Commons Chamber

Tuesday 2nd December 2025

(began 1 month, 2 weeks ago)

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None Portrait Q2. What steps she is taking with international partners to help improve the global response to cyber attacks and ransomware. (906664)
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Minister.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Question two please, Minister.
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None Portrait Q3. What diplomatic steps she is taking with international partners to help tackle modern slavery and unethical labour practices in global supply chains. (906666)
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Mike Reader question number three, Mr. Speaker.
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None Portrait Q4. What assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of US foreign policy on Ukraine. (906667)
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Sarah. Richard Foord. Mr Speaker.
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Yvette Cooper Portrait Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP, Foreign Secretary, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley, Labour)
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We have been clear about the importance of mobilising the Russian sovereign assets in order to invest in and support Ukraine. As he will know, the proposal that has been put forward by the EU, which is one we support, is one for reparation loans based on those sovereign assets that allows us to maintain the appropriate stability and approach to the financial markets, but also mobilise those assets to support Ukraine. The purpose of doing so is because Russia should pay for the damage that they have done.

So we will continue to press for those Russian sovereign assets to be mobilised

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for Ukraine. Boris. Question number five, Mr.

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Speaker. For a second. Mr. speaker, with permission, I will answer questions five and 11 together. The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire as situation in Gaza remains dire as winter weather draws in. While thousands of families do not have proper shelter. This weekend, after proper shelter. This weekend, after more than a year's delay, we were finally able to get UK funded tents finally able to get UK funded tents into Gaza through Kerem Shalom working with Unicef. Those tents will provide critical shelter for 12,000 people, but more support is needed.

And so from today the government will also match pound for pound new donations to the Disaster Emergency Committee. Middle East appeal. Over this winter, with an additional 3 million support through those charities to help those most in need and get support to families in Gaza.
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None Portrait Q8. What assessment she has made of the level of threat that China poses to UK interests. (906671)
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Good job number eight, sir.
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None Portrait Q10. What assessment she has made of recent trends in levels of human rights violations in Hong Kong. (906673)
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Zoe Franklin number.
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None Portrait Q12. What discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on strengthening the UK’s relationship with the EU. (906675)
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Al Pinkerton.
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None Portrait Topical questions: Foreign, Commonwealth and Development
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We come to topicals Toby Perkins. Good morning sir. Secretary. Mr. speaker, can I send my
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David Lammy Portrait Rt Hon David Lammy MP, The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Tottenham, Labour)
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The secretary, David Lammy. Mr. speaker, with your

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Mr. speaker, with your permission, I will make a statement on criminal court reform. As the on criminal court reform. As the House is aware, the first part of the Independent Review of Criminal Courts was published in July. I am grateful to its chair, Sir Brian Leveson, one of the foremost judges of his generation, and his expert advisers. Professor David Omand, Chris Mayer and Sean McNally. With this review, Sir Brian has produced a blueprint for a once in a generation court reform.

It's desperately needed. Mr. speaker, because this government inherited an emergency in our courts, a record and rising backlog currently at 78,000 cases, victims facing agonising delays with some trials not listed for years. All the while, defendants bide their time. The guilty plea rate has decreased every year since the year 2000, and in the year to June, 11,000 cases were dropped after a charge because victims no longer supported or felt they could support the case. Behind the statistics are real people.

Katie was repeatedly abused by her partner. She reported him to the police in 2017, but then had an unbearable six year wait for justice. During this time, she lost a job due to her mental health deteriorating, she became increasingly isolated, lived in fear and lost faith in the court system. Mr. speaker, this is not isolated, it's systemic. We're all proud of our justice system rooted in the Magna Carta, but we must never forget that. It implores us not to deny or delay justice when victims are left waiting for years, justice is effectively denied to them.

And this is a betrayal of our legal heritage. And it's a betrayal of the victims themselves. Some will ask why we don't simply increase funding. This government has already invested heavily in the courts, nearly 150 million to make them fit for purpose, 92 million committed per year for criminal legal aid, solicitors and funding for a record number of sitting days in our Crown courts, 5000 more than those funded last year by the previous government. Today I can announce up to £34 million per year in additional funding for criminal legal aid advocates to recognise the vital support that they give to those navigating the system.

I will also accept Sir Brian's recommendation to match fund a number of pupillages in the criminal area, to open a career at the criminal Bar to more young people from across society. I will also negotiate sitting days with the senior judiciary through the usual concordat process, aiming to give an unprecedented three year certainty to the system. I am clear that sitting days in the Crown Court and magistrates courts must continue to rise, and my ambition is to continue breaking records by the end of this Parliament.

But as Sir Brian has made clear, investment is not enough. The caseload is projected to reach 100,000 by 2028 and without fundamental change could keep rising, meaning justice will be denied to more victims and trust in the system will collapse. Mr. speaker, to avoid that disaster, I will follow Sir Brian's bold blueprint for change. First, I will create new swift courts within the Crown Court, with a judge alone deciding verdicts in tribal. Either way, cases with a likely sentence of three years or less.

As Sir Brian recommends, Sir Brian estimates that they will deliver justice at least 20% faster than jury trials. And whilst jury deliberations remain confidential, judges provide reasoning for their verdicts in open court. So this will hardwire transparency into our new approach. Sir Brian also proposes restricting defendants right to elect for jury trials, a practice not found widely in other common law jurisdictions. And let's be honest, it's a peculiar way to run a public service. Our world leading judges should hear the most serious cases, and I agree that they and the magistrates should decide whether a case is heard.

This will prevent defendants from gaming the system, choosing whichever court they think gives the best chance of success, and drawing out the process, hoping victims give up. And I will limit appeals from the Magistrates court so that they are only allowed on points of law to prevent justice being delayed further. Alongside these changes, we will increase magistrates courts sentencing powers to 18 months so they can take a greater proportion of lower level offending and relieve pressure on the Crown Court.

I will also take power to extend that to two years, should it become necessary to leave further pressure. And when it comes to exceptionally technical and lengthy fraud and financial trials, judges will be able to sit without a jury where appropriate. While these cases are small in number, they place undue pressures on jurors to sit for months a significant interference with their personal and professional lives. These reforms are bold, Mr. Speaker, but they're necessary. I'm clear that jury trials will continue to be the cornerstone of the system.

For the most serious offences, those likely to receive a sentence over three years and all indictable only offences, among others. This will include rape, murder, manslaughter, grievous bodily harm, robbery and arson with intent to kill. Mr. speaker, I'd like to clear up some misconceptions that colleagues unfamiliar in this area might hold. In England and Wales, magistrates have long done the vast majority of criminal cases. That was true in the Victorian era. It's right through to Winston Churchill's time and today, magistrates hear about 90% of criminal cases.

In fact, only 3% of child cases in England and Wales will ever go before a jury, and almost three quarters of all trials going to the Crown Court will continue to be heard by them. Under our changes, the party opposite talk about the Crown Court as if it were an ancient institution. I should remind them that it was established in 1971, the year before I was born, to replace a patchwork of part time courts unable to cope with the rising caseload.

Parliament acted because the country needed a more efficient system that could command public confidence. We now face an emergency in the courts and we must act as Lord Chancellor. My responsibility is to ground reform in the rule of law and the right to a fair trial. We will ensure cases are dealt with at the right level, proportionate to their severity, and deliver the swift justice victims deserve. I'm also clear that we must futureproof our approach. Technology is changing almost every aspect of our lives and the courts can be no exception.

This means that we must modernise. Mr. speaker, we have asked the Brian to write a second report focussed on efficiency and how we can make much better use of technology to deliver the modern and effective courts the public rightly expect. Mr. speaker, we will also continue to support victims to make sure that they have the confidence to come forward and seek justice through to its conclusion. I announce this week that I will provide multiyear funding for victim support services, including specialist emotional and practical support for victims of domestic violence and domestic abuse, and increased budgets to reflect rising costs.

And this will give providers a certainty to plan for the next three years. And it amounts to a total investment, a record investment in victims of £550 million, more than half a billion. I want those victims to stay the course. Finally, we must also be honest that this is a problem that has taken years to build up. It will take years to fix. The changes I'm proposing will require legislation that will take time to implement. Our investment will also need time to have an effect, but we are pulling every possible lever to move to A in a positive direction, and my ambition for the backlog to start coming down by the end of this Parliament remains, and I commend this statement to the House.
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Robert Jenrick Portrait Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP (Newark, Conservative)
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Here.

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We now come to the Justice Secretary Robert Jeff Smith. Yes. Well. I'm glad to see that the Justice Secretary has finally come into Secretary has finally come into work today. When 12 prisoners were mistakenly released after the mistakenly released after the introduction of his brilliant new checks, he didn't bother to come to Parliament to inform the country. Then when I asked his department whether it's paying compensation to terrorists in prison, he didn't terrorists in prison, he didn't show up.

And when the news of his plans to scrap jury trials mysteriously emerged in the press mysteriously emerged in the press last week, he was nowhere to be seen. Like the prisoners under his seen. Like the prisoners under his watch, he's been a man on the run. The dodger of this sorry charade for a government. But now, today, we are blessed. Blessed with his presence. And his past is catching up with him. Because the best opponent of the Justice Secretary's plans to kerb jury trials is the Justice Secretary himself.

In 2020, he said, criminal trials without juries are a bad idea. You don't fix the backlog with trials that are widely perceived as unfair. In 2017, in his report into prejudice in the criminal justice system, he found juries and, I quote, act as a filter for prejudice. But now he's become justice secretary. He's scrapping the very institution he once lauded. Which is it? Will the real David Lammy please stand up? And it isn't just him who can guess which Labour MP said taking away jury trials would be a wholly draconian act? It's his junior Minister.

And what about this? There should be a right to trial by jury in all criminal cases. Any ideas, Mr. Speaker? Who else is the Prime Minister this time? Does this government have no shame? Now, yesterday, the Justice Secretary boldly claimed that if the medieval Barons were around today, they'd support his changes. Well, then again, English history has never been his specialist subject, has it? 800 years on from the Magna Carta, we have another unpopular leader who doesn't listen to his subjects.

Levies, eyewatering taxes, and a state that locks people up for what they say. Well, I say the link between British citizens and the administration of justice is as important as ever. A link that serves as a check on an occasionally overbearing state. Our ancestors did not stop Bad King John, only to be undone 800 years later by this Prime Minister and his court jester. And all of this because the Justice Secretary can't manage his own department. This morning, more than 50 Crown courtrooms sit empty in England.

Alone. In fact. Alone. In fact.
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Robert Jenrick Portrait Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP (Newark, Conservative)
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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This morning, more than 50 Crown courtrooms sit empty in England. Alone. In fact, over 21,000 court days have gone unused this year. And why? Not because there are too many juries, but because the Justice Secretary won't fund the sitting days. Had he done so, the backlog would have shrunk by up to 10,000 cases rather than the fact it's risen this year. The truth is, scrapping juries is a choice. This government could find the money to bear down on the backlog of asylum claims.

It could find the money to spend more on benefits, just not to fund the courts to sit round the clock. Last year, the entire Budget for courts in legal aid was £5.5 billion, almost exactly the same amount of money, £5.4 billion that we spent on illegal migrants. He defends their rights under the but not our rights under Magna Carta. And for what? He can't even guarantee that in four years time this will reduce the backlog with this justice Secretary. It is justice delayed and justice denied.

So I ask him much of the rest of the package announced today is sensible. But why is it taken 17 months? The Bar Council, the Law Society, the Criminal Bar Association have all said that jury

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trials are not the problem. Based in the wrong way. It's very hard when you're looking at the doors. Thank you.

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the doors. Thank you. Mr. Speaker. So why did he not start by reducing? Why did he not start by reducing? Why did he not start by reforming the probation service, the court listings and tackling delays from late prison tackling delays from late prison transfers? Why has he still not taken up the Lady Chief Justice on all the sitting days she's offered him? And lastly, why on earth does him? And lastly, why on earth does this Justice Secretary think he has a mandate to rip up centuries of jury trials without even a mention jury trials without even a mention of it in his party's manifesto? In his twisted logic, he says he's scrapping juries to save them.

But be in no doubt if the justice Secretary gets away with this is the beginning of the end of jury trials. He's already in retreat. good.
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David Lammy Portrait Rt Hon David Lammy MP, The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Tottenham, Labour)
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Yes.

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Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm very grateful to the

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Well, I'm very grateful to the shadow Justice secretary. And I am a little surprised that in his a little surprised that in his tirade, he never once mentioned tirade, he never once mentioned victims. Not once, not once. In his clip did he talk about the people clip did he talk about the people waiting in that backlog? He. He's boasted about himself as an

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boasted about himself as an armchair historian. Can I just give him a history lesson, Mr. Speaker.

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Speaker. In 20 in 2019, sitting days in the Crown Court were cut by almost 15%. They oversaw a 12% reduction in Crown Court trials. And many of us remember, over those 14 years of austerity, the magistrates courts that closed in local communities, the Crown courts that closed in local communities under his watch. It was a political decision, not my words. The words of the senior presiding judge of England and Wales. I wonder how he'll try to blame the pandemic for that decision.

He talks about what I tweeted in 2020. We are saving and protecting jury trials. Jury trials will continue. He talks about trial by jury as if we live in the United States. 90% of criminal trials, 1.3 million are done by our magistrates. Our magistrate in this country, which has existed for 650 years. And we are going to grow our magistrates, who we believe could do more. He talks about the Magna Carta. Yes. Article nine establishes the jury trial, which we are proud of, and it 39 establishes the jury trial and it establishes a fair trial.

But he knows, too, that article 40 asks us not to delay justice. And that is the substance of this debate. And that is why we need reform. He knows, too, that the Conservatives took juries away from defamation cases in 2013. Back in 1933, we had juries sitting in civil cases. So of course we reform, we reform to meet the needs of the system. He knows also that because of DNA evidence, because of CCTV, for a whole raft of reasons, police arresting 10% more, we have a demand issue.

We must meet that challenge. And we must must ensure that we put the victim at the centre of our criminal justice system. That's what it's there for. And it's why he should have mentioned them.
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Jess Brown-Fuller Portrait Jess Brown-Fuller MP (Chichester, Liberal Democrat)
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Jess Brown-Fuller. The Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

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Mr. Speaker, the announcement today of the government's plan to reduce the use of trial by jury would be an historic upheaval of our court system, with profound consequences. But the Justice Secretary has not stood up and Secretary has not stood up and argued in favour of judge only trials on their own terms. Instead, he has made arguments that there is he has made arguments that there is no alternative. That is simply not true. We have heard many within the legal profession argue that removing trial by jury is a removing trial by jury is a misdirection for the multitude of problems that are actually underlying the backlog.

These problems, caused by years of conservative mismanagement, have resulted in countless wasted hours of sitting times, and victims of sitting times, and victims failed time and time again. Perhaps the defendant does not arrive in court due to the broken private contracts. There is no interpreter. Maybe the witness care unit forgets to tell witnesses to attend, or key evidence isn't served until the day of trial, so the defence has no time to consider it, or there's not enough court staff to manage the security on the door and the trial runs late, or our crumbling infrastructure results in no running water, a broken lift, even flooded courtrooms.

So we do need a real solution to tackle these issues, which plague our justice system. But instead, the justice secretary intends to remove a huge number of jury trials despite his own previous opposition. All while the Ministry of Justice capital Budget is being cut by 3% in real terms every year. So while I absolutely welcome the £500 million investment in victims and witness support over three years, the total courts maintenance backlog is estimated at 1.3 billion. So can I ask the Justice Secretary where is the investment to fix the collapsing infrastructure in the justice system? And will he consider reopening? Many of the Crown courts closed under the Conservatives, including mine in Chichester.

And as he confirmed to the media today, an entire jury's worth of prisoners have been released in error in recent weeks. Does the Secretary of State have confidence in his department to oversee such an extreme and radical reform, when they're not even getting the basics right?
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David Lammy Portrait Rt Hon David Lammy MP, The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Tottenham, Labour)
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Justice Secretary.

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I'm very grateful to the right hon. Lady. She mentions a range of issues which are important to ensure that across our 80 or so courts and 500 courtrooms, that they're working effectively. And they're working effectively. And that's why we've asked Sir Brian Leveson to look at efficiency as Leveson to look at efficiency as part two of his review. Because we do need not just our courts, but Crown prosecution, our police Crown prosecution, our police working together at a regional working together at a regional level to deliver that improvement.

I would just say to her that when we're thinking about those either way cases, I do think it's legitimate for the government to take a view on, for example, whether a driving licence fraud or flytipping or the theft of a bike requires a jury trial, which will last two days. Let's say, or actually it can be dealt with by a magistrate or by a judge. And I know, I know that she is committed to us bearing down and dealing with violence against women and girls.

And it can't be right that if you're charged with an offence like the theft of a bicycle, theft from a vehicle, theft from an employee, that you can opt for a trial, and by necessity, that goes into the system and will delay a rape trial, a murder trial or something else. That's the balance of decision that I've sought to make. And I think it's why the government has made the right decision, implemented. Sir Brian's reforms.
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Liz Saville Roberts Portrait Rt Hon Liz Saville Roberts MP (Dwyfor Meirionnydd, Plaid Cymru)
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transcript. It was not easy. And that is absolutely part of what we are now investing in, particularly

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with AI as technology, and we will be coming forward. With this. I rise as the co-chair of the

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I rise as the co-chair of the Justice Union's parliamentary group. Caernarfon Justice Centre is only 16 years old, but the roof leaks when it's raining and the heating doesn't work. So I'll list some of the root causes. Why criminal courts are processing fewer cases, high workloads, staff shortages and inexperience, poor administration, inexperience, poor administration, crumbling buildings. So how does he think that undermining one of the basic tenets of English and Welsh

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basic tenets of English and Welsh law is going to be a solution to those problems? Justice Secretary.

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Justice Secretary. Well, can I refer to paragraph nine of Sir Brian's review, where it says it is important to underline that greater financial investment on its own, without systemic reform cannot solve the crisis we are investing. It will

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take time. It's not fair to ask victims to wait. Linsey Farnsworth.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. speaker, I spent two decades working on the front line in the criminal justice system, and I can tell you now, this is a crisis that has been building for years and has been building for years and years and years. I spoke to one of my former colleagues today to ask
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Jess Phillips Portrait Jess Phillips MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Birmingham Yardley, Labour)
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Julian Lewis are you staying? So yeah. Can you. Statement

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So yeah. Can you. Statement Minister Jess Phillips. With permission, madam Deputy

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With permission, madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to make a statement on the Angiolini inquiry. I cannot begin anywhere else than I cannot begin anywhere else than by acknowledging the abhorrent crime that led to the establishment of this important inquiry in the first place. Sarah Everard's murder by a serving police officer was a betrayal of trust, so wretched that it defies belief. None of us will ever forget the collective sense of sorrow, outrage and revulsion that swept across the country in the aftermath.

There were far reaching implications for policing and the public's confidence in those who are meant to serve and protect communities. And let us always remember that this began with a young woman losing her life, a beloved daughter, sister and friend gone because of an act of pure evil. Today I am thinking of Sarah and of the years denied to her and of her loved ones. They are in all of our hearts, as are the other victims of violence against women and girls who have lost their lives.

As the Justice Secretary said, I would have been with some of them this morning and we hold them, and I'm sure I speak for the house very closely in our hearts. Part one of the Angiolini Inquiry focussed on the career and conduct of Sarah's killer, while part two was commissioned to examine broader issues in relation to policing and the safety of women. The first of two reports that will make up part two of the inquiry has been laid before the House and published today.

It examines what more can be done to prevent sexually motivated crimes against women in public spaces. The report starkly highlights that many women do not feel safe due to the actions and behaviours of predatory men, and they are assuming the burdens of their own protection themselves through avoidance measures such as not going out at night, avoiding dark streets and modifying their use of public transport. This is, as we all know, utterly unacceptable. As the inquiry chair Lady Elish Angiolini puts it so clearly in the report, somehow we have simply come to accept that many women do not feel safe walking in the streets.

This is a substantial and significant report, and I would urge all members to read it in full. And while it acknowledges that there is a range of ongoing work which seeks to prevent these terrible crimes and disrupt predators, it also highlights that there is no quick fix and demands a more consistent approach across the whole of society to address and prevent this violence. I would like at this point to place on record my heartfelt thanks to Lady Eilish and her team for their work.

They have approached and continued to approach their task with skill, sensitivity and determination. Today's publication underlines why it is so vital that every agency and every sector does more to protect women from harm. This government is resolute. The fact that women do not feel safe going about their everyday lives is a national emergency. This House will also be aware of our landmark commitment to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, which will require us to address the root causes of abuse and violence and prevent, prevent offending, and relentlessly pursue those who perpetrate these appalling crimes.

Since the general election, we have played a more active role to ensure that women and girls receive more consistent protection from policing. We have provided £13.1 million to deliver a more coordinated approach and national leadership to drive up investigative and operational standards through the National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls on Public Protection. This new centre is ensuring that expertise, including from programmes such as Operation Soteria and Project Vigilant, are put into practice in forces across the country.

These were both highlighted in Lady Angiolini report. We are also clear that those who commit these heinous crimes have absolutely no place in policing to address this and to help fulfil recommendations from part one of the inquiry, we are putting police vetting standards on a statutory footing which will enable forces to exclude those with a caution or conviction of VAWG offences from policing. We are also strengthening requirements on forces to suspend officers under investigation for these crimes. I know there is a great deal of interest in our up and coming VAWG strategy, and I have been in number ten this morning with the Prime Minister and stakeholders working on it today.

It will deliver a bold step change in how we address violence against women and girls as a government and a society over the next decade. As the inquiry report highlights, we cannot address entrenched issues in isolation. We must draw on all of society, and I place emphasis on this being a truly cross-government strategy. Prevention is fundamental to our approach, alongside strengthening our response to target perpetrators and stop them causing harm. Having lived and breathed its development over several months, I am as eager as everyone else to get it out there.

It will undoubtedly answer some of the issues raised in this important report. It is on its way very soon and I am confident it will live up to expectations. As Lady Eilish highlights, too little has been done to deliver consistent protections for women and girls, and progress has fallen short. We find ourselves at a moment of reckoning as someone who has spent their working life trying to secure real, lasting change. I know it will not be easy, but in honour of the victims and their families, and for the sake of women and girls across England and Wales, we must succeed.

And this government will

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not stop until we have. I commend this statement to the House. Shadow Minister Matt Vickers.
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Matt Vickers Portrait Matt Vickers MP (Stockton West, Conservative)
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Thank you, Madam Deputy. Speaker. I'd like to thank the Minister for advance sight of her statement and for coming to the House to and for coming to the House to speak to the incredibly disturbing and damaging issues outlined in today's report. Over four years ago, the reprehensible abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard shocked us all and it forced the police to confront their failure to remove Wayne Couzens as a police officer. The crime was vile and abhorrent, extinguishing the life of an incredible young lady in the most awful way.

We should never forget the impact of this crime, with Sarah's mother describing the final hours of her life as a constant torment to the family. I know that Sarah, her family and her friends remain in the thoughts of the whole house and people across the country today. This incident underlines our responsibility to confront not only the problems outlined in this case, but also to go beyond any single evil person and tackle challenges in our police and society more widely, Sarah's murder had a profound effect on women.

As this report outlines, women change their travel plans, their routines and their lives out of fear for their safety, and through the whole house will agree that is simply not acceptable. This reflection is critical, as we will always support the police and have advocated the need to give them the powers required to tackle crime in our society. However, that support is predicated on a deep responsibility which extends beyond the responsibilities to which many in our society are bound.

As the Code of Practice for ethical policing notes. Effective policing is built on public trust and confidence. This depends on a policing profession that is ethical and professional in the way it respects, listens, responds and improves and serves the public. As the Minister will be aware, the terms of reference for part two were set and published in May 2023 by my right hon. Friend and the then Home Secretary, the Member for Fareham and Waterlooville. The scope appropriately asked the government to cover the three broad areas set out by the Minister today recruitment and vetting, police, culture and standards, and the prevention of sexually motivated crimes against women in public spaces.

This report highlights our responsibility to ensure women and girls feel safe in public spaces, where there is clearly a significant gap today. The Minister in her role rightly mentioned some of the steps the government are taking to tackle violence against women and girls. In this spirit, I recognise the important steps taken by the last government which brought forward Operation Soteria, a programme highlighted by Lady Eilish in her statement this morning which sought to radically transform the way police and the Crown Prosecution Service investigate rape, and which I understand the government are implementing the principles of in training.

This was among a range of other measures set out when the first part was published, but, as was acknowledged, we need to go much, much further. Therefore, I hope the Minister can follow through on what she outlined today and ensure that the Violence against Women and Girls strategy is published. Having been delayed over the past year. The minister's statement today also does not mention the use of data, a point the report suggests is lacking. Can she provide assurances that the government in the strategy will have a comprehensive plan for implementing better data recording, encompassing and publishing a wider array of data pertaining to violence against women and girls.

As shadow policing Minister, I'd also reflect on what we can do at speed to instil trust within the public that the police will tackle this problem. The dreadful murder of Sarah Everard did huge damage to public trust in the police, especially that of young women in particular. I refer to the proposals around officer vetting and conduct, which I expect to be raised in the second half of the report. The truth is that for a variety of reasons, we can both acknowledge the measures to bring forward changing to changes to our vetting and dismissal procedures have not been implemented at sufficient speed.

As such, will the Minister discuss with her ministerial colleagues the need to implement these changes swiftly? Once the legislation is passed? The inquiry report demonstrates the necessity of tackling violence against women and girls in our public spaces. Unfortunately, we know there are survivors of grooming gangs who were killed by the police and local authorities, often in plain sight. Therefore, I'd implore the Minister to provide answers about the terms of reference and timings of the grooming gangs inquiry and ensure there is justice for all those affected by these heinous crimes.

Additionally, I'd ask the Minister about her level of confidence in implementing the recommendations set out in Lady Elish Angiolini report today. As she rightly highlighted, this is a whole society issue which requires a whole society response. The Minister has herself highlighted some of the challenges in achieving cross-government responses to the Violence against Women and Girls strategy, and I hope she will now be able to drive forward the change needed to protect women and girls.
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Jess Phillips Portrait Jess Phillips MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Birmingham Yardley, Labour)
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I thank the hon. Gentleman and I thank him for his tone and thank him for his tone and genuinely constructive questioning on the matter. The first thing I on the matter. The first thing I would say is that absolutely, Operation Soteria started under the last government. It was something that I worked alongside Ministers that I worked alongside Ministers at the time on, as well as other police forces in that, in that spirit, I always welcome that that spirit, I always welcome that that cross-party working operation Soteria has, it would seem, been a Soteria has, it would seem, been a game changing and that is certainly highlighted in Lady Eilish's review.

And what it also says is that it needs to be have a consistent footing within it. And so us putting it within the new centre, we very much hope, will provide some of that consistent footing to very good work started under the last government. I absolutely credit that on the issue of data. He is absolutely right. And what data we measure, how data needs to be improved will absolutely be part. When a government says that it is going to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, the first time any government has ever tried to put any numbers on it.

You can't have numbers unless you have a lot of data that goes into that. And so looking at data will be very important. He highlights the issue that Lady Eilish herself talks about how it is not fast enough, and actually with the recommendations of the previous report that was laid, those that were for the government are being undertaken. The the the nature of the 43 police forces is is a clear issue throughout the report. And when everybody has read it, that comes out very clearly, which is one of the reasons for having the violence against Women and Girls Centre to try and do some of that.

But fundamental reform is also going to be needed with regard to policing and the standards, so that we don't end up with a postcode lottery across our country. Now, the Home Secretary has already announced some reforms around police and crime commissioners, but in the new year, broader policing reforms will be coming. And it is for the exact reason that Lady Eilish outlines is that postcode lottery across police force. How confident am I? I am always confident that we will undertake as much as is possible.

It will never be as fast as I would like it to be, or anyone would like it to be, because this is hard work and you cannot just change it for good announcements. You have to change the culture and it's going to take a lot. a lot.
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Max Wilkinson Portrait Max Wilkinson MP (Cheltenham, Liberal Democrat)
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Liberal Democrat spokesperson Max Wilkinson. with the family of Sarah Everard. More than four years on from her horrific murder, too many women are still suffering life changing crimes on our streets. This inquiry makes it painfully clear that women continue to feel unsafe. They change their daily routines just to avoid very real threats. That is unacceptable in Britain today. Part one of this inquiry showed that Wayne Couzens should never have been allowed to become a police officer.

Multiple opportunities to dot to stop a dangerous sexual predator were missed or ignored. As Chair Lady Elish Angiolini warned that without radical action, there is nothing to stop another Couzens operating in plain sight. Today's report underlines just how radical that action must be. The lack of basic data on sexually motivated crimes against women, and the fact that over a quarter of forces still lack fundamental policies for investigating sexual offences is nothing short of horrifying. The inquiry finds that sexually motivated crimes against women in public are not prioritised to the same extent as other serious offences.

We are told that prevention remains just words while perpetrators slip through the cracks. These are shocking findings that shame our nation. So I ask the Minister, will she commit to implementing all 13 of Lady Angelina's recommendations, and will she set out a timeline for their implementation? And I ask the Minister that this government pledged to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. Yet this strategy is still not published. Can the Minister reassure us that this manifesto promise will be met, as she has said? And will she tell us today when it will be published? She says soon.

I think people will be reassured by a date.
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Jess Phillips Portrait Jess Phillips MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Birmingham Yardley, Labour)
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Okay. I'll say very soon. Is the answer to that. Look, what what I answer to that. Look, what what I would say is that I received when would say is that I received when you all get to read as I have, because I obviously get it soon. Lady Alicia's full report. One of Lady Alicia's full report. One of the things that she particularly criticises is Ministers standing up, all the police service standing up all the police service standing up after part one of the report and saying, yeah, we'll just do everything.

And then going away and everything. And then going away and looking and thinking, oh, hang on a minute, bit of this bit of that's what I, what I'm going to do is I'm going to give her the respect that she deserves and take away all of the recommendations before I say exactly what I am going to do. What I will say is that when others do get to read the strategy that actually and I was interviewed by Lady Alice as part of this work, as part of this review, that that it will answer many of the questions that are in, in the report.

And so I think that actually the timing is, is is awkward. I would say that had the strategy come out at the point of this, that I would be able to answer the question more fully. And that is. But I think she deserves the respect of of us actually looking at what is possible rather than just going, yep, I'll take them all and then not being able to deliver on it.
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Madam Deputy Speaker, and I thank the Minister for this statement and also join colleagues in remarks with regards to Sarah Everard's family. Her mother is quoted in The Guardian saying that she, still Guardian saying that she, still tormented by the horror of what her daughter suffered at the hands of daughter suffered at the hands of Wayne Couzens. I also think of some of the many other victims who suffered at the hands of of men and boys, including, as the Minister boys, including, as the Minister knows, I referenced Alyn and Deeside and you'll need to be.

And Deeside and you'll need to be. And when you when you're confronted and you meet a family that are grieving for the loss of their daughter, for the loss of their daughter, sister, mother, friend, there are no words. And especially when you think about the horrific nature in which those women were killed, the extracts from this report that I've read make a really difficult reading, and I know that this is now that the Minister is really committed to. But for Lady Angiolini to say that sexual offences should sexual offenders should not, should be banned from the police.

But yet this hasn't happened for her to also say that there's a troubling lack of momentum, funding and ambition for prevention of this work is worrying. And as my hon. Friend quoted the chair of the Select Women and Equalities Select Committee, a quarter of police forces still haven't implemented the most basic policies on this. Really key area does give troubling reading. One of the other areas, which is really troubling and mentioned in the report, is the connection between online abuse. It's not just in a physical atmosphere that women are getting abused.

What more can the Minister say and shed a light on in terms of how we're really going to tackle down on the disgraceful misogyny and abuse that women face in the online world?
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Jess Phillips Portrait Jess Phillips MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Birmingham Yardley, Labour)
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funding that's been raised by women's charities. Does she think she's got enough money to do to do

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it now? Is she going to need more? And of course, I'm sure we'll support her on that. Do I think I'll get. More money?

