Browse content similar to 14/03/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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green energy to the construction. My noble friend makes a good point and | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
through him, can I congratulate the business involved that as my | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
honourable friend. With the government 's plans, to improve the | :00:07. | :00:11. | |
energy infrastructure, what positive impact will that have. On small | :00:12. | :00:13. | |
businesses when it comes to electricity cost. The primary effect | :00:14. | :00:25. | |
will be to keep the it down for small businesses. There is an | :00:26. | :00:32. | |
excellent company and a new car is a pride chain that have excellent | :00:33. | :00:36. | |
vacancies that will be on offer in Mike seventh annual Pendle jobs | :00:37. | :00:39. | |
that. What more can we do to support the nuclear supply chain. Mr Speaker | :00:40. | :00:46. | |
one of the things we have done to support the supply chain is to have | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
a continuing commitment and it will benefit his constituents and through | :00:52. | :00:57. | |
a network of training colleges, we will make sure that we grow the | :00:58. | :01:03. | |
nuclear skills. I found the minister was a touch complacent in his | :01:04. | :01:06. | |
earlier answer on smart meters, given this is going to coursed the | :01:07. | :01:10. | |
taxpayer 11 billion by the end of the Parliament, what is he going to | :01:11. | :01:15. | |
do by the fact that it doesn't work when you try to switch supplier. It | :01:16. | :01:22. | |
will save ?47 billion by the end of that decade. When will the business | :01:23. | :01:31. | |
rate review commenced an report, in the light that sticking plasters | :01:32. | :01:34. | |
last week do little for the small businesses in York. The review will | :01:35. | :01:41. | |
report in due course and in the not too distant future. Thank you Mr | :01:42. | :01:47. | |
Speaker, the Digital strategy is a key component in the government 's | :01:48. | :01:50. | |
industrial strategy, can he do better than decent MS and tummy | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
which countries have committed to working Great Grimsby as part of the | :01:56. | :02:03. | |
skills partnership. It is about invitation to businesses to come | :02:04. | :02:06. | |
forward and pose to the government what is required to grow the jobs | :02:07. | :02:13. | |
and skills there. That is the aim of all skills. They have felled to | :02:14. | :02:27. | |
declare much more complimentary today, tenants are protesting | :02:28. | :02:29. | |
outside the office, how long will they keep failing to do their duty | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
and not facing up to the situation? The honourable gentleman knows that | :02:35. | :02:37. | |
the Commissioner for Public avoidance stated that the panel did | :02:38. | :02:41. | |
consider that there were no conflicts of interest in this case | :02:42. | :02:44. | |
that would preclude Mr Newby from doing his job. We must now remove | :02:45. | :02:51. | |
on. Statements, the Prime Minister. CHEERING | :02:52. | :02:57. | |
Thank you Mr Speaker had with permission I would like to make a | :02:58. | :03:00. | |
statement on last weeks European Council. And the next steps in | :03:01. | :03:04. | |
preparing to trigger Article 50, and beginning in the process of leaving | :03:05. | :03:09. | |
the European Union. The summit began by re-electing Donald Tusk as | :03:10. | :03:12. | |
president of the European Council, I welcomed this because we have a | :03:13. | :03:15. | |
close working relationships with Donald Tusk and we recognise the | :03:16. | :03:18. | |
strong contribution he has made in office. In the main business of the | :03:19. | :03:23. | |
council we discuss the challenge of managing mass migration, the threats | :03:24. | :03:27. | |
from organised crime and instability in the Western Balkans, and the | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
measures needed to boost your's growth and competitiveness which | :03:32. | :03:34. | |
will remain important for us as we build a new relationship between the | :03:35. | :03:40. | |
EU and a self global Britain. In each case who are able to show once | :03:41. | :03:43. | |
again how Britain will continue to play a leading role in Europe long | :03:44. | :03:46. | |
after we have left the European Union. First on migration, I | :03:47. | :03:51. | |
welcomed the progress and in permitting the action plan which we | :03:52. | :03:54. | |
had agreed at the informal EU summit in Malta last week. This included | :03:55. | :04:02. | |
Italy strengthening asylum processes and increasing returns and Greece | :04:03. | :04:06. | |
implementing to work the EU - Turkey deal where the EU is providing | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
additional staff to interview Afghan and Iraqi and Eritrea National is. I | :04:12. | :04:16. | |
argued we must do more to dismantle the vile people smuggling rings who | :04:17. | :04:20. | |
profit from the migrants mystery and who are subjecting many to | :04:21. | :04:24. | |
imaginable abuses. With coordinated and committed action, we can make a | :04:25. | :04:29. | |
difference. Indeed, just last month, in operation between our national | :04:30. | :04:33. | |
crime agency and the Hellenic Coast Guard to the arrest of 19 members of | :04:34. | :04:36. | |
organised immigration crime group in Greece. As I have argued before, we | :04:37. | :04:43. | |
need a managed, controlled and truly global approach and that is exactly | :04:44. | :04:47. | |
what this council agreed. We need to help ensure refugees claim asylum in | :04:48. | :04:51. | |
the first safe country that they reach, and help those countries | :04:52. | :04:53. | |
support the refugee so they don't have too make the Paris journey to | :04:54. | :04:58. | |
Europe. And we need a better overall approach to managing economic | :04:59. | :05:02. | |
migration, one which recognises that all countries have the right to | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
control their borders. Mr Speaker, engaging our African partners in | :05:08. | :05:15. | |
this global approach will be hosting in London in May. Turning to the | :05:16. | :05:21. | |
deterrent in situation in the Western Balkans, I have made clear | :05:22. | :05:25. | |
my concern the risks that this presents to the region and to the | :05:26. | :05:28. | |
wider collective security. Organised criminals and terrorists are ready | :05:29. | :05:33. | |
to exploit these vulnerabilities and we are seeing increasingly brazen | :05:34. | :05:36. | |
interference by Russia and others. In light of the alleged Montenegro | :05:37. | :05:41. | |
coup plot, I called on the council to do more on destabilising Russian | :05:42. | :05:47. | |
disinformation campaigns and to raise the disability of the Western | :05:48. | :05:51. | |
commitment to this region. The UK will lead the way. The Foreign | :05:52. | :05:55. | |
Secretary will be visiting Russia in the coming weeks, where I expect him | :05:56. | :05:59. | |
to set out the concerns about the reports of Russian interference in | :06:00. | :06:07. | |
the affairs of Montenegro. We will provide strategic expertise to the | :06:08. | :06:10. | |
EU institutions to counter disinformation campaigns in the | :06:11. | :06:14. | |
region had we will host the 2018 Western Balkans summit, and in a run | :06:15. | :06:19. | |
at two that summit, we will enhance the security cooperation for the | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
West Balkans can partners, including on organised crime, anti-corruption | :06:24. | :06:28. | |
and cyber security. More broadly I also reemphasised, the importance | :06:29. | :06:33. | |
that the UK places on Nato. As the bedrock of our collective defence. | :06:34. | :06:39. | |
And I urged other member states to start investing more in line of the | :06:40. | :06:42. | |
Nato target so that every country plays its full part in sharing the | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
burden. For it is only by investing properly in our defence that we can | :06:47. | :06:50. | |
ensure that we are properly equipped to keep our people say. Turning to | :06:51. | :06:55. | |
growth and competitiveness as I have said, I want us to build a new | :06:56. | :06:59. | |
relationship with you that will give that accompanies the maximum freedom | :07:00. | :07:02. | |
to trade with and operating the European market and allow European | :07:03. | :07:09. | |
businesses to do the same here. So a successful and competitive European | :07:10. | :07:12. | |
market in the future will remain in our national interest and that this | :07:13. | :07:15. | |
council, I called for further steps to complete the single market and | :07:16. | :07:24. | |
the digital single market. LAUGHTER I also... I also welcomed the | :07:25. | :07:34. | |
completion of the free trade agreement between EU and Canada and | :07:35. | :07:38. | |
I pressed for an agreement with Japan in the coming months. For | :07:39. | :07:48. | |
these agreements, just wait for it, these agreements will lay the | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
foundation for our continued trade relationships in this country as we | :07:55. | :08:01. | |
leave the EU. CHEERING At the same time you'll also seed | :08:02. | :08:05. | |
opportunities to forge new trade deals and reach out beyond the | :08:06. | :08:08. | |
borders of Europe to build relationships with our friends any | :08:09. | :08:11. | |
allies alike. This weekend we announced a two day conference with | :08:12. | :08:17. | |
the largest ever trade delegation from Qatar, to build on the ?5 | :08:18. | :08:21. | |
billion of trade that we already do with Qatar every year. We will | :08:22. | :08:26. | |
always strengthen the unique and proud global relationships that we | :08:27. | :08:29. | |
forge with a diverse and vibrant alliance of the Commonwealth that we | :08:30. | :08:32. | |
celebrated on Commonwealth date yesterday. Finally, last night the | :08:33. | :08:39. | |
bill on Article 50 successfully completed its passage through both | :08:40. | :08:44. | |
houses unchanged. It will now proceed to Royal assent in the | :08:45. | :08:48. | |
coming days, so we remain on track with a timetable that I set out six | :08:49. | :08:52. | |
months ago. And I will return to this house before the end of this | :08:53. | :08:56. | |
month to notify and I have formally triggered Article 50 and begun the | :08:57. | :09:00. | |
process through which the United Kingdom will leave the European | :09:01. | :09:03. | |
Union. This will be a defining moment bra whole country as we begin | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
to forge a new relationship with Europe and a new role for ourselves | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
in the world. We will be a strong self-governing global Britain. With | :09:13. | :09:19. | |
control once again over our borders and our laws. And we will use this | :09:20. | :09:23. | |
moment of opportunity to build a stronger economy and a fairer | :09:24. | :09:27. | |
society, so that we secure both the right deal for Britain abroad, and a | :09:28. | :09:31. | |
better deal for ordinary working people at home. And Mr Speaker, the | :09:32. | :09:39. | |
new relationship of the EU that we negotiate, will work for the whole | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
of the United Kingdom. That is why we had been working closely with the | :09:45. | :09:56. | |
devolved administrations, including, including the Scottish Government. | :09:57. | :10:00. | |
Listening to their proposals and recognising the many areas of common | :10:01. | :10:05. | |
ground that we have. Such as protecting workers' rights, and our | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
security from crime and terrorism. So Mr Speaker, it is not a moment to | :10:11. | :10:12. | |
play politics will create uncertainty. -- or create | :10:13. | :10:21. | |
uncertainty. It is a moment to bring our country together. To honour the | :10:22. | :10:27. | |
will of the British people, and to shape for them a brighter future and | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
a better Britain and I commend this statement to the house. Jeremy | :10:32. | :10:39. | |
Corbyn. Thank you Mr Speaker, I would like to thank the Prime | :10:40. | :10:42. | |
Minister Francois is copy of the statement. The passing into law of | :10:43. | :10:48. | |
the unification of withdrawal, marks an historic step. Later this month, | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
the triggering of Article 50, a process that will shape this | :10:54. | :10:57. | |
country's future. There is no doubt, that if the wrong decisions are made | :10:58. | :11:02. | |
we will pay the price for decades to come. So now more than ever, Britain | :11:03. | :11:09. | |
needs an inclusive government, that listens and acts accordingly. | :11:10. | :11:15. | |
However, all of the signs are, that we have a complacent government, | :11:16. | :11:21. | |
complacent with our economy, complacent with people's rights and | :11:22. | :11:25. | |
complacent about the future of this country. I urged the Prime Minister | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
to listen to the collective wisdom of this Parliament. And to give this | :11:30. | :11:35. | |
house a full opportunity to scrutinise the Article 50 deal with | :11:36. | :11:37. | |
a meaningful final vote. The people's representatives deserve | :11:38. | :11:48. | |
better than take it or leave it and if we are to protect jobs and living | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
standards, and if we are to protect the future prosperity of this | :11:54. | :11:57. | |
country, the Government needs to secure tariff free access to the | :11:58. | :12:05. | |
single European market. Mr Speaker, the Prime Minister has already made | :12:06. | :12:10. | |
the threat to our negotiating partners to turn Britain into a | :12:11. | :12:14. | |
deregulated tax haven. Is that what she means by global Britain? When | :12:15. | :12:20. | |
the Foreign Secretary says no deal with the new would be perfectly OK, | :12:21. | :12:28. | |
it simply isn't good enough. -- with the EU. Far from taking back | :12:29. | :12:32. | |
control, leaving Britain to world Trade Organisation rules would mean | :12:33. | :12:38. | |
losing control, jobs and losing out. So when the Prime Minister says a | :12:39. | :12:43. | |
bad deal is better than no deal, let me be clear, no deal is a bad steel. | :12:44. | :12:50. | |
Such a complacent strategy would punish business, hit jobs and | :12:51. | :12:53. | |
devastate public services on which people rely. The Prime Minister says | :12:54. | :13:01. | |
she is seeking to secure a future free trade deal with the EU after | :13:02. | :13:08. | |
initial negotiations are completed. But if that is the strategy, it is | :13:09. | :13:14. | |
essential that this government stops being complacent and focuses on | :13:15. | :13:19. | |
securing a transitional agreement with the EU at the earliest | :13:20. | :13:23. | |
opportunity. That would at least give the British people and | :13:24. | :13:27. | |
businesses some short-term clarity in this period. The Prime Minister | :13:28. | :13:32. | |
said she wanted to provide certainty on EU nationals are as soon as | :13:33. | :13:39. | |
possible. So, then, why have they voted down every Labour attempt to | :13:40. | :13:44. | |
bring certainty to EU nationals who make such a national of -- massive | :13:45. | :13:51. | |
contribution to our society? These people are not bargaining chips. | :13:52. | :13:55. | |
They are mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, valued members of our | :13:56. | :14:00. | |
community. The Government could and should have acted months ago. I | :14:01. | :14:05. | |
agree with the Prime Minister, now is not the time to create | :14:06. | :14:09. | |
uncertainty or play politics. She should tell that to the EU migrants | :14:10. | :14:14. | |
in Britain who have no idea what their future holds because of | :14:15. | :14:22. | |
decisions made by her government. Refugees, is the Prime Minister | :14:23. | :14:25. | |
saying that she is content for refugees to remain in camps in | :14:26. | :14:31. | |
Libya? Is that a safe country? Or for Greece, Italy and Malta to | :14:32. | :14:34. | |
shoulder the entire burden of refugees from North Africa and the | :14:35. | :14:40. | |
Middle East. Whilst we welcome the conference she is proposing on | :14:41. | :14:43. | |
Somalia, we need to know what support Britain is offering to all | :14:44. | :14:50. | |
of those countries. Does the Prime Minister still believe we have a | :14:51. | :14:53. | |
collective responsibility on the issue of refugees? The Prime | :14:54. | :14:59. | |
Minister said that she argued about tackling vile smuggling rings and | :15:00. | :15:04. | |
people being subjected to unimaginable abuse. Does she not | :15:05. | :15:08. | |
agree that her argument would be so much stronger if her government had | :15:09. | :15:12. | |
been prepared to accept some of the victims of that unimaginable abuse, | :15:13. | :15:17. | |
for example the children who should have been accepted through the dubs | :15:18. | :15:23. | |
amendment? Mr Speaker, as we move towards the triggering of Article | :15:24. | :15:26. | |
50, there is much uncertainty about Britain's future. A responsible | :15:27. | :15:32. | |
government would set a positive tone with our negotiating partners and | :15:33. | :15:36. | |
would move to protect our economy, workers and citizens at the earliest | :15:37. | :15:42. | |
opportunity. Instead, we have a reckless government playing fast and | :15:43. | :15:46. | |
loose with the British economy. We will fight for jobs and the economy | :15:47. | :15:52. | |
using every parliamentary mechanism available and the Government should | :15:53. | :15:58. | |
welcome mat scrutiny. -- that scrutiny. The right honourable | :15:59. | :16:04. | |
gentleman mentioned a range of issues. He spoke again about the | :16:05. | :16:07. | |
issue of EU nationals. As I have said in this House and as has been | :16:08. | :16:12. | |
said by others from this dispatch box, we do want to ensure that the | :16:13. | :16:16. | |
issue of the staters of EU nationals living here in the UK is dealt with | :16:17. | :16:22. | |
at an early stage in the negotiations. -- the status. But we | :16:23. | :16:27. | |
also have a consideration for the UK nationals who are living in the | :16:28. | :16:31. | |
European Union. He said that the EU Commission was living here are | :16:32. | :16:34. | |
individuals who have contributed to our society. Indeed they are but so | :16:35. | :16:40. | |
the UK nationals living in the member states of the European Union | :16:41. | :16:43. | |
are also individuals who have contributed to their society and | :16:44. | :16:47. | |
economy and I want to ensure that their status is also ensured and we | :16:48. | :16:52. | |
hope and expect that this will be an issue we can address at an early | :16:53. | :16:57. | |
stage. He talked about the need to come forward and be clear about the | :16:58. | :17:01. | |
need for a transitional period. I refer him to the speech I gave in | :17:02. | :17:06. | |
Lancaster house in January and to the White Paper that we published. | :17:07. | :17:10. | |
The need for implementation periods, so we have a smooth and orderly | :17:11. | :17:14. | |
process of Brexit, is indeed one of the objectives that was set out in | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
that speech and in that document. He talked about refugees from North | :17:20. | :17:22. | |
Africa and the Middle East. What we want to ensure is that people don't | :17:23. | :17:28. | |
feel the need to make the often dangerous, life-threatening journey | :17:29. | :17:33. | |
across the central Mediterranean. Many of these people, more than | :17:34. | :17:35. | |
three quarters of the people who are doing this, are not refugees but | :17:36. | :17:40. | |
economic migrants. We need to ensure we are providing facilities and | :17:41. | :17:42. | |
working with countries within Africa, which the European Union is | :17:43. | :17:47. | |
itself doing and other countries are doing, to ensure that the | :17:48. | :17:50. | |
circumstances are such that people don't try to make a life-threatening | :17:51. | :17:55. | |
journey. But we also need internationally to be able to bring | :17:56. | :17:58. | |
a better distinction between refugees and economic migrants so | :17:59. | :18:01. | |
that we can give better support to those who are refugees. He taught | :18:02. | :18:06. | |
about the vile smuggling rings and appeared to suggest that the UK | :18:07. | :18:09. | |
government was doing absolutely nothing to break the vile smuggling | :18:10. | :18:13. | |
rings. In my statement, I quoted a very recent example of the work of | :18:14. | :18:18. | |
the National Crime Agency, which I might say it is a Conservative | :18:19. | :18:20. | |
government that set up the National Crime Agency, that set of the | :18:21. | :18:25. | |
organised immigration crime task force and is dealing with these | :18:26. | :18:30. | |
issues and while he talks about abuses and the movement of people | :18:31. | :18:33. | |
and the trafficking of people, it is this government that brought in the | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
Modern Slavery Bill act and I'm very proud that it is this government | :18:39. | :18:41. | |
that did it. And finally, he referred to what global Britain | :18:42. | :18:47. | |
needs. I'll tell him. It is about a strong, self-governing Britain, a | :18:48. | :18:49. | |
Britain that is trading around the world with old friends and new | :18:50. | :18:53. | |
allies alike but it is about a Britain that is proud to take its | :18:54. | :19:01. | |
place on the world stage. Thank you, Mr Speaker. My I congratulate my | :19:02. | :19:05. | |
right honourable friend not only on her statement just now and the way | :19:06. | :19:11. | |
she dispatched the Leader of the Opposition but also on the passage | :19:12. | :19:16. | |
of the EU withdrawal bill. Would she accept that now is the time for the | :19:17. | :19:21. | |
United Kingdom to do all the things that she herself has recommended in | :19:22. | :19:29. | |
her statement but, in addition to that, to take urgent legal advice in | :19:30. | :19:33. | |
respect of the legal warnings given by Lord hope of Craighead to be sure | :19:34. | :19:37. | |
that we don't have any unforeseen further attempts to undo the EU | :19:38. | :19:44. | |
withdrawal bill in the courts? I can assure my honourable friend that as | :19:45. | :19:48. | |
we move ahead with this, as we have at every stage, we have, of course, | :19:49. | :19:53. | |
taken appropriately or advice but, as he will know, we do not discuss | :19:54. | :19:58. | |
that on the floor of this House. Me I begin by thanking the Prime | :19:59. | :20:02. | |
Minister for advance notice of her statement and agree with her how | :20:03. | :20:08. | |
valuable it was in the large -- that the large part of the EU council was | :20:09. | :20:12. | |
given to jobs, growth and competitiveness and that is really | :20:13. | :20:16. | |
welcome to the whole of the UK, as across all of the 27 member states. | :20:17. | :20:20. | |
The single European market really matters to all of us, given it is | :20:21. | :20:24. | |
the largest single market in the world. The last time the prime | :20:25. | :20:27. | |
minister came to the dispatch box from an EU council meeting, I asked | :20:28. | :20:32. | |
what issues you raise a half of the Scottish government and its | :20:33. | :20:35. | |
priorities and she couldn't give a single example then, so I'm going to | :20:36. | :20:39. | |
try the same question again. Given that this was the last EU council | :20:40. | :20:43. | |
since the invoking of Article 50, can she give a single example - just | :20:44. | :20:48. | |
one, please - of a single issue that was raised on the half of the | :20:49. | :20:51. | |
Scottish government or its priorities at this council meeting? | :20:52. | :21:00. | |
Goodness, there is a lot of hubbub from the government benches on this. | :21:01. | :21:06. | |
Perhaps they are also keen to hear from the Prime Minister, who didn't | :21:07. | :21:09. | |
make a single mention during her statement of what she raised a half | :21:10. | :21:13. | |
of the Scottish government. We will all wait with bated breath to hear | :21:14. | :21:16. | |
the Prime Minister answer that question. While the Prime Minister | :21:17. | :21:21. | |
was in Brussels, what discussions did she have about her Brexit | :21:22. | :21:25. | |
timetable? Can she confirmed that the plan is to negotiate a deal and | :21:26. | :21:31. | |
after that, there needs to be time. Time for ratification, time for | :21:32. | :21:36. | |
agreement across the European Union and its institutions. Will she | :21:37. | :21:38. | |
confirm from the dispatch box that that is indeed her plan? The Prime | :21:39. | :21:44. | |
Minister has decided, for one reason or another - I can't imagine why - | :21:45. | :21:48. | |
to delay the invoking of Article 50. Last July, we were told by the Prime | :21:49. | :21:55. | |
Minister herself, and I'm sure she remembers saying these very words, | :21:56. | :22:00. | |
that she would not trigger Article 50 until she had, and I quote, her | :22:01. | :22:06. | |
own words, a UK wide approach. Now, she knows that she has no agreement | :22:07. | :22:11. | |
with the devolved administration, despite months of compromised | :22:12. | :22:15. | |
suggestions from the Scottish Government. So will the UK | :22:16. | :22:18. | |
government, even at this very late stage, use the next days to secure a | :22:19. | :22:25. | |
compromise, UK wide approach? Or does she still planned to plough on | :22:26. | :22:29. | |
regardless, even though she knows what the consequences of that will | :22:30. | :22:38. | |
mean? Thank you. He asks what issues that were of relevance of the | :22:39. | :22:41. | |
Scottish Government and to Scottish people were raised that this | :22:42. | :22:47. | |
European council. I can answer him - jobs, growth and competitiveness. | :22:48. | :22:50. | |
Those issues that matter to the Scottish people but also matter to | :22:51. | :22:54. | |
the people of the whole of the UK. He also talked about whether there | :22:55. | :23:01. | |
was a discussion of the European council about the timetable for the | :23:02. | :23:05. | |
discussions on the negotiations of Article 50. As I said very early on | :23:06. | :23:10. | |
in my statement, in the main business of council, we discuss the | :23:11. | :23:12. | |
challenge of managing mass migration, the threats from | :23:13. | :23:17. | |
organised crime, and the measures needed to boost your's growth and | :23:18. | :23:21. | |
competitiveness. This was a council which focused on those issues and I | :23:22. | :23:25. | |
was presenting the case for the United Kingdom's concerns on those | :23:26. | :23:30. | |
issues, including jobs, which is I've just said, matter to the people | :23:31. | :23:35. | |
of Scotland. Who stalks -- he talks about a single market of the | :23:36. | :23:40. | |
European Union. I would remind him and his colleagues once again that | :23:41. | :23:44. | |
the most important single market for Scotland is the single market of the | :23:45. | :23:54. | |
United Kingdom. Shouldn't friendly democracies with decent values rush | :23:55. | :23:57. | |
to reassure British citizens that they can stay on the continent, and | :23:58. | :24:02. | |
isn't it strongly in the economic interests of our partners to accept | :24:03. | :24:05. | |
our generous offer of continuing with tariff free trade on the same | :24:06. | :24:11. | |
basis as today? My right honourable friend makes an important point. I | :24:12. | :24:17. | |
think the issues of EU nationals in the UK -- and UK nationals and the | :24:18. | :24:20. | |
question of the trading relationship in the future is not a one-sided | :24:21. | :24:24. | |
argument, it is actually about benefits for the EU as well and I | :24:25. | :24:28. | |
very much think that is the case in relation to trade. This isn't about | :24:29. | :24:32. | |
something that just works for the UK. I believe the right trading deal | :24:33. | :24:35. | |
for the UK, the sort of free and open access my right honourable | :24:36. | :24:38. | |
friend talks about, will be good for the rest of the EU as well. The | :24:39. | :24:43. | |
Prime Minister has spoken many times about the importance of achieving a | :24:44. | :24:49. | |
good deal from the negotiations that the country is about to embark on. | :24:50. | :24:53. | |
Yet, in recent days, the Foreign Secretary has said that leaving with | :24:54. | :24:57. | |
no deal would be perfectly OK, while the international trade secretary | :24:58. | :25:01. | |
has said that not achieving a deal would be bad. Would the Prime | :25:02. | :25:05. | |
Minister care to adjudicate and tell the House which of those ministers | :25:06. | :25:09. | |
is speaking for the government? I can say to him, I am optimistic that | :25:10. | :25:15. | |
we are going to get a good deal for the United Kingdom in trading with | :25:16. | :25:22. | |
the European Union. No deal may be a bad deal for both the EU 27 and for | :25:23. | :25:28. | |
the UK but it is very far from the worst deal for the UK if there was | :25:29. | :25:35. | |
no route to a future free trading arrangement with the European Union. | :25:36. | :25:41. | |
The deal is not in the gift either of her government, however hard they | :25:42. | :25:45. | |
are trying to deliver it, or of this Parliament, but of the European | :25:46. | :25:49. | |
Parliament and our partners, so no deal remains a real possibility. It | :25:50. | :25:56. | |
seems that her government is now preparing for it. Will that | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
preparation into the opportunity for individuals and businesses to be | :26:01. | :26:04. | |
able to make their own dispositions in that possibility? First of all, I | :26:05. | :26:10. | |
was clear in the Lancaster House speech that no deal was better than | :26:11. | :26:15. | |
a bad deal. I'm optimistic that we will be able to negotiate a good | :26:16. | :26:19. | |
deal. He is absolutely right, of course, there are other parties to | :26:20. | :26:23. | |
this. It is not as what we say. There will be a negotiation about | :26:24. | :26:26. | |
that trade arrangement and in coming to that trade arrangement and | :26:27. | :26:31. | |
agreement, I can ensure him that I and others across the Parliament, | :26:32. | :26:34. | |
the Secretary of State is exiting the EU, the Secretary of State the | :26:35. | :26:39. | |
business, are talking to businesses across the UK to understand the | :26:40. | :26:44. | |
issues that are most important of them. The Prime Minister has said | :26:45. | :26:47. | |
again just now that no deal is better than a bad deal but what | :26:48. | :26:51. | |
possible deal is worse than no deal and can she described it? I have to | :26:52. | :27:03. | |
say to the honourable lady, we are about to enter into a negotiation | :27:04. | :27:08. | |
with the remaining 27 members of the EU. As part of that, we will be | :27:09. | :27:13. | |
negotiating a trade deal for our future relationship with the EU. I | :27:14. | :27:17. | |
confidently expect that we will get a good deal and somebody says "You | :27:18. | :27:22. | |
hope" from a secondary position. It is precisely because of the answer I | :27:23. | :27:27. | |
gave to the Member for Wokingham. This is not about a one-sided | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
negotiation, about what is going to sit the UK, it is about what is | :27:32. | :27:34. | |
right for that relationship for the future of the UK with the EU and a | :27:35. | :27:39. | |
good trade deal for the UK is a good trade deal for the EU. | :27:40. | :27:45. | |
Can I welcome the Prime Minister 's announcement that the UK | :27:46. | :27:50. | |
strengthening its contribution to cyber security at countering | :27:51. | :27:54. | |
disinformation. Also the Foreign Secretary 's forthcoming visit to | :27:55. | :27:57. | |
Russia. But with Russia spending every billion dollars on media | :27:58. | :28:02. | |
outfits and patrol factories, is she satisfied that the EU's East Strat, | :28:03. | :28:08. | |
organisation account is fake news and misinformation from the Kremlin | :28:09. | :28:13. | |
is sufficiently resourced and what progress was made on setting up the | :28:14. | :28:17. | |
further sectors to identify and counteract Russian propaganda that | :28:18. | :28:20. | |
was mentioned in the pre-briefings to the council. My right honourable | :28:21. | :28:27. | |
friend raises an important point, Naholo Schrotter jujitsu | :28:28. | :28:31. | |
indications, this is an area where the UK does have particular | :28:32. | :28:35. | |
expertise and experience. That is why we will be making that expertise | :28:36. | :28:38. | |
available to the European Union in order to be able to enhance the work | :28:39. | :28:43. | |
that they are doing to counter the disinformation campaigns. Can I tell | :28:44. | :28:49. | |
the Prime Minister that it is not just in Scotland where there is a | :28:50. | :28:52. | |
fear that the right wing of her party is dictating the terms of this | :28:53. | :28:55. | |
debate and pushing us towards a Brexit deal that favours London and | :28:56. | :29:02. | |
the South over the North. Can I ask her to did the no more, establish a | :29:03. | :29:07. | |
Brexit committee of the regions and nations, to give places like greater | :29:08. | :29:12. | |
Manchester equal and fair representation in this crucial | :29:13. | :29:20. | |
debate. As I have said repeatedly in this house, this government is | :29:21. | :29:24. | |
negotiating a deal, that we will be Wiggo shooting a deal that would be | :29:25. | :29:27. | |
good for the whole of the United Kingdom. That is why we had been | :29:28. | :29:32. | |
listing to businesses and others from across the whole of the United | :29:33. | :29:36. | |
Kingdom, yes the devolved administration but also people from | :29:37. | :29:39. | |
regions of England and businesses from across the whole of the United | :29:40. | :29:42. | |
Kingdom to understand the interests and what we need to be taken into | :29:43. | :29:50. | |
account. As my right honourable friend launches into the | :29:51. | :29:53. | |
negotiations I wonder if she has had time to consider the excellent House | :29:54. | :29:57. | |
of Lords report that says we have no legal negation to pay any money | :29:58. | :30:02. | |
whatsoever to the European Union, and does she share my view, that | :30:03. | :30:05. | |
this is an excellent basis for beginning the negotiations. I can | :30:06. | :30:12. | |
assure my honourable friend that I have noted the House of Lords report | :30:13. | :30:17. | |
on this particular matter, as he will know, when people voted on the | :30:18. | :30:20. | |
23rd of June last year. I think they were very clear that they did not | :30:21. | :30:25. | |
want to continue year after year to be paying huge sums of money to the | :30:26. | :30:31. | |
European Union. Mr Speaker I thank the Prime Minister for advanced site | :30:32. | :30:35. | |
of a statement. Given that she is interpreting the will of the people | :30:36. | :30:40. | |
and not enacting it, history will declare, that last night she | :30:41. | :30:43. | |
demonstrates contempt for this place, and for the British people. | :30:44. | :30:53. | |
The Brexit deal, the Brexit deal, the Brexit deal is an unwritten, | :30:54. | :30:58. | |
unknown deal. It is a deal that will be signed off by someone, the only | :30:59. | :31:03. | |
question days, with be signed off by a handful of politicians or by the | :31:04. | :31:07. | |
whole of the people? Does she agree with me it should be signed off by | :31:08. | :31:13. | |
the whole of the people? Can I say to the right honourable gentleman | :31:14. | :31:17. | |
that I think what he says. Comes a little strange from a party, seen | :31:18. | :31:20. | |
tremendous there was a time where the Liberal Democrats were going out | :31:21. | :31:23. | |
there telling everyone that they were going to have an in- out | :31:24. | :31:27. | |
referendum on the European union, and now we have had it, and are not | :31:28. | :31:31. | |
willing to accept the result that the British people gave them. That | :31:32. | :31:36. | |
is why we are putting it into practice, we are delivering the will | :31:37. | :31:41. | |
of the British people. My right honourable friend the Prime Minister | :31:42. | :31:44. | |
has been very clear that the United Kingdom is leaving the European | :31:45. | :31:50. | |
Union, we are not leaving Europe. A strong and prosperous European | :31:51. | :31:59. | |
Union, can she agree with me, that a strong stable united United Kingdom | :32:00. | :32:02. | |
is also in the interests of the European Union and that she will | :32:03. | :32:05. | |
vigorously resist anyone who uses this moment to try and destroy our | :32:06. | :32:15. | |
precious United Kingdom? I absolutely agree with my honourable | :32:16. | :32:20. | |
friend, as he has said and I have said before, a strong remain | :32:21. | :32:28. | |
European Union in 27 will be wanting to see the EU strong. We'll so what | :32:29. | :32:31. | |
is he a strong United Kingdom playing its role as a global | :32:32. | :32:35. | |
Britain. It is important that we keep the union of the United Kingdom | :32:36. | :32:38. | |
together, there is much that binds us and I don't want to see anybody | :32:39. | :32:44. | |
doing constitutional gameplaying with the future of the United | :32:45. | :32:51. | |
Kingdom. Can I congratulate the Prime Minister on bringing the | :32:52. | :32:56. | |
country together? And uniting Scotland behind the First Minister. | :32:57. | :33:00. | |
She was asked, by my right honourable friend about what was | :33:01. | :33:03. | |
said last year so let me cite the Tory Bible, the Daily Telegraph on | :33:04. | :33:09. | |
the 15th of July. Theresa may has indicated that she will not trigger | :33:10. | :33:13. | |
the formal process of leaving the EU until there is an agreed UK approach | :33:14. | :33:19. | |
backed by Scotland. Was that misreporting by the Daily Telegraph, | :33:20. | :33:22. | |
Miss Peake in by the Prime Minister or is she still working on it? As | :33:23. | :33:29. | |
the right honourable gentleman knows full well, we have been in | :33:30. | :33:31. | |
discussions with the Scottish Government and the other involved | :33:32. | :33:35. | |
administrations recognising the issues they have raised. But it lies | :33:36. | :33:40. | |
in the issues and concerns, but The Right Honourable gentleman, refers | :33:41. | :33:46. | |
to the views of the Scottish people in relation to the announcement, | :33:47. | :33:50. | |
either Scottish First Minister, I might remind him that the evidence | :33:51. | :33:54. | |
in Scotland is that the George the Scottish people do not want a second | :33:55. | :34:01. | |
independence referendum. Thank you Mr Speaker, can I commend my right | :34:02. | :34:06. | |
honourable friend's very measured response to the provocation of the | :34:07. | :34:10. | |
calling of another second independence referendum in Scotland. | :34:11. | :34:15. | |
That she is not ruling out a referendum in the future, but now is | :34:16. | :34:19. | |
not the right time. Can she also just point out, that the 2015 | :34:20. | :34:25. | |
Scotland act, reserves all of the single market issues to the United | :34:26. | :34:28. | |
Kingdom government. These are not matters, these are matters that we | :34:29. | :34:32. | |
should share with Scotland in the discussion, but they are matters | :34:33. | :34:37. | |
reserved to the United Kingdom. As I have just said in response to The | :34:38. | :34:40. | |
Right Honourable gentleman, the previous question, it is the case at | :34:41. | :34:45. | |
the moment as I have said that the evidence is that the Scottish people | :34:46. | :34:48. | |
do not want a second independence referendum. As we dish it issues in | :34:49. | :34:54. | |
relation to access to the single market through the free trade deals | :34:55. | :34:58. | |
that we will be live to in, we'll be taking into it at the interest of | :34:59. | :35:02. | |
the whole of the United Kingdom and every part of the United Kingdom and | :35:03. | :35:05. | |
ensuring that deal works for everybody across the United Kingdom | :35:06. | :35:12. | |
including the people of Scotland. Following a successful conclusion to | :35:13. | :35:16. | |
the Article 50 bill last night, there are some who in Northern | :35:17. | :35:18. | |
Ireland will add to the uncertainty and division by calling for a poll, | :35:19. | :35:25. | |
they have already traded enough uncertainty and division by | :35:26. | :35:28. | |
collapsing the uncertainty, will she take this opportunity to tell people | :35:29. | :35:31. | |
that there has never been more support for the union in Northern | :35:32. | :35:35. | |
Ireland across all communities, and that in fact such a call, is outside | :35:36. | :35:40. | |
of the terms of the Belfast agreement, the very point that Sinn | :35:41. | :35:43. | |
Fein keep harping on about that they want in the meditation of the | :35:44. | :35:49. | |
agreements. -- in the mentation. The Right Honourable gentleman is right, | :35:50. | :35:53. | |
there are a set of circumstances which the Secretary of State for | :35:54. | :35:56. | |
Northern Ireland has looked at this issue, and it is not right to have a | :35:57. | :36:00. | |
order poll at this stage. What we should all be focusing on is | :36:01. | :36:04. | |
bringing the parties together to ensure that we continue to see the | :36:05. | :36:07. | |
devolved administration in Northern Ireland, working as it has done in | :36:08. | :36:11. | |
the interest of people in Northern Ireland, we want to see that | :36:12. | :36:13. | |
devolved administration being formed and that is what all of the party | :36:14. | :36:19. | |
should be looking for at the moment. Mr Speaker isn't it clear from | :36:20. | :36:23. | |
European negotiations, that a lot of the detail when to be finalised | :36:24. | :36:27. | |
until the end of this process and therefore the timetable set out | :36:28. | :36:32. | |
yesterday, by the First Minister, to have a premature second independence | :36:33. | :36:38. | |
referendum is an excuse, not a reason, and shouldn't we indeed | :36:39. | :36:41. | |
listen to the right honourable gentleman, the member for Gordon, | :36:42. | :36:45. | |
when he referred to the last independence referendum as a once in | :36:46. | :36:52. | |
a generation of opportunity. Well I am grateful to my right honourable | :36:53. | :36:56. | |
friend, as he rightly points out, of course, we have a timetable for | :36:57. | :36:59. | |
negotiation which is up to two years. It is possible that the | :37:00. | :37:03. | |
details of that negotiation will not be finalised until close to the end | :37:04. | :37:07. | |
of that period. And he is entirely right of course, those in Scotland | :37:08. | :37:12. | |
to talk about having a second independence referendum should | :37:13. | :37:14. | |
remember what the right honourable gentleman said, that it was a once | :37:15. | :37:19. | |
in a generation vote that took place in September 2014, it seems a | :37:20. | :37:22. | |
generation now is less than three-year 's. Mr Speaker the Prime | :37:23. | :37:30. | |
Minister has said, that no deal is better than a bad deal. And whilst | :37:31. | :37:36. | |
we all wish her well in getting the best possible deal, for the UK, will | :37:37. | :37:43. | |
she now publish what the effects would be of crashing out of the | :37:44. | :37:49. | |
European Union on WTO rule so that we can have a debate in the country | :37:50. | :37:54. | |
about her assertion that no deal is better than a bad deal. I say to The | :37:55. | :38:01. | |
Right Honourable Lady, I'm grateful for the comment that she has made | :38:02. | :38:04. | |
about being in support of the government in looking ahead and | :38:05. | :38:07. | |
trying to negotiate the best possible deal for the United | :38:08. | :38:10. | |
Kingdom. That is precisely what we will be doing. | :38:11. | :38:17. | |
I welcome the Prime Minister's positive approach to establishing a | :38:18. | :38:23. | |
new cooperative relationship with Europe, and the sensible mess of | :38:24. | :38:29. | |
planning contingency planning. Can the Prime Minister tell us how much | :38:30. | :38:36. | |
that contingency planning will cost? It is important that contingency | :38:37. | :38:41. | |
planning does take place. We have to look at the variety of scenarios and | :38:42. | :38:45. | |
a lot of work is being done by the Department and will be done by other | :38:46. | :38:51. | |
departments as well. I think what is important, is that we ensure that | :38:52. | :38:55. | |
work is done properly. So that the governance has the best possible of | :38:56. | :38:58. | |
the nation in which to negotiate our relationship for the future. After | :38:59. | :39:04. | |
lecturing the other European leaders on how they should complete the | :39:05. | :39:08. | |
single market, the sheer member that she had already thrown in the towel | :39:09. | :39:10. | |
on Britain's membership of the single market, and would she admit | :39:11. | :39:15. | |
what an error it was. For her to have given the Scottish First | :39:16. | :39:19. | |
Minister exactly the excuse she was looking for, for their opportunistic | :39:20. | :39:27. | |
second referendum? First of all their was no lecturing that took | :39:28. | :39:30. | |
place, there was a view around the table, I encouraged that, and others | :39:31. | :39:37. | |
contributed, that it is important that the European Union continues to | :39:38. | :39:41. | |
complete the single market, but actually there is work yet to be | :39:42. | :39:46. | |
done. That continues to work on trade agents that other parts of the | :39:47. | :39:49. | |
country and the reason why I can ask them to do that is because it would | :39:50. | :39:53. | |
be good for the United Kingdom in our future relationship with the | :39:54. | :39:57. | |
European Union. So this is something that will be good for us. I have | :39:58. | :40:01. | |
always been clear, I have always been clear that we will trigger | :40:02. | :40:05. | |
Article 50 by the end of March and that is exactly what we will do. | :40:06. | :40:12. | |
There has been much speculation about the divorce from the European | :40:13. | :40:16. | |
Union has two how much money would be needed. I'm afraid I'm to | :40:17. | :40:20. | |
disagree with multiple friend, from North East Somerset. Since we | :40:21. | :40:28. | |
joined, the EC in 1973, we have paid in 108 ?84 billion -- 184 billion. | :40:29. | :40:35. | |
That is the net contribution, the actual amount we have paid, after | :40:36. | :40:41. | |
the money back. Well when you have a divorcee split it into, so that | :40:42. | :40:45. | |
would be ?92 billion that should be paid back to us, did the Prime | :40:46. | :40:49. | |
Minister have the chance to bring this up at the conference? LAUGHTER | :40:50. | :41:02. | |
We want our money back. I'm tempted to say to my honourable friend nice | :41:03. | :41:05. | |
try by date thing that was application for a job that the | :41:06. | :41:11. | |
Treasury. -- but I don't think that was an application. | :41:12. | :41:18. | |
The honourable gentleman seems to be able to contain his misery. Not | :41:19. | :41:26. | |
everyone shares her it is as for the imminent application of the EU - | :41:27. | :41:35. | |
Canada agreement, not least, because CETA's new court investors | :41:36. | :41:38. | |
discipline, still causes problems. Does she regard R as a blueprint | :41:39. | :41:42. | |
for the trade deals that the government thinks she could so | :41:43. | :41:46. | |
easily agree. -- CETA as a blueprint. And how will she protect | :41:47. | :41:56. | |
things if that is the case. There is no blueprint, I have said | :41:57. | :41:58. | |
consistently of the last seven months or so that we are not looking | :41:59. | :42:04. | |
to adopt a model for another countries relationships. We will | :42:05. | :42:08. | |
have a deal that is right for the UK. Did my right on the friends | :42:09. | :42:17. | |
detect any strong support at the EU Council for a separatist Scotland | :42:18. | :42:18. | |
remaining in the EU. I can honestly say that I did not | :42:19. | :42:27. | |
detect any such support in the European Council. Since the country | :42:28. | :42:34. | |
is almost evenly divided about leaving the EU, how does the Prime | :42:35. | :42:40. | |
Minister try and resolve this? I've never known this country so divided | :42:41. | :42:50. | |
since Suez in 1956. Can I say to the honourable gentleman, this House | :42:51. | :42:53. | |
chose to give a vote to the British people in the referendum on the 23rd | :42:54. | :42:58. | |
of June. The people of the UK voted in that referendum and the majority | :42:59. | :43:03. | |
voted for the UK to leave the EU. I actually think that when I talk to | :43:04. | :43:07. | |
people who voted to leave and people who voted to remain, the | :43:08. | :43:10. | |
overwhelming message is that they want the government now to get on | :43:11. | :43:13. | |
with the job of delivering on that vote. My right honourable friend the | :43:14. | :43:20. | |
Prime Minister has made it clear both from the dispatch box and the | :43:21. | :43:26. | |
country that she wishes to prioritise the certainty of UK | :43:27. | :43:30. | |
nationals living in the EU 27 and the EU nationals living here in the | :43:31. | :43:34. | |
UK but I have it on good authority that the EU negotiators want to | :43:35. | :43:39. | |
