :06:47. | :06:52. | |
fenced quest Mark if not, it is very difficult. What guarantees can the | :06:53. | :06:57. | |
Secretary of State give the House on the future management of the British | :06:58. | :07:00. | |
Steel pension scheme, if such concessions limiting future benefits | :07:01. | :07:05. | |
to pensioners are conceded now, especially on the administrative | :07:06. | :07:07. | |
costs under charges of the scheme going forward? Are there any other | :07:08. | :07:14. | |
options that were considered either Secretary of State but not included | :07:15. | :07:17. | |
in the consultation, such as safeguarding the scheme on the | :07:18. | :07:22. | |
public books, as has been done with the postal scheme and was done with | :07:23. | :07:28. | |
the Mineworkers? Finally, has the Secretary of State considered the | :07:29. | :07:34. | |
effect on the incentive to save for the wider workforce if accrued | :07:35. | :07:42. | |
pension rights can be arbitrarily reduced, as the paper suggests? | :07:43. | :07:49. | |
First, let me thank her for her comments and questions. She raised | :07:50. | :07:55. | |
the demonstration that took place yesterday and she is right that it | :07:56. | :08:01. | |
is all about people. I was pleased to note that the Business Minister | :08:02. | :08:05. | |
attended that demonstration alongside the Leader of the | :08:06. | :08:10. | |
Opposition, they are united in this cause to find a long-term solution. | :08:11. | :08:17. | |
The right honourable lady focused questions on pensions, and I will | :08:18. | :08:24. | |
answer as many as those as I can. She is a former pensions minister | :08:25. | :08:28. | |
herself and I take very seriously what she has to say. She has a great | :08:29. | :08:32. | |
deal of experience in this area. While the consultation continues, I | :08:33. | :08:37. | |
would be more than pleased to sit down with her to discuss things in | :08:38. | :08:42. | |
more detail, as I know them work and pension secretary will also be. She | :08:43. | :08:48. | |
raised the issue of time. It is a four-week consultation, as I think | :08:49. | :08:53. | |
she knows, but time is of the essence. The steel industry is in a | :08:54. | :09:02. | |
very difficult state at the moment. Tata is looking to secure a sale as | :09:03. | :09:07. | |
soon as possible. They have been responsible with the time frame so | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
far, but I hope she understands that timing is important, and hopefully | :09:12. | :09:17. | |
we have plenty of time to consider all the stakeholders that have | :09:18. | :09:20. | |
responded. Turning to the consultation itself, one of the | :09:21. | :09:25. | |
first important points to make is that it is the scheme's trustees | :09:26. | :09:29. | |
that have come forward and asked us to look at current legislation | :09:30. | :09:34. | |
because they believe that it would lead to better outcomes for the | :09:35. | :09:42. | |
investors. Under the current rules, they do have the ability to make all | :09:43. | :09:49. | |
of the changes they have proposed, but they are prevented, rightly so, | :09:50. | :09:55. | |
by legislation, the 1995 pensions act, and they have asked us if we | :09:56. | :09:59. | |
would consider removing that portion of the act in the case of beer | :10:00. | :10:01. | |
scheme only. -- their scheme only. The scheme is in deficit so it is | :10:02. | :10:19. | |
very unlikely that any situation can come about where, unless some of | :10:20. | :10:22. | |
these changes are made, this scheme can be prevented from entering the | :10:23. | :10:28. | |
PPF. That is not to say there is any issue with the PPF. It is one of the | :10:29. | :10:34. | |
strongest brands of our pension system and envied around the world | :10:35. | :10:37. | |
and it provides an excellent safety net to so many people. At the scheme | :10:38. | :10:42. | |
trustees have put forward this proposal and it is only right that | :10:43. | :10:45. | |
we consider it. I won't go into the details about how, if their proposal | :10:46. | :10:52. | |
was taken forward, how it would affect certain members, but I think | :10:53. | :10:55. | |
it is very important to emphasise that if this proposal happened, it | :10:56. | :11:00. | |
wouldn't be the Government making changes, it would be something the | :11:01. | :11:02. | |
scheme would want to do because it believes it would mean that in | :11:03. | :11:07. | |
almost every case, that their members would be either better off | :11:08. | :11:12. | |
or no worse off. That is their belief and it would be tested by the | :11:13. | :11:17. | |
pensions regulator. Lastly on the pension, I think it is with also | :11:18. | :11:20. | |
highlighting that the Government has not made any decision, it is rightly | :11:21. | :11:26. | |
considering what the pension trustees have come up with as a | :11:27. | :11:30. | |
proposal and I think it is absolutely right to consider this | :11:31. | :11:33. | |
and consult widely and then for the Government to determine later on if | :11:34. | :11:39. | |
it is the right thing to do. Can I welcome the Secretary of State's | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
statement about the possibility of Tata Steel being bought and carrying | :11:44. | :11:52. | |
on as a business. This is very similar to... Which has just closed | :11:53. | :11:55. | |
down in my constituency. There are people looking to keep it running | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
and keep the 320 people employed. Could I have an urgent meeting with | :12:01. | :12:05. | |
the Secretary of State to discuss this? I would be very happy to meet. | :12:06. | :12:17. | |
I thank the Secretary of State for advanced side of his statement. This | :12:18. | :12:24. | |
is an incredibly sensitive issue and it must be handled with extreme care | :12:25. | :12:28. | |
and that is why I am disappointed there was not more detail in this | :12:29. | :12:33. | |
statement today. It begs more questions than answers. We wish to | :12:34. | :12:37. | |
see the Government act where it can and as quickly as it can, to support | :12:38. | :12:42. | |
and save the UK steel industry and as said on so many occasions in this | :12:43. | :12:48. | |
House, we are keen to support steel community is represented across this | :12:49. | :12:51. | |
House. As the Shadow Secretary of State says, we are concerned this | :12:52. | :12:56. | |
could upset a dangerous precedent, undermine workplace pensions. The | :12:57. | :13:05. | |
general secretary of community said this morning, we are not taking | :13:06. | :13:08. | |
anything off the table but it is important that any change in law to | :13:09. | :13:13. | |
change Steelworkers's pensions will not have an adverse impact on other | :13:14. | :13:17. | |
pension schemes. Mark Turner of Unite has made comments this | :13:18. | :13:22. | |
morning. That is why it would be inappropriate for the UK Government | :13:23. | :13:26. | |
to push this through without further consideration. Could the Minister | :13:27. | :13:30. | |
advise what discussions he has had, how will the scheme work? How will | :13:31. | :13:36. | |
pensioners currently in the scheme be affected? Will there be a | :13:37. | :13:40. | |
disadvantage for future scheme members? Will he commit to set aside | :13:41. | :13:43. | |
more time in this House so all of these issues can be teased out and | :13:44. | :13:47. | |
discussed to support the industry but also insure there are no wider | :13:48. | :13:57. | |
unintended consequences? He quoted the leader of the community union | :13:58. | :14:04. | |
and I think Roy is right. We need to tread carefully and this is a very | :14:05. | :14:08. | |
important issue and he is right, that we should not set any | :14:09. | :14:12. | |
precedents where the House may come to regret them later. At the same | :14:13. | :14:16. | |
time, I think it is also right that we listen to the trustees and indeed | :14:17. | :14:22. | |
the unions and Tata itself, about this proposal and we consider it | :14:23. | :14:26. | |
very carefully indeed. I am sure the House will have more time to look at | :14:27. | :14:30. | |
this in more detail. There is a lot more information. I understand you | :14:31. | :14:37. | |
might not have had enough time to look at it just yet but I believe | :14:38. | :14:40. | |
the consultation will give us the time that we need to look at this | :14:41. | :14:45. | |
carefully. May I commend the Secretary of State for what he's | :14:46. | :14:49. | |
doing to try to save this industry. I say this other pension fund holder | :14:50. | :14:54. | |
myself, but I am slightly concerned by these proposals and I hope we | :14:55. | :14:59. | |
would proceed with great caution and with thoughtful those likely to be | :15:00. | :15:04. | |
series the affected by it. Can I thank my honourable friend for his | :15:05. | :15:09. | |
comments. I think there will be many members of this scheme that may well | :15:10. | :15:13. | |
be concerned and that is why it is absolutely right they have full | :15:14. | :15:16. | |
information, both in terms of the consultation, I understand the | :15:17. | :15:22. | |
chairman of the trustees today has welcomed the Government's move on | :15:23. | :15:26. | |
this but at the same time, he said the trustees themselves were right | :15:27. | :15:33. | |
to... Members. I know this is all about getting the best outcome for | :15:34. | :15:37. | |
the members but also sustaining the long-term future of our great steel | :15:38. | :15:42. | |
industry. I welcome the Work and Pensions Secretary's rhetoric in the | :15:43. | :15:46. | |
written statement today that Britain's steel industry is part of | :15:47. | :15:49. | |
our economy and this Government is working to help the industry. May I | :15:50. | :15:54. | |
push the Business Secretary on the risks that steps taken could set at | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
dangerous precedent whereby companies abdicate their | :16:00. | :16:02. | |
responsibility to the members of their pension schemes. Is this deal | :16:03. | :16:06. | |
purely for steel or is the Government extending it to | :16:07. | :16:14. | |
strategically important sectors of the community, of industries | :16:15. | :16:16. | |
identified to be of crucial importance to the UK? I mention the | :16:17. | :16:28. | |
Royal Mail scheme. Wright can I welcome those comments. There is no | :16:29. | :16:33. | |
deal and no preferred option. This is a very open consultation. There | :16:34. | :16:37. | |
are a number of options the Government is looking at. No | :16:38. | :16:41. | |
decision has been made. We are very weary of setting a precedent -- we | :16:42. | :16:48. | |
are very wary. This is very much about this scheme only. As ministers | :16:49. | :16:56. | |
know, on our recent visit with the Business Minister to the Tata site | :16:57. | :17:01. | |
in Corby, we had a good discussion about the future of the site and we | :17:02. | :17:04. | |
heard about what was required in terms of time and investment needed | :17:05. | :17:10. | |
to see the plan through. As part of his discussion, not only with | :17:11. | :17:15. | |
potential buyers but also in Mumbai, has the Secretary of State had any | :17:16. | :17:18. | |
indication that sort of investment we desperately need in Corby will be | :17:19. | :17:25. | |
forthcoming? My honourable friend asks a good question and of course, | :17:26. | :17:30. | |
he is rightly concerned about Corby, his constituency, the operations | :17:31. | :17:35. | |
Tata Steel have there. There is a lot in this process that is | :17:36. | :17:38. | |
commercially sensitive and it wouldn't be appropriate for me to | :17:39. | :17:43. | |
discuss it in public. But there are seven bidders that have already come | :17:44. | :17:47. | |
forward. A number of them have put forward in much more detail, serious | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
bids and Tata are considering those. Many of them include a future for | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
all the operations that Tata currently have. While the House is | :17:58. | :18:05. | |
naturally concentrating on steel jobs and steel pensions, the | :18:06. | :18:10. | |
Secretary of State must be aware there are thousands of other schemes | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
covering millions and millions of members, whose schemes are | :18:15. | :18:27. | |
equally... Difficult placed at the current time. Might I make a plea, | :18:28. | :18:35. | |
that when we return from this short break, we have an opportunity to | :18:36. | :18:39. | |
discuss what will be the longer term repercussions of the announcement he | :18:40. | :18:44. | |
has made today so there can be a feeling of the House on what the | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
next moves might be to defend what has been one of the great successes | :18:50. | :18:54. | |
the welfare state occupational pensions. I would listen carefully | :18:55. | :19:01. | |
to what the chairman of the Select Committee for work and pensions has | :19:02. | :19:05. | |
to say, particularly on this type of issue. I would be happy to meet and | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
discuss this further. He makes an important point that this should be | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
seen as a general look at pensions rules. We are lucky other country to | :19:16. | :19:19. | |
have a robust pension system when things do go wrong. This is very | :19:20. | :19:26. | |
much about this scheme and I would be happy to discuss it with him | :19:27. | :19:32. | |
further. The Secretary of State's consultation present in important | :19:33. | :19:36. | |
potential point of principle. Could you tell the House whether it alone, | :19:37. | :19:41. | |
the change of indexation alone will put the fund into surplus, but if it | :19:42. | :19:46. | |
is still in deficit after this change, is there not a future | :19:47. | :19:51. | |
possibility, a PPF referral will mean a double whammy towards the | :19:52. | :19:57. | |
workforce? What I can tell my honourable friend is that the | :19:58. | :20:02. | |
pension trustees believe with their proposal, that it will move the | :20:03. | :20:06. | |
scheme into surplus and make it stable. However, it is worth | :20:07. | :20:09. | |
emphasising that the pension regulator would be very much | :20:10. | :20:15. | |
involved if this did go ahead. Pension regulator would have to be | :20:16. | :20:18. | |
satisfied with that and they would have to be a of safeguards also. | :20:19. | :20:25. | |
There has been some speculation in the media that Tata Steel may in | :20:26. | :20:31. | |
fact decide to retain the business. Could the Secretary of State | :20:32. | :20:34. | |
explained if that were to happen, what role Tata Steel would play in | :20:35. | :20:37. | |
this issue of dealing with the pension scheme? There is all sorts | :20:38. | :20:44. | |
of a collision on this issue in the press but what I can tell you, a | :20:45. | :20:52. | |
gentleman I note has been committed to this process. Tata remains | :20:53. | :20:58. | |
focused and committed on the sales process. There are seven potential | :20:59. | :21:03. | |
bidders, the next step is to narrow the field, which is important, so we | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
can all focus on the most credible bids and the Government stands ready | :21:09. | :21:13. | |
to work with those bidders. On both sides of the House, there is concern | :21:14. | :21:18. | |
of what would happen if the pension scheme was changed for Tata Steel. | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
Isn't the thing that would make the sale more attractive, is to go to | :21:24. | :21:29. | |
the root of the problem, which is the dumping of Chinese steel? Why | :21:30. | :21:34. | |
can't we followed the example of the President of the united States, who | :21:35. | :21:39. | |
has just put on tariffs of 588% against Chinese steel? First of all, | :21:40. | :21:49. | |
tariffs do have a role to play, whether there is evidence of unfair | :21:50. | :21:52. | |
trade and the good news is, where that evidence has come up, working | :21:53. | :21:57. | |
with our colleagues in the EU and his colleagues in the EU, we have | :21:58. | :22:02. | |
been able to take action. In almost every case, where a tariff has been | :22:03. | :22:08. | |
introduced, it has resulted in a fall in Chinese imports of almost | :22:09. | :22:13. | |
90% and so, it shows us the process is affected. -- effective. My | :22:14. | :22:19. | |
father-in-law is a British Steel pension holder, what do you believe | :22:20. | :22:27. | |
would happen regarding recent deals if the pension has to be absorbed | :22:28. | :22:33. | |
into the protection fund? How much money the Treasury's already made by | :22:34. | :22:38. | |
taking over the miners's pension from receiving half the surpluses | :22:39. | :22:47. | |
every year. What I can tell you, if this pension fund ended up in the | :22:48. | :22:52. | |
PPF, the outcome would be different depending on the particular | :22:53. | :22:54. | |
circumstances of that group of members. Where those members are | :22:55. | :22:59. | |
existing pensioners, so receiving their pension already, typically, | :23:00. | :23:03. | |
what would happen if they would continue to get 100% of their | :23:04. | :23:10. | |
pension but the indexation would change to the statutory minimum, | :23:11. | :23:20. | |
which is typically CPI. I know from my discussions with ministers about | :23:21. | :23:23. | |
the future of the Scunthorpe works, they have been grappling with the | :23:24. | :23:27. | |
issue of business rate support for the industry. Is the Minister able | :23:28. | :23:31. | |
to advise and update us on any progress that has been made to | :23:32. | :23:34. | |
additional relief that could be given? What I can tell him is that | :23:35. | :23:41. | |
business rates, they are an important component of costs for | :23:42. | :23:46. | |
many industries. The Government has already taken action so the last | :23:47. | :23:49. | |
budget, we announced going forward, they would be index to CPI rather | :23:50. | :23:58. | |
than RPI. Regarding steel, there are specific proposals and while we do | :23:59. | :24:02. | |
keep things under review, we are very focused on other ways we can | :24:03. | :24:09. | |
also help the industry. Can the Secretary of State tell the House | :24:10. | :24:12. | |
whether he or the scheme trustees have had any preliminary discussions | :24:13. | :24:16. | |
with the pensions regulator about this potentially very risky | :24:17. | :24:16. | |
precedent setting proposal? I can tell her we have. I have the | :24:17. | :24:27. | |
Secretary of State of Work and Pensions Azerbaijan we as other | :24:28. | :24:32. | |
ministers and what it underlines in of these proposals wept ahead it | :24:33. | :24:36. | |
would require the full support of pensions regulator. | :24:37. | :24:44. | |
My right honourable friend referred to this about people. Can he update | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
on what support is given to the steelworkers and the wider | :24:50. | :24:55. | |
community? Mr Speaker, I think some of the best support we can provide | :24:56. | :24:59. | |
is the confidence that we have given to the sales process to secure | :25:00. | :25:03. | |
long-term future for Tata's asset, in the UK. My right honourable | :25:04. | :25:07. | |
friend will know for example we have talked about helping with financing | :25:08. | :25:12. | |
on commercial term, hundreds of millions of financing, including a | :25:13. | :25:17. | |
potential equity investment of up to 25%. | :25:18. | :25:24. | |
In Scotland, Tata plant in my constituency has already been sold | :25:25. | :25:28. | |
on, but current and former steelworkers in Motherwell will | :25:29. | :25:32. | |
rightly be concerned about their pensions now frozen in the scheme. | :25:33. | :25:37. | |
Will the Secretary of State provide assurances as quick laze possible, | :25:38. | :25:43. | |
to my constituents that their future pensions are secure? Mr Speaker, it | :25:44. | :25:50. | |
is important the Hoyle knows that no pensions are frozen. Honourable | :25:51. | :25:54. | |
lady. This scheme is working as it should, the reason this consultation | :25:55. | :25:59. | |
has come about, is because as I have said, the scheme, the trustees | :26:00. | :26:03. | |
believe this may lead to a better outColl for all members including | :26:04. | :26:08. | |
her constituents. I welcome the Secretary of State's | :26:09. | :26:10. | |
statement and I wonder what assurances he can give the House, | :26:11. | :26:15. | |
that in his able work to ease the steel crisis, that the crucial | :26:16. | :26:19. | |
principles of members always having the final say and employer pension | :26:20. | :26:25. | |
promise, once made should always be delivered is protected? My right | :26:26. | :26:30. | |
honourable friend is right to highlight that. Of course, we must | :26:31. | :26:36. | |
maintain to everything, to maintain integrity in our pension system, in | :26:37. | :26:41. | |
this particular case, I think what is important, is examining carefully | :26:42. | :26:46. | |
the belief of the trustee, which is they believe that by exploring some | :26:47. | :26:50. | |
alternatives laid out to datings it would be a better outcome than the | :26:51. | :26:57. | |
alternative for members. Is the minister wear that the last | :26:58. | :27:03. | |
Tory Government deal with the major occupational pension fund was the | :27:04. | :27:10. | |
Major Government way back in 1994, when they privatised tall pits and | :27:11. | :27:16. | |
they did a deal with the tested UDM in order to get the thing on the pen | :27:17. | :27:23. | |
snund settled. The result was chaos. -- pension fund. The net result was | :27:24. | :27:28. | |
even worse after that, because it meant that the Government was able | :27:29. | :27:34. | |
to get its hands on billions of pounds from the miners' pension fund | :27:35. | :27:39. | |
and then at the end, when me and my honourable friend were calling for a | :27:40. | :27:45. | |
little bit of state aid to save the last remaining pits, this lousy | :27:46. | :27:51. | |
rotten Tory Government wouldn't find a penny. I am not sure MrDeputy | :27:52. | :27:58. | |
Speaker that has anything to do with today's statement. | :27:59. | :28:06. | |
I know the Secretary of State and the Business Minister will do all | :28:07. | :28:10. | |
they can to ensure as many jobs as possible and make sure that the | :28:11. | :28:14. | |
pension scheme pays outs to as many as possible. Possible. Can he assure | :28:15. | :28:19. | |
it it will be sustainable and we won't be back if two years' time | :28:20. | :28:23. | |
having the same challenges in the steel industry? What I... Sorry. | :28:24. | :28:35. | |
Thank you. I can assure my right honourable friend that first no deal | :28:36. | :28:40. | |
has been done. Today is about this consultation is about exploring | :28:41. | :28:43. | |
options that have been brought to us by the trustees. It is right we look | :28:44. | :28:48. | |
at that, and further assurance, I can again tell my right honourable | :28:49. | :28:51. | |
friend that the regulator would have to be involved as well as a number | :28:52. | :28:54. | |
of other safeguards if we went ahead. | :28:55. | :29:00. | |
I appreciate the timescale in this consultation has to be short but | :29:01. | :29:03. | |
will the Government commit to publishing a full impact assessment | :29:04. | :29:07. | |
of what it means for people. My constituents have suffered so much. | :29:08. | :29:10. | |
If they get another kick like this it will be disgraceful. The | :29:11. | :29:14. | |
Government has acted shamefully. Please look at what the impact of | :29:15. | :29:20. | |
this will be. I have listened carefully to the | :29:21. | :29:24. | |
honourable lady and I think there will be rightly be including her | :29:25. | :29:26. | |
constituents many people that will want to know what kind of impact | :29:27. | :29:29. | |
this could have. They would want to compare to it to the alternative as | :29:30. | :29:33. | |
well, and judge for themselves, if they are better off with the | :29:34. | :29:37. | |
proposal from the trustees. There is a lot more information the | :29:38. | :29:41. | |
consultation document but I am sure there will be more available in the | :29:42. | :29:45. | |
next few weeks. I would like to welcome the | :29:46. | :29:49. | |
statement from my right honourable friend today, and that as these | :29:50. | :29:53. | |
important discussion continue, I would like to ask for his assurance | :29:54. | :29:54. | |
all the rest of work to support the all the rest of work to support the | :29:55. | :29:59. | |
steel industry continues, and with that in mind, in particular, to | :30:00. | :30:02. | |
congratulate him on his denouncement to roll out the guidance on | :30:03. | :30:07. | |
procurement practise and ask what he is doing to ensure that UK steel | :30:08. | :30:11. | |
companies are wear of bidding opportunities and they are in this | :30:12. | :30:15. | |
the best place to win contract? Can I thank my right honourable friend | :30:16. | :30:18. | |
for her comments and I can assure her we continue the rest of the work | :30:19. | :30:26. | |
which began a long time ago, unfair trading, but of course on | :30:27. | :30:30. | |
procurement as well. One of the streams is just that, as she | :30:31. | :30:34. | |
suggested is making sure that our procurement pipeline, we have the | :30:35. | :30:39. | |
biggest infrastructure pipeline of any Government that is well-known to | :30:40. | :30:48. | |
all steel suppliers and producers. Angela Smith. | :30:49. | :30:55. | |
Thank you MrDeputy Speaker. Look I acknowledge that the Secretary of | :30:56. | :30:59. | |
State and the Business Minister have both visited Stocksbridge and they | :31:00. | :31:02. | |
will understand now that the plant does make some of the very best | :31:03. | :31:07. | |
steel in the world. On that basis it really is important that we do have | :31:08. | :31:12. | |
a responsible buyer for the business, so can I ask for further | :31:13. | :31:16. | |
details from the Secretary of State, of the timetable which is an | :31:17. | :31:21. | |
indicator that Tata is committed to finding a responsible buyerer and | :31:22. | :31:26. | |
how the pensions consultation timetable fits into this overall | :31:27. | :31:30. | |
time table for the sale of the Tata UK holdings. | :31:31. | :31:36. | |
First can I tell the honourable lady I joined my visit to Stocksbridge | :31:37. | :31:39. | |
and I can see how strong a business that is and how valuable it is. I | :31:40. | :31:43. | |
agree with her comments of the business. In terms of the timetable, | :31:44. | :31:49. | |
one thing I did mention earlier Tata wants a swift process but they | :31:50. | :31:51. | |
haven't set out a specific timetable, which is good. There is | :31:52. | :31:57. | |
some flexibility in that. The pensions consultation, being a four | :31:58. | :32:00. | |
week consultation, if the government were to take any of these proposals | :32:01. | :32:06. | |
forward, it is going to be based on the evidence and the returns to the | :32:07. | :32:10. | |
consultation, then we just want to make sure it is done as quickly as | :32:11. | :32:13. | |
possible, so they can help themselves -- the sales process. | :32:14. | :32:19. | |
I understand that there are a number of credible bidders in the sale | :32:20. | :32:22. | |
process. I wonder if he could tell the House whether there are options | :32:23. | :32:26. | |
for these bidders to work in partnership to help seek solution | :32:27. | :32:30. | |
for the pension scheme and for the UK steel industry more widely? What | :32:31. | :32:35. | |
I can tell my right honourable friend, sorry. MrDeputy Speaker... | :32:36. | :32:46. | |
What I can tell my right honourable friend is that seven bidders have | :32:47. | :32:50. | |
expressed interest so far, that field will be narrowed now, I can't | :32:51. | :32:54. | |
tell him because I don't know at this stage to exactly how many, but | :32:55. | :32:59. | |
where there are bidders, that may want to work together, I am sure, | :33:00. | :33:03. | |
very confident that Tata will take that seriously. | :33:04. | :33:14. | |
Can I ask the Secretary of State what... About protecting those steel | :33:15. | :33:23. | |
makers and processes involved in the success programme such as Sheffield | :33:24. | :33:29. | |
Forgemasters. These are important for the UK economy and ability to | :33:30. | :33:34. | |
provide a nuclear deterrent. I can tell him there have been regular | :33:35. | :33:37. | |
meetings with our colleagues in the Ministry of Defence and with those | :33:38. | :33:42. | |
company, including Sheffield Forgemasters, specialise in some of | :33:43. | :33:46. | |
the steel that is required for defence purposes, for example he | :33:47. | :33:51. | |
will be pleased to know for the new Queen Elizabeth aircraft carriers | :33:52. | :33:54. | |
that will use 95,000 tonnes of British Steel. | :33:55. | :33:59. | |
While the words of support from the party opposite is welcome, I wonder | :34:00. | :34:02. | |
if the Secretary of State has made an assessment of the impact of the | :34:03. | :34:07. | |
climate change Levy, introduced by Gordon Brown has had on the steel | :34:08. | :34:10. | |
industry and what steps the Government is taking to support | :34:11. | :34:14. | |
other energy intensive injuries such as the China clay industry which is | :34:15. | :34:22. | |
important to my constituency. What I can tell him, it is an | :34:23. | :34:28. | |
important point. Energy costs are important for all energy, including | :34:29. | :34:33. | |
steel, Sam minute Micks and other industry, we have introduced | :34:34. | :34:36. | |
compensation for industry, and that is meant for the steel industry that | :34:37. | :34:41. | |
saved 83 million already, including Tata Steel. Now we are move further | :34:42. | :34:46. | |
to an exemption which by the end of thisle Parliament could say another | :34:47. | :34:50. | |
400 million. As well as the march yesterday | :34:51. | :34:57. | |
Nissan held an event in Parliament celebrating the excess lens of the | :34:58. | :35:02. | |
supply chain which includes the zodiac line. In these difficult | :35:03. | :35:07. | |
time, can the Secretary of State be specific about what ministers are | :35:08. | :35:11. | |
doing, to ensure customer confidence is being maintained? Because I | :35:12. | :35:19. | |
wasn't here I missed that exhibition but know the Business Minister | :35:20. | :35:24. | |
attended that, and very much agrees with the sentiment about the | :35:25. | :35:29. | |
importance of in particular zodiac line fourth for our automotive | :35:30. | :35:33. | |
industry. We have been in touch with Nissan and auto producers and many | :35:34. | :35:38. | |
other companies that rely on British Steel, particularly from Tata, as | :35:39. | :35:42. | |
operations and making sure that they have confidence in this process, the | :35:43. | :35:46. | |
sales process so they can be secured that that supplier will be there for | :35:47. | :35:52. | |
the long-term. Could I thank the Secretary of State | :35:53. | :35:55. | |
and the minister for all the work they continue do on this matter. Can | :35:56. | :36:00. | |
I raise the question I raised last year about problems if with quality | :36:01. | :36:04. | |
of import steel, particularly in the construction industry and what work | :36:05. | :36:07. | |
the department is continuing to do on that. My right honourable friend | :36:08. | :36:14. | |
is right to raise this issue. British Steel is known worldwide, | :36:15. | :36:18. | |
not just at home, for its quality, and there have been cases where I | :36:19. | :36:22. | |
think companies have come to regret some the steel they have imported, | :36:23. | :36:26. | |
and I think it is important that the Government continues to play a role | :36:27. | :36:31. | |
alongside the industry to highlight that. The Secretary of State speaks | :36:32. | :36:38. | |
of urgency when it comes to the pension consultation but does he | :36:39. | :36:44. | |
agree he acted with urgency years ago we wouldn't be in the situation | :36:45. | :36:49. | |
we are now. The honourable lady is right to talk | :36:50. | :36:54. | |
about urgency and that is why this Government is acting as quickly as | :36:55. | :37:00. | |
it can, to be fair to the honourable lady she should speak perhaps to | :37:01. | :37:03. | |
some of the leadership of her party and ask why in the last Parliament | :37:04. | :37:10. | |
the Leader of the Opposition, the Shadow Chancellor, the then Shadow | :37:11. | :37:12. | |
Business Secretary didn't raise the word steel once in the Commons. | :37:13. | :37:22. | |
This is obviously to look at the pension fund but what any | :37:23. | :37:26. | |
perspective change to pensions and legislation include a ballot of | :37:27. | :37:29. | |
scheme member, so they can give their approval for any changes to | :37:30. | :37:35. | |
that scheme? MrSpeaker, my right honourable friend asks a good | :37:36. | :37:39. | |
question. It is worth highlighting in terms of the proposal from the | :37:40. | :37:44. | |
trustee, under the scheme rule, as they currently exist, the trustees | :37:45. | :37:48. | |
do have the right to make the changes they have proposed. What is | :37:49. | :37:52. | |
preventing them is legislation, but I think when the scheme trusteeings | :37:53. | :37:56. | |
discuss this and communicate with members, it is important they | :37:57. | :38:00. | |
provide full information and that is done. | :38:01. | :38:07. | |
The Secretary of State mentioned the First Minister and trade unions and | :38:08. | :38:11. | |
Plaid Cymru's support for the steel industry and we did propose some | :38:12. | :38:15. | |
practical and detailed measures which would have supported the steel | :38:16. | :38:23. | |
industry. However, would he accept that our supporter -- support is not | :38:24. | :38:30. | |
affecting the pensions of current steel workers and of steel | :38:31. | :38:34. | |
pensioners. I can tell the honourable gentleman | :38:35. | :38:38. | |
that if these proposals that are in the consultation f they don't go | :38:39. | :38:41. | |
ahead and I say still it is important the highlight the | :38:42. | :38:44. | |
Government has not made a decision on this, it is very very likely that | :38:45. | :38:49. | |
the scheme will end up in the Pension Protection Fund, because of | :38:50. | :38:54. | |
the size of its deficit. So what I would urge the honourable gentleman | :38:55. | :38:57. | |
in making that determination, we would be happy to speak to him | :38:58. | :39:01. | |
further and discuss this in more detail. When he makes his | :39:02. | :39:04. | |
determination he keeps in mind what the altentive might be. | :39:05. | :39:12. | |
Thank you MrDeputy Speaker. I welcome the minister's statement | :39:13. | :39:14. | |
today and the action so far that have been taken. He will be wear | :39:15. | :39:20. | |
this isn't the only industry where pensions are being debated such as | :39:21. | :39:27. | |
in terms of BHS. Would he confirm this is only being considered due to | :39:28. | :39:33. | |
the desperate need to save jobs in the steel industry and any move | :39:34. | :39:40. | |
would be to this company. As I say Mr Deputy Speaker, first he | :39:41. | :39:45. | |
makes an important point. We have excellent protection for | :39:46. | :39:55. | |
pensions in this country but we can all agree is is a very unique | :39:56. | :39:58. | |
situation. When the government said we will look at all options, it is | :39:59. | :40:01. | |
right we have this consultation today. The Secretary of State said | :40:02. | :40:22. | |
that... There are lessons to be will learn from the minors. It was | :40:23. | :40:34. | |
estimated that the Treasury would get ?2 billion, but they are going | :40:35. | :40:43. | |
to get ?8 billion. I can reassure the honourable gentleman but those | :40:44. | :40:48. | |
kinds of options that he has referred to are not being looked at. | :40:49. | :40:52. | |
We are specifically looking at something very clear in this | :40:53. | :40:54. | |
consultation document specifically regarding this game. -- this scheme. | :40:55. | :41:05. | |
Thousands of members of the pension scheme are from the old Rando | :41:06. | :41:16. | |
steelworks in my constituency. One of the obstacles to securing a buyer | :41:17. | :41:22. | |
for the works has been the withdrawal of trade credit insurance | :41:23. | :41:27. | |
over recent weeks. Will the Secretary of State do whatever he | :41:28. | :41:30. | |
can to make sure that appropriate guarantees are available? My | :41:31. | :41:36. | |
honourable friend is absolutely right to raise this. The provisional | :41:37. | :41:43. | |
trade is a commercial matter the Tata but I'm confident that they can | :41:44. | :41:50. | |
identify solutions but we are monitoring the situation closely. I | :41:51. | :41:57. | |
welcome his reassurance that Tata remain committed to being | :41:58. | :42:00. | |
responsible seller. Can he confirmed that Tata have a possibilities in | :42:01. | :42:07. | |
reference to the pension scheme, and we will make sure that Tata develop | :42:08. | :42:15. | |
did -- deliver those responsibilities so that no | :42:16. | :42:18. | |
pensioner is worse off after this process has been completed? The | :42:19. | :42:23. | |
honourable gentleman will no doubt first of all he is right to say that | :42:24. | :42:30. | |
the scheme's sponsor Tata UK have response ability to the pension | :42:31. | :42:33. | |
scheme. The reality is that the scheme is in deficit, depending on | :42:34. | :42:39. | |
how you measure it. Anything from 700 million to 1.5 billion, perhaps | :42:40. | :42:43. | |
even higher. And it is well understood that because of the | :42:44. | :42:47. | |
financial troubles of his company, they are not able to that deficit. | :42:48. | :42:52. | |
That is why the scheme's trustees have come forward with this proposal | :42:53. | :42:56. | |
and I hope the honourable gentleman agrees with me that whilst we should | :42:57. | :43:01. | |
not rush to decision, it is right that we consider it. Would he like | :43:02. | :43:08. | |
to draw the House's attention to the paragraphs in his consultation that | :43:09. | :43:11. | |
say that should the government decided to regulate the change on | :43:12. | :43:14. | |
indexation revaluation or transfer, the scheme was then to make a | :43:15. | :43:19. | |
surplus, it is clear that any surplus would be used in the best | :43:20. | :43:23. | |
interests of members and not transferred out subsequent any | :43:24. | :43:29. | |
change. I can confirm that my honourable friend. Should these | :43:30. | :43:38. | |