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Do I think I'll get. More money? Any Minister who stands in front of you and says yes is lying. Do look. you and says yes is lying. Do look. Of course I would always want more money. But actually there is fundamental, systematic problems in fundamental, systematic problems in our system that more money won't solve. Actually, there are fundamentals in the culture of organisations like more police. We have more police now, let's say, have more police now, let's say, than we than we have done, you know, 100 years ago, it didn't stop this happening.

There are absolutely happening. There are absolutely fundamental things that need to change. And I yeah, I suppose yeah, I'm here for a long time. Not a good time in this regard. We have to change absolute fundamentals. But you know, the justice secretary who was on just before me doing the statement, he today announced the £550 million, a half £1 billion that will increase year on year with the with the rising rates of inflation, a three year settlement for victims funding, for example.

Now that level of security and that increasing like that, I was very heartened to hear that. So do I think I will have as much as I'd want? I've never do I think I'll want? I've never do I think I'll have enough and I'll make do with it. Yes, I do, Stella Creasy.
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Stella Creasy Portrait Ms Stella Creasy MP (Walthamstow, Labour )
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Thank you, Madam.

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Hearts have been broken by the words of Sarah Everard's family. The honest truth, though, is this The honest truth, though, is this report does not happen in a vacuum. This weekend, women in Walthamstow will hold a vigil to reclaim hollow will hold a vigil to reclaim hollow ponds, a lovely open space. But there have been repeated concerns about sexual harassment and about sexual harassment and offences there. I can't tell the Minister whether those concerns are merited because my local police, merited because my local police, Waltham Forest Police, have refused an FOI about the number of crime an FOI about the number of crime reports or offences at that site, just as they refused an FOI to explain why they were using community protection notices to community protection notices to deal with violence against women offences.

I say FOI because they refuse to respond to me, as the local MP and local women, about how they are dealing with violence on our streets, and concerns that Lady Angiolini reports in this report about street safety. There is a problem with the Metropolitan Police. We've known that for many years, and many reports show that. That's why for many years, many of us have been campaigning to make misogyny part of our hate crime rubric because we've seen the difference it has made in police forces and how they approach these issues.

The Minister will be aware that it is now nearly three years since this House passed the protection from sex based harassment legislation to bring those measures into power and finally hold organisations like Waltham Forest Police to account for their disrespect for the safety of women in my community. Can she give my residents some assurance that misogyny as hate crime will be implemented, and we will see the cultural change that will tackle the fundamentals that she's talking about?
14:16
Jess Phillips Portrait Jess Phillips MP, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Birmingham Yardley, Labour)
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I thank the hon. Lady. I only wish that writing things onto the statute books changed the culture. It's been illegal to rape someone for quite some time. It's been illegal to murder for even longer. I only wish that just writing, putting things on the statute books made a difference. I have to say, what I would say to her police force is that I would always encourage good communications, both with the women. You know, policing is based on consent and that that is something to hold dear in our country.

So I absolutely implore them to discuss with with my hon. Friend and also the the local community, what concerns they should have and what the police are going to do. I've seen all over the country and Operation Vigilant, for example, is a really good example that is highlighted brilliantly done by Thames Valley Police. Actually, that does exactly that works with the local businesses, local women's groups to do exactly what she is talking about. And I would absolutely implore an Operation Vigilant starting actually on community protection notices.

Elish Angiolini in her review, has some interesting things to say about what police should be doing in public spaces, using certain orders. And so I would ask her to have a look at some of those things. In the Violence Against Women and Girls strategy, we will be talking about some of the issues that she has raised here today. But as I as I have said, that just putting things on the statute book doesn't necessarily mean that operationally that's going to be brilliant.

And so my job is to make sure that before I commence anything, that it can actually work in practice.
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Simon Opher Portrait Dr Simon Opher MP (Stroud, Labour)
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Madam Deputy Speaker, I beg to move that leave be given to bring in a bill to require the Secretary of State to issue a call for evidence in order to obtain information on ways in which to promote and fund an increase in the installation of domestic energy efficiency measures, and to require the Secretary of State to publish a response to the evidence received and for connected purpose. We are now firmly within the year's heating season as the UK braces against the cold.

The media continues to be flooded with stories of people unable to pay their bills, living in some of the leakiest homes in Europe. The case for domestic energy efficiency is as strong as ever. Current understanding around insulation subsidy, organisation and technical details around this work have become confusing, chaotic and in some cases costly. We need a clearer understanding of what mechanisms of subsidy and which technical solutions actually deliver best value for money. The average household is facing an annual fuel bill of over £1,700, and around 2 million households are in arrears.

Surging energy prices have plunged many deeper into fuel poverty, widening the average fuel poverty gap nearly twofold since 2020. The estimated number of households living in fuel poverty now stands at 6.1 million. I welcome the Chancellor's commitment to tackle this crisis at this Budget thanks to this government. Households will see an average reduction of £150 off energy bills from April next year, and we have expanded the warm home discounts, which means that in total, 6 million households will receive £150 off their energy bills this winter.

But if we are to protect ourselves from rising energy costs due to Putin's terrible illegal war in Ukraine, we must reduce our exposure to high energy use itself. If we are not to address winter peak demand through energy efficiency measures, we can expect that electricity requirements will more than double. As a GP, I know that energy efficiency is key for improving health outcomes. Cold homes double the risks of adults developing new mental health conditions, and put 1 in 4 children at risk of multiple mental health symptoms.

Physical health problems caused by cold homes are common. Mould caused by cold. Damp homes can cause allergic type reactions. The development of worsening of asthma, respiratory infections, coughs, wheezing and shortness of breath and cold also raises blood pressure and increases cardiac cardiac failure. The Building Research Establishment has found that poor homes, which expose residents to excess cold, could be costing the NHS £857 million a year in treatment bills. In my constituency in Stroud, I would like to mention seven Y Energy Agency who work with us in the NHS to provide help for patients whose housing is causing ill health.

I would particularly commend their warmth on prescription Scheme, a national exemplar of the NHS and energy efficiency working in tandem, and I would also commend the SGS Berkeley Green University Technical College, a fine institution that trains their students in implementing modern energy efficiency measures. This government is committed to creating 400,000 extra clean energy jobs by 2030, and I know that we will be seeing many of these students taking up posts. Our current framework of encouraging domestic energy efficiency through subsidies, unsustainable dependency on subsidies, can strike disasters.

We have seen in the solar industry ten years ago. We must look at ways to diversify our package of support for energy efficiency to prevent such disastrous impacts on the supply chain, which impact on the strength of the workforce that will be needed in future schemes under successive governments to tend to use upfront payments to deliver energy efficiency measures. These capital grant schemes are subject to the Treasury's five year spending reviews and short term political intervention, creating a boom and bust cycles that undermine confidence among both investors and consumers.

Our recent experience of insulation installation has been poor. A report by the National Audit Office has found that 98% of homes with external insulation installed under government schemes have major issues requiring remediation. 6% of these homes present immediate health risks. It is therefore critical that we relook at our incentives for energy efficiency. Everyone deserves to live in a home that is warm and safe, without without having to go through a remediation process for a botched insulation. The Sustainable Energy Association has developed a proposal for an energy efficiency incentive, which can unlock greater investment by rewarding in-use performance of energy efficiency measures over several years through a revenue based mechanism.

This proposal would lower fuel bills across the country, keeping money in people's pockets. In-use performance can be measured through technologies such as smart metres enabled thermal efficiency ratings. Measuring performance is likely to drive up the quality of measures, as the financiers of the measures will have a strong financial interest in ensuring quality of product and insulation. The modelling has found that fast yielding technologies such as cavity and loft insulation and double glazing will require seven year subsidy framework, while slow yielding technologies such as solid wall insulation will require 25 year subsidy framework.

Investors can have been crying out for a very long term policy certainty. The long term nature of this subsidy framework provides investors with the confidence to invest, opening up a whole host of green financing options for retrofit schemes. Other ideas that have been discussed could include green loans that pay for the upfront cost of insulation, and as the energy needs decrease, the loan can be paid off to the benefit of the householders. Some have proposed the National Insulation Bank, whilst others backed schemes that link stamp duty reductions to the amount spent on home insulations, so that benefits of insulation are not lost if we move.

Encouraging a low carbon, energy efficient upgrade, a call for evidence would certainly invite other innovative proposals to the table, whilst I hope that it would be unnecessary. This bill is a no brainer, providing solutions to problems that unite us as a house. Soaring energy bills, energy security and the health of the UK population. I invite the Minister for Energy Consumers to back my campaign and issue a call for evidence. Thank you.

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The question is that the hon. Member have leave to bring in the Member have leave to bring in the bill. As many as are of that opinion, say I of the contrary, no. I think the ayes have it. The ayes

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have it. Who will prepare and bring in the bill? Maya Ellis Irene Campbell. Paula

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Maya Ellis Irene Campbell. Paula Barker. Andy McDonald. Cat Eccles. Christine Jardine. Paul Davies. Fleur Anderson Amanda Hack Luke Myer Steve Darling. And myself.

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Simon Opher. Thank you very much.

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Thank you very much. Domestic Energy Efficiency (Call for Evidence) Bill. Second Reading. What day? Friday, the 16th of January.

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Friday, the 16th of January.

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Friday, the 16th of January. Well done. The clerk will now proceed to read the orders of the day.

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day. Ways and means. Adjourned. Debate on question now. I would like to draw the House's

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I would like to draw the House's attention to two minor corrections that have been made to the text of resolution 59 and the title of resolution 59 and the title of resolution 98. A revised version of the resolution paper is available in the Vote Office and online. It includes a note setting out the corrections that have been made, and with the exception of frontbench speeches, there will be an immediate four minute time limit. The question is, as on the Order The question is, as on the Order Streeting.
14:42
Wes Streeting Portrait Rt Hon Wes Streeting MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Ilford North, Labour)
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Hey.

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I want to begin, if I may, just by addressing the BMA's reckless call for its members to strike in the run up to Christmas. This is a cynical choice coming as flu cases cynical choice coming as flu cases surge, and we enter the most dangerous time of year for dangerous time of year for hospitals. And it is completely unjustified. After a 28.9% pay rise, unjustified. After a 28.9% pay rise, the government offered to create more jobs and put money back in resident doctors pockets.

The BMA resident doctors pockets. The BMA rejected that out of hand. My door has always been open. I have never has always been open. I have never walked away from the table, and I stand ready to do a deal that puts patients first, and we will prepare for this round of strike action. I am extremely proud of the hard work and performance of NHS leaders and frontline staff who did so well to minimise costs and minimise disruption during recent rounds of strike action.

In fact, at the most recent round of strike action, we were able to maintain planned

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elective activity to cut waiting lists at 95%. Does that give way on that point?

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Does that give way on that point? But I must be honest with the House and with the country. If this House and with the country. If this strike goes ahead, this time will be different. Our hospitals are running hot, the pressures are running hot, the pressures are enormous. And that is why I urge the BMA not to go ahead. Not only the BMA not to go ahead. Not only are they putting the progress we are making together in the NHS at risk, they are threatening to do so risk, they are threatening to do so in the worst way and at the worst time possible.

And I give way to my friend.

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friend. I thank the Secretary of State for giving way and I thank him for his comments that. Would he agree with me? The hard working staff at Saint Thomas's Hospital across the bridge, dealing with patients from right across the country, including many patients who've had those surgeries and operations booked in for many months, still kept the show going during those last round of strikes. And would the Secretary of State please do everything within his power to make sure the

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strike doesn't go ahead? I can certainly give my hon. Friend that assurance, and I absolutely endorse what she says about our local hospital. Hospital I know very well, and I do genuinely want to thank frontline NHS staff, without whom the performance we're seeing in the improvements we're seeing simply improvements we're seeing simply would not be possible. Let me turn now to the substance of this debate, because, Madam Deputy Speaker, because, Madam Deputy Speaker, there was once a time, not long ago, where this place was bound in consensus around a number of issues consensus around a number of issues addressed by this Budget.

We used to be united on the need for a national health service as a national health service as a publicly funded public service, free at the point of use. The last Labour government built a shared conviction that in 21st century Britain, no child should grow up shackled by the scourge of poverty and on public health. You could go back as far as the government of Benjamin Disraeli to find a conservative Prime Minister committed to public health in a way that Labour and Conservative prime Ministers have been in my lifetime.

We didn't always agree on how to get there, but there was at least agreement on the destination. But as the parties opposite here lurched to the right, consensus after consensus is breaking old battles. Admittedly, the Liberal Democrats have moved further to the left since their days in coalition. That's true. They maybe don't lead with your chins on that one, comrades. But. Regardless of of our of our friends here on on the centre left, old battles that were won must now be fought all over again.

And so the task force to Labour, not just to cut waiting lists, improve the health of the nation and lift children out of poverty. But to win the argument and to win hearts and minds, to persuade people that we can and we must help people lead healthier, longer lives free from preventable disease, that we can, and we must rebuild our national health service as a public service, free at the point of need, and that we can, and we must, give every child the best possible start in life, free from the scourge of poverty.

Labour has won these fights before and we will

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win them again. In a good way. Hon. Gentleman. I'm very grateful to the

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I'm very grateful to the Secretary of State for giving way. He knows because his department shares the responsibility for send education, that that is a major education, that that is a major challenge facing the young people whose opportunity he so rightly champions. Can he clarify for the House how the announcement that the government will take responsibility for that from 2028 will alleviate for that from 2028 will alleviate the growing size of the deficits facing many county councils across this country, which is estimated to

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this country, which is estimated to grow into nearly 17 billion by the time the national government takes over. Well, that is a good question,

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Well, that is a good question, and I can give the hon. Gentleman the assurance that my department is working closely with the Secretary of State for education and colleagues right across government to make sure that we get this right. We do have growing levels of need for children with special educational needs and disabilities. All of us will see through our casework, let alone the debates in this House, the unmet need and the impact it is having on children's education, health and life chances.

And that is why we are committed to modernise and reform the system so it meets needs and sets children up to not only survive but to thrive. And that is the ambition of this government. On Sunday, the Leader of the Opposition said she would reinstate the two child limit at the stroke of a pen. She would plunge half a million children back into destitution, shame and hunger. Gone are the days when David Cameron attempted to ape Gordon Brown on the issues of inequality and poverty.

In fact, the 2010 Conservative Party manifesto included the word poverty 20 times committing to an anti-poverty strategy. The 2024 conservative Manifesto mentioned the word once in a chapter on foreign affairs. Was that because after 14 years of conservative rule, the stain of child poverty had been removed from our nation? No, of course it wasn't because the Conservatives plunged 900,000 children into poverty. More than a million children relied on food banks last year, and children are being admitted to hospital for malnutrition in 21st century Britain.

Yet now, this Conservative party doesn't even pretend to care. And on public health, remember it was George Osborne who introduced the sugar tax. It was Boris Johnson who introduced legislation to ban buy one, get one free deals and free refills of fizzy drinks. And today, their successors dismiss these policies as nanny state. Their party is more apologetic about their record on public health than it is about Liz Truss's catastrophic mini Budget. And on the NHS we are seeing its founding principles contested for the first time in generations.

The Leader of the Opposition says, and I quote, we need to have a serious cross-party national conversation about charging for healthcare. Well, if she wants one, she's got it and it will be a short conversation. The answer from this side is no. Over our dead body, we will always defend the NHS as a publicly funded public service, free at the point of use, owned by us, therefore all of us. But of course, it's not just the Leader of the Opposition. The leader of reform wants to replace the NHS with an insurance style system.

They want a system where they're obviously not here to advocate their their policies. They find it increasingly hard to defend them. They want a system that checks their pockets, your pockets before your pulse and ask for your credit card before your care. And where is the Member for Clacton? He's not normally the shy, retiring type. Unless, of course, he's being asked challenging questions. Questions like is paracetamol safe? Does he believe in science or did he racially abuse schoolchildren? In fact, it is reported that he told a Jewish contemporary at school, and I quote, Hitler was right.

Now, admittedly, he was at school a lot longer ago than me. But had I grown up in the aftermath of the Second World War, I think I would remember if I'd supported the losing sides. His politics are a disgrace. He can't stand by his record, and that's why he's not here to defend it, and why he's regularly referred to in his own constituency as never here. Nigel.

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Yeah. But since we're now in a debate on these issues, let me take on on these issues, let me take on their arguments whether they're here or not. The party opposite say, well, the route out of poverty is well, the route out of poverty is work, not welfare. Now, I don't disagree that those who can work disagree that those who can work should work, but 6 in 10 households impacted by the two child limit impacted by the two child limit have at least one parent in work, and they are still in poverty because of low wages and high costs of living.

They say it is the responsibility of families, not the responsibility of families, not the state, to ensure children are well fed. And I agree that parents have a responsibility to look after their own children. But life's a bit more complicated than that, and it is far too easy for others who've never walked in the shoes of parents like mine to pass judgement on people whose lives they will never understand. The Conservatives sneer about Benefit Street. They've never been there. They haven't got the first clue what life is like for people living on welfare.

They say that lifting the two child limit only helps the feckless and irresponsible. So let me tell them about the mum who came to see me at my advice surgery one Friday afternoon with her three children in tow. She had fled domestic violence and had been rehoused on the other side of London in a bed and breakfast. That remarkable woman was hand washing her girls uniform, doing a three hour round trip every day to get her kids to school, and holding down three separate jobs at the same time.

Please don't tell me that women like her are feckless or irresponsible or on the take. She is facing down hardships and challenges that would break many of us. And I'll tell members opposite who is feckless and irresponsible. The people who exploited the Covid pandemic ripped off Britain and lined the pockets of the Conservative Party. They say abolishing the two child limit isn't affordable, but it is fully funded, paid for by cracking down on tax avoidance and evasion and attacks on online gambling.

What they really mean is that they would make different choices. They would put the interests of gambling firms over the wellbeing of children, and by labelling it as unaffordable, they betray their view that the prosperity of our country has nothing to do with the talent of its people. But we know that by investing in our people, we are investing in a more prosperous future. Growing up in poverty isn't an inconvenience, it is a trap. On average, the poorest children start school already behind.

Get worse. Exam results are less likely to make it to university, earn less, and are more likely to develop long term illness and end up paying less tax and are more likely to need welfare support and the NHS. So investing in our children is a moral mission. We do not believe it is morally right to punish children because of the circumstances of their birth or the choices of their parents. But this is also a down payment on a better future. It is far better and more cost effective to invest in children now than pay the price for social failure later.

And Madam Deputy Speaker, I stand here today as the product of the wise investment of the British taxpayer. It was taxpayers contribution that clothed me, housed me, fed me and educated me when I was growing up. And as a result, I am now in a position to pay back that debt to society and to pay it forward to the next generation, too. And we should all be proud that this Budget funds the biggest reduction of child poverty at any Budget this century.

And my right hon. Friend the Chancellor takes that prize from Gordon Brown, who himself took it from Denis Healey, because lifting children out of poverty is what Labour governments do. And why is it that every time Labour enters office there is a moral emergency of child poverty? It is because since records began, every single Tory government left child poverty higher than they found it. Every single one. And that is why they must never be allowed back in power.



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Gladly. Please do defend keeping children in poverty. No, no. I'm grateful to the Secretary of State. For intervening.

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For intervening. It's my intervention, not his. Can I ask him why? He was part of. A Cabinet that stood by and punished. Punished his own colleagues for voting to keep the child two child benefit cap. Why child two child benefit cap. Why now, this sudden conversion and why this revisionism? And why does he think that most people in this think that most people in this country are appalled, actually are against the removal of child benefit cap? Let me just say two things in response, and I'm almost certain my hon.

Friends will be delighted that he has intervened in delighted that he has intervened in defence of their plight at the hands of the Labour whips. But he knows. He knows as well as I do that the whip was removed from some of my hon. Friends, not because of the substance of the issue they were raising, but because we never, ever accept people voting against a Kings or Queens speech from a government. That was the that was the issue. Since he he asked me a fair question.

He's got an honest answer and he should just take it on the chin and let me tell him something else too. He asks why it is that there are many people in our country who believe the two child cap was the right thing to do, and that is because our conservative predecessors predecessors peddled the myth and the lie that people who are in receipt of welfare are on the take, who are just looking for handouts rather than help. And we take a different view on this side, because we recognise, as I have set out, that so many people affected by the two child poverty are in work and in poverty.

That is one of the many scandals of the damage that more than a decade of conservative rule did. They broke the link between a hard day's work and a fair day's pay. And in addition to the measures that we are taking now on child poverty to remove the two child limit, we are also increasing the national minimum wage. We are increasing it even higher for young people. And we are doing this because this is the party of work. This is the party that wants to make work pay.

And this is the party that's genuinely committed to waging war on poverty. He and just as we must win the argument for lifting children out of poverty, we must win the argument for the founding principles of our NHS. Having left the NHS in the worst crisis in its history, the Right now argues that it is unaffordable and should be abandoned. The NHS was broken, but it is not beaten and Labour is already breathing new life into our health service. Waiting lists are now falling for the first time in 15 years.

Ambulances are arriving ten minutes faster for stroke, sepsis and heart attack cases. Patient satisfaction with GPS is up from 60% to 74%, and nearly 200,000 more patients were given a cancer diagnosis or the all clear on time. So, Madam Deputy Speaker, with Labour, the NHS is on the road to recovery and that is in no small part because the Chancellor is reversing 14 years of austerity and investing in our NHS. We promised an extra 2 million more appointments.

We've delivered 5 million. We promised to recruit an extra 1000 GPS. We've recruited 2500. We promised to end the 8 a.m. scramble and we've wind up the window. Patients have to request appointments and make booking available online. So a lot done and a lot more to do. And at this Budget, we announced the next steps on the road to recovery 250 new neighbourhood health centres with the first in Birmingham, Barrow, Truro and Southall. £300 million more to invest in technology to modernise health care.

And next year we will receive recommendations from Baroness Casey on laying the foundations to build a national care service. So the NHS doesn't just face an existential political challenge from the parties opposite the Conservative Party and Reform UK, it faces a sustainability challenge. I certainly will.

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I am giving way and I really appreciate the announcement about the 250 new neighbourhood health the 250 new neighbourhood health centres, but I am concerned for my constituency, a more affluent constituency which has health centres that were built in the 60s centres that were built in the 60s and are genuinely falling apart and need significant investment to be able to make sure that GPS continue able to make sure that GPS continue to deliver outstanding service to my constituents. Could you provide me with some reassurances, or agree me with some reassurances, or agree to meet with me, to discuss how we can make sure that deprivation isn't the only aspect that is

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isn't the only aspect that is initiative? Mr. speaker, my hon. Friend is absolutely right. And of course, we absolutely right. And of course, we want to make sure that investment is deprivation linked. We want to reverse the damage the Conservatives did when they pursued what I would characterise as the royal Tunbridge Wells strategy, when our former Prime Minister, the right hon. Member for Richmond, declared with pride to Conservative Party activists that he had taken areas from the poorest communities in the country and funnelled them to the richest.

There could be no shorter or clearer exposition of Conservative Party values and politics in action than that claim. And to my hon. Friend's point, he is absolutely right that within many affluent communities there are also pockets of deprivation, and we have to make sure that the NHS is there for everyone in every part of the country. We're dealing with enormous undercapitalisation in the NHS, totalling some £37 billion, identified by the noble Lord, Lord Darcy. It will take time to address that challenge, but I think my hon.

Friend's constituents know from his assiduous, hard work and visible campaigning as a constituency MP, that he will make sure that their needs and interests are not forgotten or overlooked by this government. And of course, as we improve the health of our health service, we also need to address the health of our nation. Children in England face some of the poorest health outcomes in Europe. Obesity in four and five year olds is reaching record levels. A health time bomb that leaves them at greater risk from cancer and heart disease later in life.

What kind of start in life are we giving our children? And if we allow it to continue, then what kind of future are we leaving to them? Our children will lead shorter, less healthy lives. Our NHS will buckle under a tidal wave of chronic conditions, and our economy will suffer because businesses will be denied the potential of the next generation. So this Labour government is tackling the sickness in our society, whether it is the extension of the soft drinks industry, levy free school meals, a warm homes discount that reaches millions more, the generational ban on smoking Arabs law, cutting pollution and cleaning up the air our children breathe.

We are combating the drivers of ill health in children's lives poor diets, damp homes, dirty air, a lack of opportunity. In short, we are tackling poverty because every child deserves a healthy start in life and prevention is better than cure. Now the leader of reform says we should instead be educating people to make healthier choices, and I assume he won't be leading from the front on that campaign. But we know that reform and the Conservatives oppose our agenda to improve public health.

They oppose our investment in the NHS. They should just be honest and admit they now oppose the NHS itself. They don't. They don't like it. Madam Deputy Speaker, but I challenge them to dispute a single claim I just read. Let me just repeat the charge sheet for their benefit. They oppose our investment in the NHS. Have they not opposed every Budget spending review since

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Labour came to office? Yeah.

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Yeah. They I mean, honestly, from a sedentary position, the member who doesn't want to intervene because I think he knows he is leading with his chin on this, wants to suggest that somehow the Conservative Party that somehow the Conservative Party left a legacy that they could be proud of. They inherited the proud of. They inherited the shortest waiting times and the highest patient satisfaction in history. They left us the longest waiting list and lowest patient satisfaction on record.

No wonder satisfaction on record. No wonder so few of them have turned up to defend that shoddy record. And Madam Deputy Speaker, they oppose our public health agenda, do they not? I thought this was an area where we built consensus, but not under their present leadership. And I have already quoted what their leader has said. Maybe they weren't listening. The country certainly isn't, but I would have thought their own side would at least listen to what the Leader of the Opposition said.

She says she wants a debate about charging for health care. Now, I don't know whether they've heard that. I don't know whether they stand by it. Maybe we could just see a simple show of hands. Madam Deputy Speaker, how many of her own side want to see charging for health care in the NHS? Nope, nope. Not a single hand has gone up. That doesn't bode well for the future of the Leader of the Opposition. But let's leave the Conservative Party to revel in their irrelevance.

In fact, Madam Deputy Speaker, I was probably one of the few people who paid any attention to what the shadow health secretary said at the Conservative Party conference. I notice, Madam Deputy Speaker, he didn't mention a single policy. So I'd say to the party opposite, if we're doing such a bad job, why wouldn't they do anything differently? Would they cut the £26 billion this Labour government is investing in the NHS? And if not, if they oppose this Budget, how would they pay for it? And the Conservatives seem to think that the British people are so stupid that they will forget which party wrecked the NHS and led it through the worst crisis in its history.

So, Madam Deputy Speaker, in conclusion, this is a government that is cutting waiting lists, giving children a healthier start in life and lifting half a million children out of poverty. And in doing so, we are restating the case for universal healthcare publicly owned, publicly funded, free at the point of use. We are showing that progress is possible after 14 years of decline, that things can get better. Abolishing the two child limit is not a handout, it is a hand up.

Our country cannot prosper while 6 million languish on waiting lists, while 4.5 million children grow up in poverty and 1 million young people are not in education, employment or training. But if we protect people's health, give them the opportunities to put their talents to use, give them a strong foundation, then they will build a good life for themselves and a better Britain for all. And we can fulfil the promise that has been lost, that tomorrow will be better than today.

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I will remind all members that the courtesies of this House do require members to inform other members, if they intend to name
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Stuart Andrew Portrait Rt Hon Stuart Andrew MP (Daventry, Conservative)
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members, if they intend to name them in the chamber. Shadow Secretary of State.

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Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker. This government are trying to tell the public that this Budget was all about taking tough decisions to deliver change, about decisions to deliver change, about raising taxes to support the NHS, and about pursuing growth and backing business. Madam Deputy Speaker, these are commendable aims, but it simply isn't the reality of but it simply isn't the reality of what was delivered in the Autumn Budget. This was a Budget for the Budget.

This was a Budget for the benefits paid for by hard working people. Last year, taxes were hiked people. Last year, taxes were hiked by £40 billion, borrowing went up, inflation went up, unemployment went up and living standards fell. But at least we were promised by the Chancellor that this was a one off. She categorically said she wouldn't be coming back for more. But just like the promises made during the general election, this just wasn't true. Then, as Halloween approached, we had briefing after briefing, that infamous press conference.

Markets affected consumer spending depressed, particularly in the hospitality sector, all leading to one Cabinet Minister reportedly saying that the handling of the Budget from start to finish has been a disaster. I wonder who that could have been. Now we have another £26 billion in tax rises to fund more welfare, because the Prime Minister lacks the backbone to stand up to Labour MPs and make the real hard choices at the last Budget and Spending review, big promises were made to cut public to the public about how Labour would solve the challenges in the NHS with a financial settlement they said would improve patient care, including bringing waiting times back to 18 weeks standard within five years.

But we warned at the time that this money was going to get swallowed up, in large part by decisions of the government's own making. The then chief financial officer of NHS England said it was nearly entirely to go on pay awards. National Insurance contributions and drug price increases. So what do Labour actually have to show for it? Elective care waiting lists have fallen by less than 2% since October last year. Meanwhile, waiting lists, meanwhile waiting lists for community health services and for diagnostic scans are rising.

Waits to start cancer treatment are increasing, trauma and orthopaedic are up, up, up. Ophthalmology is up, neurosurgery is up, gynaecology is up and winter pressures are growing and long waits in A&E have hit record highs. The truth is Labour do not have a plan for the NHS. They have fallen into the classic Labour trap, thinking that just issuing a press release saying that they will cut waiting lists will magically make it happen just because now they are in charge.

Well, I'm afraid to say that is not how government works. So what has the Secretary of State been focussed on? Well, a top down reorganisation of the NHS that he not only didn't tell anybody about before the election, but explicitly said he would not do. Now, as conservatives, we support the principle of cutting duplication, reducing bureaucracy and saving on administrative administration costs. Remember a recent conservative Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for North East Cambridgeshire reduced the number of civil servants in the Department for health by around 1 in 6 in a single year.

But let's be clear, this was yet another announcement that they have made without any plan for delivery for months, not one of those Ministers has been able to answer any of our questions about how much NHS restructuring would cost, or who would be expected the redundancy packages. And for months, that frontline patient services were at risk because they simply do not have the money to do what is being asked of them. And for months, staff were left in limbo, not knowing whether their job would still exist or for how much longer.

So we welcome the fact that the Budget finally provided some clarity. But shifting money between years means significant risk. The NHS is already behind on its efficiency targets, and if this reorganisation falls short of its goals, no small risk. Given the performance of this government, then there is an even more significant shortfall to make up in future years which will hit patient care. There are other elements in the Budget that we do welcome for the health service. Focusing on improving productivity is the right thing to do, but whether the extra investment will make any difference in the grand scheme of things remains to be seen.

And the neighbourhood health centres can be cautiously welcomed. Building on the great success of the Conservatives efforts to bring care care closer to where people care, where people live through the Community Diagnostic Centre program, but have this party? Has Labour truly learned from the lessons of all the PFI deals they botched back in the 2000, which NHS trusts are still paying for decades later? And will they be simply moving resources around, or will they be genuinely innovative? New ways of working, joining up services and improving patient care experience? I hope.

I hope it is the latter, because shuffling the deck chairs into new buildings will not deliver the benefits for patients that they deserve. But despite these few bright spots, it simply isn't true for the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and others to justify this latest tax grab as being to protect the NHS. As the NHS Confederation noted this year. This year's Budget did not have a health focus, and that means we are left with a lot of unanswered questions.

The OBR specifically raised two risks to health spending. First is the doctors strike, which the health secretary has failed to resolve despite in opposition, making it sound that it was so easy to do so. I'll give him credit. He did briefly end them for a few short months, but then that was by caving in to the BMA's demands in return for no productivity or modernisation reforms. We warned him that giving into the trade unions will only see them coming back for more.

And, and indeed, here we are with patients and taxpayers paying the price and no end in sight. The OBR confirmed that strikes have already cost £500 million and warned about further strikes. And now it's been confirmed at the worst time of year. Just before Christmas. They're out

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again. I give way. I thank the right hon. Member for giving way on that point. Would

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for giving way on that point. Would he care to remind us how much the NHS strikes costs under his government's watch? Hear, hear.

