Live Budget 2017 Budget

Before I call the Chancellor of the Exchequer I remind all members that

copies of the budget resolutions will be available in the office at

the end of the Chancellor's speech. I also remind honourable members it

is not the norm to intervene on the Chancellor of the Exchequer or the

Leader of the Opposition. I know call the Chancellor of the

Exchequer, the Right Honourable Philip Hammond. Thank you, Mr Deputy

Speaker. I report today on an economy that has continued to

confound the commentators with robust growth Labour market

delivering record employment and a deficit down by over two thirds. As

we start our negotiations to exit the EU, this budget takes for our

plan to prepare Britain for a brighter future. It provides a

strong and stable platform for those negotiations. It extends opportunity

to all our young people, it further investment in our public services

and it continues the task of getting Britain back to living within its

means. We are building the foundations of a stronger, fairer,

more global Britain. Mr Deputy Speaker, as the house knows, this

will be the last Spring Budget. The Treasury has helpfully reminded me I

am not the first Chancellor to announce the last Spring Budget. 24

years ago Norman Lamont also presented what was billed then as

the last Spring Budget. He reported on an economy growing faster than

any other in the G7, and he committed to continued restraint in

public spending. The then Prime Minister described it as the right

budget at the right time from the right Chancellor. What they failed

to remind me, Mr Deputy Speaker, is that ten weeks later he was sacked,

so wish me luck today. LAUGHTER

Mr Deputy Speaker, last year the British economy grew faster than the

United States, faster than Japan, faster than France. Indeed, amongst

the major advanced economies, Britain's economic growth in 2016

was second only to Germany. Employment is at a record high and

unemployment is at an 11 year low, with over 2.7 million people

enjoying the security and dignity of work than in 2010, and very far cry

from the 3 million unemployed predicted by the party opposite. I

am pleased to report, Mr Deputy Speaker, on International Women's

Day, that there is now a higher proportion of women in the workforce

than ever before. I am even more pleased to report, as my right

honourable friend the Prime Minister has remarked, since February the

23rd there is a higher proportion of women in work in the parliamentary

Conservative Party. But, Mr Deputy Speaker, there is no room for

complacency and you will not find any on these benches. As we prepare

for our future outside the EU, we cannot rest on our past

achievements. We must focus relentlessly on keeping Britain at

the cutting edge of the global economy. The deficit is done, but

debt is still too high. Employment is up, but productivity remains

stubbornly low. Too many of our young people are leaving formal

education without the skills they need for today's labour market, and

too many families are still feeling the squeeze. Almost a decade after

the crash. So our job is not done. Our task today is to take the next

steps in preparing Britain for a global future, to equip our young

people with the skills they need to support our public services and to

help ordinary working families as we build an economy that works for

everyone. Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the Office for Budget Responsibility

for their report today and let me also take this opportunity to thank

my right honourable friend the Chief Secretary and my ministerial team,

who really are the unsung heroes of the Budget, doing much of the heavy

lifting over the last few weeks, and of course my excellent PPS, the

Right Honourable member for Salisbury. I turn now, Mr Deputy

Speaker, to the OBR forecast, the spreadsheet bit, but bear with me

because I have a reputation... OBR forecast the level of GDP in 2021 to

be broadly the same as the Autumn Statement, however the path by which

we get there has changed. Reflecting the recent strength in the economy,

the OBR has upgraded its forecast for growth for next year from 1.4%

to 2% and, Mr Deputy Speaker, I do not see too many people on the

Opposition front bench doing this. In 2018-19 growth is forecast to

slow the 1.6% before picking up the 1.7%, then 1.9%, returning to 2% in

2021. Resilience in the economy is reflected in a strong labour market.

Since 2010 the employment rate has risen from 70.2 to 74.6 with

positive news for all parts of the United Kingdom. Unemployment has

fallen fastest in Yorkshire and Humber and Wales, and wages have

gone fastest in Northern Ireland. Productivity has grown fastest in

Scotland and the North East. This positive trend is set to continue

over the forecast period. The number of people in employment is set to

grow in every year with a further two thirds of a million people in

work by 2021. The OBR forecast inflation at 2.3% next year and 2%

in 2019. Most importantly, Mr Deputy Speaker, despite higher than target

inflation, real wages continue to rise in every year of the forecast.

Mr Deputy Speaker, whilst the economic forecasts are broadly

unchanged since the autumn, the OBR has substantially revised down its

short-term forecast of public sector net borrowing. The OBR attributes

this change to a number of one-off factors that they do not expect to

reap the structural change over the forecast period. Combining these

factors with a higher than forecast growth, and taking into account

measures I shall announce today, the OBR no forecast borrowing in 2016-17

to be lower than forecast in the autumn, at ?51.7 billion. Then ?58.3

billion, 40.8 billion pounds in 18-19, opted finally -- all law than

forecast at Autumn statements. Overall the percentage of GDP is

expected to fall from -- 3.8% last year. For those who care about such

things this means we are forecast to meet our 3% EU stability and growth

pact target this year for the first time in most the decade. But I will

not hold my breath, Mr Deputy Speaker, for my congratulatory

letter from Jean-Claude Juncker. Borrowing is then forecast to be

2.9% in 17-18 then the fault of the remainder of the parliament to 1.9%

in 18-19, then 1% and 0.9%, before reaching 0.7% of GDP in 21-22, its

lowest level in two decades. The OBR expects cyclically adjusted public

sector net borrowing to be 0.9% in 2020-21, giving us ?26 billion of

headroom against the headline 2% target in our new fiscal rules,

maintaining our fiscal resilience of the period. The OBR's forecast of

lower near-term borrowing coupled with recent strength in the economy

means lower debt across the period. The OBR no forecasts debt will rise

to 86.6% this year, before peaking at 88.8% next year. 1.4 percentage

points lower than forecast in the autumn. It then falls in 2018-19 for

the first time since 2001- 02, then continues to decline to 86.9% in 18

have to have -- in 19-20. Mr Deputy Speaker, at the Autumn Statement, I

set out our plan to return the public finances the balance in the

next Parliament. It planned that is now underpinned by our new fiscal

rules. That plan strikes the right balance between reducing our

deficit, preserving fiscal flexibility and investing in

Britain's future. Some have argued that lower borrowing this year makes

a case for more unfunded spending in the future. I disagree. Britain has

a debt of nearly ?1.7 trillion. That is almost ?62,000 for every

household in the country. Each year, we are spending ?50 billion on debt

interest, more than we spend on defence and policing combined.

Borrowing over the forecast period is still set to be ?100 billion

higher than predicted at Budget 2016. The only responsible course of

action is to continue with our plan, undeterred by any short-term

fluctuations and undistracted... Undistracted by the racist policies

advanced by the opposition. -- by the policies. We on this side will

not saddle our children with ever increasing debt.

CHEERING AND JEERING. Mr deputy is bigger, I think

honourable members opposite may need to have a word with their own front

bench, which proposes borrowing another half ?1 trillion to saddle

our children and Burton their futures. -- and to burden. The

budget I set out today will again fund all funding -- spending

decisions over the forecast period. A strong economy needs a fair,

stable and competitive tax system, creating the growth that will

underpin our future prosperity. My ambition is for the UK to be the

best place in the world to start and to grow a business. Under the last

Labour government, corporation was 28% and, by the way, they don't call

it the last Labour government for nothing.

JEERING. From April this year, it will fall

to 19%, the lowest rate in the G20. In 2020, it will fall again to 17%,

sending the clearest possible signal that Britain is open for business.

Mr deputy Speaker, I am listening to the voice of business. As I

committed the Autumn Statement, we have reviewed with business our RNC

tax credit, the one place where I'm not going to hear the voice of

business is from the benches opposite. I committed at the Autumn

Statement to review with business our R tax regime. We have done so

and concluded it is globally committed that to make the UK even

more attractive for R we have accepted industry calls for a

reduction in administrative burdens around the scheme and we will

shortly bring forward measures to deliver them. In a digital age, it

is right that we developed a digital tax system but, in response to

concerns about the timetable expressed by business organisations

and by several of my right honourable friends, including

Treasury to collect -- chairman of the Treasury select committee, I

have decided that for businesses below the VAT threshold, I will

delay by one year the introduction of quarterly reporting, at a cost to

the Exchequer of ?280 million. I have also heard the calls by North

Sea oil and gas producers and the Scottish Government to provide

further support for the transfer of late life assets. As UK oil and gas

production declines, it is absolutely essential that we

maximise exploitation of remaining reserves, so we will publish a

formal discussion paper on the options in due course. There is one

further area in which I can announce action to back British businesses.