prioritise the so-called divorce settlement. Will she make it clear | :43:40. | :43:43. | |
to the people to whom she is negotiating that we will not | :43:44. | :43:46. | |
countenance British and EU citizens being used as bargaining chips in | :43:47. | :43:52. | |
such a way? My honourable friend is right. What we want to do is ensure | :43:53. | :43:57. | |
that we do see both EU citizens living here and UK citizens living | :43:58. | :44:01. | |
in the EU reciprocally protected in terms of their future status and I | :44:02. | :44:07. | |
want to see that as a discussion that will take place at an early | :44:08. | :44:10. | |
stage in negotiations. I recognise the point that he has made about | :44:11. | :44:14. | |
some of the things that have been said and I will simply say this to | :44:15. | :44:17. | |
him, that in my conversations with other European leaders, I believe | :44:18. | :44:21. | |
there is also an extent of goodwill there to deal with this issue at an | :44:22. | :44:30. | |
early stage. The Prime Minister lectures nationalists on the | :44:31. | :44:34. | |
importance of staying within unions, all the while she advocates leaving | :44:35. | :44:38. | |
on. She lectures our European partners on the importance of the | :44:39. | :44:43. | |
single market, all the while she is hell belt on our leaving it. Does | :44:44. | :44:48. | |
she think that this incoherence in her position might be dealt with and | :44:49. | :44:52. | |
she might make her own life easier if she thought again about staying | :44:53. | :44:59. | |
in the single market? I've said this on a number of occasions in this | :45:00. | :45:03. | |
House and I will repeat it here today - what we want to do is to | :45:04. | :45:08. | |
negotiate the best possible trading arrangement. My right honourable | :45:09. | :45:11. | |
friend the Member for Wokingham taught about fraction were -- tariff | :45:12. | :45:16. | |
free, frictionless, seamless movement of goods and trade in | :45:17. | :45:20. | |
services. It is wrong to think about the issue of in the single market as | :45:21. | :45:25. | |
just a single binary issue - either you are in it or you have no access | :45:26. | :45:29. | |
to its. What we want to do is ensure we have good access to the single | :45:30. | :45:33. | |
market, the best possible trade deal, which allows that frictionless | :45:34. | :45:37. | |
and, as far as possible, tariff free access. Could I particularly welcome | :45:38. | :45:44. | |
my right honourable friend's comments on the Balkans, an area | :45:45. | :45:47. | |
which has plunged Europe into horror several times over the last few | :45:48. | :45:52. | |
centuries? Would she confirmed that it is Britain that has insisted that | :45:53. | :45:56. | |
we keep the mission there going against the opposition of several of | :45:57. | :46:01. | |
our European partners? Indeed, my right honourable friend is | :46:02. | :46:05. | |
absolutely right. The UK has been playing a key role in relation to | :46:06. | :46:09. | |
the Western Balkans. There was a very good discussion at the European | :46:10. | :46:12. | |
Council, a very clear recognition around the table of the need for us | :46:13. | :46:18. | |
to continue to be involved in the Western Balkans, and a number of | :46:19. | :46:21. | |
steps that can be taken in future to ensure that we do stabilise this | :46:22. | :46:25. | |
region, which is in the interests of not only the countries in the | :46:26. | :46:28. | |
Western Balkans but the rest of us in Europe. In the spirit of this | :46:29. | :46:34. | |
so-called UK wide approach to Brexit, can the Prime Minister | :46:35. | :46:38. | |
confirmed to the House how much advance notice she intends to give | :46:39. | :46:42. | |
to the first ministers of Wales, Scotland and the leadership in | :46:43. | :46:46. | |
Northern Ireland of the date upon which she intends to invoke Article | :46:47. | :46:53. | |
50? We will be invoking Article 50 by the end of March. There will be a | :46:54. | :46:57. | |
number of processes that will take place in advance that invocation and | :46:58. | :47:01. | |
I can assure, as I said to this House, I will come and notify this | :47:02. | :47:05. | |
House when the decision is... When we have notified. At the European | :47:06. | :47:13. | |
Council, did the Prime Minister have a chance to pick up two issues with | :47:14. | :47:16. | |
the European commission and the Spanish government - one, their | :47:17. | :47:21. | |
attitude to the border of Gibraltar, and their attitude to those | :47:22. | :47:23. | |
separatists that claim that their countries could break away and | :47:24. | :47:27. | |
rejoin the EU? I can assure that in the discussions I've had with the | :47:28. | :47:29. | |
Spanish government on this matter, they are very concerned and they are | :47:30. | :47:34. | |
very clear that it is not possible for a country to break away from a | :47:35. | :47:37. | |
country that is a member of the European Union and to immediately | :47:38. | :47:45. | |
rejoin that European Union. This is the Rosso doctrine, which has been | :47:46. | :47:48. | |
reaffirmed by the European commission, so as far as Scotland is | :47:49. | :47:52. | |
concerned, independence would not mean membership of the European | :47:53. | :47:55. | |
Union, it would mean that Scotland would remain outside the European | :47:56. | :47:59. | |
Union. I'm sure the Prime Minister would be pleased to know that there | :48:00. | :48:03. | |
are millions of Labour supporters across the country who will be | :48:04. | :48:05. | |
delighted and share the pleasure that she has at the legal decision | :48:06. | :48:15. | |
taken through Parliament but did she have any chance in the council | :48:16. | :48:20. | |
meetings to discuss informally with EU leaders the position of our EU | :48:21. | :48:28. | |
citizens in... Our British citizens in other countries and are they | :48:29. | :48:31. | |
sticking up for our citizens there the way we are sticking up for their | :48:32. | :48:36. | |
citizens here? I've had a number of discussions with European leaders on | :48:37. | :48:40. | |
this point and that is why I said earlier in response to another | :48:41. | :48:43. | |
question from an honourable friend that I believe there is goodwill on | :48:44. | :48:47. | |
both sides to deal with this issue and to recognise the needs of UK | :48:48. | :48:52. | |
citizens living in other EU member states, as well as recognising the | :48:53. | :48:55. | |
needs of EU citizens living here in the UK. I think there is goodwill | :48:56. | :49:02. | |
there but it has been made clear in the past that no discussion on this | :49:03. | :49:05. | |
and take place until the negotiations have formally been | :49:06. | :49:11. | |
triggered. I welcome the Prime Minister's statement that politics | :49:12. | :49:15. | |
is not a game but for those of us who have fought the SNP, to the SNP | :49:16. | :49:26. | |
it is again. Yesterday's announcement by the first Minister | :49:27. | :49:29. | |
is the just the first of many we are going to hear in the weeks and | :49:30. | :49:32. | |
months to come. With the prime minister agree with me that it is | :49:33. | :49:35. | |
imperative that her government and every member of this House who | :49:36. | :49:39. | |
believes in Great Britain and Northern Ireland that we must | :49:40. | :49:44. | |
reaffirm our own constituents outside of Scotland why the United | :49:45. | :49:54. | |
Kingdom is important to all of us? I absolutely agree. It is important | :49:55. | :49:59. | |
for us to continue to confirm and reaffirmed the importance of the | :50:00. | :50:02. | |
United Kingdom. He says to reaffirm the importance of the United Kingdom | :50:03. | :50:06. | |
for constituencies outside Scotland. I think, as I did when I was in | :50:07. | :50:11. | |
Glasgow very recently, also we should reaffirm the importance of | :50:12. | :50:14. | |
the United Kingdom to Scotland and to Scotland's economy. Thank you, Mr | :50:15. | :50:21. | |
Speaker. I was glad to hear the prime minister say that she had been | :50:22. | :50:26. | |
working closely with the devolved administrations. Glad but slightly | :50:27. | :50:28. | |
puzzled because the joint ministerial committee on exiting the | :50:29. | :50:34. | |
EU is less organised than a community council. Not my words but | :50:35. | :50:40. | |
those of an actual participant, Mark Drakeford. How is she now ensuring | :50:41. | :50:43. | |
that the system of devolved governments are effective in the | :50:44. | :50:51. | |
Article 50 notification? The joint ministerial committee process has | :50:52. | :50:55. | |
been operating now for some months at various levels. It has been | :50:56. | :50:58. | |
bringing ministers together from the United Kingdom government, together | :50:59. | :51:02. | |
with the three devolved administrations, as I say, at | :51:03. | :51:04. | |
various levels, discussing the issues that have been raised on both | :51:05. | :51:08. | |
sides, including looking at the paper that the Welsh Government | :51:09. | :51:13. | |
provided on the particular concerns that Wales has and those are being | :51:14. | :51:21. | |
taken into account. The premiere of Luxembourg believes, apparently, | :51:22. | :51:24. | |
that we might yet be persuaded to stay. Are there others like him and | :51:25. | :51:29. | |
if the emphatic proceedings yesterday as not disabused him, will | :51:30. | :51:32. | |
she do so in the nicest possible way? I have to say that I think we | :51:33. | :51:41. | |
can be reassured that the votes that took place in this House and in of | :51:42. | :51:48. | |
Lords last night and the passing of the European Union withdrawal | :51:49. | :51:50. | |
notification bill into Royal assent will give a very clear message to | :51:51. | :51:54. | |
everybody in Europe that we mean business. The practice and | :51:55. | :52:03. | |
experience in complex negotiations, for example that in Northern | :52:04. | :52:08. | |
Ireland, is that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. Does the | :52:09. | :52:12. | |
Prime Minister agree that that will be the case here and, if so, given | :52:13. | :52:17. | |
that she said that no deal is preferable to a bad deal, what hope | :52:18. | :52:23. | |
can British citizens living in EU countries or European Union citizens | :52:24. | :52:28. | |
living in the UK believe that there is actually going to be any | :52:29. | :52:34. | |
resolution of this uncertainty? The honourable gentleman quotes past | :52:35. | :52:38. | |
experience as the model for what is going to happen in relation to our | :52:39. | :52:42. | |
negotiations. I don't look at these matters in that way. When we invoke, | :52:43. | :52:46. | |
we will start those negotiations. We've already been discussing with | :52:47. | :52:51. | |
other EU leaders the importance of giving reassurance to UK citizens | :52:52. | :52:54. | |
living in the 27 member states and EU citizens living here about their | :52:55. | :52:59. | |
status and their future. As I said in answer to a number of questions, | :53:00. | :53:03. | |
including to his honourable friend the member from Vauxhall, this is an | :53:04. | :53:08. | |
issue on which I believe there is genuine goodwill on both sides and | :53:09. | :53:12. | |
that's why I want to see it as part of the early part of the | :53:13. | :53:18. | |
negotiations. The prime minister has rightly talked about the need to | :53:19. | :53:22. | |
reassure EU nationals in this country. Does she agree that the | :53:23. | :53:25. | |
biggest reassurance we can give them is that their rights remain | :53:26. | :53:29. | |
completely unaltered until this House chooses to change those | :53:30. | :53:34. | |
rights? My honourable friend has made a very important point and, of | :53:35. | :53:40. | |
course, until we exit the EU, we are still members of the EU but it is | :53:41. | :53:43. | |
very clear that any changes that need to take place in terms of our | :53:44. | :53:46. | |
immigration rules will have to come before this House. The Prime | :53:47. | :53:53. | |
Minister has said several times today that she is in discussions | :53:54. | :53:57. | |
with the Scottish government and has confirmed that she wants to trigger | :53:58. | :54:01. | |
Article 50 by the end of the month so, by my calculations, that means | :54:02. | :54:04. | |
she has less than two weeks to finish those discussions and to | :54:05. | :54:08. | |
agree and announced the UK wide approach she promised in July last | :54:09. | :54:13. | |
year. So when does she expect to finish discussions with the Scottish | :54:14. | :54:16. | |
government and announce the outcome of those discussions, as she | :54:17. | :54:22. | |
promised last year? When we trigger Article 50 and go into negotiations, | :54:23. | :54:26. | |
as she knows, we will be negotiating as the UK government and we have | :54:27. | :54:30. | |
been in the discussions with the Scottish government and other | :54:31. | :54:33. | |
devolved up ministrations and the discussions continue but I have | :54:34. | :54:38. | |
already set out the broad objectives of our negotiations, which does | :54:39. | :54:41. | |
include the reference to the very sort of trade deal that she and her | :54:42. | :54:44. | |
colleagues have said they want to see for the UK and Scotland. There | :54:45. | :54:51. | |
was laughter from the benches opposite on my right honourable | :54:52. | :54:54. | |
friend spoke of the single market and digital. Would should remind the | :54:55. | :54:57. | |
House that we wish to continue to trade with that single market, that | :54:58. | :55:01. | |
we inject 60 billion into that market and when it comes to digital, | :55:02. | :55:07. | |
the investments of Snap, Facebook and Softbank, this country is a | :55:08. | :55:11. | |
powerhouse in digital? He is absolutely right about the role this | :55:12. | :55:14. | |
country plays in the market for digital services. It is important | :55:15. | :55:18. | |
and is why we have seen our digital strategy being set out by my right | :55:19. | :55:24. | |
honourable friend, the Culture Secretary. And it is important for | :55:25. | :55:28. | |
us. He is absolutely right into the derision from the opposite benches | :55:29. | :55:31. | |
at the suggestion that we should encourage a single market in digital | :55:32. | :55:35. | |
services in the EE you, which we can then trade with and sell into... I'm | :55:36. | :55:42. | |
afraid I was rather surprised at that reaction because it seems that | :55:43. | :55:46. | |
the opposite benches don't want to see us developing that market in a | :55:47. | :55:52. | |
way that is good for the UK. The Prime Minister said, and repeated a | :55:53. | :55:58. | |
moment ago without a hint of irony or comedy, that she is encouraging | :55:59. | :56:04. | |
the European Union to a single market in services because it is in | :56:05. | :56:07. | |
our national interest it would she explain to the House and the country | :56:08. | :56:11. | |
how it is not in our national interest to be a part of it? I know | :56:12. | :56:15. | |
the honourable gentleman has said in the past that he has a different | :56:16. | :56:18. | |
view about the result of the vote that took place and where we should | :56:19. | :56:23. | |
be going as a government in relation to membership of the EU. I know he | :56:24. | :56:26. | |
was asking about the single market and I've answered many questions | :56:27. | :56:30. | |
about the single market and my response to him is the same as my | :56:31. | :56:34. | |
response to my honourable friend, which is, of course it is important | :56:35. | :56:38. | |
for us to encourage that a market that we are going to be working | :56:39. | :56:42. | |
with, trading with, that we want to see the best possible access with | :56:43. | :56:49. | |
and ability to operate within four hours services, that we make sure | :56:50. | :56:52. | |
that is a free market that we are able to work with. Can I thank my | :56:53. | :56:59. | |
right honourable friend for her statement. As we do not pay to sell | :57:00. | :57:05. | |
our goods and services to any other country around the world, can my | :57:06. | :57:10. | |
right honourable friend confirm that we will not accept any deal which | :57:11. | :57:15. | |
requires us to pay the European Union for access to the single | :57:16. | :57:16. | |
market? I say to my honourable friend that | :57:17. | :57:25. | |
obviously, he may have been looking at the same report that he | :57:26. | :57:28. | |
honourable friend the member for North East Somerset has been doing | :57:29. | :57:31. | |
in relation to the sums of money but as I say, the vote that was taken on | :57:32. | :57:39. | |
the 23rd of June last year was about many things, in terms of leading the | :57:40. | :57:43. | |
European Union one of the things that we were clear about is that we | :57:44. | :57:46. | |
were not going to every year continue to pay huge sums of money | :57:47. | :57:52. | |
into the EU. Is it the Prime Minister 's intention that both the | :57:53. | :57:57. | |
Common travel area and the Good Friday agreement would be | :57:58. | :58:01. | |
specifically named as features in the framework for future | :58:02. | :58:08. | |
relationships between the UK and the EU and she agree about the | :58:09. | :58:12. | |
importance of having the terms specifically reflected in a new UK- | :58:13. | :58:17. | |
EU treaty to make it clear that the Northern Ireland is part of the UK | :58:18. | :58:21. | |
that could elect to rejoin the EU without the sets are Article 49 | :58:22. | :58:27. | |
negotiations and the doctrine would not be an impediment. We have been | :58:28. | :58:32. | |
very clear about the important of maintaining the agreements that have | :58:33. | :58:35. | |
been made in relation to Northern Ireland. That is an issue that is | :58:36. | :58:40. | |
very clear to other European states, as well. On the Common travel area. | :58:41. | :58:46. | |
It existed long before either before the Republic or the United Kingdom | :58:47. | :58:50. | |
were part of the European Union and one of the objectives that I set out | :58:51. | :58:54. | |
as we looks to negotiations, is that we will be looking to maintain that | :58:55. | :59:01. | |
Common travel area. Following the last few months of debate, I am | :59:02. | :59:05. | |
assured, that they are striving for a zero tariff trade deal as the | :59:06. | :59:11. | |
enter formal the ghost stations. With my honourable friends, look at | :59:12. | :59:17. | |
the impact, following the partial European Union on trade deals. | :59:18. | :59:21. | |
Honourable friend raises an important point, all too often | :59:22. | :59:25. | |
people look as if we are just the supplicant and anything that is | :59:26. | :59:28. | |
decided is only going to have an impact on the United Kingdom. Of | :59:29. | :59:32. | |
course the nature of the trade you will have an impact on companies | :59:33. | :59:36. | |
within the remaining 27 member states as they want to trade with | :59:37. | :59:40. | |
and operate in United Kingdom, that is why I am confident that when we | :59:41. | :59:44. | |
come to negotiations people see the benefit to both sides about getting | :59:45. | :59:51. | |
a deal that is a good trade deal. The Prime Minister has said that in | :59:52. | :59:54. | |
the deal she wanted with the European Union, she wanted associate | :59:55. | :59:58. | |
membership of the customs union, membership that does not as yet | :59:59. | :00:03. | |
exist. On the sixth of debris, I asked the Prime Minister whether she | :00:04. | :00:07. | |
had raised that with The European Council parts and she overlooked | :00:08. | :00:11. | |
that. Can I ask again, as she raised the idea and what was the response | :00:12. | :00:17. | |
or should we take it as meaning no deal. First of all, to the | :00:18. | :00:21. | |
honourable lady, she's slightly misinterpreting the speech that I | :00:22. | :00:24. | |
gave in Lancaster house where I set out there were certain elements of | :00:25. | :00:27. | |
the customs union that we would not wish to be part of because those | :00:28. | :00:32. | |
would prevent us from negotiating trade deals on our reign as the | :00:33. | :00:34. | |
United Kingdom with other countries around the world and I said that the | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
relationship that we wanted to have in terms of the customs union was to | :00:39. | :00:45. | |
have a seamless and frictionless border as possible and indicated | :00:46. | :00:49. | |
that might be something that might be called associate membership. We | :00:50. | :00:52. | |
need to do that as part of the negotiations. Our relationships the | :00:53. | :00:57. | |
customs union in the European Union will be part of the negotiations | :00:58. | :01:00. | |
which will start when we trigger Article 50. I very much welcome the | :01:01. | :01:08. | |
statement by the Prime Minister, paragraph nine of the conclusions on | :01:09. | :01:12. | |
security refers to EU working together to fight terrorism. One of | :01:13. | :01:15. | |
the biggest challenges facing Europe and the UK and the next five to ten | :01:16. | :01:19. | |
years according to experts is returning terrorist fighters from | :01:20. | :01:24. | |
Syria and Iraq as Daesh is defeated back to the host countries. Was this | :01:25. | :01:29. | |
disgust at the European level and is there an agreed strategy across the | :01:30. | :01:34. | |
country to deal with this. I will say this is not one of the issues | :01:35. | :01:35. | |
that was discussed within the that was discussed within the | :01:36. | :01:39. | |
business of The European Council which took place last week and | :01:40. | :01:42. | |
however it is an issue that we have discussed, with other member states | :01:43. | :01:46. | |
on a number of occasions in the past, and we are all very well | :01:47. | :01:50. | |
appraised of the need to make sure that we do have identifying those | :01:51. | :01:57. | |
who are returning and working in a way and dealing with those | :01:58. | :02:01. | |
individuals returning in a way that is most appropriate and of course as | :02:02. | :02:04. | |
far as the icy kingdom is concerned it will be looked at on a day to day | :02:05. | :02:12. | |
basis. On single market membership, in the 2017 manifesto they made an | :02:13. | :02:17. | |
unconditional commitment, to safeguard British interests in the | :02:18. | :02:22. | |
single market. She castigates my honourable friends Horwill south and | :02:23. | :02:26. | |
Pontypridd, for raising this issue but she herself said on the 26th of | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
May last year to an audience of Goldman Sachs bankers in relation to | :02:31. | :02:35. | |
single market membership, "Economic arguments are clear, I think part of | :02:36. | :02:42. | |
being in the 500 trading block that is significant -- 500 million." So | :02:43. | :02:47. | |
why is she waving the white flag and started these negotiations that even | :02:48. | :02:51. | |
trying to keep us as a member of the single market with the reforms that | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
she seeks, the other second-biggest economy in Europe, the fifth biggest | :02:56. | :02:59. | |
military power in a while and she's waving the white flag. I'm doing | :03:00. | :03:04. | |
nothing of the swords and the honourable gentleman, needs to | :03:05. | :03:10. | |
recognise that there is a difference between access to the single market, | :03:11. | :03:15. | |
protecting our ability to operate within the single market and | :03:16. | :03:18. | |
membership of the single market. Membership of the single market | :03:19. | :03:22. | |
means accepting free movement comic means accepting the jurisdiction of | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
the European Court of Justice and it means effectively remaining a member | :03:27. | :03:31. | |
of the opinion. We have voted to leave and that is what we be doing. | :03:32. | :03:38. | |
My right honourable friend needs no lessons in her fry and read duty | :03:39. | :03:41. | |
which is to the defence of this great realm, and I welcome the | :03:42. | :03:45. | |
effort she has made in working together to counter the Russia | :03:46. | :03:49. | |
threat which is growing sadly. Could she please talk about how this | :03:50. | :03:54. | |
threat would affect the United Kingdom should parts of R.N. Great | :03:55. | :03:58. | |
United Kingdom succeed to the European Union and what farmer | :03:59. | :04:00. | |
abilities that were put to our defence. My honourable friend is | :04:01. | :04:05. | |
right to say that we are looking very carefully at the impact that | :04:06. | :04:09. | |
Russia and others can have a crush the European Union in their | :04:10. | :04:12. | |
activities but it is also right I believe that we are stronger as a | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
United Kingdom in our collective defence, and that for any part of | :04:18. | :04:20. | |
the United Kingdom, every part of the nutty kingdom benefits from | :04:21. | :04:26. | |
being part of the UK in terms of our collective defence in terms of | :04:27. | :04:32. | |
security and crime and terrorism. The | :04:33. | :04:36. | |
membership of the customs union gives us tariff free access to every | :04:37. | :04:40. | |
single market in the world and through the customs union, all trade | :04:41. | :04:44. | |
deal that any other leading economy outside of those institutions. Why | :04:45. | :04:48. | |
is she therefore determined to put this outcome is it because she | :04:49. | :04:51. | |
genuinely believes it is the right thing to do which she didn't a | :04:52. | :04:54. | |
matter of months ago or is it because she's taken hostage by the | :04:55. | :05:01. | |
right of her party. Another Conservative Prime Minister putting | :05:02. | :05:06. | |
the Parthiv Patel interests -- the Parthiv Patel interests ahead of the | :05:07. | :05:13. | |
interests of the country. On the 23rd of June 2016, the majority of | :05:14. | :05:17. | |
the people in the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. | :05:18. | :05:22. | |
There are consequences of leaving the European Union. We want to | :05:23. | :05:29. | |
negotiate, a comprehensive free-trade agreement which gives us | :05:30. | :05:34. | |
the best possible access to the single market. The the honourable | :05:35. | :05:41. | |
member shouts that we have the best possible mems should bother single | :05:42. | :05:43. | |
market and we have that because we are member of the European Union, | :05:44. | :05:51. | |
that involves. The question has been asked, the Prime Minister shouldn't | :05:52. | :05:54. | |
have too fight to be heard, the right Honourable Lady must be heard. | :05:55. | :06:01. | |
That involves accepting certain of the requirements from the European | :06:02. | :06:04. | |
Union, requirements that people voted not to be part of when they | :06:05. | :06:10. | |
voted on the 23rd of June. But this is why I have consistently said, | :06:11. | :06:13. | |
members of this house must stop thinking that there is only an | :06:14. | :06:17. | |
option in the single market terms, which is about membership or | :06:18. | :06:21. | |
nothing. There isn't, there is an option which is about a con Brexit | :06:22. | :06:24. | |
free-trade agreement that gives us the sort of access that we want to | :06:25. | :06:27. | |
have -- comprehensive free-trade agreement. Can I commend the Prime | :06:28. | :06:35. | |
Minister for the strongly the ship, Latvia is hosting the Nato supreme | :06:36. | :06:40. | |
Allied Commander Europe meetings tomorrow, I represent a considerable | :06:41. | :06:43. | |
Ukrainian community. In Huddersfield. It is clear there are | :06:44. | :06:49. | |
real and present threats across from Russia, will the Prime Minister | :06:50. | :06:52. | |
continued to put Nato at the forefront of tackling these worries | :06:53. | :06:55. | |
and concerns from Russian aggression. I can absolutely assure | :06:56. | :07:01. | |
my honourable friends that we will continue to put Nato at the | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
forefront of that, and I'm pleased that UK is able to make a very | :07:06. | :07:09. | |
specific contribution to Nato and its efforts in relation to the | :07:10. | :07:16. | |
eastern border and we will soon be seeing UK troops going to Estonia | :07:17. | :07:20. | |
for example as a very visible sign of the commitment. Fears over the | :07:21. | :07:31. | |
consequences of Brexit have undoubtedly been exploited by Sinn | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
Fein and the recent Northern Ireland election, Sinn Fein increased its | :07:37. | :07:39. | |
first preference vote by somewhere in the region of 58,000 first | :07:40. | :07:43. | |
preference votes. That means that Sinn Fein is just one seat behind | :07:44. | :07:48. | |
the DUP in the new assembly as elected. I wonder and I'm sure that | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
the country wonders, and particularly those in Northern | :07:55. | :07:57. | |
Ireland, what steps the Prime Minister is going to take including | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
visiting Northern Ireland, what additional steps is the Prime | :08:02. | :08:04. | |
Minister going to take to turn back the tide of support for Sinn Fein. | :08:05. | :08:15. | |
Obviously, the honourable lady is correct in what she sets out as the | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
facts in relation to the voting matter place in the election. I | :08:20. | :08:22. | |
think the focus that we must all have in the coming couple of weeks | :08:23. | :08:26. | |
because there is limited time set aside in the legislation for doing | :08:27. | :08:30. | |
this, is on bringing the parties together to form a devolved | :08:31. | :08:34. | |
administration. I believe it is absolutely essential that we do | :08:35. | :08:37. | |
everything that we can to ensure that a devolved administration is | :08:38. | :08:41. | |
maintained in Northern Ireland. On the issue in relation to the impact | :08:42. | :08:45. | |
of Brexit, we have been very clear about the relationship that we want | :08:46. | :08:48. | |
to ensure in relation to the border with the Republic of Ireland and we | :08:49. | :08:51. | |
continue to work with the Republic of Ireland and others on delivering | :08:52. | :08:55. | |
on that. I think the focus of us all over the next couple of weeks as the | :08:56. | :09:00. | |
bringing the parties together to see it but administration being formed | :09:01. | :09:06. | |
in Northern Ireland. As Home Secretary and Prime Minister my rock | :09:07. | :09:09. | |
honourable friend has paid particular attention to the scourge | :09:10. | :09:18. | |
of modern slavery, can she confirmed that as she negotiates out of the | :09:19. | :09:22. | |
European Union, she will prioritise a collaborative approach to continue | :09:23. | :09:25. | |
to tackle this will trade and she would take the same approach when it | :09:26. | :09:28. | |
comes to designing a scheme for seasonal workers who may still have | :09:29. | :09:34. | |
to come to work in this country? It is certainly the case that we will | :09:35. | :09:37. | |
continue to prioritise the work that we do in relation to modern slavery | :09:38. | :09:41. | |
and to supporting the victims of this file trade but also breaking | :09:42. | :09:44. | |
the criminals were making so much money out of this terrible trade and | :09:45. | :09:51. | |
out of the damage, and abuse, that they bring to individuals. As he | :09:52. | :09:56. | |
says, this is something that he has looked at particularly in areas of | :09:57. | :09:59. | |
the agricultural sector in his own part of the country. As we do that | :10:00. | :10:04. | |
we want to continue that cooperation on that matter. As we leave the | :10:05. | :10:13. | |
European Union we will the continuing to cooperate on these | :10:14. | :10:16. | |
issues. They are not just about them ship of the European Union but about | :10:17. | :10:19. | |
whatever international organisations we are part of. The Prime Minister | :10:20. | :10:25. | |
talks about listening to the Scottish Government, that is on the | :10:26. | :10:28. | |
back of the people of Scotland voting overwhelmingly to remain | :10:29. | :10:31. | |
within the European Union. It is little surprise given the tragedy of | :10:32. | :10:42. | |
the UK Government, that the Scottish National party asked if romance of | :10:43. | :10:45. | |
the Scottish referendum, will she attempt to put a veto on the | :10:46. | :10:48. | |
democratic wishes of the Scottish people and the Scottish Parliament. | :10:49. | :10:54. | |
There was a referendum in septum 2014 in which the people of Scotland | :10:55. | :10:59. | |
decided to remain part of the United Kingdom. And his right honourable | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
friend the member for Gordon at the time said it was a once in a | :11:04. | :11:12. | |
generation vote. The honourable member for Murray quite rightly | :11:13. | :11:16. | |
started his questions by emphasising the importance of jobs in the | :11:17. | :11:21. | |
economy. In circumstances where Scottish trade with the UK's ?50 | :11:22. | :11:25. | |
billion and is four times less in the EU, is there, does the Prime | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
Minister think there is a good economic case for Scotland to remain | :11:30. | :11:34. | |
in the UK, and ensure that together we work for the besties in Europe? | :11:35. | :11:42. | |
-- the best deal. My honourable friend is absolutely right, the | :11:43. | :11:46. | |
figures are very clear, the single market that's most important to | :11:47. | :11:51. | |
Scotland is the single market in the United Kingdom. The right Honourable | :11:52. | :11:55. | |
member for Gordon shouts the word frictionless and borders from his | :11:56. | :11:59. | |
sedentary position. Of course Scotland has a frictionless border | :12:00. | :12:02. | |
with the rest of the United Kingdom and it is also the most important | :12:03. | :12:10. | |
single market it is a member. Thank you Mr Speaker, in recent | :12:11. | :12:14. | |
discussions it is clear there is no support in any of the parties | :12:15. | :12:17. | |
represented in the German parliament for the UK to return Harry | :12:18. | :12:27. | |
The Prime Minister has asserted her optimism but the she recognised that | :12:28. | :12:33. | |
is the starting point we are at? The reality of the starting point is | :12:34. | :12:37. | |
that we are going to be sitting down with the European commission, | :12:38. | :12:40. | |
representatives of the European Council and the European Parliament | :12:41. | :12:43. | |
to negotiate the relationship that is going to be right for the UK and | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
the rest of the EU and the discussions I've had so far indicate | :12:48. | :12:51. | |
that there is a recognition of the importance of making sure that that | :12:52. | :12:54. | |
is a very good free trade agreement on both sides of the negotiation. I | :12:55. | :13:02. | |
commend the Prime Minister for her statement. Would she agree with me | :13:03. | :13:09. | |
that now is a very significant time when we can consider raising | :13:10. | :13:12. | |
environmental and animal welfare standards as we leave the EU? For | :13:13. | :13:17. | |
example, the export of live animals, which currently we cannot stop? The | :13:18. | :13:22. | |
position we have taken is that at the point at which we leave the EU, | :13:23. | :13:28. | |
the key will be brought into UK law, through the great repeal bill, so | :13:29. | :13:32. | |
that at the point at which we believe everybody will know where | :13:33. | :13:35. | |
they stand in relation to the various rules and regulations that | :13:36. | :13:38. | |
we have abided by as members of the EU but thereafter, it will be open | :13:39. | :13:43. | |
to this Parliament to determine what the standards are that rewrote Crier | :13:44. | :13:54. | |
-- that we require. The prime minister will know that under the | :13:55. | :13:57. | |
Dublin rules, Great Britain has returned more asylum seekers than we | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
have received from other countries. What are her intentions post Brexit? | :14:02. | :14:06. | |
Does she intend us to continue to participate in that? We will be | :14:07. | :14:12. | |
looking at the relationship we will have with the EU on matters such as | :14:13. | :14:15. | |
the asylum seekers issue. I have broadened the discussion on this | :14:16. | :14:21. | |
issue. It is not just about the UK's relationship with the EU but how the | :14:22. | :14:25. | |
whole international community deals with asylum seekers and economic | :14:26. | :14:29. | |
migrants and I'm very clear that as an international community we should | :14:30. | :14:33. | |
accept that people should claim asylum in the first safe country | :14:34. | :14:42. | |
that they reach. Two Dorset members! Can I congratulate my right | :14:43. | :14:45. | |
honourable friend for her clarity and her purpose and does she agree | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
with me that there is no greater importance today as the United | :14:51. | :14:53. | |
Kingdom to stand together, and for those calling for a second | :14:54. | :14:56. | |
referendum, they are behaving totally irresponsibly and leading | :14:57. | :15:00. | |
the people of Scotland potentially over a cliff like lemmings to | :15:01. | :15:11. | |
economic ruin? He is right that as we start on the negotiations for the | :15:12. | :15:16. | |
future relationship with the EU, I believe it is important for us to do | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
that as a United Kingdom, to come together, recognising the interests | :15:22. | :15:24. | |
of all parts of the UK and ensuring that we get absolutely the right | :15:25. | :15:33. | |
deal for the whole of the UK. The European Council last week agreed to | :15:34. | :15:36. | |
speed up proposals for European travel authorisation and sharing of | :15:37. | :15:42. | |
information on travel. Given Brexit, are we planning to be in that system | :15:43. | :15:46. | |
and, if not, what does it mean for these fees or access Europe for | :15:47. | :15:48. | |
British citizens? -- these Negotiations are ongoing. Is a | :15:49. | :16:03. | |
member of the EU, we had the ability not to be part of that arrangement | :16:04. | :16:08. | |
but as we look forward to the arrangements post Brexit, one of the | :16:09. | :16:12. | |
issues we will be discussing within the negotiations is how we exchange | :16:13. | :16:17. | |
information in relation to Borders. The right honourable gentleman will | :16:18. | :16:20. | |
know from his experience in his previous positions, it is not just a | :16:21. | :16:23. | |
question of issues like that but access to things like you wrote DAX. | :16:24. | :16:34. | |
The third of the Dorset trio this afternoon! Like my right honourable | :16:35. | :16:39. | |
friend, I am a unionist to my fingertips. Could I invite my right | :16:40. | :16:47. | |
honourable friend to discuss with her Cabinet colleagues that as we | :16:48. | :16:52. | |
see a dwindling of EU financial contributions to capital programmes | :16:53. | :16:58. | |
in this country, we explore very vigorously the opportunity to | :16:59. | :17:03. | |
present all of our constituents where capital projects are | :17:04. | :17:05. | |
undertaken in all parts of the kingdom that they are funded, | :17:06. | :17:10. | |
supported and delivered by UK taxpayers from a UK Treasury? He | :17:11. | :17:15. | |
raises an interesting point and obviously, as he is aware, the | :17:16. | :17:19. | |
Treasury have been able to give, in relation to funds that are currently | :17:20. | :17:23. | |
received from the EU, the Treasury have been able to give reassurances | :17:24. | :17:27. | |
to people about those funds moving forward for the period while we are | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
still members of the EU and, in some cases, thereafter as well. Leaving | :17:32. | :17:36. | |
the EU does give us an opportunity to look at how support can best be | :17:37. | :17:42. | |
provided, as my honourable friend says, by the United Kingdom | :17:43. | :17:51. | |
government. In December last year, just 101 EU nurses came over to work | :17:52. | :17:56. | |
in our NHS, a decrease of over 90% from the pre-referendum months. How | :17:57. | :18:00. | |
does the Prime Minister intends to tackle this so that we don't have | :18:01. | :18:05. | |
any more hospital wards like many in my constituency, which are | :18:06. | :18:09. | |
dangerously understaffed? I recognise the contribution nurses | :18:10. | :18:12. | |
from the EU have made to the NHS over the years and, of course, that | :18:13. | :18:17. | |
is one group of EU citizens we will be thinking of when we start those | :18:18. | :18:22. | |
negotiations in relation to the EU citizens that are living here and | :18:23. | :18:25. | |
their rights but what the Government has also recognises that there are | :18:26. | :18:29. | |
many people here in the UK who wish to train as nurses who have not been | :18:30. | :18:33. | |
able to do previously because of the cap on the numbers and we have | :18:34. | :18:36. | |
removed that cap and are enabling more to be able to do that. Nobody | :18:37. | :18:43. | |
knows what the answer will be when the people of Scotland are asked a | :18:44. | :18:46. | |
simple question, do they want to choose hard Brexit as part of the UK | :18:47. | :18:51. | |
or do they want to seek full partnership with 27 sovereign states | :18:52. | :18:55. | |
in the European Union? Will Prime Minister agree that that question | :18:56. | :19:00. | |
should be asked at a time when whatever the Democratic answer from | :19:01. | :19:04. | |
people is, it can be seen to be implemented and that means that | :19:05. | :19:08. | |
question should be asked in the time frame indicated by Nicola Sturgeon | :19:09. | :19:12. | |
yesterday? He will know because he has been present in this chamber on | :19:13. | :19:16. | |
previous statements and debates I've made, I don't agree or accept the | :19:17. | :19:22. | |
terminology he has used that what we are negotiating will be a hard | :19:23. | :19:26. | |
Brexit from the EU. We will be negotiating a good trade deal which | :19:27. | :19:30. | |
will be good for all parts of the EU, including the people of | :19:31. | :19:38. | |
Scotland. In her desperation to do Ukip's bidding, the Prime Minister | :19:39. | :19:43. | |
has determined that we will be leaving the single market as well as | :19:44. | :19:50. | |
withdrawing from the European Union. Can she tell me whether there will | :19:51. | :19:55. | |
be stand-alone legislation to repeal the European Economic Area act of | :19:56. | :20:01. | |
1993, or does she intends to use the EEA as the basis for her | :20:02. | :20:09. | |
transitional implementation period? Can I say to the honourable lady | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
that I would have expected better of her than the sort of description | :20:14. | :20:18. | |
that she has given and I will say simply this - what this government | :20:19. | :20:21. | |
is doing is the bidding of the British people and the British | :20:22. | :20:32. | |
people alone. Turkey is an exceptionally important partner in | :20:33. | :20:37. | |
Europe's attempts to deal with mass migration. Turkey is also an | :20:38. | :20:41. | |
exceptionally important partner in Nato. Given the events of the last | :20:42. | :20:46. | |
week, did the European Council have any discussions on how we can ensure | :20:47. | :20:50. | |
that democracy does not row back in Turkey but at the same time Turkey | :20:51. | :20:53. | |
remains the important partner it has been so far? The council recognises | :20:54. | :21:05. | |
the contribution made in the EE- Turkey deal made some time ago which | :21:06. | :21:08. | |
has led to a significant reduction in the number of people moving from | :21:09. | :21:12. | |
Turkey across the Aegean Sea into Greece. I'm very clear, as others | :21:13. | :21:17. | |
have been, that we want to see Turkey maintaining its democratic | :21:18. | :21:20. | |
institutions, rule of law and respecting international human | :21:21. | :21:27. | |
rights. There has been a lot of emphasis on the trade deal but the | :21:28. | :21:31. | |
divorce deal is very important, too, and at the heart of any divorce deal | :21:32. | :21:36. | |
is a fair financial settlement. What will the prime minister do if there | :21:37. | :21:41. | |
is no fair financial settlement at the end of the Article 50 period? | :21:42. | :21:45. | |
What will happen men to the divorce bill and our exit from the EU? Why | :21:46. | :21:51. | |
walk she will be aware that as we exit the EU, there are a number of | :21:52. | :21:55. | |
issues we will be looking at and discussing with the EU. But I didn't | :21:56. | :22:00. | |
raise this or respond to this point earlier but a number of people have | :22:01. | :22:04. | |
used this term of divorce. I prefer not to use the term of divorce from | :22:05. | :22:08. | |
the European Union because very often when people get divorced, they | :22:09. | :22:11. | |
don't have a very good relationship afterwards and this is about... | :22:12. | :22:15. | |
Honourable members need to stop looking at this as simply coming out | :22:16. | :22:22. | |
of the European Union and see the opportunity for building a new | :22:23. | :22:25. | |
relationship with the European Union, and that is what we will be | :22:26. | :22:34. | |
doing. Thank you, Mr Speaker. In the jumble of words that forms the Prime | :22:35. | :22:45. | |
Minister's statement, she missed two keywords, hypocrisy and irony | :22:46. | :22:49. | |
regarding her actions today. But the real question I want to ask is, | :22:50. | :22:53. | |
post-Brexit, what is the Prime Minister's plans with regards to the | :22:54. | :23:00. | |
London fisheries convention? The London fisheries convention is one | :23:01. | :23:06. | |
of the issues that the government is looking up currently and will be | :23:07. | :23:10. | |
looking at in relation to the future relationship as we come out of the | :23:11. | :23:13. | |
European Union and their four out of the common fisheries policy. A very | :23:14. | :23:22. | |
important matter and I believe we are going to learn more about it. | :23:23. | :23:25. | |
The honourable gentleman obviously knows all about it. When the first | :23:26. | :23:30. | |
minister announced her drive for a second device of Scottish | :23:31. | :23:34. | |
independence referendum yesterday, one of her manufactured grievances | :23:35. | :23:37. | |
was the fact that Brexit gives the UK government an opportunity to | :23:38. | :23:40. | |
muscle in on the powers of the Scottish Parliament. Would the Prime | :23:41. | :23:43. | |
Minister agree with me that the fundamental overriding principle of | :23:44. | :23:47. | |
any EU repatriate powers should be that they are transferred to the | :23:48. | :23:51. | |
defaulter demonstrations? I've been very clear with all the defaulter | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
ministrations that Brexit will not involve any powers that have | :23:57. | :24:00. | |
currently been devolved to those of ministrations being returned to the | :24:01. | :24:03. | |
UK government and indeed, as we look of the transfer of powers that are | :24:04. | :24:06. | |
currently in Brussels back to the UK, they may very well see more | :24:07. | :24:09. | |
powers being devolved to the administrations. Thank you, Mr | :24:10. | :24:18. | |
Speaker. 43% of publications from the UK's 47 biggest universities | :24:19. | :24:23. | |
come from collaboration with at least one EU firm, even higher in | :24:24. | :24:29. | |
London institutions. So did the discussion is the prime minister | :24:30. | :24:32. | |
engaged in with their European counterparts touch on any kind of | :24:33. | :24:35. | |
safeguards for our university sector, given this level of | :24:36. | :24:40. | |
dependency on European industry? And also, how is her manifesto | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
commitment, page 75, to not only remain in the single market but to | :24:46. | :24:52. | |
expand it... How is that one going? She might have noticed we also | :24:53. | :24:54. | |
promised the British people a referendum and a vote on whether to | :24:55. | :24:58. | |
stay in the EU, we gave them that vote, they decided, we are now | :24:59. | :25:03. | |
acting on the results of that vote. Although the vast majority of | :25:04. | :25:05. | |
questions this afternoon have been about the issue of Brexit, the issue | :25:06. | :25:09. | |
of Brexit was not an issue that was discussed formally in the EU | :25:10. | :25:13. | |
council, as I indicated earlier. But in response of the issue and | :25:14. | :25:18. | |
universities, we have given some comfort to universities in relation | :25:19. | :25:21. | |
to research funding equivalent that they enter into before we leave the | :25:22. | :25:25. | |
EU but if she looks at the Lancaster house speech that I gave in the | :25:26. | :25:30. | |
White Paper, she will see science and innovation is one of the issues | :25:31. | :25:33. | |
we have put as one of the areas which will be a negotiating object | :25:34. | :25:40. | |
of. Many thanks, Mr Speaker. The Prime Minister has welcomed the | :25:41. | :25:44. | |
completion of the free trade agreements between the EU and Canada | :25:45. | :25:48. | |
and the pending free trade agreement between the EU and Japan. Isn't it | :25:49. | :25:52. | |
the case that when it comes to benefits of the single market and | :25:53. | :25:56. | |
free trade, the EU will be getting the full jammy doughnut, whilst the | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
UK will be left behind with nothing but an empty hole? | :26:01. | :26:06. | |
No, we will be negotiating free trade agreements, not just with the | :26:07. | :26:12. | |