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Hear, hear. Well, we didn't spend tens of billions of pounds in pay rises just for the same old problem to just for the same old problem to come back again. If there should have been is proper reform and have been is proper reform and conditions to those pay rises. But they didn't make that. And here we are again. The NHS Confederation has also warned that local services cannot continue to absorb the costs of ongoing strike by the BMA without consequences to patient care, and I pay tribute also to those frontline staff who have been trying to keep everything going.

I remind him that we have the answer ban doctors from striking like the army and the police, and introduce minimum service levels using the legislation we passed in government. This will protect patients and protect taxpayers. So why won't he do it? And and their Employment Rights Bill is going to make things much, much worse because they are reducing the threshold needed to call a strike. And there will be no minimum service levels. In addition, this government have shown that they can't stand up to the unions.

And by pushing up inflation, this Budget will make it harder to reach pay settlements across the rest of the NHS workforce. Even an additional rise in NHS pay of just 1% above what he has included in his PRB evidence, would create another £1.5 billion hole in his Budget. So is he confident that he can head off wider industrial action with a 2.5% offer, especially given that benefits are rising much faster under this government? The OBR have also raised the unknown risk of increasing drug prices.

Now, from my understanding, the spending review assumed that spending on branded medicines would rise by 25%, or 3.3 billion, between 20 2526 and 20 2829. Will you clarify, therefore, or will the Minister, when summing up, what happens if the negotiated price costs more than what was assumed in the spending review? The rest of the money is surely intended to be used to deliver more care and cut waiting lists. So our front line services at risk and the Budget last week also, of course.

Yeah.

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I'm grateful to the shadow health secretary for giving way. We should be clear that the deal that's been struck with the United that's been struck with the United States is the first and only deal with the United States that secures 0% tariffs and mitigations against 0% tariffs and mitigations against most favoured nation pricing. It will make sure that patients get access to good drugs. And for the avoidance of any doubt, while some of the costs are unpredictable because of the complexity of how because of the complexity of how medicines pricing is done.

Of course we will not cut NHS budgets to fund the pharma deal.

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to fund the pharma deal. Well, we will see what happens. It'll be interesting, therefore, to It'll be interesting, therefore, to know exactly where it will come from it. Well, no, I'm afraid he just said that if the prices go up, there will be no cuts to it. But where will the money come from? Which other part of a national health service and social care will the money come from? We will have to wait and see. Now, the Budget last week also made no mention of social care.

After all, the only plan that Labour has is to delay coming up with a plan for a few more years. Despite the urgency and the scale of the challenge that we face now, many of us entered the cross-party talks in really good faith and they were encouraging. But we've only met once. Surely we should be getting on with it. I think the message was loud and clear that we want to work together, but we want to get on with it. So please can we have another meeting so that we can get on with this really important issue.

And it's not quite true to say that social care is unaffected by what was announced. The increase in the National Living Wage will be welcomed by those on the lowest incomes, but the Nuffield Trust estimate that it will cost social care sector £1.2 billion. They are already struggling with last year's National Insurance contributions hike. So who will pay for this? Will there be funding cuts to other parts of the health Budget? Will Self-funders have to fork out yet more again, or will it be passed on to local authorities, inevitably leading to council tax rises? And what impact will these national living wage increases have on wider

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pay in the sector? Finally, yes. And I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way. I feel, however, he's talking at two completely opposite ends. He says his party wants to invest and find a way wants to invest and find a way forward on social care, but yet he's opposing something very minimal that's happening now, which will raise the standard and the will raise the standard and the living standards of those who work in the industry. So which one is it? Does he want to invest in social

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care or not? Here I'm raising the question of who's going to pay for it. There's who's going to pay for it. There's no detail in anything this government does. It's full of plans and no delivery. And the sectors that I've been meeting with are asking those questions. Where is

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the money coming from? Of course I will. Madam Deputy Speaker my right

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Madam Deputy Speaker my right worked. In the. Hospice sector, especially in the children's hospice sector, long before he came to this place. Does before he came to this place. Does my right hon. Friend agree with me that the pressures on hospices, which are basically run by charitable contributions, have not charitable contributions, have not really been taken into account in all the Budget measures that have power?

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Yes. My my right hon. Friend is absolutely right. Let me tell you, absolutely right. Let me tell you, from 16 years of working in the hospice movement, primarily as the head of fundraising, if you are suddenly asked to find literally nearly £100,000 overnight, that is almost impossible. It is therefore not surprising that we are seeing hospices up and down this country, cutting the number of beds that are available, in some instances, up to 40% of their beds are being cut.

What does that do? It then means that those people will end up having to be in hospital beds, putting more pressure on our hospitals at a time when we are

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going into winter. I'll give way. The giving away from that, one

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The giving away from that, one of the things he talked about just then on adult social care was about listing who would pay for this. But listing who would pay for this. But one of the things he admitted, and I think it's quite telling, is the number of private equity companies number of private equity companies now that are extracting vast profit from adult social care. He didn't mention them. He didn't mention mention them. He didn't mention them taking a hit to their profit.

Perhaps he would. Perhaps they well.

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well. Well, I was understanding that actually in the Secretary of State's ten year plan, he wanted more involvement from the private more involvement from the private sector. Perhaps he needs to have a conversation with his, with his colleague on the front bench and see how that goes. And in fact, if he wants, he can invite me along, because I'd be quite happy to observe that conversation. Anyway, finally, look, the Budget also did not mention any of the issues that matter to many of our constituents mental health, hospice and palliative care.

Although I do welcome the announcement of the framework, and I look forward to seeing that dentistry, general practice, nothing. And what about the government's upcoming plans and strategies? The workforce plan delayed. The cancer plan delayed the independent review of maternity and neonatal services delayed. Nothing new was announced, suggesting that any resources to deliver the plans will have to come from existing budgets. So what are the government actually doing for the NHS? Not just press releases and the reviews, but actual action? More money without a plan for reform, no strategy to end the strikes or help patients and staff this winter, they can't deliver the reforms to social care the country needs because the Prime Minister came into office without a plan and does not have the backbone to make the tough decisions, and they are still to distract.

Distracted working out how to abolish NHS England to cut waiting lists. The Secretary of State claims Labour investing in the NHS, but that suggests you get some kind of return on your money. And it is clear that Labour do not have a plan to achieve the targets they have set out. This is a Budget where taxpayers are being asked to pay for benefits, not the NHS, and they need to own that. Of course we wish them well. We want them to cut waiting lists, we want care to improve and we want patients to get better more quickly.

But their actions do not match their rhetoric, and their plan is little more than an objective with no method to getting there. For the sake of all of our constituents, I hope the Health Secretary can put his leadership ambitions to one side focus on the job he has and not the next he wants because he he fails to deliver. This will be his last year. year. Speaker.
15:25
Debbie Abrahams Portrait Debbie Abrahams MP (Oldham East and Saddleworth, Labour)
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This was a positive.

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Will benefit most people, particularly those who have been really struggling with the cost of

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really struggling with the cost of living crisis over recent years. Those with the broadest shoulders have been asked to do their fair share of the heavy their fair share of the heavy lifting, with all but the top 10% income households seeing the proportion of their net income proportion of their net income increased by 2829. Fairer policies benefit us all, not just the benefit us all, not just the recipients. As the IMF has shown, reducing income inequality reducing income inequality stimulates growth.

But we also know fairer societies improve educational attainment, social mobility, trust between communities, health status and much more. Collectively, these tax reforms are forecast to raise over 8,000,000,000 in 20 2930 from wealth and the wealthy. The total package of tax changes has allowed the Chancellor to make some incredibly important decisions to help help with the cost of living crisis to boost living standards, including increasing the minimum wage and living wage, increasing the state pension, freezing rail fares and fuel duty, cutting £150 from next year's energy bills.

But I particularly want to talk about the abolition of the so-called two child limit. It's now believed this measure has driven the increase in child poverty from 3.6 million in 2010 to 4.5 million in 2024, causing a multitude of poverty related harms, including an increase in the prevalence of young people not in education, employment or training. You're five times more likely to be needed if you experience childhood poverty, and more than half of the current Neet population belong to this cohort.

By getting rid of this harmful, damaging policy, 350,000 children will be lifted out of poverty almost immediately, and another 150,000 will be prevented from being drawn into poverty over the life of this Parliament. I want to commend the former work and Pensions Secretary and Employment Minister as well, for bringing forward spending on employment support. I know that the current employment Minister is also keen to continue this work and escalate IT analysis committed by the commissioned by the Work and Pensions Select Committee, showed that supportive employment programmes like New Deal for Young People and New Deal for Disabled people that we introduce, as in the former Labour government in the noughties, led to between 5 and 11% of this group getting into sustained employment for a minimum of three years.

Applying this approach to the current group of unemployed and economically inactive people would ensure that, for example, schemes like connect to Work, Work well and individual placement and support could increase employment by at least 5%, generating savings to the Exchequer of £20 billion by the end of this

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Parliament. I will do. I thank my hon. Friend for. Giving way, and I wonder if she

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Giving way, and I wonder if she joins me in recognising the work of charities like Kirkcaldy Foodbank and Kirkcaldy YMCA, who earlier this year joined me in Parliament to call upon the then Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, who State for Work and Pensions, who they met to lift the two child cap. They underlined the need for this They underlined the need for this cruel policy to be scrapped. Indeed, Kirkcaldy Foodbank has fed 833 children so far this year. They children so far this year.

They have welcomed the lifting of the cap. And does she join me in recognising that lifting the two recognising that lifting the two child cap was the only possible step to ensure that child poverty

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levels go down instead of up? I absolutely agree with him, but it is a shame that we need food it is a shame that we need food banks at all. This is the state that we have inherited, unfortunately. I also want to unfortunately. I also want to commend the Health Secretary and the work that has been done in terms of the increase in capital investment in the NHS will, which will boost NHS productivity. And I will boost NHS productivity.

And I want to refer very quickly, Madam Deputy Speaker, to recent health equity analysis. Health for wealth, equity analysis. Health for wealth, which showed that by reducing the inequalities between the North and the South, we are improving health. the South, we are improving health. In the North. We know that we can then increase productivity by again 18 billion a year. And I hope that in terms of the health inequalities, waste waiting around, resource allocation, that is, again, something that we can focus on. To my final point, Madam Deputy Speaker, is, is to mention the commitment to index pre 1997 accrued pensions for inflation capped at 2.5% where scheme rules allow.

This means that pensioners whose pension schemes became insolvent through no fault of their own and have failed to keep pace with inflation, will now have this rectified. This will benefit more than 250,000 Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assurance Scheme members, and I want to pay the Pensions Action Group, as well as deprive pensioners under the Pensions and Minister for listening to me, this was a very good Budget and it gives hope, particularly to my constituents and others like them.

So I'm very grateful. Thank you, madam Mr Speaker. Liberal Democrat spokesperson Helen Morgan. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The NHS. Continues to face a historic crisis after years of mismanagement by the last conservative government. Their
15:31
Helen Morgan Portrait Helen Morgan MP (North Shropshire, Liberal Democrat)
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legacy is still felt across the country, with hospitals crumbling, dental deserts across England, not least in my own constituency of least in my own constituency of North Shropshire and mental health crisis, and many people reporting a struggle to access their GP waiting struggle to access their GP waiting hours for an ambulance or suffering in hospital corridors. And the British people deserve better than British people deserve better than that. Now, Liberal Democrats welcome efforts to bring down the sky high waiting list led by the previous government, and there have been green shoots of recovery across the country in the trust that serves my constituents, Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust.

We've seen that the 28 day faster diagnosis standard faster diagnosis standard performance reached 80.1%, the highest on record. I'd like to thank all the hard working hospital staff there and across the country, who are working tirelessly at the moment to improve the situation. Now there are some welcome individual announcements in this Budget. The prescription price freeze is clearly the right thing to do, and we strongly support protecting victims of the infected blood scandal and their families from inheritance tax. It's unacceptable injustice for bereaved families to lose out just because their loved ones died waiting for compensation.

We also Madam Deputy Speaker support the lifting of the two child benefit cap, because it is the type of investment that will reap savings in the future, as well as correct a moral injury. But I'm afraid, Madam Deputy Speaker, that overall, this Budget doesn't meet the moment the government's treading water on its spending commitments, and hundreds of millions look to be set to drain from services to fund a medicines price hike from the Office of Budget Responsibility report. It's not clear whether frontline NHS services will be raided to pay higher prices for branded medicines at the behest of President Trump.

On top of the billions already anticipated in the spending review, because number ten briefing suggests it will come from the NHS Budget. Yet we've just heard from the Secretary of State at the despatch box that it won't. So I think a statement to this House at some point clarifying the details would be most welcome. Yesterday we learned, as I was saying, that the government has capitulated to the US government and will increase the spending on medicines by 0.3% of GDP, more than the value derived from some trade deals, or from about 9.5% of its Budget to 12%.

And we really desperately need to understand how this will be paid for, and clearly that it won't be paid for by the cutting of frontline services. The Secretary of State has previously said that he would not allow the NHS to be ripped off by these drug companies, and I hope that he will confirm that that will be the case. In the closing remarks from the Minister. Now the life sciences sector is vital to the UK, but rather than defund vital, vital NHS services, Liberal Democrats urge the government to take real actions to strengthen it with a new bespoke customs union with the EU to slash red tape, along with a major boost to research and development funding so that new drugs can be brought online as quickly as possible.

But NHS should be targeted, spending should be targeted where our health service really needs it. Ending the crisis in GP services so everyone has a right to see a GP in seven days or 24 hours if it's urgent. Guaranteeing 100% of patients are treated for cancer within 62 days of an urgent referral and ending unacceptable degrading corridor care. I urge the government to adopt these proposals without delay, to protect patients and to prevent trust in our NHS from being irrevocably broken.

One of the most visible symptoms of decline is our crumbling hospitals and the degrading scenes that became commonplace under the Conservatives. Those patients falsely promised, promised a new hospital by the Conservatives will continue to be bitterly disappointed. Now, we all know that the 40 new hospitals promised to patients weren't 40, they weren't necessarily new, and they weren't all hospitals, and that there was no plan to fund them. But this government has chosen not to pledge new investment, and that means that the maintenance backlog will continue to balloon at eye watering levels.

It climbs from 13.8 billion in 20 2324 to an astonishing 15.9 billion in 2025. The Chancellor should have guaranteed that no patient, doctor or nurse faces the indignity of substandard, broke, broken and, frankly, unsafe estates. We appreciate the pressure on public finances, but holding back on these improvements is a false economy. When a fortune is being spent papering over the cracks to keep substandard buildings that should be condemned. Limping on the repair backlog at the sites of new hospitals is set to reach in a second, nearly 6 billion by the time that construction is due to start.

Liberal Democrats will continue to champion investment in our crumbling NHS buildings, to protect patients, to protect hard working NHS staff and to protect

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the taxpayer. And our giveaway. I'm very grateful to the hon. Lady. She is outlining an extensive Lady. She is outlining an extensive programme of capital expenditure on the National Health Service. We've the National Health Service. We've just had the largest set of Budget increases in the history of this country between last year and this country between last year and this year. Are the Liberal Democrats therefore proposing that we should tax the British public even further

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tax the British public even further to pay for the kind of thing that she's just describing? Well, I'm sorry, the hon. Gentleman had listened to our leader's Budget response. He would understand that we wouldn't propose taxing the British taxpayer further, taxing the British taxpayer further, that we would sign a customs union deal with the EU and and create £25 billion of extra tax revenue every year without going back to the British taxpayer. The crisis in our NHS is perhaps most acute in our community services.

For all the welcome promises on shifting care from hospitals to community and treatment to prevention, the truth is that local health services are on their knees with record waits to see a GP. Liberal Democrats have championed new investment and we of course, welcome the government's announcement on neighbourhood health centres. But unless we see health centres in every community one second more with investment to ensure everyone can see a GP within a within a week as a legal right and to restore public health funding.

It risks being an expensive failure.

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I thank my hon. Friend for giving way on neighbourhood health plans. Saint Dunstan's House Health plans. Saint Dunstan's House Health and Wellbeing Centre and West Mendip PCN are seeking to put together a preventative approach to crime, social and mental health issues within the area of issues within the area of Glastonbury. So, does my hon. Friend agree with me that this innovative, community based project innovative, community based project should be included in the second wave of Neighbourhood Health Scheme applications.



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applications. I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention and that kind of innovative, community led approach, innovative, community led approach, I think is something that we would all welcome across the country to improve local health services. Now, of the on the community neighbourhood health centres, 250 by 2035 is clearly a welcome step. But there are 543 constituencies in England and many communities will remain underserved. If you take, for example, my own constituency of North Shropshire, which is part of the pilot for neighbourhood health centres, and we are grateful for that.

The numbers indicate that there may be one neighbourhood health centre, but the constituency has five market towns spread over a large distance and with different catchment areas. It isn't one neighbourhood. An investment in our general practices is essential to ensure that people can continue to access primary care when they need it. Now, I know that neighbourhood health is not just about buildings, it's about how teams operate, but when so many local practices are constrained by the physical space they must work in.

Buildings are quite an important part of the puzzle. In rural and coastal communities. There is a danger that they continue to remain underserved and isolated, and able to access services that may be many miles

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car. Well, my friend, give way. She and I both have rural

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She and I both have rural constituencies that face similar challenges. Businesses in North Norfolk already face extra struggles to stay afloat, like struggles to stay afloat, like training and retaining staff, finding affordable premises, even things as simple as getting a strong and reliable phone and strong and reliable phone and internet connection. Does she share my frustration that last week's Budget, rather than tackling those problems, has just lumbered rural

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problems, has just lumbered rural businesses with more tax, more future? Yeah.

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Well, I thank him for his intervention and I do share his frustration. But perhaps the most glaring and alarming omission of glaring and alarming omission of all in this Budget is that the words adult social care do not appear. The sector is already stretched to breaking point and now suffering from the government's 2024 employers National Insurance hike, which is unfunded for most businesses operating in that sector. The pressure is clearly reflected in the directors of Adult Social Services 2025 Spring Survey, which found that three quarters of directors have only partial or no confidence that their budgets are sufficient to meet their legal duties on prevention.

Gedling. This is not only terrible for disabled and vulnerable people, it's a disaster for the NHS. 1 in 7 hospital beds are taken by someone who should be discharged, but for whom there is no appropriate social care package. And so the situation could not be more pressing. We need the cross-party talks to move far more quickly. There's only been one meeting, as we've heard back in September, and there are no current plans for further engagement. I would ask the Minister to ask the Prime Minister to lead these talks and treat them with a serious and urgency they deserve, and we need a solution to provide the social care beds that are needed to stop a

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devastating winter crisis. 2028 is too late for that. Yes.

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Yes. In addition to spiralling NIC costs, there's increasing demand and huge staff shortages in the and huge staff shortages in the sector and an immigration policy clearly designed to disincentivize overseas workers in this area. overseas workers in this area. There's no clear plan to ensure how these vacancies are filled. So in formulating their ten year workforce plan, Liberal Democrats urge the government to introduce a funded hire carers minimum wage and a new Royal College of Care workers a new Royal College of Care workers to improve training and career progression and give carers the recognition they deserve.

When social care isn't available, it is family carers who must step in to fill the need. A fairer deal for family carers, such as guaranteeing more respite care and introducing paid carers leave, would enable many to continue caring for longer at home. We want to see more support for young carers in school by introducing a Young Carers pupil premium. These are simple but potentially transformational steps in supporting the millions of carers without whom our health service would collapse. Now winter is quickly closing in and there are signs that the annual winter crisis could be even worse this year.

Having already become a year round perma crisis. The Budget should have funded an emergency package to prevent a collapsing this winter. Liberal Democrats have been calling for 1000 extra hospital beds, emergency social care, places to free up places in hospitals, a recruitment and retention drive to increase the number of out-of-hours GPS, and a qualified clinician in every A&E waiting room to protect patients who are at risk but stuck on trolleys. Without these measures, there is a significant risk of another winter of harrowing scenes of corridor care and ambulances queuing outside hospitals that should have no place in our society.

So when we take a step back, what does this Budget really mean for the NHS? The topic of today's debate is investment in renewal. But this Budget means cost pressures are left unaddressed and reforms that are confused and disorientating. Inflation is now forecast to run higher than the Budget that the Department of Health and Social Care set back in March 2025 for the Spending review. As a result, average real terms growth in departmental budgets has shrunk by 0.1% since then. The OBR notes that spending on branded medicines alone is expected to rise by 25%, an extra £3.3 billion.

For context, that's equivalent to the Budget for maternity care in England between 2025 and 26 and 2028 and 29. And yesterday's recent agreement confirms that it will be at least this sum, possibly as much as another 6 billion a year, an eye watering amount. Industrial action could add a further 1.2 billion by 2829. It's hard to see what what will be left to repair our GP services, expand social care or take any of the other measures needed to lift the NHS off the floor.

On top of this, we have no clarity on the impact of the reorganisation of NHS England and Icbs. The chair of the Public Accounts Committee has warned that the department has moved removed a key piece of the machinery without articulating a clear plan. Excuse me. A clear plan for what comes next. Comparing the reforms that of his two, the ten year plan sets out a vision that Liberal Democrats share. But what's missing is any clear explanation of how it will be funded within the Spending Review settlement.

Nowhere across 170 pages is there a credible costing or delivery plan. Five months on, we still have no idea whether the government can deliver the essential reforms it has promised. Unless the government adopts a genuine spend to save approach, investing now to prevent greater costs and worse outcomes later, we are at risk of seeing only managed decline, mounting pressure and the continued loss of faith in the health service. Now, rather than Labour's unfair tax rises, we have set out a number of fair ways to properly fund our public services.

Most importantly, this government is refusing to properly fix our broken relationship with Europe. We're calling for a new UK customs union, which can raise more than £25 billion a year. The government would have plenty of time to put this deal in place by 2030, raising billions in extra tax revenue in a fair way after 2030. And we've also called for a targeted windfall tax on the big banks, which had raised 30 billion in total by 2030. So let me take this opportunity to say to the government, you must tackle the crisis at the front door and the back door of the NHS if we are to rescue it.

That means investing in public health and early access to community services, including GPS, pharmacists and dentists. So fewer people need to go to hospital in the first place. And it means fixing the crisis in social care to stop so many people being stuck in hospital beds. Only these measures can bring down waiting lists, improve the quality of care, and help people live longer, healthier lives. The NHS needs transformational change. The government must wake up from its complacency or it will be patients

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who pay the price. Margaret Mullane. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.

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Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Today, this House continues to debate last week's Labour Budget. We turn a spotlight to investment. And renewal.

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And renewal. Thankfully. We've moved on since. The Liz Truss. Budget and we're no longer talking about borrowing pies. This Labour government is in the business of growing the economy, which has gone up 1.5% this year, which has gone up 1.5% this year, alongside less borrowing and lower levels of inflation, helping homeowners with a mortgage rates homeowners with a mortgage rates and enabling businesses to properly invest. The Conservatives and Reform will take Britain back to
15:45
Margaret Mullane Portrait Margaret Mullane MP (Dagenham and Rainham, Labour)
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Reform will take Britain back to austerity, but we have closed that door. And whilst the popular trend on social media is wandering around to the microphone and doing areas down like Dagenham and Rainham, these divisive campaigns offer no solutions. Labour are making their choices, such as incoming mansion tax, allowing us to reinvest in our National Health Service and building on the progress we've already made on appointments and neighbourhood health centres. As the new investment becomes available off the back of this Budget, I will keep banging the drum for Queen's Hospital in the hopes of securing the 35 million needed to expand the emergency department and bring down waiting times for my constituents.

Dagenham and Rainham has felt the pinch for too long, suffering, suffering a cost of living crisis where hard working families have been pushed to the breadline. It doesn't have to be like this. We are choosing a different path, but it's not without its challenges. Madam Deputy Speaker, we knew there would be tough choices to balance the books. After 14 years of a catastrophe, but thankfully, some choices are easier to make for Labour politicians. Above all else, this Budget was a renewal of our government's contract with ordinary working people who form the backbone of Britain, raising the living wage, minimum wage and increasing the wages of young workers is putting pounds back into the pockets of my constituents.

These measures, coupled with our action to reduce energy bills by £150, a continued freeze on fuel duty mean that working class communities across the country will now have more to show for their hard work at the end of the month. When it comes to investment in my seat. I could talk about London's largest film studio, the state of the art UCL research facility in Dagenham East, or the up and coming new rail station at Bing Park, which I am sure will be delivered under a Labour government.

I could mention that only last week I welcomed the Minister for Energy Consumers to my seat for a hydrogen summit at the centre for Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence, where they unveiled £73 million of investment in jobs and opportunities to build the low carbon economy of tomorrow. There are lots of promising investment and growth opportunities along the south of my constituency, within the Thames Freeport area and working with Ford's, the City of London and the Freeport and our government. I'm sure that from this and future budgets, we can deliver on my election promise to bring jobs.

You can raise a family on back to Dagenham and Rainham. But actually, for me, the real story of investment at this Budget is our investment in the next generation, an investment which will lift 450,000 children across Britain, including 5050 children in Dagenham and Rainham, out of poverty. As we scrap the two child benefit cut next April. I want to wrap up with a quote that was often cited by my predecessor. To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing.

That is the mission of a Labour government and for Dagenham and Rainham. I think this Budget begins that work. And

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Murrison. Thank you very much indeed. Madam Deputy Speaker, can I start on a positive note? And that is to commend the lines on productivity commend the lines on productivity within the green, the red book, and for the comments that the that various Ministers have made around that recently. It has to be the number one objective to getting our number one objective to getting our NHS to where it needs to be to deliver for our constituents. I have to say to the Health Secretary, have to say to the Health Secretary, numbers two and three is probably dentistry in adult social care.

And dentistry in adult social care. And on that I have heard less positive news. Dentistry in particular is
15:49
Andrew Murrison Portrait Rt Hon Dr Andrew Murrison MP (South West Wiltshire, Conservative)
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still struggling from the units of dental activity created by Gordon dental activity created by Gordon Brown back in the day. It has bedevilled the provision of dentistry in this country and is in dentistry in this country and is in urgent need of reform. And without that reform, we're not going to make any progress at all on. I make any progress at all on. I would say one of the principal issues around the health service that are concerning my constituents that are concerning my constituents at the moment.

I think a degree of humility is important in all of this when talking about the National Health Service. I would say that with all due respect to the Health Secretary, otherwise the Health Secretary, otherwise he's setting himself up for a fall. Reform within the NHS is fiendishly difficult, and we all remember the ghost, of course, of PFI, which is still stalking the corridors of our hospitals and clinics and will do for some time to come. Now, the day before the Chancellor of the Exchequer gave her pre-budget Budget speech, her boss, the Prime Minister no less, took the very unusual step of personally presenting a bill at Second Reading.

The bill was admittedly a very important one indeed, and the Prime Minister might possibly have thought, perfectly understandably, that it was too important to be delivered by his justice secretary. It was the Public Office Accountability Bill, which begins its Committee stage today. Now at the heart of this bill. Madam Deputy Speaker, is a new duty of candour. And despite its name, it goes well beyond the holders of public office. It carries a legal obligation to act transparently. A new criminal offences for misleading the public, and it contains new code of conduct based on the Nolan principles of selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, leadership, honesty and imposes appropriate sanctions.

Now, lying is a very strong test, madam Deputy Speaker. And you would call me out of order if I applied it to any honourable or right hon. Member. But this government, through its Bill, is insisting on another test. It's insisting on a test of candour and a duty of candour is a noble principle. But nobility can't be confined to one area of the public realm. They have to be universally applicable and it has to be applied from the top. Now, I'm not accusing anybody of lying, but it should be abundantly clear that in preparing for this Budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has not approached her duties with the candour she and her colleagues are demanding of others.

The public has a right to expect and are incorporated, in principle, at least, within the bill that the Prime Minister presented at Second Reading just a few days ago. And I would say that before that Bill comes back to the floor of this House, she might like to reflect on the duty of candour as far as it applies to Ministers. And I feel a new clause that would make it more difficult for her and her successors to stray into the kind of shenanigans that we've seen

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over the past couple of months would be most welcome by this House. Order! The honourable.

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Order! The honourable. Gentleman means. To be discussing the Budget.

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Not the bill that's in committee. Doctor Andrew Murrison. Very grateful for your guidance,

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Very grateful for your guidance, Madam Deputy Speaker. Because what the Chancellor of the Exchequer has what has unfolded since September what has unfolded since September does not just reflect badly on the Chancellor of the Exchequer or the Prime Minister or the government, Prime Minister or the government, but on all of us. Now, on the 17th of September, the OBR.

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Marie Rimmer. I'd like to turn to another.

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Measure in this Budget that speaks fundamental fairness in our society. The high value council tax

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The high value council tax surcharge known as the mansion tax. Under the previous. Government, a band D home in
15:53
Marie Rimmer Portrait Ms Marie Rimmer MP (St Helens South and Whiston, Labour)
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Government, a band D home in Darlington or Blackpool would cost nearly £300 more in council tax than nearly £300 more in council tax than a 10 million mansion in Mayfair. This cannot be right. Working families are paying more to support their local public services than owners of luxury penthouses. The Budget will put an end to this. A high value council tax surcharge will ensure that the multi-million pound homes that have long escaped the fair contribution will now pay more, easing the burden on other households.

But this is about more than domestic fairness. For decades, London's most expensive properties have served as a safety deposit boxes for corrupt wealth from around the world. Russian oligarchs have poured billions into luxury London property not to live in, not to contribute to our communities, but simply to park their wealth beyond scrutiny. These properties sit empty, increasing in value. While some families struggle with overcrowding and soaring rents, with many people attempting to sleep on the streets.

The mansion tax sends a clear message if you own property in Britain, you will contribute to Britain. If you use our capital as a private vault, you will pay your fair share. And if your wealth is tied to Putin's regime, to corruption and to the exploitation of Russian people, London will no longer offer sanctuary. Our government has intensified pressure on Russia through widespread sanctions. Just in the last year, we sanctioned Russia's two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, as well as the vessels it has been using to transport its oil and gas around the globe.

But, Madam Deputy Speaker, we must go further than this. It is not enough to freeze Russian assets. We must ensure that these assets are put to work rebuilding what Russia has destroyed. In October, our government joined forces with France and Germany to signal our readiness to use frozen Russian government assets to help Ukraine. But now the time has come for us to put words into action. I urge our government to continue working with our European partners to establish a clear mechanism for using these frozen Russian assets to Ukraine's reconstruction.

The principle is simple Russia bombed it and Russia should pay for its damage. The proceeds from sanctioned oligarchs frozen wealth should not remain static with Ukraine families while living without electricity, without heating, without homes and with minimal food. This Budget shows our government is prepared to make difficult choices in pursuit of fairness. The mansion tax and our strengthened sanctions regime are two sides of the same coin. They represent a Britain that will not

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tolerate a system rigged in favour of the corrupt and the powerful. Adam Dance.
15:56
Adam Dance Portrait Adam Dance MP (Yeovil, Liberal Democrat)
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Adam Dance. Thank you. of. Today's debate is. Investment and renewal. But that

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Investment and renewal. But that is not what people in Yeovil are thinking about after this Budget. For my constituents, including many For my constituents, including many local businesses that came to meet with me yesterday. This is the why bother Budget. Why bother? People in Yeovil asked, with weeks of leaks, briefings, flip flopping on the Budget. As David, who supports SMEs businesses in my constituency, said all it did in Yeovil was create uncertainty and damage investment. Once we got the Budget, people Yeovil were left asking why do we bother to trust this government? There was some welcome but long overdue measures like those that make online gambling companies pay for their fair share, which is good.