My right honourable friend, the Communities Secretary, and I, have

listened to the concerns raised by colleagues in this house and by

businesses about the effects of the 2017 business rates re-evaluation.

Business rates raised ?25 billion per year, all of which by 2020 will

be going to fund local government, so we cannot abolish them, as some

have suggested, but it is certainly true in the medium-term that we have

to find a better way of taxing the digital way of the economy, the part

that doesn't use X and mortar. In the meantime, there is scope to

reform the evaluation process, you can get smoother and more frequent

to avoid the dramatic increases the present system can deliver. We will

set out our preferred approach in due course and we will consult on it

before the next re-evaluation is due. The re-evaluation itself is

bylaw fiscally neutral, and of this re-evaluation of the government

committed to a package of cuts to business rates now worth nearly ?9

million, permanently doubling the of small business relate -- small

business relief rate... Re-evaluation has undoubtedly raised

hard cases. Especially for those businesses coming out of small

business rate relief. So today, as I promised, I addressed those concerns

with three measures which apply to the national business rate system

for England. First, any business coming out of small business rate

relief will benefit from an additional cap. No business losing

small business rate relief will see their bill increasing next year by

more than ?50 per month, and the subsequent increases will be capped

at either the transitional relief cap or ?50 per month, whichever is

higher. Second, recognising the valuable role that local clubs play

in our communities, I will provide a ?1000 discount on business rates

bills in 2017 for all clubs with a rateable value of less than

?100,000, that is 90% of all pubs in England. Third, on top of these

measures, I will provide local authorities with a ?300 million fund

to deliver discretionary relief to target individual hard cases in

their local areas. This fund will be allocated to local authorities by a

formula. The Communities Secretary will set out details in due course.

JEERING. Taken together, Mr deputy speaker,

this is a further ?430 billion cut in business rates, targeted at those

small businesses facing the biggest increases, protecting our pubs and

giving local authorities the resource to respond flexibly to

local circumstances. Just as a strong economy requires a tax system

that is competitive, a strong society requires one that is fair,

and because I have committed to funding my spending decisions in

this budget, rather than borrowing more, I make no apology for raising

additional revenues and for doing so in ways which enhance the fairness

of the system. First and foremost, that means collecting the taxes that

are due. Since 2010 we have secured ?140 billion in additional tax

revenue by taking robust action to tackle avoidance, evasion and

noncompliance. These actions have helped the UK to achieve one of the

lowest tax gaps in the world, but there is more that we can do. In

this budget, we set out further actions to stop businesses from

converting capital losses into trading losses, to tackle abuse of

foreign pension schemes, to introduce UK VAT on roaming telecoms

outside the EU, in line with international standard practice, and

from July we will introduce a tough new financial penalty for

professionals who enable a tax avoidance arrangement that is later

defeated by HMRC. Taken together, these measures will raise ?820

million over the forecast period. Mr deputy speaker, as well as

collecting taxes that are due, a fair system ensures that those with

the broadest shoulders bear the heaviest burden. As a result of the

changes we have made since 2010, the top 1% income tax payers now pay 27%

of all income tax, a higher proportion than in any year under

the last Labour government. But a fair system will also ensure

fairness between individuals, so that people doing similar work for

similar wages and enjoying similar state benefits paid similar levels

of tax. As our economy, responding to the challenges of globalisation,

shifting demographics and the emergence of new technologies, we

have seen a dramatic increase in the number of people working as

self-employed or through their own companies. Many of our most highly

paid professionals work through limited liability partnerships and

are treated as self employed. There are many good reasons for choosing

to be self-employed or working through a company. Indeed, I have

done both in my time. And I will always encourage and support the

entrepreneurs and innovators who are the lifeblood of our economy. People

should have choices about how they work, but those choices should not

be driven primarily by differences in tax treatment. My right

honourable friend, the Prime Minister, has asked Matthew Taylor,

chief executive of the RSA, to consider the wider implications of

different employment practices, and I look forward to his final report

in the summer, and I am grateful to him for sharing his preliminary

thoughts. He is clear that differences in tax treatment of a

key driver behind the trends we are observing, a conclusion shared by

the IFS and the Resolution Foundation. An employee earning 20

and ?32,000 will incur between him and his employer ?6,170 of national

insurance contributions. A self-employed person earning the

equivalent amount will pay just ?2300, significantly less than half

as much. Historically, the differences in NICs between those in

employment and the self-employed reflected differences in state

pension entitlement and contributory welfare benefits but, with the

introduction of the new state pension last year, these differences

have been very substantially reduced. Self-employed workers now

build up the same entitlement to the state pension as employees, a big

pension boost for the self employed. The most significant remaining area

of difference is in relation to parental benefits, and I can

announce today that we will consult in the summer on options to address

the disparities in this area, as the FSB and others have proposed. The

difference in national insurance contributions is no longer justified

by the difference in benefit entitlements. Such dramatically

different treatment of two people owning essentially the same

undermines the fairness of our tax system. Employed and self-employed

alike use our public services in the same way, but they are not paying

for them in the same way. The lower national insurance paid by the

self-employed is forecast to cost our public finance... This year

alone. This is not fair to the 85% of workers who are employees. The

abolition of class to NIX for self-employed people, announced in

2016 and due to take effect in 2018, would further increase the gap

between employment and self-employment. To be able to

support our public services in this budget, and to improve the fairness

of the tax system, I will act to reduce the gap to better reflect

current differences in state benefits. I have considered the

possibility of simply reversing the decision to abolish class to

contributions, but the class to NIC is regressive and outdated and it is

right that it should go. Instead, from April 2018, when the class two

NICs is abolished, the main rate of class four NICs for this "Will

increase to 10%, with a further increase in 2018. The confirmation

of the abolition of class two and the class four increases I have

announced today raises a net ?145 million per year for our public

services by 2021-22. That is an average of around 60p per week per

self-employed person in this country. Since class two

contributions are payable at a flat rate, while class four is a

proportion of profits, all self-employed people owning less

than ?16,250 will still see a reduction in their total NICs bill.

This change reduces the unfairness in the NICs system and it reflects

more accurately the current differences in benefits available

from the state. Alongside the gap between employees and the

self-employed, there is a parallel unfairness in the treatment of those

working through their own companies. Britain has the most competitive

corporate tax regime in the G7, and we are determined to make Britain

the most attractive place to start and to grow a business. But, to do

that, we must ensure that our corporate tax regime does not

encourage people across the U, me to form companies simply to reduce tax

liabilities, pushing the burden of financing public services onto

others. -- people across the economy. HMRC estimates that

existing corporations cost the public finances over ?6 billion per

year, and the obi I forecast that at the current rate of increase in

additional additional cost to the Exchequer will occur from those

choosing to incorporate ?3.5 billion per year in 2021-22. The gap in

total tax and NICs between unemployed worker and one who has

set up his own company will normally be greater even than the gap with

the self-employed. And there are several perfectly legal ways in

which that gap could be made bigger still. This is not fair and it is

not affordable. Fairness demands that this discrepancy in treatment

is addressed, just as I have addressed the discrepancy with the

self-employed. The dividend allowance is increased the tax

advantage of incorporation. It allows each director- shareholder to

take ?5,000 of dividends out of their company tax-free over and

above the personal allowance. It is also an extremely generous tax break

for investors with substantial share portfolios. I have decided therefore

to address the unfairness around direct shareholders tax advantage

and at the same time to raise some much needed revenue to fund the

measures I shall announce today by reducing the tax-free dividend

allowance from ?5,000 to ?2000, with effect from April 20 18.

About half the people affected by this measure are shareholders in

private companies and the rest are investors in shares with holdings

were typically over ?50,000 outside ISAs, and of course everyone will

benefit from the increase in the annual ISA allowance to ?20,000 and

a further increase in the personal allowance to ?11,500 from April. Mr

Deputy Speaker, I now turn to duties and levies. Unusually for

Chancellor, I am delighted to announce a reduction in the expected

yield of attacks, the Soft Drinks Levy. I can confirm the final rates

for the main and higher bands but producers are already reformulating

sugar out of their drinks which means a lower revenue forecast for

this tax. This is good news for our children, and in further good news

for them today, I can confirm we will nonetheless fund DFE with the

fool billion pounds we already expected from the levy this

Parliament to invest in school sports and healthy living

programmes. I am freezing for another year both the rates for

hauliers and the road user levy, and I am introducing a new minimum

excise duty on cigarettes based on a pack rise of ?7 35, and I can also

confirm I will make no changes to previously planned rates and duties

on alcohol and tobacco. The measures I have announced enhanced the

sustainability of our public services into the future and by

improving the fairness of the system helps us to keep tax rates low.