EU but with other countries around the world. And, crucially, other | :26:13. | :26:16. | |
countries around the world are eager to work with us to negotiate | :26:17. | :26:20. | |
free-trade agreements. Discussions with countries like America, | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
Australia, Mexico, India, we are already looking at agreements we can | :26:26. | :26:28. | |
have as a United Kingdom outside the European Union. Does the Prime | :26:29. | :26:35. | |
Minister accept that her intransigence over amendments to the | :26:36. | :26:39. | |
EU withdrawal bill, her pandering to the Brexit fanatics on her | :26:40. | :26:44. | |
backbenchers, have diminished the role and sovereignty of this | :26:45. | :26:48. | |
Parliament over the Brexit process, and has opened up the door and | :26:49. | :26:50. | |
threatened the future integrity of the UK? Amendments were put before | :26:51. | :26:57. | |
this house, this house voted and took a decision. I find the sort of | :26:58. | :27:02. | |
description that the honourable gentleman has given, if he is saying | :27:03. | :27:05. | |
every time this house takes a decision he does not agree with, | :27:06. | :27:09. | |
somehow it is disrespectful parliament, I have to tell him that | :27:10. | :27:14. | |
is not how this place works. We put our arguments, we vote on them, one | :27:15. | :27:20. | |
side wins and the other losers. Does the Prime Minister accept if we | :27:21. | :27:23. | |
crash out of the European Union with a bad deal or no deal at all, that | :27:24. | :27:27. | |
would entirely beady failing and responsibility of our chief | :27:28. | :27:30. | |
negotiator and her team, namely the Prime Minister and her ministers? I | :27:31. | :27:35. | |
have already said I am optimistic we will be able to negotiate a good | :27:36. | :27:44. | |
deal for the United Kingdom. Well, I agree with the Prime Minister on one | :27:45. | :27:48. | |
thing, Mr Speaker, that politics is not a game. Which is why I will not | :27:49. | :27:53. | |
sit back and just hope for the best from her Government as she seems to | :27:54. | :27:59. | |
wish me to do. Given the way she has handled the compromise is put | :28:00. | :28:03. | |
forward from the Scottish Government, and the situation she | :28:04. | :28:07. | |
now finds herself in, can I offer her a moment of reflection? Is there | :28:08. | :28:11. | |
anything she regrets in the way that she has responded to those | :28:12. | :28:15. | |
compromises, or does dogma still raining Downing Street? We have had | :28:16. | :28:22. | |
extensive discussions with the Scottish Government and the other | :28:23. | :28:24. | |
devolved administrations on the issues that they have raised with | :28:25. | :28:29. | |
the United Kingdom government, and issues that they wish us to take | :28:30. | :28:34. | |
into concern. As I said earlier, and I said yesterday, there are many | :28:35. | :28:37. | |
areas of common ground between us and the Scottish Government. We both | :28:38. | :28:40. | |
agree on the protection of workers' rights, once we have left the | :28:41. | :28:43. | |
European Union. We have been looking at those areas of common ground. We | :28:44. | :28:49. | |
have also been looking, as we will do in negotiations, at ensuring we | :28:50. | :28:52. | |
get a deal, an arrangement, a relationship for the future that is | :28:53. | :28:55. | |
good for the whole of the United Kingdom, including Scotland. First | :28:56. | :29:01. | |
of all, Prime Minister, can I thank you for your statement and refer you | :29:02. | :29:08. | |
to the Somalian conference new referred to. At the meeting of the | :29:09. | :29:13. | |
IPG for Nigeria, a Nigerian MP was a guest speaker. He informed us that | :29:14. | :29:18. | |
Nigeria have become a centre for illegal arms smuggling for the whole | :29:19. | :29:21. | |
of Africa, the biggest that there was. Can I seek an assurance from | :29:22. | :29:24. | |
the Prime Minister that she will raise this issue at the conference | :29:25. | :29:29. | |
for all of Africa, because it is very important, when it is hosted in | :29:30. | :29:35. | |
the UK in May 2017? I can assure the honourable gentleman that the issues | :29:36. | :29:37. | |
he has raised is one that we will look at very seriously as a | :29:38. | :29:43. | |
government. There are a number of concerns in respect of what he has | :29:44. | :29:46. | |
said. I will certainly look at that issue very carefully. I am extremely | :29:47. | :29:50. | |
grateful to the Prime Minister and to all 66 backbench members, | :29:51. | :29:56. | |
following the Leader of the Opposition, who questioned her. | :29:57. | :30:01. | |
Point of order, Maria Miller? The European Court of Justice has | :30:02. | :30:04. | |
announced today any employer can ban religious symbols at work, including | :30:05. | :30:08. | |
the wearing of headscarves. This overturns important existing case | :30:09. | :30:13. | |
law from the European Court of Human Rights. Mr Speaker, what mechanisms | :30:14. | :30:18. | |
are open to this house to obtain a swift clarification of what this | :30:19. | :30:22. | |
means here in the UK, particularly so soon after the Prime Minister 's | :30:23. | :30:28. | |
statement in this house that what a woman wears is her choice, and | :30:29. | :30:35. | |
nobody else's? I am grateful to the honourable lady for the point of | :30:36. | :30:39. | |
order, raised not only in her capacity, doubtless, as a | :30:40. | :30:41. | |
constituency member of Parliament, but on the strength of her interest | :30:42. | :30:51. | |
in the equalities committee. I have not been aware of that development | :30:52. | :30:54. | |
until the right honourable lady notified me, not least because I had | :30:55. | :30:58. | |
been in the chair, tending to my duties. I can imagine the issue will | :30:59. | :31:02. | |
be of considerable interest and concern to a great many people, with | :31:03. | :31:08. | |
a variety of different views, in all parts of the country. The short | :31:09. | :31:11. | |
answer to the right honourable lady is that it is open to her to table a | :31:12. | :31:15. | |
question on the matter. I have received no occasion of an intention | :31:16. | :31:21. | |
by a government minister to come to the house and make an oral | :31:22. | :31:24. | |
statement, but she has the recourse of a question. If, as seems | :31:25. | :31:28. | |
possible, she judges the matter to be urgent, she knows the mechanism | :31:29. | :31:32. | |
that is available to her. To bring the matter of the attention of the | :31:33. | :31:36. | |
house, to secure a ministerial response, sooner, rather than later. | :31:37. | :31:42. | |
If there are no further points of order, we come now to the ten minute | :31:43. | :31:46. | |
rule motion. Mr Speaker, I beg to move that leave | :31:47. | :31:55. | |
be given to bring in a bill to require our overseas embassies and | :31:56. | :32:01. | |
consulates to serve wines and sparkling wines produced in the | :32:02. | :32:05. | |
United Kingdom at official functions. Article 50 is on its way | :32:06. | :32:10. | |
and this could be seen as the first post Brexit bill. As we leave the | :32:11. | :32:16. | |
EU, we must grasp every opportunity to find new markets for products | :32:17. | :32:19. | |
around the world and to be imaginative in supporting and | :32:20. | :32:25. | |
promoting them. British culture is an industry that has a golden future | :32:26. | :32:30. | |
ahead of it, much like the colour of its best-known sparkling vintages. | :32:31. | :32:33. | |
It will play an increasing important role in rural economic powerhouse. | :32:34. | :32:40. | |
For those that think our weather cannot support wines to compete with | :32:41. | :32:42. | |
France, Italy and Spain, think again. Chalky soil, with south | :32:43. | :32:48. | |
facing slopes and warmer temperatures provide ideal | :32:49. | :32:52. | |
conditions for producing wine and sparkling wine. Last year, with just | :32:53. | :33:01. | |
5 million bottles of English wine. Even Scotland, Wales and Northern | :33:02. | :33:05. | |
Ireland produces wine to be bottled to everybody's taste and budget. | :33:06. | :33:09. | |
Admittedly, it is a fraction of the global total, but that means we have | :33:10. | :33:14. | |
a market share in our sights. In fact, speaking of France, we have | :33:15. | :33:19. | |
been beating them at their own game. Last year, a tasting was held in | :33:20. | :33:23. | |
Paris and English wine was not only mistaken for champagne, but it beat | :33:24. | :33:26. | |
respected champagne houses all around. This wasn't just a one-off. | :33:27. | :33:33. | |
English wine won more than 175 UK and international awards in 2016 | :33:34. | :33:40. | |
alone. One of the great characteristics of modern Britain is | :33:41. | :33:44. | |
that someone who was not exactly brought up with a champagne flute in | :33:45. | :33:49. | |
their hand, unlike several honourable members I could | :33:50. | :34:01. | |
mention... Don't look at me! Has the opportunity to represent and promote | :34:02. | :34:03. | |
such a fantastic, blossoming, British industry. My constituency of | :34:04. | :34:10. | |
Wilden, East Sussex, has not one or two vineyards, but well over a | :34:11. | :34:13. | |
dozen. Several of them boast international awards. Madam Deputy | :34:14. | :34:17. | |
Speaker, I have to report that my husband is doing his single-handed | :34:18. | :34:22. | |
best to support this local industry, judging by the contents of our | :34:23. | :34:27. | |
fridge. It is a hugely exciting time to be part of the English wine | :34:28. | :34:30. | |
industry. There are now 133 wineries and over 500 vineyards dotted across | :34:31. | :34:38. | |
our beautiful English countryside. 150 of these are open to the public, | :34:39. | :34:43. | |
including one of our own local vineyards, which is set in an area | :34:44. | :34:47. | |
of outstanding beauty and with far reaching views to the South Downs in | :34:48. | :34:53. | |
the distance. Sussex Fox And Fox Vineyards, sit either side of the | :34:54. | :35:00. | |
hilltop village of Mayfield. Among rolling hills and woodlands, you | :35:01. | :35:06. | |
would be forgiven for seeing a photo of harvest time and thinking it was | :35:07. | :35:13. | |
taken in champagne. Set amid bluebell woods at the edge of | :35:14. | :35:17. | |
Ashdown forest are Bluebell Vineyard Estates. Like many vineyards, it | :35:18. | :35:22. | |
specialises in producing award-winning, estate grown, English | :35:23. | :35:25. | |
sparkling wines, using traditional methods. The same method used to | :35:26. | :35:32. | |
create champagne. Last year, it picked up an impressive haul of 16 | :35:33. | :35:37. | |
medals at International wine competitions. Similarly, Davenport, | :35:38. | :35:42. | |
which has vines in my constituency, has won a whopping 35 awards since | :35:43. | :35:45. | |
its establishment. Most impressively, both winemakers | :35:46. | :35:51. | |
received silver medals at the prestigious International Wine And | :35:52. | :35:54. | |
Spirit Competition last year, something which would have been | :35:55. | :35:59. | |
unheard of last year. Last month, I celebrated the English wine | :36:00. | :36:01. | |
industry's success in Parliament, with top wine critic Matthew Gilks, | :36:02. | :36:07. | |
hosting a tasting and taking opportunity to boast about the | :36:08. | :36:10. | |
stunning quality. It is no wonder that for the first time last year it | :36:11. | :36:14. | |
is wineries became official suppliers to Number 10. Chapeltown | :36:15. | :36:20. | |
and Ridgeview are now official suppliers for Downing Street | :36:21. | :36:23. | |
receptions and I believe Her Majesty the Queen serves English sparkling | :36:24. | :36:27. | |
wine at State banquets, showing commitment and confidence in the | :36:28. | :36:32. | |
wine industry. UK produced wine currently accounts for around 1% of | :36:33. | :36:37. | |
the wine purchased in the UK. But it has high aspirations and great | :36:38. | :36:41. | |
potential. It is no longer just a few people growing vines in their | :36:42. | :36:45. | |
back garden. Bluebell vineyard has more than doubled in size since | :36:46. | :36:52. | |
opening in 2005, and now has 70 acres and 100,000 vines. On my | :36:53. | :36:55. | |
doorstep, my honourable friend for Lewis has an estate established in | :36:56. | :37:00. | |
2010, and it has the potential to produce over 1 million bottles of | :37:01. | :37:08. | |
Sussex sparkling wine annually within eight decade. It could | :37:09. | :37:10. | |
develop into one of the largest single vineyards in England and even | :37:11. | :37:14. | |
the largest in Europe. Back home, there is a real appetite to invest | :37:15. | :37:19. | |
in British soil and the industry has seen significant overseas investment | :37:20. | :37:25. | |
in recent years. Champagne houses have already invested into growing | :37:26. | :37:28. | |
English grapes and this type of venture shows no sign of stopping. | :37:29. | :37:33. | |
In 2015, sales of English sparkling hit ?100 million. Overseas markets | :37:34. | :37:40. | |
grew by one third. There is a huge appetite from the industry to | :37:41. | :37:44. | |
continue this trend. Indeed, winemakers have pledged to produce | :37:45. | :37:48. | |
10 million bottles by 2020, with 25% of those for export. That is why, in | :37:49. | :37:55. | |
a post-Brexit world, we must do all we can to get behind industries that | :37:56. | :37:59. | |
show the sort of potential of our wine industry. What better way to do | :38:00. | :38:04. | |
that then to give the world a taste by serving UK produced wine and | :38:05. | :38:10. | |
sparkling wine in our 268 embassies, high commissions and consulates | :38:11. | :38:14. | |
around the world? What could be more appropriate as a setting to promote | :38:15. | :38:20. | |
English wine than the famed Ambassador's reception? However, the | :38:21. | :38:23. | |
lack of consistency in embassy policies for hosting and saving | :38:24. | :38:26. | |
British products means that we are missing opportunities to show it off | :38:27. | :38:30. | |
in new markets that should be fertile territory for exports such | :38:31. | :38:35. | |
as China, Japan, Singapore and even India, where wine consumption | :38:36. | :38:37. | |
amongst the professional classes is growing exponentially. Last week, I | :38:38. | :38:45. | |
was told that our Rome embassy asked the UK wine industry to sponsor a | :38:46. | :38:49. | |
wine tasting for Tuscan wines. This just isn't good enough. I doubt | :38:50. | :38:55. | |
Italy's outposts in London said anything other than Italian wine. | :38:56. | :39:02. | |
This bill will enable a consistent, top-down policy from the Foreign | :39:03. | :39:05. | |
Commonwealth Office to require embassies, where possible, to serve | :39:06. | :39:08. | |
British wines and thus promote British exports. Our embassies, high | :39:09. | :39:13. | |
commissions and UK missions abroad are an extension and projection of | :39:14. | :39:18. | |
our country's brand, showing support for a high quality and high | :39:19. | :39:22. | |
indigenous product, such as our award-winning British wines, which | :39:23. | :39:26. | |
will demonstrate a confident in our country and a belief in the | :39:27. | :39:30. | |
opportunities ahead of us. -- a confidence. Madam Deputy Speaker, | :39:31. | :39:37. | |
Chapeltown in Kent has just signed a deal, a distribution deal, in | :39:38. | :39:40. | |
France, of all places. I look forward to the very best of our wine | :39:41. | :39:45. | |
is creating a splash in Paris, and Berlin, and Madrid, and room for | :39:46. | :39:49. | |
that matter and, perhaps, perhaps helping to oil the wheels of the | :39:50. | :39:54. | |
Brexit negotiations to come. Madam Deputy Speaker, I commend this build | :39:55. | :40:01. | |
the house. -- this Bill to the house. The question is that the | :40:02. | :40:05. | |
Honourable Member have leave to bring in the Bill. The question is | :40:06. | :40:10. | |
that the Honourable Member have leave to bring in the bill. As many | :40:11. | :40:19. | |
of that opinion, say aye. I think the ayes have it. Who will bring in | :40:20. | :40:25. | |
the Bill? Said Peter Bottomley, Nigel Evans, James Duddridge, Andrew | :40:26. | :40:32. | |
Trevelyan, Julian Brazier, Chris Bryant, James Heappey, James | :40:33. | :40:33. | |
Cartlidge and myself. Thank you very much. The United | :40:34. | :41:15. | |
Kingdom Wines And Sparkling Wines Bill. Second reading, what day? | :41:16. | :41:26. | |
Friday, the 24th of March. The Klerk will now proceed to read the orders | :41:27. | :41:27. | |
of the day. The question is as on the order | :41:28. | :41:42. | |
paper. Thank you. This government is about delivering opportunity. The | :41:43. | :41:46. | |
opportunities that matter to ordinary working people up and down | :41:47. | :41:50. | |
this country, the opportunity to work in a skilled, well paying | :41:51. | :41:54. | |
career. The opportunity to send your children to a good school. The | :41:55. | :42:04. | |
opportunity to contribute to a fair, better society where everyone can do | :42:05. | :42:08. | |
their best for their community. These ambitions are not too much for | :42:09. | :42:12. | |
us to ask. They are not unreasonable. But the truth is far | :42:13. | :42:17. | |
too long too many people in our country have felt cut off from | :42:18. | :42:22. | |
opportunity. They see doors open for others but staying closed for them. | :42:23. | :42:37. | |
We will work with the grain of human nature to spread opportunities to | :42:38. | :42:46. | |
every town, city and region in our country, to give everyone the chance | :42:47. | :42:55. | |
to contribute. A strong economy is a vital part of this mission. It | :42:56. | :43:02. | |
provides the careers and the jobs which equip people and fill them | :43:03. | :43:08. | |
with a sense of self-worth. The knowledge that we all have a role in | :43:09. | :43:17. | |
the society, and a strong economy is at the heart of how people could | :43:18. | :43:22. | |
contribute to our country as a whole. This government is in the | :43:23. | :43:30. | |
business of building careers and jobs. Over 2 million jobs since | :43:31. | :43:34. | |
2010. There are more people working than ever before. The employment | :43:35. | :43:42. | |
rate for women is at the highest level since records began with 70% | :43:43. | :43:50. | |
of 60-64 -year-olds -- 16-64 -year-olds now in work. Does she | :43:51. | :43:58. | |
agree with me that one of the most important things the government can | :43:59. | :44:03. | |
do is support women returning to work? Absolutely right. She will | :44:04. | :44:15. | |
hopefully welcome the element of the project that invested in | :44:16. | :44:24. | |
internships. I will come onto that later in my speech. Take it from me, | :44:25. | :44:37. | |
I believe wealth creation is so important to give us the resources | :44:38. | :44:41. | |
for wealth creation. So many people have cut back. We are the 64th worst | :44:42. | :44:49. | |
hit out of 650. We don't feel the affluence she talks about. We have | :44:50. | :44:55. | |
record investment coming into our schools and if I can continue, to | :44:56. | :45:02. | |
secure and build a strong economy we do need sustained investment in the | :45:03. | :45:08. | |
human capital. The skills, the knowledge and the technical | :45:09. | :45:12. | |
excellence that drives productivity and growth, it is people that will | :45:13. | :45:17. | |
lift our country and we are investing in people. We need to do | :45:18. | :45:22. | |
this now more than ever because we know there is a productivity gap | :45:23. | :45:26. | |
between the UK and other advanced economies and we know that part of | :45:27. | :45:34. | |
this is caused by skills shortages. I am grateful for giving way. Is it | :45:35. | :45:49. | |
a mistake to cut this? It will affect them and deny the | :45:50. | :45:58. | |
opportunities. As I already said, the strong economy that has helped | :45:59. | :46:15. | |
to be created I was talking about how that is important. We know that | :46:16. | :46:19. | |
top employers and businesses are telling us the skills they need in | :46:20. | :46:24. | |
science, technology, engineering and maths are in two short supply. As my | :46:25. | :46:31. | |
right honourable friend says, is she aware that 5% of women returning to | :46:32. | :46:37. | |
work would generate an extra ?750 million? Absolutely, and that is why | :46:38. | :46:46. | |
it is one of the most powerful leaders we have two helped Drive | :46:47. | :46:49. | |
growth in the economy and more broadly around the world over the | :46:50. | :46:54. | |
coming years ahead. When we look at how we are going to plug the skills | :46:55. | :46:59. | |
gap, only 10% of adults in our country for the technical | :47:00. | :47:06. | |
qualification. Germany currently produces twice as many science | :47:07. | :47:10. | |
engineering and technology technicians and we know this. We | :47:11. | :47:22. | |
cannot afford to wait. Other economies have been ahead of us and | :47:23. | :47:26. | |
this government is clear that we will not fall further behind. We | :47:27. | :47:34. | |
should recognise globalisation and automation are changing workplace. | :47:35. | :47:43. | |
35% of our jobs are at risk of being replaced, not through competition | :47:44. | :47:52. | |
but by technology. She mentions Germany's lead in training in | :47:53. | :47:56. | |
technical positions. Does she link that with the fact that Germany | :47:57. | :48:01. | |
consistently has a much higher level of corporation tax in order to fund | :48:02. | :48:08. | |
that? I think Germany has its own approach in relation to corporation | :48:09. | :48:14. | |
tax. Ours has been to dramatically reduce it to make sure companies can | :48:15. | :48:18. | |
retain the profits to reinvest in growing their companies. I think | :48:19. | :48:28. | |
there is a substantial job creation in comparison to so many other | :48:29. | :48:35. | |
countries. It is why we have the ability to put it into our public | :48:36. | :48:42. | |
services. As we prepare to leave the European Union we will need to be | :48:43. | :48:52. | |
more self-sufficient in our workforces to set ourselves up for | :48:53. | :48:55. | |
success. We will need new ideas and new jobs and meet every challenge. A | :48:56. | :49:04. | |
global Britain is what we want, strong at home and strong abroad. It | :49:05. | :49:11. | |
is time for Britain to step up a gear. To begin the shift up to the | :49:12. | :49:18. | |
high skill, high productivity economy. This government is ready to | :49:19. | :49:27. | |
act. Is it not a fact that under this government we've fallen two | :49:28. | :49:34. | |
places in the research and development league tables. The | :49:35. | :49:55. | |
Autumn Statement provides further statements, but what I am talking | :49:56. | :50:00. | |
about is not just physical infrastructure, it is how the | :50:01. | :50:04. | |
country will be successful, investing in our people and human | :50:05. | :50:09. | |
capital. That is what we will be doing through this budget. Investing | :50:10. | :50:16. | |
in skills, education and training. Creating a strong economy that works | :50:17. | :50:21. | |
for everyone. This government is rightly focused on apprenticeships | :50:22. | :50:26. | |
because of the huge difference they can make to individuals. They will | :50:27. | :50:33. | |
boost lifetime earnings by 11% on average. If you 3% of apprentices | :50:34. | :50:39. | |
tell us they believe it is improving their prospects and this is already | :50:40. | :50:42. | |
making a big difference to individuals. Last year, 900,000 | :50:43. | :50:47. | |
people were enrolled in an apprenticeship and that means more | :50:48. | :50:52. | |
than 3 million people have started an apprenticeship since 2010. | :50:53. | :51:01. | |
Apprentices like Adam Sharp, who moved 150 miles to take up a | :51:02. | :51:07. | |
mechanic apprenticeship. He dreams of being that nuclear power plant's | :51:08. | :51:19. | |
chief engineer. Becky King moved to develop her passion for science. | :51:20. | :51:21. | |
Last week I kicked off National apprenticeships week in the city and | :51:22. | :51:27. | |
I met young people who were inspiring because they were finding | :51:28. | :51:31. | |
out just how well they could do. Apprenticeships are bringing out the | :51:32. | :51:37. | |
underlying talent of our young people and it's cathartic for them | :51:38. | :51:42. | |
to be able to discover their potential. Earlier I met with | :51:43. | :51:55. | |
nationwide representatives from my area keen to get more skills to lead | :51:56. | :51:59. | |
businesses and apprentices from Lloyds last week. One area where we | :52:00. | :52:09. | |
really need to keep the momentum is with the maths skills to make sure | :52:10. | :52:15. | |
women can lead companies as well. The basic skills. Can I just say we | :52:16. | :52:27. | |
need to impose a time limit of eight minutes right from the beginning. It | :52:28. | :52:31. | |
is very heavily subscribed. If people are going to intervene they | :52:32. | :52:36. | |
must keep it very brief. I pay tribute to the work that her local | :52:37. | :52:39. | |
colleges doing and she's absolutely right if we are going to see a | :52:40. | :52:43. | |
change in the workplace we have to start early. We need to build that | :52:44. | :52:50. | |
pipeline to make sure there are girls and women going into those | :52:51. | :52:52. | |
careers that are traditionally male dominated. It's not just about | :52:53. | :53:02. | |
making a difference to the people doing apprenticeships. | :53:03. | :53:05. | |
Apprenticeships are also making a difference to our country. When we | :53:06. | :53:12. | |
talk to employers they tell us this increases quality and productivity | :53:13. | :53:15. | |
so for them investing in an apprenticeship pays out for them and | :53:16. | :53:20. | |
their business and it is paying out for the wider economy. This is only | :53:21. | :53:26. | |
the beginning of our apprenticeship reform. Next month we are | :53:27. | :53:31. | |
introducing a levy which will ensure that there will be over ?2.5 billion | :53:32. | :53:36. | |
available to support apprenticeships and contributing to the levy will | :53:37. | :53:43. | |
mean that employers are truly invested. It keeps us on track to | :53:44. | :53:52. | |
meet our manifesto commitment. They will play a key role in delivering | :53:53. | :54:00. | |
the key skills our economy needs to level up but we need to do more to | :54:01. | :54:05. | |
meet the challenges our economy faces and the most successful | :54:06. | :54:12. | |
countries don't just rely on these. There are work -based routes to get | :54:13. | :54:17. | |
skilled professionals. They also depend on college -based routes, | :54:18. | :54:25. | |
technical courses. We will up our game, looking at reforming the | :54:26. | :54:31. | |
system to make it a central plank of how we sustain a growing economy. | :54:32. | :54:38. | |
For decades our country has neglected technical education | :54:39. | :54:41. | |
despite the fact a substantial proportion of our young people take | :54:42. | :54:50. | |
this path. We've never achieved a sustainable strategy and that's | :54:51. | :54:54. | |
because it's never been truly led by employers. We need a strategy that | :54:55. | :55:02. | |
asks businesses what this curriculum should look like, investing in the | :55:03. | :55:06. | |
tools and the teaching and the skills and expertise that helps | :55:07. | :55:11. | |
young people navigate a complex web of choices and careers, to find the | :55:12. | :55:17. | |
skills and careers that are right for them. We've allowed them to | :55:18. | :55:22. | |
emphasise quantity rather than quality. There are 13,000 separate | :55:23. | :55:28. | |
technical qualifications and to take one example, in plumbing a young | :55:29. | :55:35. | |
person has a choice of 33 different courses. How do they know which is | :55:36. | :55:41. | |
the highest quality and which is valued by businesses and the right | :55:42. | :55:45. | |
fit for them? In recent years we have tightened | :55:46. | :55:58. | |
the requirements for school and college tables, but we need to go | :55:59. | :56:02. | |
much further to ensure that technical education is high-quality | :56:03. | :56:07. | |
and meets needs. In place of complexity, this Government is | :56:08. | :56:11. | |
following the advice of Lord Sainsbury and replacing the current | :56:12. | :56:16. | |
system with a streamlined set of just 15 technical skills routes. | :56:17. | :56:23. | |
Each route will be a path to skilled employment, from construction to | :56:24. | :56:25. | |
digital, whether it is bricks and mortar or lines of code, and our | :56:26. | :56:30. | |
standards for each route will be designed and agreed by our best | :56:31. | :56:34. | |
businesses, to make sure that there is a direct flow through to the | :56:35. | :56:40. | |
skills that our economy needs. We know that we need investment as well | :56:41. | :56:45. | |
as reform. At the moment, a young person working towards a technical | :56:46. | :56:48. | |
qualification receives a programme of around 600 hours a year. In the | :56:49. | :56:55. | |
countries with the very best technical education, like Germany, | :56:56. | :56:58. | |
Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway, students will train far more hours | :56:59. | :57:04. | |
per year. If we really are serious about becoming world-class on | :57:05. | :57:08. | |
skills, we need to rival the commitment and investment of the | :57:09. | :57:13. | |
world's leading countries. That is why last Wednesday my right | :57:14. | :57:14. | |
honourable friend the Chancellor announced over half ?1 billion a | :57:15. | :57:22. | |
year of new funding for technical education. This will be used to | :57:23. | :57:25. | |
increase the number of teaching hours for students, as the Sainsbury | :57:26. | :57:29. | |
panel recommended it will also fund institutions to organise a | :57:30. | :57:33. | |
substantial, high quality workplace for every technical education | :57:34. | :57:38. | |
student, helping them apply skills in the workplace and prepare for a | :57:39. | :57:42. | |
successful move into employment. In total, this will mean that a | :57:43. | :57:45. | |
student's programme hours will increase by more than 50% from 600 | :57:46. | :57:52. | |
hours per year to more than 900. It is no surprise, Madame Deputy | :57:53. | :57:56. | |
Speaker, that the CBI called this budget a breakthrough budget for | :57:57. | :58:02. | |
skills. The funding for extra hours will roll out alongside the | :58:03. | :58:04. | |
technical routes, beginning with the first programmes in autumn, 2019. | :58:05. | :58:09. | |
Each of these routes will lead to a new certificate, the T-Level, which | :58:10. | :58:17. | |
will be a gold standard for technical and professional | :58:18. | :58:20. | |
excellence. The name will remind members of another prominent | :58:21. | :58:24. | |
qualification, and that is very deliberate. I want there to be no | :58:25. | :58:27. | |
ambiguity whatsoever that this is the most ambitious reform of post-16 | :58:28. | :58:35. | |
education since the introduction of A-levels 70 years ago. The | :58:36. | :58:40. | |
investment announced by my right honourable friend the Chancellor | :58:41. | :58:43. | |
shows that the Government is committed to making it a success, | :58:44. | :58:47. | |
building a world-class technical education system will not only | :58:48. | :58:52. | |
generate a skills and productivity... I will give way. I | :58:53. | :58:57. | |
am very privileged to have my constituency based on area that is | :58:58. | :59:08. | |
all about innovation and skills. Will the T-Level be significantly | :59:09. | :59:11. | |
stronger than existing technical qualifications? Will become on a | :59:12. | :59:15. | |
number of different fronts. Firstly, it will have commitment and design | :59:16. | :59:18. | |
led by employers. Secondly it will have more hours, so the student is | :59:19. | :59:23. | |
having a more comprehensive programme of education to reach the | :59:24. | :59:27. | |
T-Level. Thirdly, the quality will be much, much higher. More time | :59:28. | :59:32. | |
spent in the classroom but, critically, more time spent on a | :59:33. | :59:36. | |
quality work placement with an employer, so once that person | :59:37. | :59:40. | |
finishes their T-Level, there will come out of it ready to work and | :59:41. | :59:45. | |
ready to begin their career, with a high-quality qualification that | :59:46. | :59:49. | |
employers truly value. That is why we feel this is such a significant | :59:50. | :59:53. | |
step forward. Building this world-class technical education | :59:54. | :59:55. | |
system is not just going to generate the skills and productivity that are | :59:56. | :00:00. | |
the foundations of a strong economy. It will also spread opportunity and | :00:01. | :00:05. | |
increase social mobility, helping to break the link between a person's | :00:06. | :00:09. | |
background and where they get to in life. Madam Deputy Speaker, it may | :00:10. | :00:15. | |
be no surprise to the house that most young people from... Many young | :00:16. | :00:20. | |
people from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to be on | :00:21. | :00:24. | |
technical courses than their peers. And yet it has not been at the level | :00:25. | :00:29. | |
that they deserve or our economy deserves either. A report by the | :00:30. | :00:35. | |
Boston consulting group and the Sutton trust suggests greater social | :00:36. | :00:38. | |
mobility could boost the economy by a staggering ?140 billion every | :00:39. | :00:45. | |
year. Different young people have different talents. If we can | :00:46. | :00:49. | |
successfully put technical education on a par with academic roots, it is | :00:50. | :00:53. | |
not just good for these young people, it is exactly what the | :00:54. | :01:06. | |
economy needs to. This is not about designing a second chance system for | :01:07. | :01:10. | |
the disadvantaged. I do not want technical education to be seen as a | :01:11. | :01:15. | |
back-up to the academic path. I want parity of esteem. I want to | :01:16. | :01:18. | |
technical education to take its rightful place alongside the | :01:19. | :01:23. | |
academic track, as they totally credible path to a professional | :01:24. | :01:34. | |
career. We're not there yet and... Did you call me Lucy Adams? I am | :01:35. | :01:48. | |
very much a Powell. We on the side of the house welcome any attempt to | :01:49. | :01:52. | |
raise the esteem and status of technical and vocational education, | :01:53. | :01:57. | |
something we began in our time in government. Does she agree with me | :01:58. | :02:00. | |
that in the global world of the future it is often the mix of | :02:01. | :02:06. | |
technical and academic, whether you look at engineering, the digital | :02:07. | :02:09. | |
opportunities, creative industries or even health care and social care, | :02:10. | :02:13. | |
it is the blend. Can she get the house some assurances that people | :02:14. | :02:16. | |
will not be separated at the age of 16? I think the key to success is | :02:17. | :02:23. | |
strengthening the technical education routes, as I have talked | :02:24. | :02:26. | |
about. I think having some longevity to the strategy. The word Lord | :02:27. | :02:29. | |
Sainsbury did was absolutely critical in giving us an | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
architecture to build a strategy around. As we have seen in the past, | :02:35. | :02:41. | |
and around us now. As she says, it's important to make sure that the | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
whole system which together. That is why it is important as we create | :02:47. | :02:49. | |
more of the Institute of technology that we also talk with further | :02:50. | :02:52. | |
education colleges that will be at the centre of all of this. Of | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
course, also universities, who already do degrees in relation to | :02:58. | :03:02. | |
areas like engineering. But clearly they have a real offer that they can | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
make in supporting a more applied learning route and a more technical | :03:08. | :03:12. | |
education route for many young people. We have to make sure, as she | :03:13. | :03:17. | |
says, that this does fit together. Indeed, we want to raise the quality | :03:18. | :03:24. | |
and availability of higher-level technical education so that | :03:25. | :03:27. | |
technically gifted students can continue those studies beyond the | :03:28. | :03:30. | |
age of 19. One of the challenges we have had is not only the lower rungs | :03:31. | :03:37. | |
of the educational ladder not being as high quality as the academic | :03:38. | :03:41. | |
route, but the higher rungs not being there for people to be able to | :03:42. | :03:44. | |
climb up and aim for successfully. The new national colleges and the | :03:45. | :03:51. | |
Institutes Of Technology will make sure there are world-class | :03:52. | :03:55. | |
institutions for studying higher quality technical qualifications. | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
From September 2019, we will introduce its maintenance loans so | :04:00. | :04:03. | |
that study level 4 higher-level qualifications, so that those who | :04:04. | :04:13. | |
study levels at these suggestions, these are right for them. It means, | :04:14. | :04:17. | |
just like university students, the best technical minds will not be | :04:18. | :04:21. | |
limited by financial circumstances or place. It is not just about | :04:22. | :04:25. | |
parity between places, it is also about parity between people. Nearly | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
three quarters of young people in Barnsley follow a tactical path. In | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
Kensington and Chelsea, it is less than one quarter. -- technical path. | :04:36. | :04:41. | |
By levelling up technical education, putting it on a par with academic | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
routes, with reform, investment and focus, we can steadily raise the | :04:46. | :04:49. | |
regional inequalities and make sure that young people -- a -- erase the | :04:50. | :05:01. | |
inequalities and make sure young people have the door of opportunity | :05:02. | :05:05. | |
firmly left open for them. Building an opportunity is also about good | :05:06. | :05:08. | |
school places as well as skills. Good schools are the foundation of | :05:09. | :05:11. | |
economic success and social mobility. This Government is | :05:12. | :05:15. | |
resolute in its pursuit of more good school places in every single part | :05:16. | :05:19. | |
of the country, especially where they are most needed, to be able to | :05:20. | :05:22. | |
power higher educational attainment. That is why there are almost 1.8 | :05:23. | :05:30. | |
million more children in good or outstanding schools and there were | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
in 2010. That is 1.8 million young people getting a better start, a | :05:36. | :05:40. | |
crucially better start, to be able to reach their potential. But there | :05:41. | :05:43. | |
are still 1 million pupils in schools judged by Ofsted to be | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
inadequate or schools that require improvement. So there is more work | :05:49. | :05:52. | |
to do. Alongside half a billion a year in investment in skills, this | :05:53. | :05:58. | |
delivers ?23 billion of investment to fund over 70,000 places and up to | :05:59. | :06:04. | |
110 new free school is on top of the 500 free schools we have committed | :06:05. | :06:10. | |
to deliver by 2020. This includes funding for specialist maths | :06:11. | :06:12. | |
schools, which build on the successes of the outstanding Exeter | :06:13. | :06:17. | |
mathematics schools, which I had the privilege to be able to visit | :06:18. | :06:20. | |
recently, and the King's College London maths schools which the Prime | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
Minister visited. If every child in every part of the country needs | :06:26. | :06:29. | |
access to a fantastic school place, we have got to plan ahead and leave | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
no stone unturned in pursuit of those places. I will give way. My | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
right honourable friend is making a powerful case for the importance of | :06:40. | :06:42. | |
education. Does she not share my concern about the current funding | :06:43. | :06:45. | |
system we have in this country, which is more based on a postcode | :06:46. | :06:49. | |
lottery than the needs of those schools in those particular | :06:50. | :06:54. | |
locations? Absolutely. The current approach that we have is not just | :06:55. | :07:00. | |
outdated, it is also coming places, extremely unfair. And yet we want | :07:01. | :07:03. | |
our schools to be able to achieve the same outcomes, while funding | :07:04. | :07:07. | |
them fundamentally different places. Not for any reason other than often | :07:08. | :07:14. | |
wear that child is growing up. That is something that no one who wants | :07:15. | :07:20. | |
to see social mobility get better should accept. We have to move to a | :07:21. | :07:23. | |
more equitable approach on funding. That is what we are consulting on | :07:24. | :07:28. | |
right now. We have to make sure that the school places are there for | :07:29. | :07:32. | |
those children as they move through the system. Madame Deputy Speaker, | :07:33. | :07:38. | |
it is not just about extra school places and the new schools we need, | :07:39. | :07:41. | |
it is also about investing in schools and school places that we | :07:42. | :07:47. | |
already have. My right honourable friend the Chancellor has also put | :07:48. | :07:51. | |
forward an additional ?216 million to help refurbish existing schools | :07:52. | :07:55. | |
and make them fit for the 21st century. This is on top of the | :07:56. | :08:04. | |
existing plans to invest over ?10 billion in improving the addition of | :08:05. | :08:11. | |
the school estate. Does she accept academic A-levels are one way in | :08:12. | :08:14. | |
which young people can ensure they get a good start in life and perhaps | :08:15. | :08:17. | |
go on to great success through our university system? What will her | :08:18. | :08:22. | |
proposals that she is outlining deal for young people in Halewood, who | :08:23. | :08:28. | |
have no option of doing academic A-levels in the entire borough, and | :08:29. | :08:34. | |
must leave in order to study? I think she raises an incredibly | :08:35. | :08:39. | |
profound and important point. Parts of our country were far too long | :08:40. | :08:47. | |
educational attainment for young people growing up has simply not | :08:48. | :08:51. | |
been good enough. The situation she highlights as part of a much broader | :08:52. | :08:58. | |
challenge, I know, in seeking to steadily raise educational | :08:59. | :09:02. | |
attainment. It is important that, alongside the investment we have set | :09:03. | :09:06. | |
out for technical education in this budget, that we really do make sure, | :09:07. | :09:10. | |
through the sort of approaches like opportunity areas, that we zone in | :09:11. | :09:13. | |
on those areas that most need additional support, to make sure | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
that we can shift those outcomes. This government's focus on | :09:19. | :09:22. | |
opportunity does not end when someone leaves full-time education. | :09:23. | :09:30. | |
In a dynamic, modern economy, we need to foster a culture of lifelong | :09:31. | :09:36. | |
learning, a culture where all of us, from all walks of life, are | :09:37. | :09:38. | |
passionate about continuing to upscale themselves. I thank you for | :09:39. | :09:45. | |
giving way. The Foreign Secretary moves of the issue of school fabric. | :09:46. | :09:50. | |
The money for school repairs is welcome, but there is a ?6.7 billion | :09:51. | :09:56. | |
backlog of repairs to bring them up to satisfactory condition. What does | :09:57. | :09:58. | |
she think the backlog will be by the end of the parliament? Well, the | :09:59. | :10:04. | |
investment that we have brought forward as part of the budget will | :10:05. | :10:07. | |
enable us to go further and faster on that backlog that he has pointed | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
to. It is also important, as I said earlier, that we plan ahead. We need | :10:14. | :10:18. | |
to make sure that this demographic bulge of young people who have been | :10:19. | :10:24. | |
in primary and steadily moving through two secondary schools have | :10:25. | :10:27. | |
school places and classrooms to be able to go through when they need | :10:28. | :10:30. | |
them. That is why there is a balanced investment that we saw in | :10:31. | :10:34. | |
the budget, not just in terms of refurbishing existing schools and | :10:35. | :10:37. | |
existing school places, particularly focused on the ones that are needed | :10:38. | :10:41. | |
most, but also looking ahead to make sure that we have the extra good | :10:42. | :10:44. | |
school places that our country will need. Madame Deputy Speaker, I was | :10:45. | :10:50. | |
briefly touching upon why lifelong learning and the investment to the | :10:51. | :10:54. | |
budget into lifelong learning is so important, because it needs to very | :10:55. | :10:58. | |
much become the norm in our country. I want to make sure that people have | :10:59. | :11:02. | |
the tools and is to be able to do it. The reality is, Madame Deputy | :11:03. | :11:07. | |
Speaker, is that many of us will never study again once we have left | :11:08. | :11:14. | |
school. And yet we know, in the economy of the future, re-adapting | :11:15. | :11:18. | |
skills, continuing to learn, is going to be absolutely vital. That | :11:19. | :11:24. | |
is why we are making available of ?240 million over the next two years | :11:25. | :11:28. | |
to fund trials into lifetime learning, to help us make sure that | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
we know what works, where it is needed and how we can change our | :11:33. | :11:37. | |
country to have a culture where more adults are seizing opportunities to | :11:38. | :11:44. | |
upscale and taking control of their lives. Madame Deputy Speaker we have | :11:45. | :11:47. | |
the highest level, as I said earlier in this debate, of female | :11:48. | :11:53. | |
employment. It is a fantastic record to have achieved. The gender pay gap | :11:54. | :11:59. | |
is at a record low of 18.1%. But there is still a gap. This | :12:00. | :12:04. | |
government is implacable in our commitment to close this gap to zero | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
within a generation. We know that some women find it hard to return to | :12:10. | :12:13. | |
work after taking time out to care for young children. Many feel that | :12:14. | :12:19. | |
they come back to work at a lower level or they have to expect less | :12:20. | :12:25. | |
progression in work and pay and this is not good enough. | :12:26. | :12:31. | |
Record only cannot afford to miss out on this talent. Some are running | :12:32. | :12:39. | |
schemes to help women return to work. We want to work with them to | :12:40. | :12:44. | |
help them return to work. We want to apply these lessons. When you take | :12:45. | :12:51. | |
these together with improving the ability of people to do lifelong | :12:52. | :12:55. | |
learning I want to see people coming back to work who are better skilled | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
than when they left to take a career break. Not struggling to get their | :13:01. | :13:10. | |
careers back on track. That's why I announced that we will work with | :13:11. | :13:15. | |
business groups... The red book shows in terms of Labour market | :13:16. | :13:22. | |
participation funding for returning is ?5 million as opposed to ?65 | :13:23. | :13:26. | |
million for extending the free schools plan. Does she think that is | :13:27. | :13:35. | |
appropriate? Return ships are not used widely, by a few companies, but | :13:36. | :13:44. | |
for those who have invested in them we are at the beginning. We get a | :13:45. | :13:58. | |
clearer sense of what the broader strategy we should have for the | :13:59. | :14:02. | |
long-term is but also critically how we can make sure as we develop those | :14:03. | :14:05. | |
policies and those ideas that they are reformed through evidence. That | :14:06. | :14:14. | |
was the investment we announced. I will be brief. One of the areas I | :14:15. | :14:17. | |
wonder if the Secretary of State could also look at is about people | :14:18. | :14:25. | |
who step out of the workplace for caring responsibilities, not | :14:26. | :14:28. | |
necessarily youngsters but people who have given up the career for a | :14:29. | :14:40. | |
shorter time. I think she raises a very important point. We need to | :14:41. | :14:43. | |
understand flexible working means people adapting. Not just today, it | :14:44. | :14:53. | |
needs to be able to adapt to changing lives as that happens for | :14:54. | :14:58. | |
all of us in our working lives and careers. Last week was International | :14:59. | :15:08. | |
Women's Day and I thought it was a sign of how important this day has | :15:09. | :15:12. | |
become that the Chancellor marked by making it budget Day! It is | :15:13. | :15:20. | |
symbolic, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I'm extremely, we have our second | :15:21. | :15:32. | |
female Prime Minister and I'm proud that both of them have been | :15:33. | :15:36. | |
conservative Prime Minister is. There's a long way to go but we | :15:37. | :15:43. | |
should celebrate progress the cause it has been important and so nearly | :15:44. | :15:52. | |
100 years after women were given the vote, the Chancellor has set aside | :15:53. | :15:57. | |