changes take place as proposed by the trustees, what ever surplus or | :43:39. | :43:42. | |
whatever change that brings about to the value of the scheme, it is | :43:43. | :43:45. | |
therefore the benefit of the numbers no one else. Can I declare a | :43:46. | :43:52. | |
financial interest for the 30 years I worked in the steel industry and | :43:53. | :43:56. | |
the pension I receive. It is a meagre amount compared to the amount | :43:57. | :44:01. | |
I will be in title to next year for 30 years in this house. Shouldn't we | :44:02. | :44:07. | |
recall that steel workers have served this nation well in an | :44:08. | :44:12. | |
industry that is usually dirty, dangerous, always skilled, and it is | :44:13. | :44:17. | |
right now that we look at the situation that, I respect the | :44:18. | :44:24. | |
difficulties, but we should say that the nation cannot have a | :44:25. | :44:27. | |
manufacturing base unless it is built on foundations of steel. Isn't | :44:28. | :44:31. | |
there something Republican about expecting pensioners to pay for | :44:32. | :44:35. | |
this, those who have given so much, rather than the nation that owes so | :44:36. | :44:42. | |
much to the steel industry? I agree with the honourable gentleman in | :44:43. | :44:47. | |
that the steel industry is a vital industry, important for our economic | :44:48. | :44:50. | |
security and national security, that is why the government will do | :44:51. | :44:54. | |
everything we can leave no stone unturned, in trying to find a | :44:55. | :44:57. | |
long-term sustainable solution for Tata's assets in the UK. The steel | :44:58. | :45:05. | |
industry has been crying out to have a lesser duty rule scrapped, | :45:06. | :45:10. | |
something the government have showed at a reluctance to do. UK steel | :45:11. | :45:14. | |
recently brought forward a possible solution to the lesser duty issue, | :45:15. | :45:20. | |
to change how tariffs are calculated without scrapping the rule outright. | :45:21. | :45:24. | |
How will he respond to this proposal? I can tell the honourable | :45:25. | :45:32. | |
lady that there was a meeting of the EU trade Council last week which the | :45:33. | :45:37. | |
Trade Minister attended. And we do think there can be improvement in | :45:38. | :45:41. | |
the trade defence mechanisms, particularly around speeding up | :45:42. | :45:46. | |
investigations and reviewing how duties are captivated. We do not | :45:47. | :45:49. | |
think there is evidence to change the lesser duty rule but | :45:50. | :45:57. | |
improvements can be made. The Tata steel plant in my constituency is | :45:58. | :46:01. | |
part of the sale deal. And I would like to thank the Minister for | :46:02. | :46:05. | |
business for the meetings we have had to secure that fight. They are | :46:06. | :46:09. | |
great concern about their pensions going forward and some of the | :46:10. | :46:11. | |
workers have been there for more than 40 years and are clearly | :46:12. | :46:16. | |
distressed and worried. These have been loyal employees, they have | :46:17. | :46:20. | |
given their working life to the plant. Could the minister in sure me | :46:21. | :46:23. | |
he understands how worried they are and give assurances they will get | :46:24. | :46:31. | |
their pensions? She rightly refers to the hard work of steel workers | :46:32. | :46:34. | |
who are in this pension scheme either in the industry now or having | :46:35. | :46:37. | |
worked for them in the past, and it is absolutely right that we listen | :46:38. | :46:41. | |
to the trustees and see if there is anything that the government can do | :46:42. | :46:44. | |
that will result in a better outcome than otherwise. That is why we have | :46:45. | :46:49. | |
got this consultation today. I am sure when she goes through it with | :46:50. | :46:52. | |
some detail, she has that time, that we can speak further about the best | :46:53. | :46:59. | |
way to take this further. What consideration has the government | :47:00. | :47:02. | |
given to the impact that the steel industry issues will have on the | :47:03. | :47:06. | |
manufacturing industry and economy across these islands, the ticket | :47:07. | :47:10. | |
early in Northern Ireland, where rolled steel and other products are | :47:11. | :47:17. | |
imported through docs in my constituency? I think what the | :47:18. | :47:23. | |
honourable lady highlights is the importance of the steel industry to | :47:24. | :47:29. | |
this manufacturing industry in the UK, the auto industry, the aerospace | :47:30. | :47:32. | |
and the terrorists track Ashman grid infrastructure needs of the country. | :47:33. | :47:40. | |
-- the aerospace industry and the infrastructure needs of this | :47:41. | :47:46. | |
country. Can I thank the Minister for visiting my constituency and | :47:47. | :47:50. | |
enabling us to join in the conversations. Looking at the future | :47:51. | :47:57. | |
not merely of Tata but firms like Forge rosters, when the government | :47:58. | :48:01. | |
going to act to take away the unfair burden of the fact that they pay 85% | :48:02. | :48:06. | |
more for energy than their competitors in Germany? The issue of | :48:07. | :48:12. | |
energy comes up in the House and members are writes to raise it which | :48:13. | :48:17. | |
is why we have taken action in terms of the compensation scheme which is | :48:18. | :48:23. | |
effective, helping all steel-making companies, and we are going further | :48:24. | :48:27. | |
with the exemption. It is something we will continuously keep under | :48:28. | :48:33. | |
review. There are 133,000 members of this pension scheme. It includes | :48:34. | :48:37. | |
many of my constituents and my father. Given the enormous work that | :48:38. | :48:43. | |
has gone in by 70 people to their pensions, that the Secretary of | :48:44. | :48:47. | |
State agree with me that even though time is short in this consultation, | :48:48. | :48:51. | |
it has to be the widest possible consultation to look at the | :48:52. | :48:55. | |
short-term and long-term effects on those people? I absolutely agree, I | :48:56. | :49:00. | |
have explained that the sense of urgency in terms of finding a | :49:01. | :49:07. | |
credible buyer for the Tata business in the UK but he is right to stress | :49:08. | :49:11. | |
that it should be a far and wide reaching consultation and we should | :49:12. | :49:16. | |
make sure that brings out that the list information possible so any | :49:17. | :49:19. | |
decision made is made with all that information in mind. Recently | :49:20. | :49:27. | |
Conservative MEPs were split over granting the Chinese status in the | :49:28. | :49:34. | |
parliament. -- market economy status. Are they still going to | :49:35. | :49:40. | |
grant that? On this issue of market economy status of China, it is | :49:41. | :49:43. | |
something the commission is assessing at the moment. We await | :49:44. | :49:47. | |
the outcome of that. And then we will respond. It is worth reminding | :49:48. | :49:52. | |
the honourable gentleman that even if China is granted market economy | :49:53. | :49:59. | |
status, it does not prevent us from taking action on tariffs. We need to | :50:00. | :50:04. | |
remind ourselves that pensions are deferred income. I have some | :50:05. | :50:07. | |
concerns when I hear the Business Secretary talking about a scheme | :50:08. | :50:15. | |
that can go from the scheme -- deficit of 750 million to 1.5 | :50:16. | :50:18. | |
billion, that his cash that should be going to pensioners. We need to | :50:19. | :50:25. | |
have all of the assumptions in front of us who we can understand the | :50:26. | :50:28. | |
applications. We need to have a proper and thorough debate on these | :50:29. | :50:31. | |
matters and consider the consequences of other occupational | :50:32. | :50:35. | |
pension schemes, there are issues that have to be debated fully. I | :50:36. | :50:41. | |
agree. There needs to be much more information available before any | :50:42. | :50:48. | |
proposal if it is brought to the House, the government has not made a | :50:49. | :50:51. | |
decision on this. It is entirely responsible of the government to | :50:52. | :50:57. | |
listen to what the trustees have to say at this point, they are the ones | :50:58. | :51:01. | |
legally responsible, they have a fiduciary responsible at the all the | :51:02. | :51:07. | |
members. -- for all their members. There needs to be a lot more | :51:08. | :51:10. | |
information before any action is taken. The steel industry would not | :51:11. | :51:16. | |
be the state it is if was not for dumped Chinese steel. Does the | :51:17. | :51:24. | |
Minister Park is -- does the Minister back market economy status | :51:25. | :51:29. | |
which could make the problem worse? It is therefore him to raise the | :51:30. | :51:34. | |
issue of Chinese steel, we have seen the -- it is fair for him to raise | :51:35. | :51:37. | |
the issue of Chinese still because we have all seen the massive raise | :51:38. | :51:43. | |
of Chinese steel in the last decade. It would be wrong to think that is | :51:44. | :51:54. | |
the only issue facing the industry. Five years ago on the 15th of June | :51:55. | :52:01. | |
2011, I asked the Prime Minister at PMQ 's, what does he understand that | :52:02. | :52:09. | |
the Chancellor unilaterally setting a minimum price carbon in Britain | :52:10. | :52:14. | |
would drive out inward investments such as Tata steel and he responded, | :52:15. | :52:18. | |
I will listen to the honourable gentleman, but I think that Tata | :52:19. | :52:23. | |
knows more about his business than he does. Having failed Tata, all | :52:24. | :52:30. | |
that will he now promised to fully fund the pension fund index to RPI | :52:31. | :52:33. | |
so we do not short-change pensioners and we do not caught contagion in | :52:34. | :52:38. | |
the pension industry, and secondly inshore 25% government share for the | :52:39. | :52:47. | |
long run, so confidence in investment can be there in the | :52:48. | :52:52. | |
future. He is right to raise the issue of energy cost. He should bear | :52:53. | :52:56. | |
in mind that although it is an important component of steel-making, | :52:57. | :53:01. | |
it is often in' it is in terms of total cost. -- in low single digits | :53:02. | :53:16. | |
in terms of cost. Yesterday talking to steelworkers, I heard over and | :53:17. | :53:19. | |
over again how highly skilled members of the workforce were being | :53:20. | :53:23. | |
poached by and in industries. Does the Secretary of State appreciate | :53:24. | :53:28. | |
the importance of maintaining the confidence of the skilled workforce | :53:29. | :53:31. | |
in the steel industry, and perhaps one of the ways he could do that was | :53:32. | :53:38. | |
to today give an assurance of public sector contracting having a high | :53:39. | :53:41. | |
percentage of British made steel, always within contracts? I think the | :53:42. | :53:48. | |
honourable lady will agree that the government has done a great deal to | :53:49. | :53:52. | |
bring confidence to the sales process, that is through changes in | :53:53. | :53:57. | |
procurement, where we have allowed for economic and social factors are | :53:58. | :54:00. | |
the first time to be taken into account when making this decision | :54:01. | :54:03. | |
is. Also what the government said with helping with financial terms, | :54:04. | :54:09. | |
that has provided confidence to the industry. | :54:10. | :54:13. | |
Have you had any notice of the intention of ministers from the | :54:14. | :54:21. | |
Department for Communities and Local Government making a statement on | :54:22. | :54:24. | |
devolution or combined authorities in East Anglia, as we speak the | :54:25. | :54:30. | |
chief executive of add mam's brewery and Lord Heseltine are shuttling | :54:31. | :54:34. | |
round the three counties of East Anglia, offering job, budgets, | :54:35. | :54:42. | |
getting rid of public body, in short rearranging the constitutional | :54:43. | :54:45. | |
settlement of this country on the hoof. Hoof. Isn't it encouple Ben on | :54:46. | :54:52. | |
this House to explain what changes are envisage and show there is | :54:53. | :55:03. | |
proper accountability? I we have had no notice... Might be interesting to | :55:04. | :55:06. | |
know the answer. I presume he knows the answer. I I can our shine we | :55:07. | :55:10. | |
have had no notification at this stage, we have had nothing that has | :55:11. | :55:16. | |
come forward the clerk or the speaker's office so the front bench | :55:17. | :55:20. | |
are all ears and they will have taken that away and it is on the | :55:21. | :55:25. | |
record now. Let us see if ecan can make progress. The clerk will read | :55:26. | :55:30. | |
the orders of the day. Queen's Speech motion for address adjourned | :55:31. | :55:34. | |
debate on question. I have selected the amendment in the | :55:35. | :55:39. | |
name of the Leader of the Opposition and amendments 1 C and D, which will | :55:40. | :55:43. | |
be moved formally at the end of the debate. The question is that the | :55:44. | :55:46. | |
humble address be presented to her he majority as on the order paper. I | :55:47. | :55:53. | |
call John McDonald to move. Thank you. I beg to move the amendment in | :55:54. | :55:57. | |
the name of the Leader of the Opposition and myself and several | :55:58. | :56:00. | |
colleague, MrSpeaker last week was the first time I have visited the | :56:01. | :56:04. | |
other place, to listen to Her Majesty read to us the Queen's | :56:05. | :56:08. | |
Speech. Usually I avoid the crush and stay toe have a chat with the | :56:09. | :56:13. | |
honourable member for Bolsover. I have to say... Good point. I have to | :56:14. | :56:22. | |
say, my admiration for the Queen was immensely increased as a result of | :56:23. | :56:29. | |
her ability to keep a straight face while reading its fictional drivel | :56:30. | :56:35. | |
called the Queen's Speech. The Queen's Speech demonstrates | :56:36. | :56:38. | |
conclusively the massive distance between the Chancellor and the real | :56:39. | :56:42. | |
world. The Queen's Speech opened with an extraordinary piece of | :56:43. | :56:45. | |
doublespeak. The Government apparently thinks eal world. The | :56:46. | :56:48. | |
Queen's Speech opened with an extraordinary piece of doublespeak. | :56:49. | :56:50. | |
The Government apparently thinks we live "In a strengthening economy". | :56:51. | :56:56. | |
They seemingly are not playing axxxx paying attention to their own | :56:57. | :57:02. | |
forecasts and statistics this is after the slowest recovery in modern | :57:03. | :57:05. | |
British history, the Chancellor is presiding over a recovery built on | :57:06. | :57:10. | |
sand. Business investment has slumped again, by 0.5% in the first | :57:11. | :57:14. | |
quarter, according o this morning's figures and the O PR most recent | :57:15. | :57:20. | |
forecast saw downward revision across the life of this Parliament | :57:21. | :57:25. | |
in business investment. Consumer debt is rising at record | :57:26. | :57:29. | |
rate, and is forecast to remain at unprecedented levels. | :57:30. | :57:34. | |
The current account deficit has reached record highs. We are | :57:35. | :57:37. | |
borrowing more than ever before from the rest of the world as a result. | :57:38. | :57:41. | |
We are not as ficit has reached record highs. We are borrowing more | :57:42. | :57:44. | |
than ever before from the rest of the world as a result. We are not as | :57:45. | :57:46. | |
the Queen's Speech claimed "Living within our means" far from it on the | :57:47. | :57:49. | |
Government's own figures. Productivity has slumped under the | :57:50. | :57:52. | |
Government. The gap between what the average hour worked in Britain | :57:53. | :57:55. | |
produces and what the average hour worked in the US or France or | :57:56. | :58:00. | |
Germany produces, is bigger than it has ever been for a generation. | :58:01. | :58:05. | |
Every hour worked in Germany produces one third more on average | :58:06. | :58:09. | |
than it does here. Low productivity I will give way shortly, it is the | :58:10. | :58:15. | |
sign of a weakened, damaged economy. It means lower wages and more | :58:16. | :58:20. | |
insecurity. The slump in productivity which has arisen has | :58:21. | :58:28. | |
been worse under this Chancellor than in any comparable G7 nation. | :58:29. | :58:33. | |
What caused the budget for responsibility to revise its future | :58:34. | :58:36. | |
forecast downwards. I give way. Will he accept that in | :58:37. | :58:43. | |
the ten years of a Labour Government 2008 precrash the economy grew by | :58:44. | :58:51. | |
40%, then after, then after the banking crash, we, after the banking | :58:52. | :58:58. | |
crash, if I I may, after the banking crash, in 2010, left a debt of 55% | :58:59. | :59:03. | |
of the economy, and now that debt is 83% of the economy. Doesn't that | :59:04. | :59:09. | |
show failure to grow the economy or to manage productivity. You tested | :59:10. | :59:15. | |
the patience previously. Massimo Donati test the patience, I care | :59:16. | :59:19. | |
about colleagues in this House and I will make sure everybody gets in. | :59:20. | :59:22. | |
Very short intervention. It's a long list and I don't want people to miss | :59:23. | :59:28. | |
out. I say I don't want to be discourteous to anybody. There will | :59:29. | :59:32. | |
only be a limited amount of interventions. With regard, with | :59:33. | :59:37. | |
regard, on the crash. Let us be clear. Let us talk about the crash. | :59:38. | :59:43. | |
Let us talk about crash, because the policies of deregulation of banking | :59:44. | :59:48. | |
systems turned the City of London into a Cassano with policies pursued | :59:49. | :59:51. | |
by the party opposite for 30 years previously. | :59:52. | :00:01. | |
Let us go on to growth Mr Speaker. Growth is revised down wads for | :00:02. | :00:05. | |
every year for the res of this decade. When it revises forecast | :00:06. | :00:09. | |
downwards the Chancellor's entire budget plan was shot to pieces. He | :00:10. | :00:15. | |
has been left with a 4.8 billion black hole of committed spending, | :00:16. | :00:20. | |
but no committed funding. It is It is nonsensical to claim as | :00:21. | :00:26. | |
the Government's Queen's Speech did that the public finances have been | :00:27. | :00:29. | |
placed on a secure footing, when there is a gaping hole in the | :00:30. | :00:36. | |
budget, and the Institute for Fiscal Studies think there's is only a | :00:37. | :00:39. | |
50-50 chance of meeting the Government's own surplus. This is | :00:40. | :00:43. | |
betting on the nation's finances on the equivalent of tossing a coin. | :00:44. | :00:48. | |
There is nothing responsible, there is nothing in quotes secure, in | :00:49. | :00:54. | |
setting unrealistic targets for public spending cuts. | :00:55. | :01:00. | |
? On a stronger economy. It is ic targets for public spending cuts. | :01:01. | :01:02. | |
? On a stronger economy. It is useful to peach to us "About a | :01:03. | :01:05. | |
stronger economy." When by his actions in office for six year, the | :01:06. | :01:08. | |
Chancellor ease undermined the economy. This was his choice. | :01:09. | :01:15. | |
Austerity was a political choice not an economic necessaryty. We all now | :01:16. | :01:19. | |
live and are still living with the consequences. Because it was the | :01:20. | :01:23. | |
wrong choice to make, the Chancellor has failed, and it is the British | :01:24. | :01:30. | |
people who are bearing the cost. He piled failure on failure. At the | :01:31. | :01:35. | |
centre is failure to sustain productivity. It is the key to | :01:36. | :01:40. | |
growth in a modern economy. The sure I way to ensure it is through | :01:41. | :01:45. | |
increased investment. It means installing new equipment. Replacing | :01:46. | :01:49. | |
old infrastructure. Business investment remains weak. When it is | :01:50. | :01:54. | |
weak its Government that should set up, to make sure there is vital | :01:55. | :02:00. | |
world class infrastructure, that it is produce. From high speed rail to | :02:01. | :02:05. | |
broadband. There is a consensus through the IMF to the OECD, from | :02:06. | :02:09. | |
the CBI to the TUC. Urging Government now, not just here but | :02:10. | :02:12. | |
across the world to invest in the future. But this Government is | :02:13. | :02:18. | |
clipping to its fiscal surplus target, which is set to cut traerms | :02:19. | :02:25. | |
in Government inventment over the course of this particle cut in term | :02:26. | :02:31. | |
of investment over the court course of this Parliament behind the | :02:32. | :02:36. | |
failure, behind the failure to invest, behind the failure to | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
invest, lies the failure of our economic institutions as well. Too | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
many have been captured by special interest, or placed, or placed | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
short-term gain, or place short-term gain ahead of long-term growth. We | :02:51. | :02:55. | |
have major corporations sitting on a cash pile of up to 700 billion. | :02:56. | :03:01. | |
Paying out salaries to senior executives while failing to invest. | :03:02. | :03:04. | |
It is no wonder, no wonder in the last month we have seen a series of | :03:05. | :03:11. | |
shareholder revolts at the remuneration packages. Yes we have a | :03:12. | :03:15. | |
Department for Business, that doesn't believe in supporting | :03:16. | :03:22. | |
business. Have a a Department for Business, which refuses to even | :03:23. | :03:25. | |
mention the world industrial strategy. | :03:26. | :03:31. | |
HMRC, we have a department for tax collection, that doesn't believe in | :03:32. | :03:37. | |
collecting taxes, not at least from major corporations. That was | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
demonstrated when they struck the deal with Google which reflects an | :03:43. | :03:47. | |
effective tax rate in the single digits and the Chancellor called it | :03:48. | :03:51. | |
a major success. That is why I have written to the | :03:52. | :03:56. | |
Chancellor to make sure he contactings the French authority so | :03:57. | :04:01. | |
they share any information they find from their investigation into | :04:02. | :04:03. | |
Google's Paris head quarter, they share it with us and we can get a | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
better understanding of Google's operation in the UK. | :04:08. | :04:13. | |
Thank hill. Can he tell us how much money was raised from Google when | :04:14. | :04:22. | |
Labour were last in power? It is interesting, the inquiry was started | :04:23. | :04:25. | |
under the Labour Government. It is interesting also, it is interesting | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
also, it is also interesting too, isn't it, that when the last | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
assessment was made by not the Government, not us but independent, | :04:36. | :04:40. | |
the FT, said the measures introduced by the last Labour Government would | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
reap tax rewards ten times greater than anything introduced by this | :04:46. | :04:51. | |
Government. After six year, after six years the Chancellor has no-one | :04:52. | :04:57. | |
to blame for this but himself. The Queen's Speech furnished us with | :04:58. | :05:00. | |
plenty more. S the Chancellor has no-one to blame for this but | :05:01. | :05:02. | |
himself. The Queen's Speech furnished us with plenty more. The | :05:03. | :05:04. | |
Government says "Support aspiration, and promote home ownership." Tell | :05:05. | :05:07. | |
that to the hundreds of thousands of young people who now have no serious | :05:08. | :05:11. | |
chance of ever owning a home of their own. Home ownership has fallen | :05:12. | :05:17. | |
to the lowest level in decades under this Chancellor's watch. Rough | :05:18. | :05:20. | |
sleeping has risen in London by 30% in the last year. The biggest rise | :05:21. | :05:25. | |
since current reporting procedures were introduced. They are nearly 70 | :05:26. | :05:31. | |
thousand families living in temporary accommodation including | :05:32. | :05:35. | |
bed-and-breakfast this year. Nine in ten under 35s can be frozen | :05:36. | :05:44. | |
out of home ownership by 2000 a 25. Grateful. It is not just in London | :05:45. | :05:50. | |
where this phenomenon is happening. But, actually in the streets of | :05:51. | :05:55. | |
match. We have tent -- match match match. We now have tents. Isn't that | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
a shocking I don'tlet on this Government's housing policy. Oman | :06:01. | :06:12. | |
Chester. Can I say to the honourable member, I have a Conservative | :06:13. | :06:14. | |
council. I have a Conservative council. I have possibly 200, I have | :06:15. | :06:22. | |
possibly 200 families tonight, living in bed-and-breakfast. I have | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
individuals sleeping in our parks along the canals. We have reinvented | :06:28. | :06:31. | |
the back-to-back, where a family rents the front of a house and | :06:32. | :06:36. | |
another rents the back. We have beds in sheds, rented to families. That | :06:37. | :06:41. | |
is a disgrace. This Government has been in power six years and | :06:42. | :06:47. | |
homelessness has escalated. According to the sweech let me | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
quote. The Government will spread economic prosperity. They'll to the | :06:53. | :06:57. | |
steelworkers I met in red car where the Government failed to moth ball | :06:58. | :07:02. | |
the plant to save their local futures. Tell that to the BHS | :07:03. | :07:09. | |
workers as their boss, a government adviser, stripped their business | :07:10. | :07:15. | |
clean. The northern power ho house was referred to. The Government said | :07:16. | :07:18. | |
we will continue to support the northern powerhouse, so that is why | :07:19. | :07:23. | |
that are closing its Sheffield office and threatening another six | :07:24. | :07:25. | |
offices across the north with closure. That is why of the top 15 | :07:26. | :07:31. | |
infrastructure projects with the most public funding, run with is in | :07:32. | :07:34. | |
the north. They refer to poverty and | :07:35. | :07:39. | |
deprivation, the Government says in the Queen's Speech, not to tackle | :07:40. | :07:44. | |
poverty but to redefine it. The Chancellor's shameful response to | :07:45. | :07:48. | |
the million people using our food banks every year, is to introduce | :07:49. | :07:53. | |
new indicators for measures their life chances. | :07:54. | :07:57. | |
The Chancellor has failed austerity programme is the human cost. 500,000 | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
more children have been forced into poverty. Nearly 13 million people in | :08:03. | :08:06. | |
this country live in poverty. Over half of those in poverty are in | :08:07. | :08:14. | |
work. This Queen's Speech offers no solutions, to those who have barely | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
enough to feed their families and who can't put a pay to heat their | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
house, instead the Government will make sure they are counting their | :08:25. | :08:29. | |
misery properly. Grateful to him for giving away. Would he consider and | :08:30. | :08:35. | |
celebrate a third of the working constituentings in becks ham are | :08:36. | :08:40. | |
receiving a pay rise, thus taking those people from the breadline, | :08:41. | :08:46. | |
further up the pay scale. I would celebrate it if it was a | :08:47. | :08:50. | |
real living wage and if they weren't saufrling is as well, many of them, | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
from cuts in Universal Credits as well. | :08:56. | :09:01. | |
The reality is after six years desperate efforts to impose cuts on | :09:02. | :09:07. | |
this economy, against the best available advice for the economics | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
profession etc the Chancellor is staring a predictable failure in | :09:13. | :09:18. | |
face. He started off with high flown promise, st available advice for the | :09:19. | :09:20. | |
economics profession etc the Chancellor is staring a predictable | :09:21. | :09:23. | |
failure in face. He started off with high flown promise, there were goes | :09:24. | :09:25. | |
to be "A march of the makers." Today, manufacturing is still | :09:26. | :09:27. | |
smaller than it was in 2008. There was going to be a rebalancing of the | :09:28. | :09:32. | |
economy. Yet today we see that for every three jobs, every three jobs | :09:33. | :09:36. | |
created in London, just one in craved in the rest of the country. | :09:37. | :09:41. | |
There is going to be a modernised tax service. As the National Audit | :09:42. | :09:47. | |
Office found out, the quality of service from them has collapsed in | :09:48. | :09:50. | |
the last yore. As a result of staffing cuts. | :09:51. | :09:56. | |
Investment the Chancellor promised increased investment but cut | :09:57. | :09:59. | |
spending and plans to cut it further. Recovery he forecast in | :10:00. | :10:06. | |
town 10, the fastest in living memory, he has delivered the | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
slowest. Job creation. He and his Government has clung to the job | :10:12. | :10:15. | |
creation figure, every month they are greeted with enthusiasm by | :10:16. | :10:16. | |
Government ministers. The reality is that two thirds of | :10:17. | :10:26. | |
those in poverty and nearly 9 million daily -- 9 million people... | :10:27. | :10:32. | |
The front bench does not need to be echoing all the way along. The | :10:33. | :10:36. | |
Chancellor will be coming on and you will expect me to treat people in | :10:37. | :10:40. | |
the same way. I expect the Shadow Chancellor to be heard and not to be | :10:41. | :10:50. | |
shouted down. Now then. I've been very good so far. I don't want to | :10:51. | :10:54. | |
say any more because I am sure that the whips office could do with them | :10:55. | :10:58. | |
on to make a cup of tea. -- someone to make it cup of tea. I might 11 | :10:59. | :11:10. | |
later. -- want one later. Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. You are a class | :11:11. | :11:16. | |
act! CHEERING | :11:17. | :11:23. | |
let me just say this. The shout was, we welcome the jobs? Of course we | :11:24. | :11:36. | |
do. Let's be very clear. We have seen jobs created in 2010, but too | :11:37. | :11:40. | |
many of them have been poorly paid and insecure. 800,000 people, | :11:41. | :11:46. | |
800,000 people now are on zero hours contracts. In security at work has | :11:47. | :11:53. | |
been made worse by the undermining of important right by this | :11:54. | :11:55. | |
government. There is no need for this. Does the them my concern that | :11:56. | :12:03. | |
the food banks in Southwark are dividing food banks and support to | :12:04. | :12:09. | |
hundreds of people in work, they think 10% of their people they serve | :12:10. | :12:15. | |
are in work in central London. We welcome new jobs. The insecurity and | :12:16. | :12:18. | |
poor pay mean the numbers in work going along to get support from food | :12:19. | :12:24. | |
banks is growing rather than reducing. If I can press on. I know | :12:25. | :12:31. | |
you are under pressure in time. It is the direct result of a failure to | :12:32. | :12:36. | |
invest. Too many businesses have substituted cheap labour for | :12:37. | :12:39. | |
expensive investment. They cannot be blamed because the government has | :12:40. | :12:42. | |
set the lead, cutting investment spending. Low investment and week | :12:43. | :12:48. | |
productivity have real-world consequences, it means wasted talent | :12:49. | :12:52. | |
and opportunities lost. On one side, some are stretched to breaking point | :12:53. | :12:55. | |
working long hours just to make ends meet. Others are left to languish | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
desperately searching for extra hours. On wages, even the | :13:01. | :13:05. | |
government's and forecasters do not expect wages to the cover until | :13:06. | :13:12. | |
2020. -- wages to recover. Millions of people are self-employed but the | :13:13. | :13:17. | |
average earnings have fallen by 22% since the Chancellor came in. The | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
Queens speech tells us that the government plans to create an | :13:22. | :13:26. | |
economy, I quote, where work is rewarded. Nothing could be further | :13:27. | :13:33. | |
from the troops. -- truth. Those who work hardest are punished but tax | :13:34. | :13:36. | |
dodgers and the super-rich are rewarded with tax cuts. Which one | :13:37. | :13:46. | |
would you like? Whichever you prefer! On the subject of jobs, the | :13:47. | :13:56. | |
former Leader of the Opposition said that the policy of this government | :13:57. | :14:00. | |
would cost 1 million jobs. He is a gentleman that I believe that he | :14:01. | :14:07. | |
wants back on the front bench. Does he conceded that was plain wrong? | :14:08. | :14:14. | |
The point I made earlier was that rather than employers investing they | :14:15. | :14:19. | |
have used cheap labour. That has had an impact on wages and living | :14:20. | :14:25. | |
conditions which is unacceptable. This government has failed and will | :14:26. | :14:32. | |
continue to fail on every measure it has set itself. Let's look at those | :14:33. | :14:35. | |
measures. It has failed in its target to reduce the debt. It has | :14:36. | :14:40. | |
failed in its welfare cap target. And it has failed to achieve its | :14:41. | :14:43. | |
target in closing the deficit as well. This is a government that has | :14:44. | :14:48. | |
lost its way. Gone is the pretence of being the new workers party, | :14:49. | :14:54. | |
trumpeted so loudly last summer. But disappeared when they started | :14:55. | :14:58. | |
cutting in work benefits. The government wanders around from | :14:59. | :15:01. | |
crisis to crisis waiting for another U-turn to make. Cuts to personal | :15:02. | :15:07. | |
independent payments scrapped, the tampon tax, cuts to renewable | :15:08. | :15:12. | |
subsidies, forced academies, all abandoned. Only one policy are | :15:13. | :15:18. | |
active which holds this sorry excuse for administration together, to | :15:19. | :15:24. | |
impose spending cuts of viciousness not seen in this country for | :15:25. | :15:28. | |
generations. There is a consensus across the House, a strong economy | :15:29. | :15:32. | |
is the foundation on watch all love can be built. The government has not | :15:33. | :15:37. | |
-- on what all else can be built. The government has not built a | :15:38. | :15:44. | |
strong economy. Strong on rhetoric and creative economy, but the | :15:45. | :15:47. | |
economy is built on sand. The Chancellor has had plenty of | :15:48. | :15:51. | |
opportunities to fix the roof while the sun was shining. He has the | :15:52. | :15:56. | |
details. It would have meant taking a different approach and we all | :15:57. | :15:58. | |
hoped to be frank after the referendum is out of the way, the | :15:59. | :16:04. | |
economy will pick up. But without change the trajectory for this | :16:05. | :16:09. | |
economy is clear. We are tracked in a low-wage, low skill, low wage | :16:10. | :16:17. | |
economy. The government needs to make long-term patient investment in | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
the economy. We need government to use a record low interest rates to | :16:22. | :16:24. | |
invest in the future. At a minimum, the government should invest in | :16:25. | :16:29. | |
infrastructure, skills, technology that can transform how this economy | :16:30. | :16:35. | |
operates. And we need a government that clamps down on tax avoidance. | :16:36. | :16:41. | |
It could go further. It could overhaul the tax system that is | :16:42. | :16:44. | |
manifestly failing to lead the fair rates on those who can pay the most. | :16:45. | :16:50. | |
-- levy fair rates. We need a government with an industrial | :16:51. | :16:53. | |
policy, backing the steel industry, working with Europe to clamp down on | :16:54. | :16:57. | |
the flooding of our markets with cheap subsidised Chinese steel. And | :16:58. | :17:02. | |
it could also transform the institutions that govern the | :17:03. | :17:06. | |
economy, from the Treasury to great corporations, unlocking potential | :17:07. | :17:09. | |
that is wasted when vested interest dominate decision-making. The Queens | :17:10. | :17:14. | |
speech was an opportunity to accept that posterity has failed and change | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
course. It was not taken. -- austerity has failed. If this | :17:20. | :17:24. | |
government cannot set out a confident calls for -- confident | :17:25. | :17:34. | |
calls for the economy, then it is time for Labour to lead the way. | :17:35. | :17:38. | |
Labour rejects the failed austerity programme adopted by this | :17:39. | :17:44. | |
government. Instead, working in partnership with business, | :17:45. | :17:48. | |
entrepreneurs and workers, Labour would create an entrepreneurial | :17:49. | :17:52. | |
state to support innovation, create wealth, and drive growth. And we | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
would share the proceeds of that growth fairly. By investing in our | :17:58. | :18:02. | |
economy, Labour would lay the foundations of a new society that is | :18:03. | :18:07. | |
radically fairer, more equal, more democratic, an alternative based on | :18:08. | :18:13. | |
a prosperous economy which is economically sound, environmentally | :18:14. | :18:16. | |
sustainable and aware that prosperity is shared by all. I beg | :18:17. | :18:24. | |
to move. The original question was that the address be presented to Her | :18:25. | :18:29. | |
Majesty as to the order paper. Since then and Emmett has been -- an | :18:30. | :18:37. | |
amendment has been made. I now call the Chancellor of the extractor. -- | :18:38. | :18:47. | |
extractor. -- Chancellor of the Exchequer. I rise to support the | :18:48. | :18:51. | |
plan we put forward which offers security and opportunity to working | :18:52. | :18:54. | |
people in this country, that is what the British people entrusted us to | :18:55. | :18:57. | |
deliver in the general election a year ago, and that is what we commit | :18:58. | :19:00. | |
to provide in this programme for the coming year. There is of course a | :19:01. | :19:06. | |
bold programme of social reform. We offer the biggest reform of the | :19:07. | :19:10. | |
prison service since the Victorian era, so we protect the public and | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
yes, we punish wrongdoers. But we also give them the chance to | :19:16. | :19:19. | |