Economic policy does not exist in a vacuum, and economic growth is a

means, not an end in itself. The object of of our economic policy is

to support ordinary working families and to build an economy that works

for them. And on this side of the house we know we can only deliver

investment in our vital public services if we have strong economy

and sustainable public finances. It is a simple proposition, yet one

which the Opposition front bench seems to find strangely difficult to

understand. We start from a strong base, real wages have grown for 27

straight months. The wages of the lowest paid grew faster last year

than in any of the previous 20 years. The poorest householdss have

seen their labour incomes rise more in 2010 in the UK than in any other

country in the G7 -- since 27. Last year we delivered a pay rise to over

a million of the lowest paid to the national living wage, and next month

we take more steps to support working families with the cost of

living. The national living wage will rise again to ?7 50 in April,

?1400 more for a full-time worker than when the national living which

was introduced. The personal allowance will rise for the seventh

year in a row to ?11,500 and a higher rate threshold to ?45,000. 29

million people will be better off with the typical basic rate tax

payer paying ?1000 less than in 2010. And we will meet our manifesto

commitment to increasing the thresholds to ?12,500 and ?50

respectively by the end of this Parliament I can also confirm today

that the new N S and I bond that I announced will be available from

April and will pay on deposits up to ?3000, a welcome break for

hard-pressed savers. The universal credit Tepera rate will be reduced

in April from 65% to 63%, cutting tax for 3 million families on low

income. Next month, we will see the introduction of our flagship tax

free childcare policy. That will allow working families across the UK

to receive up to ?2000 per year towards the cost of childcare for

each child under 12. The scheme will be rolled out to all eligible

parents by the end of the year. From September, in addition, working

parents with three and four -year-olds will get their free

childcare entitlement doubled the 30 hours a week. That is worth around

?5,000 a year -- to 30 hours a week. The young family with a

three-year-old and both parents working. By the end of this

Parliament of this Government will be spending on childcare ?6 billion

per year. These childcare measures represent a further huge step

forward in support for ordinary working families and for women in

the workplace. And I am delighted to use the occasion of International

Women's Day to announce the additional measures. Well, not quite

announce them, because my right honourable friend the Prime Minister

has already announced two of them. It is International Women's Day. It

says here I will commit a further ?20 million of Government funding to

support the campaign against violence against women and girls,

which does, as my honourable friend said earlier, take the Government's

commitment to this campaign to over ?100 million in this Parliament,

which is on top of the Tampon Tax which today delivers another ?12

million in support of women's charities across the United Kingdom.

The Prime Minister also earlier mentioned the Government will commit

a further ?5 million to return ships to the public and private sector,

helping people back into employment after a career break. As next year

is the centenary of the 1918 Representation Of The People Act Of,

the decisive step in the political emancipation of women in this

country, I will commit a further ?59 the project to celebrate this

centenary and educate young people about its significance. As well as

knowing the Government is on their side, people want to know they are

getting a good deal from private markets as well. A well functioning

market economy is the best way to deliver prosperity and security to

working families, and the litany of failed attempts at state control of

industry by Labour do not leave anyone in any doubt about that

except apparently the honourable gentleman opposite who is apparently

so far down a black hole that even Stephen Hawking has disowned him.

This Government, Mr Deputy Speaker, recognises that sometimes markets,

particularly in fast developing areas of the economy, can feel

people. Sometimes the market does not deliver the outcome the

textbooks suggest it should, and when that happens this Government

will not hesitate to intervene. We will shortly bring forward any Green

Paper on protecting the interests of consumers, but ahead of that we will

take the first steps, to protect consumers from unexpected fees and

to give consumer bodies greater enforcement powers. Together, Mr

Deputy Speaker, these measures will boost incomes, help family budgets

stretch a little further, support parents back into work, and tackle

some of the frustrations that sometimes make it feel that the dice

are loaded against ordinary people going about their everyday lives. Mr

Deputy Speaker, this House knows only sustainable way to raise living

standards is to improve our productivity growth. Simply put,

higher productivity means higher pay. The stats are well known, with

35% behind Germany, behind the G7 average, by 18%, and the gap is not

closing. Investment in training and investment in infrastructure will

start to close this gap, and this Government places addressing the

UK's productivity challenge at the very heart of its economic plan,

because the cornerstone of an economy that works for everyone, it

must be rising living standards for ordinary working people. A key

element of our plan is the ?23 billion of additional infrastructure

and innovation investment that I announced at the Autumn Statement.

Today, to enhance the UK's position as a world leader in science and

innovation I am allocating ?300 million of that fund to support the

brightest and best research talent, including support for 1000 new Ph.D.

Places and Fellowships focused on stem subjects. ?270 million to keep

the UK at the forefront of disruptive technologies like

biotech, robotic systems and driverless vehicles, at technology I

believe the party opposite knows something about.

?16 million for a new five G mobile technology hub and 200 million

pounds for a full fibre broadband network investment. On transport I

am announcing today ?23 million for the Midlands from a ?220 million

fund that addresses pinch points on the national road network, and I am

launching a ?690 million competition for local authorities across England

to tackle urban congestion and get local transport networks moving

again. My honourable friend the Transport Secretary will announce

details shortly. Because we believe local areas understand local

productivity barrier is better than central government we make further

progress with our plans to bolster the regions. In May, powerful mayors

will be elected in six of our great cities. Across Britain, local areas

will take control of their own economic destiny and we will support

them to do so. I can inform the House I have reached a deal with the

Mayor of London on further devolution. And I will follow the

launch of the northern Power has strategy at Autumn Statement by

publishing tomorrow our Midlands energy strategy addressing

productivity barriers across the Midlands -- the launch of the

Northern Powerhouse strategy. For the devolved administrations, our

announcements today deliver additional funding of ?350 million

for the Scottish Ah, ah, ah. Let's just move on. We

are having a very good day. Come on, Chancellor! Wait for it... ?200

million for the Welsh Government. And almost ?120 million for and

incoming Northern Ireland executive. Demonstrating, Mr Deputy Speaker,

once again that we are stronger together in this great United

Kingdom. Mr Deputy Speaker, perhaps the single most important thing the

Government can do to support ordinary working families is to

invest in the future so that their children and grandchildren can make

the most of the opportunities ahead. That means addressing the skills gap

and ensuring that every child, regardless of background, has the

opportunity to go to a good or outstanding school. At Autumn

Statement, I focused on investment in infrastructure and research and

development. Next step today in our plan to raise productivity and

living standards is the focus on the quality of our children's education

and the teaching of technical skills. Mr Deputy Speaker, while

investing in education and skills of course helps to tackle our

productivity gap, delivering greater prosperity, it does something else

as well. It delivers greater fairness, because investing in

skills and education is the key to inclusive growth, to an economy that

works for everyone. Mr Deputy Speaker, if you speak to people from

any background in any part of the country about their hopes and their

aspirations for the future, you will hear a recurring concern for the

next generation. Will they have the qualifications to find a job? Will

they have the skills to retrain as that job changes and changes again,

over a working lifetime? Will they be able to get on the housing plan,

save for pension? In short the question that concerns so many

people as will our children enjoy the same opportunities that we did?

And, Mr Deputy Speaker, our job is to make sure that they do. That is

why we are investing in education and skills, to ensure that every

young person, whatever their background and wherever they live,

has the opportunity to succeed and prosper. The proportion of young

people not in work or education is now at the lowest since records

began. That is a good base from which to build, but it is only by

equipping them for the jobs of tomorrow that we ensure they will

have real economic security. We have put education reform at the heart of

our agenda since 2010, and that commitment is already paying off.