?5 million to celebrate that historic event. I will finish by | :15:58. | :16:03. | |
saying this budget will continue the government's mission to spread | :16:04. | :16:08. | |
opportunity to every part of the country, and it rests on a strong, | :16:09. | :16:14. | |
stable economy are avoiding the careers and jobs which lead to | :16:15. | :16:17. | |
financial independence and success for a new generation and a sense of | :16:18. | :16:23. | |
meaning in people's lives. We cannot be complacent. There will be more | :16:24. | :16:27. | |
challenges to come but by investing in a world-class system alongside | :16:28. | :16:34. | |
schools and lifelong learning and returned ships, this government has | :16:35. | :16:40. | |
taken a crucial step in underwriting the flow of skills that our country | :16:41. | :16:44. | |
needs. We will level up opportunity. We will lift our country by lifting | :16:45. | :16:53. | |
up young people, and this breakthrough budget merits the | :16:54. | :16:57. | |
support of this house. The question is as on the order paper. It is a | :16:58. | :17:07. | |
pleasure to respond to the Secretary of State and quite right that we | :17:08. | :17:16. | |
have a date at this dedication to skills. This comes when Britain has | :17:17. | :17:20. | |
a social mobility problem getting worse, not better, as a result of an | :17:21. | :17:30. | |
unfair education system, a two tier Labour market, imbalanced economy | :17:31. | :17:33. | |
and an unaffordable housing market. Not my accusation but the conclusion | :17:34. | :17:44. | |
of the social mobility commission. Most of these recommendations have | :17:45. | :17:52. | |
been ignored. It made a recommendation against the policy. | :17:53. | :18:00. | |
Sadly, that has also been ignored. Instead, the Chancellor used the | :18:01. | :18:09. | |
budget to announce plans to spend another ?320 million on the next | :18:10. | :18:14. | |
tranche of free schools which the Prime Minister wrote would provide | :18:15. | :18:24. | |
70,000 new places. This would be the equivalent of ?4571 per pupil. But | :18:25. | :18:31. | |
the Secretary of State will know that her own department's recent | :18:32. | :18:39. | |
figures will show that the cash price was ?21,000 per place. The | :18:40. | :18:44. | |
cash cost of a secondary free school place was ?24,000. This is coupled | :18:45. | :18:52. | |
with a slightly curious detail hidden in the back of the red book | :18:53. | :19:03. | |
with further 715,000 pounds for free schools in the next Parliament. | :19:04. | :19:07. | |
Perhaps the Minister can answer this question later, if Philip gives just | :19:08. | :19:18. | |
been ?320 million for new free places and each school plays costs | :19:19. | :19:23. | |
?21,000, how many school places will to -- the Prime Minister end up | :19:24. | :19:32. | |
with? I look forward to marking the homework later. Will she join me and | :19:33. | :19:36. | |
local parents in Swindon on congratulating the government with | :19:37. | :19:42. | |
the funding fire-2-mac free schools to help tackle the lack of places | :19:43. | :19:54. | |
provided? I will come to these points. Either the Prime Minister | :19:55. | :20:06. | |
has made an announcement without the Chancellor or they have disguised | :20:07. | :20:11. | |
the overspend on the staggeringly -- inefficient school programme. That | :20:12. | :20:19. | |
would not be a surprise. The National Audit Office has helpfully | :20:20. | :20:24. | |
reminded the Chancellor and the Secretary of State, in 2010, the | :20:25. | :20:32. | |
estimated it would cost ?900 million to open 315 schools. By March 2015 | :20:33. | :20:42. | |
the department had spent double the official budget and not manage to | :20:43. | :20:49. | |
hit their target. They found they had already spent ?3.4 billion on | :20:50. | :20:56. | |
the land alone. The Department is now on course to be the largest land | :20:57. | :21:00. | |
purchase, even before the budget sank more money on. They also showed | :21:01. | :21:09. | |
that new places were far more expensive than conventional schools | :21:10. | :21:12. | |
had been. Will the Minister tell this house and the British people | :21:13. | :21:17. | |
how much money her department will spend to deliver these new free | :21:18. | :21:23. | |
schools? Will she guarantee that they will open in places where there | :21:24. | :21:29. | |
is a clear need for places? The Chancellor pledged money for every | :21:30. | :21:39. | |
school over a three-year period. The Secretary of State made reference to | :21:40. | :21:44. | |
it. As the member for Southport stated, the National Audit Office | :21:45. | :21:49. | |
has found that ?6.7 billion is necessary to return all existing | :21:50. | :21:56. | |
schools to a satisfactory condition. The 85% of schools who apply were | :21:57. | :22:06. | |
rejected and this investment was cheaper than the free schools | :22:07. | :22:12. | |
programme. We know why the Chancellor focused on free schools. | :22:13. | :22:16. | |
It will enable the creation of selective free schools. It was the | :22:17. | :22:22. | |
former Education Secretary who said he'd had enough of experts but not | :22:23. | :22:27. | |
even he tried to bring back grammar schools let alone pretend it was a | :22:28. | :22:32. | |
policy of social mobility. I'm not giving way. We now that only one in | :22:33. | :22:43. | |
25 pupils at grammar schools is eligible for free school meals while | :22:44. | :22:48. | |
one in every eight previously attended an independent school. Even | :22:49. | :22:55. | |
among the highest achieving 20% of pupils from the most affluent | :22:56. | :22:59. | |
backgrounds, we are more likely to get into a grammar school than those | :23:00. | :23:04. | |
from the most disadvantaged. Of course, the government have | :23:05. | :23:10. | |
suggested that they intend to take action to change this. It has not | :23:11. | :23:17. | |
gone down well on the back benches opposite. Given they've been happy | :23:18. | :23:24. | |
to jump the gun on the rest of their consultation perhaps the Minister | :23:25. | :23:27. | |
could be forthcoming to the house about those plans, as she was to the | :23:28. | :23:35. | |
press. The Chancellor, the Secretary of State has spent a huge amount of | :23:36. | :23:41. | |
time speaking and I want to carry on. The Chancellor announced the | :23:42. | :23:50. | |
measure to address this. They are bussing children into grammar | :23:51. | :23:53. | |
schools. They forgot to mention they've only just cut ?6 million out | :23:54. | :24:00. | |
of the budget for every other child. That left them with no statutory | :24:01. | :24:07. | |
provision for disabled people. Others were forced to change school. | :24:08. | :24:16. | |
They are paying a tax so a handful can be ferried at the cost of | :24:17. | :24:24. | |
thousands of pounds each. Apparently the comprehensive school buses are | :24:25. | :24:34. | |
out and the grammar school is in. To give them a figleaf of social | :24:35. | :24:39. | |
mobility. The Chancellor said they commit because they understand | :24:40. | :24:42. | |
choice is the key to excellence in education. I would remind the | :24:43. | :24:45. | |
government that good teaching, school leadership, the right | :24:46. | :24:50. | |
curriculum and many of the other things are also key to that. But | :24:51. | :24:54. | |
it's also a rather obvious point that the system they are proposing | :24:55. | :25:00. | |
is not one in which parents or pupils choose the school. They are | :25:01. | :25:08. | |
proposing that schools choose the pupils and parents are unlikely to | :25:09. | :25:16. | |
have a choice on childcare reader. The Chancellor said they will get | :25:17. | :25:22. | |
the entitlement doubled but the Secretary of State has already | :25:23. | :25:25. | |
admitted in written answers that only a small minority of those | :25:26. | :25:32. | |
parents currently receiving 15 hours will be eligible for the 30 hours. | :25:33. | :25:37. | |
Under 400,000 families will qualify despite the promise that over | :25:38. | :25:41. | |
600,000 would benefit. The Chancellor's plans for adult | :25:42. | :25:51. | |
education are no closer to reality. He announced 40 million to trial new | :25:52. | :25:55. | |
ways of delivering adult education and lifelong learning, yet his own | :25:56. | :26:00. | |
Government has, since 2010, cut the adult skills budget by 32%, with | :26:01. | :26:07. | |
over ?1 billion taken out since 2010. Now, I know the Chancellor's | :26:08. | :26:10. | |
aides have referred to their neighbours in Number 10 as being | :26:11. | :26:14. | |
economically illiterate, but surely even they can realise the absurdity | :26:15. | :26:22. | |
of trying to reverse damage caused by ?1 billion of cuts with ?40 | :26:23. | :26:33. | |
million in trials. The new investment would be welcome, after | :26:34. | :26:38. | |
all, further education budgets were cut by 7% in the last Parliament, | :26:39. | :26:44. | |
and the Institute for Fiscal Studies found between 2010 and 2020, funding | :26:45. | :26:49. | |
per pupil in further education would be cut by 13%. Would my friend give | :26:50. | :26:59. | |
way? Debriefing lines do not quite match the budget lines. The red book | :27:00. | :27:05. | |
shows that in 2019, the new funding will only be ?6 million. Even by | :27:06. | :27:11. | |
2021, the new funding will not have risen to the promised half a billion | :27:12. | :27:24. | |
a year. Is she aware that a consequence of this is that the | :27:25. | :27:26. | |
productivity gap between this country and the rest of the world | :27:27. | :27:33. | |
has worsened every single year since the Tories came in, and even under | :27:34. | :27:39. | |
the coalition, and is now the worst since 1991. Absolutely, I thank my | :27:40. | :27:48. | |
honourable friend for his intervention. I make that 1-1 from | :27:49. | :27:52. | |
both sides of the house, I am going to be moving on. That brings us back | :27:53. | :27:56. | |
to the context of the other announcements, which is the funding | :27:57. | :28:01. | |
crisis facing our schools. We learn from today's Times that they are now | :28:02. | :28:04. | |
in retreat over the new funding formula. Perhaps the sexual state | :28:05. | :28:09. | |
will use this to clarify his position to the house? They might | :28:10. | :28:17. | |
say they are still consulting and they may not have seen the results, | :28:18. | :28:20. | |
yet we still haven't seen the results of the School That Work For | :28:21. | :28:26. | |
Everyone Consultation. That did not stop Prime Minister using the budget | :28:27. | :28:29. | |
to announce most of the forthcoming school bill to the press. It was | :28:30. | :28:34. | |
same with the initial plans of the new grammar schools, the new School | :28:35. | :28:39. | |
improvement funding, and every other education announcement made in last | :28:40. | :28:44. | |
week's budget. Announcements made behind closed doors are the pay wall | :28:45. | :28:48. | |
of the Prime Minister's favoured newspapers, rather than within this | :28:49. | :28:54. | |
house. No wonder they would rather avoid our scrutiny, because there | :28:55. | :28:59. | |
was one thing the budget fails to mention. That is the pledge that the | :29:00. | :29:03. | |
party opposite made in their manifesto. Under a future | :29:04. | :29:08. | |
Conservative Government, the amount of money following your child into | :29:09. | :29:13. | |
schools will be protected. There will be a real terms increase in the | :29:14. | :29:16. | |
schools budget in the next Parliament. The last Prime Minister | :29:17. | :29:20. | |
made clear what he meant. The amount of money following your child into | :29:21. | :29:27. | |
schools will not be cut. In Treasury speak, flat cash per pupil. So, they | :29:28. | :29:34. | |
were clear, Mr Deputy Speaker, not a single pupil in the country would | :29:35. | :29:38. | |
see their funding cut by a single penny. That was their promise. Yet | :29:39. | :29:42. | |
the National Audit Office has found that there will be an 8% drop in | :29:43. | :29:48. | |
per-pupil funding this Parliament, leaving schools forced to make cuts | :29:49. | :29:55. | |
worth ?3 billion. Up and down the country we hear schools that are | :29:56. | :29:57. | |
seeing less money in their budgets and forced to cut hours or subjects, | :29:58. | :30:05. | |
or asking parents to chip in. Yesterday, on the European issue, | :30:06. | :30:09. | |
the government was clear that their justification was a mandate of the | :30:10. | :30:13. | |
British people. Yet they too had a mandate when it came to funding our | :30:14. | :30:18. | |
schools. I know that they would like to airbrush the last Prime Minister | :30:19. | :30:21. | |
from history, but they tell us today, will they tell us today, that | :30:22. | :30:30. | |
the pledge still stands? When does the Treasury intend to meet it? The | :30:31. | :30:37. | |
Prime Minister have a lot to say about education, but when it came to | :30:38. | :30:41. | |
meeting their own promises they were selective with their facts and | :30:42. | :30:43. | |
copper offensive in their failure. They must do better. | :30:44. | :30:51. | |
-- comprehensive in their failure. It gives me some pleasure to follow | :30:52. | :30:58. | |
the shadow Secretary of State for education. Let me start by | :30:59. | :31:02. | |
congratulating the Secretary of State on his speech. I am delighted | :31:03. | :31:07. | |
she managed to secure protection for the schools budget, which will | :31:08. | :31:11. | |
continue to grow in real terms. I congratulate the Chief Secretary, | :31:12. | :31:15. | |
who I see is in his place, for facilitating that. I would also like | :31:16. | :31:18. | |
to welcome the national funding formula which the Secretary of State | :31:19. | :31:23. | |
has been working on with a forensic attention to detail. It will ensure | :31:24. | :31:30. | |
that funding follows need, rather than an historic accident of | :31:31. | :31:34. | |
postcode, and in Croydon, the borough I represent, which has been | :31:35. | :31:39. | |
historically underfunded, we will see the historic injustice | :31:40. | :31:41. | |
corrected. I would like to congratulate the Secretary of State | :31:42. | :31:45. | |
for her work and welcome the national funding formula. The Shadow | :31:46. | :31:51. | |
Secretary of State for Education, in her speech she read out a few | :31:52. | :31:57. | |
minutes ago, gave us some statistics. The most important | :31:58. | :32:05. | |
statistic we have when it comes to this country in education, is that | :32:06. | :32:10. | |
1.8 million more children are being educated in good or outstanding | :32:11. | :32:15. | |
schools compared to 2010. The honourable lady opposite can quote | :32:16. | :32:18. | |
all of the sums that she likes, but the fact remains that this | :32:19. | :32:26. | |
government is delivering, delivering a better education for more children | :32:27. | :32:29. | |
than ever before and members on this side of the house are proud that our | :32:30. | :32:36. | |
government are doing that. 1.8 million more children in good and | :32:37. | :32:39. | |
outstanding schools. That is the result of the free school and | :32:40. | :32:46. | |
Academy programme and I am delighted that this Government is continuing | :32:47. | :32:52. | |
and expanding the programme. In that vein, I am also pleased that the | :32:53. | :32:58. | |
chief secretary, the Chancellor and the Education Secretary have found, | :32:59. | :33:02. | |
over the next five years, up until 2021-22, and additional ?1 billion | :33:03. | :33:10. | |
to fund further new schools. New schools give choice to parents. As | :33:11. | :33:15. | |
this statistics I have quoted show, they encourage higher standards. | :33:16. | :33:19. | |
Some of the schools may well be new grammar schools, which the | :33:20. | :33:22. | |
honourable lady opposite criticised. I should declare to the house that I | :33:23. | :33:26. | |
am a grammar school boy. I went to a grammar school in south London. I | :33:27. | :33:29. | |
know from my own experience that grammar schools help children from | :33:30. | :33:35. | |
ordinary backgrounds fulfil their potential. All of the studies show | :33:36. | :33:40. | |
that children... Children from ordinary backgrounds that go to | :33:41. | :33:43. | |
grammar schools do a great deal better than those who go to other | :33:44. | :33:48. | |
schools. I am sorry the honourable lady opposite to not give way, she | :33:49. | :33:51. | |
did give way to the honourable gentleman for Bassetlaw, many of his | :33:52. | :33:58. | |
constituents attended grammar school in my constituency. The question she | :33:59. | :34:02. | |
failed to answer is wide as the abolition of grammar schools has | :34:03. | :34:08. | |
that been a catastrophic fall in mobility in socially deprived areas? | :34:09. | :34:19. | |
They can and should be for social mobility. But they include new | :34:20. | :34:21. | |
measures to make sure grammar schools take on board a higher | :34:22. | :34:25. | |
proportion of pupils on free school meals. There is a very successful | :34:26. | :34:34. | |
case study for this. A number of steps, which include outreach for | :34:35. | :34:37. | |
local primary schools in deprived areas, free tuition for the tests | :34:38. | :34:41. | |
and bursaries to fund things like school uniform and travel, which | :34:42. | :34:44. | |
have, together, increased the grammar schools free school meals | :34:45. | :34:51. | |
intake from 3%, up to 22%, which shows the measures the Education | :34:52. | :34:58. | |
Secretary is proposing works in practice and I strongly welcome | :34:59. | :35:03. | |
them. In the interests of joined up thinking, what proportion of | :35:04. | :35:07. | |
qualifications will the new grammar schools give over to T-Levels? I | :35:08. | :35:14. | |
think it is up to individual schools to set their own individual | :35:15. | :35:20. | |
curricula, and also for the parents, children and pupils' choices. That | :35:21. | :35:24. | |
is what local is a means. Grammar schools, by their nature, tend to be | :35:25. | :35:29. | |
more academic and flavour. Well, that is what a grammar school is. It | :35:30. | :35:32. | |
should hardly be a surprise to members opposite. There are other | :35:33. | :35:36. | |
kinds of school which have a more technical specialisation. Diversity | :35:37. | :35:42. | |
of provision, choice for parents and variety in our system are signs of | :35:43. | :35:50. | |
success. Members on this side of the house celebrate that. I would like | :35:51. | :35:57. | |
to turn to some other measures in the Budget, starting with business | :35:58. | :36:03. | |
rates. I know a number of members were concerned, including me, about | :36:04. | :36:07. | |
the effect of the business rates revaluation on smaller businesses, | :36:08. | :36:13. | |
and a town in my constituency was particularly affected by some quite | :36:14. | :36:16. | |
significant upward revaluation is. In that context, I think it is very | :36:17. | :36:22. | |
welcome that the Budget announced ?435 million of discretionary relief | :36:23. | :36:27. | |
to help small businesses in towns like Pearly. But it might be worth | :36:28. | :36:39. | |
adjusting that over time. The lion's share comes in the first two years, | :36:40. | :36:47. | |
180 million in 2017-18. It is very welcome, but the transitional | :36:48. | :36:51. | |
reliefs, the put caps on small business rate increases, in 17-18, | :36:52. | :36:58. | |
they are 5%, and 7.5% in 18-19, meaning most small businesses will | :36:59. | :37:01. | |
not feel too much of an effect in the next two years. It is really | :37:02. | :37:08. | |
three, four and five-year's time when it will be most powerfully | :37:09. | :37:12. | |
felt. I wonder if the Home Secretary might consider changing the profile | :37:13. | :37:16. | |
of that money, so rather than frontloading it, it might be back | :37:17. | :37:20. | |
loaded into year three and four of the period, when the effects of the | :37:21. | :37:24. | |
business rate increases will be most heavily felt. The total amount of | :37:25. | :37:29. | |
money will remain the same, 435 million, but the profile overtime | :37:30. | :37:32. | |
will be shifted to better match the effects of the business rate | :37:33. | :37:35. | |
increases. A second thought which I would offer for the future on | :37:36. | :37:42. | |
transitional relief relates to the upward and downward caps. For the | :37:43. | :37:46. | |
next financial year, 17-18, bills have been sent out and there is an | :37:47. | :37:50. | |
upward cap of 5% for small businesses, so no small business get | :37:51. | :37:57. | |
an increase of more than 5%, there is a downward cap of 4.1%, so no | :37:58. | :38:02. | |
large business gets a downward decrease of less than 4.1. Lucky to | :38:03. | :38:08. | |
the future, I wonder if in the Autumn Statement we might consider | :38:09. | :38:14. | |
fine tuning the upward and downward caps so that the largest businesses, | :38:15. | :38:19. | |
such as the big four supermarkets, have a lower or even zero further | :38:20. | :38:23. | |
downward cap, they don't get any further decreases beyond the | :38:24. | :38:25. | |
decrease next year, and that would fund a more generous upward cap for | :38:26. | :38:30. | |
the smallest businesses. Rather than getting an upward cap of 10-15% in | :38:31. | :38:37. | |
2019-21, the money saved might be used to lower the cap. It would be | :38:38. | :38:41. | |
fiscally neutral, it would not affect the coming financial year, | :38:42. | :38:45. | |
which is fully set in stone already, but it would help some of those | :38:46. | :38:48. | |
small businesses in three or four years' time, including businesses in | :38:49. | :38:54. | |
my constituency. I have noticed the cumulative upward cap for these | :38:55. | :38:58. | |
small businesses over the five-year period accumulates to 64.2%, quite a | :38:59. | :39:02. | |
high upward cap. If we could find a way of softening the blow, I think | :39:03. | :39:08. | |
it would be very welcome indeed. Another area which the Chancellor | :39:09. | :39:11. | |
touched on in the budget statement related to pollution. He indicated | :39:12. | :39:16. | |
that, particularly from diesel cars, and as a London MP this affects my | :39:17. | :39:21. | |
constituency and all London constituencies particularly | :39:22. | :39:23. | |
profoundly, the Chancellor mentioned there would be a plan delivered over | :39:24. | :39:26. | |
the summer, responding to the European Union court case, and that | :39:27. | :39:29. | |
fiscal measures would be introduced in the autumn budget. I must say, I | :39:30. | :39:34. | |
have very significant reservations about Sidiq Khan's diesel scrappage | :39:35. | :39:40. | |
scheme, which would cost in London ?515 million over two years. We want | :39:41. | :39:44. | |
to do that nationally, the cost would be ?3.5 billion per year over | :39:45. | :39:49. | |
two years, which I think is an affordable and will just cause one | :39:50. | :39:52. | |
set of diesel cars to be replaced by another. I don't support the diesel | :39:53. | :39:56. | |
scrappage scheme proposed by the Mayor of London. One fiscal measure | :39:57. | :40:02. | |
the Government might consider, given that diesel cars burned 10 million | :40:03. | :40:06. | |
tonnes of fuel every year, a three times increase over the last ten | :40:07. | :40:12. | |
years, the Government might consider introducing a significantly | :40:13. | :40:14. | |
increased registration tax for new diesel cars. I say cars, not vans or | :40:15. | :40:23. | |
lorries, in order to deter people from buying new diesel cars, which | :40:24. | :40:26. | |
make up half of the purchases in the country. It would have no effect | :40:27. | :40:29. | |
retrospectively on people that bought a diesel car already, but it | :40:30. | :40:32. | |
would encourage people to switch away from diesel cars in future. I | :40:33. | :40:38. | |
think it would greatly help ease pollution problems in cities like | :40:39. | :40:42. | |
London in the months and years ahead. I can see the time limit is | :40:43. | :40:47. | |
rapidly approaching. Let me conclude. I'm glad to something | :40:48. | :40:55. | |
popular on the benches opposite. Let me conclude by welcoming this | :40:56. | :40:58. | |
Budget, continuing the Government's record of job creation and growth, | :40:59. | :41:02. | |
and let me congratulate the Education Secretary and chief | :41:03. | :41:05. | |
secretary for protecting and growing education funding and committing to | :41:06. | :41:09. | |
fund more excellent schools in our country. | :41:10. | :41:17. | |
It was a dull budget. I don't say that as a criticism because it was | :41:18. | :41:25. | |
meant to be dull. The Chancellor did most of his heavy lifting in the | :41:26. | :41:28. | |
Autumn Statement when he amassed the war chest by borrowing ?120 billion. | :41:29. | :41:39. | |
The criticism is rather than use that to raise productivity, improve | :41:40. | :41:45. | |
productivity, he's put it aside because he doesn't know what will | :41:46. | :41:48. | |
happen after the Brexit deal is done. The education minister made a | :41:49. | :41:56. | |
reasonable fist of trying to explain the new levels but after half an | :41:57. | :42:02. | |
hour I began to think she was arguing a little bit too hard as if | :42:03. | :42:06. | |
she did not really believe it herself. I think one of the more | :42:07. | :42:12. | |
innovative parts of the budget was this. If you want a technical | :42:13. | :42:21. | |
education of the standard of Germany or the Netherlands you have to have | :42:22. | :42:24. | |
the schools, the workshops, the machinery in the schools to do the | :42:25. | :42:30. | |
teaching. The equivalent must be better than what you will get when | :42:31. | :42:36. | |
you get to the factory at you've graduated. That is how you raise | :42:37. | :42:41. | |
productivity, training at the highest level. If the budget had put | :42:42. | :42:51. | |
the money into schools, technical skills, and a level that you see in | :42:52. | :42:59. | |
Germany and the Netherlands, I might have believed the government. | :43:00. | :43:06. | |
Actually they are another addition to the fact that this government | :43:07. | :43:14. | |
wants to pursue selective education, for a narrow stream of people. You | :43:15. | :43:19. | |
will not solve the problem of productivity. The one thing that we | :43:20. | :43:30. | |
did get in the government was a rise in national insurance for the | :43:31. | :43:31. | |
self-employed. There is a building company and an | :43:32. | :43:47. | |
investment company. Does anybody know who these companies are? They | :43:48. | :43:54. | |
are both owned by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. In 2010 he put them | :43:55. | :44:01. | |
into a blind trust. He's a very honourable man so there is no | :44:02. | :44:07. | |
question of him influencing. Unlike certain presidents of the United | :44:08. | :44:13. | |
States. But it is interesting to see what these companies are thinking | :44:14. | :44:20. | |
about. The accounts say the building industry is suffering from supply | :44:21. | :44:27. | |
bottlenecks of skilled trades people driving up costs. What does the | :44:28. | :44:35. | |
building company say? The scarcity of good quality subcontractors is | :44:36. | :44:37. | |
still an issue and they are considering going back. This skills | :44:38. | :44:46. | |
and supply bottleneck is largely among the self-employed. To sum up, | :44:47. | :44:55. | |
the Federation of Master builders says 60% of construction firms are | :44:56. | :45:00. | |
struggling to hire bricklayers and carpenters. They claim the increase | :45:01. | :45:06. | |
will help supply some of this much-needed skill that is being | :45:07. | :45:14. | |
demanded. At the same time, this Chancellor is removing the incentive | :45:15. | :45:19. | |
to work and take your training because he's raising taxes on the | :45:20. | :45:24. | |
very workers his companies say they need. This Chancellor is so | :45:25. | :45:29. | |
short-sighted he is not only hurting his own business, sadly and | :45:30. | :45:31. | |
unfortunately he is hurting everybody else's. This is not just a | :45:32. | :45:39. | |
dull budget. At the heart there is a ticking time bomb. The forecast is | :45:40. | :45:46. | |
quite interesting about what happens next. It relates to whether the | :45:47. | :45:50. | |
money will be there to provide the training the Minister has been | :45:51. | :45:54. | |
talking about. The Chancellor was very concerned to tell us that | :45:55. | :46:00. | |
growth has been very strong in the last 12 months. Growth in this | :46:01. | :46:04. | |
country has been powered by consumer borrowing. The OBR says in 2016 the | :46:05. | :46:14. | |
ratio in the UK get a historical low. | :46:15. | :46:35. | |
But the OBR does not think that there is a potential for consumer | :46:36. | :46:43. | |
borrowing to continue to carry the economy. They are predicting there | :46:44. | :46:50. | |
will be a downturn in availability of consumer funds. This cannot | :46:51. | :47:00. | |
continue. Why? Most of the boost to consumer spending in the last year | :47:01. | :47:02. | |
is a hangover from 2015 people felt they were | :47:03. | :47:16. | |
better off and that is why they've been spending money in the last | :47:17. | :47:23. | |
year. With inflation now rising, because the pound has tanked, we can | :47:24. | :47:27. | |
expect that to disappear. So how will they reach the growth targets? | :47:28. | :47:35. | |
The OBR says it will be replaced by a rise in business investment. When | :47:36. | :47:44. | |
I asked, where was the evidence, they had a really wonderful answer. | :47:45. | :47:50. | |
It took my breath away. Business investment has been so low for so | :47:51. | :47:57. | |
long it is bound to go up sometime. That is what they said. Things can | :47:58. | :48:02. | |
only get better as my colleague says. I will believe that when I see | :48:03. | :48:13. | |
that. Just to amplify the point he's making, when you look at the book, | :48:14. | :48:19. | |
investment intentions have been put on hold. And yet when you turn the | :48:20. | :48:27. | |
page you find business investment goes between... It quite simply does | :48:28. | :48:35. | |
not add up, does it? Not only does it not add up it means we will have | :48:36. | :48:40. | |
the sharing which will raise productivity. We will miss the | :48:41. | :48:48. | |
target yet again. I say, since the Chancellor has amassed this war | :48:49. | :48:51. | |
chest he should be using it now, to wait and see what happens is not | :48:52. | :48:56. | |
something that anybody does, you need to invest now. So let's invest | :48:57. | :49:03. | |
in the schools. I think that would be good, but that is not what the | :49:04. | :49:10. | |
budget says. As I understand the government has invested and the | :49:11. | :49:15. | |
front bench can Mehdi confirmed, ?300 million that colleges can apply | :49:16. | :49:16. | |
for a technical status. Having spent 25 years of my life | :49:17. | :49:38. | |
teaching in further education, this is a tiny amount when you drill down | :49:39. | :49:53. | |
through the institutions. Can the government not... You're talking | :49:54. | :49:57. | |
about ?30 billion. If you don't want to spend it then fine. Don't pretend | :49:58. | :50:02. | |
these small amounts of money somehow solve the problem. The truth is... | :50:03. | :50:13. | |
I'm very grateful. The honourable member was my economic lecturer 30 | :50:14. | :50:23. | |
years ago. We have delegated responsibility. It is the lack of | :50:24. | :50:30. | |
balance that has quite simply not work. We've not seen enough fiscal | :50:31. | :50:35. | |
responsibility from this government to create the circumstances that | :50:36. | :50:40. | |
will deliver sustainable growth. I thank my honourable friend and he is | :50:41. | :50:45. | |
right but I think it is important to pin the blame where it is deserved. | :50:46. | :50:50. | |
I think perhaps the Chancellor gets too much of the blame. The blame | :50:51. | :50:54. | |
lies in Downing Street, with the Prime Minister. Let me quote to you | :50:55. | :51:01. | |
from the Prime Minister's speech when she launched her leadership | :51:02. | :51:11. | |
bid. She said if there is a choice between further spending cuts, and | :51:12. | :51:17. | |
tax rises, the priority must be to avoid tax increases since they will | :51:18. | :51:23. | |
disrupt investment. Now we have a budget which is going to raise taxes | :51:24. | :51:30. | |
of the self-employed, the entrepreneurs, the people who | :51:31. | :51:34. | |
require the motivation to grow the economy and raise productivity. It | :51:35. | :51:38. | |
is the Prime Minister who has reneged on that leadership promise. | :51:39. | :51:44. | |
The Chancellor is already doing her bidding. This budget claims to | :51:45. | :51:53. | |
address the productivity question but is actually about selectivity. | :51:54. | :52:05. | |
What the budget has not done. The millennial generation is earning | :52:06. | :52:08. | |
less than its appearance. The budget does not do that because the | :52:09. | :52:13. | |
Chancellor set his war chest. Home ownership is falling among middle | :52:14. | :52:16. | |
earners for the first time in 50 years. Mrs Thatcher would be turning | :52:17. | :52:22. | |
in her grave if she heard that from a Conservative government. Average | :52:23. | :52:25. | |
incomes by 2021 will be a fifth less than it would have been if growth | :52:26. | :52:29. | |
had been continued at precrisis levels. ?5,000 less for every | :52:30. | :52:34. | |
household. You have not delivered a return to incomes and wealth for the | :52:35. | :52:40. | |
ordinary person. The Chancellor's fees on universal credits is one | :52:41. | :52:47. | |
person will have a lower real income in five years. The government has | :52:48. | :52:50. | |
not delivered for the ordinary person. This is a budget which does | :52:51. | :52:56. | |
not address the real issues of inequality in this country. It is a | :52:57. | :52:59. | |
budget for inertia and complacency and I will be voting against it. It | :53:00. | :53:10. | |
is a pleasure to follow the honourable gentleman and he had a | :53:11. | :53:13. | |
lot to say about education in England. Perhaps we would have liked | :53:14. | :53:21. | |
to hear more about it in Scotland. I've hardly started. I'd like to | :53:22. | :53:27. | |
tell you the outcomes in Scottish education of people going into work | :53:28. | :53:32. | |
are significantly higher than in this part of the UK. I'm very | :53:33. | :53:39. | |
grateful to be informed and before the honourable gentleman stood up I | :53:40. | :53:42. | |
did want to say to him at his colleague that the events of the | :53:43. | :53:45. | |
last 24 hours have convinced me more than ever before but I was right at | :53:46. | :53:50. | |
the beginning of this Parliament to move an amendment to give full | :53:51. | :53:55. | |
fiscal autonomy to Scotland with a modern equalisation formula which | :53:56. | :53:58. | |
will ensure prosperity across the nations of the United Kingdom and | :53:59. | :54:01. | |
replace the outdated Barnett formula so perhaps the SNP should not | :54:02. | :54:06. | |
intervene too often because basically I am on their side. I just | :54:07. | :54:12. | |
wanted to say a few words in defence of the government. I know this is | :54:13. | :54:17. | |
sometimes an unpopular thing to do but I do feel that the Chancellor | :54:18. | :54:30. | |
was courageous. I think it was the right thing to do. A storm has risen | :54:31. | :54:44. | |
above our heads. It is the right thing to do because it is about | :54:45. | :54:56. | |
honesty in politics. Too often we have had little giveaways and we | :54:57. | :55:02. | |
realise successive chancellors have taken back from is what they've | :55:03. | :55:12. | |
given to us. In plugging the gap, the Chancellor was trying to say | :55:13. | :55:17. | |
we've got to have a mature and grown-up debate in this country | :55:18. | :55:22. | |
about how we meet this funding gap. This debate will now run and run, | :55:23. | :55:29. | |
we've got a few months to think about it and come up with a | :55:30. | :55:36. | |
solution. When it is said there is a manifesto commitment, sometimes | :55:37. | :55:38. | |
circumstances change and you've got to do what is right for the country. | :55:39. | :55:45. | |
Manifesto commitments are not written in stone. If we have to | :55:46. | :55:58. | |
spend our money on social care, it is there. We know what will happen | :55:59. | :56:09. | |
with those words written in stone we have to have a mature debate about | :56:10. | :56:13. | |
how we paid for the National Health Service. | :56:14. | :56:18. | |
Why do I say this? I'm going to be completely honest about it. A lot | :56:19. | :56:24. | |
more needs to be done for our NHS. I rely, as do my family, entirely on | :56:25. | :56:30. | |
the NHS, we have no other providers, people of my age are deeply worried | :56:31. | :56:34. | |
about this funding crisis. We have seen what has happened to the mist | :56:35. | :56:38. | |
A targets, we have seen the report that puts the United Kingdom just | :56:39. | :56:43. | |
ahead of Slovenia. We, as a country, should be doing better than that. We | :56:44. | :56:51. | |
see worse, England was ranked 30th for accessibility because of the | :56:52. | :56:54. | |
exceptionally long waiting times for treatment. Figures from the OECD | :56:55. | :56:58. | |
show the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and France top, while the UK | :56:59. | :57:06. | |
stands at just 8.5% of GDP. I think we need to have a mature debate | :57:07. | :57:10. | |
about how we are going to meet this funding gap people. The Kings fund | :57:11. | :57:16. | |
estimates if we wanted to close the gap solely by increasing NHS from | :57:17. | :57:25. | |
central government by 2021, we would need to increase by 30%, a whopping | :57:26. | :57:31. | |
?43 billion in real terms. It would push NHS spending to ?135 billion | :57:32. | :57:37. | |
overall. Are there any alternatives to these scenarios? I pose this | :57:38. | :57:42. | |
question, I know it is unpopular and people do not necessarily want to | :57:43. | :57:46. | |
debate it, we cannot raise this money from general taxation. There | :57:47. | :57:49. | |
is not the political will. We can't afford to do it. Not if we want to | :57:50. | :57:56. | |
maintain the NHS as a universal, noncontributory, entirely free at | :57:57. | :57:59. | |
the point of use system. Something has to give. The health consumer | :58:00. | :58:05. | |
interest points out a contrast between the two styles of health | :58:06. | :58:11. | |
care. One system is based on citizens taking out insurance | :58:12. | :58:16. | |
available from a range of providers, the systems like ours have one body | :58:17. | :58:23. | |
that provides all care. The largest countries like that, the UK, Spain | :58:24. | :58:27. | |
and Italy, keep clinging together in the middle of the index. The Health | :58:28. | :58:32. | |
Consumer Index rated the Dutch system is the best performing in | :58:33. | :58:35. | |
Europe. The Netherlands happens to have a Bismarck style system. I | :58:36. | :58:41. | |
believe, I know it is controversial, I know colleagues do not necessarily | :58:42. | :58:44. | |
want to debate it because politically it is very sensitive, | :58:45. | :58:47. | |
but I do think that without appointing a Royal commission, | :58:48. | :58:53. | |
wasting years, that ministers and the opposition really happy to have | :58:54. | :58:56. | |
an open mind about how we are going to raise more money for people, not | :58:57. | :59:03. | |
from general taxation, but actually moving, gradually, for parts of our | :59:04. | :59:08. | |
health care, to an insurance -based system, a socially insurance -based | :59:09. | :59:14. | |
system. We have to have the courage to think radically about following | :59:15. | :59:20. | |
the German and French example, and indeed the Australian example. If | :59:21. | :59:23. | |
you go to see a GP in Australia, you have to pay some money, if you don't | :59:24. | :59:28. | |
turn up, you lose the money. In France, if you see a doctor, if you | :59:29. | :59:34. | |
go to A, you have to pay, and if you can't afford to pay, it will be | :59:35. | :59:38. | |
returned to you, if you can, you have to make a contribution. I know | :59:39. | :59:42. | |
these are radical ideas. But if people are going to dismiss these | :59:43. | :59:48. | |
ideas, dismissed the need for an open debate about how we are going | :59:49. | :59:51. | |
to fund the health care system, they themselves have to explain to us how | :59:52. | :59:55. | |
they are going to raise money from general taxation. There is no points | :59:56. | :00:03. | |
of the attacking the Government for increasing national insurance | :00:04. | :00:04. | |
contributions, without themselves proposing how they are going to tax | :00:05. | :00:08. | |
a world beating health care system which is in all our interests. I | :00:09. | :00:12. | |
think we want an open debate on that. I will return to education for | :00:13. | :00:17. | |
a moment. I think we need to have a realistic debate about this as well. | :00:18. | :00:21. | |
On both sides of the chamber, I think the way to approach the debate | :00:22. | :00:24. | |
is to say I believe in grammar schools or, on all accounts, I | :00:25. | :00:28. | |
oppose selective education in any shape or form. I think the | :00:29. | :00:32. | |
opposition has to ask themselves, it is a serious question, why social | :00:33. | :00:37. | |
mobility has declined so catastrophically in our most | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
deprived areas. The solution may not be to have grammar schools in our | :00:42. | :00:45. | |
deprived areas. It may be to have more academic streams in conference | :00:46. | :00:50. | |
of schools. It may be that if you set out some selective schools, you | :00:51. | :00:55. | |
only do so in deprived areas. The solution may be that you only | :00:56. | :00:58. | |
provide places for academically gifted children who come from | :00:59. | :01:04. | |
deprived backgrounds. If Ideologically you say we are not | :01:05. | :01:06. | |
going to go down that route at all, we believe in neighbourhood | :01:07. | :01:13. | |
comprehensives in deprived areas, you have to ask yourselves while | :01:14. | :01:17. | |
social mobility is declining, has declined and will go on declining. I | :01:18. | :01:23. | |
think the Prime Minister is trying to open up a serious and interesting | :01:24. | :01:29. | |
debate. I think the Health Secretary is starting to open up a serious and | :01:30. | :01:33. | |
interesting debate about how we are going to fund the NHS. I think the | :01:34. | :01:37. | |
Chancellor of the Exchequer is opening up a serious and interesting | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
debate about how we are going to find the money to meet all of our | :01:42. | :01:45. | |
needs in the future. In those terms, on that basis, I welcome the Budget | :01:46. | :01:52. | |
speech. It is a pleasure to follow the Right Honourable Gentleman for | :01:53. | :01:55. | |
Gainsborough. I think he made a thoughtful and forward-looking | :01:56. | :02:00. | |
speech. I have to say, on the matter of insurance -based payments to fund | :02:01. | :02:06. | |
the NHS, in regards to his points on selective education, I could not | :02:07. | :02:09. | |
disagree with him more. I think it is the wrong approach for this | :02:10. | :02:13. | |
country should take. I want to mention three key points in my | :02:14. | :02:16. | |
contribution. The first is the position of the national debt. This | :02:17. | :02:22. | |
year's economic and fiscal outlook document states, and I quote, the | :02:23. | :02:26. | |
fiscal mandate has targeted different measures of the deficit at | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
different horizons, which I think is a beautifully diplomatic way of | :02:31. | :02:34. | |
saying that the Government keeps moving the goalposts and still fails | :02:35. | :02:39. | |
to score the goal. The OBR goes on to state that the Government does | :02:40. | :02:42. | |
not appear to be on track to meet its stated fiscal objective to | :02:43. | :02:45. | |
return public finances to balance at the earliest possible date in the | :02:46. | :02:49. | |
next Parliament. They have failed on the deficit, but they are failing | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
catastrophically on the debt. In 2010, the Government expected public | :02:55. | :02:57. | |
sector net debt to be falling as a share of GDP, having forecast to | :02:58. | :03:06. | |
reach a high of 70.3% in 2013-14, falling to 67.4% by 2015-16. | :03:07. | :03:11. | |
However, in every single year that the Tories have been in number 11, | :03:12. | :03:18. | |
net debt has rose in actual and relative terms. It reached 87.3% of | :03:19. | :03:23. | |
GDP last year. It is going to rise to this Parliament. The red book | :03:24. | :03:29. | |
forecasts that it is to reach 88.9% this year. When the coalition took | :03:30. | :03:35. | |
office, public sector net debt was ?771 billion. This year, it reached | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
?1.6 trillion. The Redbook forecast it is going to rise again throughout | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
this Parliament, to ?1.9 trillion. This is my first key point. In | :03:45. | :03:50. | |
little over a decade, the Tories will have increased the public | :03:51. | :03:55. | |
sector debt by 146%, by over ?1 trillion. In his statement, the | :03:56. | :04:02. | |
Chancellor said we will not saddle our children with ever increasing | :04:03. | :04:07. | |
debts. However, when Tory councillors have increased the | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
public debt by almost 150% in a decade, saddling children with ever | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
debt seems to be precisely what this government is doing. With the | :04:16. | :04:21. | |
honourable gentleman join me in welcoming the fact that the deficit | :04:22. | :04:26. | |
has gone down from 11% of GDP when Labour left office, down to 3% of | :04:27. | :04:31. | |
GDP today? But the public sector debt is almost touching ?2 trillion! | :04:32. | :04:37. | |
The honourable gentleman cannot be satisfied with that situation when | :04:38. | :04:41. | |
the whole nature of Tory government since 2010 has been not only to | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
reduce the deficit, but also to get the debt and a manageable | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
conditions. On that point, having debt on a low and falling proportion | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
of GDP provides some scope to absorb the impact of any future economic | :04:55. | :04:57. | |
shock. That was the case with the Labour Government in the run-up to | :04:58. | :05:02. | |
2008. In many respects, it was the runner-up in respect to the Thatcher | :05:03. | :05:16. | |
government in 1988-1989. We will hit any economic turbulence or downturn | :05:17. | :05:19. | |
with public sector debt being about 85% of GDP. That is not giving us | :05:20. | :05:26. | |
the flexibility to respond and help firms and families in a robust and | :05:27. | :05:29. | |
strong way. The second point I want to make is the nature of the | :05:30. | :05:34. | |
economic recovery. Seven years ago, Tory Chancellor's first budget for | :05:35. | :05:38. | |
13 years, it stated the British economy had become unbalanced, too | :05:39. | :05:44. | |
reliant on growth, driven by the accumulation of unsustainable levels | :05:45. | :05:47. | |
of private-sector debt and rising public sector debt. Growth was | :05:48. | :05:50. | |
confined to a limited number of sectors and regions. I have | :05:51. | :05:55. | |
mentioned above public sector debt. It is true to say that the British | :05:56. | :05:59. | |
economy has performed well. The UK was the fastest-growing economy in | :06:00. | :06:03. | |
the G7 last year. However, scratch below the surface and it is | :06:04. | :06:06. | |
questionable precisely who is benefiting from that growth and what | :06:07. | :06:10. | |
sort of growth we are having. Of course, growth is growth. That has | :06:11. | :06:15. | |
got to be welcomed. But the British economy seems to be reverting to | :06:16. | :06:19. | |
type, which could, in turn, leave us vulnerable to long-term challenges | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
and could fail for us to take advantage of great opportunities. In | :06:24. | :06:26. | |
terms of who is benefiting from the growth, the UK has been the only big | :06:27. | :06:30. | |
advanced economy in which wages have contracted while the economy has | :06:31. | :06:34. | |
expanded. Households are facing a period of 15 years in which average | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
real wage growth did not happen. Average earnings, in real terms, are | :06:40. | :06:43. | |
expected to be the same in 20-22 as they were in 2007. This period, the | :06:44. | :06:49. | |
length period of stagnant wages, is unprecedented in the UK since before | :06:50. | :06:54. | |
the Industrial Revolution. And yet, despite the lack of wage growth, | :06:55. | :06:58. | |
household consumption is powering the economy. I think in a powerful | :06:59. | :07:04. | |
contribution from the honourable gentleman for East Lothian, he | :07:05. | :07:08. | |
mentioned this. It led to an expansion in the dominant services | :07:09. | :07:10. | |
sector. If consumption growth is running faster than wage growth, it | :07:11. | :07:16. | |
means people are reducing their savings or reducing borrowings. As | :07:17. | :07:19. | |
the governor of the Bank of England said in January, UK expansion is | :07:20. | :07:23. | |