rehabilitate themselves and contribute our society. We overhaul | :19:20. | :19:23. | |
social care and adoption to improve the life chances of some of the most | :19:24. | :19:27. | |
vulnerable like young people in our country. We continue to improve our | :19:28. | :19:31. | |
education system, raising standards in schools, so our children are | :19:32. | :19:35. | |
equipped with the skills they will need to lead fulfilling lives. And | :19:36. | :19:38. | |
we reform our universities say they remain the very best in the world, | :19:39. | :19:45. | |
agents for social mobility and at the forefront of expanding human | :19:46. | :19:49. | |
knowledge. Let me make this point, we address the crisis of childhood | :19:50. | :19:56. | |
obesity which is damaging our children's health, with a new sugar | :19:57. | :20:00. | |
tax on soft drinks. But, Mr the beauty speaker, none of these | :20:01. | :20:05. | |
reforms to improve our -- Mr Deputy Speaker, none of these reforms to | :20:06. | :20:08. | |
improve our health care, social care, would be possible without the | :20:09. | :20:14. | |
bedrock of stability that our long-term economic plan is | :20:15. | :20:19. | |
delivering. Would he not accept that if the best universities can raise | :20:20. | :20:25. | |
their prices, the poorest will be deterred and instead of getting the | :20:26. | :20:28. | |
best students, we will get the richest and that is simply wrong? I | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
do not agree with that at all. The evidence shows that as a result of | :20:34. | :20:39. | |
university reforms introduced by the Labour government which she used to | :20:40. | :20:41. | |
support, and by the Coalition Government and now this government, | :20:42. | :20:46. | |
we not only have a record number of students going to university, we | :20:47. | :20:51. | |
have a record number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds going | :20:52. | :20:54. | |
to university. I find it extraordinary that the Labour Party | :20:55. | :20:59. | |
that introduced tuition fees is now promising to scrap them and create a | :21:00. | :21:04. | |
?10 billion hole which will presumably be filled by the taxes | :21:05. | :21:07. | |
paid by people who do not go to university and have low incomes. | :21:08. | :21:12. | |
That is the so-called progressive policy of the so-called Progressive | :21:13. | :21:18. | |
Labour Party. The simple truth is, I will give way... He mentioned being | :21:19. | :21:26. | |
proud of the track record on social care, can he tell us how many fewer | :21:27. | :21:32. | |
older and disabled people receive social care from Eckel government | :21:33. | :21:39. | |
than when he took office in 2010? We have put more money into social | :21:40. | :21:42. | |
government and we have -- into social care and we have allowed | :21:43. | :21:47. | |
local authorities to have more money going into social care in the coming | :21:48. | :21:55. | |
year. You cannot do any of these things, you cannot support social | :21:56. | :21:58. | |
care or universities, you cannot do any of those things until you have a | :21:59. | :22:07. | |
sound economic policy. And I listened in complete incredulity to | :22:08. | :22:13. | |
yet another speech from yet another Shadow Chancellor promising yet more | :22:14. | :22:18. | |
billions of pounds of spending and borrowing and extra taxes. It is as | :22:19. | :22:24. | |
if these scorching experience of financial crash eight years ago and | :22:25. | :22:31. | |
the crippling deficit they saddled this country with never happened. | :22:32. | :22:34. | |
Most of the time when he was quoting the Labour government, he kept | :22:35. | :22:39. | |
saying, up until 2008, as if he had forgotten there was the biggest | :22:40. | :22:45. | |
crash in modern history while the Labour Party was in office. It is a | :22:46. | :22:49. | |
bit like saying to Mrs Lincoln, apart from the assassination, did | :22:50. | :22:56. | |
you enjoy the play? Will the Chancellor remind the House, did he | :22:57. | :22:59. | |
or did he not meet his deficit target for 2015? The deficit has | :23:00. | :23:08. | |
come down by another ?16 billion. When I first listed at this dispatch | :23:09. | :23:14. | |
box at Chancellor of the Exchequer, we had a budget deficit of 11% of | :23:15. | :23:19. | |
our national income, ?1 in every four of we spent on hospitals and | :23:20. | :23:29. | |
police etc had to be borrowed. We are projected to have a surplus now | :23:30. | :23:32. | |
at the end of the parliament. Will he also remind the House that while | :23:33. | :23:37. | |
cutting the deficit, what he has managed to do to implement rate in | :23:38. | :23:40. | |
this country? We have a record number of people in work. -- | :23:41. | :23:47. | |
implement rates? -- employment rates? We have a record number of | :23:48. | :23:56. | |
people work in this country. Yesterday I refer to this report | :23:57. | :23:59. | |
that the Labour Party has produced on its future. It is an independent | :24:00. | :24:03. | |
enquiry, chaired by the members of Ackerman. -- member for Dagenham. | :24:04. | :24:14. | |
There you go. Again! Vote Labour. Let's see what Labour says about | :24:15. | :24:22. | |
Labour. It says this. As an army of aspirin and voters sank Labour. -- a | :24:23. | :24:31. | |
tsunami of aspirin voters. They believed Labour have no financial | :24:32. | :24:36. | |
credibility. Labour supporters marching away. Labour is becoming a | :24:37. | :24:45. | |
toxic brand. That is what the Labour Party's own verdict on the Labour | :24:46. | :24:49. | |
Party is. I did conclude by saying,... Order. This is meant to | :24:50. | :24:57. | |
be a debate about the screen speech, not about the Labour Party | :24:58. | :24:59. | |
manifesto. I would have thought since it is his | :25:00. | :25:08. | |
Queen's Speech, that maybe the focus would be on that, but it is up to | :25:09. | :25:11. | |
him. The Chancellor of the Exchequer. | :25:12. | :25:23. | |
This is what the Labour Party say about themselves. This, I have read | :25:24. | :25:31. | |
it it is worth, reading it says the Labour Party is becoming | :25:32. | :25:33. | |
increasingly irrelevant to the working people of this country. | :25:34. | :25:44. | |
Here is what has happened they. The lead other the Labour Party has | :25:45. | :25:50. | |
appointed someone called Andrew Fisher today. This is a man who | :25:51. | :25:57. | |
campaigned against Labour Party candidates at the general election, | :25:58. | :26:02. | |
in Croydon. This is a man who took part in the student riots in 2010 | :26:03. | :26:08. | |
and BoSSed about breaking through police lines, scaring the police. -- | :26:09. | :26:14. | |
boasted. This is what his economic policy consists of. Public ownership | :26:15. | :26:20. | |
of all land in the country, nationalising all banks and | :26:21. | :26:24. | |
returning to a three day week. This is the man who has just been the | :26:25. | :26:31. | |
Labour Party's head of policy. Maybe he supports him. I would like to ask | :26:32. | :26:44. | |
him on his own record, has debt gone up or down as a percentage of GDP? | :26:45. | :26:51. | |
When you have an 11 percent budget deficit that means it is adding to | :26:52. | :26:55. | |
the debt. Until you get the deficit down you can get the debt down, that | :26:56. | :26:58. | |
is what we are doing. That is why you want to avoid an 11% budget | :26:59. | :27:05. | |
deficit. And, in another sign of how the Labour Party is changing, there | :27:06. | :27:09. | |
is the motion they are asking us to vote on tonight, because it does | :27:10. | :27:13. | |
have an intriguing clause in it. It is about Scotland. It says this. It | :27:14. | :27:18. | |
regrets the refusal of the Scottish Government to use its new tax powers | :27:19. | :27:22. | |
to put an end to austerity in Scotland. What that is code for, is | :27:23. | :27:26. | |
they want to put taxes up in Scotland. The man who sees Venezuela | :27:27. | :27:36. | |
as a model for Britain's economic policy. If, if you don't want the | :27:37. | :27:42. | |
Scottish Government to use its tax powers by putting them up, how do | :27:43. | :27:47. | |
they propose to do it. They fought the election in Scotland proposing a | :27:48. | :27:52. | |
1% increase, a 1 pence increase in the basic rate of income tax. That | :27:53. | :27:56. | |
was the Scottish Labour Party's policy, that was so successful at | :27:57. | :28:02. | |
that election, and here, the national Labour Party is putting it | :28:03. | :28:05. | |
into a Parliamentary motion which it is asking the Labour to vote on | :28:06. | :28:11. | |
tonight. So we have a report from the Labour Party, saying they are | :28:12. | :28:14. | |
irrelevant to working people. You have a head of policy who wants to | :28:15. | :28:18. | |
nationalise land and return to a three day week, and the | :28:19. | :28:22. | |
Parliamentary Labour Party, is going to be voting tonight for higher | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
rates of basic rate of income tax. That is the state of the Labour | :28:28. | :28:30. | |
Party today. Can I ask him to say what has been | :28:31. | :28:52. | |
said about him and his leader. He called the Prime Minister | :28:53. | :28:55. | |
disingenuous and the Chancellor a liar. Where does that leave yourself | :28:56. | :29:01. | |
Chancellor? We worked together, to bring Welfare Bills down, to make | :29:02. | :29:05. | |
work pay, and I am working with my right honourable friend the new | :29:06. | :29:10. | |
Secretary of State, to carry on that record in Government. We are going | :29:11. | :29:15. | |
to go on building that strong economy, and the sound public | :29:16. | :29:18. | |
finances that underpin a fair society. And we have got... Let me | :29:19. | :29:25. | |
give way and make some progress. I thank him. He has been generous. I | :29:26. | :29:34. | |
noted him as been reading from the report Labour's future, sorry. | :29:35. | :29:38. | |
I wonder whether he has seen the executive summary. It says Labour | :29:39. | :29:42. | |
lost because voters didn't believe it would cut the deficit. The Tories | :29:43. | :29:47. | |
didn't win, despite their commitment to cut spending and the deficit. | :29:48. | :29:50. | |
They won because of it. The Tories were trusted, to manage the | :29:51. | :30:01. | |
country's finance, Labour was not. He is right. If the verdict of this | :30:02. | :30:08. | |
report is that Labour is on life sup for, the policies of the Shadow | :30:09. | :30:10. | |
Chancellor are do not resuscitate. If that is what he is condemning, | :30:11. | :30:16. | |
that is what he is condemning the Labour Party, that is what... He is | :30:17. | :30:31. | |
getting carried away. The honourable gentleman seeps more interested in | :30:32. | :30:35. | |
talking about Labour's policies than his own Madame Deputy Speaker. I | :30:36. | :30:39. | |
wonder if we could get on that. Can eremind him the Tory party lost | :30:40. | :30:44. | |
every mayoral election in the cent election. -- can I remind him. Hay | :30:45. | :30:52. | |
had the worst results for an opposition party in more than 30 | :30:53. | :30:57. | |
year, they were reduced to third place in Scotland, and they think it | :30:58. | :31:02. | |
is a good set of results? As far as we are concerned if they want to | :31:03. | :31:07. | |
carry on in this parallel universe that suits us just fine. Meanwhile | :31:08. | :31:11. | |
we will get on with governing the country and improving the economy, | :31:12. | :31:15. | |
and reforming our society. And we have made huge progress o over the | :31:16. | :31:21. | |
last six year, we inherited one of the weakest economies the advanced | :31:22. | :31:24. | |
worlds that had one of the biggest crashes. It is one of the fastest | :31:25. | :31:29. | |
growing economies the world. We inherited a an economy where | :31:30. | :31:33. | |
millions risked losing their job. Now we have a record number of | :31:34. | :31:38. | |
people in work. We reduce that budget deficit, our commitment to | :31:39. | :31:41. | |
the northern powerhouse has seen investment projects in the region | :31:42. | :31:48. | |
increase by 120% in the last two years, and the verdict of the IMF | :31:49. | :31:55. | |
was clear, the UK's recent economic performance has been strong, and | :31:56. | :32:00. | |
consider rabble progress has been made in addressing underlying | :32:01. | :32:03. | |
vulnerability. The unemployment rate has fallen, employment has reached a | :32:04. | :32:09. | |
historic high. The fiscal deficit has been reduced and the financial | :32:10. | :32:13. | |
sectors resilience has been increased. That is the verdict of | :32:14. | :32:18. | |
the IMF. We know article four in the past they have been critical of the | :32:19. | :32:21. | |
British economy. Now they celebrate what we have achieved. But, of | :32:22. | :32:26. | |
course, of course, many challenges remain, and that is what the | :32:27. | :32:30. | |
economic reforms have in Queen's Speech are all about addressing, | :32:31. | :32:34. | |
there is the immediate crisis m the global steel industry and of course | :32:35. | :32:37. | |
my right honourable friend the Business Secretary, I will give way | :32:38. | :32:41. | |
in a moment, the Business Secretary has outlined to the House all our | :32:42. | :32:46. | |
efforts to secure those jobs at home then there is the long-term | :32:47. | :32:50. | |
challenge facing western societies of how we increase productivity | :32:51. | :32:54. | |
growth. Its improvement in productivity that drive lasting | :32:55. | :32:56. | |
improvement in living standards, it is challenge for all country, today, | :32:57. | :33:01. | |
the latest figures from the United States, show that productivity is | :33:02. | :33:04. | |
set to fall this year for the first time in 30 years. I give way to the | :33:05. | :33:10. | |
honourable gentleman. I am great. . He mentioned the steel industry. The | :33:11. | :33:13. | |
judgment of the people of tee Sid is not as favourable as he seems to | :33:14. | :33:16. | |
think it might be. There is a proposal on the table from the | :33:17. | :33:24. | |
metals process institute which would propel the steel industry by the | :33:25. | :33:29. | |
creation of a capital centre would he encourage the Business Secretary | :33:30. | :33:33. | |
to attend that the site and examine the proposal for himself? First of | :33:34. | :33:38. | |
all, I of course it has been a difficult time for steelworkers and | :33:39. | :33:42. | |
their families on Teesside. We have provided financial assistance to | :33:43. | :33:47. | |
those family, we have worked with local Labour authorities there, to | :33:48. | :33:50. | |
high pressure remediate the site and bring more jobs and opportunity into | :33:51. | :33:54. | |
the area. I will of course take a close look at the proposal that has | :33:55. | :34:00. | |
been put forward, and as part of the industrial patrol policy of this | :34:01. | :34:05. | |
Government we are rt supported research and innovation through | :34:06. | :34:07. | |
centres which have been a real success. | :34:08. | :34:12. | |
I will give way. I thank the Chancellor. It is very important for | :34:13. | :34:18. | |
improving productivity in the steel industry. On that basis will he look | :34:19. | :34:24. | |
again at the case for business rates leaf, for the installation of new | :34:25. | :34:31. | |
plant and machinery? Well, we have looked and I have looked at this | :34:32. | :34:36. | |
proposal very closely, it would cost over 3 billion pounds a year, and, | :34:37. | :34:41. | |
it is a very expensive tax reduction of which only a very small | :34:42. | :34:45. | |
proportion would go to the steel industry, and of course, wouldn't go | :34:46. | :34:49. | |
to the steel industry in Wales where rates are devolved to the Welsh | :34:50. | :34:52. | |
Government. So that is why we have not taken that step, we have done | :34:53. | :34:56. | |
other things to reduce business rates for small business, we have | :34:57. | :35:01. | |
changed the up rating for all firm, to CPI which will be a massive | :35:02. | :35:08. | |
saving over many year, but frankly, my judgment was that using the | :35:09. | :35:12. | |
proposal she put forward to help the steel industry was really using a | :35:13. | :35:16. | |
sledge hammer of which only a small amount would get to the steel | :35:17. | :35:19. | |
industry and it is better to use other forms, that is why we took the | :35:20. | :35:23. | |
decision we did in the budget. We thought there were better ways of | :35:24. | :35:28. | |
helping. But, let me, let me make this point, that the reforms in | :35:29. | :35:32. | |
this, in this Queen's Speech, on the economy, continue what we are try | :35:33. | :35:35. | |
doing improve the productivity growth of the British economy so | :35:36. | :35:40. | |
Britain, unlike many other advanced western economies does not see its | :35:41. | :35:43. | |
living standards stall but continue to rise, that is why we have | :35:44. | :35:49. | |
increased expenditure on transport infrastructure, even in straightened | :35:50. | :35:53. | |
times and many of those projects like Crossrail are close to | :35:54. | :35:58. | |
completion. That is why we introduced the apprenticeship Levy | :35:59. | :36:02. | |
to drive upskills, accepting that low skills has been an deMick | :36:03. | :36:07. | |
problem for many decades. That is why in part we introduced a national | :36:08. | :36:11. | |
living wage. Not just as a measure of social justice but to tackle low | :36:12. | :36:17. | |
pay and drive up productivity, in the workforce. We are not going to | :36:18. | :36:20. | |
rest there, the Queen's Speech sets out a whole raft of other things | :36:21. | :36:24. | |
that we plan to do, there are of course the measures in the Finance | :36:25. | :36:30. | |
Bill to continue to make work pay brairksing tax threshold, helping 20 | :36:31. | :36:34. | |
million people with an income tax cut. Taking four million of the | :36:35. | :36:38. | |
lowest paid out of the tax all together. There are the big changes | :36:39. | :36:44. | |
in corporate tax, Superintendenting the diverting of profits but at the | :36:45. | :36:48. | |
same time reducing the rates of business tax, so that this remains | :36:49. | :36:51. | |
the most competitive place in the world to do business. There is the | :36:52. | :36:56. | |
digital economy bill, to ensure that Britain remains at the forefront of | :36:57. | :37:00. | |
the information revolution, providing that broadband network | :37:01. | :37:03. | |
which is the equivalent of the canals and the railways and | :37:04. | :37:07. | |
motorways of the past. The previous generations built for us, that is | :37:08. | :37:11. | |
why we are introducing this new legal right, in the Queen's Speech, | :37:12. | :37:19. | |
that anyone can request a 10 megabit per second connection and encourage | :37:20. | :37:23. | |
more private competition. And making sure that Britain is at the | :37:24. | :37:28. | |
forefront of the new revolution in driverless car, we are boosting | :37:29. | :37:31. | |
competition with the better markets bill. We are putting new | :37:32. | :37:34. | |
infrastructure commission on a permanent statutory footing. This | :37:35. | :37:39. | |
has been called for, for decades by both political people in both | :37:40. | :37:44. | |
parties. It will be part now of the permanent fixtures of our country. | :37:45. | :37:49. | |
It has made recommendation under the excellent leadership of Lord Adonis | :37:50. | :37:53. | |
to improve transport connections in London with Crossrail 2, to improve | :37:54. | :37:56. | |
connection in the northern powerhouse across the Pennines and | :37:57. | :38:00. | |
to make sure that we plan for the future of our energy supplies by | :38:01. | :38:06. | |
being able to store energy, all of those recommendations accepted by | :38:07. | :38:08. | |
the Government and in the Queen's Speech we will put this commission | :38:09. | :38:13. | |
on a permanent footing, and I am delighted we have reached an | :38:14. | :38:19. | |
agreement with Sadiq Khan the Mayor of London that Lord Adonis is going | :38:20. | :38:23. | |
to help drop the Crossrail two project which is vital for the | :38:24. | :38:29. | |
capital. He mentioned energy, and despite the welcome moves the | :38:30. | :38:35. | |
Government has taken, we are seeing a further 475 jobs lost from Shell | :38:36. | :38:39. | |
in Aberdeen. The moves are welcome but with that announcement it is | :38:40. | :38:45. | |
clear more needs to be done. Will he engage was, with the industry, to | :38:46. | :38:49. | |
particularly focus on exploration so we can get at the 20 billion barrels | :38:50. | :38:53. | |
that remain in the knot sea, but only if we can find them. | :38:54. | :39:01. | |
I saw the unwelcome news about the Shell job losses, and, we will do of | :39:02. | :39:04. | |
course, working with the Scottish Government everything we can to both | :39:05. | :39:07. | |
help the people who have lost their jobs but make sure that that vital | :39:08. | :39:11. | |
industry for our country is protected at a time of low global | :39:12. | :39:17. | |
oil prices, that is why we have worked with Aberdeen to do the new | :39:18. | :39:20. | |
city deal and improve the harbour, that is why in the budget, we chose | :39:21. | :39:28. | |
as the big tax measure, in this space, an abolition of the revenue | :39:29. | :39:32. | |
taxation, a halving of the supplementary charge, so we have | :39:33. | :39:36. | |
been ready, and stand will to help this industry, this difficult time | :39:37. | :39:40. | |
because it is world class. We want to make sure we get as much oil out | :39:41. | :39:44. | |
of the North Sea basin as we possibly can. | :39:45. | :39:50. | |
We are also addressing in this queen's speech other challenges like | :39:51. | :39:56. | |
the low savings rate which we have had many decades. We have already | :39:57. | :40:01. | |
reformed pensions and made sure that pensioners can have access to their | :40:02. | :40:06. | |
pension pots, a quarter of a million pensioners have made use of that | :40:07. | :40:10. | |
innovation that we emit -- introduced as a government. I can | :40:11. | :40:26. | |
tell the House that we ask to make a cap, low -- 1% cap, lower than what | :40:27. | :40:31. | |
they were consulting on. In this Queen's Speech, there is a proposal | :40:32. | :40:35. | |
for a lifetime I is that I and others in the budget, -- a lifetime | :40:36. | :40:43. | |
acrid too, so young people do not have to choose between saving for | :40:44. | :40:48. | |
their home and saving for the retirement. This is the biggest | :40:49. | :40:51. | |
change in personal savings this country has ever seen, according to | :40:52. | :40:56. | |
Martin Lewis, the savings go around. -- savings guru. Martin Lewis | :40:57. | :41:04. | |
happens to come from Weaver Vale, a very good town. I would like to | :41:05. | :41:10. | |
remind you to ask the House to -- ask you to remind the House that | :41:11. | :41:20. | |
pensioners have gone up ?1000 and pensions have been protected by the | :41:21. | :41:23. | |
triple lock, could he remind the House of the good work he has done? | :41:24. | :41:29. | |
The triple lock on pensions has meant that we have made huge strides | :41:30. | :41:35. | |
in in pensioner poverty in this country. -- is eliminating pensioner | :41:36. | :41:42. | |
poverty. I am very proud that has happened under a Conservative | :41:43. | :41:48. | |
government. Conscious of semi-people want to speak in this debate, I will | :41:49. | :41:51. | |
end by saying, one of the biggest reforms we are making, and it | :41:52. | :41:59. | |
features in this, is the radical devolution of power in the UK. We | :42:00. | :42:03. | |
have devolved tax and spending powers to Scotland, a major piece of | :42:04. | :42:08. | |
legislation for Wales, we are creating powerful new elected mayors | :42:09. | :42:13. | |
which are proving an attractive opportunity for Shadow Cabinet | :42:14. | :42:16. | |
members who think that their career is not going anywhere in this place. | :42:17. | :42:22. | |
And we have got radical reforms to business rates, something people | :42:23. | :42:27. | |
have talked about the many decades. When this government first came into | :42:28. | :42:33. | |
office in 2010, 80% of council revenues were handed down in central | :42:34. | :42:36. | |
government grants, almost all of which were incensed. Now, by 2020, | :42:37. | :42:46. | |
-- were ring fenced. Now, by 2020, 100% of revenue will stay with local | :42:47. | :42:51. | |
communities, power back to the people in a devolution revolution. | :42:52. | :42:54. | |
Let me conclude by saying this. With record employment, one of the | :42:55. | :43:01. | |
fastest-growing economies in the Western world, it would be easy to | :43:02. | :43:07. | |
think, job done, and take the foot of the accelerator. And we could do | :43:08. | :43:12. | |
that, settle for a quiet life. We would be failing the lip -- British | :43:13. | :43:26. | |
people and watch qualities decline. I do not want to watch other nations | :43:27. | :43:32. | |
embrace the latest technology, power ahead, say to my children, that used | :43:33. | :43:36. | |
to be asked, that used to be Great Britain. I want this country and the | :43:37. | :43:40. | |
people living in it to be the great success story of the 21st century. | :43:41. | :43:44. | |
And to make that happen, there will be controversy and battles ahead. | :43:45. | :43:50. | |
Making change, confronted vested interest, is always difficult. This | :43:51. | :43:53. | |
Queen's Speech demonstrates we are ready for that. It shows that when | :43:54. | :43:57. | |
it comes to standing up for the hard-working people of Britain, we | :43:58. | :44:02. | |
are out for the fight. Before I call the next speaker, I want to warn the | :44:03. | :44:08. | |
House that there is going to be speech limit of four minutes after | :44:09. | :44:14. | |
the SNP spokesperson sits down. That will include all 41 members speaking | :44:15. | :44:23. | |
without intervention. If people could be aware of this I would be | :44:24. | :44:28. | |
grateful. A pleasure to take part in this debate on the gracious speech. | :44:29. | :44:33. | |
I am conscious of time so I will be as brief as I can. Before I talk | :44:34. | :44:37. | |
about the measures contained within the speech, it might be worth | :44:38. | :44:43. | |
reflecting on what is missing. Particularly in economic terms. And | :44:44. | :44:50. | |
alternative on austerity, relaxation on exports, and addressing the need | :44:51. | :44:56. | |
for genuine inclusive growth so that people do not fall further behind | :44:57. | :45:01. | |
and the UK does not forego GDP growth as it has in the past over | :45:02. | :45:06. | |
decades. As a result of rising inequality. All of that is absent. | :45:07. | :45:13. | |
The most important steps which would be this programme the government, | :45:14. | :45:16. | |
which the government could and should have taken to reverse the | :45:17. | :45:23. | |
damaging impact of posterity, to stop cuts to our vital public | :45:24. | :45:27. | |
services, which promote positive economic impact, are all missing. It | :45:28. | :45:34. | |
is almost as if this is a Tory government so consumed with bitter | :45:35. | :45:40. | |
infighting over Europe, on the EU referendum, they have pared back | :45:41. | :45:42. | |
this legislative programme to a bare minimum to give even the vaguest | :45:43. | :45:48. | |
impression of the government still functioning no matter how rotten and | :45:49. | :45:56. | |
divided over Europe. Madam Deputy Speaker, we did not have announced | :45:57. | :46:03. | |
in the gracious speech, an emergency budget in the summer putting an end | :46:04. | :46:07. | |
to austerity which are strangled economic growth and seen the | :46:08. | :46:09. | |
Chancellor failed to meet every single target across his key | :46:10. | :46:15. | |
economic indicators. Debt, deficit, borrowing, trade and export, we | :46:16. | :46:19. | |
could have had an economic plan, a series of economic measures, to | :46:20. | :46:24. | |
usher in an inclusive, prosperous economy, through investment in | :46:25. | :46:28. | |
infrastructure and key public services. We could have had | :46:29. | :46:33. | |
signalled and flagged up provision for a modest increase in public | :46:34. | :46:37. | |
expenditure. Half a percent, as we argued at the election, to release | :46:38. | :46:41. | |
something in the order of ?150 billion, for investment in | :46:42. | :46:45. | |
infrastructure and our public services. Spending to grow the | :46:46. | :46:55. | |
economy while essentially insuring public-sector debt and deficit | :46:56. | :46:58. | |
continued to fall over the parliament, something which would | :46:59. | :47:00. | |
have been sustainable and fiscally responsible. Could the honourable | :47:01. | :47:07. | |
gentleman in light in this house as to whether or not there are any | :47:08. | :47:12. | |
plans in the Scottish Parliament to have an emergency budget to use the | :47:13. | :47:16. | |
tax-raising powers they have? We are using every single power available | :47:17. | :47:23. | |
to us and we will use all of the powers over taxation when they come. | :47:24. | :47:26. | |
How we choose to do that will be a matter for the Scottish Government. | :47:27. | :47:30. | |
What I suspect we are not going to do is impose a 5% increase on the | :47:31. | :47:35. | |
poorest workers in Scotland which was a plan posited by others which | :47:36. | :47:40. | |
led them to come third. We could have had, in this Queen 's speech, | :47:41. | :47:48. | |
the delivery of vital and urgent aid to support trade and exports. | :47:49. | :47:51. | |
Measures to stimulus investment and growth, the turnaround what is now | :47:52. | :47:58. | |
recognised in the real world is this Chancellor's failed stewardship of | :47:59. | :48:01. | |
the economy, which has seen the trade deficit widened to its worst | :48:02. | :48:07. | |
levels since the crisis in 20 set -- 2008, and will see the Treasury miss | :48:08. | :48:13. | |
its own target of doubling exports to ?1 trillion by ?300 billion by | :48:14. | :48:17. | |
the end of this decade. We could have had a fair tax bill, | :48:18. | :48:22. | |
simplifying the UK tax system and delivering greater tax transparency. | :48:23. | :48:26. | |
And vitally, measures including a moratorium on this government's | :48:27. | :48:31. | |
programme of HMRC office closures. We should have had the establishment | :48:32. | :48:36. | |
of an independent commission to simplify the tax code, strengthen | :48:37. | :48:49. | |
tax tax roti -- transparency, by ensuring that the ownership of | :48:50. | :48:54. | |
trusts were fully public. We should have had a security and investment | :48:55. | :48:58. | |
bill facilitating and exports laid sustainable energy sector. With | :48:59. | :49:05. | |
measures including a combo offensive strategic review of tax rates and | :49:06. | :49:08. | |
investment allowances in the North Sea, a review into securing the | :49:09. | :49:19. | |
future energy supply of the UK, and an end to the failing Hinkley C | :49:20. | :49:23. | |
nuclear project. We could have been directing investment into renewable | :49:24. | :49:27. | |
energy and into carbon capture and storage. Those among other | :49:28. | :49:31. | |
initiatives would have formed the basis of solid economic proposals to | :49:32. | :49:35. | |
grow the economy. What we ended up with was an economic digital economy | :49:36. | :49:46. | |
Bill, a better markets Bill, and I will turn to those. We understand | :49:47. | :49:52. | |
the benefit of digital collectivity and we welcome the roll-out of | :49:53. | :49:55. | |
superfast broadband because it has the potential to boost productivity. | :49:56. | :50:01. | |
According to Deloitte 's, a report commissioned for the Scottish | :50:02. | :50:07. | |
futures trust last year, in tries -- increase in digitalisation could | :50:08. | :50:13. | |
increase the Scottish economy by ?13 billion. That would also have a | :50:14. | :50:19. | |
direct input in improving productivity, business creation, | :50:20. | :50:22. | |
jobs, earnings, exports and tax revenues. And many more positive | :50:23. | :50:25. | |
outcomes in terms of public provision. The report suggested the | :50:26. | :50:32. | |
Scotland to become a world leader, we could see significant increase in | :50:33. | :50:38. | |
GDP, something in the order of 6000 small and home-based enterprises, | :50:39. | :50:45. | |
and potentially 175,000 extra jobs by the end of the decade. We | :50:46. | :50:51. | |
welcome, therefore, Muse by the UK Government to provide digital | :50:52. | :50:57. | |
infrastructure. -- moves by the UK Government. We are unconvinced the | :50:58. | :51:02. | |
bill will turn the persistently poor productivity levels in the UK as it | :51:03. | :51:08. | |
could. We are unconvinced by the limitation of this plan, | :51:09. | :51:10. | |
particularly the roll-out of broadband, will deliver, not least | :51:11. | :51:16. | |
because by every evidence, they have failed in this regard before. As | :51:17. | :51:21. | |
long ago as 2013, the NAO reported that the government's then roll-out | :51:22. | :51:28. | |
of broadband was 22 months late. The Defra committee reported last year, | :51:29. | :51:32. | |
they made the point that the target dates of broadband had been changed | :51:33. | :51:37. | |
many times and they raised concerns that the target for delivering | :51:38. | :51:40. | |
superfast broadband to even 95% of the UK was interpreted. -- was in | :51:41. | :51:47. | |
jeopardy. They are not very good with targets. We welcome the UK | :51:48. | :51:52. | |
Government's commitment to introducing universal service | :51:53. | :51:56. | |
obligation, because it was in our manifesto and we believe it can be | :51:57. | :51:59. | |
fulfilled, it would have particular benefit to rural communities. We | :52:00. | :52:07. | |
also welcome the government moves to tackle corruption, money-laundering | :52:08. | :52:10. | |
and tax evasion. But again, the criminal finances built does not go | :52:11. | :52:14. | |
far enough to combat what is a systemic problem. Following the | :52:15. | :52:23. | |
release of the Panama papers, the Prime Minister was called upon to go | :52:24. | :52:27. | |
on with measures to crack down on tax evasion and aggressive tax | :52:28. | :52:34. | |
avoidance, pointing out the elicit cross-border flows of money are now | :52:35. | :52:42. | |
estimated at ?1 trillion a year, ten times the global foreign aid budgets | :52:43. | :52:49. | |
to mind. We believe the Mint should be prioritising vital tax treaties | :52:50. | :52:54. | |
not least his places like Panama and other tax havens, as part of global | :52:55. | :52:58. | |
efforts to better coordinate against tax avoidance. Furthermore, we would | :52:59. | :53:05. | |
call on the UK Government to involve in compliance by guaranteeing the | :53:06. | :53:12. | |
beneficial ownership -- in bold in compliance to make sure that | :53:13. | :53:19. | |
ownership of trusts is made public. The UK has one of the most | :53:20. | :53:23. | |
complicated tax code in the world. That leads to a loss of tax yield | :53:24. | :53:32. | |
and opportunities to exploit tax loopholes. We call upon the | :53:33. | :53:37. | |
government to ring about the tax system to make sure it is a fair | :53:38. | :53:47. | |
system. We believe there should be a conference of consultation on the | :53:48. | :53:51. | |
simplification of the tax code. With a simplified, not a flat tax code, | :53:52. | :54:00. | |
but with a similar fight system, the government could boost yields and | :54:01. | :54:08. | |
avoid exploiting loopholes. We welcome efforts to tackle mine -- | :54:09. | :54:16. | |
money-laundering and tax evasion. Whatever good may come of this, the | :54:17. | :54:22. | |
counter-productive decision to close 137 HMRC offices will strip local | :54:23. | :54:25. | |
businesses and individuals throughout the UK of the support | :54:26. | :54:30. | |
they need to ensure they comply with the law. In order to tackle tax | :54:31. | :54:35. | |
avoidance at all levels, and to continue to provide local support | :54:36. | :54:40. | |
when it is needed, the UK Government must but a moratorium on this | :54:41. | :54:49. | |
closures. Individuals and businesses want to contribute to society by | :54:50. | :54:54. | |
paying tax, but the high proportion of SME tax which is lost through | :54:55. | :55:03. | |
error, not fraud, can be avoided by removing the threat to local | :55:04. | :55:07. | |
offices. It is extraordinary in that context. While tax compliance is now | :55:08. | :55:11. | |
at the heart of much of our economic debate, in a way it has not been for | :55:12. | :55:17. | |
decades, HMRC has seen its workforce cuts by 20% since 2010. | :55:18. | :55:22. | |
The final bill which comes under the broad heading of economy is the | :55:23. | :55:32. | |
better markets bill. Now, many dell deputy speaker, the main purported | :55:33. | :55:36. | |
benefits will be to give consumers more power and choice, through | :55:37. | :55:39. | |
faster switching and more protection when things go wrong, that is to be | :55:40. | :55:45. | |
worked. It would simplify the way economic regulator operating to make | :55:46. | :55:48. | |
things more straight forward and straightforward for business, and to | :55:49. | :55:54. | |
help cut red tape. It would speed up decision for the competition markets | :55:55. | :55:59. | |
authority to the benefit of consumers and businesses alike. The | :56:00. | :56:04. | |
intention is it will deliver a manifesto commitment to increase | :56:05. | :56:07. | |
competition and consumer choice, particularly in the energy market. | :56:08. | :56:12. | |
So while we work moves by the Government to challenge rising | :56:13. | :56:15. | |
energy prices, through encouraging market choice, it does not go far | :56:16. | :56:20. | |
enough, to combat the problem of fuel poverty, at a structural level. | :56:21. | :56:25. | |
By that, Madame Deputy Speaker I mean this. According to the UK means | :56:26. | :56:33. | |
of calculating fuel poverty, in 2014, some 2.5 million households | :56:34. | :56:38. | |
were in fuel poverty. According to the methods use in Scotland, Wales | :56:39. | :56:41. | |
and Northern Ireland, over the last three or four year, the figures have | :56:42. | :56:49. | |
sat between 30 and 40% of households in fuel poverty. So the structure | :56:50. | :56:54. | |
issue here isn't a short tackle of gas or electricity, it isn't even | :56:55. | :57:00. | |
necessarily a shortage of competition, it isn't necessarily | :57:01. | :57:04. | |
the ability to change supplier quickly, it is a shortage of money, | :57:05. | :57:08. | |
to pay for the gas and electricity, coming into the house. | :57:09. | :57:15. | |