Lower energy bills, which is good, and also lifting children out of poverty. But this government promised to properly. But this government promised to properly grow our economy without taxing working people. But the OBR is clear the Budget has almost no meaningful growth measures at all. What it does have is freeze on income tax thresholds, a stealth tax on working people in Yeovil. Similarly, a three Peter Kyle tax on electric cars will have a disproportionate impact on drivers in rural constituency. It leaves them thinking why bother going electric at all? Over the last few days, speaking to businesses across my constituency is clear.

So many are left asking why do we bother at all? Gareth owns a cow and Apple told me he asked why he bothered battling to keep his business going over the last five years, just for the government to take and take without even listening, let alone supporting the businesses like his businesses, like the cake box in Yeovil are left in an impossible position. Last year their business rates went through the roof and they had to make staff redundant. Because of this Budget, they may be looking at more or at rising costs, both of which will damage businesses.

While the government wants to introduce lower business rate multipliers. That is not enough, particularly if higher valuations just cancel these lower multipliers out. So ultimately, people in my constituency are left asking, why bother with a Budget that doesn't deliver what this country really needs? Growth in the economy. What we needed was some ambition from the Chancellor. So here are some policies. The government should have bothered with a windfall tax on the QE. Relative parts of the profits that big banks have received, raising 30 billion for taxpayers half years, an digital service tax on social media giant broken business rates system with commercial land owner levy a reversal of damaging National Insurance and family farm tax a 5% reduction in VAT for hospitality sector over the next 17 months to keep them afloat.

That's it. Keep them afloat. And finally, we need a better trade deal with the EU like Liberal Democrats have been calling for. This could raise more than 25 billion. Madam Deputy Speaker, the government failed to deliver any new ideas just when we need them

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most. But please just still ask. Our communities need more and they deserve better. Yeah.

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Yeah. Ian Lavery you, madam.

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Madam Deputy speaker. Listen to this debate. You know, and I'm discombobulated, I really am. I really, really am. We had the am. I really, really am. We had the shadow Minister, the hon. Member shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Daventry. Spoke for 20 minutes.
16:00
Ian Lavery Portrait Ian Lavery MP (Blyth and Ashington, Labour)
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Never mentioned why his party and others absolutely oppose. Withdrawn the two child cap. You know, in this country. Madam Deputy speaker, we've got kids suffering from scurvy. Yeah, yeah. Beriberi, rickets, among many other diseases caused by malnutrition. And you know what? Is a poor lifting? Children out of poverty. You're an

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absolute disgrace. Mr. Lavery. You'll be aware that you just called me an absolute

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disgrace with that phrase. I'm taking it badly. Ian Lavery. Madam Deputy speaker, I would

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Madam Deputy speaker, I would never dream of calling you a disgrace. You're far from from that. disgrace. You're far from from that. But I was pointing at the two gentlemen on the front bench, getting back to the reality. Getting back to the reality. Why Getting back to the reality. Why did you. Why did the hon. Gentleman not mention why the oppose in a not mention why the oppose in a country where we are one of the richest economies in the world, why will I not feeding the kids? Why? You're not making sure that kids in every constituency in this country are fed when they go to school and they get equal opportunities to fill the bellies, they can learn and they get a better opportunity later.

And why? Why is the opposition, why did the Conservative Party and the media in the press over the weekend, continually have a go at the Labour Party and will benefit Street? Typical reverting to type? Well, I'll tell you something, Madam Deputy Speaker. That's 3000 kids in my constituency of Blyth and Ashington who will benefit greatly as a result of that. Just that one policy. I'm proud that we've looked at that and we've done exactly what we've done, and I just cannot believe why people oppose it.

I used to have loads of respect for at least one of the frontbench. Just with the time I've got left. Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to just mention the efforts of the Labour Party frontbench with regards to the inclusion of the BBC triple S, the pensions for many mine workers who, you know, work underground and they've now, like the Labour Party promised in the manifesto 2024, where the MPs have now paid a greater pay the money back from the Special Reserve Fund to the pensioners themselves.

It's a great move, you know, and people will remember this because it's 14 years. When the party opposite refused to pay a single halfpenny to miners who had worked their socks off in the pursuit of black coal for this country. I think the there's a lot to do. We need to look at a wealth tax. We need to make sure that these billionaires and millionaires are not left if they want to go to Dubai. Madam Deputy speaker, bye bye.

NIC off to Dubai. Thank you very much.
16:04
Stephen Gethins Portrait Stephen Gethins MP (Arbroath and Broughty Ferry, Scottish National Party)
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Stephen Gethins.

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It's good to be able to make my presentation today. After a past presentation today. After a past few days of drama, when the Budget is meant to be a showcase for this place. Now the Conservatives will place. Now the Conservatives will be well aware of past years when of course, budgets unravel in the days course, budgets unravel in the days just after it's delivered. But I have to say, I think we were all have to say, I think we were all finding it quite.

It was quite something to see the Budget unravel in the days before it was even in the days before it was even delivered. Now on these, there are a couple of more serious points. a couple of more serious points. The Scottish Government gets most of its finances from Westminster. We continue to live in an overly centralised state. Now, what I would like to say, and I'll say this constructively, because I know the Secretary of State is a constructive person. The engagement with the devolved administrations is something that should be happening before a Budget, not after a Budget.

And for the First Minister to offer meetings and to get no response is something that is unacceptable, not just for the First Minister of Scotland, but for the First Ministers of Northern Ireland and Wales, who should be afforded a similar courtesy on the question of the Chancellor. Now we have had a lot of silence from Scottish Labour about the Chancellor over the past few days. A lot of silence. The OBR are now about to disagree. They're going to

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disagree with their Scottish leader. Please. I'd love to hear it. Melanie Ward the hon. Member. I thank him for giving way and he just said he hadn't heard much from Scottish Labour MPs about the Chancellor. So let me take this Chancellor. So let me take this chance to put on record my thanks and the thanks of my constituents to the Chancellor for making sure to the Chancellor for making sure that this Budget gave £20 million to Kirkcaldy to begin the renewal of our town, after almost two decades

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our town, after almost two decades of his party's rule in Scotland. You know. The money she talks about, we would have had that had we remained in the European Union and had access to the European regional funding that she doesn't want anymore. And I'm astonished. There's a split within the Labour Party over what happens to the Chancellor. Now. I'm glad that the Chancellor may have the hon. Lady's confidence, but when we hear from the BBC, even the BBC reporting we were misled, the Chancellor holds a serious post.

I think we can all agree with that. When the chair of the OBR has gone with the director general of the BBC, having recently gone, we have to be sure that the Chancellor has the confidence of this House and those around her. And I do not think we can be sure that that is the case anymore, given the chaos of the past few days. Now, on a more positive note, I am going to give the Secretary of State his due. I know that the question of child poverty is something that is close to his heart, as it is to mine, and he speaks passionately and eloquently about that.

The Labour Party were chucking out members of Parliament for voting to get rid of the two child cap. They voted against our motion just a few weeks ago. The leader of the Scottish Labour Party even said a couple of years ago that if we got rid of it, it would spook the markets. The markets haven't been spooked, it's been done and the Scottish Government were ahead of the game. And what's the only part of the UK where child poverty is falling? Scotland.

What's the only part of the UK that now has a Scottish child payment that is driving down child poverty Scotland? And I would urge the Secretary of State because I know he is constructive and I know he takes this to heart, that perhaps I've already given way, that perhaps he will look at the benefits of the Scottish Child Payment. I am a believer in solidarity, and I would love to see that being rolled out to the rest of the UK as well, given its successes in Scotland.

Did I say that constructively? And I hope that that's something you'll look at, and it is something that he will consider as well. Now we're talking about renewal on energy sector. We've heard about the job losses from Harbour Energy, the latest to announce job losses as a direct consequence of the energy profits levy. The Offshore Energies UK have talked about the loss of thousands of jobs as a result of that levy. Can I remind the House that the UK is about the only state in the world that found oil and gas, and never introduced the Future Generations Fund? And why do you have such a fund? Because it's a finite resource and you can invest in the future instead of taxing it out of existence, which is what's happening at the moment.

I'm hearing that from my own constituents, and we're hearing it from across the north east of Scotland. And finally, Madam Deputy Speaker, this the Prime Minister yesterday mentioned the failure of Brexit. And the Health Secretary has done the same thing every day. According to House of Commons figures, every day is costing the public purse £250 million. It is a disgrace. It is a Tory and Reform failure that all of us are paying for. Trades down is responsible for a large chunk of tax rises and, according to the Mayor of London's own research, £140 billion lower.

Can I appeal to the Labour Party? Please start doing something differently from the Conservatives and reform? They failed. Please do and reform? They failed. Please do not.
16:09
Joani Reid Portrait Joani Reid MP (East Kilbride and Strathaven, Labour)
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Joani Reid.

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Nobody is more pessimistic about Scotland's future than the SNP. The first.

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The first. John Swinney has been working extremely hard these last couple of days to make sure no inappropriate celebrations are held. One of his complaints that was covered in the complaints that was covered in the press today is that Labour are only cutting energy bills by £150, and cutting energy bills by £150, and double that for the poorest households. So, Madam Deputy Speaker, we on this side of the

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Speaker, we on this side of the House are not pessimistic when it comes to Scotland's future. We are optimistic.

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And more than that, we are backing that optimism with cold, hard cash, £10 billion of additional funding for Scotland has been announced since the since the Labour Party took office in July last year. That is money that is available because in the United Kingdom we pull resources.

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And we share strength. Money that could be used to improve our schools. Once our improve our schools. Once our greatest pride, they have slid down the international league tables. It could be money coming from Labour budgets that can be used to deliver significant improvements in the NHS. significant improvements in the NHS. And yet under the SNP, waiting times keep on rising. It's money that could be tackling crime, something that is needed given the the alarming rise in violence in

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the alarming rise in violence in many. Yes I will. Further to the previous speakers remarks about Scotland, where the remarks about Scotland, where the pregnant mothers have to make a 200 mile round trip to give birth in my constituency in Scotland, and wouldn't it be great if some of this money was spent to make maternity service fair for mums

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here? Yeah, I absolutely I couldn't agree more and more than that, they need to deliver on their promise after promise after promise that they've made about the NHS and absolutely failed to deliver any absolutely failed to deliver any improvements, despite the fact that they have been given a record settlement. The money is out there, but under the tired and wired SNP, the idea is to use it effectively or not. Madam Deputy Speaker, it is or not. Madam Deputy Speaker, it is my belief that Labour's victory in Scotland's general election rested Scotland's general election rested on the support of three core groups.

The first were young families and couples paying their first mortgage. I have met hundreds of such families on the doorstep in East Kilbride, Strathaven and across our villages. I know the last 18 months has been tough, but we are now delivering for those families mortgages. Costs are down, wages are up. The the Budget brings new action to cut fuel bills for between 150 and £300 a year. Our second key group of supporters were people in work, but who relied on benefits to help pay their bills.

For 14 years they were soft targets for austerity and denounced by the right wingers as scroungers, despite so many of them working every hour they could, they increasingly struggled to support themselves and their families. So many were desperate for help to arrive and help has now arrived and I am proud to support this redistributive Budget. I am proud to have the chance to back a government that does things like twice announcing substantial increases in the minimum wage, abolishing the two child cap, the despicable rape clause and legislating for a real terms in Universal Credit.

The last measure alone will directly benefit 450,000 households in Scotland, and the third group of that voted for us back in July last year are those aged between 18 and 24. Hundreds of thousands of young people who the SNP government have completely ignored. They are not the ones who live in Glasgow's West End or Edinburghs Morningside. They do not look to Fe colleges to give them training and skills that they need to get on in life. So here I admit that the news that the Budget is mixed because yes, a UK government can invest directly in Grangemouth and so help lead the way in bringing the skills needed for the clean energy future.

Or it can back end green drydock to help access defence related jobs. But in both of those things are happening thanks to this Budget. But no Budget can change the SNP's policy of starving Fe colleges of money, or doing everything it can to block the renewal of Scotland's nuclear fleet. To change any of that, we need to get Anas Sarwar.

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Into First Minister. Next May and it is our belief

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Next May and it is our belief that we can see if we see that happen. That is our final piece of optimism for Scotland.
16:14
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16:14
Neil Hudson Portrait Dr Neil Hudson MP (Epping Forest, Conservative)
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with weak foundations and an insecure future. For all this talk of fair decisions, this budget's biggest scandal is that my constituents in Epping Forest are not being given a fair deal in any way whatsoever. My constituents, like constituents across the House who work hard to support themselves and their families, who innovate to start businesses and provide jobs, have been deeply let down by this and the previous Labour Budget. My constituents and people right across the country will pay more while being deprived of investment in the services they need.

Due to this government's political decisions, my constituents and those of the Health Secretary himself were promised by Labour a full rebuild of Whipps Cross Hospital, as started by the previous conservative government, with the health secretary then going so far as saying he supported the Whipps Won't Wait campaign before the election. As soon as his government were elected, he changed his tune to Whipps Must Wait, and as a result, Whipps Cross now faces a £170 million backlog in maintenance costs due to the government's delay, this rebuild, and that of Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, again promised by Labour and needed by my constituents now.

Now folk in Epping Forest also have some words for the Transport Secretary. The central line is consistently delayed and overcrowded over hot in summer with screeching rail noise, and the trains are in need of modernisation, all compounded by horrendous graffiti like something out of Gotham City, which is getting worse day by day. If we want investment, could the Transport Secretary perhaps have a word with the Mayor of London for investment in the central line and deterrents for graffiti? All of these decisions that the government has made are before the government inflicted before last week, none of which they have reversed.

With this current Budget, the government's plan to jeopardise the heart and lungs of Epping Forest, its precious green belt under the misleadingly term grey belt, is completely at odds with our constituents environment and natural beauty. We need the right homes in the right places, but not this top down approach. Now, the rise in National Insurance contributions in last year's budgets mean that businesses in Epping Forest face a dilemma stop hiring new staff or freeze pay for existing staff.

And this cannot go on moving forward. While the government chooses to be ambiguous when it comes to spending, it can be very clear where they can make savings. They could save £1.8 billion by cancelling their flawed policy on digital ID, or they could save £35 billion on their flawed Chagos Islands policy. Labour are also now waging a war on motorists by hiking fuel duty and disincentivising electric and plug in hybrid car drivers with a mileage charge. This cannot be sustainable moving forward.

What we have seen with this government are political choices from a desperate Labour government, and it is sad that they have completely disregarded our conservative plans that would help our economy, like scrapping stamp duty or abolishing business rates for retail, hospitality or leisure businesses. In conclusion, Madam Deputy Speaker, the people of Epping Forest and the UK deserve better than the retrograde decisions made by this Labour government and we need to push back against this high tax and

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low delivery Budget. For Gerald Jones here. Thank you.

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Thank you. Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise to welcome the Budget and to speak in favour of it. We know that we've
16:18
Gerald Jones Portrait Gerald Jones MP (Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare, Labour)
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favour of it. We know that we've experienced difficult economic times of late, but despite this, we have a Budget that is both solid and fair. Wages are growing more since the start of this Parliament than since 2010. And we've seen interest rates down five times since the general election. I particularly welcome the measures that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor has taken to help with the cost of living and help with energy bills and, of course, the decision to scrap the two child cap and raise half a million children out of poverty.

Earlier this year, I hosted a round table discussion with key stakeholders in Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare. Housing providers, Citizens Advice, food banks and others came to Merthyr Town Football Club to meet with me and my hon. Friend, the Member for Birkenhead was Minister for employment at that time and consulting on the child poverty strategy. The key message from that event was that the single most important thing that the government could do to alleviate child poverty was to scrap the cap. And I'm so pleased that the Chancellor listened and took action.

In my constituency alone, around 2590 children will face a better future and better life chances due to this

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decision. In addition. I thank. I thank my hon. I thank my hon.

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I thank my hon. I thank my hon. Friend and like him, I've heard relentlessly from Bradford South Foodbank, from G force, from other Foodbank, from G force, from other organisations in my constituency and national charities about the and national charities about the importance of lifting children out of child poverty and the impact this measure will have, including for 1000 children in my constituency. Does the hon. Does my hon. Friend find it surprising that

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members opposite haven't heard organisations? I thank my hon. Friend for that

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I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention and couldn't agree more. And all I can say is that there must be walking around with their eyes closed and their ears shut because, you know, we see it every day in our constituencies and it's some action that needed to be taken. I'm so glad that this Labour government has taken that action. In addition, freezing fuel duty, increasing the minimum wage and the living wage, and increasing pensions by 4.8% in April will all help reduce the pressures on many of my constituents.

I've been working with dozens of my constituents and the coalfield group of MPs over many months. In making the case for the changes to the BC Pension Fund, the £2.3 billion transferred back to the pension pot will mean around 100 hundred pounds a week for around 376 BC members in Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare, and builds upon the decision in last year's Budget to write a similar injustice for the Mineworkers Pension Fund. Mineworkers powered our country and many Welsh communities for decades, and I'm proud that it is this

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Labour government that is doing right by them. Madam Deputy Speaker. I thank you.

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I thank you. I thank my friend for giving way. And just on the note of the BC triple S move, I wonder if he joins me in recognising the 290 of 290 people in my constituency who will benefit from this, and also in paying tribute to the work of Billy Organ, my constituency Billy from Organ, my constituency Billy from Kingseat, who has done so much to campaign for this change alongside staff.

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staff. Gerald Jones. I absolutely do join her. There's so many people that have worked hard for this and it's, you know, people in our constituency that have wanted this and it will make such a difference to them in their lives and their prosperity. And I absolutely welcome the decision and join her in congratulating her constituent. Madam Deputy Speaker, fuel prices in some parts of my constituency are often ten per litre higher than in other parts of the constituency, and in some cases in the same chain as, for example in Merthyr Tydfil is often 789 ten per litre per litre dearer than the Asda in Aberdare, which is just bizarre.

And they're not the only company that does this. I've written to the suppliers asking for an explanation and when those explanations were not satisfactory, also written to the CMA urging them to take action and undertake a local inquiry. Continuing to freeze fuel duty will help, and I'm pleased that the fuel Fund is being implemented shortly to bring additional pressure on suppliers to keep prices competitive. Thanks to this government's Pride in Place initiative, both Merthyr Tydfil and Rhondda Cynon Taff local authorities will each receive £21.5 million.

That will be spent on priorities identified by local residents. I'm so pleased that we are moving towards doing things with communities rather than two communities. Empowering local residents is so much more beneficial to our local areas. Madam Deputy Speaker. For many years, coal extraction, as we've touched on earlier, built wealth right across the UK. It powered the Welsh and the UK economy for decades. However, the previous UK conservative government failed to support any costs associated with the remediation of coal tips owing to the fact that it is a devolved area.

This Labour government recognised that the legacy of coal and coal tip safety is very much a shared responsibility, and I welcome the 25 million that the government provided in its first Labour Budget last year and build in over three years a further 118 million to support the vital work to keep our coal tips safe. The funding represents all that the Welsh Government requested to fund the safety works for the rest of this Parliament, with a significant number of category D tips across Merthyr Tydfil and Rhondda Cynon Taff.

This investment is hugely important for my constituents. This is a government determined to act with Tory inaction left communities unsafe. The funding announcement, along with significant investment from the Welsh Government, shows the impact of two Labour governments working together for Wales after years of Tory failure, after years of the previous conservative government starving Wales of resources. I am pleased that the government is building on the biggest settlement to Wales since devolution, and that this Budget provides an additional £1 billion spending power to the Welsh Government through the Barnett formula, and by reforming the fiscal framework funding that will help Welsh NHS public services across Wales and benefit.

My constituency is a constituency of Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare. There is much more I could say in terms of the local growth Fund Defence Secretary the Youth Guarantee. But Madam Deputy Speaker, the Budget will help so many in my

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constituency families, young people, pensioners and I urge members to support it this evening. Max Wilkinson thank you, Madam
16:24
Max Wilkinson Portrait Max Wilkinson MP (Cheltenham, Liberal Democrat)
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Max Wilkinson thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Just this weekend, the Telegraph reported a secret plot to reverse Brexit by taking

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plot to reverse Brexit by taking this country into a customs union with the EU. Hey.

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Hey. Sign me up for that plot. We generate plenty of investment and renewal if we did. But if only that were the case. Because as everyone were the case. Because as everyone on the government benches knows, and everyone in this House knows, there is an alternative to some of the pain in this Budget. The Labour Party knows they do not really need to be hiking taxes on hard pressed households or battering businesses. There is a better way. Madam Deputy Speaker, depending on which economist you ask, the impact of Brexit has been a hit to GDP as low as 4% or as high as 8%.

What is this government's answer is to deal with Europe, amounting to a boost to GDP of about 0.3% and a trade deal with India amounting to about 0.13%. And let's not forget the deal with Trump's America. That might be worth something and might be worth not very much or nothing at all. Yesterday, today or tomorrow, depending on how well the President's Happy Meal is going down. Madam Deputy Speaker, those piddling trade deals are used as evidence for not pursuing closer integration with the economic bloc.

That covers 41% of our exports and 51% of our imports. Such freedoms we have gained, Madam Deputy Speaker, the freedom for Britain to punch itself in the mouth forever, while reform and the Conservatives tell us the pain we feel is the sweet taste of freedom, champagne and liberty. Oysters. At least the government now acknowledges there's a problem. But the delusion continues. While they argue that anything other than the obvious is the solution. And what is the result of this delusion? British businesses are mired in post-Brexit regulation.

The cost of living is up. The size of the state has ballooned, much to the annoyance of the Conservatives, who told us it would get smaller taxes at record levels. Our economy is more vulnerable to international shocks. We are all poorer. Apart from the hon. Member for Clacton who is not there, but whose profitable grift continues and will continue. To compound the problem, we have the sort of budgets this government is now giving this nation. Last year

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it decided to make it more expensive. I just point out that the hon.

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I just point out that the hon. Member might like to withdraw the choice of word he used to describe

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the actions of the Member for Clacton. He's making a lot of money on social media. Madam Deputy Speaker, social media. Madam Deputy Speaker, and I'm happy to clarify that. And to compound the problem, we have the sort of budgets this government is giving the nation. Last year, it decided to make it more expensive for businesses to employ people. A government that tells us its number government that tells us its number one priority is growth persists with needless, harmful trade barriers and increase the cost of employing people.

That is at best employing people. That is at best absurd and at worst, a dereliction of duty. A short time ago, Madam Deputy Speaker, deep into the weeks of endless leaks and speculation, I met with concerned local businesses. They wanted the government to do something to ease the tax burden, to tread carefully when raising minimum wages. They didn't say they were against them, though, and they wanted to make it easier for them to grow. The opposite has happened. Despite the spin applied last week, here's the feedback.

Edward Anderson, who runs three pubs in Cheltenham, tells me his combined business rates for the three premises will increase by £27,000 a year from April. Andrew Coates tells me that the rates across his three premises will rise by £34,500, on top of the impact of the minimum wage rises, costing him 25 grand. Why? Madam Deputy Speaker, on occasion, those of us who ask difficult questions of the government about sensitive and divisive matters are shouted down and told we're ignoring the problem on this matter.

The government is absolutely ignoring the problem and the Ministers know it without properly dealing with the consequences of Brexit. By striking a new trade deal with Europe, a customs union leading to single market access and stronger realignment in future, this country is going to continue in the slow lane. And while this government continues to be wilfully ignorant of the impact of its actions on the private sector, this country will continue in the slow lane. If number one, if the number one priority for this government truly was prosperity, they would unleash the opportunity for trade, deal with Europe and make it easier to do business here.
16:28
Ruth Jones Portrait Ruth Jones MP (Newport West and Islwyn, Labour)
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Be here. Yeah. Thank you, Madam Deputy. Budget. And as a proud Welsh MP, I'm pleased to say this Budget delivers for the people of Wales. This Budget cuts, the cuts, the cost of living, invest in frontline public services and strengthens our plan for growth. Wales is front line. Public services will be the big beneficiaries of the Labour choices at the heart of this Budget, by asking those with the broadest shoulders to bear their share of fair share of tax, getting debt falling and restoring stability to the national finances, the Welsh Government will benefit from the largest financial settlement in history of devolution, whilst the Conservatives chose to impose real term cuts on Wales.

This Labour government is choosing to invest in Wales. I greatly welcome the additional £505 million in funding for Welsh schools, hospitals and other public services delivered through this Budget. I also welcome reforms to the Welsh Fiscal Framework as committed to in our manifesto, which will provide £425 million in additional spending power, with borrowing limits for capital projects increasing every year. These are important steps to righting the historic wrongs of how Wales has been funded. After 14 years of conservative failure, Wales has the highest child poverty of any devolved nation in the UK, with almost a third of Welsh children growing up in poverty.

This is a stain on our national history, but this Budget reverses this trend. Decisions made by this Labour government will see child poverty in Wales falling once again. The scrapping of the two child benefit cap is one of the biggest steps we will take in our mission to end the injustice of child poverty. Labour choices will see 69,000 children in Wales, more than one in every ten lifted out of poverty and benefiting from greater financial security. Scrapping the cap is not only the right thing to do, it is economically essential.

Poverty and inequality remain a massive drain on our economy and our national potential. Where people in Wales know this instinctively, fairness is a key national value. It's who we are. The Conservatives and reform don't get this. That's why they don't understand Wales. Madam Deputy Speaker, this Budget also rights another historic wrong, as we've heard already from the hon. Member for Merthyr and Aberdare. And I'm thankful to the Chancellor for listening to him and other coalfield MPs like myself, in returning the investment reserved of the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme to its members.

Having met BC members recently at the Newbridge Memo, I know how significant this £2.3 billion change will be. One of the people I met at that meeting with Alan Watkins, who worked at Oakdale Colliery in my constituency for 24 years. He started when he was just 16 years old, working at The Pit until it closed in 1989. He's now 76. People like Alan have had to wait far too long for justice, thanks to this change by this Liberal government, this wrong will finally be righted.

My thanks to all the scheme's members and the trustees, especially Bleddyn Hancock, for his persistence and his never giving up over decades of work. Madam Deputy Speaker, as chair of the APPG for semiconductors, I'm proud that this Budget will see an additional £10 million being invested to strengthen skills in the Welsh semiconductor cluster, the world's first compound semiconductor cluster and a real success story for Wales and my constituency of Newport West and Islwyn. Much like the two governments working together at each end of the M4, I hope to see also more joint working between Network Rail and Transport for Wales because, as we know, the additional investment that the Labour government already announced of £445 million in Wales rail infrastructure, including five new stations in South Wales, will be beneficial to all across South Wales, but I would urge them, the Network Rail and Transport for Wales to go further and working to deliver these ambitions.

This Budget follows a long Labour tradition of being prudent with a purpose. It is based on labour choices, with Labour values running through it, and I purpose is clear action on the cost of living, investment in our public services

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and delivering future growth. I commend this to the House. Adrian Ramsay.

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Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. This Budget was billed as. A plan for. Renewal, but in Waveney Valley,
16:32
Adrian Ramsay Portrait Adrian Ramsay MP (Waveney Valley, Green Party)
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Renewal, but in Waveney Valley, renewal is measured in what people actually feel lower bills, better services, affordable local food, the protection of our irreplaceable natural environment. Yet Kevin, a trustee of the Waveney Food Bank, told me a few days ago that demand continues to grow, reflecting hardship nationwide. Trussell reports that around 14 million people, including 3.8 million children, faced food insecurity last year, scrapping the two child limit in Universal Credit is very welcome indeed, something I've long called for.

But it alone cannot tackle structural poverty. The Budget raises 26 billion, but most is held back to expand fiscal headroom rather than easing household pressures. Threshold freezes hit low and middle income families, creating a disproportionate burden on ordinary households, while the wealthiest are still not paying their fair share. Opportunities to tax extreme wealth have been missed, and this decision punishes the many to protect the privileges of the few. While families and public services continue to struggle. Take schools which face severe financial pressure.

Headteachers in my constituency of Waveney Valley report cutbacks to subject options and support services, and recruitment and retention remains challenging. Special educational needs are under particular strain. Centres doubled in demand, with deficits rising from 6.6 billion to 13 point 4,000,000,000 in 3 years and councils warning of insolvency. Thousands of children face long waits for assessments and schools must meet needs without sufficient staff training or funding. Urgent action is needed to stabilise Send and schools funding to improve access and support.

The Budget was also a missed opportunity to for farmers already struggling with rising costs and succession pressures. Agricultural Property Relief remains capped at 1 million per person, hitting ordinary family farms rather than the people I know the government's trying to target, which is those buying up farmland to avoid tax. So, along with experts such as Dan Needle, I've argued that the APR threshold should rise to around 10 million to clamp down on tax avoidance without penalising family farms that make little money day to day.

Core farm costs have also been frozen. The environmental land management schemes continue to remain underfunded, complex and difficult for smaller farms to access, preventing investment in nature restoration, climate resilient practices and improved animal welfare. The incentive remains closed to new applicants, stalling access to properly funded schemes essential for environmental protection and a secure food supply. The Budget promises 250 new neighbourhood health service centres, which I very much welcome. They could restore rural services and I look forward to seeing them in my market towns across Waveney Valley.

But there's no clarity on what this will mean for dentistry, which is already at a crisis point, and also, financing the health centres through public private partnerships raises concerns and questions about long term costs. Given the failures of PFI, public investment must serve patients, not private profit. So, in conclusion, this Budget makes promises with some welcome elements but does not deliver the scale of renewal that our country needs. Public services are stretched, farmers are struggling, schools and councils face unsustainable pressures, and families across Waveney Valley continue to battle hardship.

Kevin at the Waveney Food Bank hopes that one day he'll be able to close the food bank for good. But on the basis of this Budget, there's a

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long way to go with that. No thank you. Madam Deputy Speaker, on the

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Madam Deputy Speaker, on the matter of today's debate, investment and renewable, can I firstly express my delight at the
16:36
Noah Law Portrait Noah Law MP (St Austell and Newquay, Labour)
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establishment of a local publicly owned investment fund for Cornwall because it is only by investing in the SMEs and supply chains that underlie our most promising industries, that we will ensure that the benefits of growth are spread throughout our communities. And I think after a longer period of frenetic fiscal debate than I can remember, I would say we've landed on a consensus that investment is needed to turn our country around, and that where revenue needs to be raised, it must be done so in a way that is beyond a shadow of a doubt, progressive, and doesn't impact substantially on the finances of working people.

So I thank the Chancellor for going not just the extra mile for Cornwall, but also for ensuring that we're putting more pounds in the pockets of working people and allowing them to get on with their lives by cutting their energy bills by freezing prescriptions, freezing the cost of rail travel and protecting pensioners on low incomes from the effect of fiscal drag, which I've argued for so many times in this place. I welcome the fact that some of mine and rural colleagues calls for farmers have been heard, all know that we must go further to match the intended spirit of these reforms, and that those businesses which just happen to be based on agricultural land, should pay their taxes like everyone else.

And we need to ensure that we put family farms on the best footing possible to invest in the future of our food production. But as we know, some of the best return on investment we can get comes from investing in our NHS. As we heard so eloquently from the Secretary of State at the start of this debate, in fact, investing in our NHS can sometimes yield gross value added return of over £10 on every pound spent in the NHS. The same is true of investment in our early childhood early childhood education.

So I very much welcome the prioritisation of these things in our Budget. Mr. Madam Deputy Speaker, in August, I set canny young economists a research challenge of squaring the very tricky circle of tax policy that is efficient, pro-growth and progressive. Delivering on each of these is no mean feat at a time of global instability and in the most prolonged period of weak growth gifted by the last government. So I can't commend the Chancellor on her management of those trade offs, and for delivering a Budget that will allow the UK to grow faster than its peers, and a Budget that is truly a Labour Budget.

Hear, hear.

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Layla moran. The Secretary of State is absolutely right. The NHS does need
16:39
Layla Moran Portrait Layla Moran MP (Oxford West and Abingdon, Liberal Democrat)
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absolutely right. The NHS does need to innovate and renew, and indeed any investment in any Budget is welcome. But how this renewal happens and what is prioritised also matters. So while I of course agree that the focus on hospital waiting lists is right, I can also be concerned that the focus on physical health risks deprioritising and underloved. But equally important area mental health. Today, the Health and Social Care Select Committee published its report into community mental health services with a focus on severe mental health.