increasingly consumption led. Evidence across a range of countries | :07:24. | :07:27. | |
suggests episodes of consumption led growth tends to be both slower and | :07:28. | :07:33. | |
less durable. And household debt to income ratio has increased this year | :07:34. | :07:39. | |
alone from 140.8%, to 143.9%. These are worrying trends. We are not | :07:40. | :07:45. | |
seeing an increase in investment and we are not seeing an export led | :07:46. | :07:50. | |
recovery. Business investment has constantly undershot expectations. | :07:51. | :07:54. | |
There has actually been a fall, year-on-year, in business investment | :07:55. | :07:59. | |
last year of 1.5%. Despite the drop in Stirling's value against the | :08:00. | :08:03. | |
dollar by a fifth by June 23, we have not seen a booming exports, as | :08:04. | :08:08. | |
might be expected. In fact, the trade deficit widened to ?13.6 | :08:09. | :08:15. | |
billion in quarter three of 2016. It was due predominantly to a trading | :08:16. | :08:18. | |
goods deficit getting larger by ?8.5 billion. My third point is that we | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
need a new model of the economy. To be fair to the Prime Minister, when | :08:24. | :08:27. | |
she came into Number 10, she said she wants to see an economy that | :08:28. | :08:32. | |
works for everyone. She said she wanted to see public sector reform | :08:33. | :08:36. | |
to ensure growth is re-balanced and reaches all parts of the UK. That is | :08:37. | :08:40. | |
not what we saw in last week's budget. The government back row has | :08:41. | :08:44. | |
referred to an industrial strategy as the path to which such growth | :08:45. | :08:46. | |
could be achieved. The Chancellor failed to mention the term | :08:47. | :08:51. | |
industrial strategy once in his financial statement, which I think | :08:52. | :08:54. | |
demonstrates the extent of the buy in from the Treasury on the concept. | :08:55. | :08:59. | |
We talk about rebalancing the regions, but as a north-eastern MP, | :09:00. | :09:04. | |
I could not find any reference to the north in this whatsoever, let | :09:05. | :09:07. | |
alone in terms of making sure we have an economy that works for | :09:08. | :09:10. | |
everyone. As we on the select committee said in the recent | :09:11. | :09:15. | |
publication into our inquiry into industrial strategy, Government | :09:16. | :09:20. | |
tends to operate in silos. This sadly shows business as usual, more | :09:21. | :09:24. | |
of the same. The government back intervenes in the economy every day, | :09:25. | :09:28. | |
from taxes to regulation, as the red book shows. It can do that in an ad | :09:29. | :09:32. | |
hoc and piecemeal way, or as part of a coordinated, strategic purpose. | :09:33. | :09:37. | |
The Budget sadly seemed to stress the former. It is true that the | :09:38. | :09:41. | |
Budget talks about skills as being essential. The Chancellor's | :09:42. | :09:45. | |
announcement of technical education is welcome, but we don't see any | :09:46. | :09:51. | |
fruits of that until 2020-21. The industrial strategy also talks about | :09:52. | :09:53. | |
ensuring we are one of the most competitive places in the world to | :09:54. | :09:57. | |
start and grow business. Yet the national insurance contributions | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
debacle, attacks on enterprise, ambition and the personal risk taken | :10:04. | :10:07. | |
by entrepreneurs. The committee would have liked to have seen a more | :10:08. | :10:12. | |
ambitious approach, where Government, working with business, | :10:13. | :10:16. | |
set a long-term direction for the economy in the pursuit of tackling | :10:17. | :10:19. | |
global and national challenges. Where in the budget was the vision | :10:20. | :10:23. | |
on decarbonisation? Where on the budget was the ambition to be the | :10:24. | :10:28. | |
leading economy to exploit the fourth Industrial Revolution? Sadly, | :10:29. | :10:31. | |
we got the same short-term tinkering, which will not address | :10:32. | :10:34. | |
many of the issues such as low productivity, skills deficiencies | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
and massive regional imbalances. If the Prime Minister is serious about | :10:40. | :10:41. | |
an economy that works for everyone we need a step change in the way the | :10:42. | :10:51. | |
economy works. An industrial strategy could be the means by which | :10:52. | :10:53. | |
we achieve that. Sadly, with this Budget, we saw business as usual. | :10:54. | :10:58. | |
Thank you for calling me to speak in this important debate. It is a | :10:59. | :11:01. | |
pleasure to follow the Honourable Member for Hartlepool and the | :11:02. | :11:04. | |
considered speech he has just made. I would like to congratulate the | :11:05. | :11:08. | |
Secretary of State for her passion and commitment to social mobility. | :11:09. | :11:11. | |
We have seen this today and we have seen it in the Budget. I am so | :11:12. | :11:16. | |
pleased she is doing everything possible to ensure that my | :11:17. | :11:18. | |
constituents have the opportunity to realise their potential. | :11:19. | :11:26. | |
I particularly welcome the commitment to technological | :11:27. | :11:32. | |
education. This is truly a budget for skills and the reason I care so | :11:33. | :11:40. | |
much about that is this is a vitally important investment for the future | :11:41. | :11:46. | |
of my constituency. Telford has a proud past as the birthplace of the | :11:47. | :11:54. | |
Industrial Revolution. I will continue to say that it is the | :11:55. | :12:00. | |
birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. We have the invention of | :12:01. | :12:08. | |
the inclined plane, the Ironbridge, I could go on but I am here to talk | :12:09. | :12:14. | |
about skills. Over the years, we've been able to overcome obstacles and | :12:15. | :12:20. | |
find solutions to many problems. As a result of that, it has become a | :12:21. | :12:28. | |
dynamic, vibrant centre of the modern Industrial Revolution. With | :12:29. | :12:38. | |
high skilled, high-paid jobs on offer to the young people of | :12:39. | :12:43. | |
Telford. I was addressing a sixth form some years ago which is in my | :12:44. | :12:51. | |
constituency, and I said in the course of that discussion that | :12:52. | :12:57. | |
university is not for everyone. Many graduates feel ill-equipped for the | :12:58. | :13:01. | |
world of work on graduating and some of them feel in a state of high debt | :13:02. | :13:07. | |
and low-paid jobs. There was shovelling and silence, then it | :13:08. | :13:15. | |
became clear that almost all of the students were being encouraged to go | :13:16. | :13:20. | |
on to university and that is what they were planning to do. At that | :13:21. | :13:24. | |
stage they didn't have the choice that is now being offered to them. | :13:25. | :13:31. | |
We now have a clear-cut quality alternative so that students can | :13:32. | :13:37. | |
spend those 16 years preparing for the world of work, and that must be | :13:38. | :13:44. | |
a good thing because Intel first we need to make sure that our young | :13:45. | :13:48. | |
people have the right skills and the work readiness and abilities to take | :13:49. | :13:53. | |
full advantage of the opportunities of these high skilled, high-tech | :13:54. | :13:57. | |
jobs coming to Telford. When I meet employers they tell me about the | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
skills gap and they see that as being a major challenge. The budget | :14:03. | :14:09. | |
measures will address this. We already have some fantastic | :14:10. | :14:14. | |
organisation is working hard to upscale our young people and I want | :14:15. | :14:23. | |
to take the opportunity to mention training and colleges but do | :14:24. | :14:31. | |
fantastic work. But also, and equally important, the skills | :14:32. | :14:38. | |
training offered by our primary schools in Telford. I think we're | :14:39. | :14:42. | |
doing something unique. I want to tell the house about this because I | :14:43. | :14:46. | |
believe this is a model other primary schools should seek to | :14:47. | :14:52. | |
follow. At the primary school which I visited quite recently every | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
single child uses technology in the classroom in an amazing advanced | :14:58. | :15:03. | |
way. They are getting skills which will equip them for the tasks of the | :15:04. | :15:21. | |
future. They were making flowerpots for outdoor areas. Even today I had | :15:22. | :15:32. | |
a school from Telford visiting me and one of the young boys told me | :15:33. | :15:37. | |
about how they are learning to code in primary school. Many still do | :15:38. | :15:40. | |
this. We need to build on these technical skills young people learn | :15:41. | :15:48. | |
at this very young age. I think it is fantastic that we can build on | :15:49. | :15:53. | |
that so that we can create a workforce for tomorrow for jobs that | :15:54. | :15:59. | |
have not even yet been created. This is vital for us to be global and | :16:00. | :16:08. | |
competitive. So I say well done to Richard Smith and all the companies | :16:09. | :16:12. | |
that go round the primary schools helping them from the youngest age | :16:13. | :16:20. | |
you can imagine. You're giving them the skills they need to thrive. | :16:21. | :16:27. | |
Particular well done to the Secretary of State for introducing | :16:28. | :16:35. | |
this transformative approach. In the same way we are helping those | :16:36. | :16:40. | |
children do what they wish to do and we are boosting UK productivity and | :16:41. | :16:43. | |
competitiveness in a post-Brexit world. I welcome the budget and many | :16:44. | :16:49. | |
other measures in their budget and I want to mention the measures in | :16:50. | :16:55. | |
their four women. The 5 million for the centenary of the votes for women | :16:56. | :17:02. | |
in 1918. That's incredibly important that we mark that incredible | :17:03. | :17:06. | |
milestone. The 5 million for returners. Those are important | :17:07. | :17:23. | |
measures. Does she share the dismay that when her government talks about | :17:24. | :17:29. | |
giving support to domestic violence victims it refuses to get rid of the | :17:30. | :17:36. | |
repugnant sexual assault clause? I am glad she welcomes that money and | :17:37. | :17:40. | |
think it is extremely important as government goes on recognising these | :17:41. | :17:44. | |
victims and I believe our Prime Minister is 100% behind that. In | :17:45. | :17:50. | |
conclusion, Madam Deputy Speaker, I welcome the budget and specifically | :17:51. | :18:00. | |
are Secretary of State, and I know that it will benefit from the | :18:01. | :18:07. | |
measures she has set out. I've heard a few budgets, the first was Sir | :18:08. | :18:11. | |
Geoffrey Howe, a thoroughly decent man. I remember his budget and I | :18:12. | :18:26. | |
thought the budget that we just had was deeply disappointing. In the | :18:27. | :18:32. | |
context of the miserable votes last night where this government is | :18:33. | :18:38. | |
heading into hard Brexit, I expected an imaginative budget. What Harold | :18:39. | :18:52. | |
Macmillan said was events, events. There will be many more. This | :18:53. | :18:59. | |
country will be rocked by events and this was not a budget that helps | :19:00. | :19:05. | |
anybody. This is the average town in Britain. I have to say that the | :19:06. | :19:12. | |
dreadful state, closing accident and emergency services, closing the | :19:13. | :19:18. | |
hospital, this chaos up-and-downer country. Two thirds of the health | :19:19. | :19:23. | |
services in our country are in dreadful trouble. Most of the local | :19:24. | :19:32. | |
authorities I know, the real parts of Britain, not the leafy suburbs | :19:33. | :19:41. | |
but those real parts in deep trouble, unable to bear the cost of | :19:42. | :19:47. | |
care. I was expecting something imaginative from this budget and we | :19:48. | :19:52. | |
didn't get it. In terms of education, we got very little. Where | :19:53. | :20:01. | |
could we get alternative funding? We were on the liaison committee. I | :20:02. | :20:09. | |
used to call them part of the barmy Army but he did think a lot. He's | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
always been quite provocative and has something to say but we do need | :20:14. | :20:26. | |
imagination and passion. I heard little fashion. Every child in this | :20:27. | :20:34. | |
country has potential and if we cannot create a system that | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
liberates that we are not doing our job. The disaster of our education | :20:40. | :20:47. | |
system is good primary schools with bright little kids and then we lose | :20:48. | :20:53. | |
them after the age of 11. What sort of country is that? What sort of | :20:54. | :20:59. | |
school system is it? We've seen some real change and there are signs of | :21:00. | :21:07. | |
improvement. And I want to give very briefly the test that most teachers | :21:08. | :21:14. | |
give, the two stars on the wish list. I want to say, I'm going to | :21:15. | :21:25. | |
give a start to the fact that there is a good, fundamental policy | :21:26. | :21:29. | |
approach to skills in this budget. But we've been languishing in skills | :21:30. | :21:36. | |
for so long, who would have thought, John Prescott, this crazy man of the | :21:37. | :21:44. | |
left who wanted to have a levy, this left-wing horror. Well, we've got an | :21:45. | :21:50. | |
apprenticeship levy. We should have that. We will hopefully see it | :21:51. | :21:57. | |
succeeding. We will also have, because the government has done it, | :21:58. | :22:05. | |
gone about policy-making in a sensible way. They took evidence and | :22:06. | :22:08. | |
they consulted, they put Lord Sainsbury in charge, they had a | :22:09. | :22:17. | |
former minister, he got to know something about skills and training. | :22:18. | :22:22. | |
He's gone now but some of us will miss him. He did listen. He | :22:23. | :22:27. | |
introduced Lord Sainsbury to the skills commission which I share and | :22:28. | :22:35. | |
I give evidence about what I wanted to see as a skills policy and some | :22:36. | :22:39. | |
of that is in the policy which came through in the budget. I welcome | :22:40. | :22:44. | |
that. The select committee, when I cheered it, we used to applaud | :22:45. | :22:53. | |
evidence -based policies. There is something here in terms of what | :22:54. | :23:03. | |
Alison Ruoff admitted to the committee, talking to employers, | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
businesses, on a cross-party basis. That's the way to make policy. The | :23:09. | :23:19. | |
honourable gentleman is speaking with great passion. Can I give him | :23:20. | :23:23. | |
another solution? Perhaps end the fiction that national insurance | :23:24. | :23:28. | |
contributions can pay for all social care, merge it with taxation, | :23:29. | :23:31. | |
simplify and try to make more money that way? He is to be complimented | :23:32. | :23:42. | |
on being a good out-of-the-box thinker. On productivity, it is | :23:43. | :23:48. | |
really only a half star because we cannot really check this additional | :23:49. | :23:57. | |
investment. There is a world-class infrastructure investment. Most of | :23:58. | :24:03. | |
that I like even though I am one of these people who cannot believe HS2, | :24:04. | :24:09. | |
all that national treasure that is being put into a motorway that will | :24:10. | :24:15. | |
be out of date by the time it is built. But I know that I am in a | :24:16. | :24:20. | |
minority on that. 300 million for the development of future research | :24:21. | :24:29. | |
talent in the UK. I like all that but it is good stuff. All that stuff | :24:30. | :24:37. | |
is about disruptive technology. Artificial intelligence. That is | :24:38. | :24:44. | |
good stuff but, mad gets the speaker -- Madam Deputy Speaker, I know that | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
research has not been high enough and the cooperation between business | :24:50. | :24:53. | |
and universities has not been good enough, and I know that productivity | :24:54. | :24:58. | |
will never get the levels we want until we have that kind of | :24:59. | :25:07. | |
relationship. Lastly, the wish I have, where is the evidence that | :25:08. | :25:11. | |
grammar schools and free schools do anything about finding that spark in | :25:12. | :25:19. | |
children? No research, no evidence, not one reputable search believes | :25:20. | :25:28. | |
selective education helped anybody. It is the reverse. All the research, | :25:29. | :25:37. | |
experience, just look at Kent. For God's sake. It is the most selective | :25:38. | :25:41. | |
in the country and the worst performance across all schools in | :25:42. | :25:46. | |
the country. That is selective education. Selective education has | :25:47. | :25:49. | |
no research base, no experience base, no global comparison where we | :25:50. | :25:55. | |
can say, isn't it wonderful? They don't have it in Denmark, they don't | :25:56. | :25:58. | |
have it in Sweden, they don't have it in Finland, I doubt they have it | :25:59. | :26:06. | |
in Shanghai. I like policy based on good research, good evaluation and, | :26:07. | :26:12. | |
yes, sometimes across the party divide. That's the way to make | :26:13. | :26:16. | |
policy. This budget hasn't delivered it and if we want that spark to be | :26:17. | :26:21. | |
found and promoted, and for a country to be rich and successful, | :26:22. | :26:25. | |
in a challenging disaster, it is not this budget. | :26:26. | :26:32. | |
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am delighted to follow the | :26:33. | :26:39. | |
Honourable Member for Huddersfield. We co-chair the All-party Group On | :26:40. | :26:45. | |
Manufacturing together and we are involved in many other things. He | :26:46. | :26:52. | |
displayed his typical fashion... His typical fashion? Is typical passion | :26:53. | :26:57. | |
in his speech this afternoon. At a time when we must be forward-looking | :26:58. | :27:03. | |
in our approach, in our increasingly dynamic economy, tying in with the | :27:04. | :27:07. | |
industrial strategy, there is, I believe, much to the optimistic | :27:08. | :27:13. | |
about. I would like to start by acknowledging the positive news in | :27:14. | :27:18. | |
terms of employment. A record high in terms of 31.8 million people in | :27:19. | :27:24. | |
work, also reflected locally in figures in my constituency, a 74% | :27:25. | :27:32. | |
fall in unemployment since 2010. Businesses can be particularly proud | :27:33. | :27:38. | |
of this achievement. As the unemployment figure falls, it | :27:39. | :27:41. | |
becomes increasingly difficult to reduce that figure further. For this | :27:42. | :27:46. | |
reason, we must think differently about developing the skills base, | :27:47. | :27:55. | |
not least in terms of investment in are and deep, and industry 4.0. A | :27:56. | :27:59. | |
prime example of an idea we must implement into our policy, spanning | :28:00. | :28:08. | |
a range of departments. I also welcome the introduction of | :28:09. | :28:11. | |
T-Levels. Technical education has the potential to boost productivity. | :28:12. | :28:15. | |
The new system being introduced in 2019 increases the number of hours | :28:16. | :28:20. | |
on such courses and includes good, strong work placements. I spoke | :28:21. | :28:25. | |
recently on a debate on the productivity plan. If we are to | :28:26. | :28:29. | |
improve productivity in the UK, we must first improve our skills in our | :28:30. | :28:36. | |
domestic base. He investment in technical education is a boost, | :28:37. | :28:40. | |
rising to over 500 million per year. Our own Warwickshire College, in my | :28:41. | :28:44. | |
constituency, is an example of what we can achieve. Given parity to | :28:45. | :28:50. | |
respect, too technical education, is, in relation to A-levels, | :28:51. | :28:57. | |
something I have long believed in. I am pleased to see the Government | :28:58. | :29:00. | |
raise the significance of this standard. More generally, | :29:01. | :29:05. | |
strengthening ties between our education system and business should | :29:06. | :29:09. | |
be a priority. Particularly as the demands on business will continue to | :29:10. | :29:11. | |
shift with the changing landscapes of the economy. On productivity and | :29:12. | :29:19. | |
building on the announcement of the National productivity investment | :29:20. | :29:22. | |
fund, during the Autumn Statement, I welcome the funding in the spring | :29:23. | :29:26. | |
budget to upgrade transport infrastructure, not least in the | :29:27. | :29:31. | |
Midlands this will see 23 million directed towards improving the | :29:32. | :29:37. | |
transport network. Wider spending on infrastructure, with a focus on | :29:38. | :29:41. | |
providing the very best framework for business to operate within is | :29:42. | :29:47. | |
vital. The launch of the industrial strategy fund is also very welcome, | :29:48. | :29:52. | |
particularly with focus on investing in innovation. It is absolutely | :29:53. | :29:57. | |
right, and I hope it can be built on as the strategy develops. During the | :29:58. | :30:02. | |
Queen 's speech debate last year, I spoke of the importance of shaping | :30:03. | :30:06. | |
and industrial strategy to give certainty and confidence to British | :30:07. | :30:11. | |
business. Despite being a little alone with that opinion on this side | :30:12. | :30:18. | |
of the house, I welcome the Green paper and the development of the | :30:19. | :30:25. | |
department. With this new funding, projects such as Federer the | :30:26. | :30:29. | |
capabilities of the automotive sector, increasing the longevity of | :30:30. | :30:33. | |
batteries in electric vehicles can go a long way in sustaining a | :30:34. | :30:39. | |
prosperous future. Investment in infrastructure and are and Dee is | :30:40. | :30:42. | |
vital if potential is to be realised. -- R I welcome the | :30:43. | :30:53. | |
launch of the Midlands Engine Strategy, which is specifically | :30:54. | :30:58. | |
mentions the automotive industry. The fact that 39% of the UK | :30:59. | :31:04. | |
employment in the UK is in our region. Providing additional support | :31:05. | :31:07. | |
to the Midlands is the most effective weight of enabling the UK | :31:08. | :31:12. | |
to take a greater share of the international market. Regional | :31:13. | :31:16. | |
empowerment should be a key consideration in government policy, | :31:17. | :31:21. | |
and sustained support for the Midlands Engine is vital. A final | :31:22. | :31:28. | |
point I would like to raise is that concern of a number of businesses in | :31:29. | :31:31. | |
my constituency regarding business rates. In recent weeks, I have | :31:32. | :31:35. | |
canvassed opinion locally on the upcoming changes to rateable values. | :31:36. | :31:41. | |
By way of example, a pub in my constituency is seeing a rise from | :31:42. | :31:47. | |
18,000, 260 8000. Another is seeing an from 33,000, 294,000. Elsewhere, | :31:48. | :31:53. | |
a business is seeing the rateable value rise to | :31:54. | :32:06. | |
?12,500. Even for successful enterprises, the significant hikes | :32:07. | :32:12. | |
in business rates risked job losses and closures of businesses | :32:13. | :32:18. | |
altogether. The ?1000 business rate discount, for one year, for pubs | :32:19. | :32:22. | |
with a rateable value up to ?100,000 is put into context with the rises I | :32:23. | :32:30. | |
have just mentioned. Allocating 400 35mm pounds towards supporting those | :32:31. | :32:33. | |
that will be particularly impacted is welcome, but I urge the | :32:34. | :32:37. | |
Chancellor to review this issue urgently. Maiden speech, Gareth | :32:38. | :32:49. | |
Snell. Thank you very much for the opportunity to make this, my maiden | :32:50. | :32:54. | |
speech, during an important debate on education and skills. Both are | :32:55. | :32:58. | |
vital to the future success of my constituency, albeit a greater | :32:59. | :33:03. | |
challenge follows sustained underfunding of Stoke schools. It is | :33:04. | :33:08. | |
a pleasure to have been elected as the member of Parliament for | :33:09. | :33:11. | |
Stoke-on-Trent Central. In an election that was not planned, and | :33:12. | :33:15. | |
from a campaign which come all too often, did not do justice to the | :33:16. | :33:20. | |
wonderful city that I now represent. Many colleagues on these benches | :33:21. | :33:24. | |
and, I would wager, on the benches opposite, who came to Stoke-on-Trent | :33:25. | :33:28. | |
during the by-election would struggle to reconcile the vibrant, | :33:29. | :33:31. | |
welcoming and proud city they visited with the portrait painted by | :33:32. | :33:38. | |
national media. All too often, cameras lingered over this used to | :33:39. | :33:42. | |
bottle kilns, while our resurgence in high-tech ceramic went | :33:43. | :33:46. | |
unmentioned. Journalists posed by abandoning shop fronts, just yards | :33:47. | :33:49. | |
away from the thriving cultural Quarter and Ryrie did -- are rarely | :33:50. | :33:57. | |
did the world-class university feature in reports. They talked down | :33:58. | :34:00. | |
the city to play up their own narrative. They dismissed the | :34:01. | :34:03. | |
capital of culture as little more than the capital of Brexit. They | :34:04. | :34:06. | |
pigeonholed my constituents into a box that does not reflect their true | :34:07. | :34:13. | |
character. While that narrative suited those seeking to win the | :34:14. | :34:18. | |
election on a platform of hatred, division and nationalism dressed up | :34:19. | :34:21. | |
as patriotism, it did a grave disservice to my city, whose motto | :34:22. | :34:30. | |
is United, Stronger In Strength. My city demonstrated that nationalism | :34:31. | :34:33. | |
of any sort has no place in our politics. My challenge, for however | :34:34. | :34:41. | |
long I am blessed to represent Stoke-on-Trent in this place, is to | :34:42. | :34:47. | |
champion everything great and good about our city. To recognise our | :34:48. | :34:51. | |
problems, but also recognise our many achievements. To shout loud and | :34:52. | :34:55. | |
shout often about why the potteries, above all else, is the best place in | :34:56. | :34:57. | |
the UK, if not the world. In the Potteries, we are innovators | :34:58. | :35:13. | |
and educators, artists and entrepreneurs. We pioneered the | :35:14. | :35:19. | |
first industrial revolution, something that has been discussed | :35:20. | :35:26. | |
quite a lot this afternoon. We also have the potential to lead the next. | :35:27. | :35:30. | |
We are the home of Reginald Mitchell, Josiah Wedgwood, of | :35:31. | :35:36. | |
Clarence Cliff and, more recently, Robbie Williams. But, most | :35:37. | :35:44. | |
importantly, we are home to the Staffordshire oatcake, a delicacy | :35:45. | :35:54. | |
seldom found outside of the ST postcode, but, once savoured, is | :35:55. | :35:58. | |
never forgotten. I would like to try it. We were the beating heart of a | :35:59. | :36:02. | |
ceramic empire that stretched to the four corners of the world, and now | :36:03. | :36:08. | |
proud members of the Turnover Club can be inspecting tableware for the | :36:09. | :36:14. | |
important backstab, hoping to find the five greatest words in the | :36:15. | :36:17. | |
English language, made in Stoke-on-Trent. It is a ceremony | :36:18. | :36:23. | |
that my own daughter has taken up with vigour. So enthusiastically | :36:24. | :36:31. | |
does she want to discover the origin of her dinner plate that she has | :36:32. | :36:35. | |
sometimes forgotten to finish its contents before training is over and | :36:36. | :36:38. | |
depositing the contents in her lap. It was with utter joy that when I | :36:39. | :36:43. | |
arrived in this place, the first cup of tea I had was in a cup produced | :36:44. | :36:54. | |
in my city. Technically it is in Stoke-on-Trent North, but I am sure | :36:55. | :36:56. | |
my honourable friend will not mind sharing for the purposes of this | :36:57. | :37:03. | |
speech. But ceramics is not just our history and heritage, it is our | :37:04. | :37:07. | |
present. With the write-up from this Government, can be our future. -- | :37:08. | :37:12. | |
the right help from this Government. In the middle of my constituency, on | :37:13. | :37:16. | |
an otherwise unassuming window in the city centre, you will see a | :37:17. | :37:21. | |
life-sized picture of TV's Eric Knowles, best known as the ceramic | :37:22. | :37:26. | |
expert on the antiques Road show. He proudly proclaims that the potteries | :37:27. | :37:30. | |
Museum and Art Gallery boasts a greater collection of ceramics than | :37:31. | :37:44. | |
even the fee and -- V A discussion which I will no doubt | :37:45. | :37:51. | |
have with the V's new director. Which, Mr Speaker, allows me to | :37:52. | :37:56. | |
segue neatly into paying tribute to my predecessor, Tristram Hunt. | :37:57. | :38:00. | |
Although like me not a native son of Stoke-on-Trent, anyone who met him | :38:01. | :38:04. | |
knew that the potteries had found his way into his heart. A fervent | :38:05. | :38:09. | |
champion of Stoke-on-Trent, never was an opportunity missed to extol | :38:10. | :38:14. | |
the virtues of our ?6. His ability to bring people together and ignite | :38:15. | :38:17. | |
them with a passion for The Potteries will be sorely missed. It | :38:18. | :38:22. | |
was the city's children that most preoccupied his efforts. He knew the | :38:23. | :38:26. | |
best hope for the continuing resurgence of the city was to ensure | :38:27. | :38:30. | |
that every young person had a good education and the best possible | :38:31. | :38:35. | |
start in life. He was a champion of sure start, one of Labour's greatest | :38:36. | :38:40. | |
achievements. For the doubters opposite, something we will rescue | :38:41. | :38:45. | |
in the next Labour government. He was a frequent visitor to the many | :38:46. | :38:49. | |
wonderful schools across the constituency. He delivered the Maths | :38:50. | :38:53. | |
Excellence Partnership to improve standards in local schools and give | :38:54. | :39:00. | |
young people the skills they need to prosper. He knew the value of | :39:01. | :39:04. | |
inspiring children to read and foster a love of books. His enduring | :39:05. | :39:08. | |
legacy in Stoke-on-Trent Central will be a generation of children | :39:09. | :39:13. | |
who, through his work on the literary festival, have been able to | :39:14. | :39:16. | |
expand their reading, take a creative writing and explore a world | :39:17. | :39:19. | |
of literature which otherwise would have passed them by. As we speak of | :39:20. | :39:24. | |
the importance of education and training for post-Brexit Britain, | :39:25. | :39:29. | |
these achievements and the ongoing challenges are as important as ever. | :39:30. | :39:34. | |
He was a thoughtful and forceful voice in this house and beyond, and | :39:35. | :39:39. | |
I know his contributions will be missed. But he is one of a longline | :39:40. | :39:43. | |
of distinguished parliamentarians to have Stoke-on-Trent Central. Whether | :39:44. | :39:48. | |
it be Mark Fisher, in his campaign for local health services and to | :39:49. | :39:50. | |
ensure the sovereignty of Parliament, or Bob Cant, my | :39:51. | :40:01. | |
constituency has been saved by dedicated public servants and I will | :40:02. | :40:04. | |
do my utmost to continuing that tradition. My predecessor was a man | :40:05. | :40:08. | |
who loved our movement's history, but I am a man who lived it. Going | :40:09. | :40:13. | |
from my grandfather, a union replicon I was taught from a young | :40:14. | :40:16. | |
age that a greater strength working people have is our solidarity. It | :40:17. | :40:24. | |
was a lesson that embodied his own life, representing his colleagues at | :40:25. | :40:28. | |
the chicken factory where he worked and representing his friends and | :40:29. | :40:31. | |
neighbours as a Labour counsellor. My childhood taught me to always | :40:32. | :40:35. | |
stand up for what I believe, and to always speak my mind. The latter, Mr | :40:36. | :40:42. | |
Speaker, it has to be said, has sometimes brought mixed results. 140 | :40:43. | :40:52. | |
characters coming up later. Nevertheless, it was that advice | :40:53. | :40:55. | |
that has served me well and which my wife, Sophia, and I would be proud | :40:56. | :40:59. | |
to pass on to my daughter, Hannah. I would also like to put on record my | :41:00. | :41:04. | |
thanks to the Labour movement, friends in the Labour Party, the | :41:05. | :41:08. | |
co-operative party and the trade unions for their assistance in my | :41:09. | :41:13. | |
collection. Particular thanks to my honourable friend, the member for | :41:14. | :41:16. | |
Birmingham, and my new neighbours in Stoke-on-Trent North and South. Ours | :41:17. | :41:20. | |
is a politics based on comradeship, in which the strength of our common | :41:21. | :41:23. | |
endeavour means that we really do achieve more together than we | :41:24. | :41:29. | |
achieve alone. Those same values of fairness, cooperation and social | :41:30. | :41:32. | |
justice run through the history of Stoke-on-Trent and its people. They | :41:33. | :41:38. | |
were on display in 1942, when the North Staffordshire mining community | :41:39. | :41:42. | |
help to rebuild the village in the Czech Republic after it was raised | :41:43. | :41:46. | |
by the Nazis. The driving force behind that was another of my | :41:47. | :41:52. | |
predecessors, and at the time he said the lamp dispels the shadows on | :41:53. | :41:56. | |
the coal face. It can also send a ray of light across the sea to those | :41:57. | :42:01. | |
that struggle in darkness. At its best, that is what the Labour | :42:02. | :42:03. | |
movement has always been, a ray It is my immense privilege to be | :42:04. | :42:14. | |
part of that movement in Parliament and teacher tried in my own small | :42:15. | :42:19. | |
way to help all that lamp aloft. It is a responsibility I will do my | :42:20. | :42:22. | |
best to meet as I strive to give a voice to those people I represent | :42:23. | :42:26. | |
and showcase all that is great about Stoke-on-Trent. Thank you Mr | :42:27. | :42:36. | |
Speaker. Can I say, it's a great pleasure to follow the honourable | :42:37. | :42:40. | |
member for Stoke-on-Trent Central, giving his maiden speech. We all | :42:41. | :42:45. | |
remember our maiden speeches and I personally thought it was an | :42:46. | :42:52. | |
excellent speech full of passion, conviction, and maybe a shiver came | :42:53. | :42:55. | |
through these benches that we have a man of conviction, which is what | :42:56. | :42:58. | |
this post needs in my very humble opinion. From Staffordshire oatcakes | :42:59. | :43:05. | |
to the surrounding empire, we heard it all. You represent an honourable | :43:06. | :43:10. | |
seat and I'm sure you will do an honourable job and it is a delight | :43:11. | :43:17. | |
to follow your maiden speech. Mr Speaker, in my short eight minutes I | :43:18. | :43:21. | |
would like to congratulate the government on an excellent job so | :43:22. | :43:27. | |
far bearing in mind the appalling inheritance that we had in 2010, | :43:28. | :43:33. | |
along with the banking crisis and many other factors, that led to the | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
massive cash crisis we face. The UK economy is forecast to grow by 2%, | :43:39. | :43:44. | |
real wages to rise every year, deficit due to fall and the | :43:45. | :43:51. | |
proportion due to fall. All this is to be most welcomed and I | :43:52. | :43:57. | |
congratulate the government of which I am proud to be a member. I'm glad | :43:58. | :44:05. | |
the government is not ashamed to mention the dire financial | :44:06. | :44:08. | |
circumstances are country faces. Wherever I go, and I'm sure most | :44:09. | :44:14. | |
members are the same, we cannot wash over the fact that we are still on a | :44:15. | :44:19. | |
knife edge. We are told that the figures are still there, that the | :44:20. | :44:27. | |
debt, private debt, which is not often mentioned is a similar figure, | :44:28. | :44:34. | |
?50 billion a year of debt interest, more than we spend on defence and | :44:35. | :44:37. | |
policing together. These are horrifying figures and ones that the | :44:38. | :44:43. | |
government and front bench are trying desperately to deal with. I | :44:44. | :44:53. | |
would not be doing my duty if I did not raise some concerns about the | :44:54. | :44:56. | |
budget although overall I support it. Can I pick up on the word | :44:57. | :45:08. | |
fairness because it is used a lot by the Chancellor. I'm not sure that | :45:09. | :45:12. | |
resounds with those who will be affected by one or two tax rises. I | :45:13. | :45:21. | |
long, as I am a Conservative, to hear from a Conservative Chancellor | :45:22. | :45:25. | |
attacks vision from this country, a massive reform for the tax system, | :45:26. | :45:29. | |
one of the most complicated in the world. Why can't we have a tax rate | :45:30. | :45:36. | |
that is flat of 30%, keep it simple, stupid. That is what we were told. I | :45:37. | :45:43. | |
think there's a lot of room for that in the tax system in this country. | :45:44. | :45:53. | |
The reason we cannot have a straight tax is the top 2% pay a quarter of | :45:54. | :45:58. | |
all income tax and it would be impossible to move to a true flat | :45:59. | :46:08. | |
tax. You could simplify and have two rates, merge capital taxes into | :46:09. | :46:12. | |
income taxes and then you would start to get rid of the poverty and | :46:13. | :46:18. | |
unemployment trap. I entirely concur with my honourable friend. His | :46:19. | :46:24. | |
intervention is spot on. The other point that I've noticed, everything | :46:25. | :46:31. | |
is ring fenced. Every department is ring fenced. We hear them say there | :46:32. | :46:40. | |
is a little room for manoeuvre. Can I suggest we take it away and think | :46:41. | :46:44. | |
radically over areas like the national health service and look at | :46:45. | :46:50. | |
things in the round for the future of our country? I would like to have | :46:51. | :47:00. | |
heard a lot more about the future of Brexit and a vision from the | :47:01. | :47:03. | |
Chancellor which I don't believe I did. Good to touch on some issues, | :47:04. | :47:09. | |
the first is the national insurance hike which I am concerned about | :47:10. | :47:15. | |
because many of them work in my constituency. The money raised will | :47:16. | :47:28. | |
be pitiful. We've heard about a manifesto pledge being broken and I | :47:29. | :47:34. | |
believe it has been. I'm not saying they cannot be broken but if we are | :47:35. | :47:47. | |
getting to look for more money the overseas budget is the area we | :47:48. | :47:50. | |
should look at. Many in my constituency believe we should help | :47:51. | :47:55. | |
the less well off but to set an arbitrary figure of 0.7% GDP I think | :47:56. | :48:07. | |
is too far and one that the country cannot afford because so many areas | :48:08. | :48:12. | |
in national life are calling for more money. These self applied | :48:13. | :48:20. | |
people take risks that the employed do not. We know that. They risk | :48:21. | :48:25. | |
their homes, their livelihoods and their families. That is why they had | :48:26. | :48:32. | |
the tax advantage. There has been a as far as pensions are concerned but | :48:33. | :48:38. | |
I believe the risk takers, the people we need to create the wealth | :48:39. | :48:44. | |
and prosperity, especially as we move to leave the EU, should not be | :48:45. | :48:54. | |
penalised. The self-employed will be required to fill four income tax | :48:55. | :49:01. | |
forms a year instead of one. It needs to be done digitally. Speak to | :49:02. | :49:06. | |
farmers about applying for grants digitally it is not always easy. You | :49:07. | :49:17. | |
require an accountant, an extra cost, and income tax paid a quarter | :49:18. | :49:21. | |
rather than one or two instalments. This will affect the cash flow and | :49:22. | :49:26. | |
in good times or bad times it is important to have the annual look | :49:27. | :49:37. | |
rather than the effective look. Probate fees is not there but I am | :49:38. | :49:39. | |
concerned about that. At the moment the cost accounts to ?215. It is | :49:40. | :49:54. | |
worth noting it could range from ?300 - ?20,000. The press have | :49:55. | :50:00. | |
dubbed this the death tax. I think that's a fair comment and I would | :50:01. | :50:07. | |
like to touch on inheritance tax. I declare an interest. I personally | :50:08. | :50:14. | |
think it is completely immoral. We pay taxes all our life, a lot of | :50:15. | :50:25. | |
tax. When we die, 40% is charged to the States. This is completely | :50:26. | :50:30. | |
immoral. Let me called David Cameron, he said this, and I quote, | :50:31. | :50:36. | |
we will take the family out of inheritance tax. That home that you | :50:37. | :50:43. | |
worked for belongs to you and your family. You should be able to pass | :50:44. | :50:49. | |
it on to your children. I concur. What I would like to see is the | :50:50. | :50:57. | |
following. Abolish inheritance tax. Simplify the tax system. Invest much | :50:58. | :51:15. | |
more in technology colleges. Money should be targeted rather than any | :51:16. | :51:21. | |
other ring fenced area. Business rates concern me and Tim Martin of | :51:22. | :51:30. | |
Wetherspoon is says supermarkets will get away with it and his pubs | :51:31. | :51:35. | |
will get hammered. Lastly, can we stop using tax avoidance and evasion | :51:36. | :51:45. | |
in the same sentence? Tax evasion is a legal, tax avoidance, we all do it | :51:46. | :52:01. | |
for our family's sake. Thank you. Can I start by congratulating the | :52:02. | :52:05. | |
new member for Stoke-on-Trent, I thought it was a very interesting | :52:06. | :52:09. | |
speech, are very hopeful speech given the economic situation. I'm | :52:10. | :52:18. | |
sure that the new member will do his constituency proud. Having said | :52:19. | :52:29. | |
that, if we look at the budget and put it in the context of the | :52:30. | :52:41. | |
austerity measures, these austerity measures will be far longer, and | :52:42. | :52:47. | |
people wonder why people like Donald Trump get elected, because of | :52:48. | :52:53. | |
austerity, and because it has gone on far too long and I would expect | :52:54. | :52:58. | |
the budget to offer at least some hope to the British people but all | :52:59. | :53:04. | |
we've had is that those of further austerity. If we look at our | :53:05. | :53:12. | |
situation, we were told the deficit would be eliminated by the end of | :53:13. | :53:18. | |
the last Parliament. In actual fact the Chancellor is extending it. We | :53:19. | :53:30. | |
found that the UK Lancs 103 of 112 countries. 6 million people left | :53:31. | :53:38. | |
than the living wage and 4 million people in poverty. When we left | :53:39. | :53:48. | |
office we retained a triple-A rating. We had 30,000 more doctors. | :53:49. | :53:58. | |
This government is living off the benefits of that. Another broken | :53:59. | :54:07. | |
promise of this government has been touched on and I won't elaborate but | :54:08. | :54:15. | |
the manifesto promise was broken in relation to manifesto contributions. | :54:16. | :54:20. | |
This was a Tory manifesto pledge which will affect self-employed | :54:21. | :54:24. | |
people, especially those in the lower paid bracket. For example, you | :54:25. | :54:35. | |
get taxi drivers, so the rich will not be better off but it will be | :54:36. | :54:41. | |
hitting hard working people. There has been no reversal of the cuts and | :54:42. | :54:48. | |
the changes and this will hit disabled people very hard. The | :54:49. | :54:59. | |
government alone some people to pass on property free from inheritance | :55:00. | :55:07. | |
tax. Not only do we get lobbied in our surgeries but also at home. My | :55:08. | :55:12. | |
son was speaking to me the other day. He's going to have to do the | :55:13. | :55:17. | |
quarterly tax returns and he's tempted to vote Labour! This is the | :55:18. | :55:21. | |
unfortunate side-effect from their point of view. It seems to me that | :55:22. | :55:27. | |
the party opposite is no longer the party of the self-employed, no | :55:28. | :55:29. | |
longer the party of white van man and woman. The party of themselves. | :55:30. | :55:46. | |
The party opposite is something that has never been on the side of the | :55:47. | :55:50. | |
working man. I'm quite surprised that claims that some people thought | :55:51. | :55:51. | |
for the party opposite. When we look at health, the funding | :55:52. | :56:02. | |
of social care is welcome but it is too little, too late. It is putting | :56:03. | :56:06. | |
a plaster over a wound and this will not solve the long-term social care | :56:07. | :56:11. | |
issues. Funding for the National Health Service is needed, but it | :56:12. | :56:15. | |
will not help in the longer term. Greater investment is needed. | :56:16. | :56:18. | |
Council tax increases will raise money in the short term, but this | :56:19. | :56:22. | |
will not solve the problem in the longer term will stop in commentary, | :56:23. | :56:26. | |
the increase in council tax will generate around ?443 million. But | :56:27. | :56:34. | |
with the national living wage increases, it will cost about ?600 | :56:35. | :56:39. | |
million. The government is devolving social care to local authorities | :56:40. | :56:46. | |
because the Government has abdicated response ability and shifted the | :56:47. | :56:49. | |
burden onto local people, not through general taxation. If we look | :56:50. | :56:55. | |
at pensions, nothing in the budget to address the problems, and women's | :56:56. | :57:05. | |
issues have certainly been mentioned in a large number of debates, over a | :57:06. | :57:09. | |
long period of time, but on issues that really affect these particular | :57:10. | :57:12. | |
women, and I will not go into the detail of the hardship these women | :57:13. | :57:16. | |
have experienced, it is well known to the house. The Government has | :57:17. | :57:24. | |
done nothing to reverse that. The Government says more women are in | :57:25. | :57:27. | |
work. That might be true, but more women have to work longer. It is | :57:28. | :57:32. | |
also often in lower paid, manual jobs. If we look at business rates, | :57:33. | :57:38. | |
small businesses in the High Street, they are hit the hardest. A ?1000 | :57:39. | :57:44. | |
for a pub is not a lot when you take it in the great scheme of things, it | :57:45. | :57:49. | |
is only a gesture that will not help in a meaningful way. Education, if | :57:50. | :57:53. | |
we look at education, instead of funding free schools, money should | :57:54. | :57:59. | |
be invested in existing schools. They are being asked to find ?3 | :58:00. | :58:03. | |
billion worth of cuts. Resources are already stretched to breaking point. | :58:04. | :58:06. | |
Local authorities in commentary have always taken the decision to fund | :58:07. | :58:11. | |
schools well. The National formula will leave pupils with less funding, | :58:12. | :58:17. | |
yet the Government says no pupils will be worse off. Will they | :58:18. | :58:22. | |
guarantee money to make sure that the funding formula does not leave | :58:23. | :58:28. | |
Coventry schools with a shortfall? By 2020, funding by people will be | :58:29. | :58:38. | |
cut in real terms by 16% for schools. 16-18 education will be in | :58:39. | :58:42. | |
a similar level to that of 30 years ago, in real terms. The Chancellor | :58:43. | :58:47. | |
has ignored the funding crisis in the Budget. The costs are ongoing | :58:48. | :58:55. | |
because of increases and employer contribution to national insurance, | :58:56. | :58:58. | |
and there has been no additional funding. Women will still have to | :58:59. | :59:03. | |
prove that their third or subsequent child was a product of rape to get a | :59:04. | :59:08. | |
child benefits. Once again, we see women being discriminated against | :59:09. | :59:15. | |
through this government. Women are still disproportionately affected by | :59:16. | :59:24. | |
austerity. It is very likely a repeat of the ?20 million announced | :59:25. | :59:29. | |
last November. It might not be new money. Then we come onto the | :59:30. | :59:38. | |
Midlands. The 392 million for the Midlands, wireless is welcome, is | :59:39. | :59:42. | |
not sufficient if you have real intentions with relation to | :59:43. | :59:44. | |
developing the economy of the West Midlands. Coventry and Warwickshire, | :59:45. | :59:51. | |
when you look at it, only 42.4 million. ?20 million for the | :59:52. | :00:03. | |
Midlands Skills Challenge will improve employment prospects in the | :00:04. | :00:08. | |
area. 4 million to support the Midlands engine project. ?20 million | :00:09. | :00:15. | |
for broadband infrastructure. 11 million to support skills and | :00:16. | :00:19. | |
apprenticeships in Coventry and Warwickshire. It will not solve the | :00:20. | :00:23. | |
problems across the country. While investment is welcome, there are | :00:24. | :00:25. | |
also housing pressures that need tackling. London have been awarded | :00:26. | :00:32. | |
ten times as much for housing. Since 2010, there has been a 40% cut in | :00:33. | :00:37. | |
government funding for local councils. Small businesses and the | :00:38. | :00:39. | |
High Street will be hit hard by business rate rises. This will not | :00:40. | :00:44. | |
be addressed in the Midlands Engine strategy. By 2020, the Conservative | :00:45. | :00:50. | |
government will have put ?655 million on commentary council | :00:51. | :00:56. | |
budget. The strategy will not cover that shortfall. When we look at | :00:57. | :01:00. | |
social care, the NHS desperately needs funding and the local | :01:01. | :01:06. | |