I am sure there are good intentions behind many of the economic measures | :57:16. | :57:21. | |
in this gracious speech, they are simply too little, too late. On the | :57:22. | :57:30. | |
point about fuel poverty, the Chancellor mentioned Martin Lewis, | :57:31. | :57:35. | |
in his speech. Does my friend know that I was at a conference with | :57:36. | :57:43. | |
Martin Lewis this week, where Martin Lewis denounced Universal Credits as | :57:44. | :57:48. | |
particularly hurting the poor and theirable to save and pay for | :57:49. | :57:56. | |
energy, the Chancellor, is mentioned the person is I have said we have | :57:57. | :58:02. | |
got very limited time for a very large number of members to get in. | :58:03. | :58:08. | |
Stewart Hosie. He was with Mr Lewis. It doesn't surprise me in the | :58:09. | :58:13. | |
slightest because for all the talk of an increase in the minimum wage, | :58:14. | :58:17. | |
I think anyone on the progressive side of 308 ticks understands that a | :58:18. | :58:23. | |
real living wage will be under mined with the undermining of the cuts to | :58:24. | :58:29. | |
inwork benefits and tax credits being undertaken by this Government. | :58:30. | :58:34. | |
I think the key aspect here is that this government was failing on | :58:35. | :58:40. | |
almost every key economic indicator, they have missed almost every | :58:41. | :58:46. | |
target. They set for themselves, the numbers demonstrate, the numbers | :58:47. | :58:50. | |
demonstrate beyond doubt that their claim to economic credibility is in | :58:51. | :58:55. | |
tatters. We are asking for a genuine comprehensive plan for trade exports | :58:56. | :59:01. | |
innovation productivity, a genuinely rebalanced and fair economy. The | :59:02. | :59:05. | |
Chancellor said trade and exports would underpin the strategy for | :59:06. | :59:10. | |
growth, but the UK current account is at a record 96 billion. Its | :59:11. | :59:16. | |
highest ever cash amount. On exports the Chancellor promised a doubling | :59:17. | :59:19. | |
to a trillion by the end of the year, exports fell last year, to 511 | :59:20. | :59:26. | |
billion. They are going in the wrong direction. We continue to compare | :59:27. | :59:31. | |
poorly with our competitors on innovation and the Chancellor's | :59:32. | :59:35. | |
previous decision, no, I won't. To change innovation grants into loans | :59:36. | :59:40. | |
sends out the wrong signals. On productivity we continue to lag | :59:41. | :59:46. | |
behind other major economies, and productivity rise is barely half the | :59:47. | :59:51. | |
level of growth of the precrisis period. All of these failures need a | :59:52. | :59:59. | |
concrete plan to put them right. Instead, we simply have spin and | :00:00. | :00:09. | |
slogans. The northern powerhouse,ing the long-term economic plans. Empty | :00:10. | :00:14. | |
shallow words, from a rotten poll lowed out Government. | :00:15. | :00:25. | |
The gracious speech tells us that legislation will be introduced to | :00:26. | :00:28. | |
ensure Britain has the infrastructure that businesses need | :00:29. | :00:32. | |
to grow, and in the next sentence we are promised measures to improve | :00:33. | :00:38. | |
access to high speed broadband. Both these commitments are of huge | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
importance to my constituency and to the wider Angeline region of which | :00:44. | :00:51. | |
we form part. The region is badly served so far as transport | :00:52. | :00:56. | |
infrastructure is involved. Two railway lines both of which are | :00:57. | :01:01. | |
inadequate, my right honourable friend the member for Norwich North | :01:02. | :01:06. | |
has chaired a taskforce for the great eastern line. I have been | :01:07. | :01:10. | |
charged with chairing a taskforce for the west Anglian line, we have | :01:11. | :01:14. | |
illustrated the weaknesses in the present system and how important | :01:15. | :01:19. | |
this is, to the development of business in our areas. | :01:20. | :01:23. | |
Understandably, in the short time available I will concentrate on the | :01:24. | :01:28. | |
question of the west Angela task force. We are looking at the fact | :01:29. | :01:34. | |
that with Cambridge, with Stansted, with greater Harlow and the up air | :01:35. | :01:38. | |
Leigh valley area in Greater London there is a huge growth potential. | :01:39. | :01:44. | |
Jobs and housing are going to multiply, over the next few years. | :01:45. | :01:50. | |
Years. A stark contrast to some of the tales of woe we have been | :01:51. | :01:53. | |
hearing so far in parts of this debate. | :01:54. | :01:59. | |
Now, the one thing that is not mentioned in the gracious speech is | :02:00. | :02:04. | |
the actual decision on where extra run away capacity will be provided | :02:05. | :02:09. | |
in the London area. One suspects that will, decision will come to | :02:10. | :02:17. | |
wait soon. But no choice will enable the capacity to be used other than | :02:18. | :02:24. | |
in the interim, at Stansted, which brings in to focus the inadequacy of | :02:25. | :02:30. | |
the rail loin that connected connects London with Stansted. It is | :02:31. | :02:35. | |
not just a matter of getting passenger, it is getting the | :02:36. | :02:38. | |
workforce there I am ploughed to say related to the policies of the | :02:39. | :02:42. | |
Government I support, that the unemployment rate in my own | :02:43. | :02:47. | |
constituency has fallen to 0.6%. Clearly, clearly therefore, if the | :02:48. | :02:51. | |
jobs are to be filled people have to be conveyed there and the railways, | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
is one of the most efficient ways of doing it. But we have got to press | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
on with that, and now the Chancellor is taking the imaginative decision | :03:01. | :03:04. | |
to back the project of Crossrail two. It is essential that the first | :03:05. | :03:09. | |
work should begin in preparation for that, by the four tracking of the | :03:10. | :03:16. | |
west Angela railway line. So, I hope, that we will soon have some | :03:17. | :03:21. | |
decision that will ensure we are not waiting beyond 2025 for that railway | :03:22. | :03:27. | |
line to improve, but for otherwise it may slip to 20033, which would be | :03:28. | :03:33. | |
unthinkable. Broadband is offering new methods of working, which helps | :03:34. | :03:37. | |
some people to travel less often than has been necessary for them up | :03:38. | :03:43. | |
to now. The face of rural England is changing, people are dispersed, | :03:44. | :03:47. | |
small businesses exist, sometimes at the high technology end. Superfast | :03:48. | :03:51. | |
broadband eis essential to them. What we need to see however, is a | :03:52. | :03:57. | |
clarity given to people as to what is available, whether from BT, or | :03:58. | :04:02. | |
from the other commercial providers, and I hope that Local Authorities | :04:03. | :04:07. | |
will be encouraged to show to everyone what is available so that | :04:08. | :04:13. | |
there can be quicker implementation. There has dozen have to be equality | :04:14. | :04:17. | |
of provision so everyone can accept the same standard. My constituencies | :04:18. | :04:24. | |
commend the priority given to these matters in the greatest. Thank you, | :04:25. | :04:34. | |
could I begin by thank the Chancellor for the five million | :04:35. | :04:39. | |
pounds he earmarked in the budget force, the Shakespeare of the north | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
and press him a little further and ask him to consider waiving the VAT | :04:44. | :04:48. | |
on the construction costs. I want to talk today about the link between | :04:49. | :04:53. | |
poverty, economic progress and education. Before doing so, I should | :04:54. | :05:00. | |
say a word about my own position on the EU referendum. In 1975 in a | :05:01. | :05:10. | |
previous referendum Madame Deputy Speaker, I chair the Huyton says no | :05:11. | :05:17. | |
campaign. Our merry band of naysayers was an eclectic group. | :05:18. | :05:25. | |
Consisting of Labour Party young socialist and the Communist part of | :05:26. | :05:31. | |
Great Britain and two Tory dancers. The people of Huyton listened to our | :05:32. | :05:36. | |
local MP at the time, haar roll Wilson and voted to stay in. The | :05:37. | :05:44. | |
argument I want to advance takes inspiration fittingly in the sentry | :05:45. | :05:52. | |
year from haar wold Wilson's white hot technology speech. 1963 we | :05:53. | :05:59. | |
needed to don't to changing economic realities, and by embracing the | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
challenges that we, confronted us with science and technology, but it | :06:05. | :06:12. | |
also included an element about the importance of education, and as | :06:13. | :06:16. | |
regards the path ways out of poverty. My argument is that we now | :06:17. | :06:23. | |
face a similar challenge. How do we compete in a rapidly changing global | :06:24. | :06:30. | |
economy, do we adopt zero hours contract and other insecure forms of | :06:31. | :06:36. | |
employment? Or do we instead incentivise Nguyen investigation and | :06:37. | :06:40. | |
educate and train a future workforce to take advantage of the | :06:41. | :06:43. | |
opportunities that innovation creates. The first option, in my | :06:44. | :06:48. | |
view, is ultimately a self defeating race to the bottom. What we do have | :06:49. | :06:53. | |
to face up to some uncomfortable truths, one of which is the decline | :06:54. | :07:00. | |
in manufacturing in the UK. In 1972, 32% of the UK's GDP came from | :07:01. | :07:06. | |
manufacturing, and by 1997, that percentage was down to 14.5%, and by | :07:07. | :07:19. | |
2013 dropped further, 0. Further, I want to conclude by saying that the, | :07:20. | :07:24. | |
the economic levers that are available to the Chancellor and the | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
Government need to be remorselessly focussed on creating incentives for | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
innovation. Using not only the taxation system but the export | :07:35. | :07:38. | |
guarantee system, and everything else they are available, to make | :07:39. | :07:44. | |
sure those opportunities that exist in the world, are ones within the | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
reach of our country, secondly we need to talk about education. In | :07:50. | :07:53. | |
Knowsley we have serious problems with education, and I don't want to | :07:54. | :07:57. | |
go into too much detail at that at the moment. We have a serious | :07:58. | :08:07. | |
problem of underattainment at G7. I wonder how many secondary schools in | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
Knowsley are academies? That is the point. Out of six secondary schools | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
four are already academies so clearly that is not the solution to | :08:17. | :08:20. | |
all of the problems that we confront. My own belief is that we | :08:21. | :08:29. | |
need to rebuild completely, start from scratch the education system. | :08:30. | :08:35. | |
Nothing should be protected from proper scrutiny and nothing should | :08:36. | :08:41. | |
be protected from modernisation, the curriculum, the public examination | :08:42. | :08:47. | |
system. Educational institution and the underlying philosophy behind | :08:48. | :08:50. | |
education needs rigorous Commonwealth Games and radically | :08:51. | :08:54. | |
redesigned, to meet the real challenges we face in the world and | :08:55. | :09:00. | |
the we don't do that areas like Knowsley will continue to drag | :09:01. | :09:04. | |
behind. We can make bigger choices that meet the challenges and harness | :09:05. | :09:10. | |
the innovation and education as the twin engines of tackling inequality, | :09:11. | :09:16. | |
deprivation and the random economic effects associated with where people | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
live. Sure there there is only one choice and that must be progress. | :09:21. | :09:28. | |
There is nothing wrong in being analogue if you term it with | :09:29. | :09:35. | |
restraint and reason. I do conFoss I am an ideologue for lower taxes and | :09:36. | :09:38. | |
for the supremacy of this Parliament. That is what I work for | :09:39. | :09:43. | |
all my life. I judge every Queen's Speech by how it advances lower | :09:44. | :09:47. | |
taxes, deregulation and more devolution. I think, however, we | :09:48. | :09:53. | |
should be wary of imposing our ideas on other people, in a forced manner. | :09:54. | :09:59. | |
We used to argue that it was, that the one-size-fits-all come hen sieve | :10:00. | :10:03. | |
was wrong, educational standards were declining and therefore we have | :10:04. | :10:06. | |
led the charge I do not believe we should force a | :10:07. | :10:15. | |
county council, particularly rural ones with small private ones, to | :10:16. | :10:20. | |
make all of these schools into academies so despite the | :10:21. | :10:24. | |
announcement made in the budget, I know where the Chancellor is coming | :10:25. | :10:31. | |
from, I agree with his long-term plans on education, I welcome the | :10:32. | :10:34. | |
compromise in terms of small rural private schools. The same attitude, | :10:35. | :10:43. | |
if I may say, I welcome the Chancellor still being here, apply | :10:44. | :10:47. | |
to devolution and mayors. I am a strong advocate of devolution, | :10:48. | :10:51. | |
central government has imposed too much control on local government for | :10:52. | :10:56. | |
too long. But in Lincolnshire, we welcome devolution, we were prepared | :10:57. | :11:03. | |
to have a simple system by which devolution was devolved onto a | :11:04. | :11:07. | |
board, run by the leader of the district councils and there was no | :11:08. | :11:13. | |
enthusiasm for I met elected in the larger role country. I am sure the | :11:14. | :11:16. | |
Chancellor is listening to what I'm saying, and I hope he will listen to | :11:17. | :11:21. | |
local people and will not impose the concept of an elected mayor, fine | :11:22. | :11:27. | |
for cities but not necessarily appropriate for a large rural county | :11:28. | :11:34. | |
like Lincolnshire. As somebody who represent a larger role community | :11:35. | :11:37. | |
who has not got the benefit of being offered and there, do you not think | :11:38. | :11:41. | |
it is worth having an opportunity to try a mayor for rural communities to | :11:42. | :11:47. | |
see how they can enhance it? We can certainly try. The difficulty is, we | :11:48. | :11:51. | |
will have parish councils, district councils, county councils which we | :11:52. | :11:54. | |
have controlled for most of the last 100 years, an elected mayor, elected | :11:55. | :11:59. | |
police commission, member of Parliament, member of European | :12:00. | :12:02. | |
Parliament, it gets too much. Too many jobs for the boys. I just | :12:03. | :12:11. | |
wondered if my right honourable friend Mike also suggest jobs for | :12:12. | :12:19. | |
the girls as well. Absolutely. She has actually made some very | :12:20. | :12:22. | |
important contributions to this debate in the last year. And I | :12:23. | :12:26. | |
welcome what she says. May I say that in terms of welfare, I know she | :12:27. | :12:30. | |
has taken in interest in tax credits, I think we have to make | :12:31. | :12:34. | |
more progress in cutting the deficit and cutting welfare. Probably it is | :12:35. | :12:40. | |
a mistake to cut the welfare benefit or tax credit of people who are | :12:41. | :12:45. | |
already on small incomes and living and depending on the tax credits and | :12:46. | :12:49. | |
benefits. We have to give plenty of warning. This is the lesson that we | :12:50. | :12:54. | |
should learn from that debate on lowering or increasing the pension | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
age for women. We should have given proper notice, we did give 20 years | :13:00. | :13:05. | |
notice, but we did not write to every single woman saying, dear Mrs | :13:06. | :13:10. | |
Jones, in 20 years' time, your pension age will be increased. That | :13:11. | :13:13. | |
is we should have done and we should learn from that in the future. In | :13:14. | :13:18. | |
terms of what the spokesman for the SNP, his points, again, as I said in | :13:19. | :13:25. | |
the beginning of my speech, I and enthusiast for lower taxes. We have | :13:26. | :13:30. | |
the longest tax code in the world. There is still so much progress we | :13:31. | :13:37. | |
can make. The Chancellor knows, I have said this to him again and | :13:38. | :13:42. | |
again, I hope with every budget that he introduces, he tries to simplify | :13:43. | :13:47. | |
the tax and benefit system. Tries to strip away allowances, tries to | :13:48. | :13:54. | |
converge taxes, so we do not need to employ armies of accountants, simply | :13:55. | :13:58. | |
trying to advise people on how to avoid tax. We have made all too | :13:59. | :14:06. | |
little progress in simplifying and converging our tax system. I know it | :14:07. | :14:09. | |
is difficult and we cannot do it in one step. I know because of the top | :14:10. | :14:15. | |
1% of earners paying 25% of all taxes, you cannot have a flat tax | :14:16. | :14:21. | |
system, I know all that. Every year we should make more progress in | :14:22. | :14:23. | |
simplifying and merging the tax system. Before I sit down, I should | :14:24. | :14:28. | |
say that the Chancellor talked about announcements made today, but there | :14:29. | :14:32. | |
was an important announcement today on the immigration figures. The fact | :14:33. | :14:37. | |
is, we still have net migration of 300,000 people every year into this | :14:38. | :14:40. | |
country. This is absolutely unsustainable. We welcome people | :14:41. | :14:45. | |
from East Europe coming to work here. I more than any other welcome | :14:46. | :14:52. | |
Polish people and their culture of hard work. But net migration, | :14:53. | :14:56. | |
particularly in terms of London and the south-east, of 300,000 people a | :14:57. | :15:01. | |
year, fuelled by the imposition on business of the living wage, and on | :15:02. | :15:07. | |
and reformed tax credit system, is simply unsustainable. There is a | :15:08. | :15:13. | |
vision of Britain leading the world towards free trade, controlling its | :15:14. | :15:18. | |
own borders, but claiming supremacy of Parliament and that is why on | :15:19. | :15:24. | |
June 23, I for one shall be voting to leave the European Union. A | :15:25. | :15:30. | |
pleasure to follow the member for Gainsborough. The separation of | :15:31. | :15:33. | |
Labour futures on the Tory benches is having some impact on some of the | :15:34. | :15:39. | |
policy areas the honourable member outlined on the forced acadamisation | :15:40. | :15:45. | |
of schools and the plight of the working poor. I will focus on tax | :15:46. | :15:50. | |
transparency and prison reform. In the gracious speech, Her Majesty | :15:51. | :15:53. | |
said, my government will use the opportunity of a strengthening | :15:54. | :15:56. | |
economy to deliver security for working people, increase the life | :15:57. | :16:00. | |
chances for the most disadvantaged and strengthen national defences. I | :16:01. | :16:03. | |
do not disagree with those sentiments although I would question | :16:04. | :16:06. | |
how strong our economy is. We are debating the Queens speech with a | :16:07. | :16:13. | |
referendum on the EU looming, the outcome of which could affect the | :16:14. | :16:16. | |
government's ability to turn those words into actions. It is my belief | :16:17. | :16:20. | |
that our economy and security benefit enormously from our | :16:21. | :16:24. | |
mentorship of the European Union and that is at risk should really. -- | :16:25. | :16:29. | |
membership. Whatever happens on the 23rd of June, it is important we | :16:30. | :16:34. | |
recognise and acknowledge the power and responsibilities we have today | :16:35. | :16:38. | |
is a national parliament to tackle the challenges our country faces and | :16:39. | :16:43. | |
institute change. Unlike the defeatism and politics of despair | :16:44. | :16:47. | |
expressed by politicians arguing to leave the EU, I proudly believe in | :16:48. | :16:52. | |
British democracy that allows us to act independently of the EE you | :16:53. | :16:54. | |
while strengthening Britain in the EU through our membership. We need a | :16:55. | :17:00. | |
strong economy because it only works when everyone from the cleaner to | :17:01. | :17:04. | |
the Chief Executive, from the corner shop to the corporate giant, are | :17:05. | :17:10. | |
paying their fair share of tax. Chris -- prison reform is important | :17:11. | :17:18. | |
because crime robs communities, and costs more and more every time a | :17:19. | :17:22. | |
prisoner returns to a life of crime. Within the world of multinationals, | :17:23. | :17:25. | |
it is aggressive tax avoidance hidden behind corporate laws which | :17:26. | :17:28. | |
is the nine Britain and other countries the taxes they are due. -- | :17:29. | :17:33. | |
which is denying Britain. That is why tax transparency is the most | :17:34. | :17:37. | |
important thing you can do. International European action is | :17:38. | :17:40. | |
deserving of support but it should not paralyse the UK Government from | :17:41. | :17:47. | |
taking the lead, especially if multilateral proposals are not good | :17:48. | :17:50. | |
enough. We need country by country reporting so I seek to amend the | :17:51. | :17:59. | |
bill to ensure that happens. I have cross-party support, of every member | :18:00. | :18:05. | |
in the Public Accounts Committee, of organisations for tax fairness, | :18:06. | :18:08. | |
supporting my endeavours. I hope the government will support as well. It | :18:09. | :18:12. | |
is so important that not only do we know what we should be getting, we | :18:13. | :18:19. | |
should also know what business activities in the developing world | :18:20. | :18:26. | |
are doing, and how they are denied further tax rather than relying on | :18:27. | :18:30. | |
international aid. Turning to prison reform, the government has announced | :18:31. | :18:33. | |
prison governors will be given a precedent it freedom and allow | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
prisoners to get education but the story is not encouraging. According | :18:39. | :18:42. | |
to the last report, you are more likely to die in prison than five | :18:43. | :18:46. | |
years ago. More prisoners murdered, killed themselves, self harm were | :18:47. | :18:49. | |
victims of assault than five years ago. The salt on staff at 40% in the | :18:50. | :18:56. | |
-- assaults on staff at 40% in the last government while is on staff | :18:57. | :19:00. | |
numbers are cut. But she recognised the key role in legal highs, | :19:01. | :19:07. | |
creating a volatile situation in prison, and she welcomed legislation | :19:08. | :19:11. | |
introduced to outlaw them? Yes, and I was proud to introduce drug | :19:12. | :19:16. | |
testing on a rest to ensure that we could get prisoners into drug | :19:17. | :19:19. | |
testing before they entered the prison system. We have seen 24,000 | :19:20. | :19:25. | |
prison staff in 2010 being reduced to just over 14,000 by June 20 14. | :19:26. | :19:31. | |
To tackle the illegal drug trade in prisons, we need the staff there to | :19:32. | :19:35. | |
be able to do their job to make sure it doesn't happen. I have three | :19:36. | :19:41. | |
prisons in my constituency. Two closed, and one open. I have met Tim | :19:42. | :19:47. | |
Beeston, deep governor at HMP morning, and he is not even | :19:48. | :19:53. | |
mentioned as the correct governor on the website, he is committed to do | :19:54. | :19:57. | |
more but he cannot do it alone. I have spoken to the chair of the | :19:58. | :20:00. | |
prison officer Association about the problems his members are facing at | :20:01. | :20:03. | |
how they would like to do more. I commend the research produced by my | :20:04. | :20:09. | |
own union and its charter is a safe operating procedures which I am | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
pleased to support. We have two recognise the prison system is full | :20:14. | :20:17. | |
of people the education system has failed and we'd need to do more. | :20:18. | :20:25. | |
While there is mandatory assessment of literacy and numeracy, it is not | :20:26. | :20:30. | |
mandatory to undertake education in prison to improve your literacy and | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
numeracy. Sentences, if they are too short, require it to be a condition | :20:36. | :20:45. | |
on release to continue in education. I look forward to the announcements | :20:46. | :20:49. | |
by government that will achieve these actions. I welcome the | :20:50. | :20:57. | |
reference in the gracious speech to improving Britain's competitiveness | :20:58. | :21:01. | |
and making the United Kingdom a world leader in the Digital economy. | :21:02. | :21:08. | |
Since 2010, the United Kingdom or I should say the people of the United | :21:09. | :21:11. | |
Kingdom have created 2.9 million jobs. Jobs do not appear out of thin | :21:12. | :21:17. | |
air, they are there because the entrepreneurship of the people of | :21:18. | :21:20. | |
the United Kingdom. Our unemployment rate has gone from 8% to 5.1%. It is | :21:21. | :21:26. | |
still too high, but it is an achievement. We need to maintain | :21:27. | :21:30. | |
these high levels of employment while tackling the major risks to | :21:31. | :21:35. | |
our economy, the twin deficits of the balance of payment and the | :21:36. | :21:38. | |
budget, and also low productivity compared with other countries. They | :21:39. | :21:44. | |
are interrelated, Madam Deputy Speaker. Higher productivity leads | :21:45. | :21:49. | |
us to be more competitive, domestically and internationally, | :21:50. | :21:51. | |
leads to improved export and lower imports, and greater growth with the | :21:52. | :21:56. | |
corresponding tax revenues. Long-term analysis of our | :21:57. | :21:59. | |
productivity shows that there are three main issues. Insufficient | :22:00. | :22:04. | |
investment in R, not just over the last 16 years, over decades. | :22:05. | :22:11. | |
Investment in R, latest technology and infrastructure. Secondly, weak | :22:12. | :22:15. | |
management. We have some fantastically managed businesses but | :22:16. | :22:19. | |
we also have some below average managed businesses. And inadequate | :22:20. | :22:23. | |
education and training. The government is working on all three | :22:24. | :22:26. | |
of these areas. They are linked because high quality research and | :22:27. | :22:31. | |
management and good management depend substantially on a | :22:32. | :22:35. | |
well-educated population. Weak management will prioritise the | :22:36. | :22:38. | |
status quo over risky decisions to invest and train the future. The | :22:39. | :22:45. | |
government had taken action through growth in apprenticeships, and if on | :22:46. | :22:49. | |
quality of apprenticeships and standards in schools which is | :22:50. | :22:53. | |
absolutely critical. -- an emphasis on quality. I would like to raise | :22:54. | :22:56. | |
the issue of recruitment of teachers which are difficult in certain areas | :22:57. | :23:00. | |
such as maths and science but I know the government is well aware of this | :23:01. | :23:05. | |
and working on it. As far as investment in R and technology is | :23:06. | :23:08. | |
concerned, this comes down to the availability of people, the | :23:09. | :23:11. | |
willingness of companies to invest and incentives to do so. And given | :23:12. | :23:16. | |
that incentives cost, I would urge the government to concentrate | :23:17. | :23:20. | |
resources for investment in R on businesses which showed the greatest | :23:21. | :23:23. | |
willingness to invest and are more likely to generate long-term growth | :23:24. | :23:28. | |
and jobs. Much has already been said about infrastructure. I would just | :23:29. | :23:31. | |
concentrate in my own area in Stafford, with the advent of it as | :23:32. | :23:37. | |
too, the road network really need strengthening. I would ask the | :23:38. | :23:43. | |
government to do that. -- the advent of HS2. Britain is a world leader in | :23:44. | :23:52. | |
digital economy, which is also vital for competitiveness. In my own | :23:53. | :23:57. | |
constituency, the largest private-sector employer is no | :23:58. | :24:00. | |
general electric, which sees its future as a digital business. As its | :24:01. | :24:04. | |
Chief Executive said, if you went to bed last night as an an industrial | :24:05. | :24:09. | |
company, you wake up this morning as a software and analytics company. My | :24:10. | :24:13. | |
ambition. It is to be a leader nationally in the digital economy. | :24:14. | :24:17. | |
It is not just manufacturing companies which are taking them | :24:18. | :24:24. | |
seriously, such as general Electric, we have a thriving community of | :24:25. | :24:26. | |
software businesses which are growing steadily in financial | :24:27. | :24:36. | |
services, Microsoft's 2015 partner in the year with the projects that | :24:37. | :24:42. | |
support the NHS, digital marketing and forensics. We also have three | :24:43. | :24:45. | |
signals Regiment which will provide a very good workforce for the future | :24:46. | :24:49. | |
when the service men and women complete their services. So, Madam | :24:50. | :24:53. | |
Deputy Speaker, the future is digital and this bill is a very | :24:54. | :24:55. | |
strong part of that. This Queen's Speech did nothing for | :24:56. | :25:08. | |
the people who I represent in the Jarrow constituency. ? Fact the | :25:09. | :25:11. | |
Government shouldn't have wasted taxpayers' money on all that pomp | :25:12. | :25:18. | |
and ceremony, when they could have sent 140 syllable tweet out telling | :25:19. | :25:22. | |
people what was in the Queen's Speech. The Prime Minister's aim of | :25:23. | :25:27. | |
course, was to stop the rest in the Tory party while they are pulling | :25:28. | :25:29. | |
themselves apart over the referendum. He didn't even achieve | :25:30. | :25:35. | |
that. Only days after the Queen's Speech, what did we have? Rebel Tory | :25:36. | :25:41. | |
MPs joining us on this side, opposing the undemocratic | :25:42. | :25:44. | |
transatlantic trade and investment partnership, and if the Prime | :25:45. | :25:48. | |
Minister fetes a message from that, is to dump TTIP in its interty and | :25:49. | :25:55. | |
defend our NHS. As I alluded to earlier there was more detail on the | :25:56. | :26:00. | |
back of a bus ticket on that waste of vellum handed to the Queen. For | :26:01. | :26:04. | |
example, what did they say, we are going to create a space port. What a | :26:05. | :26:10. | |
laugh. We are still waiting for a decision on another runway in | :26:11. | :26:14. | |
London, yet they are talking about sending tourist to the moon in a | :26:15. | :26:20. | |
rocket. That is daft. We are talking about privatising the Land Registry. | :26:21. | :26:26. | |
A destructive move that is opposed by the Competition and Markets | :26:27. | :26:30. | |
Authority, only this Tory Government and only this Chancellor would | :26:31. | :26:36. | |
contemplate gifting a valuable public service, a body responsible | :26:37. | :26:39. | |
for registering the ownership of residential and commercial property, | :26:40. | :26:43. | |
to a bunch of spivs and speck tailors. It is wrong and they should | :26:44. | :26:52. | |
withdraw on that. The move to end a fair rating system, will enhance | :26:53. | :26:59. | |
people in areas like Kensington and Mayfair, echoing the usual Tory | :27:00. | :27:02. | |
motto. To them that will have most give more, to the lower paid in the | :27:03. | :27:08. | |
middle earners give them nothing. The Queen's Speech taken together | :27:09. | :27:13. | |
with the recent budget fell apart quicker than a badly assembled chest | :27:14. | :27:18. | |
of drawers, and it just shows how the government is disints grated in | :27:19. | :27:22. | |
front of us. -- disintegrating in front of us, when areas like mine | :27:23. | :27:27. | |
are crying fourth a Queen's Speech which values peep, likes decency and | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
fairness, what we needed was the creation of good jobs with better | :27:32. | :27:35. | |
incomes, we need building moments weres which people can afford. We | :27:36. | :27:40. | |
need to raise standards in school, not academies. We need to | :27:41. | :27:43. | |
resuscitate the NHS from Tory neglect. The country deserved a | :27:44. | :27:49. | |
Queen's Speech which fixes the problems and gives solutions, what | :27:50. | :27:53. | |
we got was a second-rate mishmash intended to win a referendum. On | :27:54. | :27:58. | |
behalf of the Jarrow constituency, and the people I represent, I will | :27:59. | :28:01. | |
be proud to walk through and vote against this Queen's Speech. Thank | :28:02. | :28:10. | |
you. I am very pleased to be part of the debate on this final day of the | :28:11. | :28:14. | |
greatest speech, my second one. -- gracious speech. We speak on vital | :28:15. | :28:17. | |
matters focussed round the economy and work. I am pleased to see action | :28:18. | :28:25. | |
on sugar levels and tackling it is vital in my constituency, where | :28:26. | :28:28. | |
diabetes and amputation stretch the NHS. The apprenticeship Levy is part | :28:29. | :28:34. | |
of the speech and larger employer, will be introduced in 2017 and I | :28:35. | :28:39. | |
truly welcome this. Apprenticeships are a fantastic way for young people | :28:40. | :28:43. | |
or older people to change career or reskill. It was a real pleasure to | :28:44. | :28:50. | |
meet Callum who is part of Airbus, as an apprentice on the day of the | :28:51. | :28:54. | |
Queen's Speech, and we are lucky to have easterly college which puts | :28:55. | :29:03. | |
apprenticeships at the heart of education, where. The Chancellor, we | :29:04. | :29:10. | |
well knows we have B We also know in easterly we have a vital need for | :29:11. | :29:14. | |
the link road. He is well aware of this as well. It is only this | :29:15. | :29:17. | |
Conservative majority Government that has seen progress on bringing | :29:18. | :29:22. | |
this forward, which will increase productivity and reduce queue, so I | :29:23. | :29:25. | |
am delighted to see this in the budget book. | :29:26. | :29:31. | |
Our rail infrastructure in Hampshire hasn't had any investment for 60 | :29:32. | :29:35. | |
years and we need some more investment, to improve our | :29:36. | :29:39. | |
transport, which will help productivity in your, her | :29:40. | :29:45. | |
constituency and also mine. Absolutely agree, an hour between | :29:46. | :29:49. | |
Portsmouth and Southampton, it is untenable. We need an hour into | :29:50. | :29:56. | |
Waterloo from Portsmouth. It will improve travel to Southampton | :29:57. | :29:59. | |
Airport which will see positivity and will deal with the standing | :30:00. | :30:06. | |
traffic coming in to the town where air quality is a problem. Last week | :30:07. | :30:12. | |
I met with a company who are keen to make their bid for the large local | :30:13. | :30:17. | |
major schemes. I thank the Chancellor for this support. I | :30:18. | :30:21. | |
welcome the commitment to build 200,000 starter homes, and I would | :30:22. | :30:26. | |
like to see women in refuges given hiring priority when it comes to | :30:27. | :30:31. | |
housing lists. This will achieve more safety for the children, more | :30:32. | :30:35. | |
stability in-of-in schools and will improve their life chances which is | :30:36. | :30:39. | |
what we wish to see, in this Government's programme. In Eastleigh | :30:40. | :30:44. | |
we have seen town centre land which would have been ideal for housing, | :30:45. | :30:48. | |
given away and designated for a car showroom and two drive through, | :30:49. | :30:52. | |
where there is a problem of air quality. This is the kind of | :30:53. | :30:58. | |
unhealthy and unwanted town centre generation I am not keen to see. Now | :30:59. | :31:03. | |
I pay tribute to the local campaigners who have seek to point | :31:04. | :31:08. | |
out this perverse an care, it will not surprise honourable members to | :31:09. | :31:13. | |
see I intend to discuss the last of a local plan in Eastleigh. There are | :31:14. | :31:19. | |
no neighbourhood plans and planning to protect green space, affordable | :31:20. | :31:24. | |
homes an more transparent planning rules are vital, in east three is a | :31:25. | :31:30. | |
strategic vacuum. It is crucial the pace of progress here is making | :31:31. | :31:33. | |
local authorities pick up the pace and deal with this issue, and sadly | :31:34. | :31:41. | |
Eastleigh council continues to fail residents ignoring calls for local | :31:42. | :31:45. | |
plan, I hope this they get on with it. I hope this bill can help and | :31:46. | :31:51. | |
take full effect in our area. I want to protect our green infrastructure | :31:52. | :31:55. | |
as well. This is important, to see the protection of our chalk stream, | :31:56. | :32:00. | |
the river where you might see the honourable member for Broxbourne | :32:01. | :32:05. | |
fly-fishing or angling, alongside local angler, very important to | :32:06. | :32:09. | |
support this infrastructure, top the pollution of the vital rivers and | :32:10. | :32:14. | |
this billion will promote green spaces over brownfield land that is | :32:15. | :32:19. | |
not being distributed properly in my constituency. Residents in, see this | :32:20. | :32:27. | |
where there is no localism and no local plan. She does a tremendous | :32:28. | :32:36. | |
job four constituency. Does she agree a neighbourhood plan of giving | :32:37. | :32:39. | |
locals a referendum is the way forward to plan for housing and | :32:40. | :32:45. | |
infrastructure? Absolutely. Locking residents out of the planning | :32:46. | :32:50. | |
process continues to make housing an adversarial issue where communities | :32:51. | :32:53. | |
need to work together to bring forward the infrastructure we see | :32:54. | :32:57. | |
and to bring in the tie in that residents need. I think my right | :32:58. | :33:00. | |
honourable friend for this, because areas such as Botley are struggling | :33:01. | :33:06. | |
when it comes to GP recruitment. Pause of ongoing issues and the fact | :33:07. | :33:10. | |
they can't recruit the conditions they need. I thank my honourable | :33:11. | :33:17. | |
friend for her work, in encouraging commissions -- clinicians and nurses | :33:18. | :33:21. | |
to come forward and getting more women and having that opportunity | :33:22. | :33:25. | |
will help the local communities to grow and thrive. If biggest decision | :33:26. | :33:35. | |