The report is clear we must take a radical new approach to mental health and indeed to the funding that goes with it. While parity of esteem has been enshrined in the NHS constitution for over a decade, we have not made enough progress. As Lord Darzi outlined, the mental health well, mental health accounts for over 20% of the disease burden. It receives less than 10% of NHS spend. So, worryingly, the share of NHS spending on mental health has fallen again this year.

For five years it went up slowly but surely 8.5% in 2018 to 9% in 2023. This may not sound like much, but it does represent billions of extra spending. And it did start a little bit to make a difference, particularly in workforce numbers. But you just have to talk to anyone who uses the system. We have a long way to go. So I am bitterly disappointed that the mental health investment standard, that's the principle of increasing the share of ICB spend on mental health each year has been watered down to be based on flat, real funding growth.

That means just keeping up with inflation. And this is an unwelcome finessing of a definition and a backward step. The committee urges the government to change course and further, to enshrine the original definition in law. And why? Why spend all this money? Well, there are so many reasons. There's a strong link between mental illness and demand for social care. People with severe mental ill health die on average 15 to 20 years earlier, and a CQC survey showed that up to 90% of people with mental health issues want to work, but only 37% are for people with severe mental illness, this falls to 8%.

They aren't lazy, they're sick. So investing in mental health grows the economy and boosts productivity. But of course, money isn't everything. And it's also right that we do this for the people. Something I only know too well as the proud partner of someone who happens to have a bipolar diagnosis. They fall through the cracks, denied care for being too well or too ill or not in crisis. They wait years for services. And unlike physical health, there are no targets and we need national access and waiting time standards now.

And the consequences of the system can be tragic. Just ask Diane, one of my constituents, whose son, Leon, was discharged from the community. He deteriorated and despite desperate pleas, doctors wouldn't review his case and he completed suicide. But there is a ray of hope in the system, and that's 24/7 neighbourhood mental health centres. These are open access centres with integrated, holistic models rooted in communities. Everything that our experts by experience ask for. And one staff member said this is a place that helps people like, feel, make them feel that they're a skilled person, not an ill person.

So we need the funding for these centres to continue and we want them rolled out across the country. So we urge this government be bold, take on this leadership, make sure the money is there, and if they do this, our committee will back them every step of the way.

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Jeremy. Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker. In my maiden speech, I detailed how my constituency of South West Norfolk includes one third of all children includes one third of all children living in poverty. It is something that I reflect upon often, and it causes me great concern in amongst
16:43
Terry Jermy Portrait Terry Jermy MP (South West Norfolk, Labour)
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causes me great concern in amongst the fields and the trees and the pretty villages. Poverty is a real issue. There are many reasons why this poverty might exist, but not a single one of those reasons is a fault of the children themselves. And it is for this reason that I support the removal of the two child cap. I welcome also the above inflation increase in the state pension, because pensioner poverty is of great concern to particularly in a rural area like mine where we struggle with low wages and poor quality housing.

The government's commitment to freezing both fuel duty and rail fares will greatly help my constituents, who continue to endure cost of living pressures and the additional expense that comes from living in a rural area with limited public transport options. I welcome the progress that this Labour government is making on these important issues. Picking up the pieces after so many years of conservative austerity with public services at breaking point. But Madam Deputy Speaker, it is the proposals in relation to agricultural property relief that continue to concern me.

And whilst I welcome the concession, it does not address the fundamental flaws. Farming is in crisis. Just this year we have seen the second worst harvest on record and confidence is at an all time low. Longer, hotter summers, drought and flooding, delays to schemes like SFE, biosecurity threats, frustration with planning permits and licensing and the dominance of the supermarkets all erode the sustainability of the sector and weaken our food security immeasurably. And whilst the Conservatives might be desperate to paint themselves as the face of rural Britain, farmers in my constituency remember all too well the failures of the past Tory government and the lack of progress over many years.

Rather than getting better, life got worse under the Tories in rural Britain and in a change election, rural Britain revolted. Nowhere was that change more extreme than in my own constituency, which recorded the largest swing from Conservatives to Labour ever in a general election. And whilst a short stint as Prime Minister did my opponent's re-election chances no favours, it was her direct role in selling out British farmers that had already broken the support of many, for it was Liz Truss's signature on many of the Tory governments trade deals that did so much damage.

On top of a litany of other failures, no wonder in the fields of South West Norfolk, where once there were Tory signs aplenty at last year's election, they were harder to spot than a Reform Party policy. This government has the chance to reset the relationship with rural Britain, and I yearn for those progressive labour values translated across our green and pleasant lands.

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The hon. Member? Sure. I thank my hon. Friend for

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I thank my hon. Friend for giving way. I wonder if he agrees with me that one of the things that we could do as Labour government is bring forward a dedicated rural strategy, which will address a lot of the issues that he is referring

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of the issues that he is referring to and build for a stronger, better rural Britain. Yeah. I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. And it's right that intervention. And it's right that government policies do not always fall equally across the country. And I absolutely welcome the idea And I absolutely welcome the idea of a rural strategy. Because importantly, if the changes to APR go ahead, they will fail to address go ahead, they will fail to address one of the key issues for it will remain the case after the 1st of April, that it will still be financially advantageous for the super rich to purchase agricultural land to avoid inheritance tax at a rate of 20%, as opposed to 40%.

It will remain a tax efficient form of investment. And in Norfolk, as elsewhere, we continue to see large swathes of land purchased by big corporations and the very well-off. This change will therefore not stop this abuse by the celebrities and the billionaires. APR has contributed to over inflated land prices, despite the profitability of farming continuing to be a major challenge. Farmers in my constituency rarely make a return on capital of more than 1%, and farming is so often misunderstood and caught out by the view that land ownership equals wealth.

If you own 200 to 400 acres of land, as many of my 500 farmers do, you may well be wealthy. If you do something with that land other than farm it before. If you continue to farm the land, that value is theoretical and will return very little profit. That should be of huge concern to this country and this government. Farmers in my constituency regard themselves as custodians, custodians of the land, and in many ways they provide a public service. I accept, and many in the farming community do, that.

We need to reform APR and with a few specific changes, this policy can be improved to better target its impact and provide the support for British farming that I know our government wants to provide. And whilst I accept the economic situation and the appalling legacy of the last conservative government, the future of farming in this country depends on this government's policy being right.
16:48
Jamie Stone Portrait Jamie Stone MP (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, Liberal Democrat)
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Thank you.

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Last week I had the pleasure of visiting a very remote part of visiting a very remote part of Westeros, a new part of my constituency, and I visited with the intrepid Olivia and Susy from the intrepid Olivia and Susy from my office. We went, first of all, to Bassetlaw, on the south side of Little Loch Broom, and there I spoke with the crofter Lisa Stewart. I spoke across the wall of her croft, and she was initially rather startled when I appeared, partly because I was dressed like this, and I think she mistook me for a and I think she mistook me for a mormon missionary.

We spoke of many things, one of which was that we things, one of which was that we had in the past an outreach clinic at Dundonald where nurses and doctors would attend, and local people, elderly people in particular, could go there with their ailments without having to make the long return trip to Ullapool. But after Covid, this once a month service was reduced to once a week. And you can imagine what concern that causes my constituents in this remote area, particularly the elderly and particularly during winter weather.

Now, on the other side of Little Lochbroom, the intrepid trio of us, we travelled in a little open ferry to Scoraig, and I might say the weather was choppy and the wind was getting up and I in this suit got rather soaked by the spray. But in scoraig the locals told us about their their deep concern about the state of their little jetty at Scoraig and the similar one at that which we left earlier. And I might point out that Scoraig, while it's on the mainland, is on a peninsula, but is entirely inaccessible by any road.

You can only get there by ferry. Now, if these little jetties, one or other of them go down, then what then? People cannot get to see the doctor or the nurse. Then the secondary pupils who spend the week in Aleppo can't return to their homes for the weekend. Now, there is a point behind all this and I'll come to it. Madam Deputy Speaker the point is this that we heard in the Budget that His Majesty's Government is giving the Scottish Government £820 million, and what we would like to know in the remote parts of my constituency is, is simply this where does this money go? Because we seem to see precious little of it ever coming to where we need it.

We need the money to be spent doing up these little jetties. It wouldn't be much money at all to do them up. We need the money spent to keep the clinic in Dundonald open. It's incredibly important to these people, but we always seem to see the money being spent further south. So what I'm arguing for is a degree of transparency in the way the Scottish Government goes about its spending. I'm not saying for one instant that we in Westminster or the UK government should tell the Scottish Government how to spend their money, but if we could see where the money was going, then colleagues of any party whatsoever in Hollywood could start to ask the difficult questions.

The questions that should be asked now Madam Speaker, I'm going to abuse my position my last minute. Simply make this point to you and I think it would help. The Budget SSN are upgrading the grid all over Scotland, and this is a strategic necessity for this country. I accept that and where they put in a battery, or they propose to put in a battery or new pylons, they are offering financial. Inducements or money to local communities that will be affected. The important thing is that the electricity generated, the Western Isles will come by a vast undersea cable up Little Loch Broom, and they will landfall at Dundonald and then possibly to where we are today.

But the communities either side of that loch, with the cable in the middle of it, bad luck on one side and scoring, and others will receive not a penny. And I hope SS are listening to us, because I think there's a moral argument that they should take into account these communities as well, and that money would be of enormous assistance to the UK's Budget, the Scottish Naismith.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My constituents want to know that decisions taken in the Budget are
16:52
Connor Naismith Portrait Connor Naismith MP (Crewe and Nantwich, Labour)
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decisions taken in the Budget are fair, that they are necessary to tackle the long term challenges this country faces and that they align with their priorities in their lived experience in daily life. And I think that this Budget achieves that. And I want to talk about some very specific measures, beginning with the two child cap. I have been incredibly frustrated with the level at which the opposition have sought to have this debate about the two child cap. I think they should hang their heads in shame that they try to present this as an argument between people who work and those who don't, because 60% of the families who will benefit from the abolition of the two child cap are working families.

And I don't think we talk often enough in this place about the fact that 33% of those who claim Universal Credit are in work. They go out to work every single day and earn their poverty. That is the record of the Conservative Party in government, and they should apologise for it. Then let's talk about the 40% of people who do not work. Most of my constituents, many of my constituents have, you know, will have worked at one stage or another and find themselves unemployed for reasons that are outside of their control.

Conservative MPs prior to the last election, at least, had the opportunity to place bets on their future unemployment. My constituents did not manage to to do the same, and I think they should. They should reflect on the fact that many people find themselves in that situation through no fault of their own. There were many, many other measures in the Budget aimed at tackling the cost of living for my constituents. Increases to the minimum wage, reductions in their energy bills.

And I want to place on record, in particular, my thanks to the Chancellor for listening to my calls to delay the implementation of changes to the employee car ownership scheme. I heard from many constituents working at Bentley Motors in my constituency about how this would have left them hundreds of pounds a month out of pocket. I'm proud to have advocated on their behalf, alongside the unite trade union in making that case, and I thank the Chancellor for listening. I want to also, just briefly, in the time I have remaining touch on investments, and I was delighted to hear the Chancellor, in her Budget statement, recommit to investing in Northern Powerhouse Rail.

This is vitally important to my constituency as a proud rail town in the north of England. I would just urge the government to be bold in the announcements that they make on this subject, and make sure that we leave open the option for a broader strategy of north south connectivity, as well as east west connectivity. Delighted with the investments we've made in the NHS, and we're already seeing the benefits of that with reduced waiting times and improved patient experience.

And finally, Madam Deputy Speaker, on high streets, I thank the Chancellor for listening to my calls for steps to tackle those dodgy vape shops, dodgy dodgy shops on our high street. My constituency was the subject of a recent BBC undercover investigation on this very subject. I'm really, really proud that this government is taking action to to tackle that. The government has made fair choices in the Budget, right choices in the economic circumstances, and I am proud to

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support them here. Brian Mathew. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.

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Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. While increased investment in the NHS and the lifting of the two NHS and the lifting of the two child benefit cap is very welcome, for the second year in a row, the government has largely failed to government has largely failed to deliver on their promise to tackle the cost of living crisis and the cost of living crisis and actually grow the economy, neglecting to fix our relationship
16:56
Brian Mathew Portrait Brian Mathew MP (Melksham and Devizes, Liberal Democrat)
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with Europe is overlooking the easiest solution to turbo, charging our economy and repairing the mess left by Brexit. A closer, more pragmatic partnership with our closest neighbours with a customs union would mean faster growth, improved competitiveness and reduced red tape. Holding back small and medium sized businesses like those in my constituency of Melksham and Devizes. Last week, the owner of a transport company in Broughton Gifford, told me he was up until the small hours doing paperwork needed for his company to export to Europe.

These businesses want to expand, to export, to hire new staff and are being held back by a government that doesn't seem to understand or want to understand business. Our hospitality sector tells the same story in the towns and villages in my constituency. Hospitality isn't just an industry, it's an essential part of the social fabric. Having visited a number of outstanding pubs in my constituency, including The British Lion and Devizes and The Lamb in Urchfont, I've spoken to the landlords, staff and customers.

They're being squeezed with high energy costs, pressures from supply chains, staffing shortages and rising prices. Wadsworth, a family run independent brewer and pub company based in Devizes and producer of the much loved six X, are facing increased charges of thousands of pounds with the tenanted pubs who will, despite the reduced multiplier, be playing an increase of 76% on their business rates, paying on average an extra £12,900 over the next three years, with some paying much, much more.

And this will likely lead to pub closures and job losses. And I would remind the Chancellor that a closed pub pays no taxes, so not only a nail in the coffin of one of our most valued assets, namely the Great British Pub, a major shot in the foot for the Chancellor and her government. The Liberal Democrat policy to cut £0.05 on that for the hospitality sector would have helped these businesses not only survive, but ensure that people can afford the little things that brighten up life a pint after work, fish and chips on a Friday, a meal with your family shouldn't break the bank.

This low growth, high tax Budget is punishing people, hitting them with stealth taxes on their wages, and failing to tackle the actual problems our residents and businesses face. Failing to reverse the unpopular and self-defeating farm inheritance tax, or at least raising the threshold so that it protects working family farms. The Lib Dems wanted this to be a Budget that was forward thinking, going for growth with a deal for Europe, saving our high streets and helping families with the cost of living.

It was, instead, sadly, a missed opportunity, squandering the chance

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to deliver the change that is needed. Thank you. Andy MacNae Madam Deputy Speaker.

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Andy MacNae Madam Deputy Speaker. Our fiscal framework is is not working. This is a structure that's supposed to manage compliance with supposed to manage compliance with our fiscal rules and deliver stability and confidence. Yet we're seeing quite the opposite. Our current framework is leading to speculation policy volatility and short termism. So I want to ask the question is there a better way. The fundamental problem with the fundamental problem with the current framework is that it requires the OBR to make binary pass fail judgements on whether the rules will be met, using highly
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Andy MacNae Portrait Andy MacNae MP (Rossendale and Darwen, Labour)
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rules will be met, using highly uncertain forecasts of what the economy might look like in 2029. To compound this, OBR only allowed to count the impacts of policies that have a high degree of certainty and evidence. This means for anything new and innovative, it's likely only the costs and not the benefits will be included. So on one hand, we have this requirement for a binary pass fail judgement, and on the other, massive uncertainties and exclusions within the forecast. How are these compatible? And the honest truth is that they're not.

But it's what the rules currently require. And so focus turns to the midpoint of a probability range. This is called the central point estimate. It's no economic meaning beyond being the midpoint. And it's a number that the OBR openly acknowledges has essentially no chance of being the actual outcome. Yet it's used as if it is the forecast, giving rise to statements such as the Chancellor has £9.9 billion of headroom. Taken at face value, such statements fundamentally misrepresent the inherent uncertainty and is forced pass fail system and excessive focus on point estimates has real world consequences.

For a start, binary judgements, risks binary responses and marginal failures since the crisis requiring immediate action, whereas the marginal pass is taken to imply everything is fine. Given the massive uncertainties in forecasts, reality is there's actually no difference between the two situations. Overall, this pressure for lurches between crisis and complacency driving policy recalibrations in response to binary judgements or indeed changes to forecast methodology is simply not conducive to policy stability. There is also a damaging effect on policy design. A pass fail mindset inevitably incentivised funding policies to deliver easily quantified impacts within the forecast timescale, whilst discouraging longer term, less quantifiable ones.

This is especially problematic for the kind of policies we really need most. Those that prevent ill health, reduce workloads to manage long term liabilities. All there is are essential to address. We want to bring down debt over the long term, and inevitably this all dampens investment and is bad for growth. And of course, speculation on policy volatility are hardly good for bond rates either. So is there a better way? Many economies and institutions, economics and institutions believe so. And firstly, we need to recognise the really important step which Chancellor took at this Budget.

Moving to a single formal assessment each year reduces the speculation and policy volatility. This is a significant step and as it will require the Charter of Budget Responsibility to be amended, it opens the possibility for further positive change. One such change is that from 2027, the charter introduces a tolerance range for the borrowing rule of plus -0.5% of GDP, a big improvement, but is a strong argument for bringing it forward to 2026 and considering a range. The debt rule to go further.

The IFS are exploring a traffic light approach based around compliance with a wide range of Budget policy objectives, and thinking about longer term risk and risk management could do a lot more to capture the long term costs of inactions, and showing how we're offsetting future risks and bringing down long term debt projections. Proposals are also being made around reforming the Obr's overall remit and methodology, along with revising the role of Treasury. These are both fundamental questions about the best tools for judging compliance. To sum up, our fiscal rules are vital for maintaining fiscal discipline is an inherent part of delivering a virtuous cycle of investment, growth and renewal.

But it is a broad agreement. Our fiscal framework, with its reliance on highly uncertain forecasts and past Foyle requirements, is leading to speculation, policy volatility and short termism. We all pay for this through higher borrowing costs and depressed growth. It is clear there's a better way. One that could provide greater stability, enabling us to meet fiscal rules and build headroom whilst incentivising long term growth and demand reduction policies. This is what we should be striving for in a Stephenson.

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Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and thank you. And thank you for allowing me to nip out to my Delegated Legislation Committee Delegated Legislation Committee without missing my spot. I met with businesses this morning, Madam Deputy Speaker, and it's clear that the people who take risk, who invest, create jobs and drive tax receipts are busy scratching their heads to find out some positives
17:04
Blake Stephenson Portrait Blake Stephenson MP (Mid Bedfordshire, Conservative)
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heads to find out some positives from this Budget. The truth is, Madam Deputy Speaker, it's a disaster. It's a disaster for everyone in Mid Bedfordshire and right across the country. For young people looking for their first job. For hard working families and for aspirational business owners and job creators. Our country does need investment and renewal, but we need strong businesses and a strong business environment to pay for it. The Chancellor is delivering the absolute opposite. Just like last year, the Chancellor has launched a calculated assault on all our constituents, and they're now paying the price of spiralling welfare and higher debt costs with their jobs, all to save the Chancellor's.

The simple truth is this government is backing benefits Britain, not alarm clock Britain. And with broken promises after broken promises. Madam Deputy Speaker, the Chancellor is slipping into a black hole of her own making

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and it can't come quick enough for most of us. I'll gladly give way. hon. Member for giving way. I

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hon. Member for giving way. I genuinely be interested to know he asked for any positives. Does he not think that raising more not think that raising more children out of poverty than any other Parliament on record is a positive? Would he not welcome that?

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positive? Would he not welcome that? Does he not think that benefits all of us? Yes. I think absolutely everybody, everybody in this House wants to everybody in this House wants to bring children out of poverty. The the way to do that is get more families into jobs so that they can families into jobs so that they can afford to bring their children up and take responsibility. Members on this side of the House know that it this side of the House know that it is business that invests, creates jobs, grows our economy, and that enables investment in our public infrastructure.

And the backbone of our economy includes our high streets. Labour members may visit their local pubs and cafes and post on social media, expressing just how much they back their high street, even posting about visits to businesses that have since closed. But the truth, Madam Deputy Speaker, is they've been standing idly by while the Chancellor has thrown local businesses they rely on and claim to champion under the bus. They did it last year. They'll do it again this year when they vote this Budget through.

And if the Chancellor comes back for more, as she will, they'll do it again. Let's look at the damage being done to a typical high street pub in Bedfordshire. Charge £7,448 in business rates by the last conservative government increased after the last Budget to £24,309. And whilst local authorities are yet to publish the charge for next year, after the three yearly business rate revaluation, and by abolishing the retail, Hospitality and leisure relief. Wait for it. The charge is likely to be around £45,000 when transitional relief ends.

That's a whopping tax increase before a single penny is taken in sales of roughly 500% over the course of this parliament. It's an absolute disgrace, Madam Deputy Speaker. It's a it's an attack on our ambitious small business owners, on our constituents who leap out of bed at the sound of their alarms, work hard, play by the rules, and create jobs. Is it any wonder, Madam Deputy Speaker, that many of them are now asking themselves, what's the point? Business rates. Business rates to retail, hospitality and leisure businesses must be abolished.

And that's exactly what the conservative government will do. And who's paying the price for this? It's the very working people that the government pretends to support, especially young people starting out, as I did, washing dishes in the pub, waiting on tables and working in local shops whilst members opposite pat themselves on their backs with smiles all around for increasing the minimum wage. They're doing so whilst crushing jobs. It makes absolutely no sense to do do it. To do this at a point when the market can least afford it.

Unemployment is through the roof. 1,000,016 to 24 year olds and rising are not in education, employment or training. This is an absolute scandal which this government's economic plan does nothing to fix. Is it worth it? Indeed. My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It makes it absolutely worse. The benefits of an increased minimum wage are meaningless for those who don't have a wage. We should be investing in a brighter future for young people on aspiration, hard work, investment and wealth.

And it's only the Conservatives that have planned to do that by bearing down on welfare spending, cutting taxes and repealing every job destroying, anti-business, anti-growth measure in the Employment Rights Bill by kickstarting young people's working lives with a £5,000 first jobs bonus I have no time. Backing young people to buy their first home. Not, as this government is doing, stifling the chances of a good job punishing people with higher taxes when when they do find employment. Pushing graduates into higher student loan repayments and making it harder to save for retirement.

The appeal to flee socialist Britain has never been so obvious, nor has it been so easy. And the

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exodus has already begun. Tony Abbott's. Thank you, Madam Speaker, and

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Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I'm so sorry. The shadow Health Secretary is no longer in his place. After his astonishing speech, I
17:09
Antonia Bance Portrait Antonia Bance MP (Tipton and Wednesbury, Labour)
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After his astonishing speech, I wanted to invite him to the Black Country. We're waiting. Lists of more than a year are down by 45%. And I think the hon. Member for South West Wiltshire managed somehow to compare a speech he disagreed with with Hillsborough. That is not worthy of him, and I hope he withdraws it. Madam Deputy Speaker, this is a Budget to cut the cost of living. It is a Budget to make work pay, putting the national minimum wage up 2.7 million workers getting a pay rise.

Work brings dignity and everyone who should, who can, should work. But work alone is not always enough to beat the wolves of hunger, cold and want. So in this country, our deal is this. If you do the right thing, work. Bring your kids up well. Follow the rules. This country will help you in return. In our tradition, we believe in a strong state that helps people lift their heads from daily struggle and gives everyone the freedom to set their own path.

And for so many, that means the simple aspiration of having children and building a family. Which is why in this Budget we are funding more child care, free breakfast clubs. Free school meals is why we will build 1.5 million new homes, end no fault evictions and ban zero hours contracts. And with this Budget, we have one more source of security for working class families. If you get ill or lose your job, if, heaven forbid, your partner dies, if your husband beats you up and you have to grab your kids and run, the safety net of our welfare state will once again catch you and all of your kids.

No child is responsible for the actions of their parents. The happy event of a little one being born shouldn't tip a family into poverty. And whether a six year old eats tonight shouldn't depend on how many sisters and brothers she has. In 2019, many of us watched dispatches, Britain's Breadline Kids and her camera. Then aged nine, say we try not to eat too much in a day. It shamed us all. We raged at our lack of power to change it. But now we can and we will.

Ending the two child limit at a stroke helps. 5000 445,540 children in Tipton and Wednesbury and Knowsley 1.6 million nationally. One kid in every nine of our kids most families helped are in work. 6 in 10 loads of them have a disabled member. 4 in 10. None of them deserve poverty. So to the mums with three or more kids using Universal Credit to top up low wages and high rents, I know how hard you work, how tough it is out there.

I know you love your kids fiercely. This is for you. And to the parties opposite. Don't talk to me about how families should plan. You've never met a better planner than a single mum on Friar Park. Making the money stretch. I say this to my constituents. Working hard to make ends meet. Not always able to afford everything they want. I get it, but I won't apologise. Every child deserves a fair start in life. Because this. This is what a Labour government does not.

The shame and the powerlessness of nine year old Cameron telling us he tries not to eat too much. But Labour in government, lower energy bills, higher wages, growth everywhere, not just in London and lower child poverty. A Labour Budget for all of

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our families. Carla Lockhart. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Despite all the lines to take, the Labour whips have handed their MPs to try and sell this Budget as
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Carla Lockhart Portrait Carla Lockhart MP (Upper Bann, Democratic Unionist Party)
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something positive. The reality is very different. The content of this Budget is deeply damaging to pensioners, employees, employers and to the wider economy. This is a government which it appears, is making up reasons to take back double or treble. Whilst the rise in pension is welcome, it is not a new policy. Yes, the protection for pensioners ISIS savings is welcome, but it penalises those who have not yet reached pension age and limits their ability to save. Where do hard pressed workers get the benefit to invest their money? At the same time, saving into pension schemes has become yet another tax grab.

We've been consistently told up to £20 billion black hole, and for weeks we've been fed lines that it has ballooned to 50 million crisis in just one year. But now we hear that there is no black hole at all. The OBR have been keeping both the Prime Minister and the Chancellor updated on a biweekly basis as to their forecasts. What we now know is that when Labour Ministers and the Chancellor were out in the media painting their stories of doom and talking down the situation, creating volatility in the stock market all along, this government knew their briefings were inaccurate.

What we have in this Budget penalises those who work. I note noted a quote yesterday from the Leader of the Opposition that a working family needs to earn 71,000 per year to be as well off as a family of three on benefits. This Budget is a burden on workers and it is clear labours are not Labour are not the friend of workers. For years in opposition they made great promises of the to the nation that they would lead. But the reality has been very different.

Broken promises, broken manifesto pledges and they are slowly breaking our countries workers who can't give any more. Looking closer at the Budget, the increase in the minimum wage is positive in principle, but it will mean little in practice when employers are hit with a double blow of National Insurance rise on the higher wage costs, retailers and other businesses will inevitably raise prices to cover these additional burdens, perhaps having to make redundancies wiping out the benefit for many workers. I will give way.

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For giving way. Does she agree with me that whilst the party opposite in government pretends that they're the party of fairness? that they're the party of fairness? Actually, this Budget is deeply unfair to both your constituents, constituents.

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constituents. The hon. Member. For his point, the. Poorest will become poorer while workers are asked to pay more to workers are asked to pay more to support people who come here from overseas and go straight onto benefits with little incentive benefits with little incentive incentive to work. The system is more lucrative not to work than actually to contribute. It is time actually to contribute. It is time this government put British citizens, British workers and British employers first. It is time British employers first.

It is time for the Chancellor to get tough on tax avoidance and offer genuine support to those hard pressed workers who are doing the right thing and paying their way. But perhaps the most appalling tax grab in this Budget is the attack on our family farms. The announcement making BPR and APR transferable is a meaningless gesture and an insult. The family farm death tax remains fully intact. Farmers gain nothing across the UK. The picture is grim. The government seems intent on taxing family farms beyond profitability.

A tax on death, attacks on tragedy. What can be more immoral? This path will damage agriculture. At its core, farming is the backbone of our nation. Food security is national security. Undermine it and food prices will rise and we will rely on lower quality imports at higher cost. There is no good news for farmers in this Budget. And later on tonight when we vote on this resolution. Do the right thing. Furthermore, the Budget does nothing to remove the trade barrier separating Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom.

The £16.6 million package does not change the reality that businesses still face checks, paperwork delays and extra costs when trading with Great Britain. Remove the checks and you see, the 16.6 million immediately look with some envy at the Department of Government Efficiency and wonder why the UK cannot match that level of waste reduction. There are quick real time savings available cut access, immigration spending, make work genuinely rewarding. Ensure everyone pays the tax they owe. Help the costly madness of net zero and tackle waste across government.

This Budget offers presentation rather than substance. It fails workers, employers, farmers, policing, health, hospitality and it fails our taxpayers. There is a clear solution. Get tough on immigration, tough on crime, tough on tax evasion and get our country back to being the envy of the world.

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That is where we belong. Gurinder Josan. Thank you, Madam. Deputy Speaker. Last week's

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Deputy Speaker. Last week's Budget marked a clear turn away from the damage and austerity of the previous government towards a the previous government towards a fairer, stronger country that will deliver on the public's priorities. People in my constituency of
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Warinder Juss Portrait Warinder Juss (Wolverhampton West, Labour)
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People in my constituency of Wolverhampton West have already expressed their appreciation in having a Labour Budget built from Labour values, to overturn 15 years of cuts and chaos. As an on site youth champion and a frequent visitor to the way youth zone, as well as schools City of Wolverhampton College, the University of Wolverhampton, Juniper Training and the Wolves Foundation in my constituency. I welcome the increased support for young people lifting the two child benefit cap paid for by tax on gambling companies, will lift 450,000 children out of poverty, including more than 3000 children in Wolverhampton West, and expanding free breakfast clubs, which includes Pennfield School.

In my constituency, as well as free school meals, will mean that children do not go to school hungry. This is what the NHS wants to remove child poverty, which will also help the rest of society. And if these children can learn and then earn when older, they will go on to contribute to our economy. Looking after our children therefore also makes economic sense. A child growing up in poverty is less likely to work as an adult and earns 25% less age 30.

The youth guarantee also means that every young person who has been on Universal Credit for 18 months without earning or learning will be offered a guaranteed paid work placement, with the government investing an additional £725 million to help support apprenticeships, enabling small and medium sized businesses to offer apprenticeships to our young people at no cost to

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them raising. Yes, I will. Thank you. I thank the hon. Gentleman. Last week I went to Shipley College in my constituency and met with some of the students there and they were asking what the Labour government was going to do Labour government was going to do in terms of providing them with training and employment opportunities. Does my hon. Friend agree that the giving of free training to SMEs to take on apprentices will help to deliver better opportunities for our young people in the future? Hear, hear!

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people in the future? Hear, hear! I agree with my hon. Friend. Not only is it very good for our young people, they will have apprenticeships, but it's also good apprenticeships, but it's also good for our businesses, our small and medium sized businesses because they will be able to offer these apprenticeships without costing them. Raising the minimum wage and the living wage will also help increase their spending power to contribute to the local economy. The government is tackling the cost of living crisis by also freezing prescription charges and rail fares for the first time in 30 years, bringing down energy bills as well by £150 across the country in Wolverhampton West.

I am proud that many of our hard working businesses will also benefit by having the new, permanently lower business rates benefiting so many retail, hospitality and leisure businesses throughout Wolverhampton. Fulfilling our manifesto promise and paid for by the increase in business rates for warehouses of giant online companies. This will boost our high streets and strengthen our local economy. Madam Deputy Speaker, I am very pleased that the Chancellor has also recognised the importance of horse racing in my constituency, which has the infamous Wolverhampton Racecourse, with the new horse racing exemption to the planned rises in gambling tax to ensure that those with the broadest shoulders pay their fair share.

I also welcome the additional revenue from High value council tax charge on homes worth over £2 million. This will also reinforce our vital public services and those pensioners who may have felt left behind in the past. They will be pleased to know about the triple lock pension rise of 4.8%. Madam Deputy Speaker, this is a Budget that shows that the government is listening to its people and it has made decisions on the needs of the constituents that we represent. This is a Labour Budget rooted in labour values, and marks a significant shift towards a fairer and more equitable country.