89% of schools in England are now rated good or outstanding, the

highest proportion ever recorded. What that means, Mr Deputy Speaker,

is 1.8 million more children being taught in good or outstanding

schools than when the party opposite left office in 2010. Our forthcoming

Schools White Paper will ask for sponsorship of free schools,

removing the barriers that prevent good faith -based schools from

opening and it will enable the creation of new selective free

schools so the most academically gifted children, of every

background, get the specialist support they need to fulfil their

potential. Today I can announce funding for a

further 110 new three schools, on top of the current commitment to

500. This will include new specialist maths schools to build on

the plate success of Exeter mathematics school and King's

College London maths school, which the Prime Minister Vilas deducted --

visited this week. We commit to this programme because we understand that

choice is the key to excellence in education. Mr Deputy Speaker, we

recognise that, for many parents, the cost of travel can be a barrier

to exercising that choice. Pupils typically travel three times as far

to attend selective schools, so we will extend free school transport to

include all children on free school meals who attend a selective school,

because we, Mr Deputy Speaker, are resolved that talent alone should

determine the opportunities that a child enjoys. Before they get too

excited, Mr Deputy Speaker, we will invest in our existing schools, two,

oh yes, we will, by providing an additional ?216 million over the

next three years, taking total investment in school condition to

well over ?10 billion in this Parliament. Mr Deputy Speaker, good

schools are the bedrock of our education system, but we need to do

more to support our young adults into quality jobs and to help them

to gain world class skills. While we have an academic route in this

country that is undeniably one of the best in the world, the truth is

that we languish near the of the international league tables for

technical education. Our rigorous, well-recognised system of A-levels

provides students with the qualifications to move into our

world-class higher education system, and we support this would further

today by offering maintenance loans to part-time undergraduates and

doctoral loans in all subjects for the first time. Long ago, Mr Deputy

Speaker, our competitors in Germany, the US and elsewhere realised that,

to compete in the fast moving global economy, you have to link technical

skills to jobs, and I'm pleased to report, in National Apprenticeship

Week, that our apprenticeship route is now finally delivering that

ambition here, with 2.4 million apprenticeship starts in the last

Parliament and the launch of our apprenticeship levy in April,

supporting a further 3 million apprenticeships by 2020. But there

is still a lingering doubt about the parity of esteem attaching to

technical education, pursued through the further education route. Today,

we end that down for good, with the introduction of T levels thanks to

the work of people in this field, we have a blueprint to follow. Their

review concluded that students need a much clearer system of

qualifications, one that is designed and recognised by employers, with

clear routes to work, more time in the classroom and good quality work

placements. One that replaces the 13,000 or so different

qualifications with just 15 clear, career focused roots, and delivering

on those recommendations is the third part of our plan. Today, we

will invest to deliver in full these game changing reforms. We will

increase by over 50% the number of hours training for 16 to 19-year-old

technical students, including a high-quality work placement of three

months for every student so, when they qualify, they are genuinely

work ready. Once this programme is fully rolled out, we will be

investing an additional ?500 million per year in our 16 to 19-year-olds.

To encourage and support the best of them to go on to advanced technical

study, we will offer maintenance loans for those undertaking higher

level technical qualifications at the new institutes of technology and

national colleges, just as we do for those attending university, putting

the next-generation first to safeguard their future and to secure

our economy. Because changing Labour markets -- labour markets will mean

that retraining is vital, with many of our young people today needing to

reclaim at least once and perhaps more often during a working life

that may span more than 50 years, we will consider how best to deliver

high quality learning and training throughout working lives. DfEE will

invest up to ?40 million in pilots to test the effectiveness of

different approaches to lifelong learning, so that we can identify

what works best and help the next generation to learn and train

throughout their lives. Just as the principal that every child should

have the opportunity to fulfil his or her potential is central to this

government's values, so is the principle that everyone has access

to our National Health Service when they need it, and that everyone

should enjoy security and dignity in old age. Today, our social care

system cares for over 1 million people, and I want to pay tribute to

the hundreds of thousands of carers who work in it. But the system is

clearly under pressure, and this in turn puts pressure on our NHS.

Today, there are half a million more people aged over 75 than there were

in 2010, and there will be 2 million more in ten years. That is why the

government is already delivered more than ?7 billion of extra spending

power to the system over the next three years, and it is why we are

ensuring that local authorities and the NHS work more closely together,

to enable elderly patients to be discharged when they are ready,

freeing up precious NHS beds and ensuring that elderly people are

receiving the appropriate care for their needs. Today, Mr Deputy

Speaker, I am committing additional grant funding of ?2 billion to

social care in England. Over the next three years. Mr Deputy Speaker,

that is ?2 billion over the next three years, with ?1 billion

available in 17-18. This will allow local authorities to act now to

commission new care packages, and it forms a bridge to be better care

funding that becomes available towards the end of the parliament.

Of course, Mr Deputy Speaker, this is not only about money. While there

are many excellent examples of best practice around the country, at the

other end of the scale, just 24 local authorities are responsible

for over half of all delayed discharges to social care, so

alongside additional funding the health and human -- health and

community secretaries will announce measures to identify and to support

authorities that are struggling and to ensure more joined up working

with the NHS. These measures and greater collaborative working under

NHS sustainability and transformation plans will bring

short and medium-term benefits, but long-term challenges of

sustainability -- sustainably funding care in old age requires a

strategic approach, and the government will set out its thinking

on the options for future financing of social care in a green paper

later this year. For the avoidance of doubt, Mr Deputy Speaker, I would

like to make it clear that those options do not include and never

have included exhuming Labour's hated death tax. The social care

funding package that I have announced today will deliver

immediate benefit to the NHS, allowing it to be focused on

delivering the NHS England forward view plan, a plan which this

government has supported, with a ?10 billion increase in annual funding

by 2020, ?4 billion of it in this year alone. We recognise the

progress that the NHS is making in developing sustainability and

transformation plans, and we recognise as well that, in addition

to the funding already committed, some of those plans will require

further capital investment. So the Treasury will work closely with the

hunt of health over the summer as the STPs progress and prioritised

and, at autumn budget, I will announce a multi-year capitalisation

programme to support and limitation of high-quality STPs across the

health service in England. In the meantime, the Health Secretary

expects that a small number of the strongest STPs may be ready ahead of

autumn budget, and so today I am allocated an additional ?325 million

of capital to allow the person selected plans to proceed. I have

one further announcement related to the NHS. The social care package I

have announced today will help to free up beds by using discharge of

elderly patients. That is one of the two big pressures on our hospitals.

The other is in appropriate A attendances by people of all ages.

Experience has shown that on-site GP triage in A departments can have a

significant and positive impact on A waiting times. I am therefore

making a further ?100 million of capital available immediately for a

new triage project at English hospitals in time for next winter.

Mr Deputy Speaker, this government backs the NHS's plan. We are funding

it with a ?10 billion above inflation increase by 2020. We have

addressed the pressures on the NHS from the social care system with a

total of 9.25 alien additional resources. We will protect the NHS

from the effects of the changed personal injury discount rate, and

we have set aside ?5.9 billion across the forecast period to do so,

and today we have made a clear, new commitment to fund a capital

programme for the implementation of high-quality STPs, with a first down

payment for the early pioneers. Mr deputy 's Biko, as the voters of

Copeland so clearly understood, we are the party of the NHS. -- Mr

Deputy Speaker. CHEERING AND JEERING.

We are the party of the NHS because we have not just the commitment and

the will but also the economic plan that will secure the future of our

most important public service. Last November, I set out our plan to

build an economy that works for everyone, to enhance our

productivity and protect our living standards. To restore our public

finances to balance and to invest for our future. Today's Obiang

report confirms the continued resilience of the British economy,

and that this budget -- at this budget we continue with our plan,

building on the foundation of our economic strength, reaching out to

seize the opportunities which lie ahead, backing public services,

supporting Britain's families, investing in the skills of our young

people and making Britain the best place in the world to do business.

-- today's OBR report. Our United Kingdom as a proud history. We have

done remarkable things together, but we look forward, not backwards,

confident that our greatest achievements are ahead of us. Today,

we reaffirm our commitment to invest in Britain's future, and we embark

on this next chapter of our history, confident in our strengths and clear

in our determination to build a stronger, fairer, better Britain. I

commend this budget to the house. CHEERING.

Understanding order number 51, the first motion entitled Provisional

Collection Of Taxes, was decided without debate. Well the Chancellor

of the Exchequer please move formally? The question is the

pursuant to section five of the 1968 act, the provisional statutory

effect shall be given to the following motions. Pensions, motion

number 12. Alcoholic liquor duty, motion number 40. Tobacco products

duty, motion number 42. As -- As many as are of the opinion, say

'aye'. To the contrary, 'no'. Ayes have it. I now call upon the

Chancellor of the Exchequer to move the motion Amendment Of The Law, and

this should take place today on the succeeding days. The questions on

this motion and the remaining motions will be put at the end of

the budget debate on Tuesday the 14th of March. Minister to move...