of our generation will be made later this month, or indeed next month. It | :33:36. | :33:39. | |
is clear, whatever the outcome it will have an effect on our economy. | :33:40. | :33:44. | |
Clearly opinions are divided. Occasionally on the benches round | :33:45. | :33:49. | |
this. Radio and if you read the Times in the tea room, but it is | :33:50. | :33:55. | |
crucial that once we is votes, we come back together, this | :33:56. | :33:58. | |
Conservative majority Government, and unify, so we can continue to | :33:59. | :34:03. | |
deliver this strong economy and the services we need for our | :34:04. | :34:11. | |
constituents. It is a pleasure to follow the honourable member. I echo | :34:12. | :34:17. | |
many of the comments made by my front bench today. Latest figures | :34:18. | :34:24. | |
show the largest quarter. I acknowledge that the Government has | :34:25. | :34:29. | |
ebb shoed a a challenge to areas like mine, to play their part in | :34:30. | :34:35. | |
tackling the productive gap and the economic growth gap by developing | :34:36. | :34:39. | |
devolution. I for one accept that challenge. I accept than shields | :34:40. | :34:44. | |
city region has to raise its game. We have to play our part, and we | :34:45. | :34:48. | |
have to believe in ourself, which is something we haven't done for a very | :34:49. | :34:54. | |
long time. We have simply, to believe as one employer said to me | :34:55. | :35:00. | |
today, in an e-mail, that we have the skills, nothing and ability to | :35:01. | :35:06. | |
go past London and become a generator of great wealth again. The | :35:07. | :35:09. | |
Government needs to play its part too and at the moment it is not | :35:10. | :35:12. | |
doing that. The announcement today about this and the staff moving from | :35:13. | :35:17. | |
Sheffield to London belies everything the Government has said | :35:18. | :35:20. | |
on this point. But it can remedy the situation. I will be watching | :35:21. | :35:25. | |
carefully, if development of the infrastructure plan. And in | :35:26. | :35:30. | |
particular I will be looking for confirmation that the new | :35:31. | :35:34. | |
trans-Pennine links between Manchester and Sheffield will be | :35:35. | :35:36. | |
given the green light. They are essential to the future of the | :35:37. | :35:40. | |
northern economy. I will continue to keep the pressure on the Government | :35:41. | :35:44. | |
to support a positive outcome to the steel crisis. In South Yorkshire the | :35:45. | :35:53. | |
crisis has triggered a revival of the faith and the confidence that we | :35:54. | :35:58. | |
have in ourself, or we used to have in yourselves as far as our | :35:59. | :36:04. | |
engineering prowess is concerned. My plea is the Government is please do | :36:05. | :36:09. | |
not let us down. We bereave that we are the best steel producers in the | :36:10. | :36:13. | |
world. Believe in us and we will deliver. I just want to spend the | :36:14. | :36:19. | |
second half of my comments by talking about what I think is the | :36:20. | :36:23. | |
biggest threat facing the economy in the next few years, and that is the | :36:24. | :36:29. | |
instability that is currently characterised in our system. Let us | :36:30. | :36:35. | |
be clear, in the UK politics is poll rising, it is on our side of the | :36:36. | :36:38. | |
house. We have shifted to the left. On your side of the house, the other | :36:39. | :36:45. | |
side. Brexit is tearing the country -- Conservative Party apart and the | :36:46. | :36:51. | |
centre ground is disappearing. So what happened to the politics of the | :36:52. | :36:57. | |
art of the possible. This is happening globally and in other it | :36:58. | :37:02. | |
is greater. One only has to look at Austria look week, in Holland where | :37:03. | :37:08. | |
the three mainstream parties are set to secure just 40% between | :37:09. | :37:12. | |
themselves in the elections next year. Even the US is not immune from | :37:13. | :37:22. | |
this phenomenon as we have seen. I I echo Blair's comments today it is | :37:23. | :37:26. | |
almost as though the centre ground are the managers of the status quo | :37:27. | :37:30. | |
and not the changers of the stay to us Quo. It's a worrying trend and | :37:31. | :37:36. | |
polarisation of the political sphere is creating a vacuum which could | :37:37. | :37:41. | |
visit lasting damage on the social and economic fabric of this country. | :37:42. | :37:46. | |
So we bear responsibility Madame Deputy Speaker, to resurrect the | :37:47. | :37:51. | |
relevance of pragmatic politics. We need to demonstrate that centre | :37:52. | :37:55. | |
ground politics can deliver a progressive, prosperous secure | :37:56. | :37:57. | |
future for the people of this country. If we do not do that, the | :37:58. | :38:01. | |
future of this country and its economy is very much in danger. | :38:02. | :38:09. | |
Thank you. And it is a great mesh -- pleasure to follow the honourable | :38:10. | :38:13. | |
lady, who is an excellent member of the EFRA Select Committee. Can I | :38:14. | :38:20. | |
take this unusual step in offering congratulations to the honourable | :38:21. | :38:25. | |
member for Islington North Leader of the Opposition. Haye birthday | :38:26. | :38:28. | |
because we share the same birthday date. I am trying to work out what | :38:29. | :38:34. | |
else we share but with we do share the same date. Can I welcome the | :38:35. | :38:41. | |
gracious speech and the continuation of these good economic policies | :38:42. | :38:46. | |
which are enabling businesses and our economies to create more jobs, | :38:47. | :38:52. | |
we are reducing taxes to lower paid workers and we are generally | :38:53. | :38:54. | |
stimulating this economy and reducing debt at the same time. I | :38:55. | :39:00. | |
particularly welcome more emphasis again on the digital economy, and | :39:01. | :39:06. | |
also delivering the legal right to force fast broadband to every house | :39:07. | :39:10. | |
in the country. This is going to be a challenge. I will give way. I am | :39:11. | :39:17. | |
sure he welcomes the government's announcement of the universal | :39:18. | :39:21. | |
service obligation onboard band, but will he join me in asked the | :39:22. | :39:25. | |
Government to consider extending this. To business properties that in | :39:26. | :39:31. | |
places like Devon sand Cornwall it is crucial, businesses get supper | :39:32. | :39:37. | |
viewed as well. I couldn't agree more. It is business, individual, | :39:38. | :39:42. | |
out in the rural areas in particular we have good business, Farrells but | :39:43. | :39:46. | |
we have got other businesses, as well as individuals that need | :39:47. | :39:50. | |
broadband and superfast broadband. It is not only the money we put into | :39:51. | :40:03. | |
getting broadband into this area, it is using every technology available. | :40:04. | :40:16. | |
There will be areas where there will not be fibre cable able to beat put | :40:17. | :40:24. | |
in, we need to put pressure on Beattie and others because sometimes | :40:25. | :40:30. | |
there is not enough competition out there delivering broadband to all of | :40:31. | :40:36. | |
our constituents. I very much welcome the modern transport bill. I | :40:37. | :40:40. | |
also welcome the fact that we will need to change our taxation on cars. | :40:41. | :40:47. | |
We have spent too many years concentrating on reducing the tax on | :40:48. | :40:53. | |
diesel cars, only to find now that nitric oxide appears to be the | :40:54. | :40:59. | |
killer, and we actually need to re-educate people to buy actual | :41:00. | :41:04. | |
hybrid cars and electric cars. We need to do a great deal in order to | :41:05. | :41:10. | |
be able change people's cars and their attitudes towards what they | :41:11. | :41:14. | |
buy. There has been too much concentration in the past about the | :41:15. | :41:17. | |
amount of carbon coming from a car, and not dealing with the magic | :41:18. | :41:21. | |
oxide. This is what is really causing many -- nitric oxide. This | :41:22. | :41:26. | |
is what is causing many of the hotspot in our cities. I also | :41:27. | :41:32. | |
welcome the education Bill, and also stepping back slightly of the idea | :41:33. | :41:34. | |
that we are going to impose academies all across the eye | :41:35. | :41:39. | |
country. I believe the Conservative policy is much more about revolution | :41:40. | :41:45. | |
rather than revolution. So after a grid evolution rather than | :41:46. | :41:49. | |
revolution. So we have got to give people a chance to get there. The | :41:50. | :41:55. | |
idea of bringing 5000 children together, it could be 50 or 100 | :41:56. | :42:02. | |
schools in order to create a number of pupils in rural areas. We have to | :42:03. | :42:07. | |
be careful how we deliver it. I also think different local authorities, | :42:08. | :42:11. | |
some local authority to have better education prospects than others, and | :42:12. | :42:17. | |
this needs to be taken into account. I also very much welcome the | :42:18. | :42:20. | |
lifetime savings bill because I think the idea that we can help | :42:21. | :42:25. | |
people, young people and people on lower wages, to be able to actually | :42:26. | :42:29. | |
get some help with savings, I think it's absolutely essential. Not only | :42:30. | :42:35. | |
in the past did the last Labour government spent too much of tax | :42:36. | :42:39. | |
payers money, I think perhaps sometimes, it is difficult when | :42:40. | :42:43. | |
talking about social policy, but probably as a nation, we spent too | :42:44. | :42:47. | |
much as individuals and we do not actually save enough. I know | :42:48. | :42:54. | |
government loves spending so it boosts consumers and boost the | :42:55. | :42:57. | |
amount spent in the economy, but I also think sometimes there is a | :42:58. | :43:01. | |
great need to get greater savings. I think that is what we want to see | :43:02. | :43:09. | |
happen. I welcome the fact that this is very much, like I said, a | :43:10. | :43:13. | |
continuation of the government's policies. In order to keep going. I | :43:14. | :43:21. | |
think the one thing we must not do is turn course and keep getting down | :43:22. | :43:25. | |
the deficit and growing it. The one great thing we need to do on the | :43:26. | :43:32. | |
23rd of June is make sure we keep this country in the European Union | :43:33. | :43:35. | |
so that we can prosper and grow our economy. The sugar tax is quite an | :43:36. | :43:46. | |
interesting proposal but the government has left some carelessly | :43:47. | :43:49. | |
polled in their plans. I am not sure if you drink milk shakes, but they | :43:50. | :43:54. | |
are not particularly healthy. -- left some careless loopholes. One | :43:55. | :44:01. | |
brand has more sugar than the RDA for a six-year-old. Another one has | :44:02. | :44:08. | |
36 grams of sugar in one bottle, exceeding the RDA for ten-year-olds. | :44:09. | :44:13. | |
Finally, another popular milkshake has 50 grams of sugar in one bottle | :44:14. | :44:19. | |
which exceeds the RDA for adults. None of these products are covered | :44:20. | :44:24. | |
by the sugar tax. This is a serious loophole because people might infer | :44:25. | :44:28. | |
from the exemption that these drinks are healthier. The response is that | :44:29. | :44:34. | |
milk contains calcium and other unique trim is -- nutrients which | :44:35. | :44:40. | |
are good for children but if you are built a rated with plenty of sugar, | :44:41. | :44:43. | |
then the health benefits are negated. Another loophole affect us | :44:44. | :44:53. | |
as grew -- naps. Remixed alcohol drinks do not, under the loops. They | :44:54. | :45:09. | |
need to be brought under the -- remixed alcoholic drinks do not come | :45:10. | :45:11. | |
under the bill. Experts from Sheffield hallow | :45:12. | :45:24. | |
University has made a report about the | :45:25. | :45:36. | |
The report finds that the welfare reforms hit most deprived | :45:37. | :45:55. | |
communities hardest. The departing Secretary of State contested Andrew | :45:56. | :45:58. | |
Marr said the Tories were attacking benefits to people who do not vote | :45:59. | :46:07. | |
for them. And another suggested the loss to claimants would be ?190 per | :46:08. | :46:13. | |
year in one area, but in a poor area, it will be much worse. In | :46:14. | :46:18. | |
Scotland we have made a difference. Scots will still lose out to the | :46:19. | :46:22. | |
tune of ?320 per adult per year. We have been able to take the edge off, | :46:23. | :46:28. | |
we have mitigated the bedroom tax, restored council tax benefit and we | :46:29. | :46:34. | |
will not bring in pay to stay. We are committed to everyone in | :46:35. | :46:37. | |
Scotland, not just those who happen to vote for us. In Glasgow, | :46:38. | :46:42. | |
claimants will lose ?420 per year. Money which is not ringing in the | :46:43. | :46:46. | |
tills in the communities I represent, it is money that ordinary | :46:47. | :46:50. | |
people desperately need to put food on the table. My constituents need | :46:51. | :46:55. | |
the money to heat their homes, it is wickedness to punish people for the | :46:56. | :46:57. | |
second is that if they are in and worse because they are people who | :46:58. | :47:01. | |
did not vote Tory. I reject the economic model which condemns people | :47:02. | :47:05. | |
to a lifetime of poverty. The lasting effects of social policy, a | :47:06. | :47:15. | |
hangover of the loss of heavy industry, clumsy policy which left | :47:16. | :47:20. | |
so many people in new towns in poor quality housing. I commend the | :47:21. | :47:31. | |
report explaining why Glaswegians continue to die younger than they | :47:32. | :47:37. | |
should. This government and previous governments has a lot to answer for | :47:38. | :47:40. | |
and we must not make the same mistakes of policy now. I write to | :47:41. | :47:45. | |
congratulate the government on including the measure in the Queens | :47:46. | :47:49. | |
speech to introduce a levy on sugar drinks. I do so because it cannot be | :47:50. | :47:56. | |
acceptable in our society that we continue to allow 25% of the most | :47:57. | :48:00. | |
disadvantaged children to be leaving primary school not just overweight | :48:01. | :48:05. | |
but the piece. I congratulate the Chancellor on looking at the | :48:06. | :48:08. | |
evidence that the gap between the most advantaged and disadvantaged | :48:09. | :48:11. | |
children around childhood obesity that has been increasing based on | :48:12. | :48:15. | |
data from the chartered measurement programme. It is important to tackle | :48:16. | :48:20. | |
it, not a flicker obesity but the on children's teeth. -- not just on the | :48:21. | :48:28. | |
beastie. On children's teeth. -- on a big city. | :48:29. | :48:35. | |
these are empty calories with no nutritional value whatsoever. When | :48:36. | :48:43. | |
we see that a third of teenage calorie intake is from sugary | :48:44. | :48:50. | |
drinks, we should do everything we can. This is a progressive measure. | :48:51. | :48:53. | |
I particularly welcome the contribution that this remains part | :48:54. | :48:57. | |
of a wider strategy to tackle childhood obesity. It will encourage | :48:58. | :49:03. | |
manufacturers to perform their products, to bring in lower levels | :49:04. | :49:07. | |
of sugar. -- reform their products. I would like the Chancellor to set | :49:08. | :49:13. | |
out what he is doing alongside manufacturers to encourage them to | :49:14. | :49:18. | |
introduce a price differential based on these levies, so we can guide | :49:19. | :49:24. | |
people to make healthier choices. I welcome the fact that this is going | :49:25. | :49:28. | |
to be hypothecated. We are going to see a doubling in the school sports | :49:29. | :49:35. | |
premium for primary schools, and an expansion of the programme breakfast | :49:36. | :49:42. | |
clubs the most disadvantaged areas. The accusation that is often made | :49:43. | :49:46. | |
that this is not a progressive measure, it is regressive, is | :49:47. | :49:49. | |
counted simply because it is the most disadvantaged communities that | :49:50. | :49:55. | |
will be benefited by the hypothesis and of the levy rate. I would urge | :49:56. | :50:04. | |
the Chancellor to go further and extend this to those milky drinks | :50:05. | :50:07. | |
which have very high levels of added sugar. Milk is very good with | :50:08. | :50:12. | |
children, we should be let sending a clear message that milk is good, | :50:13. | :50:16. | |
milk and 90s beamed sugar is not good for children's health or peace. | :50:17. | :50:22. | |
-- nine teaspoons of sugar is not good for children's health or peace. | :50:23. | :50:35. | |
-- their teeth. On other nations in the Queen's Speech, I would like to | :50:36. | :50:41. | |
thank the Chancellor on the measures around broadband. As a member for | :50:42. | :50:46. | |
rural communities where businesses and local residents are | :50:47. | :50:49. | |
disadvantaged by not having access to high-speed broadband, I think | :50:50. | :50:53. | |
this will be a welcome measure. And likewise, the commitment in the | :50:54. | :50:58. | |
Queens speech to bring forward fair funding formula for those schools | :50:59. | :51:01. | |
such as in the West Country that are being severely disadvantaged up to | :51:02. | :51:06. | |
now. In closing, Madam Deputy Speaker, as I know there are many | :51:07. | :51:09. | |
other members who would like to speak, I welcome the measures in | :51:10. | :51:13. | |
this, this is bold and brave, that is what we called for as the health | :51:14. | :51:20. | |
select committee, bold and brave measures to tackle childhood | :51:21. | :51:27. | |
obesity. I hope you will stiffen his sinews, resist the efforts from the | :51:28. | :51:33. | |
drinks manufacturers and encourage them to actually look at how they | :51:34. | :51:36. | |
can improve the nation's health by going ahead and supporting the | :51:37. | :51:41. | |
reformulation and our children's health. I would like to concentrate | :51:42. | :51:48. | |
my remarks on the help to save scheme, or the reinvigorated savings | :51:49. | :51:55. | |
gateway. It is welcome that the government has recognised the | :51:56. | :51:57. | |
importance of saving and the importance that matched saving, one | :51:58. | :52:01. | |
of the best ways of encouraging people to save. The step change | :52:02. | :52:09. | |
analysis says 44 percent of people in low income have a lower chance of | :52:10. | :52:15. | |
getting into debt if they have savings of ?1000, half a million | :52:16. | :52:19. | |
people who could be prevented from getting into debt. I have some | :52:20. | :52:22. | |
problems with the design of the scheme. Two years is a very long | :52:23. | :52:25. | |
time in which to have to save regularly. 14 million people | :52:26. | :52:30. | |
experienced at least one income shot in the last 12 months. That is an | :52:31. | :52:36. | |
income shock of a job loss, a cut in hours, illness, a new baby, if money | :52:37. | :52:41. | |
is withdrawn, then people will lose the bonus that they feel that they | :52:42. | :52:46. | |
have already gained. People know on a low income that they are going to | :52:47. | :52:49. | |
experience some income shocks and that could discourage them from | :52:50. | :52:54. | |
saving. We all know it is good to save. It is very worthy. We all | :52:55. | :52:59. | |
start off with good intentions. For example, we join a gym. We intend to | :53:00. | :53:04. | |
go every week. Of course we do. Imagine if we had to have a two-year | :53:05. | :53:08. | |
contract where we had to go every week. So crucially, I think there | :53:09. | :53:14. | |
should be some measures in this for irregular savings, to allow these | :53:15. | :53:18. | |
irregular savings where people, one month, cannot afford to put the | :53:19. | :53:23. | |
money into that scheme. And after all, we have all missed the odd week | :53:24. | :53:28. | |
at the gym. Things do crop up. We all to allow as well couple of | :53:29. | :53:34. | |
withdrawals. We also need to look at the behavioural economics of people | :53:35. | :53:38. | |
on this scheme. And maybe some encouragements and incentives to | :53:39. | :53:41. | |
join. For example, prize draws. We all know people spend the odd pound | :53:42. | :53:47. | |
on the lottery in hope of winning something. Encouraging people to | :53:48. | :53:52. | |
save by encouraging them also to perhaps, the incentive of a price, | :53:53. | :53:56. | |
would be important. I would like to spend a quick word of financial | :53:57. | :54:02. | |
education, that is really important. I am pleased that acadamisation, | :54:03. | :54:06. | |
with the lack of financial education in the curriculum, has been taken | :54:07. | :54:09. | |
out of the speech, but it should start earlier. In my experience, | :54:10. | :54:13. | |
primary situation is really important. -- priming education. | :54:14. | :54:22. | |
There is a wonderful course for primary student over ten years ago, | :54:23. | :54:25. | |
I would love to see how they are getting on now. Will she join me in | :54:26. | :54:34. | |
congratulating the launch of a report this week, of which I was the | :54:35. | :54:42. | |
chair, calling for more government support for financial education for | :54:43. | :54:45. | |
primary school children? Children from their money habits at the age | :54:46. | :54:48. | |
of seven. Will she join me in marking that? | :54:49. | :54:55. | |
I have read that report with interest but it is not a silver | :54:56. | :55:01. | |
bullet. All efforts need to be made to keep people out of the hands of | :55:02. | :55:05. | |
the payday lenders and we need to make sure there is support given to | :55:06. | :55:11. | |
the alternatives, for example, fair for you, the alternatives to look | :55:12. | :55:17. | |
for finance and we need to ensure a level playing field. Real-time data | :55:18. | :55:22. | |
from everyone, including the banks needs to be available to new | :55:23. | :55:26. | |
entrants to the market so they can make their assessments of lending. | :55:27. | :55:30. | |
We also need to make sure that data is accurate as I have had reports of | :55:31. | :55:34. | |
inaccurate data from various companies. I would also like as an | :55:35. | :55:43. | |
aside talking of fairness to support the cause for transitional | :55:44. | :55:47. | |
arrangements to help the women at adversity affected by the | :55:48. | :55:50. | |
mishandling of the state pension age. Perhaps I should declare an | :55:51. | :55:56. | |
interest in this as a woman born in the 50s but I would urge the | :55:57. | :56:01. | |
Minister to revisit this. In conclusion, I would like to say I | :56:02. | :56:05. | |
welcome the saving scheme but I would like to see it designed to | :56:06. | :56:09. | |
reflect the real lives of people on a low income. That real life that | :56:10. | :56:16. | |
has bumps in the road on quite a few occasions. That real life were | :56:17. | :56:20. | |
sometimes buying a new pair of shoes or going out for a day is more | :56:21. | :56:26. | |
important than putting away for a rainy day. I do hope the Government | :56:27. | :56:29. | |
will recognise this in the design of the scheme. I congratulate the | :56:30. | :56:38. | |
honourable member for hire typically thoughtful speech, but I | :56:39. | :56:44. | |
congratulate my right honourable friend the Chancellor for continuing | :56:45. | :56:47. | |
the march of the makers which stood in contrast to the march of the | :56:48. | :56:54. | |
Marxists which characterise the speech of the Shadow Chancellor. We | :56:55. | :57:00. | |
make things in the Midlands and in Tamworth. We make great cars, great | :57:01. | :57:07. | |
engines at BMW, while classed circuit boards braking systems. We | :57:08. | :57:15. | |
are making the jobs that people want to do and we need to make the homes | :57:16. | :57:21. | |
that people want to live in in the West Midlands. I congratulate the | :57:22. | :57:23. | |
Government for its work with the help to buy scheme which has been | :57:24. | :57:30. | |
seminal in getting people onto the property ladder. We need to do more | :57:31. | :57:36. | |
to get S M Es back into the supply chain, those that left the industry | :57:37. | :57:42. | |
due to mergers and acquisitions and the crash of the housing market. I | :57:43. | :57:50. | |
hope that my honourable friend will use all his eloquence and all of his | :57:51. | :57:55. | |
influence to prevail upon the Communities Secretary to encourage | :57:56. | :57:59. | |
firms, big firms to franchise out part of their land bank to S M Es, | :58:00. | :58:08. | |
that the risks big developers because it takes some of the costs | :58:09. | :58:14. | |
away from them but it helps them get into the industry again because it | :58:15. | :58:18. | |
removes some of the upfront costs of planning and I hope the Government | :58:19. | :58:23. | |
will consider that thought. Whilst it is at it, I hope the Government | :58:24. | :58:28. | |
will also look at the planning Inspectorate in Bristol. One of the | :58:29. | :58:33. | |
things that developers tell me is the length of time it takes for the | :58:34. | :58:39. | |
inspectorate in Bristol to conclude its appeal decision process. | :58:40. | :58:42. | |
Sometimes very straightforward decisions can take up to six months. | :58:43. | :58:49. | |
If we can speed that up, possibly by up staffing the resources there we | :58:50. | :58:54. | |
can take some of the weight off of those. We need to build homes but | :58:55. | :59:01. | |
also the infrastructure around them. In welcoming and congratulating the | :59:02. | :59:04. | |
Government for the infrastructure plan and the work of Lord Adonis and | :59:05. | :59:12. | |
the infrastructure commission. Can I encourage the Government to look at | :59:13. | :59:18. | |
the A5 corridor which ones through Leicestershire, through Warwickshire | :59:19. | :59:22. | |
and up into Staffordshire. I can assure the Chancellor he will have a | :59:23. | :59:26. | |
lot of support from me, the honourable member from North | :59:27. | :59:31. | |
Warwickshire, the honourable member for Bosworth, all of whom want to | :59:32. | :59:36. | |
see that road upgraded and jewelled so we can build the homes around it | :59:37. | :59:40. | |
to do with the jobs that are developing in the Midlands. This was | :59:41. | :59:47. | |
a speech for us, aspirational people who want to do the right thing and | :59:48. | :59:53. | |
get on that is why we made gains in the local elections just a few weeks | :59:54. | :59:58. | |
ago. In a town which 16 years ago had nearly 30 Labour councillors, | :59:59. | :00:04. | |
there are now just seven. The member for Dagenham was quite right when he | :00:05. | :00:11. | |
wrote the words of the last election in his non-ironic document Labour's | :00:12. | :00:16. | |
future, where he said Labour lost because of voters didn't believe it. | :00:17. | :00:20. | |
Let me assure you, they didn't believe Labour in 2015, they didn't | :00:21. | :00:28. | |
believe them last month. One of the measures in the Queen's speech is | :00:29. | :00:32. | |
the local growth and jobs bill which is intended to localise business | :00:33. | :00:37. | |
rates but councils fear the Government's approach in doing that | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
will be unfair. Since ministers have given no indication of how they | :00:42. | :00:46. | |
intend to go about achieving that, we can only use past behaviour as a | :00:47. | :00:52. | |
guide and that is worrying. The Government's council funding cuts | :00:53. | :00:56. | |
club the poorest ten councils with cuts 23 times bigger than the ten | :00:57. | :01:02. | |
richest and this year 's 300 million cuts relief fund was Jerry Monday to | :01:03. | :01:06. | |
ease the pain in Tory voting areas that had suffered the least while | :01:07. | :01:11. | |
offering nothing to areas that had suffered the most. It is no wonder | :01:12. | :01:17. | |
the National Audit Office is today investigating that perverse | :01:18. | :01:21. | |
decision. If business rates localisation is gerrymandered in the | :01:22. | :01:25. | |
same way, it will stay for growth in those parts that need growth the | :01:26. | :01:31. | |
most, creating more poverty, fear, insecurity and alienation. All of | :01:32. | :01:36. | |
this is part of the Government's refusal to challenge inequalities of | :01:37. | :01:40. | |
power and wealth right across society. The social contract that | :01:41. | :01:44. | |
underpinned our society has been shattered. It was a promise that if | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
you work hard, you will get on and if you can't work, you will be | :01:50. | :01:59. | |
looked after by today, even if you work hard, you might not be able to | :02:00. | :02:02. | |
pay the bills or put over a secure roof over your head. There are parts | :02:03. | :02:07. | |
of my constituency in Croydon North were too many people feel left | :02:08. | :02:11. | |
behind because work is insecure and income stone covered the basic | :02:12. | :02:17. | |
household bills. Globalisation is certainly creating great wealth and | :02:18. | :02:22. | |
opportunity but it is being allowed to leave too many people behind. It | :02:23. | :02:30. | |
is sharpening inequality, moving populations on an unprecedented | :02:31. | :02:34. | |
scale, threatening the environment and stoking political and religious | :02:35. | :02:38. | |
fundamentalism. Alongside strengthening regulation at the | :02:39. | :02:41. | |
centre, devolution should be being used to put real power in people's | :02:42. | :02:48. | |
hands to challenge the unfairness of the system and to build communities | :02:49. | :02:52. | |
capacity to manage these great changes on their own terms. Across | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
the river from this parliament stands a newly built towel full of | :02:58. | :03:04. | |
luxury apartments, kept empty by foreign investors while on the | :03:05. | :03:07. | |
streets below there is a housing crisis. What a powerful symbol of | :03:08. | :03:13. | |
how far we have gone wrong. Anger is rising across the industrial eyes | :03:14. | :03:19. | |
wild. If people don't have faith is -- in a system working for them, | :03:20. | :03:23. | |
they will kick back. Where legitimate concerns to not get hurt | :03:24. | :03:29. | |
by the political mainstream, they push towards the margins. Politics | :03:30. | :03:34. | |
is polarising in a dangerous way. People are angry about the political | :03:35. | :03:40. | |
system failing them, about elites that are exploiting them, about | :03:41. | :03:43. | |
wealth and opportunity that is bypassing them but instead of | :03:44. | :03:47. | |
addressing all of this, the Government is fuelling forces that | :03:48. | :03:51. | |
are pushing inequality to breaking point and the consequences of that | :03:52. | :03:55. | |
will be as dangerous as they are unpredictable. In the most gracious | :03:56. | :04:03. | |
speech, Her Majesty spoke of the Government's intention to support | :04:04. | :04:08. | |
the Northern powerhouse. A welcome support for the regions and the | :04:09. | :04:14. | |
regeneration of local economies but particularly the importance of | :04:15. | :04:16. | |
manufacturing in that regeneration. My constituency and indeed the | :04:17. | :04:24. | |
Midlands as a whole has strong manufacturing traditions and I look | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
forward to hearing more details about the Midlands engine, not least | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
the 250 million investment fund. Our region has been significant in the | :04:34. | :04:38. | |
economic recovery with 96,000 more businesses than we had in 2010. Well | :04:39. | :04:47. | |
the economy has moved in a positive direction in recent years, | :04:48. | :04:50. | |
particularly in terms of falling unemployment, we should not be | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
complacent about the manufacturing sector and it is in this spirit that | :04:55. | :04:58. | |
I call for the creation of an industrial strategy. There is a | :04:59. | :05:05. | |
clear need to boost exports and the Government's target to reach 1 | :05:06. | :05:10. | |
trillion worth of exports by 2020 is ambitious. An industrial strategy | :05:11. | :05:15. | |
would boost confidence for investors through greater stability in a | :05:16. | :05:18. | |
system and clear direction from the Government as well as allowing for | :05:19. | :05:22. | |
the Government to be held to account over the period to which the | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
strategy applies. For a minister to come to the House on an annual | :05:28. | :05:33. | |
basis, being scrutinised on cost departmental support for such a | :05:34. | :05:38. | |
vital part of our economy can only be to everyone's benefit. In terms | :05:39. | :05:43. | |
of its maker, a central, cohesive and comprehensive document could | :05:44. | :05:46. | |
shape cleared objectives for the sector outlining steps the | :05:47. | :05:52. | |
Government intends to take to provide the framework for industry | :05:53. | :05:57. | |
to grow. In addition, a clear statement from the Cabinet Office | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
acting across departments along with annual reports to Parliament | :06:03. | :06:07. | |
detailing supported measures in the interests of manufacturing. I would | :06:08. | :06:12. | |
argue that this Government perhaps any government typically responds | :06:13. | :06:16. | |
well to objectives and targets giving a clear focus and | :06:17. | :06:22. | |
consistency. For example, a target of 3 million new apprenticeship | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
starts by 2020. An industrial strategy would encompass a wide | :06:28. | :06:33. | |
range of policy areas, apprenticeships, higher education, | :06:34. | :06:34. | |
catapult centres, innovation, the supply chain. We need to ensure the | :06:35. | :06:41. | |
departments do not operate inside this and the whole system is working | :06:42. | :06:47. | |
in harmony. I would add energy policy, smarter procurement, access | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
to finance and infrastructure. Implementing a strategy would be a | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
major step forward considering the manufacturing sector is less able to | :06:57. | :07:02. | |
quickly respond to circumstances. A long-term vision is essential and | :07:03. | :07:06. | |
would encourage investment in the UK. Looking ahead we need to compete | :07:07. | :07:10. | |
internationally in terms of innovation, the reassuring of | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
production has to be a key aspect and I see innovation as a kid to | :07:16. | :07:22. | |
this aim. We can help innovation to flourish in the UK by supporting | :07:23. | :07:28. | |
through life engineering service, improving availability, | :07:29. | :07:31. | |
predictability and reliability of complex engineering products to | :07:32. | :07:34. | |
deliver the lowest possible life-cycle costs. Whether it is the | :07:35. | :07:42. | |
high-value manufacturing sectors, industry, such initiatives were not | :07:43. | :07:50. | |
even on the table in 2010. But I would add that however attractive | :07:51. | :07:54. | |
and industrial strategy would be, we first need to make sure we start | :07:55. | :08:01. | |
with a long-term economic plan. It's a pleasure to follow the honourable | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
gentleman who made a thoughtful speech with which I concur about the | :08:07. | :08:11. | |
importance of an industrial strategy. The Chancellor spoke of | :08:12. | :08:15. | |
the governments plans for devolution. I want to focus on that | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
and the importance of devolution for the economy and jobs in Liverpool. | :08:20. | :08:26. | |
The number of young people not in education, employment and training | :08:27. | :08:30. | |
is significantly above the national average in Liverpool. Among 16-18 | :08:31. | :08:37. | |
-year-olds, the national figure is 4.7% but the Liverpool figure is | :08:38. | :08:44. | |
6.3%, one in 16 of those young people. The agreement between the | :08:45. | :08:48. | |
combined authorities and the Government do a number of things, | :08:49. | :08:53. | |
devolves the adult skills budget, moves responsibility to work | :08:54. | :08:57. | |
unemployment support for hard to help claimants sued the city will | :08:58. | :09:02. | |
work with the DWP, devolves the apprenticeship grant for employers | :09:03. | :09:09. | |
and in situ is a review for post-16 education and training. There is | :09:10. | :09:12. | |
potential here to provide more quality and apprenticeship | :09:13. | :09:16. | |
opportunities and I hope the combined authority and the newly | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
elected mayor will work with the Government both to use these powers | :09:21. | :09:24. | |
but also to explore what further devolution is needed. The challenge | :09:25. | :09:29. | |
of youth unemployment is enormous. I welcome the fact it has fallen | :09:30. | :09:34. | |
though shared the concerns about the quality about some of the jobs | :09:35. | :09:39. | |
created, particularly the large numbers of young people on 0-hours | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
contracts but even with this fall in youth unemployment, our rate is | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
double that of Germany and part of the reason is the quality of | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
technical and vocational education we provide in contrast to Germany. I | :09:54. | :09:58. | |
welcome the fact we will have a review in Liverpool and I recognise | :09:59. | :10:01. | |
that the failure to address fully the issue of occasional education is | :10:02. | :10:06. | |
a long-standing failure by governments of both parties. | :10:07. | :10:10. | |
I would like to seek assurances that the Liverpool region will have the | :10:11. | :10:17. | |
powers that they need to reshape and restructure local skills to meet the | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
demands of a changing economy. I welcome the powers that are being | :10:22. | :10:25. | |
devolved, that I would like us to go further. I don't think it's if it if | :10:26. | :10:31. | |
to read on skills 19 plus, I want them to lead on skills 16 plus. In | :10:32. | :10:36. | |
fact, I'm not them to lead on skills 14 plus and address the issue on 14 | :10:37. | :10:42. | |
to 18 education. Last week, I urge the Education Secretary to look at | :10:43. | :10:46. | |
the potential for devolution of powers held by her department. I | :10:47. | :10:50. | |
think there is a very strong case for the powers of the regional | :10:51. | :10:54. | |