authorities expect a deficit of ?43 million by 2020-21 in social care. | :01:07. | :01:13. | |
Finally, this proposal is superficially attractive, but it | :01:14. | :01:15. | |
will not address some of the long-term issues in the West | :01:16. | :01:17. | |
Midlands. Thank you. Can I start by congratulating my | :01:18. | :01:27. | |
honourable friend the member for Stoke-on-Trent Central for his | :01:28. | :01:34. | |
excellent maiden speech, which I enjoyed very much. Moved many of us | :01:35. | :01:38. | |
to laughter and tears, though I gently correct him that Stoke is not | :01:39. | :01:43. | |
the centre of the known universe, that is another place in the West | :01:44. | :01:47. | |
Midlands, called Birmingham. I will let him off, because it was a | :01:48. | :01:50. | |
first-rate start to his Parliamentary life and I wish him | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
all the very best. I wanted to focus my remarks on the government record | :01:56. | :02:01. | |
and its failure on its own terms. I noted with interest that government | :02:02. | :02:06. | |
benches are all but empty. Maybe it is because Government backbenchers | :02:07. | :02:09. | |
are not lining up to come along and defend the increase in national | :02:10. | :02:13. | |
insurance, given the row between Number 10 and number 11. I think it | :02:14. | :02:23. | |
may also go on longer than that. Long before we had the failed and | :02:24. | :02:29. | |
broken manifesto commitment on national insurance, this Government | :02:30. | :02:32. | |
failed the test it set for itself, it's central mission when it came | :02:33. | :02:36. | |
into Government in 2010, the one promise they made this country, that | :02:37. | :02:39. | |
they would eliminate the deficit in five years. In the age of austerity, | :02:40. | :02:47. | |
it was the only way to achieve it. Well, the Budget documents are | :02:48. | :02:53. | |
clear. In 2016-17, and I am glad more government members are coming | :02:54. | :02:56. | |
in, and they can hear their Government's failure on the deficit | :02:57. | :03:02. | |
in person. In 2016-17, the deficit will be ?51.7 billion. In 2017-18, | :03:03. | :03:12. | |
it will be ?58.3 billion. By 2021-2022, it will still be ?16.8 | :03:13. | :03:21. | |
billion. The deficit on this trajectory will not be eliminated | :03:22. | :03:29. | |
until 2025-26, a full 15 years after that famous promise made in 2010 | :03:30. | :03:34. | |
when the Government Saturday would eliminated in five years. That is | :03:35. | :03:37. | |
the true, shameful record of this Government. It sits alongside a much | :03:38. | :03:45. | |
starker, indeed more catastrophic reality on living standards for | :03:46. | :03:48. | |
ordinary working people. I think Government members should stop | :03:49. | :03:54. | |
chuntering and listen to what they have done to ordinary working people | :03:55. | :03:58. | |
in our country. On current forecasts, average earnings will be | :03:59. | :04:03. | |
no higher in 2022 than they were in 2007. That amounts to 15 years | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
without a pay rise for ordinary working people in our country. | :04:08. | :04:12. | |
According to the Revolution Foundation, families are missing out | :04:13. | :04:19. | |
on ?12,000 worth of pay growth by 2020, the worst decade in 210 years. | :04:20. | :04:24. | |
That is what this Government has delivered for ordinary working | :04:25. | :04:27. | |
people. They used to taunt us on this side of the house with a slogan | :04:28. | :04:30. | |
that we didn't fix the roof when the sun was shining, for people going 15 | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
years without a pay rise, it is as if the sun has never shone at all. I | :04:36. | :04:44. | |
was disappointed on Universal Credit in particular, on this issue of pay, | :04:45. | :04:50. | |
wages, jobs and growth, because the Government failed to take any action | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
to set off the cuts that are planned in Universal Credit for later in | :04:55. | :04:58. | |
this Parliament. I do say to Conservative members who kicked up | :04:59. | :05:04. | |
such a fuss, rightfully, on the changes planned by the former | :05:05. | :05:07. | |
Chancellor of the Exchequer on tax credits, that what happened in terms | :05:08. | :05:11. | |
of the U-turn, it was not truly a U-turn because the cuts are still | :05:12. | :05:14. | |
coming down the tracks and many of the same people will still be | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
affected when many of those who are currently on tax credits moved on to | :05:19. | :05:20. | |
Universal Credit is. That will happen towards the end of this | :05:21. | :05:26. | |
Parliament. At the moment, only 170,000 people are in receipt of | :05:27. | :05:30. | |
Universal Credit. By the end of the parliament, millions of families | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
will be on Universal Credit. The Secretary of State's warm words on | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
opportunity mean nothing given to what is being done to the working | :05:40. | :05:47. | |
poor. The cuts to allowances, only a tiny concession was given on the | :05:48. | :05:53. | |
Autumn Statement when he reduced the paper rate to 63%. It still remains | :05:54. | :06:00. | |
the case that a lone parent, earning ?16,000, will lose ?2800. The | :06:01. | :06:08. | |
measures in the Autumn Statement will only give them back ?200 of | :06:09. | :06:15. | |
money. They will beat 2006 of the pounds a year worse off. Those are | :06:16. | :06:18. | |
not small sums of money. They are the difference between keeping a | :06:19. | :06:21. | |
roof over your head or being homeless. The difference between | :06:22. | :06:25. | |
putting food on the table and watching your children go hungry. It | :06:26. | :06:29. | |
is unacceptable that is the record, that is the delivery that the | :06:30. | :06:32. | |
Government is putting on the people of our country in 21st-century | :06:33. | :06:39. | |
Britain. Politics, in the end, is always about choices and priorities. | :06:40. | :06:44. | |
This Government has set aside choices in corporation tax cuts | :06:45. | :06:51. | |
which, by 2021-22, will total ?11.2 billion. They can make a different | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
choice and choose to spend the money elsewhere, maybe on Universal | :06:56. | :06:59. | |
Credit, perhaps on social care, perhaps to alleviate the crisis in | :07:00. | :07:02. | |
the National Health Service. It is a choice they are making it is not the | :07:03. | :07:07. | |
case that cuts to tax would be necessary to make sure we have jobs | :07:08. | :07:10. | |
growth in the country, because we have seen what has happened to wages | :07:11. | :07:13. | |
and we know that business investment is nowhere near where it could be. | :07:14. | :07:18. | |
Cuts to corporation tax being pocketed as profits more than they | :07:19. | :07:22. | |
are delivering for the rest of the economy. They should be | :07:23. | :07:24. | |
reconsidered, because the choices that the Government has made so far | :07:25. | :07:28. | |
are making ordinary people pay the price and that is unacceptable. As | :07:29. | :07:34. | |
the honourable lady cleverly and rightly anticipated, the time limit | :07:35. | :07:39. | |
for speeches has been reduced to six minutes. Thank you Madam Deputy | :07:40. | :07:47. | |
Speaker. Can I just say how proud and delighted I am to be joined by | :07:48. | :07:54. | |
the new member for Stoke-on-Trent Central. He made a wonderful maiden | :07:55. | :07:58. | |
speech and I am grateful for every door I knocked on in the rain. We | :07:59. | :08:07. | |
can send him back now. What we heard last week was a budget breast, and | :08:08. | :08:15. | |
ears -- a budget breast of ideas. It offered no vision for the country's | :08:16. | :08:20. | |
future outside the EU and now offer hope for the potteries which I am so | :08:21. | :08:27. | |
proud to represent. The alleged support for health and social care | :08:28. | :08:30. | |
was little more than an empty gesture in the face of a crippling | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
financial crisis in the NHS. Madam Deputy Speaker, it prioritised the | :08:36. | :08:40. | |
vanity project of an out of touch Prime Minister in fixing the | :08:41. | :08:45. | |
struggling education system. This budget is timid, in the face of | :08:46. | :08:49. | |
unprecedented challenges. It is bold and only one respect, its choice of | :08:50. | :08:56. | |
victims. The Chancellor will no doubt be counting his blessings that | :08:57. | :09:01. | |
he had a ministerial car to flee the scene last week. I am sure the | :09:02. | :09:06. | |
cabbies of central London would have painted him a colourful picture of | :09:07. | :09:09. | |
what his announcement on national insurance is set to do to the | :09:10. | :09:14. | |
take-home pay. I am grateful to my honourable friend for giving way. I | :09:15. | :09:20. | |
can tell her that taxi drivers, as well as other self-employed workers, | :09:21. | :09:25. | |
cannot understand why their burden, as relatively low paid workers, | :09:26. | :09:29. | |
would go up, while there are taxes for the very rich is being cut. Is | :09:30. | :09:36. | |
that not the reason why there are so few members of the Government to | :09:37. | :09:42. | |
defend this terrible Budget? As the niece of a cab-driver, I should | :09:43. | :09:50. | |
declare an interest. It seems that the strivers his party claims to be | :09:51. | :09:55. | |
working for not striving hard enough. When Britain needs to | :09:56. | :09:59. | |
rebuild and rejuvenate its economy, the government Marco has chosen to | :10:00. | :10:05. | |
impose a tax on hard work and entrepreneurship. A tax on | :10:06. | :10:12. | |
aspiration. This was billed by many as the last pre-Brexit budget. Yet | :10:13. | :10:15. | |
the glaring omission in the Chancellor's plans was without any | :10:16. | :10:24. | |
clear vision of what Britain after Brexit might look like, and what | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
sort of investment and government support might be needed to get us | :10:29. | :10:32. | |
there. As for constituencies like mine, which voted overwhelmingly to | :10:33. | :10:36. | |
leave, there seems to be no consideration of the investment and | :10:37. | :10:40. | |
support needed to make sure that places like Stoke-on-Trent can | :10:41. | :10:44. | |
benefit and thrive from our new relationship with the world. There | :10:45. | :10:51. | |
was no clearer example of this than the Government's approach to | :10:52. | :10:55. | |
education and skills, the single biggest issue raised by all my | :10:56. | :10:59. | |
employers and educators when we discuss industrial strategy, another | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
phrase sorely missed from the budget. Schools in my constituency | :11:04. | :11:10. | |
are losing an average of ?400 per pupil and our city is crying out for | :11:11. | :11:14. | |
proper investment in skills and education. Instead, the Chancellor | :11:15. | :11:19. | |
is choking the life out of our public education system, while | :11:20. | :11:22. | |
pouring millions into a doomed experiment in selective education. | :11:23. | :11:27. | |
That lack of commitment to our wider education system is deeply | :11:28. | :11:30. | |
concerning. The single most important thing we can do to improve | :11:31. | :11:36. | |
the economy of my great city, and others, is to improve the skills of | :11:37. | :11:37. | |
the people who live and work there. It is not a lack of will holding | :11:38. | :11:47. | |
young people back. They are enthusiastic and keen to work. What | :11:48. | :11:51. | |
is missing is the support and investment to make sure they are | :11:52. | :11:54. | |
fulfilling their potential, learning the skills to succeed, gaining the | :11:55. | :12:03. | |
qualifications to prove it. Last week I visited the best primary | :12:04. | :12:09. | |
school in my city but they are already having to choose between | :12:10. | :12:15. | |
teachers and computers. That's why this is wrong. At the time when we | :12:16. | :12:20. | |
should be giving our communities the skills for the future, for the | :12:21. | :12:27. | |
government to focus on grammar system that will only benefit a | :12:28. | :12:30. | |
select few and focus on those more privileged backgrounds in stead of | :12:31. | :12:36. | |
providing the basics for every child. Madam Deputy Speaker, we need | :12:37. | :12:40. | |
to ensure that all our schools are properly funded and we have a robust | :12:41. | :12:47. | |
system of early intervention to support the most vulnerable families | :12:48. | :12:53. | |
right from the start. Which is why our primary schools and secondary | :12:54. | :12:57. | |
schools need investment, not vanity projects. If we are going to make | :12:58. | :13:03. | |
the best out of Brexit which we need to then we need to ensure that our | :13:04. | :13:07. | |
communities are ready to seize those opportunities and make sure there is | :13:08. | :13:11. | |
a workforce for the jobs of the future. We need a universal and | :13:12. | :13:16. | |
properly funded education system and ensure that all our young people are | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
supported to ensure they realise their potential. We need a better | :13:21. | :13:25. | |
deal for the next generation, not this ideological driven waste of | :13:26. | :13:34. | |
public funds. Thank you very much. Can I echo what has already been | :13:35. | :13:41. | |
said about the fantastic maiden speech. I went on a visit with him | :13:42. | :13:48. | |
and I know how committed he is to education and skills in his area. | :13:49. | :13:55. | |
That is the main thrust of my speech today. After nearly seven years in | :13:56. | :14:02. | |
government the cumulative effect of government policy on education and | :14:03. | :14:06. | |
skills is being felt by parents and teachers and has given rise to a | :14:07. | :14:13. | |
number of serious issues, each one of which should demand the attention | :14:14. | :14:17. | |
of ministers. School budgets falling for the first time in 20 years, a | :14:18. | :14:21. | |
teacher shortage crisis, huge rise in numbers requiring 400,000 new | :14:22. | :14:28. | |
school places. The biggest changes to GCSEs in a generation which many | :14:29. | :14:34. | |
people are unaware is coming. Primary assessment, with the results | :14:35. | :14:44. | |
coming. The introduction of more free childcare with insufficient | :14:45. | :14:52. | |
funding and serious failings in the school system with many of the | :14:53. | :14:55. | |
previous pet projects failing and closing. This was described as the | :14:56. | :15:05. | |
biggest revolution in decades. Any one of these should command the | :15:06. | :15:12. | |
undermanned at -- should command the attention of ministers. Instead they | :15:13. | :15:16. | |
want to impose further changes on the school system. There is the | :15:17. | :15:25. | |
reintroduction of grammar schools without the shred of evidence which | :15:26. | :15:29. | |
has shone a light on the record of grammar schools. This budget had | :15:30. | :15:36. | |
nothing to say about social mobility, closing the productivity | :15:37. | :15:42. | |
gap or creating the high skilled economy. Perhaps the government | :15:43. | :15:44. | |
would have been better spending more of their time setting out these | :15:45. | :15:53. | |
experiments. What has happened to them? Since 2010, the introduction | :15:54. | :16:01. | |
of the previous gimmicks, there have been huge problems and massive | :16:02. | :16:08. | |
wasted resources. Many more are on the brink. Whilst there are a few | :16:09. | :16:19. | |
excellent ones, even the man who introduced them admitted the | :16:20. | :16:28. | |
experiment has failed. Three in ten studio schools have closed or are | :16:29. | :16:33. | |
due to close as the analysis has found out. There are many more on | :16:34. | :16:38. | |
the brink of closure only one has reached the mark that they were set | :16:39. | :16:45. | |
out to do. The future is looking bleak for these institutions. Yet | :16:46. | :16:48. | |
the government is hell bent on creating more. One in five free | :16:49. | :16:53. | |
schools are in places where they weren't needed at all. The starving | :16:54. | :17:02. | |
of capital funds to existing schools continue to throw good money after | :17:03. | :17:08. | |
bad. This does nothing to deal with the real issues facing our schools | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
today. While we are awaiting the outcome, we heard the government are | :17:14. | :17:19. | |
hell on going ahead with the grammar school programme, which they are | :17:20. | :17:27. | |
calling selective free schools. The Secretary of State is so ashamed | :17:28. | :17:30. | |
that this policy she did not mention it. I reiterate, I see few members | :17:31. | :17:49. | |
defending this policy. I think we can infer that and the evidence is | :17:50. | :17:56. | |
very clear. These systems do not boost social mobility and in fact | :17:57. | :18:01. | |
they may widen the gap. As we know, the big challenge facing the system | :18:02. | :18:07. | |
is the long tail of underachievement. It's not about how | :18:08. | :18:13. | |
we better support the high achievers. The only argument put | :18:14. | :18:16. | |
forward by members opposite which was be treated earlier is the | :18:17. | :18:24. | |
already high achieving tiny number of children on free school meals who | :18:25. | :18:28. | |
are already high achieving do better than all the other children on free | :18:29. | :18:32. | |
school meals including the low achievers on everyone else. What a | :18:33. | :18:40. | |
joke of an argument that is. There's huge amounts of evidence going the | :18:41. | :18:50. | |
other way and maybe that's why addressing the usually pragmatic | :18:51. | :18:56. | |
college she was booed, which has never happened at that conference | :18:57. | :19:03. | |
before. It's why the government's social mobility commission, all the | :19:04. | :19:12. | |
secondary heads in Surrey and many others, and many members opposite, | :19:13. | :19:17. | |
have come out against these proposals. There is plenty the | :19:18. | :19:20. | |
government should be doing and I mentioned a few of them earlier. | :19:21. | :19:25. | |
Perhaps they should get back to these core issues rather than | :19:26. | :19:27. | |
creating more uncertainty and instability. Get on with doing | :19:28. | :19:34. | |
something about the major funding challenge. It's not about funding, | :19:35. | :19:40. | |
challenges, it is about levels being maintained. When the belts are being | :19:41. | :19:44. | |
tightened, they are being tightened even more for these schools and they | :19:45. | :19:49. | |
are losing out. Do something about the teacher shortages. For five | :19:50. | :19:54. | |
years in a row they've missed the tension. Do something about school | :19:55. | :19:59. | |
places. Work with local authorities. Do not put schools where they are | :20:00. | :20:04. | |
not needed. Get a grip of what is happening in our new curriculum. | :20:05. | :20:10. | |
There is absolute chaos there. If they really want to do something | :20:11. | :20:16. | |
about social mobility they should look at investing properly in | :20:17. | :20:19. | |
quality in the early years rather than trying to deliver a childcare | :20:20. | :20:23. | |
on the cheap. There's plenty of evidence for that and I'm happy to | :20:24. | :20:26. | |
discuss that with ministers if they want to have a real agenda for | :20:27. | :20:34. | |
social mobility. Thank you. Sometimes when you hear the | :20:35. | :20:37. | |
government MPs and the Prime Minister talk, you would think when | :20:38. | :20:44. | |
Labour was in power we did nothing for health, education, children, | :20:45. | :20:48. | |
homelessness and other vulnerable groups. Let me remind this house, | :20:49. | :20:57. | |
and take the members of parliament on a trip down memory lane. In 1997 | :20:58. | :21:04. | |
when hospital waiting list for more than three years, when people | :21:05. | :21:10. | |
relying on hospital trolleys, we spent millions and millions of | :21:11. | :21:15. | |
pounds on repairing hospitals, investment in people, nurses, | :21:16. | :21:21. | |
doctors, hospital services, so that when we left in 2010 are NHS was one | :21:22. | :21:28. | |
of the most brilliant the Tories inherited, they are now destroying | :21:29. | :21:39. | |
it. On education we had the motto of education, education education, and | :21:40. | :21:44. | |
we follow that. I'm sure people will remember that tomorrow lies teachers | :21:45. | :21:47. | |
and rundown schools and all the extra funding we put in so when this | :21:48. | :21:50. | |
government takes credit for the fact that this is going so well it is | :21:51. | :21:56. | |
because of the investment we pretend from 1997. We took out half a | :21:57. | :22:02. | |
million children out of poverty and started a programme which helped | :22:03. | :22:06. | |
young people because if you really want to help young people, you need | :22:07. | :22:15. | |
to ensure that early education is good and the sure start programme | :22:16. | :22:20. | |
helped many families. We also have the educational maintenance | :22:21. | :22:25. | |
allowance. It helped many young people carry on, and many young | :22:26. | :22:40. | |
people are having to go to the job centre to sign on and it is one of | :22:41. | :22:49. | |
the most counter-productive measures. And yes, we did create an | :22:50. | :23:03. | |
academy. But since 2010 this government has been making many | :23:04. | :23:15. | |
outstanding schools in false academies Haixun 01 when many | :23:16. | :23:22. | |
ordinary schools are suffering and the funding formula has been | :23:23. | :23:27. | |
changed, affecting many schools in my constituency, so it would be far | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
better to spend money for most schools. I'm so disappointed the | :23:33. | :23:42. | |
Chancellor has not putting anything like this. Everybody except the | :23:43. | :23:57. | |
early years is important. Providers came to see me on a number of | :23:58. | :24:01. | |
occasions, and have spoken about the fact that the funding formula is | :24:02. | :24:13. | |
just not enough for them. Many of them have said that they are going | :24:14. | :24:22. | |
to go out of business because they cannot offer decent nursing | :24:23. | :24:30. | |
provision. I raise this question at Prime Minister's Questions. I said, | :24:31. | :24:37. | |
can we please reconsider the funding for nursery education. I'm afraid | :24:38. | :24:51. | |
this we are told that a lot of the cuts and austerity are about | :24:52. | :24:55. | |
balancing the book but this Conservative Government has borrowed | :24:56. | :25:02. | |
?1 trillion so our debt is higher than it has ever been. And let's not | :25:03. | :25:08. | |
have lectures opposite from the government that they are the or the | :25:09. | :25:17. | |
country that will get -- the party that will get the country going. | :25:18. | :25:24. | |
When the Labour government came in it was only 40%. A few years after | :25:25. | :25:32. | |
that it was 34% of the GDP. Again, that was not a requirement for | :25:33. | :25:42. | |
lectures. We propose a different future. It has done nothing for | :25:43. | :25:51. | |
people's pay or people who are low income. | :25:52. | :26:02. | |
We need to advocate a government that does not sit on the sidelines, | :26:03. | :26:11. | |
we don't need a laughing complacent Chancellor. For one who proudly she | :26:12. | :26:25. | |
in the mining heritage of Stoke-on-Trent, even though I do not | :26:26. | :26:31. | |
agree with everything he says, he is to be commended for his passionate | :26:32. | :26:34. | |
and excellent speech and his kind and honest words for his | :26:35. | :26:41. | |
predecessor. Stoke-on-Trent has a new champion and we wish him all the | :26:42. | :26:43. | |
best. Mile honourable friends have made | :26:44. | :26:53. | |
numerous salient points about the shortfalls in the Budget. A thinner | :26:54. | :26:59. | |
document than last year. A thinner document with thinner rule within. A | :27:00. | :27:06. | |
glaring issue, that of the extra ordinary misleading employment | :27:07. | :27:11. | |
many of the new proposals within the many of the new proposals within the | :27:12. | :27:16. | |
Budget. The Chancellor has waned that 2.7 million more people are, I | :27:17. | :27:22. | |
quote, enjoying the security and dignity of work than in 2010. I | :27:23. | :27:27. | |
cannot fathom how they can describe the gauge economy that has been | :27:28. | :27:33. | |
filled since 2010 with zero hours contracts, temporary work that is | :27:34. | :27:37. | |
insecure, and people are self-employed through necessity, | :27:38. | :27:44. | |
that is dignified. The working conditions are far less thing about | :27:45. | :27:49. | |
than those faced a decade ago. Many of these workers face the loss of | :27:50. | :27:53. | |
the minimum remaining employment rights that have been secured | :27:54. | :27:58. | |
through the EU by the coming hard Tory Brexit. The Chancellor has | :27:59. | :28:02. | |
stated he does not want to saddle the next generation with | :28:03. | :28:06. | |
ever-increasing debt. I would suggest that he may consider taking | :28:07. | :28:11. | |
a closer look at the funding allocated to the DWP's work | :28:12. | :28:16. | |
programme. Since 2011, more than ?1 billion has been spent on attachment | :28:17. | :28:21. | |
sustainment payments all of which sustainment payments all of which | :28:22. | :28:24. | |
are nice sounding euphemisms. The Government hasn't really been paying | :28:25. | :28:32. | |
of employers. Offer it large chain reads fashion retailers to stack | :28:33. | :28:40. | |
shelves and work on sales. -- tills. This also stagnates productivity. It | :28:41. | :28:47. | |
hardly seems a stretch to suggest that if the ?1 billion was used to | :28:48. | :28:51. | |
invest rather than AIDS the Government is budging if I miss the | :28:52. | :28:57. | |
distance, productivity may be higher. I would also -- a aid the | :28:58. | :29:15. | |
Government. This may be the case for a wealthy constituents in the City | :29:16. | :29:18. | |
of London, but it is not the case for builders, joiners, electricians | :29:19. | :29:25. | |
and other trades I have spoken to in my constituency and all over | :29:26. | :29:31. | |
Scotland. On the 27th of October 2015, the honourable member for | :29:32. | :29:41. | |
South West that Mac... National Insurance conjuration stated, I | :29:42. | :29:43. | |
remind the committee of the purpose to emphasise the commitment not to | :29:44. | :29:49. | |
increase National Insurance contribution rate in the course of | :29:50. | :29:51. | |
the parliament. What does he think went wrong? It appears that word is | :29:52. | :30:00. | |
very seldom kept in this place. These people often do jobs for the | :30:01. | :30:06. | |
same companies for years on end. These copies will not hire them as | :30:07. | :30:10. | |
regular employees due to the cost of providing them with basic employee | :30:11. | :30:16. | |
benefits. This means they do not have maternity, activity or sick | :30:17. | :30:18. | |
leave paid holidays. Nor the leave paid holidays. Nor the | :30:19. | :30:21. | |
security of knowing whether they will employed in one month. The | :30:22. | :30:25. | |
insinuation by the Chancellor that these individuals alike to go off | :30:26. | :30:30. | |
all of these benefits for the sake of saving a small percentage of the | :30:31. | :30:34. | |
income of National Insurance payments is absurd and offensive. If | :30:35. | :30:39. | |
the Chancellor would like to address the gap in revenue due to the | :30:40. | :30:43. | |
growing trend of several comic, I would suggest a fairer and more | :30:44. | :30:46. | |
effective way would be to tackle those companies who have only hired | :30:47. | :30:52. | |
workers, self-employed contractors to up -- avoid paying if Poyet | :30:53. | :30:56. | |
benefits rather than claiming those who are subjected to be unfair | :30:57. | :31:00. | |
practices. The Chancellor has ventured -- presented another Budget | :31:01. | :31:04. | |
claiming working people for the economic problems created by the | :31:05. | :31:13. | |
London centric elite. Offers nothing new to address the big hitting | :31:14. | :31:17. | |
problems. Nor does it protect working people from the fallout from | :31:18. | :31:22. | |
the hard Tory Brexit. So much for caring conservative -- conservatism. | :31:23. | :31:32. | |
After seven years of economic failure, missed deficit reduction | :31:33. | :31:38. | |
targets, failing public services, an explosion of food banks supporting | :31:39. | :31:42. | |
working people, for this, my expectations for this Conservative | :31:43. | :31:48. | |
Budget were already low. Madame Deputy Speaker, have we ever had a | :31:49. | :31:52. | |
Budget lacking in substance are much? It is clear for the earlier | :31:53. | :31:59. | |
debates this afternoon that the Government does not have a clue what | :32:00. | :32:03. | |
it wants from Brexit and what it will cost. Eliminating the deficit | :32:04. | :32:08. | |
by 2015 used to be the overriding goal. Now, the target has been | :32:09. | :32:12. | |
dumped and public debt is climbing to almost ?2 trillion. Is this... | :32:13. | :32:21. | |
Our public services have paid the price of the failure. Waiting lists | :32:22. | :32:25. | |
in the NHS are rising. Our social care system is facing a funding back | :32:26. | :32:32. | |
Cole. -- black hole. Spending has gone down in real terms by a faith | :32:33. | :32:38. | |
despite rising demand. There are 400 fewer police officers in the | :32:39. | :32:43. | |
Cleveland area keeping our community say. We will be losing a whopping | :32:44. | :32:52. | |
?7.8 million by 2020, ?422 per pupil in one of the most deprived areas in | :32:53. | :32:57. | |
the country. As my honourable friend from Huddersfield said, while | :32:58. | :33:00. | |
primary schools are in the top ten, secondary schools need more support. | :33:01. | :33:03. | |
The newly departed Michael has when Askew was closed and our | :33:04. | :33:18. | |
economy has been battered, leaving us with 3000 job losses and a youth | :33:19. | :33:21. | |
an appointment rate higher than national average, she uses it as an | :33:22. | :33:30. | |
investment to invest not snuff out potential. With lost jobs and | :33:31. | :33:38. | |
falling living standards, unemployment in the Tees Valley has | :33:39. | :33:42. | |
been above 10%. Posterity has hit many families. 2000 people hit by | :33:43. | :33:47. | |
the Belgian tax to unfair sanctions on tax credits. Wages are set to | :33:48. | :33:54. | |
rise much more slowly than expected over four years. Families are | :33:55. | :33:58. | |
turning to credit to make ends meet. House of debt up by 110 billion by | :33:59. | :34:10. | |
20 21. What Teessiders really needed was investment in infrastructure, | :34:11. | :34:12. | |
industry and skills to give the local economy the boost it needs. I | :34:13. | :34:16. | |
believe that our region despite the difficulties of the last few years | :34:17. | :34:29. | |
is on the verge of a renaissance. Mineral and energy cheap power is | :34:30. | :34:39. | |
investing. But this investment will not benefit local people unless | :34:40. | :34:45. | |
there is a revolution in skills and we are able to capitalise on | :34:46. | :34:49. | |
opportunities. The Chancellor did not take action to address the | :34:50. | :34:53. | |
unfairness that is holding areas like my own back. The north-east | :34:54. | :34:57. | |
continues to reside on regional investment, funding for | :34:58. | :35:05. | |
infrastructure and skills to benefit industry of the future. No mention | :35:06. | :35:11. | |
of the Northern powered House. -- Northern Powerhouse. The future of | :35:12. | :35:17. | |
our economic resilience will depend on the success of small to medium | :35:18. | :35:22. | |
size businesses. Lots of businesses have talked about the... The | :35:23. | :35:30. | |
Chancellor's measures to soften the burden are welcome but not enough. | :35:31. | :35:36. | |
National Insurance contributions will now rise despite a manifesto | :35:37. | :35:39. | |
promise by the Tories not to do so. Many of the X the workers are | :35:40. | :35:44. | |
self-employed. With the Government's funding at imploring them to do so | :35:45. | :35:52. | |
and they will be hit. It was a paper thin, brittle Budget coming after | :35:53. | :35:56. | |
posterity. I have... It was a privilege to follow my | :35:57. | :36:13. | |
honourable friend the Member for breath card. I am here today... A | :36:14. | :36:22. | |
member of Stoke-on-Trent Central. I member of Stoke-on-Trent Central. I | :36:23. | :36:28. | |
know he will be a great asset to us. I was interested to hear the | :36:29. | :36:30. | |
Secretary of State discussing the Secretary of State discussing the | :36:31. | :36:34. | |
fact that the Budget was on International women 's. That made it | :36:35. | :36:42. | |
a greater insult, the Chancellor did not give work to the Waspi women | :36:43. | :36:49. | |
campaigning for fairness. They were born in the 19... They got not one | :36:50. | :37:01. | |
word from this Chancellor. Like many word from this Chancellor. Like many | :37:02. | :37:08. | |
members last week, I met with a delegation of local woman affected | :37:09. | :37:12. | |
by the changes of the state pension law. Women came down from many areas | :37:13. | :37:19. | |
in my constituency. These women, there are more than 3 million across | :37:20. | :37:24. | |
our country, they are not political militants. They do not oppose the | :37:25. | :37:31. | |
pension age, they do not want the H2. To go down to 60. I think it is | :37:32. | :37:40. | |
shameful that the Government chose not to this on to them. Budgets are | :37:41. | :37:49. | |
about choices. I can't accept that when the Government agrees to ?17 | :37:50. | :37:55. | |
billion of corporation tax cuts, ?2.8 billion in inheritance tax | :37:56. | :37:59. | |
cuts, and many other items, they put those above a modest bridging | :38:00. | :38:04. | |
support for these women. I was interested in the figures | :38:05. | :38:05. | |
inheritance tax, the Member for inheritance tax, the Member for | :38:06. | :38:09. | |
Leeds West recently wrote an Leeds West recently wrote an | :38:10. | :38:14. | |
excellent article on this. I read that the proportion of Houses sold | :38:15. | :38:18. | |
for ?65,000 or more in my constituency in 2015 and 2016 was | :38:19. | :38:26. | |
only 15. That is 0.9% of all total House sales. At a time when the | :38:27. | :38:30. | |
total number of Houses sold in the period was 1700. The average sold | :38:31. | :38:39. | |
price was ?140,000. In June 2016. I wish there was 15 people -- I wish | :38:40. | :38:45. | |
them well indeed. I don't think they deserve a tax cut to enjoy their | :38:46. | :38:52. | |
properties. Rather then this extravagant change to inheritance | :38:53. | :38:56. | |
and cut to corporation tax, the Government should be on the side of | :38:57. | :39:00. | |
the small business person, the self-employed. How extraordinary | :39:01. | :39:03. | |
that this is the Conservative party that has broken its promise to the | :39:04. | :39:10. | |
plumber, the cabbie in Cardiff and even, indeed, the grocer from | :39:11. | :39:17. | |
Grantham. A Conservative Government that is charging grocers from | :39:18. | :39:24. | |
Grantham more. How extraordinary! It is a trade-off, being self-employed | :39:25. | :39:27. | |
means the parental leave, no sick pay. No holiday pay. Difficulty | :39:28. | :39:32. | |
getting mortgages. It is a decent consensus. That height to class for | :39:33. | :39:38. | |
National Insurance contributions has broken the consensus that we in this | :39:39. | :39:45. | |
country has believed in it for years. -- class four contributions. | :39:46. | :39:55. | |
The farmers union of Wales, I hope they will consider what they have to | :39:56. | :39:58. | |
say. This is a consequence in a rural amenities. The managing | :39:59. | :40:03. | |
director, Alan Davies, asked the question last week, why is it that | :40:04. | :40:08. | |
tax is being increased for those hard working individuals, some of | :40:09. | :40:13. | |
whom only make a profit just over ?8,000? While at the same time | :40:14. | :40:22. | |
Corporation tax is falling. One of Wales' office minister says there | :40:23. | :40:31. | |
should be an apology to those who read the Conservative manifesto. I | :40:32. | :40:34. | |
would rather that the Government reversed their tax hike and scrap | :40:35. | :40:44. | |
the tax. We remember the Tories' 20 shelf that -- 2012... War on the | :40:45. | :40:55. | |
humble Cornish pasty, caravanners, it is high time that this Government | :40:56. | :41:02. | |
listen to the voice of the honest people in our community, the | :41:03. | :41:05. | |
entrepreneurs, it is high time that the Government listen to the women | :41:06. | :41:09. | |
who have fought so hard right through the lives and have | :41:10. | :41:15. | |
contributed so much to society. It is time this Government acted in the | :41:16. | :41:18. | |
committees, rural, suburban and committees, rural, suburban and | :41:19. | :41:24. | |
urban, and recognise that what must happen now, they must restore | :41:25. | :41:28. | |
fairness, do a U-turn on this ridiculous tax hike for 75 people. | :41:29. | :41:33. | |
They must give some decent team to the people in this country now. -- | :41:34. | :41:35. | |
decency. Thank you for calling me in this | :41:36. | :41:46. | |
important debate. It is a pleasure to follow the honourable lady. A | :41:47. | :41:51. | |
fine constituency in north Wales, one I know particularly well. She | :41:52. | :41:58. | |
will know how closely those MPs, those of us in Cheshire, work with | :41:59. | :42:03. | |
her and her colleagues in north Wales to look at the economic | :42:04. | :42:08. | |
benefits that working together, England in Cheshire and north Wales | :42:09. | :42:12. | |
for the benefit of all our constituents. I would like to think | :42:13. | :42:18. | |
this has come some way to enable us to raise tax and invest in | :42:19. | :42:22. | |
infrastructure that benefits those cross-border constituents. Against a | :42:23. | :42:27. | |
backdrop of global uncertainty, as we start our negotiations to exit | :42:28. | :42:31. | |
the European Union, this budget takes forward our plan to plan a | :42:32. | :42:35. | |
brighter future for Britain. Nine years ago, it is the UK was one of | :42:36. | :42:41. | |
the worst prepared economies to feed the financial crisis. Today the UK | :42:42. | :42:47. | |
is one of the best prepared. The forecast says the UK economy will | :42:48. | :42:53. | |
grow by 4% in 2017, revised from 1.4% forecast last November. Growing | :42:54. | :42:58. | |
faster than every major economy in Europe, except Germany. Any families | :42:59. | :43:03. | |
sitting in the kitchen table will tell you cannot keep spending more | :43:04. | :43:08. | |
than you bring in. The same holds true for Government. There is no | :43:09. | :43:13. | |
magic money tree. Britain has a debt of nearly 1.7 trillion, almost | :43:14. | :43:18. | |
62,000 for every household in the country. We must never forget that | :43:19. | :43:24. | |
under Labour ?1 in every ?4 was spent by the Government was | :43:25. | :43:28. | |
borrowed. I will give way. Does he agree with me that it behoves the | :43:29. | :43:35. | |
opposition to oppose any spending reduction including any welfare | :43:36. | :43:39. | |
spending reduction over the last ten years and yet also make uncosted | :43:40. | :43:46. | |
promises amounting to ?63 billion, completely uncosted. Thank you. He | :43:47. | :43:52. | |
is absolutely right. During the last parliament, the opposed every single | :43:53. | :43:56. | |
reform that this preview Government did. And the current element has | :43:57. | :44:04. | |
made. It is called austerity on the other side, I call it living within | :44:05. | :44:08. | |
1's means. You have to make those very difficult decisions. A final | :44:09. | :44:13. | |
point of milk over to the final -- the other gentleman. In the | :44:14. | :44:20. | |
counterproposals from the members opposite, they have forgotten about | :44:21. | :44:25. | |
the mistakes in the past. He made that bizarre analogy of comparing | :44:26. | :44:32. | |
the country with a family and balancing one's books. When you are | :44:33. | :44:35. | |
sitting around the dinner table, can he print money? That analogy is | :44:36. | :44:42. | |
completely and utterly defunct. I didn't catch the last word of the | :44:43. | :44:47. | |
honourable gentleman. I used that analogy when it comes to economics. | :44:48. | :44:52. | |
We had home economics when I was at school. You had to make very | :44:53. | :44:57. | |
difficult decisions at home. I was merely making that point that we all | :44:58. | :45:02. | |
have difficult decisions to make, but that analogy with families | :45:03. | :45:04. | |
applies to families across the country. Indeed, it also applies to | :45:05. | :45:10. | |
Government. I am sorry the honourable gentleman from the SNP | :45:11. | :45:12. | |
doesn't feel that is a good analogy. I will wait to hear him speak later | :45:13. | :45:20. | |
and comment on his speech. I welcome... To carry on the | :45:21. | :45:25. | |
Government's commitment to take the country's lowest earners out of tax | :45:26. | :45:30. | |
altogether by raising the allowance of 11 and a half thousand pounds. | :45:31. | :45:37. | |
When I sat on the work and pensions select committee, the whole point of | :45:38. | :45:43. | |
the Government's mantra was to make work pay and I believe that is the | :45:44. | :45:47. | |
right course of action to take. If I may, I wish to come to a subject | :45:48. | :45:52. | |
which is very close to my heart. I declare an interest, I am a German | :45:53. | :45:58. | |
of the all party beer group. As Chairman, I welcome the ?1000 relief | :45:59. | :46:03. | |
for pubs with a readable value of less than ?100,000 which will | :46:04. | :46:08. | |
benefit 9% of pubs. I also welcome the discretionary fund made to local | :46:09. | :46:14. | |
authorities who can award businesses based on their area. However, I am | :46:15. | :46:20. | |
somewhat disappointed by the inflationary rise in beer duty, | :46:21. | :46:28. | |
Puget now 43% higher than it was a decade ago. 13 times higher than in | :46:29. | :46:33. | |
Germany and significantly higher than the major brewing neighbours | :46:34. | :46:36. | |
with in Europe. Although the Government has a great track record | :46:37. | :46:41. | |
of three reductions in beer duty, duty frees and the removal of the | :46:42. | :46:47. | |
year duty escalator. While I welcome the introduction of duty-bound to | :46:48. | :46:52. | |
target high ABV White ciders and encourage responsible drinking, it | :46:53. | :46:55. | |
is important to remember that 70% of drinks bought in pubs are indeed | :46:56. | :47:01. | |
beer. The current bracket of reduced rate beer sits at 1.2 to 2.2% ABV. | :47:02. | :47:10. | |
Current HMI si demonstrates that in six years since a policy was | :47:11. | :47:17. | |
introduced, point Dawie van der Walt 0.1% drinks at ABV beer. I know they | :47:18. | :47:26. | |
want to split the bearded unit into two parts. -- beer duty. They have | :47:27. | :47:40. | |
much less alcohol than the UK average and are highly drinkable to | :47:41. | :47:44. | |
UK consumers. However, this is something that we can work together | :47:45. | :47:47. | |
on over the coming months to encourage a broader selection of | :47:48. | :47:50. | |
lower strength beers to become part of the nine in the UK drinking | :47:51. | :47:54. | |
culture and I will be encouraging the industry to step up to the plate | :47:55. | :47:58. | |
with lower strength beers that can be drunk and enjoyed in the great | :47:59. | :48:04. | |
British pub. This Government has a plan to build an economy that works | :48:05. | :48:07. | |
for everyone and this budget continues with the plan by building | :48:08. | :48:13. | |
on the foundation of our fundamental economic strength. It is make sure | :48:14. | :48:16. | |
our economy remains strong so we can properly fund our public services, | :48:17. | :48:20. | |
helps ordinary working families make ends meet and makes clear that | :48:21. | :48:30. | |
Britain is open for business. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is a | :48:31. | :48:33. | |
pleasure to follow the honourable member. I fully highlighted in the | :48:34. | :48:39. | |
second half of his speech very well the importance of our community | :48:40. | :48:44. | |
pubs. It is also a pleasure to speak in the debate in which my honourable | :48:45. | :48:49. | |
friend the member for Stoke Central made his quite superb maiden speech. | :48:50. | :48:58. | |
Someone once said of the then Prime Minister that he had an absolute | :48:59. | :49:02. | |
genius forbidding flamboyant labels on empty luggage. I am afraid in | :49:03. | :49:06. | |
this budget we have got plenty of empty luggage and even the | :49:07. | :49:10. | |
flamboyant labels have now gone. There was certainly no vision in the | :49:11. | :49:16. | |
budget for what post Brexit Britain should look like. Neither was there | :49:17. | :49:19. | |
anything in the budget about tackling some of the very | :49:20. | :49:22. | |
fundamental problems that our economy faces over the next two | :49:23. | :49:26. | |
years. And nowhere is that better illustrated than the approach that | :49:27. | :49:30. | |
has been taken to being self-employed in this country. There | :49:31. | :49:35. | |
are 4.6 million self-employed people in the UK today. Of course, I am | :49:36. | :49:41. | |
completely opposed to those unscrupulous employers who push | :49:42. | :49:45. | |
people into a self-employed status to avoid the duties of them being | :49:46. | :49:51. | |
employed. But the reality is that there are millions of people who are | :49:52. | :49:56. | |
self-employed who have chosen to be so, who have the flexibility that | :49:57. | :50:01. | |
that brings. But there has always been a trade-off. Self-employed | :50:02. | :50:05. | |
people don't have the same access to pensions, they don't have the same | :50:06. | :50:09. | |
access to our social security system and having been self-employed for | :50:10. | :50:17. | |
many years myself, I also know they don't have absolute certainty over | :50:18. | :50:20. | |
income. They don't know how much money is going to comment week to | :50:21. | :50:24. | |
week. The truly answer to that, it appears, is to hammer them on their | :50:25. | :50:27. | |
national insurance contributions, this rise in the class for | :50:28. | :50:32. | |
contribution. It is a breach of the manifesto pledge. I'm not a regular | :50:33. | :50:36. | |
visitor to conservatives.com, but I can tell you that you can get a PDF | :50:37. | :50:40. | |
version of the 2015 manifesto and it is there on page five under the | :50:41. | :50:46. | |
headline while you grew older in promising not to raise income tax, | :50:47. | :50:50. | |
VAT on national insurance. It is a flagrant breach of that manifesto | :50:51. | :50:55. | |
promise. It is also short-sighted. What we should be seeking to do is | :50:56. | :51:01. | |
looking at policies solutions in the long-time for how these 4.6 million | :51:02. | :51:07. | |
people, who take -- you are great entrepreneurs can actually access | :51:08. | :51:12. | |
our social security system and can access appropriate pensions. How | :51:13. | :51:16. | |
must the self-employed field by their treatment under this Tory | :51:17. | :51:20. | |
Government? We all know the Prime Minister likes to read the brief | :51:21. | :51:23. | |
first, she likes to consider your position, with their opinions. What | :51:24. | :51:30. | |
did she say on the self-employed bat self-employed? We are eroding our | :51:31. | :51:36. | |
tax benefit. What is that today millions of self-employed people in | :51:37. | :51:40. | |
this country? I certainly agreed with the Chancellorwords about | :51:41. | :51:45. | |
parity of esteem between vocational and academic qualifications and the | :51:46. | :51:49. | |
idea of fee levels. The problem was when I was hearing him speaking, I | :51:50. | :51:55. | |
was reminded of somebody else. I was struck to go and look at who this | :51:56. | :51:59. | |
actually was, someone who promised new university technical colleges, | :52:00. | :52:03. | |
someone who promised looking at vocational training right across the | :52:04. | :52:07. | |
board. What do I discover? It was actually the honourable member, the | :52:08. | :52:13. | |
previous Chancellor, speaking on the Andrew Marshall in 20 11. We can be | :52:14. | :52:20. | |
sceptical I think of the ability of Tory chancellors to deliver on | :52:21. | :52:24. | |
vocational training, given that almost the same thing was said six | :52:25. | :52:30. | |
years ago. We also have to look at the overall impact of this budget. I | :52:31. | :52:35. | |
would commend to ministers opposite a document produced by the | :52:36. | :52:39. | |
resolution foundation, appropriately called back to the 1980s, it is the | :52:40. | :52:45. | |
study of what happens to working age incomes over the next four years as | :52:46. | :52:49. | |
a consequence of Conservative policies. What does it tell us? That | :52:50. | :52:56. | |
the lowest quarter of incomes are going to be five to 15% worse off in | :52:57. | :53:01. | |
the next four years, what happens to be going to be for two 5% better off | :53:02. | :53:11. | |
over the next four years. Whilst we live, Mr Speaker, in an age of great | :53:12. | :53:15. | |
political uncertainty in many ways, there are some things that are still | :53:16. | :53:19. | |