The question is that to amend the law in respect of the national debt

and public revenue and to make further revenue in connection with

finance. It does not extend to the making of any amendment with respect

to the value added tax, so as to provide personally for zero rating

or supply acquisition or importation. Secondly, for the

refunding and amount of tax. Thirdly, for any relief other than

the relief that, firstly, so far as it is applicable to the goods,

applies the goods of every description and, secondly, so far as

it is applicable to the services that apply to services of every

description. I now call the Leader of the Opposition, the right

honourable Jeremy Corbyn. Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. This was a budget

of utter complacency about the state of our economy. Utter complacency

about the crisis facing our public services, and complacent about the

reality of daily life for millions of people in this country. Entirely

out of touch with that reality of life for millions. This morning,

over 1 million workers will have woken up not knowing whether they

would work today, tomorrow or next week. Millions more workers know

their next pay packet will not be enough to make ends meet. Millions

struggling to pay rent or mortgage, with private renters on average

paying almost half their income in rent. Yesterday, Mr Deputy Speaker,

over 3000 people in this country will have queued up at the banks to

feed themselves and their families -- queued up at food banks. Over

4000 people will have slept rough last night on the streets of this

country, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer made his boast about a

strong economy. But who is reaping the rewards of this economy? Four

million and it is simply not working. Not working for the NHS, in

its worst crisis ever, with funding being cut next year. Not working for

our children's schools, not working for our children's schools where

pupil funding continues to be cut. Not working for our neighbourhoods,

which have lost 20,000 police officers, leaving the force in a

perilous state in many parts of the country. And not working for our

dedicated public services, and the people who work in them. Nurses,

firefighters, teachers, no pay rise for seven years for them. And for

people with disabilities, who are twice as likely to be living in

poverty, and that this Government is denying them the support that the

courts say they need. 4 million children living in poverty, which

will rise by another million in coming years. Not working for the

thousands of young people who can't get anywhere to live, can't get on

the housing ladder and cannot in many cases leave their parental

home. Parents have grown up children who would expect to be debt free by

now but are having to bail out student debt or try to help with the

deposit to get housing if they can manage it. And a million elderly

people, and I will come onto this again, denied the social care they

need, due to the ?4.6 billion of cuts made by his government with the

support of the Lib Dems over the last five years. Not for pensioners,

for whom the security of the triple lock remains in doubt. Mr Deputy

Speaker, that is the reality facing Britain today. I government cutting

services and living standards of the many to fund and continue to fund

the tax cuts of the few. There are some people, Mr Deputy Speaker, who

are doing very well under the Conservative Government. The chief

executives of big companies, now paid 180 times more than the average

worker and taxed less. Big corporations making higher profits

and being taxed less. Speculators making more and being taxed less.

And wealthiest families taxed less due to cuts in inheritance tax. All

of this adds up to ?70 billion of tax giveaways over the next five

years. To those who need it the least. This Government is a

government with the wrong priorities. Let me give you three

examples. The pain of losing a child is unimaginable for most of us. But

for those who do that pain is worsened by the stress of having to

pay for their own child's funeral. I pay for their own child's funeral. I

pay tribute to my friend the member for Swansea East for her campaign to

establish a children's funeral fund, but far from establishing such a

fun, costing just ?10 million a year, the Government is instead

cutting support for bereaved families. Three in four bereaved

families will receive less. This is utterly heartless. Despite generous

tax giveaways at the top end there was no money either for the 160,000

people with disabilities that a court has ruled deserve a higher

rate of personal independence payments. These are people with

debilitating mental health conditions, dementia, schizophrenia,

post-traumatic stress disorder. The Prime Minister came to office

talking about fighting burning injustices. Less than nine months

later, she seems to have forgotten all about them, because none of them

are being fought today. Lope holds people back and it is holding our

country back -- low pay holds people back. We are the only... Wages are

still below the 2008 level. Workers are still work of -- worse.

Inflation rising. An urgent need to Inflation rising. An urgent need to

address the pressure on people's incomes. Massively rising personal

debts, rising energy bills and the cost of the weekly shop, transport

costs and housing costs or rising. The Chancellor faced a series of

tests as to whether he would stand on the same side as the people or

not. He could have raised the minimum wage to the level of the

living wage, the real living wage of ?10 per hour, as we, the Labour

Party, are pledged to do. It would pay for a pay rise for 6 million

people in this country, 62% of them are women. He failed to do that.

Since 2010 millions of public sector workers have endured a pay freeze

and then it pay cap. Dedicated public servants who keep our

services going have lost over 9% of their real wages or will have done

by 2020. He could have ended the public sector pay cap, as we are

pledged to do, and given a pay rise to 5 million dedicated public

servants who we all rely on day in, day out in our hospitals, our health

service in general and our local government. He failed to do that. It

is an insult to say they deserve falling living standards when we all

know those in the public sector are working harder than ever, covering

the jobs of those that have gone. There is a crisis as well, Mr Deputy

Speaker, in job security. Millions of workers... Millions of workers

don't know whether or not they'll be working from day to day. Millions of

workers who don't know how many hours they'll be working this week

or next week. Just imagine what it's like to try and plan your life if

you don't know what your income is going to be from one week to the

other. Because, Mr Deputy Speaker, that is the... Order. Can I just say

to these benches, I want to hear the leader of the opposition, I don't

want to hear him down because you might not be interested, but there

are constituents out there who want to hear what the alternative is...

If the whip wants to be funny, he can go and get a cup of tea now.

Let's show the same respect that was shown to the Chancellor of the

Exchequer the Jeremy Corbyn. Gallery-mac thank you, Mr Deputy

Speaker. There is nothing funny about being one of 9000 workers and

view our contracts, 55% of them women. He could have announced a ban

on view our contract, as we are pledged to do. Again, the field.

These zero hour contracts are only the tip of an iceberg. 4 million

workers in Britain in insecure work, 2.3 billion working variable shift

patterns, 1.1 million on temporary contracts. They have long argued for

clamp-down on bogus self-employment, but today the Chancellor seems to

put the burden on self-employed workers instead. There has to be

something for something, so I hope the Chancellor of the Exchequer will

bring forward extra Social Security in return. One policy Labour backs

is extending statutory maternity pay the self-employed women, which is

likely to cost just ?10 million per year. Lope and insecure work have

consequences for us all. Mr Deputy Speaker, in reality we all pay for

Lope. There are a million working households having to claim housing

benefit. -- we all have to pay case low pay. Because their wages are not

enough to pay the rent. There are 3 million working families who simply

rely on tax credits to make ends meet. This is modern Britain. The

most effective way of boosting wages and increasing job security, as all

studies show, is actually to improve collective bargaining through a

trade union. Words that the Chancellor did not use in his

speech, but instead of a trade union act which would further perpetuate

-- instead we have a trade union act that will further continue Lope, but

we would protect collective bargaining and repeal the Trade

Union Act. This is a Chancellor and the Government not on the side of

the workers, not on the side of the taxpayers, who pick up the bill for

low pay and insecure work. An International Women's Bay, did the

Chancellor deliver a budget that works for women? -- Day. According

to the House of Commons library analysis commissioned by my friend,

the member for rather, who is doing a brilliant job speaking up for

women from our front pages -- for Rotherham. 86% of this has fallen on

women and women's lives have been made more difficult through

successive moves from this Government, women struggling with

more care and responsibility due to the continuing state of emergency in

social care. There will be women born in the 1950s go with little

notice having to face a crisis in retirement that they could not

possibly predicted. 67 women per year are forced out of their jobs to

maternity discrimination and they cannot afford this Government's

extortionate fees to take their employer to a tribunal in search of

justice. When an up and down the country who will have to wait

another 60 years -- women up and down the country will have to wait

another 60 years before the gender pay grab is close. Women, hundreds

of women being turned away from domestic violence shelters every

year through lack of space or appropriate services or because they

have simply been closed. Mothers struggling under more pressure

through at the universal and tax credits, and if this was not bad

enough, to cut benefits to children whose only crime is to be born third

or fourth in a family. Most shamefully, as of next month when it

will have to prove their third child is a product of rape if they wish to

qualify for a child tax credit for that child. I pay tribute to my

friend the member for Rotherham and the honourable member for Glasgow

Central for there campaigning on this issue. I hope the Chancellor

will reverse this cut. There is a housing crisis, a crisis of supply

and of affordability. Since 2010 house-building has fallen to its

lowest rate since the 1920s. The building of social homes for rent is

at its lowest level for a quarter of a century. Did he empower councils

to tackle the housing crisis by allowing them to borrow, to build

Hauser council housing, as we have pledged to? No. Have they replaced

council houses, sold under Right To Buy, as they promised? No. Just one

in six have been replaced. Was there any commitment to return to the

council 's ?800 million Right To Buy proceeds the Treasury has taken

back, which would build 12,000 homes? No. That he scrapped the

unfair Bedroom Tax, as we have pledged to do? No. That he reversed

housing benefit cuts that would take support away from 10,000 young

people, despite the opposition of Shelter, Races and Centrepoint,

which even the member for Southgate described as captain wood

catastrophic. Last week the Institute for Government said there

were clear warning signs of the impact of Government cuts on

schools, prisons, health and social care -- described as catastrophic. A

sledgehammer has been taken to public services in recent years and

the Chancellor no expect praise for patching up a small part of that

damage. -- now expects praise. The budget did not provide the funding

necessary now for the crisis in our NHS which the BMA reckons needs an

extra ?10 million. It did not provide a funding necessary to end

the state of emergency in social care now which needs to billion

pounds per year just to plug the gaps, according to the Kings fund --

which needs to billion pounds per year. It is not met by ?2 billion

over three years. Money is needed now. More than a million mainly

elderly people desperate for social care still can't get it. The money

it to be made available now. Because this Government ducks really tough

choices, like asking corporations to pay a little bit more in tax. Not

every local authority can just text Nick and get the deal they want.