schools commissioner to be devolved. Liverpool city region could then | :10:55. | :10:58. | |
take the lead in the planning and commissioning of school and other | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
education places. There will be an opportunity for local communities, | :11:04. | :11:06. | |
employers, young people and others to reshape the education and skills | :11:07. | :11:10. | |
programmes that we need. But of course, devolution is not just about | :11:11. | :11:17. | |
power, it's also about funding. Liverpool city region has been hit | :11:18. | :11:20. | |
hard by cuts in central Government funding since 2010. I support and | :11:21. | :11:28. | |
devolution but this must not be a way to shift the blame for cuts. I | :11:29. | :11:31. | |
urge the Government to look again at the scale of cuts being put on | :11:32. | :11:37. | |
governments like Liverpool. The Jasper spoke about localisation and | :11:38. | :11:42. | |
I recognise as my honourable friend just set out eloquently, the strong | :11:43. | :11:45. | |
advantages of localisation, but for the poorest parts of the country | :11:46. | :11:51. | |
like the city of Liverpool, there is a big downside. We stand potentially | :11:52. | :11:54. | |
to lose potential resources from this and I as the Government to | :11:55. | :11:58. | |
think very carefully about how they implement this. I do think if we get | :11:59. | :12:03. | |
this right, devolution can make a real and lasting difference, | :12:04. | :12:06. | |
creating the properly plate, high-quality jobs for the future but | :12:07. | :12:12. | |
Liverpool city region needs. It is a pleasure to follow my colleague on | :12:13. | :12:15. | |
the International Development Select Committee and a chair of that | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
committee, then member for Liverpool West Derby. To have a strong desire | :12:20. | :12:26. | |
economy we need a strong committee. I welcome the points made for the | :12:27. | :12:33. | |
young and disadvantage. The children and social work Bill and the prisons | :12:34. | :12:37. | |
and reform Bill Art particular welcome to give those a second | :12:38. | :12:41. | |
chance who in some many cases never had a chance. Lastly, the review of | :12:42. | :12:45. | |
prison education, unlocking potential, proposed that doing proof | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
the life chances of prisoners, holistic vision of education is | :12:51. | :12:54. | |
needed for them to include family and leadership learning and | :12:55. | :12:58. | |
practical advice on parenting and finance skills. It is heartening to | :12:59. | :13:01. | |
note the Government has agreed to Inverness this review in full. | :13:02. | :13:06. | |
Another excellent report also just published is the in care out of | :13:07. | :13:13. | |
trouble report in which it is said remedial work and work is required | :13:14. | :13:16. | |
but prevention is so much more rewarding and fruitful for the young | :13:17. | :13:22. | |
person and wider society. He continues, whose parenting creates | :13:23. | :13:26. | |
the solid foundation to give the child the best start. Essential | :13:27. | :13:29. | |
ingredients are security and stability. In this context, young | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
children develop self-confidence, trust, personal and social values | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
and optimism. Loss, neglect or trauma at this early stage in life | :13:40. | :13:44. | |
often at creates long and enduring consequences. That is why the | :13:45. | :13:48. | |
commitment in the grossest beach to increase life chances for the most | :13:49. | :13:54. | |
disadvantage to tackle poverty in the causes of deprivation, including | :13:55. | :13:59. | |
family instability are so welcome. Addressing this challenge is urgent. | :14:00. | :14:03. | |
The needs are widespread and not just for those at risk of entering | :14:04. | :14:08. | |
the care or criminal justice system. Years of evidence -based research by | :14:09. | :14:11. | |
the Centre for Social Justice has shown it to be demonstrably the case | :14:12. | :14:17. | |
that growing up in a family where relationships are dysfunctional, | :14:18. | :14:21. | |
chaotic or insecure is not only a key driver of poverty in itself, but | :14:22. | :14:29. | |
a driver of other causes of poverty. Addiction, mental health problems, | :14:30. | :14:32. | |
behavioural problems, poor educational attainment, | :14:33. | :14:35. | |
worklessness, depression and debt. Teachers and mental health charity | :14:36. | :14:41. | |
workers in my constituency tell me that disturbingly increasing levels | :14:42. | :14:46. | |
of parental health amongst children, including very young children, | :14:47. | :14:48. | |
frequently result from insecure family relationships. Will only do | :14:49. | :14:56. | |
giveaway? I certainly will. The will she agree with me that the recent | :14:57. | :15:00. | |
announcement and changes in the measurement of life chances from an | :15:01. | :15:06. | |
arbitrary relative income to taking into account worklessness and | :15:07. | :15:11. | |
households and education attainment reflects the multifaceted nature of | :15:12. | :15:16. | |
poverty and achievement? I do indeed. I also think that we should | :15:17. | :15:19. | |
put on a statutory footing, family instability as well. Yesterday, | :15:20. | :15:27. | |
Relate published a report on couple relationship to stress in the UK. It | :15:28. | :15:32. | |
states, good-quality couple and family and social relationships are | :15:33. | :15:36. | |
the basis for a thriving society, central to our health and | :15:37. | :15:39. | |
well-being. Poor quality relationships have far reaching | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
consequences. Into parental relationships have been recognised | :15:45. | :15:48. | |
as a major determinant of children's' life chances. But their | :15:49. | :15:52. | |
analysis estimates that almost one in five of Gallup 's couple | :15:53. | :15:57. | |
relationships in the UK could be characterised as distressed. That | :15:58. | :16:01. | |
means with a severe level of relationship problems which have a | :16:02. | :16:04. | |
clinically significant negative effect on the partner's well-being. | :16:05. | :16:09. | |
The figure of partners with children under 16 is even higher. But | :16:10. | :16:15. | |
encouragingly, Relate also say that a broad range of relationship | :16:16. | :16:19. | |
support services are effected but improving relationship quality. I | :16:20. | :16:23. | |
hope ministers will rid the report and note the recommendation in it | :16:24. | :16:27. | |
which says that we need to expand access to a spectrum of support for | :16:28. | :16:32. | |
good quality relationships, overcoming barriers of | :16:33. | :16:35. | |
accessibility, availability and affordability and ensure that anyone | :16:36. | :16:38. | |
who needs it can benefit from such support. I look forward to the | :16:39. | :16:43. | |
publication of the Government's life strategy and hope that it will | :16:44. | :16:46. | |
recognise that quality of relationship is a severe limit of | :16:47. | :16:52. | |
life chances and that in every local community, substantially increased | :16:53. | :16:56. | |
support for stronger family relationships is needed. Providing | :16:57. | :16:59. | |
somewhere in every locality where people can go for such support and | :17:00. | :17:04. | |
advice at any stage in their family life is much needed, whether | :17:05. | :17:08. | |
starting a family, bringing up toddlers or teenagers or coping with | :17:09. | :17:11. | |
supporting an elderly parent or even if couples are going through a rocky | :17:12. | :17:15. | |
patch. The troubled families initiative has been successful in | :17:16. | :17:18. | |
providing intervention and support at a crisis page. Let's learn from | :17:19. | :17:24. | |
that but begin it at a much earlier stage when families feel they need | :17:25. | :17:27. | |
help and that's normalise asking for help and providing for it. There | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
cannot be a family in the land that would not benefit from this. Thank | :17:32. | :17:36. | |
you for calling me in this debate. I must confess that I thought the | :17:37. | :17:42. | |
Queen's speech was fairly awful. Not full in its individual ideas such as | :17:43. | :17:50. | |
prison reform and surely not fall in the delivery of Her Majesty The | :17:51. | :17:53. | |
Queen who even sounded vaguely excited by a forthcoming state visit | :17:54. | :17:56. | |
from the Colombians, something we can all get behind. But awful | :17:57. | :18:01. | |
because it lacks any luck sense of big thinking or grand design for the | :18:02. | :18:07. | |
state of the nation. As a MP, icy silly things I want to change | :18:08. | :18:10. | |
listening to the modest list we heard last week, only leaves me | :18:11. | :18:15. | |
frustrated. What makes me so impatient about the shortcomings is | :18:16. | :18:19. | |
that I believe with better leadership, Government, we could do | :18:20. | :18:22. | |
so much better. We are a country with a divide between the very | :18:23. | :18:25. | |
affluent and everyone else is too great. Were running a home, having a | :18:26. | :18:31. | |
decent job, having a good family life is increasingly unattainable | :18:32. | :18:34. | |
for too many people. We have an economy each years after the | :18:35. | :18:39. | |
financial crisis far too reliant on house prices and insurers spend and | :18:40. | :18:43. | |
which is too reliant on London and the south-east. We have seen level | :18:44. | :18:46. | |
of extreme postie and destitution and we have homelessness almost back | :18:47. | :18:52. | |
to 1980s level. We have poorer public services like the NHS and | :18:53. | :18:54. | |
social care with an ageing population do not have enough money. | :18:55. | :18:59. | |
Well for status is not fit for purpose. It gives too little support | :19:00. | :19:03. | |
for too many people but also creating welfare dependency in a | :19:04. | :19:07. | |
small group. We have chronic skill shortages in several major | :19:08. | :19:10. | |
industries which fuels record immigration levels and our lack of | :19:11. | :19:14. | |
any kind of industrial policy leaves several sectors such as steel facing | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
the abyss. Part of our economy are overtaxed while other parts of our | :19:20. | :19:22. | |
economy don't pay the tax that they should and I could go on. Nothing in | :19:23. | :19:27. | |
this Queen 's's speech makes me feel that this Government is looking at | :19:28. | :19:30. | |
these problems. Nothing in it made me feel that the Government has any | :19:31. | :19:33. | |
desire to do more than to hold the Conservative Party together over the | :19:34. | :19:39. | |
next of months. Will he give way? Happily. I not his criticism of the | :19:40. | :19:45. | |
Queen's speech. Does he share the same opinion of Labour's future | :19:46. | :19:49. | |
written by a member of his own party would step that his party lacks | :19:50. | :19:54. | |
credibility on the economy? Grateful for the extra time and I will come | :19:55. | :19:59. | |
on to the wider criticisms. In some respect the Queen's speech was rapid | :20:00. | :20:03. | |
justice on us. Whatever your view on the mendacity of austerity or the | :20:04. | :20:06. | |
success of the Government posture deficit reduction programme, it is | :20:07. | :20:11. | |
simple enough sure to say that reform is affecting the hardest to | :20:12. | :20:14. | |
reach. The truth is they are being reform to remove them from the | :20:15. | :20:17. | |
hardest to reach. It is not true to say that some of the deeper social | :20:18. | :20:20. | |
problems in our society are being tackled when some, such as | :20:21. | :20:24. | |
homelessness, hardly getting worse. In greater Manchester, one of the | :20:25. | :20:29. | |
most NMA parts of England, there is now an entire community of people | :20:30. | :20:34. | |
living in tents in Manchester city centre. That is not what success | :20:35. | :20:38. | |
looks like. I am all for a better measures of life chances but if you | :20:39. | :20:41. | |
get this, you do not need a new set of indicators to understand that | :20:42. | :20:44. | |
taking money from people with serious disabilities as this | :20:45. | :20:47. | |
Government has repeatedly tried to do, will make their lives harder not | :20:48. | :20:51. | |
better. If I were writing it, I would ask for just three things to | :20:52. | :20:55. | |
be in a real Queen's speech. First of all, as echoed by my honourable | :20:56. | :21:03. | |
friend, the introduction of a formal industrial strategy in the UK, | :21:04. | :21:05. | |
focused on making British industry as globally competitive as it can | :21:06. | :21:10. | |
be. Secondly, a Royal commission on the welfare state to see what will | :21:11. | :21:15. | |
be required a state of digital stuff implement and rapid change. And | :21:16. | :21:19. | |
thirdly, some serious democratic reports that future Queen speeches | :21:20. | :21:23. | |
can be better than this one. There was a mild reference to this frenzy | :21:24. | :21:27. | |
of the Commons at the tail end of the speech. At this Government does | :21:28. | :21:30. | |
not want to do so much legislation in the Lords, then it should try to | :21:31. | :21:33. | |
make better legislation. I do not believe the board 's overall to be | :21:34. | :21:37. | |
the hotbed of Democratic socialism that the ministers try to betray it | :21:38. | :21:44. | |
to be. This Queen's speech was not a programme to tackle our biggest | :21:45. | :21:47. | |
problems. It was all filler, no killer. It was a pick and mix of pet | :21:48. | :21:53. | |
projects, if holding card until the next Conservative leadership contest | :21:54. | :21:56. | |
reveals the true direction. We need some entering gauge the public, it | :21:57. | :22:01. | |
might be economy, inspire the future. Britain deserves better than | :22:02. | :22:06. | |
this. It is a great pleasure to speak to the Queen's gracious speech | :22:07. | :22:12. | |
that puts the opportunity and life chances at the heart of our society. | :22:13. | :22:17. | |
A one nation Queen's speech. Britain is forecast to grow faster than any | :22:18. | :22:21. | |
other advanced economy in 2016, with growth forecast to exceed every | :22:22. | :22:29. | |
year. In ten to 15 years, we could be the biggest economy in Europe, | :22:30. | :22:35. | |
and in the German economy. Average weekly wages have risen by 2.1% | :22:36. | :22:39. | |
since last year and it will be our forecast that 2.9 million workers | :22:40. | :22:43. | |
will benefit directly from the introduction of the national living | :22:44. | :22:46. | |
wage and estimates that a further 6 billion could see a pay rise as a | :22:47. | :22:49. | |
result of the ripple effect. This Government was elected to back | :22:50. | :22:53. | |
working people the best way to help working people was to let them keep | :22:54. | :22:57. | |
more of the money they earn. The personal allowance will rise further | :22:58. | :23:04. | |
to 11 point ?5,000 by 2017 or 18, giving several people across the | :23:05. | :23:08. | |
country a tax cut. This Queen's speech mix it easier for companies | :23:09. | :23:15. | |
that be my people on low earnings to get the tax bonus of up to ?50 | :23:16. | :23:19. | |
monthly savings helping 3 million of the lowest paid owners to put money | :23:20. | :23:23. | |
aside. Over the last week the year, we have got on with delivering our | :23:24. | :23:29. | |
manifesto commitments to get people security and opportunity at every | :23:30. | :23:32. | |
stage of their lives. 16% of working age people in the UK are disabled. | :23:33. | :23:37. | |
Or have a health condition. The Government is determined to half the | :23:38. | :23:42. | |
rates of difference between an implement in disabled and | :23:43. | :23:46. | |
non-disabled people so that the disabled can meet their aspirations. | :23:47. | :23:50. | |
We spent 50 billion a year to support people with this vote is a | :23:51. | :23:54. | |
health conditions, 6% of all Government spending. This represents | :23:55. | :23:59. | |
2.5% of GDP and is significantly above spending in countries such as | :24:00. | :24:02. | |
France or Germany and the OCD average of 2.2%. In a last few | :24:03. | :24:08. | |
years, many disabled people have moved on to work with over 3.3 | :24:09. | :24:12. | |
million disabled people now in employment. Halving the disability | :24:13. | :24:17. | |
employment gap, around 1 million more disabled people to find and | :24:18. | :24:20. | |
vision of finding work. Later this, I will hold my first noticeable to | :24:21. | :24:26. | |
confidence in there and I thank the Government from bringing for this | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
fantastic scheme to truly challenge attitudes to employing those with | :24:31. | :24:37. | |
this boat is. I really had a meeting in this House with Ginny remotely at | :24:38. | :24:42. | |
the CEO of IBM to talk about cognitive technology, artificial | :24:43. | :24:46. | |
intelligence and technologies are the future for this country. | :24:47. | :24:51. | |
Energy intensive injures streets are almost exclusively located out of | :24:52. | :24:59. | |
London and other high school jobs and form a vital part of the | :25:00. | :25:05. | |
Northern powerhouse. I am committed to closing the North-South divide | :25:06. | :25:08. | |
and other great northern cities can be greater than the sum of our | :25:09. | :25:15. | |
parts. The Northern powerhouse is underpinned by world-class transport | :25:16. | :25:19. | |
linking our regions to drive up productivity. I have been | :25:20. | :25:24. | |
campaigning to reinstate the Holton Cove and I am delighted to say it | :25:25. | :25:35. | |
was examined and approved. That is a significance. It enables travel into | :25:36. | :25:40. | |
North Wales, Cheshire, Merseyside and greater Manchester. This is a | :25:41. | :25:45. | |
one nation Queen 's speech to a one nation government. To someone who | :25:46. | :25:49. | |
grew up on a council estate, this side of the House is the party of | :25:50. | :25:58. | |
aspiration. Over the last number of days, we have heard from these | :25:59. | :26:03. | |
benches that this Queen's speech has been thin on the ground in terms of | :26:04. | :26:07. | |
new ideas or new legislation and unlike the previous honourable | :26:08. | :26:14. | |
member, I do not see this Queen's speech in terms of being able to | :26:15. | :26:19. | |
address poverty or able to address those who have been hit hard by | :26:20. | :26:24. | |
welfare cuts and particularly the pernicious nature of those cuts | :26:25. | :26:29. | |
which has caused deep up poverty in my constituency, something I don't | :26:30. | :26:33. | |
particularly like because I want to see greater wealth creation and | :26:34. | :26:38. | |
greater income creation, but it is clear the coming referendum has had | :26:39. | :26:43. | |
that effect on this Queen's speech and the Government's ambitions. | :26:44. | :26:48. | |
Whether in Hibbert in the Government is good or bad can be debated at | :26:49. | :26:53. | |
length. I can only say I am disappointed this Government has not | :26:54. | :26:59. | |
done more to address the widening social, economic and infrastructural | :27:00. | :27:02. | |
inequalities that are opening up across these islands and are leaving | :27:03. | :27:09. | |
too many behind, particularly in the constituency I represent in Northern | :27:10. | :27:13. | |
Ireland and if I look at the issue of full broadband. The widening | :27:14. | :27:17. | |
divide between winners and losers is well embodied by the ongoing failure | :27:18. | :27:23. | |
to provide rural communities access to reliable high-speed broadband. | :27:24. | :27:27. | |
New technology gives the potential for more communities to be more | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
closely connected to the wider world of commerce, culture and government, | :27:32. | :27:37. | |
but despite this, a report from the European Commission has found over | :27:38. | :27:42. | |
half of rural areas still do not have access to high-speed | :27:43. | :27:46. | |
connections and I suppose in fairness to the Government, I | :27:47. | :27:50. | |
welcome their commitment contained in the speech to provide households | :27:51. | :27:55. | |
with the right to high-speed connections, but I am concerned over | :27:56. | :27:59. | |
what this really means, who will be responsible for delivering this and | :28:00. | :28:05. | |
who -- how can rural communities do and who they can turn to when they | :28:06. | :28:10. | |
have been let down? I hope the Government is sincere in its | :28:11. | :28:16. | |
intentions but must remain sceptical until further proposals are brought | :28:17. | :28:22. | |
forward hopefully in time to meet the Prime Minister's broadband | :28:23. | :28:26. | |
targets. If I can address those areas where there has been a | :28:27. | :28:31. | |
deficit. There has been no attempt in spite of the letter is signed to | :28:32. | :28:36. | |
address the need to reduced VAT on tourism, a fiscal measure and fiscal | :28:37. | :28:42. | |
flexibility that would aid tourism particularly in an area where we | :28:43. | :28:46. | |
have to compete with visitors from the South of Ireland and today, a | :28:47. | :28:52. | |
report said we have the lowest level of disposable income and the highest | :28:53. | :28:58. | |
level of visitors. Those issues of air passenger taxes have to be | :28:59. | :29:04. | |
addressed. The regional inequalities that exist for Northern Island | :29:05. | :29:11. | |
farmers and place them at a severe disadvantage when compared to their | :29:12. | :29:17. | |
counterparts here in Britain. I would also say that in the coming | :29:18. | :29:21. | |
weeks up until the referendum, there is no doubt that a vote to remain | :29:22. | :29:27. | |
for us in Northern Ireland is the best possible benefit for our local | :29:28. | :29:31. | |
economy and in that respect, I would urge the Government to ensure that | :29:32. | :29:37. | |
the issues of poverty, deprivation and the needs of our tourism | :29:38. | :29:41. | |
industry and broadband connection properly and equitably addressed. | :29:42. | :29:49. | |
It's a pleasure to follow the honourable member and I must say I | :29:50. | :29:54. | |
did not agree with everything she had to say, but I enjoyed her | :29:55. | :30:00. | |
contribution. I feel there are so many encouraging bills to be brought | :30:01. | :30:06. | |
forward. The first I would welcome is a small charitable donations | :30:07. | :30:10. | |
bill. Their Iraq innumerable sports clubs who welcome this bill with | :30:11. | :30:15. | |
open arms. For too long they have been hampered by the lack of gift | :30:16. | :30:22. | |
aid on their collections and I am pleased this will now be addressed. | :30:23. | :30:25. | |
The Government wants to allow local sports clubs gift aid on their | :30:26. | :30:31. | |
donations may be a saving grace on local sports teams. For some, gift | :30:32. | :30:38. | |
aid made more -- may go as far as to give them yet another season. One of | :30:39. | :30:42. | |
the other groups who may benefit are the Young farmers clubs. Young | :30:43. | :30:47. | |
farmers clubs are groups of young people who will get together and | :30:48. | :30:52. | |
organise a wide range of events throughout the year, encompassing | :30:53. | :30:56. | |
everything from barn dances to rule skills to debate on current affairs. | :30:57. | :31:08. | |
For me, the Queen's speech isn't all plain sailing. I have concerns over | :31:09. | :31:13. | |
the economic consequences for the wealthy bill. Further devolution to | :31:14. | :31:18. | |
Cardiff Bay is not what Wales needs. At a time when the UK economy is | :31:19. | :31:23. | |
brought back to life and is on track to further prosperity due to the | :31:24. | :31:28. | |
hard work of the Westminster government giving further powers to | :31:29. | :31:31. | |
the Welsh assembly will slam the brakes on for Wales. We have to | :31:32. | :31:37. | |
ensure the powers over tax and other economic measures are held by the | :31:38. | :31:41. | |
people of Wales want them to be held. With a commitment to abolish | :31:42. | :31:47. | |
the need for a referendum on giving the assembly tax raising powers, I | :31:48. | :31:51. | |
am concerned the constituents will not get a voice over whether they | :31:52. | :31:58. | |
want this power. It is not just my constituents who are worried. Many | :31:59. | :32:04. | |
local businesses are concerned over the assembly having tax-raising | :32:05. | :32:08. | |
powers. I believe the future of Wales would be for the people of | :32:09. | :32:13. | |
Wales to decide and this commitment does not give the people a voice. | :32:14. | :32:18. | |
The voice is important. I hear a great deal about the importance of | :32:19. | :32:22. | |
the Northern powerhouse and the Southern powerhouse, but where is | :32:23. | :32:27. | |
the rural powerhouse? I'm sure many are fully aware farming is one of | :32:28. | :32:32. | |
the staple industries of the UK. In my area it is also the main driver | :32:33. | :32:38. | |
behind the local economy. The food sector employs more than 10% of the | :32:39. | :32:45. | |
UK workforce and the food and farming sector is worth over 100 | :32:46. | :32:50. | |
billion to the economy. Farming is a great job creator. When livestock | :32:51. | :33:01. | |
are taken to market, there is an auctioneer. I was one of those | :33:02. | :33:06. | |
before and they need clerks and staff and when livestock are taken | :33:07. | :33:11. | |
to slaughter, the abattoirs nude pictures and high-tech machinery | :33:12. | :33:15. | |
which is all to be designed by someone and the jobs list goes on | :33:16. | :33:19. | |
and on. Farming is facing hard times, milk prices are falling, land | :33:20. | :33:26. | |
prices are falling, farms are facing great difficulties and we must do | :33:27. | :33:31. | |
all they can to support this vital industry. I hope the better markets | :33:32. | :33:36. | |
Bill may include assistance for farmers in cutting the red tape for | :33:37. | :33:41. | |
the farming community and for that other vital role industry, tourism. | :33:42. | :33:47. | |
I would like to briefly touch on the Digital economy Bill and how this | :33:48. | :33:53. | |
with the great benefit. I will have to leave that to somebody else | :33:54. | :34:01. | |
because I have run out of time. I intend to address in the few minutes | :34:02. | :34:07. | |
I have issues around the criminal finance bill and I think in | :34:08. | :34:11. | |
introducing it, I can do no better then to recognise the contribution | :34:12. | :34:17. | |
on Tuesday of the honourable member for Rush Cliff in his thoughtful | :34:18. | :34:22. | |
contribution to the debate. He commented thus in referring to this | :34:23. | :34:27. | |
bill and I quote, we in this country are very bad at dealing with white | :34:28. | :34:32. | |
collar crime and there is a growing awareness of that. If someone wishes | :34:33. | :34:40. | |
to rob a bank, they go to the live market, they do not put on a | :34:41. | :34:45. | |
balaclava and put -- pick up a shot gun. I hope I can be reassured that | :34:46. | :34:51. | |
the bill will tackle not just tax evasion, which is quite widely high | :34:52. | :34:55. | |
on the public agenda, but money-laundering, and he concluded | :34:56. | :35:00. | |
in this part of his speech, London is still the money-laundering | :35:01. | :35:08. | |
capital of the world. The right honourable member pointed out the | :35:09. | :35:11. | |
nature of the challenge that is faced. Many of the biggest crooks | :35:12. | :35:17. | |
are working in the City of London. This is a major challenge that we | :35:18. | :35:21. | |
should all be willing to address. It would be commendable if the | :35:22. | :35:24. | |
Government eventually produces a very strong bill but sometimes as is | :35:25. | :35:34. | |
said, I have my doubts. A further matter of concern in this regard is | :35:35. | :35:42. | |
this behaviour is so important, if motivation of people is so | :35:43. | :35:46. | |
important, it raises a fundamental concern in my mind about the flawed | :35:47. | :35:51. | |
approach to economics that seems to dominate much of current thinking. | :35:52. | :35:56. | |
We find Treasury civil servants and central bankers have presided over | :35:57. | :36:03. | |
not only corrupt practices and economic failure, but intellectual | :36:04. | :36:10. | |
failure also. Their devotion to what most people know as neoclassical | :36:11. | :36:15. | |
economics has led to their failure to anticipate the largest recession | :36:16. | :36:22. | |
since the 1930s. And refilled their powerlessness as policymakers in the | :36:23. | :36:27. | |
face of the subsequent stagnation of output. The neoclassical is a | :36:28. | :36:34. | |
penchant for putting the regs in the basket of simple mathematics is | :36:35. | :36:39. | |
based on remarkably few variables that leads them to ignore economic | :36:40. | :36:43. | |
problems that are not easy to measure, whether legal or illegal. | :36:44. | :36:50. | |
Even Mervyn King in his book the end of alchemy hinted at this critique | :36:51. | :36:55. | |
when pointing out the failures of existing models to take into account | :36:56. | :37:00. | |
critical changes such as the political reforms in China that led | :37:01. | :37:07. | |
to its rapid growth. I might add the inability to see how attractive the | :37:08. | :37:15. | |
City of London has become. He has mentioned London on several | :37:16. | :37:21. | |
occasions. Are there issues with Edinburgh but Sir Fred Goodwin was a | :37:22. | :37:26. | |
Scotsman in Royal Bank of Scotland so don't insinuate crooks and up in | :37:27. | :37:33. | |
London. I thank the honourable member. I did not infer that at all. | :37:34. | :37:40. | |
If he was here for the beginning of my speech and listening, he might | :37:41. | :37:45. | |
realise what I was doing was quoting the right honourable gentleman | :37:46. | :37:51. | |
sitting in the very place he were sitting in Tuesday who raised this | :37:52. | :37:56. | |
very issue, so if he wants to take issue with this castigation with the | :37:57. | :38:01. | |
City of London, I suggest he looks to his own colleagues rather than | :38:02. | :38:06. | |
myself. If we want to look at what might be done, time does not permit | :38:07. | :38:12. | |
to go into a more detailed analysis, let me suggest a few things. One | :38:13. | :38:17. | |
thing that might be useful is too vast to strengthen support for | :38:18. | :38:22. | |
whistle-blowing, to give employees within the banks and financial | :38:23. | :38:26. | |
institutions greater confidence in raising issues such as suspected | :38:27. | :38:30. | |
money-laundering and the management of illegal assets. As I reflect on | :38:31. | :38:36. | |
my honourable friend from Dundee East, it would be wise for the | :38:37. | :38:41. | |
Treasury to convene a commission into the acidification of the tax | :38:42. | :38:47. | |
code. The more complicated you construct a tax code, the easier it | :38:48. | :38:53. | |
is with those with our intention is to find their ways into securing | :38:54. | :38:57. | |
games for themselves at the expense of others. -- gains. I hope we get a | :38:58. | :39:05. | |
bill of some substance. I hope the Government truly wishes to address | :39:06. | :39:10. | |
those vested interests that do us all harm. | :39:11. | :39:19. | |
It is as ever a pleasure to follow the honourable gentleman. As a | :39:20. | :39:26. | |
neoclassicism myself, I now know I need to keep an eye on my variables. | :39:27. | :39:31. | |
I am grateful for his advice. It is a pleasure to follow the honourable | :39:32. | :39:34. | |
gentleman. I hope you will forgive me for saying its own even greater | :39:35. | :39:39. | |
pleasure for those of us on the side to know there is now an effective | :39:40. | :39:42. | |
opposition in the Scottish parliament is keeping an eye on his | :39:43. | :39:46. | |
colleagues up north. I listen to every word, not only to his speech | :39:47. | :39:50. | |
but also to the proposal by the Shadow Chancellor. I don't know if | :39:51. | :39:54. | |
the Shadow Chancellor rehearses his speeches in front of his colleagues. | :39:55. | :40:02. | |
If so, I don't know a wry smile if equal state, the need to replace | :40:03. | :40:07. | |
all, worn out infrastructure with something more effective. Having | :40:08. | :40:12. | |
read Labour's at my future, and very little red book, I can only imagine | :40:13. | :40:21. | |
that they have their work cut out in the years ahead. But I will say some | :40:22. | :40:27. | |
positive things, if I may. -- Labour's Future. I remain for a | :40:28. | :40:36. | |
short period of time to say if you positive things about this positive | :40:37. | :40:40. | |
speech. I serve on the financial inclusion commission. I share that | :40:41. | :40:44. | |
with the honourable member for East Lothian, and I am particularly | :40:45. | :40:48. | |
interested in how this Government is setting out to improve financial | :40:49. | :40:52. | |
inclusion and resilience. The scale of this problem, highlighted by a | :40:53. | :40:56. | |
paper by the act see a published earlier this week, as the honourable | :40:57. | :41:01. | |
gentleman knows, is immense. The Government is taking positive steps. | :41:02. | :41:06. | |
I welcome a fee free basic bank accounts, the lifetime I and the | :41:07. | :41:10. | |
continuing successful roll-out of total enrolment. I welcome in | :41:11. | :41:16. | |
particular the cell to this save scheme. Over half a million low-paid | :41:17. | :41:20. | |
workers could benefit. I do not one minute underestimate the difficulty | :41:21. | :41:24. | |
for many families in saving ?50 per month, but from my experience with | :41:25. | :41:28. | |
credit unions, I know some do. If they do it through this scheme, they | :41:29. | :41:34. | |
will be better off to the chain of ?1200. I welcome this for its direct | :41:35. | :41:40. | |
impact but even more Eibar commit for the culture that it could | :41:41. | :41:43. | |
provide in terms of financial resilience. Curbs on the supply of | :41:44. | :41:48. | |
payday lending will only get a sofa. Any step that outburst as audience | :41:49. | :41:50. | |
and therefore reduce demand for those crippling services is to be | :41:51. | :41:55. | |
welcomed. Our main focus must be to encourage resilience by promoting | :41:56. | :42:00. | |
our national economic growth. The gracious speech is imbued with | :42:01. | :42:05. | |
policies that will enhance productivity, establishing a legal | :42:06. | :42:08. | |
right to broadband connections has been mentioned a couple of times in | :42:09. | :42:12. | |
this debate. It will enhance productivity and eight financial and | :42:13. | :42:16. | |
social inclusion. The Government's into transport is well founded. The | :42:17. | :42:22. | |
performance of Horsham's local real clinical rail infrastructure has | :42:23. | :42:33. | |
benefited from this. On transport, a great thing was made for Heathrow. | :42:34. | :42:40. | |
Gatwick would have economic benefit as Britain requires a hub airport. | :42:41. | :42:43. | |
The particular national productivity, let's get on with | :42:44. | :42:47. | |
expansion at Heathrow. Lastly, I welcome fair funding for schools | :42:48. | :42:50. | |
which will help the recruitment of maths and other STEM teachers in | :42:51. | :42:55. | |
West Sussex, helping to drive future productivity and ensure we created | :42:56. | :42:58. | |
generation across the country better equipped to seize the opportunities | :42:59. | :43:02. | |
that are being created by this Government and boost financial | :43:03. | :43:08. | |
inclusion and resilience. There are measures to like in this Queen's | :43:09. | :43:12. | |
speech. The soft rings industry levy is something I argued for 15 years | :43:13. | :43:16. | |
ago. But I wonder the Government that it makes no sense to tax sugar | :43:17. | :43:22. | |
but simultaneously cut funding forced sport in schools. You tackle | :43:23. | :43:26. | |
beastie first and foremost to exercise, not by stand-alone | :43:27. | :43:31. | |
measurements. -- obesity. The prison reform Bill, if it is a genuine | :43:32. | :43:40. | |
attempt to change a penal facility into a rehabilitation system will be | :43:41. | :43:44. | |
a much-needed transformation. Measures to like. But the wear. | :43:45. | :43:48. | |
Nothing shows the weakness of an administration more than when it | :43:49. | :43:53. | |
feels to have big, controversial bills in the gracious speech. This | :43:54. | :43:57. | |
Queen's speech is one that certainly can policies that are wrong. The | :43:58. | :44:02. | |
education bill for example with its academisation programme and its | :44:03. | :44:06. | |
national funding for cramp is an appalling return to the old | :44:07. | :44:09. | |
obsession with structures rather than standards and the formula, | :44:10. | :44:14. | |
well, it will take ?18 million from schools in Brent and college fair. I | :44:15. | :44:21. | |
am talking of reception classes where we have 29 children who are | :44:22. | :44:25. | |
speaking 21 different mother tongues. 8.6 per pupil spending cuts | :44:26. | :44:33. | |
through them is not fair. It is wrong. But my point is that the | :44:34. | :44:36. | |
Government has essentially run out of steam or is too insecure of the | :44:37. | :44:40. | |
support of its own members to risk big, controversial met... Measures | :44:41. | :44:45. | |
so perhaps in the spirit of assistance, I would set out the bill | :44:46. | :44:50. | |
that the Government could and should have place at the heart of the | :44:51. | :44:54. | |
address. I Green growth bill that would set a clear trajectory for the | :44:55. | :45:00. | |
UK to lead the world in today's low-carbon industrial resolution | :45:01. | :45:04. | |
just addicted to 50 years ago in the coal powered Industrial Revolution. | :45:05. | :45:08. | |
I've bill that would deal with energy, with land use, with water | :45:09. | :45:12. | |
resources, transport, green city infrastructure in an integrated and | :45:13. | :45:15. | |
sustainable way and that would transform the Treasury model from | :45:16. | :45:20. | |
its current excision upon GDP growth on one that is focused on what | :45:21. | :45:25. | |
maximisation. To understand that GDP and wealth are not the same, one | :45:26. | :45:29. | |
only needs to recall that the 2013-14 floods were the single | :45:30. | :45:35. | |
biggest contributor to GDP in 2014, while simultaneously ruining | :45:36. | :45:41. | |