I am proud that the Chancellor and the government have placed our children, our young people, working people, the NHS and the cost of living and the economy at the heart of every decision in this Budget. We are investing in our people, in our public services and in this country. We are also proud to call home.

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Olly Glover. Thank you. Madam Deputy Speaker. I think everybody in this.

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everybody in this. Chamber, and indeed in this House can all agree that we need economic growth. But but many
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Olly Glover Portrait Olly Glover MP (Didcot and Wantage, Liberal Democrat)
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economic growth. But but many question whether this Budget will really help with that. It prolongs conservative underhand tactics such as tax tax threshold freezes, which will have a comparable impact to more honest and upfront tax rises for small businesses in my constituency are extremely worried, in some cases existentially so, about the impact of poorly thought through business rate changes, which come on top of growing energy costs, including Love Beer Brewery and Milton Ridgeway Cycles, and The Vaults in Wantage, The Crown Inn, Chiltern and the George in Upton.

The Lib Dems propose 5% VAT cut for pubs and restaurants is badly needed. As a result, the Budget is largely silent on some of the big picture and strategic themes that we need. A key one are changes to our planning system, something that I know the government agrees on, but I feel we need far more real and meaningful changes that that go beyond scapegoating newts and bats. Instead, the planning system that delivers social and genuinely affordable housing, not just blunt housing targets, irrespective of how affordable those houses will be, primary healthcare that people can actually access, and which will help more people to get jobs and investment in transport to boost mobility and reduce congestion.

And it's not just me who says that about the need for genuinely affordable housing. Didcot B power Station in my Oxfordshire constituency of Didcot and Wantage sites, the cost of housing is the biggest barrier they face in retaining staff in my constituency. We currently have a multi-decade, tedious saga that will not be becoming a Netflix hit any time soon. On the ongoing saga of trying to get a GP surgery built in the new housing estate of Didcot Great Western Park, and there is a comparable risk of a similar saga affecting Wallingford.

GP surgeries plans to expand both Didcot and Wallingford have seen very significant housing and population growth, despite similar population growth in Wantage and growth, there is as yet no clear government support for a new railway station serving it on the nearby Great Western Main Line, and Chelsea station continues to lack accessibility improvements. Constituents understandably clamour for more large scale leisure facilities such as swimming pools and leisure leisure centres, both of which are very difficult to fund. Using section 106 contributions alone.

The government getting moving on social care reform, rather than yet another review of it which will last the entire parliament, will also help with productivity. Madam Deputy Speaker. My Oxfordshire constituency has a lot of potential to build on its strengths, particularly with so much exciting space, fusion biotech and much other science and technology contributions to its economy and nationally at Harwell Campus, Milton Park and Culham. Now, many of these have already been slowed down by the consequences of Brexit, and they're concerned about some of the government's rhetoric on migration, which they feel could affect their ability to attract the vital international talent that they need to succeed.

Overall, this Budget has injected despair rather than optimism, and both my constituents and their businesses

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need the government to do better. Imran Hussain.

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Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. And the reality is, as we take part And the reality is, as we take part in this debate today, the wealth of billionaires continues to soar.
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Imran Hussain Portrait Imran Hussain MP (Bradford East, Labour)
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which is not of their making. That is the legacy of 14 years of the party opposite who have decimated party opposite who have decimated our services and devastated our communities. But perhaps the cruellest of all their policies was cruellest of all their policies was the two child cap that put millions the two child cap that put millions of children on our streets into poverty. Madam Deputy Speaker even poverty. Madam Deputy Speaker even today we've heard hon. Member after hon.

Member on the opposite benches opposing the scrapping of that policy. In fact, actually, there should be ashamed, there should be ashamed, and in fact, actually, actually, many of them have made their speeches and then ran out of the chamber because they can't face the fact that it is them that put millions of children into poverty, but that this Budget finally abolishes the two child cruel policy. I opposed it from day one, and it shouldn't have taken 18 months, frankly, for this government to scrap this policy.

But I am pleased nonetheless that we have scrapped it. Madam Deputy Speaker, after years of campaigning, the full removal of the two child limit is hugely welcome and it is a clear vindication of the stand taken by myself and other colleagues. But what matters the most is in this Budget, at long last, the cruelty that millions of children into poverty ends. This decision will not only lift millions. Like colleagues have said, millions of children out of poverty.

In my own constituency, 6300 In my own constituency, 6300 families and 22,500 children will positively benefit. This is a huge step forward, long overdue due and a direct result of relentless pressure from campaigners and MPs who refuse to back down. And not once today have I heard tribute paid to the many campaign organisations that have relentlessly put their case forward, lobbied MPs to scrap this cap. I want to pay tribute to them and I want to thank them for all their hard work.

Madam Deputy Speaker, this Budget contains some welcome steps, modest moves on redistributing wealth, tourist tax and youth, a youth guarantee scheme, as well as many other things. But frankly, the measures do not go far enough in this Budget. This government still fails to adopt a genuine wealth tax. As a result, living standards for most people continue to decline, and the cost of living crisis remains unresolved. We could have done so much more in the last 18 months. Instead, far too much time has been wasted, which is why I back the plan for a proper wealth tax.

I will give way

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to my hon. Friend. In my constituency, I've had many constituents say that things many constituents say that things just don't change for them. Would the member agree that for real change in constituencies like ours, what we need is a needs based, targeted funding approach.

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targeted funding approach. I'm grateful to him. What we need is a wealth tax. Working families need help now. The government could raise over 50 billion a year through a 2% wealth billion a year through a 2% wealth tax on assets, over 10 million. Equalising capital gains with income tax. Cracking down on corporate tax avoidance, avoidance and a windfall tax on record bank profits. These are modest moral and reasonable steps. It is what's needed to fund immediate support for struggling families with.

With that revenue, we could deliver emergency measures immediately to alleviate the cost of living, including the scrapping of the two child cap, but also having a direct cost of living grants, introducing free school meals, tripling the Household Support Fund and local housing allowance to real rents together costing just 23 billion, less than half of what PA tax? Fair taxation would raise. Frankly, we need to go further. These measures would provide the lifeline to struggling families in all our constituencies.

It's what our constituents expect of us. It's about time we delivered that for them.

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Because there are so many members wishing to contribute. The speaking limit has now dropped to speaking limit has now dropped to three minutes and Vikki Slade on three minutes. Deputy speaker, I'd like to focus my comments on young
17:31
Vikki Slade Portrait Vikki Slade MP (Mid Dorset and North Poole, Liberal Democrat)
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like to focus my comments on young people. Bearing in mind we are talking about investing in the future. I held a youth conversation last week, and I was so impressed with their focus on much broader issues, including housing and their fear of the far right, and I look forward to hearing more about their next steps in the Youth Select Committee that is currently looking at alternative strategies for student funding. They all accept that their student days need to be properly funded, but they and I feel that it is completely unfair that they are paying higher rates of interest than those landlords from which they have to rent their properties, and that dragging them into tax earlier is making it even tougher for them to get onto the ladder, even as a renter.

But sadly, so many of our graduates and others who've completed their education are finding it tough to get into work at all. Historically, many of them would have sought opportunities abroad, but thanks to Brexit, most of those options have now gone. I welcome the prospect of youth mobility scheme, but it doesn't go far enough. And if the Chancellor is serious about fixing economic stagnation, cutting red tape and creating jobs, she would announce a new customs union with the EU, generating £25 billion a year in taxation alone and really giving us a period of renewal.

Other young people leaving school or college would have moved into hospitality, but in the last year that sector has lost 90,000 jobs, many of them filled by young people. For those businesses not cutting jobs, they're cutting shifts. Something I experienced in my own home last weekend, the payday weekend before Christmas, when most young people are relying on work. Two of my children have their ships cut in two separate, successful businesses. The failure of the government to hear the Liberal Democrat call to cut VAT means they'll likely be more cuts for young people and older people in their shifts as the winter months arrive.

And whilst the government maintained that business rate changes will protect businesses. In reality, the recent revaluation will see an increase in most of their businesses value and the loss of their small business relief. So many of them will be worse off. So I urge the government to look at this again. I want to briefly mention the issue of special educational needs. I am pleased that the government is absorbing these costs from 2028, but deeply concerned about what happens between now and then, and I'm worried that councils will have gone under before we get to that point.

Finally, Madam Deputy Speaker, as time is short, I want to mention the issue of devolution. There was over £14 billion for mayoral authorities in this Budget, but nothing for my area of Dorset. And I'm sure with four government members sitting in here from Dorset, they will agree with me that it is completely outrageous that we can have a period of investment renewal with no money at all going to the area of Wessex, and I urge the government to bring forward the devolution programme for every part
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Jayne Kirkham Portrait Jayne Kirkham MP (Truro and Falmouth, Labour )
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meals, breakfast, clubs and childcare and uniforms. And we're reducing child poverty more than any other government ever. Our youth guarantee will make sure youth guarantee will make sure every young person can access college apprenticeships or job support, and SMEs will no longer support, and SMEs will no longer have to pay towards apprenticeship training for under 25. Vital in Cornwall. But it was also a Budget Cornwall. But it was also a Budget to tackle the cost of living minimum wage, cutting household energy bills and rail fare and energy bills and rail fare and prescription freeze, and extending the bus fare cap and an increase to the state pension.

And it was a Budget for growth. Our economy grew 50% more than the OBR expected in March. The government has had held fast to the decision to strongly invest in our infrastructure and work to crowd in private investment and encourage companies to grow and list in the UK. I was pleased to hear the Chancellor confirm major investment in Truro Neighbourhood Health Centre, which will be in the initial wave of centres to be upgraded and refurbished. This was a Budget for Cornwall.

The Kernel Industrial Fund, £30 million over two years to invest in Cornwall's economic potential. It reflects the fact that Cornwall has an important part to play in the UK's industrial strategy. The recently announced Critical Minerals Strategy and the government backing an investment provided, is a brilliant example of a key industry vital to national security being back to the hilt by this government, and I hope they'll do the same for the floating offshore wind. Another example of a key industry vital to national security is farming.

The government made a concession on inheritance tax by enabling automatic transfer of the million pound allowance between spouses and civil partners. This will relieve the pressure somewhat for those older farmers who didn't have time to plan. The Treasury say few farmers in estates will be affected, but perception is everything when it comes to investment. I know the government's put a record amount of investment into farming. I sit on the committee and it's clear that as a country we need to set a firm direction of travel on food security.

We have diverged in England, particularly from other places since Brexit and the way we treat food production, and I hope the publication of various reports, including Minette Batters, will help provide more certainty, as well as the new incarnation of sustainable farming incentives to encourage farmers to invest. I will.

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I thank her for. Giving way and for the. Contribution that she's making. While the new measure that she While the new measure that she mentioned there, announced by the Chancellor for farmers, has been welcomed by the industry. As Labour welcomed by the industry. As Labour MPs, we were effectively advocating not for reduced revenue but making sure that the wrong, the wrong sure that the wrong, the wrong farmers weren't hit. Does she share my view that for these voices on these benches who fought hard for

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these benches who fought hard for farmers and that they should be listened to moving forwards? I think it is important, as we

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I think it is important, as we said in our EFRA committee report, that we look very closely at some of these measures. Family farms are of these measures. Family farms are obviously very important and moving forward for food security. It's something that we do need to consider very deeply. This is a long game. Fixing what is broken will be a hard path, but this Budget keeps us on that course without deviation towards growth, towards systematically rebuilding our public services step by step, and focusing on making life less of a daily struggle, pulling our children out of poverty so they can thrive now and take all the opportunities this government will

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offer them as they grow. If you're ready Steve Darling.

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If you're ready Steve Darling. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. And perhaps the most important commodity for a
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Steve Darling Portrait Steve Darling MP (Torbay, Liberal Democrat)
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most important commodity for a Chancellor is not finance, but actually trust. And we saw how the Conservatives wrecked the country's trust in them with Partygate. Also with the scandal around the fast track to PPI, for for those who were in the know. And I'm afraid to say that what we've seen with the Chancellor of the Exchequer is a continuation of the conservative government, but with a Labour approach. The way that the Chancellor appears to have not kept the Cabinet in the loop with the OBR guidance is shocking.

I'd like to also reflect on the more positive note. I'd like to also reflect on how we welcome this Liberal Democrats, the support for fuel bills that we've seen that cuts there, but for failing to backfill this scheme with actually core funding is is a shame. The two child limit is something that we've campaigned against for many years. And clearly we welcome this. However, the stealth taxes that again, the Labour Party have echoed what the Tories have done previously.

The stealth taxes that that are hitting working people is absolutely outrageous. Also, the way that the Labour Party are now hitting those who are on student loans and are being impacted with a stealth tax on them, that actually equates to the same as the mansion tax. So why are we putting those who are students or recently former students in the same bracket of those on the mansion tax? It is really quite shocking. And then I come to something that we do very well for in Torbay are large number of pensioners, many with low pensions pots, and yet they're going to be hit by being dragged into this fiscal impact with the with the fiscal impact of the income tax that will hit them in the West Country.

The hospitality industry is extremely important. And yet we saw the National Insurance hike impact this last year in my own constituency. The Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust had a bill of £100,000. This charity that supports important beauty spots across Torbay has actually gone into liquidation because of this from the Labour government and the failure of our Conservative Council to support them appropriately. There are future challenges as well for hospitality, with the increasing of the business rates, and I fear for the future of some of our much loved pubs across Torbay.

I fear that we've seen a failure to invest in the southwest with these proposals from the government, and I ask the government to think again. Thank you Amanda Hack. you Amanda Hack.
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Amanda Hack Portrait Amanda Hack MP (North West Leicestershire, Labour)
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Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. cost of living and maintaining economic stability. It also delivers a key from my constituents to support them, their industrial heritage and the unique challenge that that brings. Just a week before the Budget, the Secretary of State for Health and Care announced additional support for ex-mining and industrial communities with the launch of the Respiratory Pathways Transformation Fund, investing to address the inequalities that our communities so often have have to working a life down the pits.

This Budget also releases the investment reserve to the BC triple S pensioners writing this historic wrong for North West Leicestershire. This decision means more than 750 BC triple S members will now receive an average of an additional £100 a week. We owe great gratitude to the mine workers and their families who helped power our nation for so long. This is their just deserved. North West Leicestershire is also a semi-rural constituency, and the changes to ensure the transfer of allowances to a surviving partner are welcome.

However, I know the worries that my farmers in my constituency have, so I'd ask. The frontbench keeps the IHT thresholds for farmers under review and considers this in light of the report due from Baroness Battersea from the Other place on farming profitability. Madam Deputy Speaker, this Budget, delivered by a Labour Chancellor and a Labour government, invests in our people by supporting them. And I welcome the Chancellor's commitment towards the dealing with the cost of living from energy support. With £150 a year to households plan to frozen prescription charges to the extension of reduced bus fares, alongside the increase of the minimum wage and the pension triple lock.

We invested in the prevention of health crises that arise from cold homes, mis medication and social isolation. It's this kind of renewal. Our systems need targeted support that promotes wellbeing and reducing demand on our NHS, investing in our young people and dealing with inequality. This Labour government is feeding kids through breakfast clubs, expanding free school meals and now lifting the two child limit. This action alone will see 450,000 children lifted out of poverty, totalling more than 1700 children in my constituency, with children more likely to be in poverty than any other age group across the UK, lifting kids out of poverty expands their opportunity.

Crucially, it eases the strain on our public services, which they're already grappling with avoidable health and social care pressures. Young people growing up in poverty are also twice as likely to be neat. We have to get Ahold of this. The support this government is providing for children families on the lowest incomes is an investment in our future. I want to also note as well, removal of the two child cap removes the viral rape clause from the statute books. It should never have been okay to put women through more trauma just to get financial support.

There is so much more to do and I will continue to fight for

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my constituents of North West Leicestershire. Colchester Madam Deputy Speaker. Sitting here for three hours for three minutes is a bit like this. Budget doesn't have much in it for
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Jim Allister Portrait Jim Allister KC MP (North Antrim, Traditional Unionist Voice)
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Budget doesn't have much in it for working people. And of course, this Budget is fundamentally controversial because because it increases income for benefit families, but increases taxation for working families. That is the summary of this Budget. Of course, it's a Budget born in controversy because the abiding and yet unanswered question is, since the Chancellor knew that tax receipts were up, why did she continue to conceal that in her Downing Street speech? And there hasn't been an answer to that? There's much in this Budget to disappoint for hard working family farmers.

There's a big disappointment. And the hon. Member for South West Norfolk laid it out very clearly. The disappointment of many of us in the fact that the death tax is going to continue in regard to those farm family farms, and every member has an opportunity in resolution 50 tonight to take a stand on that issue and to trust that many will, in terms of devolution, yes, there are Barnett consequentials for Northern Ireland of £370 million. The problem is the money's already spent because it's so mismanages its funds that it's already overspent by 400 million.

So the money's gone. And we're in a tragic situation where the chief constable in Northern Ireland has this week said devolution has simply not worked for policing in Northern Ireland. We have lost out as a result of devolution and that is the sad commentary and that means the people in my constituency are less safe than they should be. Instead of having 7500 policemen as a police personnel as promised, we're down to 6200 because of Stormont's mismanagement. By and large of the money it gets.

And there will come a point, I suggest to the Treasury when they'll probably have to put the Stormont Executive into special measures so as they can understand how to balance their books and account for matters as they should. One other small matter, not a small matter, but one other matter this Budget talks about for AI growth zones for the whole country. There's none in Northern Ireland. I want the Minister to tell us is that because Northern Ireland is going to be subject not to UK law, but to use AI law, is that why we're being excluded from those growth zones? Are we going to have another RAC border, this time in AI Jonathan Brash?
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Jonathan Brash Portrait Mr Jonathan Brash MP (Hartlepool, Labour)
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Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.

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Budget the. Measures to reduce the cost of living, most notably the £150 off living, most notably the £150 off energy bills, the lifting of half a million children out of poverty, including 3210 in my own including 3210 in my own constituency of Hartlepool, paid by taxes on online gambling, and the decision to introduce a mansion tax decision to introduce a mansion tax for properties valued over £2 million, a nod towards our broken million, a nod towards our broken council tax system.

But sadly, Madam Deputy Speaker, a nod is all Madam Deputy Speaker, a nod is all it was. It does nothing to fix the underlying problem. Council tax is the most unfair, most outdated, the most unfair, most outdated, most indefensible tax in Britain today and the longer the government refuses to reform it, the clearer it becomes that working class towns like mine are expected to carry on paying for the price of a lack of political courage. Because let us be honest about what council tax really is a relic of the 1990s, frozen in time, frozen in injustice, and weaponized against the poorest communities in this country.

And nowhere clearer is that than Hartlepool, where abandoned property costs £2,500 a year for its occupants. And here in Westminster it is just £1,000. It's not just unfair, it's a scandal hiding in plain sight for many households in Hartlepool, council tax is not just another bill. It's a bill that breaks the family Budget. It's the bill that pushes families into arrears. It's the bill that tips people from coping to crisis. And what is the answer from successive governments? We're told it's too complicated.

We're told it's too politically difficult. We're told it's now the right time for the people of Hartlepool and constituencies like it. It has been the right time for decades. And the worst accusation that we get is that if you introduce a new system, there will be winners and losers. The current system has winners and losers. The losers live in terraced houses and the winners live in mansions. And there is nothing labour about defending a system that punishes working class communities and protects high value wealth.

There is nothing labour about a tax that hits hardest, those with the least, and there is nothing labour about lacking the political courage to sweep the system away once and for all. Council tax does not merely fail working class towns, it targets them. There is a solution proportional property tax as backed by fairer share. This is what we have to do. I urge Ministers summon the courage to get rid of this regressive tax that harms the regressive tax that harms the people I represent here.
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Marie Goldman Portrait Marie Goldman MP (Chelmsford, Liberal Democrat)
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Madam Deputy Speaker. this House, my team and I deal with casework about special educational needs on an almost daily basis. So I welcome the announcement that from 2028, the government will be centrally funding send, in theory, ending the postcode lottery of SEND provision and lessening the pressure on financially strapped local authorities. But there was no new money for schools in the Budget, and the OBR estimated that almost £2 billion would need to be cut from the send Budget in 20 2829.

So how will this work now? The government and the education Secretary herself have long said that the Send reforms will not be about cutting funds. Yet when asked by the Guardian whether the Send White Paper would have any role in this cut, it was reported that HM Treasury said it would its parents and children. That must be at the heart of any reform, not cost cutting. But I worry this Budget sets the scene for just that. I would encourage the government to assure families that their children's needs will not be ignored, because amid the cuts, they are deemed too expensive.

Very sadly, this Budget worsens the the economic outlook for young people. The Resolution Foundation noted that the rise in the minimum wage for under 20s could make it even harder for this age group to find work because, coupled with last year's employers National Insurance rise, hiring will become even more expensive, freezing the threshold for when student loan repayments must start isn't just another stealth tax, it's one that's specifically aimed at young people. And the government's decision to freeze tax bands will disproportionately impact young people who earn most of their income through wages rather than dividends, and who spend a much larger share of their income on essentials impacted by higher inflation, like food and rent.

Turning to disabled people. While my Liberal Democrat colleagues and I welcome the long overdue removal of the two child benefit cap, this change does not help families raising disabled children who were already exempt from it, and are far more likely to be living in poverty, and rhetoric like benefits claimants get luxury cars as simply misleading, unhelpful and ultimately punitive. It does nothing to fix our economy, but it does create an enemy of vulnerable people. People from disabled communities have said to me that they used to be forgotten entirely, but now they are upset and tired of being scapegoated for the country's ills.

One disabled person told me recently they almost wish disabled people could go back to being forgotten. Research from the charity for Disabled People with Complex needs points out that 2 in 5 parents of disabled children cannot properly heat their homes in winter, with the same proportion skipping meals so that their child can can eat. And there are so many other measures that should have happened in the Budget that do absolutely nothing. The Budget does absolutely nothing to support these communities. And finally, there's mental Health Renew Consulting, a 100 year old charity in my constituency delivering mental health support, wrote to me after the Budget to remind me of the extra strain the rise in the minimum wage places on them.

Not

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that they disagree with paying it, but where is the support for them? Lewes.
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Clive Lewis Portrait Clive Lewis MP (Norwich South, Labour)
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Lewes. I refer members to my. Register

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I refer members to my. Register of members interests. Tongue twister, including donations for my work on public ownership of water work on public ownership of water and crowdfunders. Also articles covering some of the topics I will mention today in By-line time, the Guardian and the New Statesman. Available from all good newsagents. There were decisions in this Budget that deserve recognition, as many members before me have already said, ending the two child cap. Meaningful moves towards a fairer tax system, higher taxes on dividends, a surcharge on multi-million pound properties and rightly expecting more from online gambling companies whose profits come with real social harm.

Whilst raising the minimum wage will give millions a little more breathing room and giving local authorities powers to raise revenue through levies finally gives them a long overdue additional fiscal lever. These choices matter. They show that tactical interventions can ease pressure on households and help redistribute income and power. The Madam Deputy Speaker. We cannot pretend that a series of tactical fixes adds up to the strategic plan. This country urgently needs when the very economic system itself is producing the crisis, incremental adjustments will never be enough.

Repainting the wallpaper will not fix the crumbling walls. And by that measure, this Budget falls short. It does not answer the two fundamental questions before us how do we renew our social democracy? And how do we, in doing so, finally tackle the cost of living crisis? Because the crisis of our democracy, the crisis of social democracy, is inseparable from the cost of living crisis. They are driven by the same forces. First, the climate emergency, now one of the biggest drivers of inflation, water stress, food insecurity, rising extra costs and global supply shocks.

Second, government's ability to act in the public interest is being weakened. Silicon Valley and finance capital now wield increasing real power over our daily lives, and it's growing. And third, the loss of Democratic agency leaves us exposed to corporate extraction, extreme price gouging, essential services like water, food and energy run as cash machines, monopolies with almost no restraint. If we fail to confront these forces, fail to tackle the profit maximisation at any cost operation that now dominates our economy, we cannot bring down the cost of living.

By that metric, this Budget failed, and until this government is prepared to tackle those structural failures, that my fear is that this government will continue to lose its way as it's currently doing. It must change course. It must fix the structural concerns of this country,

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and it must do so now. Sorry. Thank you. Madam Deputy. Speaker. First. I.

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I. Would like to welcome. The. £820 million increase in funding to Scotland, the largest real term
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Susan Murray Portrait Susan Murray MP (Mid Dunbartonshire, Liberal Democrat)
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to Scotland, the largest real term settlement Scotland has received. I have no doubt my constituents in Mid Dunbartonshire will be pleased to hear of the increase, and I can only hope that they benefit from it. Today's theme is investment and I would like to address the SNP's lacklustre investment in our health infrastructure. To be clear, I want to make sure that money sent to Scotland for the devolved matters is not frittered away by the SNP. Scottish Government mismanagement.

The residents of my constituency in Mid Dunbartonshire have been crying out for a healthcare centre for years. I have written to the Scottish Government on numerous occasions, pressing both the First Minister and the Cabinet Secretary for action. The response is always the same either a resounding no or silence. The people of Mid Dunbartonshire deserve better. Nearby in East Renfrewshire, they have received the very same type of health and care centre. We've been crying out for showing what is possible in constituencies like mine.

When the SNP provide adequate funding by investing in local health and care, we could make serious long term savings for the NHS, preventing costly long term conditions and avoidable hospital admissions through early intervention. This would give the community access to the care and health and wellbeing it needs close to home, reducing the need for often frail or elderly constituents to make the difficult journey to Glasgow. I would like to urge the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to join me in writing to the Scottish Government to request that the residents of Mid Dunbartonshire get the health and care hub they deserve.

Thank you.

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For Lauren Sullivan. Thank you very much. Madam Deputy Speaker, may I beg your indulgence briefly at the start this morning, I had at the start this morning, I had the honour of attending the funeral of Makhan Singh, a kind and dedicated public servant in
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Lauren Sullivan Portrait Dr Lauren Sullivan MP (Gravesham, Labour)
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dedicated public servant in Gravesham. He served as a councillor for 36 years, the first Sikh mayor in Kent and a freeman, he spent his life living the essence of Sikhism, service to others before oneself. He loved politics Madam Deputy Speaker, but he loved helping people more. So I

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would like to send much love to his family as he will be missed. He. Madam Deputy Speaker, this Budget delivers on much of the Budget delivers on much of the manifesto that helps residents of Gravesham, and I would like to touch on a few things that will help. Gravesham. So first, Gravesham is helping children out of poverty. Children and young people are not just our future, people are not just our future, they are here and any decent society is how we look after and support our children and young support our children and young people.

I am delighted to see so many measures in this Budget, including the removing the two child limit. This will help over child limit. This will help over 3000 children in Gravesham, as well as money for breakfast, clubs and as money for breakfast, clubs and childcare so families can balance the competing pressures of work and raising a family. In addition to the Youth Guarantee Scheme, which will help young people start out, the next help is for Gravesham is for businesses. The Chancellor spoke in Gravesham to local businesses about reforming business rates, ensuring high streets have the same chances and opportunities despite the competition with large supermarkets and online retailers.

This Budget that started the part of the journey of reforming this. So now over 1000 businesses will be able to help with with this, while ensuring that warehouses and online retailers will pay more, including that transitions. The next is the cost of living and freezing in rail fares, reducing energy bills, freezing fuel duty and freezing prescription charges will help in the months ahead, as well as keeping the triple lock on state pensions now in the Budget, the Chancellor also mentioned the Lower Thames crossing and the Treasury and the transport teams will know of my long running campaign on the lower Thames crossing and with the help of my hon.

Friend the Member for Thurrock, we will be holding to account the promises made to our communities. In particular, we have been calling for the restoration of the Gravesend Tilbury Ferry passenger service on a permanent basis. After this was cut by Kent County Council and Councils, and we think this should be ring fenced by

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a small amount of the toll money. On that. I thank you very much. Thank my hon. Friend, for giving way and for hon. Friend, for giving way and for for the mention, as she has mentioned, the return of the Gravesend Tilbury Ferry is something that we both care about something that we both care about very much indeed. It is a vital part of local public transport infrastructure and we are just infrastructure and we are just basically putting a plea out there today that in consideration of the build of the lower Thames crossing, build of the lower Thames crossing, that a very small proportion of projected toll is given to return

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this ferry in perpetuity. And I couldn't agree more. Finally, Madam Deputy Speaker, I'd Finally, Madam Deputy Speaker, I'd like to raise the issue of the fair funding formula for local government. After 14 years of cuts and austerity to local councils, communities like mine in Gravesham have felt impacted by so many reduced services. In welcoming the Budget and the allocated for the fair funding formula. Can I call for Gravesham fair share? The 1.5 million prior to funding is a fantastic start for a down payment and investment integration, but this Budget will only be meaningful if it reaches places like Gravesham.

We in Gravesham have carried the weight of neglect for years. Gravesham has potential talent and ambition to thrive, but it needs sustained investment to unlock that promise. I support this Budget and will continue pressing for the funding, services and local infrastructure our residents have been denied for for so long.

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Yes. Thank you, Madam Speaker. Can I refer members to my register of refer members to my register of interests? And I'd also like to welcome the government's abolishing of the two child benefit cap. But can I say it shouldn't have taken
18:02
Shockat Adam Portrait Shockat Adam MP (Leicester South, Independent)
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can I say it shouldn't have taken 16 months? It should have been one of the first acts of a Labour government to do. I'd like to first speak about the National Health Service, which is obviously a jewel in the UK's crown. But under consecutive governments we've seen millions and millions of public money, millions and millions of pounds, money that should have been spent on front line care or paying for some. Paying for doctors and nurses is going to waste on interest payments for PFI schemes.

PFI were costly failure, one that line the pockets of private consultants and contractors at the expense of NHS patients and staff. Now it appears the government is planning to do the same again but expecting a different result. Failed PFI schemes from the noughties for three Leicestershire hospitals saw NHS sued for almost £30 million by the Favoured Consortium, despite work not work being taken and not a single hospital being built. Leicester's three hospitals are still without any new buildings, with the Minister now pushing their development into the wave of two, into wave two and way beyond the original 2030 target, more than 30 years after the need was first identified.

Coventry Hospital, which was built alone, cost £1 million a week. The law was even changed to ensure private contractors were paid before our NHS staff. Since its inception, around £60 billion of private money has gone into 700 PFI projects. In return, the government will pay £306 billion. The escalating costs eat into the NHS Budget and leaves less for frontline services. Secondly, I'd like to quickly speak about private providers. As an optometrist, I see this on the front line and I have referred people for cataract surgery because it's much shorter waiting time.

It obviously makes sense, but unfortunately, the transfer of taxpayers revenue to the private sector reduces resources for other NHS services and ultimately limits its ability to treat patients effectively. The government apparently has already set aside £2.5 billion, raising to £16 billion It's disappointing, as the government could have used this Budget to expand the NHS capacity by building new facilities or buying buying out the private sector clinics, but they haven't. They could support local authorities and not for profit organisations to take over social care, but they haven't.

These are political decisions that have consequences in the long run. Thirdly, I'd like to speak about what appears the Home Secretary is pursuing, is pressing ahead with Palantir and data sharing. Palantir. I have had patients contact me who are really concerned about data sharing. Two of them wrote to me, in fact, just in the last week, and they were really frightened that they had to opt out of this procedure. And it seems now that our data is a commodity that is going to the highest bidder.

I would also very quickly like to touch upon hospices. I think I'm running out of time, but my hospice Loros is is, is is serving 1.2 million people in Leicester with only 18 beds.
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18:05
Elsie Blundell Portrait Mrs Elsie Blundell MP (Heywood and Middleton North, Labour)
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and allowing towns like those I represent in Heywood and Middleton North to grow their way out of the North to grow their way out of the cuts they have been subject to for over a decade. Transport connectivity is the difference between our towns and those within between our towns and those within them, either getting ahead or being left behind. My constituents have long been overlooked when it comes long been overlooked when it comes to transport planning and spending, and I was delighted that during the Spending review earlier this year, Spending review earlier this year, the Greater Manchester City region received over £2.5 billion to plug the gaps there in local the gaps there in local connectivity.