Other council services are suffering as well. Our communities are

stronger when we have good libraries, and they are valuable,

obviously for children but for the entire community. 67 closed last

year because of local government underfunding. 700 sure start centres

closed because of lack of funding for local authorities, denying the

life chances that a Labour Government delivered to them with

the opening of Sure Start centres in the 90s. 600 youth centres have

closed as well. These painful decisions are being taken by

councils not because they want to do it, but just because they don't have

enough money even to keep essential services running because of the

slashing of their budget year on year.

And it goes on. Last councils proposed to sell of school playing

fields, the equivalent of 500 football pitches. 500 pitch is not

available for young people to indulge in sport. It is our duty to

ensure all our young people wherever they live have a decent chance to

grow up with a library, a playing field and a sure start centre. It is

not a lot to ask. The Chancellor boasts of a strong economy, but

abandoned the targets of the previous Chancellor, so let's give a

more realistic context to the figures. The deficit that was going

to be eradicated in 2015, you all remember the long-term economic

plan? The debt was going to peak at 80% of GDP and then start falling.

Our economy is not prepared for Brexit. We still have an economy

suffering from underinvestment and overreliance on consumer spending

and wholly unsustainable levels of personal and household debt.

Investment must be evenly spread around our country and despite the

announcements today, London continues to receive six times as

much investment as the North East and so that is why Labour is backing

a fair funding formula for investment so that every area gets

its fair share of government spending. What has been announced

today does not achieve that. You cannot build a Northern Powerhouse

or a Midlands engine if the investment does not follow the sound

bite. Money spent on research and development is well below the OECD

average. The strongest economy spent over 3%. In the immediate term

Chancellor did not have much to say about it, he must focus his

attention is on the precarious future of workers jobs, including

Forbes in Bridegend. -- Ford. The government need to drop the threat

of turning Britain into a tax haven. One of the biggest challenges facing

our country is environmental. It is climate change. This government is

failing to drive a mission led strategy as our own Business Select

Committee has recommended. The Chancellor failed to make energy

efficiency and national infrastructure priority. No

commitment to achieving zero carbon efficiency and unclear about

investment in public transport that will reduce pollution. The poor air

quality is appalling. It is killing thousands of people in this country.

It's taking away the life chances of many children growing up alongside

polluted roads. The good work being done by Labour's London mayor said

the Khan, the good work being done by the Welsh Labour government has

recognised this as an urgent public health crisis, particularly for

children. We have two deal with this crisis and do with it urgently.

There cannot be an industrial strategy of productivity gains

unless there is serious investment in skills. Adult skills training

cup, further education cup, the small amount committed today are

long overdue, but woefully insufficient. Over the coming years

the school budget is being cut by 8%. Does the Chancellor really want

fewer teachers and teaching assistants, larger classes, shorter

school days? Which is it? I agree with the Prime Minister that every

child deserves a good education. Every community deserves good

schools. You do it by working with the communities to provide the

schools, not propping into than selective schools that are not being

demanded by those communities. The money announced yesterday for new

grammar schools is a vanity project. Why not honour their own 2015

manifesto pledge to protect per-pupil funding, which is clearly

not happening? This is a budget that lacks ambition for this country and

lacks fairness. It demonstrates the appalling priorities of this

government. Another year with tax breaks for the few, public service

cuts for the money. The Prime Minister said, if you are just

managing, I want to address it. This budget has done nothing to tackle

low pay all solve the state of emergency that persists for so many

people, demanding and needing health and social care now and not making

an economy that what everyone. It is built on unfairness and built on

failure to tackle and fairness in our society. I don't think there was

a great deal of Concorde in the House about that speech, but I do

think there is some agreement across the House about a number of things

that the Chancellor said. In fact, I think there has been a quiet

consensus in this phrase. The deficit reduction, ever since

Alistair Darling's budget of 2010. I'm delighted the Chancellor is

persisting with those reductions. Before picking up on a few majors,

associate those that affect small businesses, I'd like to make one

point about fiscal policy overall. The Chancellor doesn't have very

much room for manoeuvre. He is heavily boxed in. I see him nodding

in agreement. On the spending side, three quarters of spending is

covered by manifesto barges, so every round of savings has on a

progressively small area which makes it painful for it to absorb. On the

tax side he is just as constrained, I would say even more, because he

invested the tax lots and a commitment to reduce corporation tax

to 15%. That puts over 80% of revenue out of his reach. There is

also the fuel duty frees, I think it is effectively a freeze, which was

announced in the Autumn Statement. All those tax and pledges are a

fallout of an electoral bidding war. Dealing with that is a matter for

another day. I just pick up on a few detailed measures we just heard

something about, particularly as they affect small businesses and I'm

particularly concerned about small businesses. I'm delighted to hear

there was some good news for them, but it's just worth going through

the list of things they are having to deal with at the moment. The

doubling of insurance premium tax announced last year. Automatic

enrolment for pensions, the living wage, revaluation of the rates and

making tax digital. Plus the proposals we have just had

announced. Let us turn... Will give way. I'm very grateful. He is giving

a good analysis, but on the point about the increase in national

insurance contributions for the self-employed, doesn't he think that

the Chancellor needs to explain why he is breaking the manifesto promise

made in the 2015 general election manifesto on that? He thinks there

is a strong argument for matching what people get out of it from the

receipt side to the contribution side. I will look at the point he

has made on the specific manifesto pledge. No doubt we will have a

further exchange of it. I want to say a few words about making tax

digital. He has announced some quite important changes the. We need to be

clear what the problem is that he is seeking to address with what he has

announced. Until this statement today, from 2018 several million

people, most of them small traders, would have been required by law for

the first time to fill in their tax returns electronically. Some of

those traders would even have a smartphone let alone a computer. I

think the effects of those plans would be to impose a massive and

unfair burden on small businesses. So it's very good news that the

Chancellor has made a concession and it appears to be aligned with at

least one of the suggestions made in a report by the Treasury committee

on this. The most important thing he is doing is raising the starting

threshold, or keeping be starting threshold for another year at the

VAT threshold. That is ?83,000. That is the good news, but the not so

good news is that it looks like it is only relief for a year. Could I

ask the Chancellor to consider phasing in the lower thresholds? He

has suggested a lower threshold of 10,000, which seems extremely low to

me. Indirectly he is looking puzzle, but he will find that that is what

HMRC have been talking about. Phasing it in over a run of three or

four years, dropping it dramatically from 83 or whatever the vat

threshold becomes... I will in a moment when I have completed what I

want to say on making tax digital. I understand why the Chancellor is

doing this. I'm sure HMRC have told him that there is a huge amount of

money sitting waiting to be collected and he needs the money and

he is nodding his head in agreement to that as well. Actually, I think I

right in saying that they have previously suggested there is 2

billion of uncollected tax available. I doubt that and so does

the Treasury committee. In fact, if the Chancellor is brutal about his

introduction to this, he might not get very much money. Some businesses

will going into the grey economy and some will cease trading will

together. So be pot of gold might not be there at all. I give weight

to the honourable gentleman. I'm honourable to the right honourable

gentleman for giving away. I agree that delayed by the year is

insufficient. Does he agree that the Chancellor needs to look at the

other recommendations made by the select committee. If not, today

would be good news for accountants and bad news for small businesses.

He has made a powerful point and I support his support for the

proposals that we worked up together on making tax digital and I will

make those points as vigorously as I can on behalf of the committee and

I'm sure the Chancellor is listening now. What we should do is listen

Leave welcome the news we have had. There is an acknowledgement that the

pre-existing proposals were not workable and we have already had a

bit of adjustment. I am grateful to my honourable

friend for giving way. Would he still recognise with me that those

over that threshold, not necessarily enormous businesses but some

struggling with the additional burdens that he mentions, some

dealing with business rates, the changes to dividend taxation, Mr

Deputy Speaker, I declare an interest as one of those people that

struggling to accommodate the new system within the next 12 months

basically will be a challenge and will have a significant compliance

cost others businesses. My honourable friend on the Treasury

committee is also making the point that people in modest but larger

businesses will also find the bureaucratic burden of the

introduction of the making tax digital proposals pretty tough. We

have taken a lot of evidence on this and I think it's clear that it is.