absolutely certain. What is still flows downhill by the easiest route, | :53:20. | :53:26. | |
the sun will rise tomorrow and Tory Government always make the rich | :53:27. | :53:29. | |
richer and the poor poorer. That is precisely what this budget does. | :53:30. | :53:36. | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker. This budget was more about what the Chancellor | :53:37. | :53:40. | |
didn't see them what he did. It's incredible that the consequences of | :53:41. | :53:44. | |
us leaving the EU, the biggest cause of uncertainty and the biggest | :53:45. | :53:49. | |
threat to our economic well-being have got no significant measure tile | :53:50. | :53:53. | |
in the budget and that fact alone is enough to render the budget a | :53:54. | :53:57. | |
failure. It wasn't the only failure. Most chancellors get to see good | :53:58. | :54:03. | |
headlines the next morning. But not so spreadsheet Phil as the Right | :54:04. | :54:06. | |
honourable gentleman likes to be known. The way that the Prime | :54:07. | :54:10. | |
Minister, her Chancellor and the close allies, ministerial aides and | :54:11. | :54:13. | |
senior sources have been denouncing each other over the weekend in the | :54:14. | :54:23. | |
most rigid brewers to do times. Apart from the considerable | :54:24. | :54:26. | |
entertainment value of all this briefing and counter briefing which | :54:27. | :54:30. | |
shows the dysfunction at the heart of this blundering fractures divided | :54:31. | :54:35. | |
Government, I must say "aye" find it astonishing, Mr Speaker, that no one | :54:36. | :54:39. | |
in the entire cabinet spotted the howling broken election promise at | :54:40. | :54:43. | |
the heart of this budget Bobby Dazzler briefed him on his plans. | :54:44. | :54:49. | |
They have all been whingeing to the newspapers... But the tangled and | :54:50. | :54:58. | |
flag it up. There has been increased that Mango increased the entire | :54:59. | :55:04. | |
graduate of Parliament. Yet none of them noticed. I wouldn't have | :55:05. | :55:09. | |
expected that we had forgotten about it, but apparently the dead all | :55:10. | :55:12. | |
managed to put it right out of their minds. It shows just how cynical the | :55:13. | :55:19. | |
Tory Government is, that the entire Cabinet fails to remember their main | :55:20. | :55:20. | |
election promise with him. Thanks to these coalition | :55:21. | :55:58. | |
governments, and the governments we now have, there has been a fall, and | :55:59. | :56:06. | |
is due to fall by a further 6.5%. I have received from the head of the | :56:07. | :56:42. | |
governing body at a college in my constituency spells out the reality | :56:43. | :56:45. | |
of the financial pressures they are under. Increases in the salary bill, | :56:46. | :56:52. | |
higher pensions, higher national insurance contributions, the removal | :56:53. | :56:58. | |
of the education and support grant, the apprentice levy, payable from | :56:59. | :57:03. | |
April, a loss in per capita sixth form funding. The college has | :57:04. | :57:07. | |
reduced its leadership team and their salaries, and has six teaching | :57:08. | :57:14. | |
posts unfilled. They say they are extremely concerned about the | :57:15. | :57:19. | |
potential impact of the forthcoming National funding formula. The impact | :57:20. | :57:21. | |
of this is likely to make it impossible the country can remain | :57:22. | :57:24. | |
financially stable and this will have a detrimental effect upon the | :57:25. | :57:29. | |
provision for people is a city which has among the highest levels of | :57:30. | :57:35. | |
deprivation in the UK. This is a popular oversubscribed school. I | :57:36. | :57:39. | |
have written to the Secretary of State about this but I have yet to | :57:40. | :57:43. | |
receive a reply. It is not the only skill in my constituency with these | :57:44. | :57:48. | |
problems. This is a disaster for our schools, but the budget has made it | :57:49. | :57:52. | |
worse when it could have made it better. In divisive and answers | :57:53. | :57:57. | |
measures, the Government has set aside ?1 trillion and the Prime | :57:58. | :58:02. | |
Minister's back to the 1950s Grammar School vanity project and have | :58:03. | :58:05. | |
agreed to pay transport costs for poorer pupils but only those who | :58:06. | :58:12. | |
attend selective schools. The young people in my constituency can no | :58:13. | :58:15. | |
longer study for academic A-levels without leaving the borough and to | :58:16. | :58:26. | |
get no such help, even though Is when I host the Minister for the | :58:27. | :58:31. | |
school system, Lord Nash, what assistance the Government could | :58:32. | :58:37. | |
order to ensure studying for A-levels could happen. It would be | :58:38. | :58:44. | |
unfair, he said, to offer free jazz was too one area and not others. -- | :58:45. | :58:54. | |
free transport. A divisive, selective grammar school. How | :58:55. | :59:00. | |
typically Tory. Children who want to study A-levels have been given | :59:01. | :59:05. | |
nothing because he was to recreate the 1950s grammar school myth. Money | :59:06. | :59:11. | |
needs to be into building all our schools, employing 36,000 more | :59:12. | :59:17. | |
teachers, and more teaching assistants. After seven years of Lib | :59:18. | :59:24. | |
Dems, Tories and Tories. Crisis again with pass rates going down, | :59:25. | :59:31. | |
teachers fleeing the profession. It has set about doing even more damage | :59:32. | :59:37. | |
want to focus on the need to put want to focus on the need to put | :59:38. | :59:42. | |
skills and jobs in our country, especially in manufacturing, | :59:43. | :59:46. | |
following the Budget. This is pertinent as we begin the process of | :59:47. | :59:53. | |
leaving the EU. As a listening exercise I conducted, it is telling | :59:54. | :00:03. | |
that Nissan featured dominantly. Last week is likewise it was a | :00:04. | :00:07. | |
perfect opportunity for the Chancellor to lay the foundations | :00:08. | :00:10. | |
for strong economic growth, resilient to any storms we may | :00:11. | :00:15. | |
weather during the EU negotiations. Sadly, we were left wanting. The | :00:16. | :00:18. | |
announcement we did get an skills did not go far enough. They must be | :00:19. | :00:23. | |
placed within the context of the Government's wide approach to | :00:24. | :00:28. | |
education and skills. Since 2010, we have seen the further education | :00:29. | :00:31. | |
Budget cuts by 14% in real terms. This is a cash reduction from 3.18 | :00:32. | :00:41. | |
million in 2011, two two point nine 4 billion. Depleted by 54%. This | :00:42. | :00:53. | |
negligence approach by Government has not scuppered the innovative | :00:54. | :00:57. | |
work in my constituency by great employers. Last Friday, I was | :00:58. | :01:01. | |
honoured to open a new training Academy which will help to boost the | :01:02. | :01:08. | |
skills and our local workforce by giving apprenticeship opportunities. | :01:09. | :01:11. | |
It goes without saying that manufacturing is about it with it | :01:12. | :01:15. | |
the north-east. We have a country's makers and builders. What I believe | :01:16. | :01:24. | |
to be the innate talent of the people in our region, the skills we | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
inherently have within hours to manufacture with high-quality and | :01:29. | :01:34. | |
high productivity. My constituency is what I like to call the | :01:35. | :01:39. | |
Manufacturing hub of our region. Leading the country with BAE | :01:40. | :01:48. | |
Systems, Nissan, to name a few. All based on my constituency. The | :01:49. | :01:51. | |
manufacturing presence will only be strengthened by the creation of the | :01:52. | :02:04. | |
eye a M, the entrance -- team1-mac. -- IAM. Manufacturers in my | :02:05. | :02:12. | |
constituency, large down to small and medium, Washington Components | :02:13. | :02:21. | |
among others, depend upon the Government strengthening their | :02:22. | :02:25. | |
approach to skills and jobs. This is especially important with Brexit on | :02:26. | :02:28. | |
the horizon. There is one way I think ministers could help bolster | :02:29. | :02:32. | |
manufacturing in not only the North East but also across the country, | :02:33. | :02:37. | |
that is true catapults. I am not talking about ancient war machines, | :02:38. | :02:43. | |
but a network of world leading centre is designed to transform the | :02:44. | :02:47. | |
specific areas and help future specific areas and help future | :02:48. | :02:53. | |
economic growth. There have been a number of catapults across the | :02:54. | :02:59. | |
country. Looking at them, none for materials. No support for the | :03:00. | :03:02. | |
innovation and development of materials such as steel, ceramics, | :03:03. | :03:06. | |
glass and plastic. All of which are crucial to the dominance automotive | :03:07. | :03:13. | |
sector in Sunderland. If we were to see a catapults for materials like | :03:14. | :03:17. | |
the industry supported proposal for the materials processing Institute | :03:18. | :03:20. | |
in Redcar that's received cross-party endorsement in January | :03:21. | :03:27. | |
from the... This could have a positive impact on the whole of the | :03:28. | :03:30. | |
manufacturing industry. It would, however, especially help the Nissan | :03:31. | :03:37. | |
supply chain, that they said needs repowering. I appreciate the mention | :03:38. | :03:48. | |
of the fantastic Institute. Swansea is predicted to receive ?80 million | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
for a steal signed centre which would almost directly duplicate the | :03:54. | :04:03. | |
work happening in the... Redcar. I don't want to take anything away | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
from Wales. Especially colleagues from Wales in the Chamber, but | :04:08. | :04:13. | |
duplication is not go to be good, especially when there is so little | :04:14. | :04:17. | |
funding around. It doesn't make any sense to duplicate. We definitely | :04:18. | :04:22. | |
don't want to take any support away from Nissan. I am pleased my | :04:23. | :04:25. | |
honourable friend made that point was that currently, only a minority | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
of parts used to build Nissan cars are made here in the UK. Do a | :04:31. | :04:41. | |
38,000... Drew a 38,000 strong supply chain workforce around the UK | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
with 27,000 of those jobs based in the north-east. What an exciting | :04:46. | :04:52. | |
constituency she represents. My understanding one of the reasons why | :04:53. | :04:57. | |
Nissan decided to stay in her constituency is because of the | :04:58. | :05:00. | |
cluster of battery technology and technology countries. Is that true? | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
Yes. I am pleased he has made that point. The electric battery | :05:06. | :05:10. | |
technology is going from strength to strength. I was pleased to see that | :05:11. | :05:14. | |
there was an announcement with regards to electric vehicles and | :05:15. | :05:19. | |
battery technology in the Budget. However, we currently do see a | :05:20. | :05:21. | |
predicament of looming on the horizon. As we begin to leave the | :05:22. | :05:32. | |
EU. That is the WTO tariffs. Ministers have said we will strike a | :05:33. | :05:35. | |
deal which means we do not half to deal which means we do not half to | :05:36. | :05:42. | |
get rid of the WTO 10% tariffs. A document showing the Prime | :05:43. | :05:46. | |
Minister's willingness to go back on these terms regardless of the | :05:47. | :05:50. | |
economic impact. Reiterated by the Foreign Secretary on TV all over the | :05:51. | :05:54. | |
weekend also. This would be catastrophic, not only for the | :05:55. | :05:58. | |
country but from my constituency and the businesses that was take Nissan. | :05:59. | :06:05. | |
Falling back onto W T O tariffs and crashing out of the customs union | :06:06. | :06:11. | |
would cause the least -- cause delays. And also an issue for | :06:12. | :06:17. | |
overseeing parts used to build the car is would have to be reduced to | :06:18. | :06:24. | |
meet prewritten -- rules of origin. There would need to be a 50% local | :06:25. | :06:29. | |
content to meet rules of origin and the cast is British made. This could | :06:30. | :06:35. | |
prove a major problem for Nissan. This is where the materials | :06:36. | :06:37. | |
catapults comes into play. Not only would this reinvigorate innovation | :06:38. | :06:45. | |
mitigate issues in terms of the mitigate issues in terms of the | :06:46. | :06:55. | |
tariffs on manufactured. I cannot make this point strongly enough, | :06:56. | :06:56. | |
this catalogue could also mean this catalogue could also mean | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
potential job growth. If we take the case of adjusting overseas content | :07:01. | :07:04. | |
in this and cars, this could significantly boost the UK's supply | :07:05. | :07:08. | |
chain and create tens of thousands of new UK jobs. This could seriously | :07:09. | :07:13. | |
transform the manufacturing sector in the UK. Catapults could help in | :07:14. | :07:17. | |
part achieve this resilience that they have been talking about. I hope | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
the Government will listen and look again at the potential of a | :07:22. | :07:29. | |
materials catapults. I want to begin by putting this Budget in context | :07:30. | :07:33. | |
for my constituents. We have a Government that has borrowed more in | :07:34. | :07:36. | |
seven years down the last Labour Government did in 13. The deficit we | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
were told would be gone is still there. The country is just about to | :07:42. | :07:46. | |
embark on the most support negotiations since the end of the | :07:47. | :07:51. | |
Second World War. The Chancellor barely mentions Brexit. The disabled | :07:52. | :07:54. | |
employment are to have their incomes employment are to have their incomes | :07:55. | :07:58. | |
cuts by close to one third next month. Children who are an lucky | :07:59. | :08:02. | |
enough to be the third child in a struggling family will suffer as the | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
withdrawal of child tax credit which is another 600,000 children into | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
poverty. Many families are just not managing. All they have to look | :08:13. | :08:18. | |
forward to is years of austerity stretching far into the 20 20ths. It | :08:19. | :08:24. | |
is OK, we don't need to worry because inheritance tax is to be | :08:25. | :08:29. | |
reduced. Mr Speaker, I worry if the Chancellor knows how many people in | :08:30. | :08:32. | |
my constituency are likely to benefit from the cutting inheritance | :08:33. | :08:38. | |
tax. Last year, it would have been six. This year, it is eight. Not | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
even double figures. Mr Speaker, it is obscene to take from the | :08:44. | :08:47. | |
disabled, from those struggling to make ends meet, to give to the | :08:48. | :08:51. | |
richest households in the land. Turning to some of the announcements | :08:52. | :08:56. | |
made on Budget day, firstly considering the increased National | :08:57. | :08:59. | |
Insurance for the self-employed, these changes to National Insurance | :09:00. | :09:03. | |
contributions for the self-employed taking alongside the cut in | :09:04. | :09:06. | |
corporation tax tell my constituents all they need to know about this | :09:07. | :09:10. | |
small business and reduce costs for small business and reduce costs for | :09:11. | :09:15. | |
big business. There are over 4000 self-employed people in my | :09:16. | :09:18. | |
constituency and they will all be worse off despite the fact that the | :09:19. | :09:24. | |
2015 Conservative manifesto promised that National Insurance | :09:25. | :09:26. | |
contributions would not be increased. There can be no | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
justification for any of this. Mr Speaker, if the Government was | :09:32. | :09:35. | |
serious about tackling the deficit, why is it cutting taxes for the | :09:36. | :09:42. | |
richest? By 2022, cuts for the banking, capital gains tax, | :09:43. | :09:46. | |
corporation tax will have cost the taxpayer another ?70 billion. Mr | :09:47. | :09:51. | |
Speaker, I repeat. It is obscene. Turning to the issue of social care, | :09:52. | :09:54. | |
in the light of the cost of tax cuts, no wonder there is no money | :09:55. | :09:59. | |
for adequate social care. Depriving all people of the care they need is | :10:00. | :10:02. | |
causing widespread misery. It is placing additional pressure on an | :10:03. | :10:09. | |
should be made to... He offered only should be made to... He offered only | :10:10. | :10:19. | |
2 billion for the next three years. Only giving the care centre only | :10:20. | :10:25. | |
half of what it needs. Since 2010, the Government has cut 4.2 billion | :10:26. | :10:31. | |
from social care budgets. My constituents might not have been | :10:32. | :10:34. | |
aware of the figures, but they know what they see with their own eyes. | :10:35. | :10:38. | |
They understand that the Government takes with two cans and gives back | :10:39. | :10:41. | |
with one. Quite frankly, they are not impressed. -- two hands. | :10:42. | :10:47. | |
Finally, the Government was my Finally, the Government was my | :10:48. | :10:51. | |
proposal to spend millions of pounds to create new gamma schools -- | :10:52. | :10:57. | |
grammar schools to the detriment of current schools. Funding is set to | :10:58. | :11:05. | |
be cut here by ?400 per pupil. For some so much for giving all children | :11:06. | :11:11. | |
in education. Subjects dropped from the curriculum, special educational | :11:12. | :11:15. | |
needs and disabilities losing vital support. Staff vacancy left unfilled | :11:16. | :11:23. | |
or cut altogether. Introduction of armour skills will not help schools | :11:24. | :11:28. | |
in Burnley. Nor do anything for social mobility. In spite of Theresa | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
May's grand promises, this Budget and Government has once again failed | :11:33. | :11:39. | |
to deliver for my constituents. Mr Speaker, there is much I could say | :11:40. | :11:44. | |
about the budgets last week, but given tankers don't I will limit my | :11:45. | :11:51. | |
remarks to the specific topic of education and skills. In recent | :11:52. | :11:55. | |
weeks, there have been protests in my constituency, as there have been | :11:56. | :12:02. | |
about cuts to school budgets across the country. Parents are talking | :12:03. | :12:06. | |
about fewer teachers and support staff, reduced curriculums and fewer | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
opportunities for their children. What is good news did last week's | :12:11. | :12:15. | |
Budget contained for those concerns mums and dads? The answer is very | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
little. Ministers are ramped up their grammar school rhetoric, made | :12:20. | :12:26. | |
lots of noise about being on the side of aspiration and hoped that no | :12:27. | :12:29. | |
one would notice that they don't have any real solutions for the | :12:30. | :12:33. | |
schools which are struggling most today. The Government buys make | :12:34. | :12:38. | |
education policy is nothing more than an aspirational Mirage. ?320 | :12:39. | :12:46. | |
million allocated for up to 140 new free schools, 30 of which will be | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
opened by September 20 20. Some of which could be grammars. ?320 | :12:52. | :12:55. | |
million may sound like a pot of money, but in the grand scheme of | :12:56. | :12:58. | |
things it is not. The building schools for the future programme in | :12:59. | :13:02. | |
Lewisham, which rebuilt nine secondary schools and two special | :13:03. | :13:06. | |
schools, was a ?285 million programme. That is one brother, one | :13:07. | :13:13. | |
city, 285 million. Within the budget allocation for | :13:14. | :13:24. | |
free schools, is she aware there are possibilities there for a university | :13:25. | :13:28. | |
technical colleges which will enable constituencies like mine to go ahead | :13:29. | :13:32. | |
with the proposal for a new health university technical College which | :13:33. | :13:35. | |
will help the huge number of young people work in the NHS in the | :13:36. | :13:40. | |
future. Do she think that's constructive? I am grateful. I am | :13:41. | :13:45. | |
not sure whether he was in the chamber earlier for the speech made | :13:46. | :13:49. | |
by the former Shadow Education Secretary, but she pointed out some | :13:50. | :13:54. | |
of the evidence around UTC 's is quite dubious at best. I was talking | :13:55. | :14:00. | |
about the comparative size of the budget for the new grammar schools | :14:01. | :14:05. | |
and I was pointing out that in Lewisham, the building schools for | :14:06. | :14:08. | |
the future programme was ?285 million to rebuild when the budget | :14:09. | :14:14. | |
for the whole country, with regard to grammar schools, is 320 million. | :14:15. | :14:20. | |
The revelation -- revelation that the Government speak about in | :14:21. | :14:25. | |
education is really... They want to bring the wrong schools in the wrong | :14:26. | :14:29. | |
places and have the wrong priorities. I don't think a penny of | :14:30. | :14:33. | |
extra money should be spent on new grammar schools. I have read the | :14:34. | :14:37. | |
research which so is there is no aggregate improvement in outcomes in | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
areas which operate selection and I have seen the impact of selection in | :14:42. | :14:46. | |
my own family. My own mum, as bright and capable as anyone in this | :14:47. | :14:51. | |
chamber, was told when she was 11 she wasn't good enough, she was a | :14:52. | :14:57. | |
slow learner and she was not academic. She believes that to this | :14:58. | :15:01. | |
day, Mr Speaker. I strongly believe in our comprehensive system, teach | :15:02. | :15:04. | |
children from different backgrounds and different faiths with different | :15:05. | :15:10. | |
abilities in the same school. Ensure that young people get to mix with | :15:11. | :15:14. | |
others who aren't exactly the same as them. The truth is, this | :15:15. | :15:18. | |
Government isn't interested in that, they want to play politics instead | :15:19. | :15:22. | |
of addressing real problems. It doesn't matter what they say about | :15:23. | :15:26. | |
paying for transport to grammars, or fiddling with entrance exams, the | :15:27. | :15:32. | |
proposals cream of the lucky few at the expense of the majority. To rub | :15:33. | :15:37. | |
salt into the wind, Mr Speaker, the I simply failing to address the | :15:38. | :15:41. | |
problems in some of the country's worst schools and the loop to | :15:42. | :15:45. | |
exacerbate the problem there with their new funding formula. The earth | :15:46. | :15:50. | |
still pursuing an academy strategy which is slowly falling apart. -- | :15:51. | :15:56. | |
The Artist L. Lewisham has the worst performing secondary schools of any | :15:57. | :16:01. | |
borough in London. The academies in my constituency are struggling. They | :16:02. | :16:06. | |
have not delivered the soaring GCSE results that were promised and they | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
have a mixed record on discipline. That is not the worst of it. At a | :16:11. | :16:15. | |
certain school, the staff and pupils have been left in a permanent state | :16:16. | :16:20. | |
of limbo. An Academy order has been issued following the imposition of | :16:21. | :16:26. | |
an interim executive board, but no academy sponsor seems interested in | :16:27. | :16:31. | |
taking the school on. This has been dragging on for over two years. What | :16:32. | :16:37. | |
is the Government's answer to schools like this? What is their | :16:38. | :16:44. | |
answer to the parents who ask me whether the school is one of the | :16:45. | :16:49. | |
many so-called orphans or Untouchables goes that the Read | :16:50. | :16:53. | |
about in the papers from which Academy sponsors cannot be found? It | :16:54. | :17:02. | |
is an absolute disgrace, Mr Speaker. If you can't identify an academy | :17:03. | :17:07. | |
sponsor, we invoke the Academy order and put in place a tailored package | :17:08. | :17:15. | |
of support for the school. Focus on what is going on inside the | :17:16. | :17:20. | |
classroom and not the sign outside the school gates. Don't blame the | :17:21. | :17:24. | |
local authorities either. Councils have been emasculated by central | :17:25. | :17:28. | |
Government in recent years, stripped of resources, leading to the last of | :17:29. | :17:32. | |
school improvement services, stripped of the ability to open new | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
skills of their choosing, and stripped of any real power to sort | :17:37. | :17:41. | |
things out when things go wrong. I am fed up of listening to ministers | :17:42. | :17:47. | |
talk about grammar schools when they have no answer for schools like | :17:48. | :17:54. | |
this. I don't want teachers to be asking me why the PTA is raising | :17:55. | :17:59. | |
money for photo copying paper and not for the luxuries that they use | :18:00. | :18:05. | |
to raise money for. And I don't see how anything in this Government's | :18:06. | :18:10. | |
budget and anything that they are doing in education at the moment | :18:11. | :18:16. | |
will equip all children with these skills, knowledge and confidence | :18:17. | :18:23. | |
that is needed to succeed in this increasingly competitive, complex | :18:24. | :18:26. | |
and fast moving world we now live in. Thank you, Mr Speaker. I would | :18:27. | :18:34. | |
like to apologise for missing business questions earlier today. I | :18:35. | :18:41. | |
would like to focus on a couple of issues. First of all the Scottish | :18:42. | :18:46. | |
whiskey industry. The increases in the national insurance contributions | :18:47. | :18:50. | |
to be self-employed. Let me declare an interest as the Treasurer for the | :18:51. | :18:54. | |
all-party group on Scotch whiskey, a position which has offered me the | :18:55. | :18:58. | |
opportunity to establish a close working relationship with this vital | :18:59. | :19:02. | |
industry which is very local in the West Dunbartonshire. As the member | :19:03. | :19:06. | |
for West Dunbartonshire, a constituency home to two well-known | :19:07. | :19:12. | |
distilleries, Loch Lomond being one, the have seen massive investment in | :19:13. | :19:18. | |
recent months. In a bottling plant, is there are very strong | :19:19. | :19:21. | |
reservations over the impact of the Government's decision to increase | :19:22. | :19:26. | |
excise duty on spirits by 3.9%. This money grab has been described by | :19:27. | :19:31. | |
Loch Lomond distillery as the spectacularly poor decision by the | :19:32. | :19:35. | |
Chancellor of the Exchequer and by the Scottish whiskey association as | :19:36. | :19:38. | |
a major blow to the industry, which will undermine the progress that the | :19:39. | :19:42. | |
industry has made in recent years. I would urge the Chancellor to use the | :19:43. | :19:47. | |
opportunity to carry out an urgent review of the UK's alcohol taxation | :19:48. | :19:52. | |
system, to give this industry, as described by the Prime Minister only | :19:53. | :19:58. | |
a week ago, as a truly Scottish and British and the world's pre-eminent | :19:59. | :20:04. | |
spirit, and the support it requires to remain competitive, it is vitally | :20:05. | :20:09. | |
important in this global market. For the ill thought out increase in | :20:10. | :20:12. | |
excise duty to be potentially disastrous impact on self-employed | :20:13. | :20:19. | |
increase in class for national insurance conjure visions by nearly | :20:20. | :20:24. | |
11% over the next two years, in my constituency the local community and | :20:25. | :20:28. | |
economy has built a very strong foundation 's small businesses and | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
have serious concerns. Over the long-term impact and pressure that | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
this increase will have on small businesses, specifically. The | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
Federation for small business in Scotland have said to my office and | :20:43. | :20:46. | |
voice concerns the proposed policy instated and have said that the risk | :20:47. | :20:50. | |
that the self-employed face makes them fundamentally different to | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
employ use. This is why the proposed national insurance tax grab on the | :20:56. | :20:59. | |
group is an absolute kit in the teeth. Just at a time when we need | :21:00. | :21:05. | |
to create more entrepreneurs, not fewer. The fact that the Chancellor | :21:06. | :21:10. | |
of the Exchequer's own benches do not support this policy, we hear | :21:11. | :21:14. | |
them in the lobbies of the time, sends a strong message to the | :21:15. | :21:19. | |
Chancellor and to the Treasury that the business community must be | :21:20. | :21:22. | |
understood and consulted before any drastic changes must be made. There | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
is still time for the Chancellor to see sense and gives small business | :21:28. | :21:32. | |
the respect and support they deserve, Mr Speaker, to feel to do | :21:33. | :21:37. | |
so would be a dereliction of duty and a show of no confidence in those | :21:38. | :21:41. | |
who ensure the economy is built on a strong base. Finally, what I see is | :21:42. | :21:49. | |
an utter failure even to mention the women in this budget. It shows the | :21:50. | :21:54. | |
Treasury has failed to grasp the reality faced by women born in the | :21:55. | :22:02. | |
1950s. Poverty, destitution and a political state unwilling, not | :22:03. | :22:06. | |
unable, but unwilling to offer them a quality in the 21st century. As | :22:07. | :22:16. | |
the SNP spokesperson for industrial strategy, can I add my ad management | :22:17. | :22:21. | |
to him missing questions this morning. -- | :22:22. | :22:32. | |
I wanted to touch in part on national insurance contributions. | :22:33. | :22:40. | |
This was dressed up as something a little bit different, a bit bland, | :22:41. | :22:44. | |
and it really was bland. There are some bits in it but just really | :22:45. | :22:49. | |
didn't ring true. The Chancellor seem to think that he and his budget | :22:50. | :22:55. | |
the process we have been going through and through Tory austerity | :22:56. | :23:01. | |
has not been felt most strongly, and those who do not have the means to | :23:02. | :23:08. | |
beat it. And, to a degree, that may be true. If you look at it in a very | :23:09. | :23:14. | |
narrow sense, the top 10% of earners when you take into account all | :23:15. | :23:19. | |
things considered, have borne a slightly greater part of that... | :23:20. | :23:30. | |
What needs to be boring, I suppose. But the lowest three have Pawnee | :23:31. | :23:33. | |
similar percentage decline in their income as a result of this | :23:34. | :23:37. | |
Government's policies. Whilst it is easy to see that the top have had | :23:38. | :23:41. | |
the greatest hit, the reality is that if you are in those bottom | :23:42. | :23:46. | |
three, that 1.2% fall on your income will mean considerably more to you | :23:47. | :23:49. | |
than a will to somebody in the top 10%. The Chancellor with as a badge | :23:50. | :23:55. | |
of pride in his budget speech that as a result of this changes we have | :23:56. | :24:00. | |
made since 2010, the top 1% of income taxpayers now pay 27% of all | :24:01. | :24:05. | |
income tax. Mr Speaker, that is not the indication of a fairer society. | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
That is the very opposite and demonstrates we live in an | :24:11. | :24:15. | |
incredibly unfair society, for 27% of income taxes paid by 1% of the | :24:16. | :24:19. | |
population. That is because the are an unjustifiably more than the rest | :24:20. | :24:24. | |
of the population, that is not a badge of honour, that should be a | :24:25. | :24:29. | |
badge of shame to this Government. We have heard talk around about how | :24:30. | :24:33. | |
this Government wants to use technical education and reforms to | :24:34. | :24:36. | |
the budget to make entrepreneurship the heart of the British economy and | :24:37. | :24:40. | |
to have technical skills at the heart of it. Yet, the single key | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
announcement as part of this budget has been the change in terms of | :24:46. | :24:49. | |
national insurance contributions for the self-employed. Those are the | :24:50. | :24:54. | |
entrepreneurs, those are the folks with the technical skills that we | :24:55. | :24:58. | |
need in our economy. As we have heard from member after mentally, | :24:59. | :25:02. | |
those people do not enjoy the same benefits and protections that those | :25:03. | :25:07. | |
in and employed position that we enjoy. That is why they deserve to | :25:08. | :25:13. | |
have a differential in terms of their national insurance | :25:14. | :25:16. | |
contributions. To address this up as anything other than a naked tax grab | :25:17. | :25:23. | |
is to be entirely disingenuous. This will not help our economy, it is | :25:24. | :25:27. | |
coming at precisely the worst time to do so, and it must be not just | :25:28. | :25:34. | |
stopped, but cancelled entirely. For me, Mr Speaker, the most | :25:35. | :25:37. | |
disappointing part of this budget has been in terms of its utter | :25:38. | :25:42. | |
silence on the energy challenges that we as a country face. Whether | :25:43. | :25:47. | |
it be the fact there was next to nothing said renewables, nothing | :25:48. | :25:50. | |
about how we decarbonise our economy, nothing about how we tap | :25:51. | :25:54. | |
the massive potential that we have in Scotland, particularly in a rural | :25:55. | :25:59. | |
communities, how we get CFT is for the island communities, how we tap | :26:00. | :26:02. | |
the massive potential of our tidal streams. We heard nothing about how | :26:03. | :26:08. | |
we will see implementation of carbon capture and storage that we will | :26:09. | :26:12. | |
need if you are going to be able to afford to meet both any financial | :26:13. | :26:16. | |
sense and actually in a technical sense our carbon budgets that we | :26:17. | :26:21. | |
have agreed at Parliament. We also have... I won't, there are others. | :26:22. | :26:28. | |
Thank you. We are also pushing ahead with the privatisation of the green | :26:29. | :26:31. | |
investment at precisely the wrong time. As part of this, I hope the | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
Government will reflect upon the challenges that they face and cancel | :26:37. | :26:40. | |
that sale. Oil and gas, something that has raised its head, given the | :26:41. | :26:46. | |
changes in the Scottish political debate. In 2014, the then Prime | :26:47. | :26:53. | |
Minister promised Scotland a ?200 billion oil bonanza, if we voted no. | :26:54. | :26:59. | |
He told us that that industry relied upon the broad shoulders of this UK. | :27:00. | :27:06. | |
Those shoulders have barely shrugged in defence of the 65,000 people, | :27:07. | :27:11. | |
many of whom are in my constituency and lost their job well they have | :27:12. | :27:15. | |
been asleep at the wheel. I and my party will take no lectures from | :27:16. | :27:19. | |
folks over there on the oil and gas industry. They have had an absolute | :27:20. | :27:25. | |
dereliction of duty. This budget had the opportunity to right that wrong. | :27:26. | :27:30. | |
What did they do? Did they come forward with the explanation | :27:31. | :27:33. | |
incentives that the industry needs? No, they did not. We simply reheated | :27:34. | :27:39. | |
a previous commitment from the last budget and said that we will set up | :27:40. | :27:44. | |
a discussion group. Mr Speaker, that frankly is not good enough. For | :27:45. | :27:49. | |
people are losing their jobs, you do not sit down and have a chat over a | :27:50. | :27:55. | |
cup of tea. In an independent Scotland, it would have undoubtedly | :27:56. | :27:59. | |
acted, swiftly, decisively and would have saved these people's jobs. | :28:00. | :28:07. | |
Is all great but it's a great policy statements made, there is a vision. | :28:08. | :28:19. | |
That vision is backed by policy. Today's the theme of the Budget | :28:20. | :28:24. | |
debate is education. We had the Secretary of state speak at great | :28:25. | :28:28. | |
length about one of the great problems that has beset the | :28:29. | :28:30. | |
education system in our country for decades, the link between social | :28:31. | :28:34. | |
background and educational attainment. Of course, it is one | :28:35. | :28:40. | |
thing to talk about it, and another to actually address that with | :28:41. | :28:45. | |
policies. That will work. I think, for most of us, to see the | :28:46. | :28:49. | |
Government to return to the failed policies of the past, to try to | :28:50. | :28:54. | |
address that, I think was a great mistake. To say that the issue of | :28:55. | :29:01. | |
social backgrounds and educational attainment will actually be solved | :29:02. | :29:06. | |
by the return of grammar schools, which may have benefited if you, but | :29:07. | :29:09. | |
did to at the vast expense of the did to at the vast expense of the | :29:10. | :29:13. | |
majority of the young people in an area, is something totally and | :29:14. | :29:17. | |
utterly unacceptable. The Government itself, it has had problems with its | :29:18. | :29:22. | |
own backbenchers in terms of trying to put forward that particular | :29:23. | :29:26. | |
policy. I say to the Government, yes, we all agree with tackling | :29:27. | :29:31. | |
educational attainment and social background, but not like a return to | :29:32. | :29:36. | |
selective education. To essentially what will be the 11 plus. Let me | :29:37. | :29:42. | |
also say that it is clear that the Treasury Minister is at the Treasury | :29:43. | :29:47. | |
bench there, midget -- ministers went to the Treasury and said, the | :29:48. | :29:51. | |
National Audit Office is saying there will be a ?3 billion cut. A | :29:52. | :29:55. | |
real terms cut in our Budget by 2020. That is not defensible. I say | :29:56. | :30:02. | |
to the Conservative MPs, they will not have on their leaflets all of | :30:03. | :30:04. | |
the cuts that will be to their own the cuts that will be to their own | :30:05. | :30:08. | |
skills. Generally, I will write to the Minister about this, as though | :30:09. | :30:12. | |
it somehow happens without Government decision. The education | :30:13. | :30:15. | |
Department have failed in their attempt to get the Treasury to stay | :30:16. | :30:17. | |
dump up more money to pay for our dump up more money to pay for our | :30:18. | :30:23. | |
schools. The consequences are for virtue every school in the country, | :30:24. | :30:28. | |
a reduction of funding. For large numbers of teachers, large numbers | :30:29. | :30:33. | |
of them will be made redundant or not the employed. That is the | :30:34. | :30:39. | |
reality of the Government's policy with respect to education. My own | :30:40. | :30:46. | |
constituency by 2020 will see cuts of ?5.6 million in real terms. The | :30:47. | :30:52. | |
equivalent of 139 teachers. In Nottinghamshire, that accounts to | :30:53. | :30:58. | |
nearly ?40 million worth of cuts. The local Conservative candidates | :30:59. | :30:59. | |
those elections somehow pretend it those elections somehow pretend it | :31:00. | :31:03. | |
has nothing to do with them and object when we point out it is their | :31:04. | :31:07. | |
own Government that is doing it. We also say that we also face a crisis | :31:08. | :31:12. | |
with respected teacher recruitment and retention. At the heart of any | :31:13. | :31:22. | |
policy to raise attainment in some of our most difficult schools, some | :31:23. | :31:26. | |
of our schools where we wanted that the timid to be raised, at the heart | :31:27. | :31:29. | |
of that is good teaching and good headteachers. That is absolutely | :31:30. | :31:35. | |
fundamental to it. Every single policy over the last few years until | :31:36. | :31:40. | |
fairly recently has recognised that and try to make sure that happens. | :31:41. | :31:45. | |
And yet, we see teacher recruitment and retention but under threat. In | :31:46. | :31:51. | |
certain subjects, the inability of schools to recruit to teaching | :31:52. | :31:54. | |
specialists and in some circumstances some schools actually | :31:55. | :31:57. | |
reflect on whether they have enough staff to ensure whether they can | :31:58. | :32:02. | |
deliver a full regular over a full number of schooldays. I also want to | :32:03. | :32:09. | |
say, Mr Speaker, to the Government about the issue, it is the case that | :32:10. | :32:19. | |
every single Government for decades has called for parity of esteem | :32:20. | :32:25. | |
between academic and vocational education. With respect to what they | :32:26. | :32:32. | |
need to actually answer is wide wheelbase policy initiative of T | :32:33. | :32:36. | |
levels be different to other policy and that have gone before which have | :32:37. | :32:40. | |
topped about the courtier of work experience, parity of esteem. The | :32:41. | :32:46. | |
problem in this country that has not been addressed by the Government, | :32:47. | :32:50. | |
all of us need are addressed, we have a cultural problem. The | :32:51. | :32:57. | |
vocational education is not seen as of parity with academic education. | :32:58. | :33:02. | |
When the Government itself decides what is a good school, it doesn't | :33:03. | :33:06. | |
say this is a good school because of the number of people in the gets | :33:07. | :33:10. | |
into high-quality occasional education after sitting. A judge is | :33:11. | :33:17. | |
it on academic results. If we are judging our schools purely on the | :33:18. | :33:22. | |
basis of academic achievement, it is a wonder that education is regarded | :33:23. | :33:29. | |
as second-rate when it shouldn't be. My overview is that there needs to | :33:30. | :33:34. | |
be a national crusade on vocational education to say that it is | :33:35. | :33:38. | |
problem in this country, something problem in this country, something | :33:39. | :33:41. | |
that we need to change attitudes with respect to if we are actually | :33:42. | :33:46. | |
ever going to deliver that high quality that we need. Across the | :33:47. | :33:51. | |
whole of the country, there are shortages in skills. In various | :33:52. | :33:56. | |
industries. The Government needs to spend why what they are proposing | :33:57. | :34:00. | |
will be different to many of the sound and well-meaning policy | :34:01. | :34:06. | |
objectives that there were before. Thank you, Mr Speaker. A few weeks | :34:07. | :34:13. | |
ago I joined the Faversham care worker came on her rounds. I don't | :34:14. | :34:18. | |
at 7:30am and she had already started washing her first client. | :34:19. | :34:25. | |
That Lady needed came's help to get up, washed and dressed and have | :34:26. | :34:27. | |
breakfast, things that we take for granted. If you suffer disabilities, | :34:28. | :34:35. | |
you may need help. I spent that morning with her because I wanted to | :34:36. | :34:36. | |
see the challenges we have in social see the challenges we have in social | :34:37. | :34:40. | |
care for myself. In my constituency, we have an acute sorted of until you | :34:41. | :34:43. | |
care. Care agencies tell me they care. Care agencies tell me they | :34:44. | :34:49. | |
cannot recruit enough to meet demand. Not at the rates they can | :34:50. | :34:54. | |
pay. I am told there are people going without care who need it. | :34:55. | :35:00. | |
Local hospital to me that any time around a third of their patients | :35:01. | :35:01. | |
would be kept -- better care for it would be kept -- better care for it | :35:02. | :35:08. | |
somewhere else. Efficiency agencies have been achieved, but in my part | :35:09. | :35:13. | |
of Kent, it feels like the care system is only just managing. Across | :35:14. | :35:17. | |
the country, there are similar stories. That is why I asked the | :35:18. | :35:23. | |
Chancellor before this Budget if he could find extra money for social | :35:24. | :35:24. | |
care. I know I was one of many, and care. I know I was one of many, and | :35:25. | :35:30. | |
I am grateful that we have been heard. This Budget will give social | :35:31. | :35:36. | |
care ?2 billion more over the next three years, of which 1 billion will | :35:37. | :35:44. | |
be available in 2017-18. That is an extra 6 million share in Kent. More | :35:45. | :35:51. | |
than double... It will make a real difference. Also welcome is ?100 | :35:52. | :35:55. | |
million to fund more GPs in a and trees. They are at pressure point. | :35:56. | :36:00. | |
-- the need for Health and Social Care | :36:01. | :36:10. | |
is going to rise and the costs with it. The number of over 85s is set to | :36:11. | :36:17. | |
there are worrying trends about there are worrying trends about | :36:18. | :36:20. | |
people much anger, in their 60s per instance, living with life limiting | :36:21. | :36:27. | |
conditions. -- younger. The money to care for people has to come from | :36:28. | :36:31. | |
somewhere, not adding to get to be paid off by future generations, nor | :36:32. | :36:35. | |
by tax changes which I have heard some members of the opposition | :36:36. | :36:41. | |
proposed that have not been thought through and could result in area | :36:42. | :36:44. | |
cost of care, rather than money that cost of care, rather than money that | :36:45. | :36:51. | |
is needed. The best way to pay for the increasing cost of care is to | :36:52. | :36:54. | |
buy having a strong and growing economy. I welcome that this Budget | :36:55. | :36:58. | |
has boosting productivity at its core. With investment in | :36:59. | :37:05. | |
infrastructure, skills, education. But we also need to adapt the | :37:06. | :37:09. | |
changes to the nature of work that are already happening. As the | :37:10. | :37:12. | |
Secretary of State said earlier, jobs are changing fast. 6% of the | :37:13. | :37:20. | |
jobs today was 's schoolchildren will do have not been invented. More | :37:21. | :37:24. | |
people are self-imposed, finding work in the gig economy. We need to | :37:25. | :37:34. | |
respond. I recognise the extra risks and insecurities for self-employed | :37:35. | :37:37. | |
and entrepreneurs, I am married to one, and I hope that in the autumn | :37:38. | :37:43. | |
some of the insecurities of modern work will be addressed, some of the | :37:44. | :37:51. | |
-- imbalance between self-employed and those in employment. Particular | :37:52. | :37:55. | |
when you factor in National Insurance contradictions paid by a | :37:56. | :37:59. | |
point. Business models have developed to take advantage of the | :38:00. | :38:02. | |
tax differential. In the process, the rapid rise of seven climate is | :38:03. | :38:09. | |
eroding the tax base and that has to be addressed. We will all get old. | :38:10. | :38:11. | |
They need care one day. We all need They need care one day. We all need | :38:12. | :38:18. | |
to contribute to pay for that. Finally, Mr Speaker, I look forward | :38:19. | :38:22. | |
to the plans green paper on the future of social care funding. We | :38:23. | :38:27. | |
need a funding system that means providers of care will look ahead | :38:28. | :38:31. | |
and invest in facilities and is particularly in the workforce. The | :38:32. | :38:37. | |
people who provide care are at the heart of this. It was a chip | :38:38. | :38:41. | |
provides to spend time with came in Faversham and see what she did for | :38:42. | :38:44. | |
the people she cared for. We must make sure that no one has to worry | :38:45. | :38:48. | |
in future whether they would get the in future whether they would get the | :38:49. | :38:51. | |
care that they need when they need it. Lastly, the Chancellor delivered | :38:52. | :39:00. | |
his Budget on International Women's Day. A day when women and men across | :39:01. | :39:05. | |
the world celebrated women and their conservation to society. And | :39:06. | :39:09. | |
highlighted how important it is to have an inclusive gender balanced | :39:10. | :39:13. | |
workplace. I can't think of a better day than International Women's Day | :39:14. | :39:16. | |
for the Chancellor to show how much we value the contribution that women | :39:17. | :39:21. | |
make to the economy. Instead, the Chancellor used his Budget to | :39:22. | :39:27. | |
continue the hard Tory as Verity policies that disproportionately | :39:28. | :39:30. | |
affect women and men, and indeed their families across this country. | :39:31. | :39:34. | |
We know that women are affected twice as hard by this Government's | :39:35. | :39:37. | |
dangerous obsession with austerity. It is very clear that Tory as dirty | :39:38. | :39:44. | |
as gendered. Cuts to public-sector jobs, increase in temporary and you | :39:45. | :39:47. | |
are our contract affect women the most. Women make up the majority of | :39:48. | :39:53. | |
workers living in poverty, with many juggling 23 low-paid part-time jobs | :39:54. | :39:56. | |
as they try to make ends meet. Where is the help they successfully to | :39:57. | :40:01. | |
scramble from just about managing to be able to provide for their | :40:02. | :40:05. | |
families without the fear and stress of ever household budgets. The | :40:06. | :40:08. | |
gentle started his Speech by talking about preparing for a brighter | :40:09. | :40:13. | |
future. I have to ask him and his colleagues, in what parallel | :40:14. | :40:15. | |