thousands of people's lives. GDP measures productivity, not wealth. A | :45:42. | :45:44. | |
green growth bill would make our country focus on what really | :45:45. | :45:49. | |
matters. Currently, businesses extract an estimated 7 trillion | :45:50. | :45:51. | |
globally from the environment each year. This is in the free | :45:52. | :45:56. | |
knowledgeable goods and the equally new pupil services that they occupy. | :45:57. | :46:01. | |
But that does not appear on balance sheets. They are externalities. No | :46:02. | :46:07. | |
Government account exists that charts their Konta beast into the | :46:08. | :46:10. | |
national boss, yet they represent the annual income from an asset base | :46:11. | :46:15. | |
that is quite simply the precondition of all other economic | :46:16. | :46:19. | |
activity. What sort of economic managers do we have who fail to | :46:20. | :46:24. | |
quantify an asset base of this magnitude and this importance? A | :46:25. | :46:28. | |
green growth bill would establish national capital accountants of the | :46:29. | :46:33. | |
by measuring nature we can make its contribution to our economy | :46:34. | :46:35. | |
measurable and affect decision-making. I green growth bill | :46:36. | :46:40. | |
would elect as treasurer for the sexes of the Treasury which would | :46:41. | :46:47. | |
affect budgets, but services depletion as well. Our national debt | :46:48. | :46:53. | |
is arguably a much more urgent issue then our financial debt, yet our | :46:54. | :46:56. | |
Government is feeling sick tag yearly to rid first the decline in | :46:57. | :47:04. | |
net acid -based -- natural debts. . It is a pleasure to follow the | :47:05. | :47:08. | |
member for Brent North but I am pleased to rise in support of the | :47:09. | :47:13. | |
gracious speech. I do so for three main reasons. First because it | :47:14. | :47:18. | |
recognises that businesses create jobs because we recognise on the | :47:19. | :47:21. | |
side that we want to make sure that people keep more of what they earn | :47:22. | :47:27. | |
and because it allows Government support for families in looking | :47:28. | :47:30. | |
after themselves better in the years ahead. Businesses to create jobs in | :47:31. | :47:36. | |
North East Hampshire and the surrounding area which means that we | :47:37. | :47:39. | |
in my constituency are doing very well under this Government's the | :47:40. | :47:45. | |
long-term economic plan. The reality is that half of 1% of economic | :47:46. | :47:52. | |
league active people are unemployed. This is excellent news, but we must | :47:53. | :47:57. | |
not be complacent. There are still 255 people who need work and we must | :47:58. | :48:04. | |
make sure we create the options are businesses to do that. -- 250 5000. | :48:05. | :48:10. | |
I am glad that small businesses will be helped by the obligation for | :48:11. | :48:13. | |
broadband which is a real issue in rural areas of my constituency where | :48:14. | :48:16. | |
people want to set up their own businesses and need to be able to | :48:17. | :48:19. | |
access the Internet that can't at the moment. Further, I want to make | :48:20. | :48:24. | |
a further point have of my constituents that their taxes must | :48:25. | :48:29. | |
be well spent and they expect this because North East Hampshire | :48:30. | :48:33. | |
receives just over ?350 per head on average in benefits, which is the | :48:34. | :48:37. | |
least of all constituencies in the country. This is as a result of a | :48:38. | :48:41. | |
strong economy and taxpayers recognise that while there should be | :48:42. | :48:44. | |
a welfare state as a safety net, it must not be a lifestyle choice. That | :48:45. | :48:48. | |
is why it is important we help people to keep more of what they | :48:49. | :48:52. | |
earn to incentivise work. The tax-free allowance has risen to | :48:53. | :48:56. | |
11000 and we must go further in the future. 2 million people pay no | :48:57. | :49:00. | |
income tax at all, but many in my constituency paid a high rate of | :49:01. | :49:06. | |
tax. -- 3 million. The rice is a good step up we must go further. The | :49:07. | :49:10. | |
member Doncaster was onto something when he talked about the Swedes | :49:11. | :49:14. | |
middle. It is true, there are people who need support who have reasonably | :49:15. | :49:18. | |
paid jobs but still find things tough. That is what we're to do by | :49:19. | :49:24. | |
increasing the threshold for the higher rate and I encourage | :49:25. | :49:28. | |
ministers to go further. So last in the time I have available, I want | :49:29. | :49:34. | |
covered the most local of all and that is families and life chances. | :49:35. | :49:38. | |
It is right that we create good schools for everyone. It is right | :49:39. | :49:42. | |
that people should not have their lives dictated to them by where they | :49:43. | :49:47. | |
came from, but rather by the skills and abilities they have and where | :49:48. | :49:52. | |
they want to go. A key part of that is the family in which they live. I | :49:53. | :49:56. | |
am pleased that it is this Government, the Conservative | :49:57. | :50:04. | |
Government tween 2010 and 2015 in coalition with the Liberal Democrats | :50:05. | :50:08. | |
and continued now by the majority Government that has recognised | :50:09. | :50:11. | |
marriage in the tax system. The marriage allowance is an important | :50:12. | :50:16. | |
step, but we should go further because family breakdown costs the | :50:17. | :50:20. | |
Government, costs taxpayers, ?48 billion every year. If we could even | :50:21. | :50:27. | |
tackle a fraction of the family breakdown in our country, not only | :50:28. | :50:31. | |
would we save taxpayers money, but we would also improve life chances | :50:32. | :50:34. | |
for people because all of the research shows that people with | :50:35. | :50:39. | |
stable family backgrounds enjoy better educational prospects and | :50:40. | :50:45. | |
better jobs in their own futures. While we must focus on individuals | :50:46. | :50:48. | |
and make sure that they have the life chances, this is also about | :50:49. | :50:52. | |
making sure that we bring in public finances under control and writing | :50:53. | :50:56. | |
all of these things, we will do just that. Thank you, Madam Deputy | :50:57. | :51:04. | |
Speaker. After years of abandoning and punishing was vulnerable people | :51:05. | :51:09. | |
in society, we get Queen's speech that talks about introducing | :51:10. | :51:11. | |
legislation to tackle some of the deepest social problems in society | :51:12. | :51:16. | |
and improve life chances for the most disadvantaged. But we all know | :51:17. | :51:20. | |
what the truth is, that this Government's grand rhetoric is | :51:21. | :51:23. | |
rarely matched by policy. In fact, their policies tend to be regressive | :51:24. | :51:28. | |
and punitive, pushing more and more people into poverty. No one living | :51:29. | :51:31. | |
in poverty is doing so as a result of their own doing. The perpetuation | :51:32. | :51:36. | |
of poverty and the rise of child poverty since 2010 is a clear | :51:37. | :51:41. | |
feeling of Government. A recent report from Sheffield Hallam | :51:42. | :51:44. | |
University, which was also referred to by the Honourable member for | :51:45. | :51:48. | |
Glasgow Central, looked at the uneven impact of welfare reform. It | :51:49. | :51:52. | |
revealed that the North, yet again, takes the biggest hit on welfare | :51:53. | :51:57. | |
reform while the South outside London remains largely unscathed. | :51:58. | :52:02. | |
83% of the overall financial losses fall families with children. The | :52:03. | :52:07. | |
north-east region alone is set to lose 620 million a year by 2021. | :52:08. | :52:15. | |
That is lost per working age adults of ?380 per year. South Tyneside, | :52:16. | :52:20. | |
the borough which covers my constituency, is the sixth worst | :52:21. | :52:25. | |
affected local authority. Even the introduction of the living wage has | :52:26. | :52:29. | |
left the lowest paid workers little, if at all, better. One of my | :52:30. | :52:34. | |
constituents, a carer, is now in a desperate financial situation | :52:35. | :52:36. | |
because the new living wage has taken her over the threshold to be | :52:37. | :52:41. | |
eligible for a carer's allowance. An extra ?8 per week has cost her ?62 | :52:42. | :52:48. | |
in lost benefit. If this Government, Madam Deputy Speaker, really cares | :52:49. | :52:56. | |
about chances, they would not be running the services people rely on | :52:57. | :52:58. | |
the most into the ground. They would not have close over 800 sure start | :52:59. | :53:01. | |
centres. They would not be presiding over a crisis in teacher recruitment | :53:02. | :53:04. | |
or focusing resources on adoption to the detriment of social work that | :53:05. | :53:08. | |
could keep families together. They would not be presiding over the | :53:09. | :53:12. | |
collapse of the NHS and social care. They would not have made such an | :53:13. | :53:15. | |
absolute mess of the benefit system to the degree that over a 1 million | :53:16. | :53:20. | |
food parcels have been handed out. Disabled people would not be losing | :53:21. | :53:25. | |
over ?1500 per year, the terminally ill would not be getting declared | :53:26. | :53:28. | |
fit for a ill and their incomes slashed, homelessness would not have | :53:29. | :53:33. | |
doubled since 2010, we would not have rising wealth inequality in | :53:34. | :53:39. | |
areas blighted by high unemployment. The Children's Society have reported | :53:40. | :53:42. | |
that shows in and of people in Britain are among the unhappiest and | :53:43. | :53:46. | |
unhealthiest, poorest and least educated in the developed world. | :53:47. | :53:50. | |
What this Queen's speech identifies is an impotence in careless | :53:51. | :53:55. | |
Government. Its numerous U-turns reveal deep problems in the core of | :53:56. | :54:01. | |
their policy-making. 28 of the 30 announcements we had heard before, | :54:02. | :54:04. | |
and that is because for the last year, we have had to put up with a | :54:05. | :54:08. | |
Government obsessed with internal politics. We all know that the EU | :54:09. | :54:11. | |
referendum has nothing at all to do do with whether or not we are in or | :54:12. | :54:17. | |
out of Europe, they have taken up precious parliamentary time with a | :54:18. | :54:20. | |
prolonged, an edifying fight between... You can have your say | :54:21. | :54:26. | |
later! Between two middle aged public school trams over who is | :54:27. | :54:30. | |
going to run the country. Order, order. Although that was from a | :54:31. | :54:34. | |
sedentary position, it is not you who has had a say. It is he who has | :54:35. | :54:41. | |
had a state. Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. | :54:42. | :54:48. | |
If this is the Prime Minister's last Queen 's speech, it is not something | :54:49. | :54:56. | |
they will be proud. I will have to reduce the time limit to three | :54:57. | :55:00. | |
minutes. People will have to start speaking really quickly. Whilst many | :55:01. | :55:08. | |
of the measures in the speech will bring benefits to North Warwickshire | :55:09. | :55:15. | |
and Bedworth, I want to focus on the Digital economy Bill which is vital | :55:16. | :55:19. | |
not just in my constituency where there are large pockets of rural | :55:20. | :55:23. | |
communities, but across the whole UK's -- UK if we are to me tame our | :55:24. | :55:33. | |
position. I want to be part of a nation where technology continues to | :55:34. | :55:38. | |
transform society but we need to up our efforts in creating world-class | :55:39. | :55:43. | |
digital infrastructure and delivering universal broadband. Less | :55:44. | :55:50. | |
than half of the UK properties had access to superfast broadband. Now | :55:51. | :55:55. | |
90% of households enjoy it and that is set to increase to 95% by 2017. | :55:56. | :56:02. | |
Better connectivity brings more choice, more opportunities and | :56:03. | :56:07. | |
greater competition. New markets for businesses are opened up not just | :56:08. | :56:12. | |
within the UK or the confines of the EU, but also globally and in | :56:13. | :56:17. | |
emerging markets. Consumers are more empowered and find it easy to access | :56:18. | :56:22. | |
a wider age -- range of goods but there are other less recognised | :56:23. | :56:26. | |
benefits that greater connectivity brings. It can help keep families in | :56:27. | :56:31. | |
touch, including our military based overseas, it can ease pressure on | :56:32. | :56:35. | |
our health services and combat issues such as loneliness | :56:36. | :56:39. | |
particularly in isolated rural areas. I have long championed the | :56:40. | :56:43. | |
case for high-speed broadband and have seen these benefits such as | :56:44. | :56:50. | |
pretty box, which operates from a farm building and is reliant on the | :56:51. | :56:55. | |
Internet but has now been able to grow and employ 25 local people | :56:56. | :56:59. | |
thanks to the connectivity delivered. I have two observations | :57:00. | :57:05. | |
however which I would like to share with ministers. Firstly, there needs | :57:06. | :57:09. | |
to be better communication with local communities both before and | :57:10. | :57:13. | |
after the installation of new services. I have been contacted by | :57:14. | :57:17. | |
those not aware of the role out plans for the area and that actually | :57:18. | :57:23. | |
there were soon going to be connected. It is vital the next | :57:24. | :57:28. | |
steps are strongly communicated to those who now have access as I have | :57:29. | :57:31. | |
lost count of the number of constituents think the upgrade or | :57:32. | :57:37. | |
bad is available, their speeds will automatically increase. They do not | :57:38. | :57:42. | |
realise they have to activate a superfast service or pick from a | :57:43. | :57:47. | |
range of providers. My second point relates to the not spots, the 5% to | :57:48. | :57:54. | |
buy 2017. Not have access to broadband, a number of the NFU puts | :57:55. | :57:59. | |
at 1.2 million and the 10% who will still not have access to mobile | :58:00. | :58:04. | |
phone coverage. Many of these areas will be raw and farming communities | :58:05. | :58:07. | |
and I know of several which offer little or no coverage and speed of | :58:08. | :58:15. | |
often dial-up proportions. We must do everything we can to ensure these | :58:16. | :58:19. | |
communities are connected as soon as possible so as not to be left | :58:20. | :58:24. | |
behind. It is clear the demand is there. What I am urging the | :58:25. | :58:27. | |
Government to do is act decisively and look at the options. These | :58:28. | :58:32. | |
remaining properties will be the most difficult to reach, so in the | :58:33. | :58:38. | |
best entrepreneurial British spirit we need to be creative and | :58:39. | :58:42. | |
innovative. There are opportunities to look at providers who can create | :58:43. | :58:47. | |
separate infrastructure projects, there are options should provide | :58:48. | :58:50. | |
greater access to satellite provisions and we need to encourage | :58:51. | :58:54. | |
projects for which there is no current funding. To conclude, there | :58:55. | :58:58. | |
are many things this one nation Queen's speech that as they are | :58:59. | :59:04. | |
implemented will bring great benefit to the UK as a whole and the | :59:05. | :59:09. | |
continued focused by this Government on a digital economy can live a | :59:10. | :59:16. | |
legacy for generations to come. It's a pleasure to be able to speak in | :59:17. | :59:22. | |
the Queen's speech debate. As many both inside and outside this House | :59:23. | :59:27. | |
have remarked, the speech has felt like a bit of a damp squib as my | :59:28. | :59:34. | |
honourable friend said earlier, all filler, no killer. Maybe that is | :59:35. | :59:38. | |
because all eyes are on the referendum but it is astonishing the | :59:39. | :59:42. | |
Tories have been waiting for a majority government since the 1990s | :59:43. | :59:49. | |
and have already run out of ideas by their second's Queen 's speech. As | :59:50. | :59:53. | |
far as the economy is concerned, the sum total of the bills in this | :59:54. | :59:57. | |
speech does not add up to the comp rancid plan that will put the | :59:58. | :00:02. | |
recovery on a more sustainable footing or allow citizens to meet | :00:03. | :00:05. | |
the challenges of the Labour market as it is today but also the jobs of | :00:06. | :00:11. | |
the future. We're not producing enough secure, well-paid jobs and | :00:12. | :00:15. | |
the Government has presided over record low pay growth so we badly | :00:16. | :00:20. | |
needed eight comprehensive productivity plan which is totally | :00:21. | :00:24. | |
missing from this speech. The Chancellor has been the steward of | :00:25. | :00:29. | |
the economy for the past six years, but he appears to be a one trick | :00:30. | :00:33. | |
pony struggling with his only trip. His only real plan is deficit | :00:34. | :00:39. | |
reduction and he continually misses his own targets. We know he failed | :00:40. | :00:44. | |
to eliminate the deficit in the last Parliament as promised and figures | :00:45. | :00:48. | |
released on Tuesday showed the Chancellor had missed his borrowing | :00:49. | :00:53. | |
target from last year by ?3.8 billion with the deficit still | :00:54. | :00:58. | |
standing at ?76 billion. Manufacturing remains 6.9% below | :00:59. | :01:05. | |
2008 levels and our export performance is worrying because | :01:06. | :01:08. | |
although services continue to outperform, we are still lagging | :01:09. | :01:13. | |
behind on goods exports with a shortfall that is the widest it has | :01:14. | :01:17. | |
ever been and it is worth remembering the Chancellor said in | :01:18. | :01:22. | |
2011 that our exports were critical to our economic growth and he would | :01:23. | :01:27. | |
double the value of exports to one trillion and increase the number of | :01:28. | :01:33. | |
exporters to 100,000, but exports were not mentioned in last year's | :01:34. | :01:37. | |
budget because there has only been a tiny increased and the number of | :01:38. | :01:44. | |
exporters has fallen between 2013 and 2014. The Chancellor will try | :01:45. | :01:48. | |
and blame the global cocktail of risk but many of these problems are | :01:49. | :01:55. | |
of the Government's own makings. What we needed from the speech was a | :01:56. | :01:59. | |
proper productivity plan, more than the vague old failed policies that | :02:00. | :02:05. | |
they try to put together under a new label and we needed a fresh start | :02:06. | :02:10. | |
for exports so that our performance in exports can stop the rebalancing | :02:11. | :02:16. | |
our economy urgently needs. -- start. It is a great honour to stand | :02:17. | :02:22. | |
up in this chamber and speak for my constituents and I am proud to | :02:23. | :02:26. | |
represent them. We heard from the honourable friend and in her | :02:27. | :02:34. | |
eloquent speech, she reminded every member of the opportunities all | :02:35. | :02:37. | |
members have to change things for the better and to fight for the | :02:38. | :02:42. | |
causes we care about. She protruded to the willingness of members on all | :02:43. | :02:46. | |
sides to work collaboratively in cross-party groups to fight for | :02:47. | :02:51. | |
shared causes. For all be disagreements there are on both | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
sides and on our own sites, there is a common desire to serve our | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
constituents to the best of our ability and make whatever small | :03:01. | :03:04. | |
difference we can in a world that seems filled with injustice. This | :03:05. | :03:08. | |
gracious speech contained within it the very measures that drove me to | :03:09. | :03:12. | |
fight so hard against the odds to come to this place. Call it social | :03:13. | :03:18. | |
justice, social mobility, life chances, it is at the heart of -- it | :03:19. | :03:27. | |
is all about hope and possibility and specifically hope and | :03:28. | :03:30. | |
possibility who -- for those who have not had it eg -- easy. This | :03:31. | :03:37. | |
speech is about tackling the barriers that too often stand in | :03:38. | :03:43. | |
front of too many. I am proud this Government has placed a commitment | :03:44. | :03:46. | |
to strong families at the heart of this speech, for it is a strong | :03:47. | :03:52. | |
family that will give any child the best start in life and while some | :03:53. | :03:59. | |
may dismiss this as instant sensual fourth -- insubstantial froth, a | :04:00. | :04:05. | |
strong family is at the core of a successful, thriving economy and | :04:06. | :04:10. | |
it's the children in struggling families, the children in care, it | :04:11. | :04:14. | |
is these children denied the hope and possibility and chance of | :04:15. | :04:18. | |
something better. Too many do not want to talk about the underlying | :04:19. | :04:22. | |
causes of disadvantage and I think we should not shy away from it. It | :04:23. | :04:31. | |
is about family breakdown, addiction, mental health | :04:32. | :04:33. | |
difficulties and repeat spells in prison and homelessness. And getting | :04:34. | :04:40. | |
out of that circle is so difficult. Strong families take many forms, my | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
mother was a single parent with five children who struggled very hard to | :04:46. | :04:49. | |
keep our family together, but she taught me you can search your mind | :04:50. | :04:53. | |
to anything and achieve it. You might have to fight harder than to | :04:54. | :05:00. | |
not let that stop you. I want for others the ability to make their way | :05:01. | :05:04. | |
in the world, no matter where they came from, no matter what obstacles | :05:05. | :05:08. | |
they face and that is why I wanted to come here to fight for those too | :05:09. | :05:13. | |
often written off and whose lives can take another direction if only | :05:14. | :05:20. | |
they had the chance. It is self-evident that the issues of | :05:21. | :05:24. | |
investment, jobs and skills are the key to solving many of the problems | :05:25. | :05:29. | |
faced in the country. I want to touch on those areas. With regards | :05:30. | :05:34. | |
to investment, there has been a slowdown due to the impact of the | :05:35. | :05:39. | |
recession and slow and steady recovery in the north. The only | :05:40. | :05:46. | |
recent investment has been in the facility in Netherton in | :05:47. | :05:48. | |
manufacturing printers. Emo strategic investment is the deep sea | :05:49. | :05:54. | |
berth at the port of Liverpool, however, while there are plans to | :05:55. | :05:58. | |
build a new road to the port, the plans in relation to rail freight | :05:59. | :06:05. | |
are abysmal, with just ?10 million over the next three years. Perhaps | :06:06. | :06:11. | |
there should be a halt on the road development until we get a better | :06:12. | :06:14. | |
and more Sim by or take relationship between rail and road investment. We | :06:15. | :06:21. | |
have a chronic deficit of private investment. Private-sector job | :06:22. | :06:31. | |
increases have not replaced public-sector loss. As alluded to, | :06:32. | :06:37. | |
this is compounded by underinvestment in public | :06:38. | :06:44. | |
infrastructure. I hope that the devolution deal will deliver on its | :06:45. | :06:48. | |
promise to attract more investment into the area and I want to give a | :06:49. | :06:54. | |
thumbs up the chair of Liverpool city combined authorities made that | :06:55. | :06:58. | |
case for the whole of Merseyside as ministers will testify. Gaining | :06:59. | :07:03. | |
investment and jobs stimulated by a Liverpool development and improve | :07:04. | :07:09. | |
road access, connecting to the northern powerhouse will be | :07:10. | :07:13. | |
critical. Jobs, the stagnant recovery has reflected the levels of | :07:14. | :07:19. | |
jobs in Bootle constituency although the chronic recession has not | :07:20. | :07:25. | |
affected to a greater extent the levels of unemployment in Bootle. As | :07:26. | :07:31. | |
for skills, this is a bone of contention nationally and we have | :07:32. | :07:35. | |
managed to write that and bring the levels of skills up, but it can't be | :07:36. | :07:44. | |
right and there must be something wrong where an economy can spend ?20 | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
million on a garden bridge across the Thames and 20, ?10 million only | :07:50. | :07:57. | |
in investment, rail investment in one of the largest port in the | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
country. There is something wrong with that system and that's the sort | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
of thing that has to change and I hope this speech does change it, but | :08:07. | :08:12. | |
I doubt it. It's a great pleasure to follow the member for Bootle. I | :08:13. | :08:18. | |
welcome this Queen's speech because it builds upon the Government's | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
progress and gets Britain fit for the future. On jobs, employment is | :08:24. | :08:27. | |
set to have risen by 3 million since 2010. The number on job-seeker | :08:28. | :08:40. | |
jobseeker's allowance has halved. It prepares our economy for the future | :08:41. | :08:44. | |
tomorrow by equipping the country to lead in what is becoming known as | :08:45. | :08:47. | |
the Ford Industrial Revolution, helping to create jobs and Strachan | :08:48. | :08:54. | |
economic growth. The first industrial revolution used steam | :08:55. | :08:57. | |
power, the second use electricity and the third used information | :08:58. | :09:01. | |
technology and now a fourth Industrial Revolution builds on that | :09:02. | :09:07. | |
third, characterised by a fusion of technologies that blurs the lines | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
between the physical, digital and biological. At the core of this new | :09:12. | :09:17. | |
revolution are advances like high-quality manufacturing, | :09:18. | :09:22. | |
robotics, a new digital economy and life sciences. It is a shift that | :09:23. | :09:26. | |
will transform the world's economy in the decades ahead and it is | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
because of this speech that Britain's economy and workforce is | :09:32. | :09:35. | |
set to play a leading role. I welcome the bill that gives Britain | :09:36. | :09:39. | |
world-class digital infrastructure. The pool will benefit from the new | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
broadband universal service obligation that enshrines a right to | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
the fast broadband connections that underpinned every aspect of digital | :09:49. | :09:50. | |
economy and modern life. Just as Britain by in years but the | :09:51. | :09:58. | |
steam train and the jet engine, we are also poised to be leaders in the | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
next generation of transport advances. This bill paces the UK at | :10:03. | :10:05. | |
the forefront of new technologies like driverless cars and so I | :10:06. | :10:09. | |
welcome the modern transport bill. It is a bill that shows investors | :10:10. | :10:12. | |
that we in Britain are committed to Strasberg innovation and the many | :10:13. | :10:16. | |
jobs that would be created as a result. -- transport innovation. If | :10:17. | :10:21. | |
we are to lead the fourth industrial revolution, then we do not have the | :10:22. | :10:27. | |
knack we cannot let at passers-by. We require the tools to straighten | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
our economy and create those jobs up and down the country represented by | :10:32. | :10:35. | |
this House. That's what I believe this Queen's speech does, and I | :10:36. | :10:39. | |
believe it does deserve the support of the House. I will be voting for | :10:40. | :10:42. | |
it this evening. Thank you very much. The 1980s UK Government took | :10:43. | :10:49. | |
the decision to abandon the shipbuilding industry in my | :10:50. | :10:52. | |
constituency. The subsequent catastrophe led to the decimation of | :10:53. | :10:57. | |
the industry has people could take pride in. The UK Government pulls | :10:58. | :11:01. | |
the plug from shipbuilding without even the facade of a workable | :11:02. | :11:04. | |
regeneration programme for Inverclyde. In 1887, other companies | :11:05. | :11:10. | |
relying on the shipyard began closing and be an implement rates | :11:11. | :11:16. | |
skyrocketed to 25%. The IBM facility was highlighted as an example of a | :11:17. | :11:20. | |
long-term employment that could offset the decline of traditional | :11:21. | :11:25. | |
industries. In March that and 88, Margaret Thatcher visited the IBM | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
site to champion the cause of the private sector and how it was saving | :11:30. | :11:33. | |
Inverclyde in the wake of the shipyard closes. Fast forward to the | :11:34. | :11:36. | |
present day and we have the Queen's speech promising to spread economic | :11:37. | :11:41. | |
prosperity, we know now that by the end of 2016, there will not be as | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
simple IBM job left at that site. Two of the major employers have also | :11:47. | :11:54. | |
recently announced job losses. The financial and economic all tolls of | :11:55. | :11:57. | |
these individuals and families in the wider community is impossible to | :11:58. | :12:01. | |
quantify. For successful companies is Inverclyde that are still trying | :12:02. | :12:05. | |
to set sail against the wings of economic stagnation and population | :12:06. | :12:09. | |
decline. Ever into the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Minister | :12:10. | :12:11. | |
for employment to visit Inverclyde and CeBIT potential our area has to | :12:12. | :12:18. | |
opt in. I know many other constituencies are also suffering, | :12:19. | :12:20. | |
but Inverclyde seems to have suffered a disproportionate effect | :12:21. | :12:25. | |
for decades. Over 30 years of economic decline, 30 years of | :12:26. | :12:28. | |
depopulation and 30 years of UK Government indifference. We are not | :12:29. | :12:33. | |
looking for hand-outs. The people of Inverclyde are resilient but they | :12:34. | :12:43. | |
lack opportunity. We need a workable plan for regeneration and we can't | :12:44. | :12:48. | |
wait 30 more years for it to be implemented. After the pain of the | :12:49. | :12:52. | |
nation 80s, the UK Government has a historic debt to Inverclyde. The | :12:53. | :12:56. | |
Conservative Government of that time had the zeal and commitment to close | :12:57. | :12:59. | |
on the subject. Sadly, that has not been matched by an equally energetic | :13:00. | :13:03. | |
and unwavering commitment to regeneration. Some may say this is | :13:04. | :13:07. | |
ancient history, but my office deals with the constituents cases every | :13:08. | :13:10. | |
day with a direct legacy of decisions made by the UK Government | :13:11. | :13:14. | |
in the 1980s. I'm hoping UK Government, as the only Government | :13:15. | :13:18. | |
in the UK with a full range of economic powers at its spores, will | :13:19. | :13:21. | |
be part of that solution and if they are unwilling to do that, then give | :13:22. | :13:26. | |
the full range of powers required to Scottish Government and let them get | :13:27. | :13:31. | |
on with the job. Thank you very much. Somebody once told me there | :13:32. | :13:38. | |
was no such thing as luck. What, they said, is a place where | :13:39. | :13:42. | |
opportunity and preparation meet. Many of us in this general have | :13:43. | :13:45. | |
grown up with everything pretty much sorted. A stable family, decent | :13:46. | :13:50. | |
tousled income, decent education, good health, that's perfect mix that | :13:51. | :13:54. | |
prepared us to control our lives and make use of opportunities became our | :13:55. | :13:58. | |
way. So we talk about the life chances strategy, we are talking | :13:59. | :14:01. | |
about identifying the things that the Government can do to plug the | :14:02. | :14:05. | |
gaps were individuals not so fortunate as asked where one of | :14:06. | :14:09. | |
those key ingredient is missing. I applaud the Prime Minister for | :14:10. | :14:12. | |
making this a central theme in his work. It is certainly why I came | :14:13. | :14:16. | |
into politics. But now we have the challenge of translating that policy | :14:17. | :14:21. | |
aspiration into detail. That challenge is huge. Not just because | :14:22. | :14:24. | |
we are still recovering from economic turbulence, but because one | :14:25. | :14:27. | |
of the solutions cannot be so easily measured nor have metrics attached. | :14:28. | :14:33. | |
People transform the lines of people. Hearts, heads, promises, | :14:34. | :14:39. | |
support, mistakes sometimes but above all trust. People. So if I | :14:40. | :14:44. | |
return to my premise that it is all about opportunity and preparation, | :14:45. | :14:48. | |
the Government can certainly develop policy to create the opportunities | :14:49. | :14:51. | |
and has done that well already in improving economy, record levels of | :14:52. | :14:55. | |
input employment, increasing minimum wage, transmission of the benefit | :14:56. | :14:59. | |
system, investment in the NHS, helped to buy schemes. Admittedly, | :15:00. | :15:04. | |
we would all agree we have much more to do on affordable housing, | :15:05. | :15:06. | |
especially in constituencies like mine, and I think we are still | :15:07. | :15:12. | |
uncovering the enormity of the mental health challenges, but those | :15:13. | :15:14. | |
policies will provide essential opportunities in many millions of | :15:15. | :15:16. | |
people are benefiting from them already. But is the preparation part | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
of that equation I want to focus on. How do we help those without those | :15:22. | :15:25. | |
building blocks? When I think of all the people I know who have | :15:26. | :15:28. | |
transformed their lives without fail, the single comment nominator | :15:29. | :15:32. | |
has been another person. There may have been Government intervention in | :15:33. | :15:36. | |
the mix somewhere such as a grant, but a loan that would not have been | :15:37. | :15:40. | |
enough. When you need to turn your life around, you need another human | :15:41. | :15:44. | |
being to help you. Every Government department has a role to play. | :15:45. | :15:48. | |
Ministers need to identify where people cut their department and | :15:49. | :15:52. | |
embed the big society in their areas of responsibility. DC LG, trouble | :15:53. | :15:56. | |
families, fantastic. Crowds and council are doing amazing work to | :15:57. | :16:00. | |
break down internal silos to put their residence at the heart of | :16:01. | :16:05. | |
everything they do. I applaud the Department for Education and mentors | :16:06. | :16:07. | |
for children from employers locally. What about the parents to? Pig of | :16:08. | :16:12. | |
Billy Elliot's father. Our GPs are also at the heart of this report but | :16:13. | :16:16. | |
they are at breaking point and they need the extra funding now. But | :16:17. | :16:20. | |
there is another army of mentors and champions that are desperate to help | :16:21. | :16:24. | |
this revolution, the third sector. Almost totally frozen out of the | :16:25. | :16:27. | |
work programme, but desperate to get involved, we should bite their hands | :16:28. | :16:31. | |
off and bring their expertise to the centre of this debate. One thing | :16:32. | :16:35. | |
they have in abundance far more than any politician or a Government is | :16:36. | :16:37. | |
they trust people but they want to help. There are a growing number of | :16:38. | :16:45. | |
people in this country for whom the economy is longer working. They will | :16:46. | :16:48. | |
have looked hopefully at the Government's plans for the next | :16:49. | :16:51. | |
Journal found that there is nothing in it for them. It is of the not | :16:52. | :16:54. | |
good enough that we have a Prime Minister who is happy to sacrifice | :16:55. | :16:57. | |
an entire parliamentary section tinkering at the edges because he is | :16:58. | :17:00. | |
too afraid of causing even more divisions in his own party. How much | :17:01. | :17:04. | |
of is this agenda will be visible light of day? This Government has | :17:05. | :17:13. | |
made 24 U-turns in the last year alone it is unprecedented to see a | :17:14. | :17:16. | |
Government offer so little so soon after and new parliaments. Just a | :17:17. | :17:18. | |
year after a general election, we have had a zombie Government under | :17:19. | :17:21. | |
Prime Minister who cannot wait for it to be 28 days later. There are | :17:22. | :17:24. | |
serious problems needing tackle now. For the first time in a jacket, | :17:25. | :17:28. | |
child poverty is rising under this Government. There has been a | :17:29. | :17:32. | |
worrying rise of children relying on food banks. What was the | :17:33. | :17:38. | |
Government's response to this? To rebrand the child poverty commission | :17:39. | :17:41. | |
by removing child poverty from its name as well as an attempt to remove | :17:42. | :17:45. | |
the statutory duty to measure child poverty at all. Of course, the | :17:46. | :17:48. | |
co-chair of the commission said that young people now face an existential | :17:49. | :17:52. | |
crisis, I crisis that this Government seems determined to | :17:53. | :17:55. | |
exacerbate. What will our economy look like for the workers of | :17:56. | :17:58. | |
tomorrow? The sad reality is that manufacturing in this country is in | :17:59. | :18:01. | |
long-term decline in knitting nothing from this Government to | :18:02. | :18:05. | |
rebalance the economy either on a sectoral or agree a graphic basis. | :18:06. | :18:10. | |
In my constituency, economic growth is hampered by lack of in vestments | :18:11. | :18:18. | |
or improvements to transport but graduates schemes continue to take | :18:19. | :18:21. | |
shape elsewhere in the country. Getting better conductivity in my | :18:22. | :18:24. | |
constituency is undoubtedly the key to unlocking growth, but we are told | :18:25. | :18:29. | |
that any improvements to the nth D6, will not be considered until the end | :18:30. | :18:32. | |
of the decade and there is nothing on the horizon to improve the | :18:33. | :18:35. | |
relevant. In part of my constituency, there is no other cars | :18:36. | :18:39. | |
were at its Crossrail alone is earmarked to receive nine tenths | :18:40. | :18:44. | |
more funding than all of northern regions combined. The independent | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