In the granite digit returns were bigger feature. The question is how

we get there. This is a generational change. It is important not sour

relations between small businesses and the Revenue. But can be easily

done if you hit them over the head with the help of extra money in year

one and your two or three when with just a little more caution they can

be brought into the system actually yielding higher long-term revenue

because you will have their cooperation. A second change and I

won't linger on this one because, it's to do with business rates, what

he has announced is very welcome relief, he's announced three

concessions, they cost quite a bit of money taken collectively, they

are not only important, they are essential changes, small businesses

hit by this are the lifeblood of the local economy, in all our

constituencies and the measures will certainly give them some relief from

the pressure they were under. The red book suggests that he might

consider proposals to encourage or find a way of getting to more

frequent revaluations of business rates, I'm pleased about that

because the big problem cost is the cliff edge created by revaluations

every five or seven years. In a nutshell what is needed is more

frequent re-evaluation and quicker appeals, both of them. It surely is

not beyond the wit of man to devise a form that can deliver both. While

I am thanking the Chancellor I would also like to thank him for agreeing,

as he did before the committee for publishing the analysis of the

business measures on a basis of that comparable to those published in the

last parliament. The committee will look at those measures carefully and

in a more considered way than in the past, less of a rush. This will

enable us to look carefully at the distribution and analysis. I will

give way. In the spirit of thanking the Chancellor will you join me in

thanking the Chancellor for wanting to consult on page 35 of the red

book when introducing a new duty on white ciders which as many of us

note is damaging for young people and homeless people, this will be a

way to get to grips and make sure that we don't have an our streets

this damaging and two Gbytes I do. The honourable gentleman has made

his point, I never talk much on cider in the House of Commons

because it results in a great deal of correspondence, whatever you say

about it. I think I will avoid it altogether! I just want to end with

a couple of larger points about the backdrop to the budget. I want to

discuss just two big risks that the Chancellor is having to deal with.

The first and by far the biggest is the economic prosperity to our

constituents and to the stability of the West of resurgence of economic

nationalism. This is a bit of it in Britain and a great deal more of

that elsewhere in the world. Protectionism has been on the rise

for some time and is already affecting noble growth. It's worth

bearing in mind that global growth has been any make and the last five

years compared to the average of the last Thursday and that includes the

effect of the financial crash. A big difference in those numbers. And

global trade growth has been weaker, it's is now declining as a share of

world economic activity and we should all be concerned about that.

The link between prosperity and trade, though, does not seem to have

registered with President Trump. At least not yet. He has withdrawn from

the transpacific partnership, TTIP looks to be a disaster, he has

called the World Trade Organisation a disaster and is threatening to

withdraw from that as well. Not the Prime Minister, she has got it in

the greatest advocate for free trade in the world and she's right. If we

were to return to protectionism we could read the book of the 1930s. I

will, one last time, I've got one more point to make. Was the

honourable member as disappointed as I was that the Chancellor did not

mention that real wages were reduced at a stroke by 15% through

devaluation? And whilst that secures more exports in the short term, that

will be offset by tariffs in the future so how does he see the

prospect of a trade when we get hit over the head with tariffs from the

single market? I will end with the word on Brexit. I will not comment

on the exchange rate, except to say that the devaluation, of course,

does make the country poorer but devaluations can come and go, and we

need to look at the effect in the markets put there by the markets to

act as a shock absorber, as a consequence of the Brexit division

in a much longer term framework than judging it as we are now, so soon

after the event. I do think that Brexit poses the risk of trade

shock. If the honourable lady will forgive me I would like to wind up,

because I am sure that the honourable lady will want to make

her own speech in a moment. There certainly will be a trade shock if

we researched to WTO rules. So I am very pleased that the Prime Minister

has made it clear that she is working for what she calls a bold

and ambitious deal of the EU. Deep engagement, political and economic,

from outside the EU almost certainly commands a majority in the house and

in the country, cutting off Britain almost certainly does not. Hopefully

all parties and no negotiations grasp the importance of securing a

deal wanting a comprehensive deal in what will amount to 18 months of

negotiations and getting one and not the same thing. This will be a

massive undertaking, businesses know this, this is why many won't wait to

find out if they will be a deal, they will start moving economic

activity out before 2019 and the supply chains will start adjusting

and to the UK Bosman detriment. Mr Deputy Speaker, one further point.

There is a straightforward way of safeguarding the UK from that risk

in the UK must ask for it in the negotiations. It must certainly

requires only qualified majority voting and it is available under

Article 50 of the treaty. The UK should make clear now that after

leaving the EU, but is having repealed the 1972 act, requiring a

standstill on the terms of any detail should be put in place. That

is a crucial ingredient must bring certainty. Mr Deputy Speaker when

the Conservatives came to power in 2010 there was ballooning public

debt and the second slowest growth in the G7. That amounted to a

massive challenge. No public finances are stronger only after six

years of hard work. But the two risks to which I have alluded could

amount to a cocktail difficult to handle especially if mistakes are

made. The Chancellor has told us that he has taken a cautious

approach by reducing borrowing. I strongly support him in that. And he

has my support to persist even if he hits heavy weather. Can I just say

it will be ten minutes after this next speech. Stewart Rosie. In many

ways the Chancellor did not disappoint us. A self-effacing jokes

about spreadsheets, this band lines about being stronger together and

then it went downhill. Barely a mention of Brexit. The most

momentous challenge facing the UK, barely a mention of Brexit, what

this Chancellor would do to mitigate the damage, I had hoped very much to

welcome a concrete package of measures concerning the oil and gas

sector, but instead we've been offered an options paper. One of my

sharp eyed assistant tells me that is the same promise made in 2016 so

maybe at some point the Chancellor will actually deliver the paper and

take some concrete measures. A budget can sometimes be assessed

more by what is omitted than what is included and I would've thought they

would have been more reference to the City deals today, how important

they are for not negotiating. I will give way in a moment. While he did

mention in passing living standards, and Fenners, he didn't dwell for

very long, in fact not at all on the contrary analysis of the counter

analysis to his assertions, which is that child poverty will increase by

30% by 2122, entirely explained by the direct impact of tax and benefit

reforms. He spoke about an increase to the minimum wage which is of

course welcome, he ignored the assessment that forecast less than

5% between now, 2020 and 2021, in a sense, more than a decade with no

real earnings growth. I will happily give way. In the subject of

emissions from the Chancellor's statement, hundreds of women have

travelled to Westminster today from Scotland, from greater Manchester,

all over the country to campaign against the unfairness of them not

being properly informed about changes to their state pension.

Would he agree with me that it is disrespectful to say the least on

International Women's Day that those women fighting for justice on their

pension got no mention from the Chancellor of the Exchequer? And the

final mission today is any readdress the those women. Mr Deputy Speaker,

it is worth reminding ourselves how we got to where we are today, not

all this Chancellor's fault, the Tory targets and deficit and

borrowing promised in 2010, were simply not met. To demonstrate the

scale of this failure we were told that debt would begin to fall as a

share of GDP in 2014-15, a current account would be a balance the

following year, public sector borrowing would be barely ?20

million. As many of us want at that time, that would not and did not

happen. Dad won't begin to fall as a share of GDP until 18 - 2010-2019.

And public sector borrowing was not the barely 20 billion promised them,

it was ?72 billion. In short, I would argue that the first five

years of Tory austerity failed and we have little confidence that the

second five years will be better. But to the present and for the

future, last autumn the Chancellor said that net debt would peak at

?1.83 trillion. 12 zeros. Today he gave the startling news that the

huge progress, it will now be peaking at ?1.83 trillion. Borrowing

is down a few hundred million for 2017-2018 and the current budget due

to be in surplus by 2020 is barely changed. The forecasts are as bad as

they were promised in the autumn, and barely changed from last spring.

And what growth there is seems to be driven in large measure by an

assessment of around 4% over the next few years. But the OBR say that

there will be a 0.1% fall in business investment in 2017, before

and certainty begins to dissipate. Before it begins to dissipate! We

are about to have Article 50", a tortuous negotiation between one and

two years, and they are saying that the will dissipate, sometime at the

back end of this year. But almost beggars belief. I will happily give

way. Currently explain why he and his

party thought there would be a sharp slowdown? They were wrong then and

on the wrong about Article 50? I can say with absolute certainty that

there was never a threat of an immediate collapse. There will be no

problem in week one, month one or year one, year to you or your three.

That gets us beyond renegotiation. The danger was always long-term.