universes the future bright for the universes the future bright for the | :40:16. | :40:20. | |
300,000 children that will be forced into poverty as a result of their | :40:21. | :40:24. | |
refusal to stop the cuts to the work allowance? This despite a report | :40:25. | :40:28. | |
from the resolution foundation only this month that one is that the Tory | :40:29. | :40:32. | |
Government's tax and social security policy would drive the biggest | :40:33. | :40:35. | |
increase in inequality since Thatcher. Mr Speaker, I grew up in a | :40:36. | :40:40. | |
single mother Margaret Thatcher. It strikes me that not much has | :40:41. | :40:45. | |
that on the same page of the Budget that on the same page of the | :40:46. | :40:47. | |
document, this Government gives document, this Government gives | :40:48. | :40:50. | |
welcome move yet refuses to take welcome move yet refuses to take | :40:51. | :40:58. | |
action on the impunity of two child limit and scrappy repugnant rate | :40:59. | :41:02. | |
clause. As he spoke about the writer future, hundreds of Waspi | :41:03. | :41:07. | |
campaigners, including women from my constituency, protested outside | :41:08. | :41:09. | |
parliament and still be Chancellor failed resolutely to outside a | :41:10. | :41:12. | |
single measure to tackle state pension it was of those women were | :41:13. | :41:16. | |
tied for their bright future. This Tory Government is exclusion it. The | :41:17. | :41:20. | |
cuts announced women that Scotland was negated day-to-day Budget will | :41:21. | :41:25. | |
be an out of those that by 2020, Scotland will be 2.5 billion pounds | :41:26. | :41:32. | |
of my real terms. This territory, focusing on last to the middle of | :41:33. | :41:37. | |
the next decade. Public services and household goods face 15 years of UK | :41:38. | :41:43. | |
Government austerity. A second report projected that child poverty | :41:44. | :41:49. | |
would increase to 30% by 2122. That said that it was entirely explained | :41:50. | :41:53. | |
by the direct impact of tax and benefit reforms. Let's not forget, | :41:54. | :41:57. | |
Mr Speaker, it was only 18 months after the Tory Government came to | :41:58. | :42:02. | |
power that it scrapped child poverty targets, coming just after child tax | :42:03. | :42:06. | |
credit cuts. What a shameful way to start your time in Government. This | :42:07. | :42:10. | |
Government, this Chancellor had a chance to reverse that and he did | :42:11. | :42:15. | |
nothing. I have asked the Government to act -- tell us why they brought | :42:16. | :42:20. | |
forward nothing to address the cuts that will hit low to mid income | :42:21. | :42:25. | |
families. Why has he did nothing to project millions of children from | :42:26. | :42:30. | |
the prospect of poverty? The poorest quarter of working age households | :42:31. | :42:35. | |
are projected to be five to 15% worse off. That is an income growth | :42:36. | :42:41. | |
that it is said that the worst period of income growth for the | :42:42. | :42:44. | |
poorest households since records began in the mid-19 60s. This is | :42:45. | :42:48. | |
before the cuts are due to hit. And before Brexit was of the Chancellor | :42:49. | :42:55. | |
told that his Budget continues the task of getting Britain to live | :42:56. | :42:58. | |
within its means. I'm sure there are thousands of families across the | :42:59. | :43:02. | |
country who would love to have the means within which to live. But they | :43:03. | :43:06. | |
do not. And yet, they are simply struggling every day because of a | :43:07. | :43:09. | |
punitive measures of this Government. What will be Chancellor | :43:10. | :43:12. | |
Cologne parents are numerous credit who will lose an average ?2380 per | :43:13. | :43:22. | |
year. The impact of the benefits freeze in the context of rapid price | :43:23. | :43:28. | |
registered as a dramatic effect on family incomes, families on a low | :43:29. | :43:31. | |
income cannot afford to pay increase that will happen as a result of | :43:32. | :43:34. | |
their policies. It hard to read Brexit remains the | :43:35. | :43:45. | |
major threat to Scotland. The negative threat has not been | :43:46. | :43:51. | |
exaggerated. It hasn't happened yet. They have said there will be no | :43:52. | :43:56. | |
structural improvement and forecasts for the next five years remain | :43:57. | :43:58. | |
unchanged. The impact of a hard Brexit is yet to be felt. Among the | :43:59. | :44:04. | |
other tales of a hard Tory Brexit, the change for entrepreneurs and for | :44:05. | :44:08. | |
the self-employed is going to be devastating. The SNP wholeheartedly | :44:09. | :44:12. | |
believed in flexible labour markets but that flexibility must be guarded | :44:13. | :44:16. | |
against vulnerability and self-employed workers in the UK on | :44:17. | :44:19. | |
low incomes do not enjoy the same guarantees as we have heard. This | :44:20. | :44:24. | |
budget was an opportunity to do the right thing to support women on low | :44:25. | :44:28. | |
income families and beaten into austerity. It is nothing more than | :44:29. | :44:32. | |
an opportunity lost by this Government. This Government might | :44:33. | :44:36. | |
see a bright future, Bill looks more to me like dark clouds and a perfect | :44:37. | :44:40. | |
storm for the rest of us. Winter is coming, Mr Speaker, and Scotland is | :44:41. | :44:43. | |
heading in a different direction. It will be, I think, a new dawn for us. | :44:44. | :44:50. | |
Education has a key role to play in cycles of poverty but we know that | :44:51. | :44:54. | |
poverty has a profound impact upon a child's ability to make the most of | :44:55. | :44:58. | |
any education opportunity available. This budget did nothing to tackle | :44:59. | :45:01. | |
child poverty which stands at around 4 million in this country. A | :45:02. | :45:06. | |
shameful figure and one that is set to rise. According to the child | :45:07. | :45:10. | |
poverty action group, by the age of three, poorer children are estimated | :45:11. | :45:13. | |
to be an average nine months behind children from wealthier backgrounds. | :45:14. | :45:20. | |
By the end of primary school, pupils receiving free school meals are | :45:21. | :45:22. | |
estimated to be almost three times behind children of market affluent | :45:23. | :45:28. | |
families. By forging, this gap could rose to over five times. -- by 14. | :45:29. | :45:38. | |
We know as well that the early years are crucial for Child development. | :45:39. | :45:42. | |
Maintained nursery schools do a really important job for children in | :45:43. | :45:46. | |
early years and many are struggling financially. The Chancellor chose to | :45:47. | :45:52. | |
find ?320 million for 140 new free schools. I would really question his | :45:53. | :45:58. | |
sense of priorities. 65% of nursery schools in the most deprived areas | :45:59. | :46:02. | |
in the UK. 97% of them are rated good arrow standing Ofsted. No other | :46:03. | :46:09. | |
part of the education sector can match that and their value cannot be | :46:10. | :46:13. | |
in doubt. In nursery in my constituency has received three | :46:14. | :46:16. | |
outstanding judgment in its last three Ofsted report provides a vital | :46:17. | :46:21. | |
service to families. Around 20% of the children have special | :46:22. | :46:24. | |
educational needs and or a disability including autism, | :46:25. | :46:28. | |
epilepsy or mobility problems. The families of a number of children are | :46:29. | :46:33. | |
on low incomes. The school gives those children the very best start | :46:34. | :46:39. | |
in life. Despite this service is based on specialist expertise by | :46:40. | :46:46. | |
highly qualified trained teaching staff, it is funded at the same rate | :46:47. | :46:48. | |
as all childcare providers. Local authorities can top up the funding. | :46:49. | :46:52. | |
They have seen their budgets cut severely by central Government. It | :46:53. | :46:54. | |
has announced extra funding for nursery schools but schools like the | :46:55. | :46:59. | |
one I spoke about will only see a very small amount. So the school | :47:00. | :47:06. | |
will remain financially squeezed. If the Government is really serious | :47:07. | :47:11. | |
about... It should maintain a nursery schools and ensure they get | :47:12. | :47:14. | |
the funding they need to maintain their future. Between 2013 and 19, a | :47:15. | :47:21. | |
finding very people in my constituency is expected to fall by | :47:22. | :47:27. | |
10%. That will mean a loss of ?309 per pupil. This will inevitably lead | :47:28. | :47:32. | |
to the detriment of the people's education and the morale of staff | :47:33. | :47:38. | |
and is unacceptable. The arts in education are particularly at risk | :47:39. | :47:41. | |
at the moment. Uptake of creative subject at secondary level fell by | :47:42. | :47:46. | |
14% between 2010 and 2015 and the Government has so far failed to | :47:47. | :47:50. | |
respond to the consultation which included the place of arts subjects | :47:51. | :47:57. | |
on the curriculum. 90% of respondents reported that either art | :47:58. | :48:01. | |
music or drama is no longer offered at their school. 20% said one or | :48:02. | :48:05. | |
more of these subjects have been given reduced timetable space. | :48:06. | :48:09. | |
Studies here and in the US have shown students from low-income | :48:10. | :48:13. | |
families who have the opportunity to engage in the arts school are | :48:14. | :48:16. | |
significantly more likely to go on to get a degree and the role so more | :48:17. | :48:20. | |
employable overall. We can see these to school funding by damaging the | :48:21. | :48:25. | |
future prospects of our young people. We also have a real issue | :48:26. | :48:30. | |
around adult literacy and numeracy, latest Government studies published | :48:31. | :48:36. | |
in 2011 found that nearly 15% of 16 to 65-year-olds are functionally | :48:37. | :48:40. | |
illiterate. 23% of people in the survey lacked basic new Morrissey | :48:41. | :48:44. | |
skills. This is a real crisis and the Government should tackle it as a | :48:45. | :48:48. | |
matter of urgency. Not only for the individuals but for their families. | :48:49. | :48:52. | |
Educate the mother or father and of course to educate the child. We need | :48:53. | :48:58. | |
real investment in adult education. The Chancellor announced 40 million | :48:59. | :49:04. | |
in funding for 2018 last 29 team for this. There have been cuts of over | :49:05. | :49:10. | |
?1 billion to the sectors and 2010. I would question the need for | :49:11. | :49:15. | |
pilots. As someone has a close knowledge of the work of the British | :49:16. | :49:19. | |
education Association, I can assure the Government there is plenty of | :49:20. | :49:22. | |
expertise out doubt they can tap into to put together a programme of | :49:23. | :49:27. | |
adult education and lifelong learning. I would urge them to think | :49:28. | :49:32. | |
beyond retraining and up killing two. These are vital to provide | :49:33. | :49:36. | |
training opportunities to move on in terms of employment, but it is | :49:37. | :49:40. | |
important to provide education for education's 's sake. We see the huge | :49:41. | :49:45. | |
popularity of things like the great British because, the great painting | :49:46. | :49:53. | |
challenge, and we can see how the they have everything to do with | :49:54. | :49:57. | |
creativity and learning. I will join my right honourable friend the | :49:58. | :50:00. | |
member for Tottenham for the call in the reintroduction of night schools. | :50:01. | :50:04. | |
Places where people can learn and socialise. They help people growing | :50:05. | :50:08. | |
confidence and make friends and provide an effective way to tackle | :50:09. | :50:13. | |
social isolation. They can be transforming for individuals and | :50:14. | :50:17. | |
their communities. They have a particular important offer in our | :50:18. | :50:21. | |
ageing society. In her Lancaster house speech setting out the | :50:22. | :50:24. | |
Government negotiation objectives for exiting the EU, she said they | :50:25. | :50:28. | |
would aim to build a stronger economy and fairer society. If the | :50:29. | :50:33. | |
Government is sincere, it should make a priority to fund education. | :50:34. | :50:39. | |
It should be ambitious as plans for lifelong learning and make a real | :50:40. | :50:44. | |
priority of tackling child poverty so children are healthy and able to | :50:45. | :50:47. | |
make the most of the education opportunities on offer. As I call | :50:48. | :50:53. | |
the honourable member for Sheffield Brightside in Hillsborough, I ensure | :50:54. | :50:56. | |
members on both side of the House will join me in wishing her a happy | :50:57. | :51:03. | |
birthday. Thank you, Mr Speaker. This budget is at its heart deeply | :51:04. | :51:08. | |
unfair and a budget of broken promises and missed opportunities. | :51:09. | :51:14. | |
As an MP for Sheffield, I grew up here and I'm extremely proud to | :51:15. | :51:17. | |
represent them in this place. That means standing up for them. There | :51:18. | :51:21. | |
have been cuts every year to Sheffield City Council for seven | :51:22. | :51:27. | |
years. Now totalling ?352 million and next year they will have to find | :51:28. | :51:31. | |
another 40 million to balance the budget. Sheffield is a fantastic | :51:32. | :51:42. | |
Sethi, with a strong industrial base, we drove the industrial | :51:43. | :51:48. | |
revolution... But wages have fallen dramatically. Shamefully, it was | :51:49. | :51:53. | |
recently found that Sheffield was the low pay capital of the UK. There | :51:54. | :52:00. | |
was little in this budget to help. The self employed at the engine | :52:01. | :52:04. | |
drivers of entrepreneurship, many at the cutting edge of technology and | :52:05. | :52:08. | |
self-employment in Sheffield has increased in recent years by 10%. | :52:09. | :52:14. | |
This shows our city's entrepreneurial character. Real | :52:15. | :52:17. | |
wages are among those who are self-employed have fallen faster | :52:18. | :52:22. | |
than employees. For my constituents, a ?2 billion broken promise on | :52:23. | :52:27. | |
national insurance contributions will have a serious effect on their | :52:28. | :52:31. | |
livelihoods. And fairness is at the heart of this budget, Mr Speaker. It | :52:32. | :52:36. | |
will hit low and middle earners hardest. That is hurting working | :52:37. | :52:41. | |
people in Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough. Whilst raising taxes | :52:42. | :52:43. | |
are the most vulnerable in our society and simultaneously choosing | :52:44. | :52:48. | |
to do nothing about working standards for the self-employed, the | :52:49. | :52:51. | |
Chancellor decided to cut taxes for the richest. Since 2010, policy | :52:52. | :52:57. | |
measures introduced by this Government will, over the next five | :52:58. | :53:01. | |
years, result in over 70 billion of tax giveaways to big businesses and | :53:02. | :53:06. | |
the super rich. Meanwhile, as much authority been said about the | :53:07. | :53:09. | |
contentious business rates. Pubs in my constituency will feel the pain | :53:10. | :53:16. | |
of increased rates, despite the headline grabbing one year only | :53:17. | :53:21. | |
discount. The British beer and Pub Association forecast that increases | :53:22. | :53:26. | |
on beer duty will result in 4000 job losses and more pub closures. We | :53:27. | :53:31. | |
know what to expect from this Government by now, taking the can | :53:32. | :53:34. | |
down the road. Naturally, there was no mention for the struggling steel | :53:35. | :53:42. | |
sector, no mention of climate change in the Chancellor's speech. Social | :53:43. | :53:48. | |
care is an of emergency due to due to cuts to local council's budgets, | :53:49. | :53:52. | |
with over 1 million vulnerable elderly people not receiving the | :53:53. | :53:56. | |
care they need. The extra 2 billion for adult social care does not make | :53:57. | :54:02. | |
the 4.6 billion in cuts over the last Parliament. Believe me, | :54:03. | :54:05. | |
councils in the north are not getting the same sorry sweetheart | :54:06. | :54:12. | |
deal on social care. The Chancellor had an opportunity last Wednesday to | :54:13. | :54:16. | |
properly address the crisis but he didn't take it. On the NHS, the | :54:17. | :54:21. | |
Chancellor announced no money to do with hospitals although there is a 5 | :54:22. | :54:24. | |
billion black hole in NHS maintenance. The cuts to nurses | :54:25. | :54:36. | |
bursaries, have led to a reduction applications for nursing courses. A | :54:37. | :54:40. | |
E are in crisis. Waiting lists are soaring. Forgive me if I feel this | :54:41. | :54:45. | |
is all too little too late, ensuring a decent education for our children | :54:46. | :54:50. | |
should be of absolute priority, not an afterthought. This Government | :54:51. | :54:55. | |
promised they would protect people spending, but after inflation it has | :54:56. | :54:58. | |
fallen in real terms another broken promise. In my constituency, Foxhill | :54:59. | :55:08. | |
primary School will be ?1003 worth of, according to the National union | :55:09. | :55:16. | |
of teachers. Van beware in 2013. Community primary will be ?1586 | :55:17. | :55:21. | |
worth of people during that same period. Funding per pupil will have | :55:22. | :55:30. | |
fallen by average 11% from 2013 levels and by 2019. However, there | :55:31. | :55:38. | |
are 1.5 million fewer adult learners than under the last Labour | :55:39. | :55:41. | |
Government and since 2010, adult skills training has been cut by 54%. | :55:42. | :55:50. | |
Furthermore, the further education sector has fared little better. | :55:51. | :55:55. | |
According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, I could, by 2020, | :55:56. | :55:59. | |
spending per student will only just be above the level the 30 years ago | :56:00. | :56:10. | |
at the end of the 1980s. Mr Speaker, it is ironic that this budget fell | :56:11. | :56:13. | |
on the same day as International Women's Day. Tory cuts have | :56:14. | :56:18. | |
disproportionately affected women and sadly this budget did nothing to | :56:19. | :56:24. | |
change that. This budget has hurt the self-employed, below owners and | :56:25. | :56:28. | |
those on benefits while letting the richest of the hook. It is a | :56:29. | :56:33. | |
divisive and unfair budget. The Conservatives are clearly not the | :56:34. | :56:36. | |
party of the working people of Britain. Mr Speaker, this budget is | :56:37. | :56:42. | |
at its heart deeply unfair, a budget bill of broken promises and missed | :56:43. | :56:47. | |
opportunities and it will hurt my constituents of Sheffield, | :56:48. | :56:50. | |
Brightside and Hillsborough. Thank you. The honourable member for | :56:51. | :56:54. | |
Willow west has advised me that it is her birthday as well. Again, on | :56:55. | :56:59. | |
both sides of the House, we wish the honourable lady a very happy | :57:00. | :57:00. | |
birthday indeed. 'S is deliver confidence. It is | :57:01. | :57:18. | |
stated that the future is uncertain. Any focus is unlikely to be | :57:19. | :57:22. | |
unfulfilled, a damning statement has it is likely to be the | :57:23. | :57:25. | |
responsibility of the Government to create certainty. Brexit approaches | :57:26. | :57:34. | |
us like a black cloud. Perhaps not be Chancellor's fold, after all, the | :57:35. | :57:37. | |
Prime Minister set the direction. As the storm approaches, in the modern | :57:38. | :57:43. | |
parlance of giving impending storms names, we should call it at Maxtor | :57:44. | :57:48. | |
to reason. This Budget was another missed opportunity to do with the | :57:49. | :57:52. | |
unfairness of the steep rise in women's venture were aged over to | :57:53. | :58:11. | |
shorter time frame. -- Storm anti. The Waspi when making a noise | :58:12. | :58:19. | |
outside Parliament. The Chancellor could not hear it. Death to the | :58:20. | :58:26. | |
legitimate demands of the Waspi women. Desperately hoping that the | :58:27. | :58:31. | |
unfairness and inequality would go away. It is not going to go away | :58:32. | :58:36. | |
like the message last week, the volume is going to be turned up. The | :58:37. | :58:40. | |
campaign is gathering momentum and the Government are going to have to | :58:41. | :58:46. | |
listen. 245 Members of Parliament have lodged petitions asking for | :58:47. | :58:54. | |
action. There was a debate on Westminster Hall on the 9th of | :58:55. | :58:58. | |
February. The chair at that meeting accepted to the challenge that the | :58:59. | :59:01. | |
House had not considered the effect of state pension changes on | :59:02. | :59:07. | |
working-class women after a quite woeful and I may say this respectful | :59:08. | :59:13. | |
response from the Minister, the Member for Southampton North. The | :59:14. | :59:17. | |
fact that on the back of the motion being rejected that this matter has | :59:18. | :59:22. | |
not come back to the Chamber for determination is disgraceful. And we | :59:23. | :59:25. | |
will continue to pursue this matter. This of course follows a division in | :59:26. | :59:31. | |
this Chamber on the 1st of December 2016 when the House divided by 106-2 | :59:32. | :59:40. | |
against the motion that the House had considered the Excel oration of | :59:41. | :59:44. | |
the pension age for women born in the 1950s. No response from the | :59:45. | :59:50. | |
Government from the vote. They chose to ignore it. When we have been | :59:51. | :59:59. | |
discussing the matter of women against... The focus has been on the | :00:00. | :00:05. | |
2.6 million women supposedly affected. That is the number the | :00:06. | :00:07. | |
Government have referred to. All the Government have referred to. All the | :00:08. | :00:10. | |
discussions taking place have been around that number. Now it is | :00:11. | :00:15. | |
alleged from a Freedom of Information request it came to light | :00:16. | :00:20. | |
last Friday that he action number is 02.6 million women, but 3.4 eight | :00:21. | :00:30. | |
million women. Nearly 1 million more woman if the reports are accurate | :00:31. | :00:35. | |
are set to miss out. It is outrageous, if this is the case. I | :00:36. | :00:41. | |
has the Minister in summing up to give us a narrative. What is the | :00:42. | :00:47. | |
figure, why the discrepancy? Why at this page does the Government not | :00:48. | :00:50. | |
appear to know what the exact number of women affected by these changes | :00:51. | :00:56. | |
is? We had the farce of the situation where it to the Government | :00:57. | :01:00. | |
14 years to communicate formally with any of the women affected. This | :01:01. | :01:06. | |
latest twist adds insult to injury. If the reports are true, how did the | :01:07. | :01:13. | |
Government get the figures wrong? Mr Deputy Speaker, we need answers and | :01:14. | :01:17. | |
we need answers from the Government front bench today in their summing | :01:18. | :01:23. | |
up. The UK Government must recognise that pensions ought to be a contract | :01:24. | :01:28. | |
and not a benefit. In this Budget, it's presented an opportunity for | :01:29. | :01:32. | |
the Government to live up to the contract. It is clear that | :01:33. | :01:36. | |
delivering fair pensions is not high on this Government 's at it. With | :01:37. | :01:42. | |
Budget was completely devoid of any Budget was completely devoid of any | :01:43. | :01:45. | |
mitigating measures to future proof pension incomes. We need a clear | :01:46. | :01:52. | |
commitment that the triple lock will remain in place beyond 2020, and | :01:53. | :01:56. | |
that mitigation will be put in place for the Waspi women. We in the SNP | :01:57. | :02:02. | |
have published a paper already explain how the Government can push | :02:03. | :02:08. | |
back the timescales on increasing women's pension age at a cost of 8 | :02:09. | :02:11. | |
billion in this Parliament. Something that is affordable giving | :02:12. | :02:19. | |
the 30 billion surplus in the National Insurance fund. Why was the | :02:20. | :02:24. | |
not a take an opportunity in the Budget? Let me say there is talk of | :02:25. | :02:31. | |
a referendum. I want to make it clear that pensioners in Scotland | :02:32. | :02:35. | |
would get justice and fair pensions from an SNP Government, something | :02:36. | :02:41. | |
that is sadly lacking from this UK Tory Government. When we read the | :02:42. | :02:47. | |
economic and fiscal outlook from the Budget of responsibility, it is a | :02:48. | :02:50. | |
damning indictment of Government policy over the last few years, and | :02:51. | :02:52. | |
demonstrates a lack from this Government over our economic future. | :02:53. | :03:02. | |
Every school in my constituency is facing cuts to funding. Combined | :03:03. | :03:06. | |
with rising costs. I speak to head teachers all the time, some of whom | :03:07. | :03:09. | |
had been teaching for many years, who are telling me they are actually | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
concerned about finding situations. In the past, they have cut | :03:15. | :03:17. | |
nonessential activities and support services, feel they have no choice | :03:18. | :03:21. | |
but to cut classroom teachers and whole subject. For the first time | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
they think the funding cuts will actually impact the quality of the | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
teaching. I went to an event in my constituency last night for parents | :03:31. | :03:34. | |
in local schools who are concerned that there were well over ?200 | :03:35. | :03:38. | |
there, there was a real anger amongst them about the prospect of | :03:39. | :03:42. | |
these cuts. They feel a sense of betrayal that their children are not | :03:43. | :03:46. | |
going to the of education that their parents feel they deserve. There are | :03:47. | :03:50. | |
Alice schools ready and willing to Alice schools ready and willing to | :03:51. | :03:54. | |
do the best they can for our children. They will not be able to | :03:55. | :03:57. | |
if the resources available to them are not increased. There are many | :03:58. | :04:00. | |
different causes for the current prices. Not all are related to the | :04:01. | :04:04. | |
proposed changes to the funding formula. Cost are increasing due to | :04:05. | :04:09. | |
unavoidable pension and NIC increases. The Government is | :04:10. | :04:14. | |
stopping grants ending in September. Many schools find themselves | :04:15. | :04:17. | |
absurdly having to play the apprenticeship that it was the | :04:18. | :04:18. | |
funding formula will also increase funding formula will also increase | :04:19. | :04:22. | |
the money available to schools in my constituency, many of them. Parents | :04:23. | :04:26. | |
and teachers are not uninformed. They know there is a squeeze on | :04:27. | :04:30. | |
public spending. They know belts have to be tightened their borrowing | :04:31. | :04:33. | |
has to be cut. They question some of the dishes and is being made. -- | :04:34. | :04:39. | |
decision. A report from the National Audit Office finds that the free | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
schools programme originally budgeted for 90 million will now | :04:44. | :04:47. | |
cost 9 billion. Because of procuring line for school buildings is a big | :04:48. | :04:55. | |
company, 2.5 billion. The estimate that the funding agency is paying | :04:56. | :05:00. | |
30% of the value of land for new schools. Some of the sites are being | :05:01. | :05:06. | |
purchased for schools in areas where there is no demand for extra school | :05:07. | :05:10. | |
places. Nobody is arguing there isn't an urgent need for new school | :05:11. | :05:15. | |
visits. With of all in my own constituency which badly needs a new | :05:16. | :05:18. | |
secondary school. But the free School programme is not providing a | :05:19. | :05:22. | |
cost effective or efficient solution to the needs that needs to be | :05:23. | :05:26. | |
reviews. Tougher regulations on land resources and targeting the areas of | :05:27. | :05:31. | |
greatest needs will provide more money and free up resources for new | :05:32. | :05:36. | |
schools and for existing schools. The Budget announcement including | :05:37. | :05:39. | |
money put aside for grammar schools to be introduced. I have searched | :05:40. | :05:46. | |
the 20 15th manifesto, can find no mention. If Theresa May can find the | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
necessity for a mandate of her own, she has an obligation to deliver | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
what the Conservatives were elected on. She has no mandate for grammar | :05:57. | :06:00. | |
schools. This is not a spending choice the public were asked to vote | :06:01. | :06:05. | |
on. No evidence that grammar schools provide better education. Surely the | :06:06. | :06:09. | |
only goal... I visited a composite School in my constituency yesterday. | :06:10. | :06:17. | |
Rated outstanding in all areas. I was impressed by the quality of | :06:18. | :06:21. | |
teaching on display. I watched a year 11 history lesson and years | :06:22. | :06:24. | |
seven French lesson. The headteacher said they had introduced a classical | :06:25. | :06:28. | |
server licensing A-level in response to demand from pupils. One is now at | :06:29. | :06:33. | |
headteacher is worried, as the all, headteacher is worried, as the all, | :06:34. | :06:40. | |
that the cuts in funding means that she will not be able to deliver the | :06:41. | :06:43. | |
A-levels she used to. There is nothing... At this excellent | :06:44. | :06:51. | |
comments of school cannot already deliver and deliver without advice | :06:52. | :06:54. | |
of selection. I call on the premise that to cancel plans for unnecessary | :06:55. | :07:00. | |
grammars and make use of the excellent provisions already | :07:01. | :07:03. | |
available in education and continue to ensure its excellence. The | :07:04. | :07:07. | |
Chancellor and parameter has both stated that commitment to increasing | :07:08. | :07:10. | |
choice in education. Choice is no good to parents who already have | :07:11. | :07:14. | |
children in schools that are facing funding cuts. Choice implies that | :07:15. | :07:18. | |
there are places in a range of schools for each child, and that | :07:19. | :07:20. | |
parents only need to make a decision. The reality is that this | :07:21. | :07:25. | |
would be any extraordinary week with a way to find school places. Most | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
parents take the place in the school they are offered. Rather than | :07:31. | :07:33. | |
choice, most parents just want to know that the school place offered | :07:34. | :07:39. | |
is for the best education possible. I call on the Government to look at | :07:40. | :07:43. | |
extending plans for education and to take lead on a rising chorus of | :07:44. | :07:48. | |
protest against cutting budgets in my constituency and elsewhere. | :07:49. | :07:51. | |
Investing in education is essential for securing a prosperous future for | :07:52. | :07:54. | |
this country and skills training, not grammar school is, should be the | :07:55. | :08:02. | |
priority if we are to survive outside EU. The T levels will be | :08:03. | :08:11. | |
aligned with NVQs. How much of the proposed spending will be... That | :08:12. | :08:19. | |
could have been spent directly on teaching convocations. I do | :08:20. | :08:21. | |
believe this Budget provides the believe this Budget provides the | :08:22. | :08:28. | |
best possible provision... Which she worked with me and other colleagues | :08:29. | :08:33. | |
on examining whether or not the apprenticeship Navy being taken by | :08:34. | :08:36. | |
local authorities and imposed upon all schools in our constituencies is | :08:37. | :08:42. | |
either right or lawful is I thank the honourable lady. . I quite | :08:43. | :08:48. | |
agree. To include the schools in the apprenticeship levy is absurd. The | :08:49. | :08:51. | |
apprenticeship levy is due to raise money for training and in | :08:52. | :08:57. | |
employment. And to levy this on schools which are already providing | :08:58. | :09:00. | |
excellent learning opportunities is outrageous. I welcome the honourable | :09:01. | :09:05. | |
certainly work with her to certainly work with her to | :09:06. | :09:08. | |
investigate this further. To conclude, I do not believe this | :09:09. | :09:12. | |
Budget provides the best possible provision for education in this | :09:13. | :09:15. | |
country. As families that the Chancellor to look again at their | :09:16. | :09:23. | |
spending plan. I would like to thank colleagues who have spoken today. | :09:24. | :09:28. | |
They have torn this Budget apart. The Member for Washington and | :09:29. | :09:32. | |
Sunderland West, Lewisham East, Burnley, Redcar, Sheffield | :09:33. | :09:39. | |
Brightside, Hillsborough. And menu honourable friend the man for Stoke | :09:40. | :09:45. | |
Central and many other people. Lastly, the Chancellor painted a | :09:46. | :09:48. | |
rosy picture of the nation's finances. He claimed the | :09:49. | :09:52. | |
Conservative party's stewardship has been nothing short of miraculous. | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
The Chancellor attempt tempting joke throughout his Speech. The Prime | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
Minister showed shaking with amusement. Many members chuckled. | :10:04. | :10:08. | |
Some of the more experienced members were watching cautiously as the | :10:09. | :10:11. | |
nosedive gain velocity. The Chancellor got it wrong the time. | :10:12. | :10:17. | |
Within hours, he was attacked by members of his own backbenchers. He | :10:18. | :10:20. | |
was hung out to dry by the primers that, and unsurprisingly has faced | :10:21. | :10:27. | |
universal criticism of his plans to raise National Insurance to 11% for | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
millions of people who are 75. As Sir Michael Caine in the iconic | :10:32. | :10:36. | |
Italian Job movie set, you are only supposed to blow the doors of -- | :10:37. | :10:47. | |
off. While the debris of the exposure is descending committee | :10:48. | :10:50. | |
manifesto pledge broken, pure and simply. Sisters Wednesday, ten and | :10:51. | :10:56. | |
number 11 have been in a briefing war with each other child to blame | :10:57. | :11:02. | |
the other for the fine mess. Ostensibly, number ten suggest the | :11:03. | :11:06. | |
chance that snaked the National Insurance rising to the Budget. | :11:07. | :11:09. | |
Apparently, other colleagues indicated she failed to mention that | :11:10. | :11:13. | |
would break their manifesto pledge. It is worrying, as my honourable | :11:14. | :11:20. | |
friend said, that Cabinet members do not know their own manifesto | :11:21. | :11:23. | |
commitments. Perhaps they don't care. Then again, the Government has | :11:24. | :11:33. | |
a attitude towards this manifesto commitment. Then again, this | :11:34. | :11:42. | |
insouciant attitude goes on. First the Government committed to getting | :11:43. | :11:46. | |
rid of the debt by 2015. Broken promise. Pushed back to 2019-20. | :11:47. | :11:54. | |
Another broken promise. Thirdly, debt starting to come down after | :11:55. | :11:59. | |
2015, another broken promise. The Government will vote on the job and | :12:00. | :12:03. | |
double the time they have taken to get it down. This is what they call | :12:04. | :12:08. | |
success and fiscal credibility. They seem to think they can simply press | :12:09. | :12:13. | |
the reset button when it comes to meeting their own fiscal rules. And | :12:14. | :12:21. | |
no one will notice. The flip side of the approach meant that, when I | :12:22. | :12:25. | |
change my mind, the facts change with it! | :12:26. | :12:30. | |
Now he has had his fun, Katie explained how he is going to find or | :12:31. | :12:35. | |
proposing the Labour Party would find the money required for a social | :12:36. | :12:43. | |
care? Eight fiscal rectitude. When the Government misses the deadline, | :12:44. | :12:48. | |
its modus operandi is to set up a new one and brazenly move on. The | :12:49. | :12:53. | |
immutable law of Tory economics, make it up as you go along. What | :12:54. | :12:58. | |
happened to the long-term economic plan? It didn't last very long. The | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
Prime Minister and the Chancellor have their fingerprints all over | :13:04. | :13:06. | |
every single financial decisions made during the past seven years. It | :13:07. | :13:11. | |
is no surprise they have come under criticism from many in their own | :13:12. | :13:14. | |
party, including the former member for Whitney and the former | :13:15. | :13:21. | |
Chancellor Norman Lamont. He called this a rookie error. Otherwise known | :13:22. | :13:25. | |
in the real world as gross incompetence. Regrettably, it is | :13:26. | :13:28. | |
other people who will pay the price for that incompetence. Turning to | :13:29. | :13:34. | |
Brexit. I will mention it even if the Chancellor doesn't want to. It | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
is the tenth anniversary since the production of free Britain to | :13:40. | :13:43. | |
compete, equipping the UK for globalisation. The publication was a | :13:44. | :13:47. | |
wide ranging policy document offered by the Right Honourable member for | :13:48. | :13:51. | |
walking and friends. It was endorsed by the then shadow, -- Cabinet. The | :13:52. | :14:00. | |
publication that was hard to track down as it has been removed from the | :14:01. | :14:04. | |
Conservative Party website, for good reason, but I find a copy. Its | :14:05. | :14:11. | |
contents were toxic and all the more so in the wake of the subsequent | :14:12. | :14:15. | |
global financial crisis and remains so. But in the light of Brexit and | :14:16. | :14:22. | |
the resurgence of the honourable member's influence, it will soon get | :14:23. | :14:26. | |
a second run out. It is worth the praise of the House, it includes | :14:27. | :14:34. | |
policies such as the abolition of inheritance tax, charging foreign | :14:35. | :14:38. | |
lorries to use British roads, the potential abolition of the BBC | :14:39. | :14:41. | |
licence fee which are advised -- refers to as the poll tax. The | :14:42. | :14:48. | |
deregulation of mortgage finance, because it is the lending | :14:49. | :14:51. | |
institution rather than the client taking the risk. Try telling that to | :14:52. | :14:55. | |
someone whose home has been repossessed. It goes on, we need to | :14:56. | :14:59. | |
make it more difficult for ministers to regulate. Remember this document | :15:00. | :15:06. | |
was dated 2007 and was rubber-stamped by the current Prime | :15:07. | :15:10. | |
Minister and the Chancellor at the time as Northern Rock was about to | :15:11. | :15:14. | |
go under. It continues, listen to this one, the Labour Government | :15:15. | :15:20. | |
claims that this regulation is all necessary. They seem to believe that | :15:21. | :15:25. | |
without it the banks could steal -- steal our money. That might not be | :15:26. | :15:31. | |
the case, but we had liabilities in the banking crisis. Mr Speaker, many | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
people did believe the banks were stealing money and queued up outside | :15:37. | :15:42. | |
banks accordingly. It refers to wanting reliably low inflation, | :15:43. | :15:46. | |
taking the risks by turning fiscal rules into flexible friends. Not the | :15:47. | :15:51. | |
Chancellor has got many of them nowadays. As for Europe, in search | :15:52. | :15:59. | |
of jobs in perspective, it says they should go to Brussels with proposals | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
to do regulate -- deregulate the whole of the EU. No wonder they | :16:04. | :16:08. | |
wanted to bury the evidence. It is the order biography of the hardline | :16:09. | :16:13. | |
Brexit and the Tory blueprint for a post Brexit deregulated Britain. It | :16:14. | :16:17. | |
is a race to the bottom. These policies are is telling narrative of | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
the views of the fundamentalist wing of the Conservative Party and the | :16:22. | :16:26. | |
Prime Minister is hostage to that right wing and she is on the hook. | :16:27. | :16:29. | |
The stage direction coming from looking hammer, North Somerset, | :16:30. | :16:37. | |
occasional guest appearances by the Foreign Secretary. He was briefed | :16:38. | :16:48. | |
against because he may just have a less hardline approach to Brexit | :16:49. | :16:52. | |
than his colleagues. These are the dusted off policies of hard Brexit | :16:53. | :16:58. | |
tears who will stop until nothing when Britain becomes a low-wage, low | :16:59. | :17:03. | |
tax the regulation economy. They want to turn our country, not the | :17:04. | :17:10. | |
country, our country into the bargain basement of the Western | :17:11. | :17:14. | |
world and we have the Prime Minister Intel. Parliamentary scrutiny is a | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
hindrance. Meanwhile the Prime Minister has put kamikaze pilots in | :17:20. | :17:23. | |
the cockpit. The Chancellor knows this too well and that is why there | :17:24. | :17:27. | |
is a reported 60 billion set aside as a trauma fund, a failure funds. | :17:28. | :17:34. | |
It is not Brexit proof in the economy, rather proving the economy | :17:35. | :17:38. | |
from a toxic ideology of the Brexiteers. The Government's | :17:39. | :17:45. | |
proposal to increase premium -- premium insurance tax is a | :17:46. | :17:51. | |
regressive measure and we will not be supporting it. I was surprised to | :17:52. | :17:56. | |
see in the Autumn Statement it is coming from the Government he uses | :17:57. | :18:00. | |
the high cost of insurance premiums as an excess of curbs on victim | :18:01. | :18:06. | |
right to claim compensation. While the Government drives up insurance | :18:07. | :18:12. | |
for millions of families, it wants to forego 70 billion of revenue. As | :18:13. | :18:17. | |
far as we're concerned, Mr Speaker, the budget claims it is very low and | :18:18. | :18:25. | |
middle earners. The NHS, social care industries, self-employed, schools, | :18:26. | :18:29. | |
businesses, pubs, the entrepreneurs, it wants to give them the thumbs up. | :18:30. | :18:36. | |
There is not giving a thumbs up to those people, it is beating two | :18:37. | :18:39. | |
fingers up to them. That is something Labour will never do. | :18:40. | :18:51. | |
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. This is a budget that demonstrates that | :18:52. | :18:54. | |
this Government has the determination to face up to our | :18:55. | :18:58. | |
long-term challenges, this is the budget recognises the only | :18:59. | :19:02. | |
sustainable way to improve living standards is to improve our | :19:03. | :19:06. | |
productivity and this is a budget that recognises that sustainable | :19:07. | :19:10. | |
public finances are not an impediment to prosperity but in | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
necessary we can discern. -- precondition. I would like to thank | :19:16. | :19:18. | |
my honourable friend who participated in this debate, can I | :19:19. | :19:30. | |
say a particular congratulations to the honourable member for | :19:31. | :19:34. | |
Stoke-on-Trent Central. I apologise for having missed his speech but I | :19:35. | :19:38. | |
have heard from a number of people it was excellent. And proves that in | :19:39. | :19:42. | |
terms of his attributes as a member of Parliament, it is not only that | :19:43. | :19:47. | |
he is not Paul Nuttall that he will be welcome in this place. In terms | :19:48. | :19:51. | |
of other contributions from the opposition benches, I could properly | :19:52. | :19:56. | |
summarise them in saying we are not spending enough, we are tackling too | :19:57. | :20:02. | |
much and we are borrowing too much. Thankfully, it's not my job to | :20:03. | :20:05. | |
reconcile it but I wish the honourable Burrell -- honourable | :20:06. | :20:10. | |
member the best of luck. He can see it fiscal rectitude of the likes. An | :20:11. | :20:15. | |
important part of this budget has been ensuring that this country has | :20:16. | :20:19. | |
the skills we need to grow in the 21st-century. Because we have to | :20:20. | :20:23. | |
face up to the fact that tomorrow's labour market is going to look very | :20:24. | :20:28. | |
different to today's. One study estimates that over a third of all | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
jobs in the UK are at high risk of replacement, in the next one or two | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
decades, as technology and Society advances. Economic, social and | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
technological change can make certain jobs or institutions | :20:43. | :20:50. | |
obsolete. Lamplighter 's, handling Uighurs, I suppose you could add the | :20:51. | :20:54. | |
Labour Party to that list. The job of Government is not to stand in the | :20:55. | :21:01. | |
way of those, preserving the old by stifling menu. Our role is to | :21:02. | :21:04. | |
prepare the country and its people to adapt to the changes ahead. That | :21:05. | :21:08. | |
is what this budget was all about, giving young people the skills they | :21:09. | :21:12. | |
will need to get ahead in tomorrow's world. That includes expanding the | :21:13. | :21:19. | |
programme of free skills, investing more in schools maintenance, | :21:20. | :21:22. | |
reforming technical education and increasing teaching hours for | :21:23. | :21:25. | |
further education students. Alongside that, we also took steps | :21:26. | :21:29. | |
to help people with the opportunities to up and reskill | :21:30. | :21:32. | |
throughout their working lives as well as to help our top researchers | :21:33. | :21:36. | |
to develop so that our brightest can become the worldbest. We are taking | :21:37. | :21:42. | |
forward an ambitious plan to improve education across the board for | :21:43. | :21:46. | |
people of all backgrounds and of all ages. Because that alongside our | :21:47. | :21:50. | |
investment in the country's underlying infrastructure is what | :21:51. | :21:54. | |
will count in turning the tide on Britain's long-standing productivity | :21:55. | :21:57. | |
problems. It is only by doing that that we can increase living | :21:58. | :22:02. | |
standards and fund world-class public services. But as we prepare a | :22:03. | :22:09. | |
bright future for the 21st century, we do so responsibly. This was a | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
budget that protected and improved our health and social services, a | :22:15. | :22:17. | |
budget that invested in reform and reform for the benefit the next | :22:18. | :22:21. | |
generation of workers and businesses alike. A budget that did so by | :22:22. | :22:26. | |
finding all of the new spending commitments it made. Unlike the | :22:27. | :22:30. | |
party opposite, we don't believe in spending and promising what we can't | :22:31. | :22:36. | |
deliver. And that does mean having a tax base that is capable of funding | :22:37. | :22:40. | |
the public services that we provide and doing so anyway that is fair. We | :22:41. | :22:45. | |
have heard a lot of mention of the change we made in national insurance | :22:46. | :22:50. | |
for the self-employed and we are listening to our Honourable member | :22:51. | :22:53. | |
's's concerns. We have to recognise the difference between the benefits | :22:54. | :22:58. | |
received by the implied and the self-employed have narrowed the gap | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
in contributions has not. This means the implied to pay a lot more if the | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
same benefits. As self-employment grows in our economy, a welcome | :23:09. | :23:14. | |
trend, that does not place a pressure on funding public services | :23:15. | :23:18. | |
and deficit reduction. A Government addressing long-term challenges has | :23:19. | :23:21. | |
too address this point, not ignore it. So, Mr Deputy Speaker, this is a | :23:22. | :23:29. | |
budget that keeps Britain working. One that invests in our people and | :23:30. | :23:38. | |
public services but one that does so responsibly, continuing to steer the | :23:39. | :23:43. | |
country's was away from Labour spend what you can borrow approach to our | :23:44. | :23:49. | |
spend what you can afford approach. In doing so we are once again | :23:50. | :23:52. | |
demonstrating the other part of it is delivering for this generation, | :23:53. | :23:57. | |
without doing so at the expense of the Next Generation. That is why, Mr | :23:58. | :24:02. | |
Speaker, the house should support the budget and the lobbies tonight. | :24:03. | :24:16. | |
The question is only in. The ayes have it. On the motions of procedure | :24:17. | :24:32. | |
numbers 47 to 51, on all of which the bill is to be brought in, these | :24:33. | :24:37. | |
motions are set out in a separate paper distributed with today's order | :24:38. | :24:41. | |
paper. I must inform the House for the purposes of standing order | :24:42. | :24:47. | |
number 83 and on that basis of material put before Mr Speaker who | :24:48. | :24:55. | |
certified that... Published on the 8th of March 2017 and moved by the | :24:56. | :25:00. | |
Chancellor of the Exchequer related exclusively to England, Wales and | :25:01. | :25:03. | |
Northern Ireland and are within the competence. Income tax, landfill | :25:04. | :25:13. | |
tax. With the leave of the House Albot the questions that I | :25:14. | :25:17. | |
delusional questions to 218 together. As many of that opinion | :25:18. | :25:26. | |
they aye. The ayes have it. We now come to motion 19 on the separate | :25:27. | :25:31. | |
paper relating to business investment relief. As many of that | :25:32. | :25:41. | |
opinion say aye. Clear the lobbies. | :25:42. | :25:52. |