As a result, it was announced that the tram will now be coming to Heywood with spades in coming to Heywood with spades in the ground by 2028 and a commitment from the mayor that he will revisit the business case for Metrolink. To Middleton, this is the difference that a Labour government makes with a Labour led city region, and this Budget went even further thanks to the discipline and responsiveness of this Chancellor. I was delighted to hear last week that the Northern Growth Corridor and the TransPennine Route Upgrade will receive the investment that they need.

This welcome commitment came alongside the decision to freeze rail fares for the first time in 30 years, making progress in ensuring that anyone, no matter where they come from, can get from A to B. I am proud that in Greater Manchester through the B network, we've been able to keep fares as low as possible when it comes to the bus and tram, and it's important that rail isn't left behind. I am delighted that as Greater Manchester moves to integrate rail lines into the B network, that these prices will now be frozen too.

I envisage a point in the future where if we stick to the plan and ensure that devolution is delivered when my constituents can get into Manchester city centre on safe and reliable public transport, and go on to make their journeys to other cities across the North. And that is why I am determined to see the promise of this investment delivered upon and swift, swift progress made to connect the North. After the Tories cancelled the northern leg of HS2. But the people of. I will.



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Thank my hon. Friend for giving way. She's making a powerful case for investment into her town and the wider region. Does she agree with me that this investment is only possible because we have an economy that has been stabilised economy that has been stabilised and it's been stabilised because we've had a Chancellor who is investing in capital infrastructure investing in capital infrastructure to the tune of £120 billion, has attracted around £250 billion of private sector investment. And that private sector investment.

And that contrasts sharply with the Conservatives, who raided the capital investment Budget for day to day spending and deterred that

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to day spending and deterred that long term investment from the private sector. Absolutely agree and thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. hon. Friend for that intervention. And I would say that it is thanks to the determination of this Chancellor to be disciplined that we are able to deliver this investment in Greater Manchester and into my constituency as well. And, you know, the people of Greater Manchester are really resilient. Many people do try to talk us down, but our city region and our economy are vibrant and they are dynamic.

And looking at this Budget, it is very clear to me that this government recognises our potential and that it is keen to connect Greater Manchester internally and bind it more closely with those other great cities of Leeds and Liverpool. And this

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course. I thank the.

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hon. Lady for giving way as MP for the other side of the Pennines. Would you agree with me that this Would you agree with me that this investment in transport in the north, linking across the Pennines to great cities like Leeds and to great cities like Leeds and Bradford, and that delivering on Northern Powerhouse Rail in full,

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including a station in Bradford, is necessary. I absolutely agree and I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention, and I do think that this Chancellor recognises that connectivity and ambition are two sides of the same coin. She knows sides of the same coin. She knows that you don't cut your way to a stronger, more stable economy or to a more equal society. You invest your way there and in causing. Madam Deputy Speaker, I wholeheartedly welcome the Budget and its intention to build a better connected and fairer country.

Last Wednesday's Budget will bring about the change that my constituents deserve, and I now look forward to working with colleagues on delivering.
18:09
Samantha Niblett Portrait Samantha Niblett MP (South Derbyshire, Labour)
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This Samantha Niblett. Deputy Speaker, I want to thank. important step she's taken in the Budget. 510 people in my constituency of South Derbyshire who spent their lives working in the mining industry, people who helped power our nation, will now receive a significant uplift in their pension each month. That is life changing support. I also welcome the measures that will lift 2020 children in South Derbyshire out of poverty. That is not an abstract number. Those are real families who will now have a fairer start and a future with more opportunity than struggle.

And from next April, households will see energy bills fall by £150 at a time when every pound matters that will make a direct difference to people's lives. I also thank her for maintaining a clear and unwavering focus on fixing our NHS, because the health of our nation is the foundation of our prosperity. Many of these measures will be felt in rural and semi-rural constituencies like mine, and by farming families who often feel overlooked, and I'm grateful to for the specific concession that mitigates some of the impacts of changes in inheritance tax for farming for married couples.

That is a welcome change further to 13 months of campaigning by many, including farmers NFU and Labour Rural Research Group, of which I am a proud member. But Madam Deputy Speaker, whilst there is much here to commend, I must also be honest for all the good that this Budget does and it does a lot. Many farmers in my constituency simply cannot see past the border inheritance tax changes. They remember clearly that Labour promised to know such changes before the general election. And they remember, too, that our manifesto declared that food is the first line of defence.

Yet right now, this country has just six days worth of food. Food supplies? Six days. And with global tensions rising and instability growing even closer to home in Europe, we should be doing everything possible to support the very people who help keep Britain fed. Most farmers are not wealthy land Barons. They live hand to mouth on tiny, sometimes non-existent profit margins. Many were explicitly advised not to hand over their farms to their children now face enormous, unexpected tax bills. For some, that means selling off land.

For others, it means delaying or abandoning plans to diversify precisely the type of innovation we should be encouraging. I look forward to Baroness, the the forthcoming report, forthcoming report by Baroness Battersea, and I hope the government takes it seriously, because right now we must acknowledge a difficult truth. We have lost the trust of our farmers and they deserve more now more than ever. Our utmost respect, our honesty and our unwavering support for farmers who are elderly or terminally ill. The anti forestalling clause in this policy is creating a level of distress and strain, which can't be overstated.

And as the Prime Minister has previously said, if somebody makes powerful representations, then my instinct is to consider what's being said. Getting it right is more important than ploughing on with a package that doesn't necessarily achieve the desired outcome. So whilst I welcome this outcome. So whilst I welcome this Budget, I really do. I do plead with government to look again at APR and inheritance tax for farmers. APR and inheritance tax for farmers.
18:12
Jessica Toale Portrait Jessica Toale MP (Bournemouth West, Labour)
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A toll Madam Deputy Speaker. Well, he's not in his place.

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The Health Secretary, for the investment in local hospitals, the 11 GPS across BCP, the 13,000 11 GPS across BCP, the 13,000 emergency dental appointments we've had across Dorset and the £1.3 million my constituency, million my constituency, Bournemouth West, has had to reopen the Winton Health Centre, which closed under the last government. This is the difference a government that prioritises investment can make. Now, Madam Deputy Speaker, make. Now, Madam Deputy Speaker, before I was elected, I met a couple I will never forget.

He was a refuse collector for the local authority, at risk of being fired and rehired on less pay, with less job security for the job, the very same job he'd been doing for a decade. She was a teacher at an independent school, and they had two young children in our primary schools. They told me with absolute honesty what it felt like for them the cost of food, rising energy bills creeping higher, the dread of their fixed term mortgage coming to an end and not having the time or money they could use to treat their children.

They were doing everything society asked of them working hard, raising children, contributing to their communities. Yet they felt like they were slipping backwards. So any hon. Member in the House who has asked today, how is this family better off under this Budget? Let me enlighten you. This family is at the forefront of my mind. They will be better off because of the £150 off their energy bills, the freeze, fuel duty, prescription charges and rail fares for the bus service subsidies were maintaining. And because the National Living Wage has been raised, in fact, wages have gone up more in one year under this government than they went up in the previous decade.

Under the Conservatives, interest rates have come down five times. That will help. Lower mortgage inflation will be down because of this Budget, and these changes come alongside major investments into our energy infrastructure. Just last week, I met a school which is one of the first to have public investment in solar panels that will save it £8,500 a year. In our roads. My local authority is getting £38 million, double what it got last year and our NHS and cultural values. But it also comes alongside a wider programme because no Budget sits in isolation.

A new EU UK deal to stabilise prices and support jobs, renters rights and employment rights. Extending free school meals and free breakfast clubs, reforming the planning system along investment and housebuilding to develop to deliver the affordable homes we so desperately need. So why have we in this Budget focussed so much on cutting the cost of living? Because when households feel pressure are a whole, economy feels it. Local hospitality businesses see fewer customers, bus companies see fewer passengers. Our creative venues suffer when families can no longer justify the cost of tickets.

Poverty also, as we've heard so powerfully, has a knock on effect on children's ability to learn their behaviours, their health and their life chances. And 2000 children in my constituency will benefit from the removal of the two child limit. So, Madam Deputy Speaker, tackling cost of living is an investment in people, their quality of life and their opportunity to contribute to our communities and economy. Apsana Begum thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. This Budget has delivered.
18:15
Apsana Begum Portrait Apsana Begum MP (Poplar and Limehouse, Labour)
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Some welcome measures increasing the minimum wage for young adults, lowering energy bills and of course, lifting the two child limit, which I want to be clear, I voted to add to the government's programme. I did not vote against the King's Speech, and I'm proud to have been on the right side of history, alongside other colleagues and standing with my constituents to right this wrong in the sixth largest economy in the world. Madam Deputy Speaker, governments are judged on how well they can create the conditions to prevent illness and enable children and adults to live long and healthy lives.

And before the last general election, the NHS had already suffered years of austerity and starvation of investment, as confirmed by the Darzi report last year. The reality is, though, that the overall announcements in the Budget are not on the scale needed patients. NHS staff campaigners are very clear that the solutions must involve proper funding for the NHS, including capital investment, and that they would need to be mechanisms to raise money to address the catastrophe that the Tories drove us into ending outsourcing and privatisation through a wholesale renegotiation of current PFI debts.

To reduce future payouts is one way of addressing the issue of chronic underfunding. The UK already spends far less on health than many other countries in Europe. Madam Deputy Speaker politics is a matter of priorities and choices and in whose interests decisions are made, which is why I have grave concerns about the reintroduction of the use of private capital for building NHS neighbourhood health centres, given the past, arrangements such as PFI and Pf2 are still damaging the NHS. In fact, all the evidence shows that the private sector in the NHS has been disastrous in East London.

The trials and tribulations of Barts Trust reveal the significant threats of Pfis NHS budgets and, consequently, to their ability to provide the care that NHS patients deserve and that, and that trusts want to provide. At a core, privatisation is a question of resourcing, and the extraction of profits from the system have been shown to undermine capacity, undermine value for money and takes money away from vital patient services, in other words, undermining investment and renewal itself. My constituents don't want to be told that there will be more of the same.

Madam Deputy speaker, they are absolutely and utterly desperate for change, and it's crucial that any NHS reform prioritises building back publicly provided NHS services and ends privatisation, not PFI 2.2 because big business should not be lining its pockets at the expense of our society's health and wellbeing. Because it was the government's manifesto promise that the NHS will always be publicly owned and funded because all of taxpayers money should go on the services itself,

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and because health should be a question of people, not profit. Yes. Campbell-savours.
18:18
Markus Campbell-Savours Portrait Markus Campbell-Savours MP (Penrith and Solway, Labour)
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Campbell-savours. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, I welcome the positive steps taken in this Budget to support our NHS in this Budget to support our NHS commitments to cut waiting lists, investing in technology and delivering up to 250 new neighbourhood health centres across the country. Measures like this matter and they matter, especially in rural areas like Cumbria, where our health services have struggled for years. Yet while many of the measures in this Budget are benefit to my constituents, there remain deep concerns about the proposed changes to Agricultural Property Relief.

In last year's Opposition Day debate on farming and inheritance tax. I set out my concerns over the course of a debate that has raged for more than a year. Members across the House have made the case against these changes, changes which leave many, not least elderly farmers, yet to make arrangements to transfer assets devastated at the impact on their family farms. Before the election, many farmers feared this was coming. Some transferred in advance. Others contacted Labour candidates who reassured them based on public commitments from the then Shadow Secretary of State for DEFRA, that APR would not be touched.

Madam Deputy Speaker, I was one of those Labour candidates and it's for that reason I'll be voting against the Budget resolution enabling these changes. Colleagues will agree it is the privilege of a lifetime to be elected to this place, perhaps more so for those of us representing the communities we're from. And when the good people of Penrith and Solway decide my time here is up, I intend to walk around my community knowing I did all I could for them. But I cannot do that knowing that my constituency is 1665 farms, the farm workers and the supply chains that depend on them were let down.

Knowing that I broke my word. Madam Deputy Speaker, I am not yet clear on the Budget resolution grouping, but I would be grateful to be given the opportunity to vote specifically on resolution 50. I specifically on resolution 50. I gave my word and I intend to keep it Sojan Joseph.
18:20
Sojan Joseph Portrait Sojan Joseph MP (Ashford, Labour)
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Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, I congratulate the Chancellor for delivering a Budget that protects the National Health Service, reduces the national debt, and eases the cost of living. So I warmly welcome Chancellor's decision to find money to reduce the energy bills, freeze the rail affair and freeze the prescription charges. I also welcome the Chancellor's decision that helped to lift 2600 children out of poverty from my constituency. It was pleasing to see the announcement in the Budget of millions of pounds of new investment to upgrade technology in healthcare, providing funding for new digital technology to automate administrative tasks and allow swifter access to patient information will improve NHS productivity.

Instead of spending time on admin, NHS staff will be able to focus more on caring for patients. Since being elected to this House, I has been pressing for more to be done, to shift healthcare to the community and help take the burden off hospitals like the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford. So I welcome the announcement of neighbourhood health centres in the ten year health plan, and I was delighted that the Budget provided funding to ensure the first of these will be rolled out across the country.

The Budget also provided support for young people taking that crucial first step into long term employment through apprenticeship funding. This initiative builds on the Labour government's Small Businesses Plan, which prioritise investment in apprenticeships and digital training by working with local colleges and providers. Ashford College in my constituency is doing excellent work in this area. This Budget and its priorities stand in stark contrast to what is happening in my own local area of Kent. Why Labour chooses to invest in public services.

Rejecting the failed Tory policies of austerity, the reform led Kent County Council is continuing with reckless cuts and fantasy economics. The council, which is which its leader said, would be a shop window for how reform would govern nationally, recently revealed it had a £46 million overspend. The leader of opposition also want to turn the clock back. She has argued that the Chancellor should not have made the choices she did in the Budget, including to more than double the fiscal headroom. This has been welcomed by the financial markets and will provide greater financial resilience.

But the Conservatives have rejected this choice and instead have argued that we should return to the days of austerity and cut spending instead, as some had worked in the NHS. The last government saw the damage taken by the approach of the party, opposite to our health service and to the public services. It also meant that pay for NHS workers, teachers and other public sector workers was frozen for years, which had a detrimental impact on staff morale, recruitment and retention. Thank you.



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Speaker I welcome last week's Budget, a Budget that finally, after 14 years of Tory neglect, after 14 years of Tory neglect, puts the people of Birmingham Erdington first. Yeah, on our NHS. Erdington first. Yeah, on our NHS. I was delighted to hear that the Chancellor had announced further efforts to shorten NHS waiting lists, including an upgrade to Stockland Green Primary Care Centre
18:23
Paulette Hamilton Portrait Paulette Hamilton MP (Birmingham Erdington, Labour)
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Stockland Green Primary Care Centre in Birmingham, Erdington, bringing bringing care back into the community was always a priority for me when I worked in the NHS, and I am thrilled to see a Labour government finally deliver. In addition to this, over 6000 children in Birmingham Erdington will now receive access to the crucial funds they need to thrive through the lifting of the two child benefit cap. Growing up in poverty seriously harms a child's life chances. They are less likely to work as an adult and earn around 25% less by the age of 30 than their peers, making us all poorer in the long run.

Wages have risen in the first year of this government than the first decade under the Conservatives, whose austerity measures put so many into the poverty trap when coupled with freezing train fares and prescription charges, this will lower living costs and make everyday life better for so many. Another consistent area of concern for my constituents is energy bills. Taking levies off energy bills will save families £150 on the average on average next year, rising to £300 for many of the most vulnerable households.

This is exactly the kind of direct action that people have been crying out for. This Labour government's mission is to renew our economy and communities. I am pleased to see this promise being kept. I will continue holding the government to account and fighting for a better future for everyone in Erdington, Kingstanding, Castle, Vale and South Dorset. I support this Budget wholeheartedly. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.

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Alison Taylor speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute for the opportunity to contribute to this important debate. Before Paisley and Renfrewshire North gave me the distinct honour of asking me
18:25
Alison Taylor Portrait Alison Taylor MP (Paisley and Renfrewshire North, Labour)
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me the distinct honour of asking me to represent them, I had a substantial career in business. After qualifying as a chartered surveyor, I joined a practice in Glasgow. After a decade, I was given the opportunity to become the sole proprietor of the limited company and grew the business, doubling the staff and tripling the turnover. If I were starting out now, I would be grateful to this Labour government for five interest rate cuts, reducing inflation and ruling out another wasteful independence referendum in Scotland.

I empathise with entrepreneurs working hard to build something, employ people and willing to take the risk to build a business. I know, and I am not the first and I surely won't be the last, to remind this house of the words of the American jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes. Taxes are the price we pay for a civilised society. When I owned my small business in Scotland, my business benefited from the actions of government paid through taxation. Taxes are not simply a cost to business.

They provide the very foundation on which business can be successful. I hear members opposite complaining endlessly about the cost of welfare. But let us be clear, almost every penny of any extra payment to the least well off almost every penny of any increase to the minimum wage is a penny spent in our local community. It will be spent on sustaining a household, putting food on the table or clothes for the kids. Almost every penny of extra spending will go through the cash registers of a local business, helping to sustain local jobs and supporting local businesses.

Not one penny of that extra spending is going directly to an offshore tax shelter. This Budget has been a labour Budget, but also a Budget for growth. I look forward with optimism and confidence for the future, and I look forward to what more can be achieved in budgets to come. Thank you. come. Thank you.
18:28
Emma Foody Portrait Emma Foody MP (Cramlington and Killingworth, Labour )
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Thank you very much, Deputy Speaker. For too long, my communities in the towns and villages across the Cramlington and Killingworth constituency felt the full force of conservative cuts and lived with the consequences of austerity. But this Budget is the end of that chapter, because growth only feels like only means something when communities right across the country feel it. And this Budget, well, it invests in communities, in jobs, and in the people that make every part of Britain thrive.

Take one of the great ambitions of this government to tackle child poverty, wherever it exists. That child poverty was allowed to grow under the previous government should be a source of immense shame for the Conservatives. In working households. There was a 44% increase, a tragedy for each child, for each family, family, for society, not just missing the additional extras in life, but it's going to school with holes in your shoes. It is being hungry at home. It's being cold at night and excluded from everyday opportunities.

Ending the two child benefit cap will lift almost half a million children out of poverty. In one action. The North East alone, it impacts 70,000 children and 1750. In my own constituency, they will now have healthier lives, achieve more at school and go on to earn more throughout their lives. This Budget will protect the children who are most in need, who most deserve our support, and that is alongside other measures that will address the cost of living cutting energy bills, bringing inflation down, freezing rail fares and prescription prices, supporting the lowest paid with increases to the national living and minimum wage and an extra £575 a year for those on the new state pension.

As a Labour and Co-operative MP, I am also delighted to see measures announced to support communities and co-operatives across the country and to deliver on our commitment to double the size of the co-operative sector, because communities deserve to build and share in their wealth. Now, in addition to that, we're backing devolution in my region, with emerging industries in the North East Investment zone enabling new technologies to thrive, getting public services back on their feet with an extra 15 billion for the NHS to cut waiting times, tackling health inequalities and creating 250 new neighbourhood health centres.

I do just want to touch on one issue before I finish and that is of course, Farm Roundabout in my constituency. Locally, some conservatives have sought to make mischief, claiming that this Budget is means that the the funding is not there for the vital upgrades. The Tories never were ones for letting the truth get in the way of a good story because, as they well know, the Budget was never going to make any announcements on whether the upgrades were going ahead or not. They will be announced in the first quarter of next year as part of the road investment strategy.

But turning back to what is in the Budget, this Budget continues to fix the foundations. Following 14 years of mismanagement from the previous conservative governments, helping to renew our economy and our communities. A Budget of labour our communities. A Budget of labour values, fairness and justice.
18:31
Jenny Riddell-Carpenter Portrait Jenny Riddell-Carpenter MP (Suffolk Coastal, Labour)
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Jenny Riddell-Carpenter.

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Thank you, Madam. Deputy Speaker. This autumn. Budget will make a real and material difference to families material difference to families across the country, including thousands in Suffolk Coastal, cutting energy bills by £150, cutting energy bills by £150, capping rail fares and freezing NHS prescription charges are exactly the measures that my constituents the measures that my constituents have been asking for. We are giving people the breathing space they need as the government continues to need as the government continues to invest in long term solutions to bring down the cost of living for good in energy, transport, homes good in energy, transport, homes and jobs of the future.

But the debate around farming inheritance debate around farming inheritance has shone a spotlight on something deeply important the fragility of farming profitability in Britain today. At the heart of my concern is a simple economic truth. You cannot tax a business that is not profitable even in good years. Many farmers in my constituency struggle to break even a typical a typical 200 acre family farm worth about £2 million makes only about £27,000 in profit. Many family farms in Suffolk Coastal would not even recognise those figures.

Farmers are not opposed to reform. They know that Agricultural Property Relief has for far too long been used as a loophole for the very wealthy to shelter their assets. So, yes, Madam Deputy Speaker, closing this loophole is right. We must do it in a way that protects working family farms who simply cannot absorb a tax bill. They have no means to pay. Our farming sector is on its knees, worn down by Brexit, spiralling costs, unfair trading deals and supermarket price wars that leave British farmers squeezed to breaking point.

We have farmers Madam Deputy Speaker on this country, on Universal Credit, and farmers and Suffolk Coastal are working 2 or 3 jobs just to put food on their table. This is the human reality of an APR reform must take into account. Madam Deputy Speaker, I support the spousal concession announced in the Budget last week. But we must go further. I am calling on government to commit to a full review of the impact of these APR changes in 12 to 18 months.

That review must look not only at how farms have funded these changes, but the wider impacts on food sustainability, the rural economy, land management and food standards. And long term, we must consider the role of supermarkets, whose combined pre-tax profits exceeded £5 billion last year, while some paid no corporation tax at all. I would gently suggest that perhaps we have an opportunity to raise revenue here and protect our family farms. Madam Deputy Speaker, I support this government and I support this Budget.

But on APR we must keep listening, keep engaging and ensure that closing loopholes, we do not advertently harm the very communities who feed our country. Here on. Here on.
18:34
Tristan Osborne Portrait Tristan Osborne MP (Chatham and Aylesford, Labour)
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Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker. And this Budget is about aspiration, and it's about investing in the future potential of the British people, from the health service to our small businesses, to our high streets to supporting infrastructure and development, be that airports, roads and infrastructure in power generation. And whilst we're on the topic of astrology, Madam Deputy Speaker, I know the topic of black holes has recently been subject to debate, but I would simply point out to the opposition that whilst they are absolutely right to talk about black holes, maybe in their own memories they can recall that the the situation they left this country in the last Parliament, 11.5% inflation, 5.2% interest rates.

We had rising gilt prices. We had six Chancellors in five years. Madam Deputy Speaker, the shower and circus routine has ended and we now have stability with a Chancellor who is once again supported and engaged with the markets, businesses and supported across industry. And in terms of the benefits to my constituents, not only is the headroom going to deliver much more market confidence, but actually the retail offer is reducing the pressures and cost of living from £150, reduction in energy bills, supporting our manifesto, commitment to reduce energy costs to freezing rail fares, which will save an average of £320 for commuters from Chatham to London stations to the engagement on free prescriptions that will save thousands of residents across Kent and Medway, money on prescriptions that they are repeatedly receiving.

And in addition to that, as many of my colleagues have said today, the ethical mission of a Labour government, which is to reduce poverty, this single act today of of scrapping the two child benefit cap, will reduce poverty by the biggest margin since the last Labour government under Gordon Brown and the previous one under Denis Healey. And I'm really proud to support that. In my constituency, 3300 children will be lifted out of poverty by this move, and I think it is testament to the work, the hard work of the frontbench that we've been able to deliver that.

Just lastly, Madam Deputy Speaker, this is about building the foundations of a more confident, prosperous country. We have had no quarters where we haven't had growth under this Labour government. Contrast to the recession in 2023 that we had under the last. This country is growing. It has stability with a firm Chancellor that has a grip on the finances, that has a grip on the finances, that is setting a clear direction for the future, and I am proud as a Labour representative to support the Budget tonight.

the Budget tonight.
18:36
Jo Platt Portrait Jo Platt MP (Leigh and Atherton, Labour )
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The final contribution Jo Platt.

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The Autumn Budget shapes the choices we make and the kind of society we want to build together. society we want to build together. After 14 years of mismanagement, this Budget is about turning the page. It's about moving from page. It's about moving from uncertainty to opportunity and giving people the confidence that government is on their side. And that is why I welcome the Chancellor's autumn Budget statement, delivered last week. It marks the start of a series of marks the start of a series of measures that will make a real difference, helping with the cost of living, supporting our NHS and of living, supporting our NHS and giving our communities the opportunities they need to reach their potential.

So from our proud their potential. So from our proud coalfield communities involved in the BBC triple S scheme, who will finally receive the justice that they deserve, and the 2440 families in Leigh and Atherton who will benefit from lifting the two child benefit cap. This Budget demonstrates that the government is listening to communities like mine. It shows that the voices of ordinary people, the concerns raised in towns like Leigh and Atherton are being heard. And Madam Deputy Speaker, I do want to give special thanks to William Hancock.

He's a local mine worker who fought tirelessly to support his fellow workers in getting the justice that they deserve. So, Madam Deputy Speaker, I was delighted when the Chancellor announced measures to tackle illicit activity on our high streets. For too long, fake shops and rogue traders have undermined confidence and damaged local pride. That ends now. But by 45 million over four years, the new crackdown will create a cross-government task force, strengthen trading standards and give law enforcement the tools they need to protect honest businesses.

And this is a direct response to the campaign I have led alongside my hon. Friend, the Member for Grimsby and Cleethorpes, to shut down dodgy shops and restore pride back to our high streets, and we do need to go further. But Madam Deputy Speaker, this is a huge step forward. The start of our change our communities have demanded for so long. This Budget is not the end, it is the beginning. Together we will rebuild trust, restore pride, and create the kind of society that reflects the kind of society that reflects the best of who we are.

So that is the future we promised, and that is the future we promised, and that is the future that we will deliver.
18:39
Richard Fuller Portrait Richard Fuller MP (North Bedfordshire, Conservative)
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I now.

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Richard Fuller EV. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.

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Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. And before starting my comments on this debate, I am aware and I think this debate, I am aware and I think a number of honourable other hon. Members and right hon. Members in this House are aware that since you this House are aware that since you presided over the opening of this debate last Wednesday, you have debate last Wednesday, you have been subject online to a series of abuse that calls on presumptions of abuse that calls on presumptions of your ethnicity, presumptions on your place of birth.

I would just your place of birth. I would just like to say, I think on behalf of all of us here, you have presided over this debate fairly competently and in the best traditions of this and in the best traditions of this House. Whereas. What a colossally inept and incompetent Budget process this has been. The public believe they have been misled. Seasoned journalists have been shamefaced and the head of the OBR has resigned. A Budget not guided bull or a roadmap for the future, but on a sleight of hand on the British people, a Budget that means even lower growth in real disposable incomes for households up and down the country, that increases taxes and increases borrowing rather than controlling them, and has a total of zero zero measures which will have any impact on economic growth.

Yet after all the chaos of this Budget, after all the briefings, after all the kite flying, the leaks and the resignations, the core theme of this Budget remains what it has always been a Budget for benefit street, paid for by raising taxes on working people, a Budget delivered by a Chancellor who is out of her depth, enabled by a Prime Minister who is out of touch, held captive by Labour backbenchers, the Chancellor and the Prime Minister decided to put party before country.

But despite all the pandering, their careers are still held captive. This Budget is the most expensive botched hostage rescue operation in British history. This Budget process has raised important issues of accountability. Labour's general election manifesto said, quote, Labour will not increase taxes on working people, unquote. But this Budget extends the freeze in tax thresholds for a further three years. Last year the Chancellor said, quote, we now wipe the slate clean. We don't need to come back for more.

But this Budget increases taxes by a further £37 billion and borrowing by a further £57 billion over the next five years And the Chancellor held an unprecedented breakfast address to the nation. But the BBC's Chris Mason says, quote, the words on the day left an impression, not at one with the facts we were later to discover, and which the Chancellor knew at the time, unquote. Madam Deputy Speaker, yesterday the chairman of the OBR resigned. Many in the country believe the Chancellor should reflect and make the same decision.

This could have been a Budget for alarm clock Britain, for the people that work hard to create a better future for their families, for their children and grandchildren, the sort of people who believe in an honest day's pay for an honest day's work, and who think it is unfair for the government to increase their taxes, to pay for more money to be spent on benefits. The people who understand, the people who understand personal responsibility, especially when it comes to having children and don't see why people on benefits should not have to make the same choices that they have to make.

And I give way to the lady.

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To the shadow Minister for giving way when he talks about people in work, is he referring to the families with three and four after 3 or 4 children who are living in poverty, who are working? living in poverty, who are working? How dare he castigate them when saying that, saying those awful things, when these are working families struggling because of the appalling circumstances that the

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appalling circumstances that the previous government left us. The lady needs to recognise the

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The lady needs to recognise the people are struggling because of decisions made by this government. The people do want, do want better public services, but they don't understand why. After the government handed out a 15% hike pay hike to train drivers, more trains are running late this year compared to last year. The people are striving to make ends meet as prices rise, perhaps putting a little aside to create a better future for the children. The people who say this Budget will make their lives worse, not better, by more than 2 to 1.

The verdict is in by more than 2 to 1. The public think this Budget is unfair, and only 2% think this Budget will make them better off. And they are right. This Budget attacks the strivers in our society, the engines of our economic growth. This Budget confirms the devastating attack on family farms. When we need greater food security, it increases taxes on dividends. When we need to encourage risk taking, discourages savings for retirement, and widens the division between pension protections for public sector and private sector employees.

Deals a blow to start up businesses that want to share their success with their employees, and raises taxes on working people. Breaking the Labour Party's own manifesto promise. This Budget makes clear that this Labour government does not believe in personal responsibility, does not understand the spirit of enterprise, will punish aspiration and is too weak to make the hard choices our economy so desperately needs. If it

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is to get back on the right track. If we. I'm very happy to give away the Honourable. And I'm sure the Chancellor

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And I'm sure the Chancellor appreciates his input into the Budget, given the public roundly rejected your approach to our

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rejected your approach to our economy just now. I wondered if in this the. Term you or your your should not

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Term you or your your should not be used and interventions need to be short so quickly to the point. I wonder if you could reflect on

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I wonder if you could reflect on the OBR saying that our decade of austerity and the impact of Brexit

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has had a much more pernicious before. Here.

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Here. Perhaps the the hon. Lady would like to reflect when she stands for election, the next election, that real household incomes will have gone up by just a quarter of the rate that they did on the ten years of conservative government. If, Madam Deputy Speaker, if we are, you shall. Madam Deputy Speaker, if we are to fund the defence of our nation against greater threats, if we are to enable young people to have the same security in their retirement as pensioners have today, if we want to maintain public services, we have to create wealth.

This government offers no hope for wealth creation, but the Conservative Party does. A society that encourages people to succeed and to take risks that underpin success. A society that expands individual freedom and the scope for personal responsibility. A society that is prepared to make sacrifices, to make the lives of our children and grandchildren a little better. We will build that wealth creating society by bringing down energy costs, cutting spending, cutting taxes, backing business and getting Britain working again.

getting Britain working again.
18:48
James Murray Portrait Rt Hon James Murray MP, The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Ealing North, Labour )
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I call the Minister James Murray.

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Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker, and thank you to my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care State for Health and Social Care for opening today's debate. Of course, today's debate follows yesterday's publication of the Obr's report into the early release of the Economic and Fiscal Outlook and the subsequent resignation of and the subsequent resignation of Richard Hughes. Let me be clear that what happened last week with that F0 should never have happened, that F0 should never have happened, nor should it ever happen again.