Much of his previous failure came because the last Tory government

struggled the lifeblood from recovery by cutting too much too

quickly with no or little regard to the consequences. That was a row set

in stone with the old fiscal charter. It was almost irrespective

of economic conditions. The new fiscal charter which wasn't given a

looking today is certainly more flexible than the last one, but it

still targets a surplus early in the next Parliament. I have to say the

numbers and the timescale look precarious. The forecast for an

account surpluses are tiny, not even reaching one and a half percent of

GDP in this Parliament. If there is any external shock, any capital

flight, if we suffer more devaluation, if negotiations go

badly, these figures could fall apart very quickly indeed. These

numbers, Mr Deputy Speaker, are being delivered before the full

impact of the hard Tory Brexit are felt. We cannot even assess properly

what the consequence of that is as the OBR tell us, and I am quoting,

there is no meaningful basis for predicting the precise end point of

the negotiations as a basis for our forecast. This is a simple

assumption, pretending Brexit does not exist. Quite a ridiculous thing

to do with the Article 50 in vacation looming. However a central

forecast from the OBR is in stark contrast to what we already know.

The Treasury have reported previously be UK could lose up to 66

billion from a hard Brexit. The GDP billion from a hard Brexit. The GDP

could fall by almost 10% if the UK reverts to WTO rules, that was made

by the chair of the select committee. Other assessments mirror

this. The LSE say in the long run reduce trade and low productivity

will be a huge problem for the UK and will increase the cost of Brexit

to between 6.5 and 9.5% of GDP. That's up to ?6,000 per household.

It was suggested appointment -- unemployment could also fall. A hard

Tory Brexit could mean 80,000 lost jobs and a drop in wages. If we add

to that the report from the FDIC executives, saying Brexit is already

having a negative impact, half the businesses survey to have seen a hit

to margins due to devaluation. We can see the scale of the problem and

that is what we should have seen today, mitigation to match that. To

be fair to the Chancellor, he did move a little last autumn with

announcements of capital for our anti-. -- R and D.

The figures from last year's Autumn Statement actually showed public

sector net investment falling in 17-18 and not recovering until we

get into the next Parliament. The figures today for public sector

growth investment actually show them falling this coming year, 17-18, to

the forecast made only three and a half months ago. The money should be

spent now to mitigate instead of waiting until the OBR told them the

damage has been done. However, it's not all about broken promises of

that deficit and borrowing. It's not even about repeating the mistakes of

the past on investment. We are now in such uncertain times that

protecting jobs and trade and current accounts should be front and

centre, but little was said today. The red book tells us that the

current account is in negative territory for the entire forecast

period. The impact of net trade will be a zero or a drag on GDP growth

for almost every year in the forecast period, and this is after

an average 15% devaluation in sterling since the EU referendum.

So... Of course I'll give way. Is he aware that the rebel also points out

that over the forecast period the cumulative current-account deficit

is over 30% of GDP? They would have to sell an awful lot of UK companies

to fund it. It is precisely the point. The choices are that we grow

and take exports seriously all we do what Tory governments have always

done and soul of the family silver. What growth there is is, as I said,

forecast to be based on heroic levels of business investment after

the uncertainty of Brexit ends this year. Has consumption with a rise in

household indebtedness, Central government funding is welcome, but

with House prices for course to rise... We know the impact of this

were youngsters trying to get onto the property ladder. On household

that in particular, I would have thought the Chancellor will be more

alert to concerns that even after excluding mortgage payments,

household debt has now reached record levels. This is not a

balanced recovery, but it is an issue of trade which is most

worrying. The figures are clear. We have the figures for 2015. 80

billion in the red. A deficit in the trading goods, ?120 million in the

red, but at least he did not repeat the claims of his predecessor that

we could double exports by the end of this decade to ?1 trillion.

Perhaps he should tell the Secretary of State for International trade who

still thinks it sensible to keep the target, even though he doesn't

believe it can be met. This is not all the fault of this Chancellor,

many failings have been embedded in the UK economy for decades and it's

not just about exports, it's about support for innovation which I do

welcome, and for manufacturing as well as boosting productivity across

the board. We should have had those specific plans today. He has had

enough time in office. If a substantial GDP growth not be less

than 2% in every year for the forecast period, lower than

precrisis trends, we should have seen measures to boost productivity.

For percent higher than the 2007 level, compared to next to nothing

in the UK. Targeted support for high-growth export focused SMEs.

Taking more businesses out of business rates in England in tiling,

not just a bit more help for a short period of time. I welcome what he

said about education because if they said about education because if they

inclusive growth, but we won't get inclusive growth, but we won't get

inclusive growth if people are worried about putting food on the

table because the welfare cuts are squeezing down incomes. I will give

way. I am grateful to him for giving way. He was talking about

significant emissions and I want a fish is my concern about another

omission. Nothing in this statement about the climate crisis, green

energy, reversing the solar tax hike, nothing about air pollution.

Is it not a reckless squandering of a vital opportunity? What we have

seen over the last two years will confirm that. The contract for

change that were not helpful and all of the matter is that the honourable

lady has raised that she is right to keep on making those points. One of

the reasons the government cannot fund its policies is because of the

issue with tax yield. We look at the corporation tax yield. It flat

lines, it falls and it definitely falls in real terms. For the last

four years of the forecast period that has happened. We have seen a

scandalous attack on aspiration, on the self-employed. Taxing them more,

4.2 billion or so from people, the Pope will -- the party of

aspiration, putting in disincentives to starting business, to employ

people, to stepping out on one's own. I think that is a decision that

will come battle this Chancellor. A good way one more time. Will he not

agreed that if a person works they should be taxed equally and it is a

non-level playing field between those employed and self-employed.

Does he think that is either fair or sustainable? This is the problem

with Tories. They talk about business as if they know it,

assuming every businessman as a multi billionaire. Most

self-employed business people, when they start, they own less than the

minimum wage. If they can set one or 2000 at the end of the to make ends

meet, it's the right thing for them to do. If they become Microsoft in

the future, they paid tax and everyone will benefit, but none of

these people will now do this automatically. They will take a

second look, have a pause, wonder if the risk is worth it because of the

disincentive put in place. I won't give way at the moment. I want to

make a little bit of progress. The Chancellor also... The problem is it

is rather smoke and mirrors with the money spoke about today. Scotland's

discretionary spending will be down 1 billion at the end of the

Parliament. Every little helps, but I don't think we will be putting out

the bunting to celebrate the Chancellor's la Jess. The other

point I was to make is about Brexit. The hard Tory Brexit, the elephant

in the room, barely mentioned by the Chancellor is approaching quickly.

It does mean we revert to different rules regarding tariffs and

regulated barriers is a better deal cannot be struck and I have no

confidence in the ability of this government to deliver that deal.

There is no guarantee of deal will be done and if the Chancellor

expects the plans today and can cope with the consequence of a cliff edge

Brexit, which the Prime Minister plans, then the whole government are

in for a very rude awakening. Let's look at some facts. The economic

value of EU citizens working in the UK is enormous. We were told last

year that the impact of restrictions on migration alone due to Brexit

could lead to a loss of over 1% of GDP. That's a 1% fall in GDP due to

restrictions on migration alone, that will more than half the

government's GDP growth forecasts for every single year in this

forecast period, rendering them meaningless. Just put some colour

into that, my honourable friend from Dundee West met with the computer

games industry today. 98.4% of the companies that responded to them

said the government should guarantee the status of EU nationals working

in the UK and do it immediately. So it would be, if not a fiscal

measure, an active and positive economic one for the Chancellor to

have done that today. It would have been an act of positive economic

measures to make sure that lost EU funding was replaced post-2020,

specifically the less favoured area support scheme and particularly if

EU loses the EU before the closure wind in 2019. It would been a

positive measure today talk about substantial and long transitional

arrangements for the financial sector to avoid the loss of jobs and

income and headquarters and tax. I think my honourable friend for

giving way, is he like me concerned about the announcement in the Irish

press that since Brexit over 1000 UK companies have registered or taken

steps to register offices in Ireland? I'm not shocked, not

surprised by it. What we need to do is make sure certainly in Scotland,

in the UK, if the government can find the will to do and that we make

this as attractive a place as possible to continue to invest and

run businesses and that means staying in the single market and

finally staying in the EU. The final thing, a reference to announcements

made not today but in relation to the budget in the last week. There

was the decision to have extra departmental spending cuts and the

decision on PIP and other welfare measures. We believe that the latter

demonstrates the efficacy of the welfare cup in balancing the books

on the back of the poor. Confirming many predictions the UK is heading

to become more equal than any time since the days of Margaret Thatcher

and the form of confirming that this government has learned nothing,

tweaking the numbers to fit the ideology, being driven by a Thomas

Detry agenda, failing to realise again you cannot cut your way to

growth, but Mr Deputy Speaker the real tragedy of this is, just a week

or so before Article 50 is invoked, Brexit, if it is the word that dare

not speak its name then this country is not prepared for the economic