review for the Government by Julie Dean on southern climate seems to be | :18:50. | :18:52. | |
gathering dust on the shelves. The real you found is that another of | :18:53. | :18:57. | |
self-employed is an all-time high of 4.6 modem with this in a bubbling | :18:58. | :19:01. | |
under trends and to continue. This group now stands at 15% of the UK | :19:02. | :19:06. | |
workforce is making a considerable contribution to the country's | :19:07. | :19:10. | |
economy. There are a number of important recommendations in the | :19:11. | :19:12. | |
report and one in particular I would like to see is an action on is, and | :19:13. | :19:15. | |
I quote, Government should consider if sending support to the staff | :19:16. | :19:19. | |
employed in areas where there is discretion between the support for | :19:20. | :19:23. | |
the Southern plate and the employed. There is also the recommendation | :19:24. | :19:30. | |
about those who need soften plummeted necessity. There is no | :19:31. | :19:32. | |
doubt there are people who should not be classified as self-employed | :19:33. | :19:36. | |
but because they are, they are offered no basic protection such as | :19:37. | :19:41. | |
the minimum wage. We need urgent action of reclassification of | :19:42. | :19:44. | |
self-employment. In conclusion, I believe that this has been a missed | :19:45. | :19:47. | |
opportunity to tackle the opportunities that occur by region, | :19:48. | :19:54. | |
age, and complement status. -- inequality. Could I start by saying | :19:55. | :20:05. | |
the issue around rural broadband in particular is it the issue here and | :20:06. | :20:08. | |
I heard some members from the opposite benches talk about those in | :20:09. | :20:16. | |
the rural community. I know it is an issue in city areas is. It will not | :20:17. | :20:20. | |
help avoid the farming crisis that we heard some members talk about, | :20:21. | :20:24. | |
particularly the member for Brecon who did highlight a number of | :20:25. | :20:28. | |
difficulties within the agricultural sector. Rural broadband will not | :20:29. | :20:31. | |
just help all those, but it certainly will build a better | :20:32. | :20:34. | |
perspective to the rural community and farmers especially. Could I move | :20:35. | :20:40. | |
an to the anti-corruption summits that was mentioned in Her Majesty's | :20:41. | :20:48. | |
speech? It said legislation will be brought in to tackle corruption, | :20:49. | :20:52. | |
money laundering and tax evasion. I say that in Northern Ireland I hope | :20:53. | :20:55. | |
that works because we have a huge problem, particularly with fuel | :20:56. | :21:01. | |
laundering and fuel smuggling and HMRC don't seem to be getting to the | :21:02. | :21:05. | |
root of that problem. It is almost an economy in itself, and illegal | :21:06. | :21:09. | |
economy, but it is there within Northern Ireland and it is something | :21:10. | :21:13. | |
that we really need to grapple. I would ask the Government to actually | :21:14. | :21:18. | |
look at providing more powers to the National crime agency in Northern | :21:19. | :21:20. | |
Ireland is in respect of that so that they make the lead partner | :21:21. | :21:25. | |
instead of HMRC. I did it would be hugely beneficial and productions | :21:26. | :21:26. | |
move. One other aspect I want to talk | :21:27. | :21:34. | |
about quite quickly and I done a much time I have is the adoption | :21:35. | :21:39. | |
legislation. I speak you're from a personal perspective. I think it is | :21:40. | :21:44. | |
vital that there is additional and promoters legislation to help all | :21:45. | :21:48. | |
those young people and give them a fair and equal chance. I do know | :21:49. | :21:52. | |
that there is education legislation coming forward as well and the one | :21:53. | :21:54. | |
thing that I would appeal is that there is cooperation between the | :21:55. | :22:00. | |
education authorities and those who are providing the legislation for | :22:01. | :22:03. | |
adoption because one area that adoptive kids are sometimes | :22:04. | :22:08. | |
short-changed in and that is to the education sector. There is not | :22:09. | :22:13. | |
enough awareness from those involved in the education sector as to the | :22:14. | :22:18. | |
needs of those of the adopted children and looked after children. | :22:19. | :22:25. | |
I say, I do also well Wellcome this provision. Italy and England because | :22:26. | :22:30. | |
of visitors involved matter because in Northern Ireland, we do not have | :22:31. | :22:35. | |
adoption legislation. We rely on the children's author and there is a | :22:36. | :22:38. | |
huge gap in the legislation locally. I do not know about the other | :22:39. | :22:41. | |
devolved regions or can I welcome that and say that those young people | :22:42. | :22:45. | |
need the best art in life that they can get in one way to do that is to | :22:46. | :22:50. | |
provide those facilities and support, but don't just make | :22:51. | :22:53. | |
assessments, it needs to be followed up with action as well. The Queen's | :22:54. | :23:00. | |
speech was a missed opportunity to change course on the decision to | :23:01. | :23:04. | |
make cuts that will result in 2.5 million working families losing over | :23:05. | :23:11. | |
?2100 a year. The impact of these cuts will hit vulnerable people in | :23:12. | :23:16. | |
our society the hardest. The opportunity available through | :23:17. | :23:18. | |
Universal Credit to create a simple benefit system has been undermined | :23:19. | :23:23. | |
by financial decisions and as a result, failing to protect | :23:24. | :23:27. | |
vulnerable groups. I want to focus on one particular vulnerable group | :23:28. | :23:31. | |
that are often overlooked, young carers. At present, severely | :23:32. | :23:36. | |
disabled adults who are living without a non-disabled adult to | :23:37. | :23:38. | |
provide care for them may be eligible to receive this severe | :23:39. | :23:43. | |
disability premium. This is intended to help them with the additional | :23:44. | :23:47. | |
costs they face from being a disabled person without someone to | :23:48. | :23:50. | |
assist them. The Government has proposed having no equivalent of the | :23:51. | :23:55. | |
SDP with in Universal Credit. They propose to use the savings from the | :23:56. | :24:02. | |
payment of two increase their payment for people entitled to | :24:03. | :24:04. | |
receive the higher disability payment. However, once Universal | :24:05. | :24:09. | |
Credit has been implemented, severely disabled people with no | :24:10. | :24:13. | |
adult to assist them will be entitled to about ?58 less a week | :24:14. | :24:17. | |
than those in the current system. Between the office for National | :24:18. | :24:25. | |
statistics Census in 2001 and 2011, there has been a 20% rise in the | :24:26. | :24:30. | |
number of unpaid carers and as a Welsh MP, I am particularly | :24:31. | :24:33. | |
concerned about this issue as Wales has the highest proportion of young | :24:34. | :24:37. | |
carers providing an paid care across the hall of England and Wales. Over | :24:38. | :24:44. | |
11,500 children aged between five and 17 in Wales provide an paid | :24:45. | :24:46. | |
care. Without support and protection, | :24:47. | :24:55. | |
these children will face additional disadvantage. | :24:56. | :25:10. | |
Around 25,000 parents are in receipt of the severe disabled premium. For | :25:11. | :25:19. | |
these families, children take on a significant caring role. The impact | :25:20. | :25:28. | |
of a loss can be very severe. 83% of those eligible said a reduction of | :25:29. | :25:33. | |
benefits would mean they would cut back on food and 80% would cut back | :25:34. | :25:39. | |
on heating. With the Government consider implementing the Children's | :25:40. | :25:42. | |
Society recommendation that universal credit should provide | :25:43. | :25:49. | |
additional support to to sit two disabled adults with no other | :25:50. | :25:51. | |
available to look after them? The Prime Minister declared this to | :25:52. | :26:08. | |
be a one nation Queen'sspeech for a one nation government. He said his | :26:09. | :26:12. | |
government is one in which economic security always comes first, a | :26:13. | :26:16. | |
government with long-term economic plans but once again we have seen | :26:17. | :26:20. | |
nothing to substantiate those claims. All we have seen is stasis. | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
The British economy is best described by the saying all that | :26:26. | :26:30. | |
glitters is not gold. The semblance of a positive picture at first | :26:31. | :26:35. | |
glance, but a different story emerges when you scratch away at the | :26:36. | :26:41. | |
service. A story of the proactivity, the Luton personal debt, a creaking | :26:42. | :26:45. | |
infrastructure, a growing chasm between London and the rest. Our | :26:46. | :26:51. | |
economy is too unbalanced and too unstable to be resilient and to | :26:52. | :26:57. | |
serve the British people. It is too short-sighted, too inward looking | :26:58. | :27:01. | |
and 42 unequal. In my constituency we have seen the costs of this | :27:02. | :27:05. | |
Government's failure. My Labour colleagues and I have been calling | :27:06. | :27:09. | |
on the Government, we raise the issue over 230 times for the | :27:10. | :27:13. | |
Government to snap out of their stupor and take action to stand up | :27:14. | :27:19. | |
for British Steel, but instead we were met with indifference and | :27:20. | :27:23. | |
incompetence. It was only when the crisis became a PR problem that the | :27:24. | :27:27. | |
Government will cop, seeking a last-minute fix to a problem we have | :27:28. | :27:32. | |
been pointing to for a year. The still crisis sums up the | :27:33. | :27:38. | |
Government's approach. If the covenant had a real plan, a real | :27:39. | :27:43. | |
strategic approach, this crisis could have been averted but instead | :27:44. | :27:46. | |
we have a government with a long-term economic plan that is in | :27:47. | :27:51. | |
fact not a plan at all but a book-keeper is to do list. Focused | :27:52. | :27:55. | |
on reducing costs without any thought giving to the generation of | :27:56. | :27:58. | |
revenue through sustainable growth. The solution to reduce the size of | :27:59. | :28:03. | |
government, to retreat from the challenges of the future rather than | :28:04. | :28:08. | |
addressing the full tea foundations of our economy and that is why this | :28:09. | :28:11. | |
speech has been another missed opportunity and why I shall be | :28:12. | :28:17. | |
voting against it this evening. My part of the country is an area | :28:18. | :28:20. | |
perceived as successful and Cambridge could be a model for the | :28:21. | :28:25. | |
future of Britain with many high skilled jobs linked to world-class | :28:26. | :28:31. | |
research embedded in local institutions, public and private | :28:32. | :28:34. | |
mutually independent. But last year is part of the city deal process, a | :28:35. | :28:40. | |
local organisation worked with all local partners and develop the case | :28:41. | :28:46. | |
for Cambridge, the argument for what was needed to maintain this success. | :28:47. | :28:50. | |
We should be implementing that case but we have lost a year on a bungled | :28:51. | :28:56. | |
attempt to shoehorn three counties together into a devolution deal with | :28:57. | :29:02. | |
an elected mayor. Following a very oversubscribed debate on the East | :29:03. | :29:06. | |
Anglia devolution deal, I suggested the House should have a more | :29:07. | :29:10. | |
substantial discussion on the wider issues because what is happening is | :29:11. | :29:15. | |
bungled mix of devolution and local government reorganisation has | :29:16. | :29:19. | |
profound consequences and at this time, with a parallel debate on the | :29:20. | :29:25. | |
relationship between Westminster and Brussels, what an opportunity there | :29:26. | :29:29. | |
was to have a proper consideration of how each level of government | :29:30. | :29:33. | |
could work with another based on mutual respect. Instead we have a | :29:34. | :29:38. | |
debate on Europe that has been intellectually bankrupt. What is | :29:39. | :29:47. | |
really needed and what the business community is crying out for is the | :29:48. | :29:52. | |
imagination and freedom and flexibility to unlock the potential | :29:53. | :29:56. | |
exists in and around Cambridge, but our strengths are also our | :29:57. | :30:01. | |
weaknesses. We struggle on housing and transport and there are so many | :30:02. | :30:05. | |
possibilities including the proposals put forward by London and | :30:06. | :30:14. | |
Stansted Consortium. Also other threats to Cambridge's knowledge | :30:15. | :30:24. | |
economy. Having trebled fees for university students, the Government | :30:25. | :30:33. | |
wants to increase fees again. While we are pleased the Government has | :30:34. | :30:37. | |
promised to protect the Gill funding research the field there are risks | :30:38. | :30:42. | |
the separation will be eroded over time but let me conclude by making a | :30:43. | :30:47. | |
wider point that whatever the strength of a research-based | :30:48. | :30:50. | |
high-tech economy, we still need to make sure the benefits are shared | :30:51. | :30:54. | |
fairly and when I look at rising numbers turning to the Cambridge | :30:55. | :31:00. | |
food bank, seeing more on zero-hours contracts, more rough sleepers on | :31:01. | :31:04. | |
the streets, it is clear the economy is working for some but by no means | :31:05. | :31:09. | |
all. We look for measures that will address that real unfairness, | :31:10. | :31:19. | |
measures... Reasons why I will be opposing the Government tonight. The | :31:20. | :31:31. | |
Chancellor this morning promised us a better market bill to improve | :31:32. | :31:36. | |
competition. We on this side of the House are in favour of that and | :31:37. | :31:41. | |
we'll give it what help we can. Depending on what is in the bill. It | :31:42. | :31:46. | |
is a matter of record that in the UK we have the most monopolised banking | :31:47. | :31:51. | |
system in the Western world, four banks dominate at 80% market share. | :31:52. | :31:57. | |
If you want genuine competition,, we need to have six, eight, ten similar | :31:58. | :32:05. | |
sized banks. Until we do that, there will no better markets, better | :32:06. | :32:14. | |
competition. Here is a tale, the two main regulatory bodies set up by | :32:15. | :32:19. | |
this Government, this Chancellor to ensure more competition, better | :32:20. | :32:24. | |
markets in finance, the CMA have failed to deliver. Why is that? | :32:25. | :32:35. | |
There is a suspicion, that maybe those regulators are looking over | :32:36. | :32:39. | |
their shoulder at the Chancellor and asking themselves, does the | :32:40. | :32:42. | |
Chancellor really want us to close down those banks? Or maybe we are | :32:43. | :32:48. | |
being told to say one thing and do another, and that is why when we | :32:49. | :32:53. | |
look at the small print of this bill, we are looking to see whether | :32:54. | :32:59. | |
this is just shadow-boxing, just allowing the Chancellor to say, I am | :33:00. | :33:04. | |
in favour of competition but won't do anything about it, or whether | :33:05. | :33:08. | |
this bill will have teeth to take on the big banks. FCA has brokered a | :33:09. | :33:17. | |
deal with the big banks on arbitration for small businesses who | :33:18. | :33:20. | |
have suffered mis-selling and have been bankrupted. Unfortunately the | :33:21. | :33:27. | |
FCA has turned a blind eye to the fact that there is big banks are | :33:28. | :33:33. | |
signing up solicitors across the UK so that those solicitors on the | :33:34. | :33:37. | |
bank's books waiting for work will not take up the cases of small | :33:38. | :33:41. | |
businesses who filled the process has gone against them. -- who feel. | :33:42. | :33:50. | |
I will look into the Chancellor and this Government when in this bill | :33:51. | :33:55. | |
they will make sure practices like that are done away with. In my | :33:56. | :34:04. | |
constituency, RBS has announced the closure of its Solly branch in the | :34:05. | :34:09. | |
town of Preston. This would be interesting because the population | :34:10. | :34:15. | |
of East Lothian is growing and we are about to have 10,000 more | :34:16. | :34:20. | |
houses. Banks do that kind of thing, they don't care about their | :34:21. | :34:24. | |
customers. This bill will have to reverse that. I am delighted to see | :34:25. | :34:35. | |
the Chancellor has come back to join us for the close of what has been an | :34:36. | :34:41. | |
excellent debate today. To hear the view of the opposition that by any | :34:42. | :34:47. | |
stretch of the imagination, this has been a desperately missed | :34:48. | :34:51. | |
opportunity of a Queen'sspeech, a missed opportunity to address the | :34:52. | :34:55. | |
problems we have in our economy, a missed opportunity to address the | :34:56. | :35:00. | |
problems of poor quality work experience. I have heard members | :35:01. | :35:07. | |
macro across the helped limit those facts and ask where was the beef | :35:08. | :35:14. | |
last week? Where was the bill to address the deep-seated problems in | :35:15. | :35:18. | |
our economy? Where was the bill to address the inequality that is | :35:19. | :35:24. | |
spread in Britain? Where was the bill, for example, as the honourable | :35:25. | :35:31. | |
member for brutal to boost our economy through investing in our | :35:32. | :35:36. | |
public services? -- Bootle. What a question to ask on the day this | :35:37. | :35:42. | |
Government has sacked 200 business workers in Sheffield. As they should | :35:43. | :35:50. | |
reflect on the question asked by my friend A who said, where was the | :35:51. | :35:54. | |
bill to revive manufacturing in the Queens speech all my honourable | :35:55. | :35:59. | |
friend who said where was the bill on tax transparency or the | :36:00. | :36:06. | |
barnstorming speech by my honourable friend lamp post in this Chancellor | :36:07. | :36:10. | |
and the Government for the preparing to flog off the land Registry as | :36:11. | :36:14. | |
another private sector monopoly. All the powerful speeches by my | :36:15. | :36:20. | |
honourable friends continuing their fight to stand up for steel jobs | :36:21. | :36:27. | |
just 24 hours after those brave steelworkers came to London to | :36:28. | :36:31. | |
petition this Government, to save their jobs and protect their | :36:32. | :36:37. | |
pensions. Or where, according to my honourable friend, was the bill to | :36:38. | :36:41. | |
sort out education and the savings crisis in Britain? Or where was the | :36:42. | :36:50. | |
deal to deal with the rising tide of destitution sweeping Britain under | :36:51. | :37:02. | |
the Tories? Here reminded us in the great city of Manchester, what an | :37:03. | :37:06. | |
unbelievable token of the failure of this Government that people are | :37:07. | :37:11. | |
living in tents in the heart of our greatest cities. There was the bill | :37:12. | :37:18. | |
to support the self-employed? The bill to support carers, the bill to | :37:19. | :37:24. | |
revert the cuts to universal credit, the bill to deal with devolution? I | :37:25. | :37:30. | |
would ask my own questions of the Secretary of State and Chancellor | :37:31. | :37:34. | |
today. There was the bill to save the steel industry? Today when we | :37:35. | :37:39. | |
have heard a half baked announcement by the Work and Pensions Secretary, | :37:40. | :37:43. | |
I do support the fact that has been a written announcement. I decried | :37:44. | :37:49. | |
the fact the Secretary of State did not have a note to explain what may | :37:50. | :37:54. | |
be the downsides because we had scant evidence from the Government | :37:55. | :37:59. | |
as to what this means for some of those steelworkers, scant evidence. | :38:00. | :38:10. | |
He says he supports the consultation document. You should have done it a | :38:11. | :38:17. | |
year ago. That is the reality. You still have an opportunity to give us | :38:18. | :38:20. | |
some of the answers we didn't get from your right honourable friend as | :38:21. | :38:28. | |
in who is going to definitely not benefit as a result of these | :38:29. | :38:34. | |
changes? Or I'll be content to see future industries take a similar | :38:35. | :38:41. | |
route? He needs to tell the House how he is going to be into that | :38:42. | :38:48. | |
business and make sure it is only affecting the steelworkers. There | :38:49. | :38:52. | |
was any sort of industrial strategy in this girl? One of the most | :38:53. | :38:57. | |
telling contributions was that made by the member for Warwick and | :38:58. | :39:08. | |
Leamington. It could be a Welshman with an inside leg. But it sounded | :39:09. | :39:19. | |
like... He said, where was the industrial strategy? Wouldn't it be | :39:20. | :39:27. | |
marvellous if the Tories had one? I will remind the member that the end | :39:28. | :39:32. | |
of my speech, I did say for an industrial strategy to happen, you | :39:33. | :39:38. | |
need a long-term economic plan. I heard it. There was that one sound | :39:39. | :39:43. | |
bite, one belated effort to draw back from the brink but we had three | :39:44. | :39:49. | |
minutes of attacking his own Chancellor before then. Three and a | :39:50. | :39:52. | |
half minutes complaining of the industrial strike. | :39:53. | :39:56. | |
We had a bit of nonsense about space and electric cars. In Port Talbot, | :39:57. | :40:03. | |
they are not too worried about spaceports unless you are planning | :40:04. | :40:04. | |
to create a thousand drops. It is just | :40:05. | :40:13. | |
window dressing. Where letters the industrial strategy? Where is the | :40:14. | :40:19. | |
bill to deal with the crisis that we have in this country? Where is the | :40:20. | :40:23. | |
Bill to deal with disabled people who are languishing on the scrapheap | :40:24. | :40:26. | |
under the Secretary of State? Where is the Bill to hold the spiralling | :40:27. | :40:30. | |
of personal debt going to record levels? The Chancellor used to top | :40:31. | :40:34. | |
what the problem of debt. He never talks about personal debt or the | :40:35. | :40:37. | |
fact that consumers are now the basis on which she is trying to | :40:38. | :40:41. | |
rebuild our economy. Where is the Bill to deal with the fact that our | :40:42. | :40:45. | |
earnings are flat-lining in Britain? Not a sniff of any of these bills in | :40:46. | :40:52. | |
the speech and many on our benches suggested that is because the | :40:53. | :40:55. | |
Government has run out of ideas, that the Chancellor has run out of | :40:56. | :40:59. | |
steam. I don't think he has run out of steam. He looks as if it is a | :41:00. | :41:03. | |
picture's.. He has a personal trainer on tap. He looks for | :41:04. | :41:10. | |
the reason that this does not work is that the narrative is of course | :41:11. | :41:17. | |
that the Everything is just too good to you with our economy. We have the | :41:18. | :41:24. | |
makers margin, jobs for everyone, the new national living wage, | :41:25. | :41:26. | |
nothing to see here. Move on. Move nothing to see here. Move on. Move | :41:27. | :41:31. | |
on. Let's just keep going with where we are. Of course, it is absolute | :41:32. | :41:39. | |
nonsense because on every economist measure in every serious analysis of | :41:40. | :41:43. | |
our economy, this Government is missing its targets. The deficit, | :41:44. | :41:48. | |
that was meant to be cleared long since. It is ?76 billion. National | :41:49. | :41:55. | |
debt, that is meant to be falling as a proportion of GDP. It is now ?1.6 | :41:56. | :42:02. | |
trillion. That is ?600 million more than it was when we left office. Now | :42:03. | :42:08. | |
this is the Chancellor used to talk about not bequeathing debts to | :42:09. | :42:11. | |
future generations. He has increased the debt by 600 LE and pounds on his | :42:12. | :42:19. | |
watch. What about business activity? What about corporation tax receipts? | :42:20. | :42:24. | |
We used to be told, I read Bridwell, that the secret to getting all that | :42:25. | :42:30. | |
extra FDI and receipts and investments was slashing corporation | :42:31. | :42:34. | |
tax rates. It has gone down, down 5.1% just this week. That is not the | :42:35. | :42:38. | |
mark of an economy that is booming by any stretch and is it little | :42:39. | :42:43. | |
wonder? Our trade deficit is at a record low. The gap between our | :42:44. | :42:50. | |
exports and our imports high. The gap between our experts and our | :42:51. | :42:53. | |
imports is bigger than it has ever been. It is 13 billion if he wants | :42:54. | :42:57. | |
to quibble about it. It is a really big problem for him and it is | :42:58. | :43:01. | |
happening on his watch and because of this Chancellor. That is the | :43:02. | :43:04. | |
reality of the economy that we are living within this country and the | :43:05. | :43:08. | |
consequences for working people are significant. There is one bright | :43:09. | :43:13. | |
spot they continually spoke to, the jobs market. We on the side welcome | :43:14. | :43:19. | |
those new jobs. I welcome those new jobs. I welcome every new job. I | :43:20. | :43:23. | |
absolutely welcome them. We believe that people in this country are | :43:24. | :43:28. | |
better off if they are working, but that is not going to stop me asking | :43:29. | :43:32. | |
the question, what about what they are earning? What of those people | :43:33. | :43:36. | |
are taking home less than they used to? What if those people are seeing | :43:37. | :43:39. | |
their wallets getting thinner at the end of the month as a result of the | :43:40. | :43:47. | |
poorer quality jobs that Britain is now generating? What if they have a | :43:48. | :43:51. | |
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions who is compounding their | :43:52. | :43:55. | |
ills by cutting the work allowances under Universal Credit. I was at the | :43:56. | :43:59. | |
element and Castle job centre earlier this week and I heard what a | :44:00. | :44:05. | |
great problem that is. He is making his savings because they say it is | :44:06. | :44:10. | |
going gang but is as people move from labourers, better resources, | :44:11. | :44:13. | |
more generous tax credits over to be less clap generous tax credits. You | :44:14. | :44:22. | |
will hit the savings but on the backs of working people in this | :44:23. | :44:26. | |
country. They are the people who are paying the price for this failing | :44:27. | :44:30. | |
economy and this feeling Chancellor. He looks at me across the dispatch | :44:31. | :44:35. | |
box here, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I simply wonder when his | :44:36. | :44:38. | |
backbenchers are going to realise that he is failing them as well as | :44:39. | :44:42. | |
he is failing the country. If you look at the record, I think it tells | :44:43. | :44:47. | |
it all story. He is the third worst performing Tory Chancellor on | :44:48. | :44:52. | |
growth, in the last few years and the worst performing Tory Chancellor | :44:53. | :44:58. | |
on the economy, bar none. And we need to get rid of this Chancellor. | :44:59. | :45:02. | |
We need to vote against this bill to night and we need to vote for | :45:03. | :45:13. | |
Labour. Madam Deputy Speaker, it is a real pleasure to conclude this | :45:14. | :45:16. | |
debates. I would like to thank members on both sides of the House. | :45:17. | :45:22. | |
We have had a wide range of subjects covered by members from all parts of | :45:23. | :45:25. | |
the United Kingdom, rural communities, are beginning to, I | :45:26. | :45:28. | |
think it has been a very good debate. As the Prime Minister made | :45:29. | :45:32. | |
clear, this queen's speeches about using strong economic foundations | :45:33. | :45:36. | |
that we have built to make it is a bold choices that will help deliver | :45:37. | :45:40. | |
opportunity for all at every stage of their lives. Improving life | :45:41. | :45:45. | |
chances starts as a foundation with ensuring a healthy, strong, and | :45:46. | :45:50. | |
growing economy. Through hour-long economic plan, the deficit is being | :45:51. | :45:54. | |
cut, the economy is growing and it is forecast to grow faster than any | :45:55. | :45:59. | |
other G-7 economy this year. And it is true, thanks to the strength and | :46:00. | :46:04. | |
economy, we have seen remarkable things in our labour market in | :46:05. | :46:07. | |
recent years. We have seen the highest level of employment ever on | :46:08. | :46:10. | |
record. Our annual rise of the implement rate is the largest | :46:11. | :46:14. | |
anywhere in the G-7. We are not complacent about this. We know we | :46:15. | :46:19. | |
need to go further. But we also know that hides this picture of national | :46:20. | :46:24. | |
economic recovery are hundreds of thousands of individual stories of | :46:25. | :46:28. | |
peoples whose lives have been transformed. Last year alone, over | :46:29. | :46:34. | |
400,000 people moved into work. We have more women in work than ever | :46:35. | :46:39. | |
before, more than 300,000 more disabled people in work in the last | :46:40. | :46:43. | |
two years and we are also seeing big increases in use and long-term | :46:44. | :46:49. | |
unemployment. And I'm delighted that my opposite number, the shadow works | :46:50. | :46:53. | |
as pensions Secretary, for the very first time at this dispatch box of | :46:54. | :46:57. | |
six years has welcomed the fact that unemployment is falling in this | :46:58. | :47:02. | |
country. Let's just remind ourselves, since 2010, in total, | :47:03. | :47:10. | |
more than two and a half million people more have moved into work. | :47:11. | :47:14. | |
That is more than the whole population of that fantastic city of | :47:15. | :47:18. | |
Leicester moving into work each and every day that we have been in | :47:19. | :47:23. | |
Government. It means 764,000 more households in work. It means nearly | :47:24. | :47:26. | |
half a million more children growing up seeing a mum or as dad go out to | :47:27. | :47:32. | |
work each day. By any measure, that is a really encouraging record. We | :47:33. | :47:37. | |
salute in particular our small businesses and our entrepreneurs who | :47:38. | :47:40. | |
are at the real entrance of this jobs recovery as was recognised by | :47:41. | :47:44. | |
the excellent contribution by my honourable friend from North East | :47:45. | :47:48. | |
Hampshire. This recovery has not happened by chance or by accident | :47:49. | :47:51. | |
and we need to go further, that it has happened because we had a clear | :47:52. | :47:56. | |
economic plan for jobs and growth. A couple of members opposite are | :47:57. | :47:59. | |
shaking their heads. Let's remind ourselves what they left behind in | :48:00. | :48:03. | |
2010. An implement had risen by nearly half a million, the women out | :48:04. | :48:08. | |
of work went up by a quarter, youth unemployment rocketed by 44%. | :48:09. | :48:13. | |
Long-term an implement doubled. Nearly 1.5 million people had spent | :48:14. | :48:18. | |
most of the last decade on out of work benefits. That was an appalling | :48:19. | :48:22. | |
record of wasted lives and wasted potential left by the previous | :48:23. | :48:28. | |
Labour governments. The fact is that during 13 years in Government, the | :48:29. | :48:33. | |
Labour Party opposite stopped believing in the power of work to | :48:34. | :48:37. | |
transform people's lives. The party that gave up on welfare reform. They | :48:38. | :48:41. | |
became the party of welfare overwork. They are far too relaxed | :48:42. | :48:48. | |
about parking people for a whole lifetime on benefits. That is why it | :48:49. | :48:53. | |
takes conservatives in Government with conservative values to bring | :48:54. | :48:56. | |
that reforming spirit needed to transform the life chances... Order, | :48:57. | :49:04. | |
order! It is impolite to make a noise when the Secretary of State is | :49:05. | :49:08. | |
seeking. Members should be arguing with him, not chattering about him. | :49:09. | :49:15. | |
Thank you, Madam Debord is bigger. As one nation Conservatives, we are | :49:16. | :49:21. | |
not twins be complacent. We will not write people often not walk by on | :49:22. | :49:25. | |
the other side so that is why we are creating a plan for improving life | :49:26. | :49:29. | |
chances. I will give way once. When he talks a lot life chances and the | :49:30. | :49:37. | |
Queen's speech talks about allowing families parenting classes, but I | :49:38. | :49:40. | |
wonder if the Secretary of State could speculate about what use those | :49:41. | :49:45. | |
lessons would be if many families in work are more and more reliant on | :49:46. | :49:49. | |
food banks to put food on the table. What use is a parenting class when | :49:50. | :49:52. | |
they can't afford to put food on the table? I thank the honourable member | :49:53. | :49:57. | |
for his question, but all of the evidence shows that the top three | :49:58. | :50:00. | |
factors that are drivers of disadvantage and poverty in this | :50:01. | :50:07. | |
country, worklessness, educational attainment and family... And family | :50:08. | :50:11. | |
stability. The honourable member talks down the value of supporting | :50:12. | :50:15. | |
parental stability and supporting families. It has a really, really | :50:16. | :50:22. | |
good contribution to make. It is a sign of the underlying strength of | :50:23. | :50:26. | |
the economy that is right now there are more than three quarters of a | :50:27. | :50:29. | |
million job vacancies across the country. But there is another story | :50:30. | :50:35. | |
here to. For a teenager leaving care, for a father coming out of | :50:36. | :50:39. | |
prison wanting to turn his life around, for a single mother | :50:40. | :50:41. | |
shouldering enormous burdens and my honourable friend, the member for | :50:42. | :50:46. | |
Telford in her speech touched on this point in a very insightful way, | :50:47. | :50:51. | |
for someone overcoming an addiction to alcohol or drugs, very young | :50:52. | :50:56. | |
person with a mental health condition, I want those job | :50:57. | :50:59. | |
vacancies to represent a world of opportunities for them to. But for | :51:00. | :51:03. | |
too many, taking one of those vacancies still feels like it is a | :51:04. | :51:06. | |
world away. So that is why we are determined to improve the life | :51:07. | :51:10. | |
chances of the most is advantaged in our society, not just talking the | :51:11. | :51:13. | |
language of social justice, but as the screen's speech shows, taking | :51:14. | :51:19. | |
the real action needed make a real difference to people's lives. I am | :51:20. | :51:25. | |
grateful for my horrible friend to taking way and I'm grateful for the | :51:26. | :51:28. | |
Government for accepting the amendment in my name and that of | :51:29. | :51:31. | |
many other honourable and Right Honourable members calling for a | :51:32. | :51:39. | |
bill to protect the NHS from TTI P. Can he tell the House when the bill | :51:40. | :51:45. | |
will be published or its contents made Noel and insurers that it will | :51:46. | :51:47. | |
be before the referendum because it is not, we will something fishy will | :51:48. | :51:52. | |
be afoot in the only way to visit the NHS will be to vote to leave the | :51:53. | :51:59. | |
EU. I am absolutely clear, Mr Speaker, that our national Health | :52:00. | :52:05. | |
Service is protected from TTIP. Mr Speaker, one group that has faced | :52:06. | :52:10. | |
particular difficult balances are the disabled. We want to have that | :52:11. | :52:13. | |
disloyalty implement gap and we know we need to do this by learning from | :52:14. | :52:16. | |
and listening to those who know most about what works and that is | :52:17. | :52:21. | |
disabled people themselves. That is why I will be publishing a Green | :52:22. | :52:24. | |
paper later this because I want to fully consult and engage with them | :52:25. | :52:28. | |
and their representatives to build a strategy that we know will work and | :52:29. | :52:31. | |
I know that members on both sides will see it as an opportunity for us | :52:32. | :52:34. | |
all to move forward together on this. Mr Speaker, the Queen's speech | :52:35. | :52:41. | |
demonstrates the Government's dedication to changing life chances | :52:42. | :52:44. | |
for the most is advantaged whilst providing security for people in | :52:45. | :52:47. | |
work and strengthening national security to keep our country safe. | :52:48. | :52:51. | |
Our bills to improve adoption and the contribution from the honourable | :52:52. | :52:56. | |
member for manner and Tyrone, I really welcome his comments on that | :52:57. | :52:59. | |
bill, we have an education for all bill that will ensure better | :53:00. | :53:03. | |
outcomes for children especially children and is that as homes and | :53:04. | :53:07. | |
communities, we have a higher educations team built to allow the | :53:08. | :53:13. | |
creation of new educational facilities and universities so that | :53:14. | :53:15. | |
people have more options to continue their education. That is this aside | :53:16. | :53:20. | |
ideal that ails believe in is a site because people are second chance. | :53:21. | :53:23. | |
That's why we welcome the prison reform bill will put a greater | :53:24. | :53:29. | |
emphasis on rehabilitation in our prisoners. More support for | :53:30. | :53:33. | |
prisoners with mental health problems and more support | :53:34. | :53:36. | |
educational and training. Real reforms that provide support for the | :53:37. | :53:39. | |
most is that it at the start of life, support for people making | :53:40. | :53:42. | |
those big weeks in life such as leaving care and support later in | :53:43. | :53:46. | |
life for those looking for a second chance. None of these reforms would | :53:47. | :53:50. | |
be possible without the foundations of a strong economy, but at no point | :53:51. | :53:55. | |
in the last six years as the party opposite shown any willingness to | :53:56. | :53:58. | |
recognise that point. We on this site will never forget how night | :53:59. | :54:03. | |
after night in the last Parliament, the Labour parliament trip down the | :54:04. | :54:06. | |
delivered lobbies to vote down every single measure that we brought in to | :54:07. | :54:11. | |
affect our national finances. They oppose all of our efforts to reform | :54:12. | :54:15. | |
welfare and to restore the value of work. As many as are of the opinion, | :54:16. | :54:22. | |
say "aye". To the contrary, "no". The eyes have it. The eyes have it. | :54:23. | :54:30. | |
-- ayes. As many as are of the opinion, say "aye". To the contrary, | :54:31. | :54:31. | |
"no". Division, clear the lobby. Subtitles will resume | :54:32. | :54:48. | |
on 'Thursday In Parliament' at 11pm. | :54:49. | :54:58. |