If we take the report's findings very we take the report's findings very seriously and as I informed the House yesterday, we will work with the National Cyber Security Centre to take forward a forensic examination of potential premature access at previous fiscal events. But the OBR is a key part of our fiscal framework. The OBR Budget Responsibility Committee continues under the experienced leadership of Tom Joseph's and Professor David Miles, and the Treasury will launch a competitive external recruitment process in the coming weeks to appoint a new chair.

As with all appointments to the Budget Responsibility Committee, the appointment of the new chair will be made by the Chancellor and will be subject to the consent of the Treasury Committee. Madam Deputy Speaker, this government puts the utmost weight on Budget security, including prevention of leaks of information and a leak. Inquiry is underway. The Treasury will work closely with the OBR to ensure robust security arrangements are in place before the spring forecast, and for all future forecasts, and the Permanent Secretary of the Treasury will conduct a review of the Treasury security processes to inform future fiscal events.

Now, Madam Deputy Speaker, as the Health Secretary so powerfully set out in opening today's debate, cutting NHS waiting lists is a top priority for this government. We prioritise the NHS at this Budget because a strong health service where people can get the treatment they need is a priority for the British people. Our determination to get the National Health Service back on its feet and to invest in the future of our country stands in stark contrast to the party opposite on that side of the House.

Madam Deputy Speaker, they offer nothing but decline. They offer cuts to funding for public services equivalent to firing every police officer in the country twice. After 14 years in power and one year in opposition, they still refuse to take responsibility for the state they left the country in. They offer no apology for the damage they did to our public services and our economy when they were in power, and on top of it, Madam Deputy Speaker, they boast that they would do it all again on this side of the House.

We are taking the fair and necessary choices to renew our country. Last year at our first Budget, we fixed the foundations by funding the largest ever capital settlement for health in. We introduced fiscal rules to make sure the books are always balanced, and we chose to invest in roads,

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rail, energy and homes across the Minister. For giving way.

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For giving way. The whole front bench will have heard throughout these Budget debates the concerns from Labour MPs representing rural constituencies, as I do, about the proposed changes to agricultural property relief and the feelings property relief and the feelings amongst many of us that those changes are not properly calibrated. So will the Minister commit to keeping those changes under close review as they are rolled out and take immediate action? Should we take immediate action? Should we begin to see farms disappear? Madam begin to see farms disappear? Madam Deputy Speaker the changes that we've set out to Agricultural Property Relief are a fair way forward.

They represent generous relief to people whilst raising money for the public finances. And at this Budget, the Chancellor announced that any unused £1 million allowance for the 100% rate of Agricultural Property Relief at Business Property Relief will be transferable between spouses and civil partners. But Madam Deputy Speaker, following the Budget the Chancellor gave last week, we are going further because despite the challenges that we faced with the OBR recognising the deep scars to the economy that the previous government had caused, we refused to repeat the mistakes of the past.

We rejected uncontrolled borrowing and we refused to slash investment. We chose to keep cutting NHS

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waiting lists, to cut the cost of living, and to cut debt and borrowing and. Cut the number of Tory MPs.

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Cut the number of Tory MPs. The Chancellor delivered a Budget last week that took fair choices on tax, that protected investment in our public services, and that made our economy more secure. Madam Deputy Speaker, as a secure. Madam Deputy Speaker, as a result of our choices, people will see more money in their pockets thanks to the increase in the thanks to the increase in the living wage. They will see rail fares frozen. They will see prescription charges frozen. They prescription charges frozen.

They will see £150 off their energy bill, and they will see action across the and they will see action across the country as we tackle the scourge of illicit businesses blighting our high streets. In short, it was a

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Budget that we were elected to deliver a Labour order. The Minister is clearly not

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The Minister is clearly not giving way to Mr. Hall, and the rest of us do want to hear what the

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rest of us do want to hear what the Minister has to say. Minister Murray. Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam

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Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Deputy Speaker, as the hon. Gentleman knows, I give way to him week in, week out in this place. So week in, week out in this place. So I know what I pretty much know what he's going to say, and I don't have he's going to say, and I don't have much time, so I'm going to make some progress. Madam Deputy Speaker, I note the very loud at the moment, I note the very loud at the moment, but time and again there is deafening silence when they are asked to defend their record.

When they were in government, they simply refuse to own up and face up

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to the damage they cause to our economy by. Slashing investments. Now, Madam Deputy Speaker, our

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Now, Madam Deputy Speaker, our decision not to slash investment. Our decision to reject uncontrolled borrowing means we have had to take fair and necessary choices on tax. We are being upfront that these choices will mean everyone choices will mean everyone contributes more. But as we promised last year, we are keeping taxes on working people as low as taxes on working people as low as we possibly can. We are doing this by reforming the tax system, increasing the rate of tax on property income and those with £2 million plus homes, increasing tax million plus homes, increasing tax rates for online gambling whilst removing bingo duty and making sure HMRC has the right technology for a modern tax system, we are making the changes that the party opposite always ducked, and we are keeping taxes on working people as low as possible.

And Madam Deputy Speaker, when it comes to growth, the Chancellor has already beaten the forecast once, with improved growth reported this year. We are determined to beat the forecasts in future years too, because we will not let the previous government's record hold Britain back in the future. We are backing entrepreneurs with tax breaks for businesses to scale and stay in the UK. We have secured hundreds of billions of pounds of private investment and we are making sure investment goes to every region and nation of the UK, so that everyone across the country feels the benefits of growth.

Madam Deputy Speaker, families across the country plan how much to spend week in, week out. They Budget, they save, they economise to stay on top of their household finances. We will hold ourselves to the same and higher standards when it comes to taxpayers money. We will always make sure the government is living within its means and making every penny count. We have already begun to improve the efficiency of government, saving £14 billion a year by 2029 through the greater use of AI and automation, as well as reducing unnecessary bureaucracy and duplication through the abolition of NHS England.

And at last week's Budget, we set out our plan to make further £4.9 billion of efficiencies by 2031, beginning by getting rid of police and crime commissioners, cutting the cost of politics and selling government assets we no longer need. This means, Madam Deputy Speaker, that we can make sure taxpayer money or

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give them away. As a matter of interest, why did

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As a matter of interest, why did the Labour Chancellor Hugh Dalton resign? Good point.

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Good point. Madam Deputy Speaker. I remember the hon. Gentleman. Right hon. Gentleman may not have been here, Gentleman may not have been here, but a colleague of his asked me that same question before, and unfortunately I didn't know the unfortunately I didn't know the history of that story. I shall have to look it up on Wikipedia tonight to look it up on Wikipedia tonight to find out. Madam Deputy Speaker, it's clearly before my time. Madam Deputy speaker, sorry, madam Deputy Speaker, our focus on spending public money wisely means that we can make sure taxpayer money is spent on what matters.

That means on the NHS and our schools, on our roads and our railways, on our armed forces and our police. And this Budget means that we can continue to invest in the future. That investment in our future includes our decision to lift 450,000 children out of poverty. Those children should not go hungry simply because of the circumstances of their birth, and their life. Chances should not be written off before they have even got going here. We do not want to be a country where 1 in 1015 year olds goes hungry once a week because they can't afford a meal.

We want to be a country that recognises the profound damage that child poverty causes to us all. This Labour government is taking a chance to change that. And of course, Madam Deputy Speaker, we do not want to be a country where one in every £10 of public money is spent paying just the interest on our national debt. That is why it is so crucial that we cut borrowing and increase our fiscal headroom. That is the way to make sure our country is less vulnerable to global shocks.

We are determined to make our economy more resilient, and to make sure that taxpayers money is spent on taxpayers priorities. Madam Deputy Speaker, there is an old saying that to govern is to choose, and politics is about making choices. Yet the members opposite are never keen to be judged by the choices they made when they were in government. They chose to cut investment in the foundations of our society, gutting our NHS, failing our schools and abandoning great swathes of the country and the next generation.

They botched the Brexit deal, which stifled British trade and wrapped our businesses in red tape. They oversaw a Covid recovery which left us lagging behind our neighbours, whilst their donors and cronies pocketed millions of pounds of taxpayers money. And they were responsible for a mini Budget that crashed. Our economy, did great damage to our global reputation and cost more to pay as hundreds of pounds a month. Madam Deputy Speaker, our government is one that is willing to choose and ready to stand by our choices.

I am proud of the choices we have made in this Budget, choices that protect the NHS and get the waiting list down that cut the cost of living and take £150 off energy bills that reduced the national debt and bring down the cost of borrowing. We will invest in the infrastructure that will drive growth and productivity across this country. We will not leave the broken welfare system unchanged, and we will spend every penny of taxpayers money wisely. Madam Deputy Speaker, those are fair choices.

Those are necessary choices, and those are the right choices for the future of our

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country. The question is the motion relating to income tax charge as on relating to income tax charge as on the Order Paper, as many opinion, say aye. I Of the contrary, no the say aye. I Of the contrary, no the ayes have it. The ayes have it. I am now required under Standing am now required under Standing order number 513 to put successively without further debate the question on each of the ways the question on each of the ways and means motions numbered 2 to 101, and the motion on which the finance bill is to be brought in.

These motions are set out in a separate paper, distributed with today's Order Paper. We leave the house. I Order Paper. We leave the house. I will put the question on motions two and three together. The question is that motions two and three be agreed to. Assuming that opinion, say aye. of the contrary. No. The ayes have it. The ayes have it. We now come to motion four on income tax dividend rates. The question is on motion four be agreed to. As many as I say aye.

of
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None Portrait Division:Budget Resolutions, Motion 64:(Rates of Alcohol Duty)
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Tellers for the ayes I Deirdre Costigan and Nesil Caliskan and tellers for the noes Lincoln Jopp
20:39
Barry Gardiner Portrait Adjournment: Government procurement Barry Gardiner MP (Brent West, Labour)
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Fred Fred Thomas Fred Thomas.

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Fred Thomas. Fred Thomas. Come Fred Thomas. Come down Fred Thomas. Come down and Fred Thomas. Come down and get Fred Thomas. Come down and get. Your Your friends. And. And. Thanks. And. Thanks. It And. Thanks. It comes And. Thanks. It comes

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Oh

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Oh oh.

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Oh oh. The Ayes to the right 357. The noes to the left 174.

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noes to the left 174. The Ayes to the right 357. The Noes to the left 174. So the ayes Noes to the left 174. So the ayes have it. The ayes have it. Unlock. With the leave of the house, I will put the question on the remaining ways and means motions together. The question is that motion 65 to 101 be agreed to as many as appear. Say aye. as the contrary. No. The ayes have it. The ayes have it.

The question is that the motion relating to finance money be agreed to as may that opinion, say aye. I of the contrary, no the ayes have it. The ayes have it. Bill ordered to be brought in upon the foregoing resolutions. Who will prepare and bring in the bill?

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The Chairman of Ways and Means, the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. James Murray of the Exchequer. James Murray

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Torsten Bell Lucy Rigby, and myself. Yeah.

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Yeah. Hey! Hey. Keep it straight now.

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Keep it straight now. Hey! Oh, God.

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Oh, God. Thank you. Finance number two. Bill.

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Bill. Second Reading. What day? Tomorrow.

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Yay! VAWG point of order Wes Streeting Madam Deputy Speaker.

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Streeting Madam Deputy Speaker. I have to confess a sin. Earlier today in the debate on the Budget, today in the debate on the Budget, I referenced the hon. Member for Clacton and did not notify him in Clacton and did not notify him in advance. This was particularly egregious because I wasn't very nice about him in what I said. So with that in mind, and out of respect for the customs and conventions of this House, I would like to apologise to the hon.

Member for Clacton and have this Member for Clacton and have this note on the record. I have, of course, written to the hon. Member in similar terms.

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in similar terms. And grateful for the Honourable right hon. Member giving me notice. I'm putting his point on the record. I'm not sure it is a sin or whether he will then be absolved of it, but it has been noted that is the end of the business and I'll be moving on to size of the front benchers. Want to quickly shuffle over.

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Five Hail Marys?

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Now? With the leave of the house, our

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With the leave of the house, our

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group decides together motion. Oh, now. I beg to move.

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I beg to move. With motion number three. Constant constitutional law. Motion Constant constitutional law. Motion number four. Motion number four unconstitutional constitutional law. Motion number five and capital gains tax. Motion number six and capital gains tax. Motion number seven, capital gains tax, motion number eight and capital gains tax. Motion nine and judicial appointments and Appointments and

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discipline Minister to move. That to. Move the question is as on the Order Paper as may in the opinion, Order Paper as may in the opinion, say aye. I Of the contrary, no the ayes have it, the ayes have it. We

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ayes have it, the ayes have it. We now go on to petitions, petition Kirsteen Sullivan. Thank you, Madam.

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Deputy Speaker, I. Present this petition on behalf of my constituents on day eight of the United Nations. 16 days of activism, dangerous depictions of violence and offline pornography, violence and offline pornography, such as in magazines, are rightly prohibited under UK law. Yet no equivalent laws apply to online pornography. Despite its scale and accessibility, the Internet Watch Foundation published over 290,000 reports, with 97% depicting violent sexual child sexual abuse against girls. The petitioners, therefore, request that the House of Commons or to the government to extend safeguards that apply to pornography online, offline, to pornography distributed online and to legally require all pornography websites access from the UK to verify the age and permission of every individual featured on their platform, and give performers the right to withdraw their consent at any time to the continued publication of pornography in which they appear and the petitioners remain, etc.



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Thank Petition and violence

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against women. Petition Andrew Griffith. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.

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Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. There's no place more inappropriate for a 25 hectare solar farm than the nature rich farmland in Loxwood and Wisborough Green, 174 residents and four separate parish councils have objected to this proposal. Solar on this scale is better off on supermarket roofs above car parks and brownfield sites. I'm sad parks and brownfield sites. I'm sad to say the local Liberal Democrats have failed to take a stand, demonstrating that no green field in Sussex is safe.

The petitioners, therefore, request that the House of Commons urge the government to engage with local residents groups to encourage Chichester District Council to refuse planning permission for the proposed 20 megawatt solar farm in Wisborough Green. The petitioners remain, etc.

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Yeah.

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Yeah. And? Thank you. Petition proposed solar development in proposed solar development in proposed solar development in Wisborough Green. I beg to move that this House do now adjourn.

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The question is that this House do now adjourn and we have Barry Gardiner on government procurement. Barry Gardiner.

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Barry Gardiner. Deputy Speaker, on the 1st of October this year, it became mandatory for government mandatory for government contracting authorities to include social issues like jobs and skills in their procurement processes. This in itself is a good thing. But in my view, the social value model they have prepared is flawed. I welcome the consultation on further reforms to public procurement issued by the Cabinet Office in June of this year. In his related press release, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster made explicit connection between the consultation and the government's proposals for obtaining social value benefits that are specific to the needs of a community.

This aligns well with section 12 of the Procurement Act 2023 and the National Procurement Policy Statement that connects procurement with the government's core missions, for example, encouraging suppliers to recruit from groups that struggle to access employment opportunities as part of the Take Back Our Streets missions. Removing barriers to entry for young people and underrepresented groups. Part of the Breakdown Barriers to Opportunity mission, encouraging suppliers to recruit from economically inactive cohorts. Part of the health mission and opportunities for small business and social enterprise across the country.

Part of the Kickstart Economic Growth mission. So the Procurement Act sets clear objectives that, in effect, call for targeted recruitment and training and local FM initiatives. The current position builds on an approach that evolved during the last Labour government. Here, a range of local and regional initiatives were developed to target jobs and training opportunities that disadvantaged local communities. The term community could refer to people living in a specific geographic area, or people that share disadvantages in the labour market, like the long term unemployed young people, ex-offenders or care leavers.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation's influential 2002 report, Achieving Community Benefits Through Contracts Law, Policy and Practice, kickstarted this whole approach. Later, the Labour Government published the first UK guidance, Social Issues in Purchasing in 2006. This was followed by the Scottish Government's Community Benefits in Public Procurement document that included policy, a methodology and model clauses, and remains widely used today. Similar toolkits were adopted in other areas. These included the Targeted Recruitment and Training Toolkit produced by the North-East Improvement and Efficiency Partnership, the Can Do toolkit adopted by Welsh Housing Associations and the West Midlands Procurement Framework for Jobs and Skills.

Now, as a proud Glaswegian, I'm pleased to say that Scotland was an early adopter of targeted recruitment and training through procurement. A 2014 Glasgow University study covered 24 contracts and identified 1000 people recruited from priority groups, of which 38% were recruited. As a result of the contract requirements. 200 apprentices recruited, of which 73% were as a result of the contract conditions and all were still in employment. Six seven, 6700 individuals had received training, of which 31% would not have done so without those contract conditions.

Glasgow Housing Association, the stock transfer recipient for roughly 100,000 social homes in the city council area, incorporated new entrant trainee requirements into its regeneration contracts at the outset. Overall achievements by 2014 were 657 apprentices received an average of 73 weeks employment, 501 other new entrant trainees obtained an average of 22 weeks employment. A total of 60,000 person weeks of employment for new entrant trainees were delivered. 11.4% of all person weeks utilised on the contracts, and 48% of new entrant trainee opportunities went to residents of the most disadvantaged areas.

By any standards, I'm sure the Minister would agree this counts as a great success. The outcomes demonstrate the benefits of getting senior management buy in and staff resources from the outset. Targeted recruitment and training then becomes a normal part of commissioning, procurement and contract management. The approach set out in the Scottish Government guidance is underpinned by the Procurement Reform Scotland Act of 2014, which remains good law in Scotland. But let's come back to 2025. The government's procurement policy notes 002 social value model updates the 2013 social value model.

Both iterations of the model originate from discussions between the government and civil society organisations that resulted in the Public Services Social Value Act of 2012 for services contracts. It encourages contracting authorities to procure some wider community benefit from the way their service contracts are delivered, often following good practice. Developed by innovative community based

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service providers. Of course, very happy to give. Jim Shannon Madam Deputy Speaker. First of all, can I commend the hon. Member for Brent West for bringing this forward very important subject and he always puts forward with such detail and puts forward with such detail and information to help us when it comes to procurement. Cheapest isn't always best. We should be isn't always best. We should be looking at the very things the hon. Gentleman has referred to the the social values. To ensure that we social values.

To ensure that we support local businesses, we ensure we support the community. When I listened to what the hon. Member has said, Madam Deputy Speaker, I has said, Madam Deputy Speaker, I see some things that we in Northern Ireland can take advantage of and should be doing that. Would he should be doing that. Would he agree? Whenever the Minister replies that perhaps, maybe sharing those ideas with us in Northern

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Ireland Assembly would be advantageous not just for the Minister, but for us? Exeter Barry Gardiner.

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Exeter Barry Gardiner. Well, I'm grateful to my hon. Friend for his intervention. He's right, of course. It isn't always about cheapest being best. And and of course, that's partly what the social value. Is all about. It's this model is designed to ensure that there is genuine social value, that there is genuine social value, not simply the cheapest model. The 2025 version, though, extends the scope to all contracts of central government departments, executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies that fall within the scope of the Procurement Act 2023.

It then encourages other contracting authorities to apply the approach. As a result, the social value model must now be used on most infrastructure and building

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contracts as well. Of course. I thank my hon. Friend for

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I thank my hon. Friend for giving way. When I was had the privilege of leading a council in North Staffordshire, we tried to invent a model that allowed us to use the social value add exactly as he's describing, so that when we were working with an RSL for were working with an RSL for housebuilding, we could we could stipulate that a proportion of the bricks should come from local areas and in turn, apprentices would be working those factories. I found that actually it was also a matter of political will, but equally of political will, but equally being able to quantify the value of that social value that sometimes procurement officers struggle to understand, I wonder if he's got a solution he could share, maybe something the Minister could then cascade through government so that

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we can work out what that value really is, that we're all seeking to achieve. Well. My my hon. Friend gives a very

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My my hon. Friend gives a very apposite example of some of the problems that can arise. I won't be so bold as to say I have the solution, but what I'll do is I'll solution, but what I'll do is I'll I'll at least try and set out the problem with clarity so that the Minister can ensure that his his Minister can ensure that his his officers can provide a proper solution. The model details eight solution. The model details eight types of social value, each with several areas of activity.

These cover fair work training to address skills gaps, support for small business and community business action for sustainability, crime reduction, overcoming barriers to work and support for health and wellbeing. Contracting authorities can choose which of these are relevant to a particular procurement, but one element is mandatory where a type of social value is selected. The standard reporting metrics set out in the model must then be used for monitoring and reporting. And here in, I think lies the problem.

These monitoring requirements will influence how social value requirements are described in Tenders and contracts. A contracting authority using a targeted recruitment and training toolkit would struggle to comply with the standard reporting metrics, as they would not relate to the tried and tested specifications that are used. Many of the options in the social value model are related to the jobs, skills, and SME opportunities that are contemplated in the National Procurement Policy Statement. However, the model appears to be expecting procurement officials to create tender requirements whereby potential contractors will identify labour shortages and community needs and then propose ways to fill this gap in the delivery of the contract.

This may be possible with the services contract, but is really not workable in a large, complex building and infrastructure development. So what are my concerns? First, apart from the way outputs are recorded, no specific elements of the social value model are mandatory for contracting authorities. So the provision of opportunities for people currently disadvantaged in the labour market are not mandatory. Contracting authorities can choose to focus on other activities contained in the social value model. Second, the approach for every social value option is to require bidders for the contract to provide a comprehensive method statement at tender stage.

This puts a heavy burden on potential contractors and is actually a huge barrier to small businesses bidding for contracts. This is perverse when breaking down barriers to SME engagement is one of the very procurement principles

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government. On that point. Yes, of course. Thank you for giving way. He's

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Thank you for giving way. He's making an excellent speech and a powerful argument. I've been dealing with an advanced manufacturer of metal and steel manufacturer of metal and steel wires in my constituency, who have been put off by the very thing that he describes. Now they stand ready he describes. Now they stand ready to support the government's mission on clean and green energy. They want to supply these steel wires to want to supply these steel wires to wind farms. And yet it's things like this that deter them from even getting involved in the first place.



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getting involved in the first place. change? Well. Barry Gardiner. Look, I'm heartened, Madam

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Look, I'm heartened, Madam Deputy Speaker. Normally, I think I said when some hon. Members approached me about the adjournment, I said, look, it's extremely boring. You won't you won't want to be. But actually to to have had three interventions that have been so apposite is been really gratifying. Look, in response to to the hon. Gentleman, my hon. Friend, an alternative approach would be for most social value requirements to be included in the tender and contract documents as conditions relating to the delivery of the contract, rather than an item that is scored at the tender stage.

Here a method statement would be required shortly after the award of the contract, but only the winning contractor would then have to prepare this. I hope that goes some way to answering the question that my hon. Friends have put forward. My third concern the social value requirements may not be deliverable in large construction contracts. These have many layers of employer involved in delivering the contract, and a significant turnover of employers and workforces at different stages of the contract.

This is very different from the majority of service contracts. Key issues arising from this would include ensuring that the subcontractors who employ most of the workforce deliver the social value requirements and provide the necessary monitoring information. Also, getting highly mobile subcontractors to recruit and train locally based people. Ensuring a continuity of employment and training for new entrants when subcontractors have a limited engagement with the project and training needs 1 or 2 years of an on site support. The current social value model demonstrates no awareness of these issues.

If it feels impractical to achieve jobs and training on a particular project, then procurement teams may opt for alternative social value outputs or opt out altogether, and this could undermine the high priority given to providing opportunities for disadvantaged groups in the delivery of major projects. Fourth, the social value model uses terms like people underrepresented in the labour market. Disabled people. Most applicants from these groups will not be identified on any register or easily categorised for recruitment and monitoring purposes.

Indeed, they may not want to be labelled in this way whatever the standard metric requires. In the toolkits I've referred I've referenced above, the focus of attention is on local people's need for employment and in-work training and support. Often months or years of employment is needed if new entrants are to become fully productive and embedded in their trade. Targeting comes by recruiting from from training and support organisations that work with those targeted communities, especially from local organisations. The term community may have widely different meanings in the mandatory standard reporting metrics.

In the model where there is a locality element, it's defined as a UK region. People living close to a major infrastructure development would probably see their community as having much narrower boundaries. These more targeted benefits seem closer to the government's missions. As described above. There is an additional question the annexe to procurement policy. Note two in February this year states that employment opportunities arising from a contract must be advertised via the Dwp's find a job website as well as local job centres.

In the past, these websites have offered the employer suitable candidates from anywhere in the UK, often within hours. This creates additional barriers for local new entrants as they are competing with candidates from a very wide area. If this. I will just finish this this thought. If this requirement is still applicable, this issue needs to be addressed with the Department of Work and Pension.

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I thank my hon. Friend for bringing this important subject to the House. Would he join me in the House. Would he join me in welcoming the announcement that's actually hot off the press this evening from the Cabinet Office and evening from the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government about how councils, police and fire about how councils, police and fire authorities in England are now to be able to reserve bidding for lower value contracts to just local lower value contracts to just local and UK suppliers.

And this is all about opening up government work to about opening up government work to small businesses and to enable, exactly as he was saying, small

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businesses and local people to get high skilled jobs from this government procurement. Barry Gardiner.

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Well, Madam Deputy Speaker, goodness me, it's very rare that I stand on my feet in this chamber stand on my feet in this chamber and get such immediate results from government. So if this is the government. So if this is the precedent, then it's one which I precedent, then it's one which I wholeheartedly welcome. But I am. I am delighted to hear what my hon. Friend has just reported as as the Friend has just reported as as the new government policy.

And look, I was, as I was saying about the Department for Work and Pensions, Department for Work and Pensions, by contrast, defining some job vacancies as new entrant trainee vacancies as new entrant trainee opportunities and naming local organisations as potential recruitment partners can increase opportunities for local people without damaging competition. And I think that's probably a very good example that he's just mentioned. This is especially important in the context of the youth guarantee announced by the government in September. Likewise, local business support organisations can help increase opportunities for local SMEs.

Many combined authorities have a role to play in promoting good practice on a shared basis in their regions. So finally, I am concerned that the current model provides a complex shopping list of what social value might be thought. It leaves procurement teams to unpack what each will involve, and then turn that into a tender requirement. This is in a context where many of the procurement staff involved, especially in works contracts, will be new to social value. I'm struck by the critique of the social value approach made in the 24 report, published by the centre for Local Economic Strategies, one of the leading organisations in the field.

They say an entire industry has grown up around the demand for methods, measures and consultancy time to help understand and measure social value. As a result, there are concerns that the original purpose of social value and the nuanced social dynamics involved in measuring its impact may be lost to bureaucracy and rigid frameworks. I think that perfectly sums it up. In my view, the current social value model will bring a bonanza for consultants, both contracting authorities and contractors will feel they need to seek help to engage with these relatively new requirements.

It would be far more efficient to simply simplify the requirements and equip procurement teams with the tools, systems and training to put them into contracts and monitor their delivery. So three urgent questions for the Minister to consider. First, will the government review the social value model to reduce the negative impact on small businesses seeking services contracts? Second, will the government, perhaps working with the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority commission urgent work to develop a targeted recruitment and training approach for large works contracts, using the experiences gained through the toolkits elsewhere in the UK.

And thirdly, will the government clarify whether all vacancies on works contracts have to be listed on the W DWP find a job website, and, if so, whether employers are able to exercise a

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local preference when delivering a social value obligation. Yes. I call the Minister Chris Ward.

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I call the Minister Chris Ward. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and can I thank my hon. Friend for Brent West for securing this debate. Brent West for securing this debate. He raises a number of important and specific points, which I will answer shortly, but if you'll answer shortly, but if you'll permit me in the time I have, I just want to briefly set out the government's approach to procurement as well, not least because it's the first opportunity I've had to do so as the Minister responsible for procurement.

First, I want to emphasise that I and this government see public procurement as an incredibly important vehicle for social and economic change, and not in the slightest bit boring. It accounts for 1 in 3 pounds of every of public spending, totalling some £400 billion a year. So it is a huge opportunity and responsibility to make sure that Budget is spent wisely, and that it does everything possible to boost British jobs growth and deliver opportunity and fairness across the country. I will.

Just follow up with my point.
20:57
Chris Ward Portrait Chris Ward MP, The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven, Labour)
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My hon. Friend from Rugby about the the great announcement that police forces were able to buy things locally. When will the Minister extend that to make sure that British police services are buying British cars, and that the government car service is buying British cars, and that Motability schemes are using British cars, and that the FCDO fleet is using that the FCDO fleet is using British cars, because all of those use currently used foreign made vehicles, which isn't using British vehicles, which isn't using British Minister.

 Thank you for that. As he knows, we are making progress on the Motability part of that which you're doing in the Budget. And I know the Chancellor has spoken many, many times about the need to buy British. And hopefully we can we can start to roll that out and make much greater progress on it. And I'm glad to welcome the announcement today, which I'll come to. But whether it's in in British steel, British shipbuilding, in wind farms, or as we saw in the Budget last week to drive innovation and investment across the UK, we need to do far more to make sure we buy British.

It's also why, just this week, as I mentioned, we've announced measures to allow local authorities to reserve contracts for supplies in their areas. This will help keep more than £1 billion of potential spend in local communities, and it will benefit small and local firms considerably. This flows from the decision we took to publish a National Procurement Policy Statement earlier this year, which required contracting authorities to consider wider objectives like creating local skills, jobs and opportunities, and to maximise procurement spend with SMEs over the summer.

As the House will know, the government also consulted on a range of proposals to go further, including broadening the definition of national security to economic security, which would allow much greater support to be had for UK critical industries such as shipbuilding or steel. It also included plans to introduce a public interest test to support and help deliver a wave of insourcing. Also included expanding support and opportunities for SMEs, further including tackling the scourge of late payments, and to go through the thrust of the hon.

Member's remarks to reform social value, to tighten the definition and to see it delivered much more effectively. Now we are working through those consultation responses. I've met with a number of businesses, unions and contracting authorities to discuss it, and we are drawing up plans to bring forward legislation in the next session for a new procurement bill to deliver these changes. But let me be clear, Madam Deputy Speaker, as Procurement Minister, I have two central goals. First, to make the current procurement regime less bureaucratic and less burdensome, streamlining the processes wherever possible, reducing unnecessary form filling and in particular, making it easier and fairer for SMEs.

And second, I want to make sure that every pound of that £400 billion procurement Budget is used to support British jobs, British industries and growth across the country. Within that second goal lies the question of social value that the hon. Member has raised. Now I am sympathetic to a number of points he made, and I have discussed this, particularly with SMEs recently, about how we can do more in this space. As you said, the social value was introduced properly in 2019 and refreshed in 25.

It is not currently mandatory for all contracting authorities or contracts, but it is applicable only to central government departments, executive agencies and non-departmental bodies. As I say, we are consulting on changes that will open up procurement on social value grounds much more widely and as the hon. Member will know, the purpose of social value model in the guidance, which has only been in a couple of months, is to ensure that contracting authorities can reward suppliers for more than just simply best price, that it can reflect quality jobs, it can support people to work and training opportunities.

So, for example, if you want to build a new road and infrastructure project, the contracting authority can consider more than price. It can consider what it does to help the community. Now, I do agree with the hon. Gentleman that the definition of community as well needs to be improved. It needs to be clarified, and we need to be much clearer about both community voice and view on this as well. And again, that is something I want to try and bring forward in the legislation.

Now it is early days to to assess the impact of those measures. But I do take on board the points he raises regarding flaws in the process and the need to go further. And as I say, it does chime with some of the points he made. I'm also particularly conscious that social value doesn't just become a tick box exercise, particularly for where large contracting or where large companies employ more people, employ consultants, and win contracts simply by being able to fill in the form better.

That is absolutely not what social value is or should be, and it will absolutely not be what this government allows to happen when we bring forward legislation in the next session. I also think we need to look at the threshold where social value requirements apply, so we can ensure SMEs and community groups have a much more level playing field, and we can open up the requirements much more. Again, that will be part of the consultation. He also asked about targeted recruitment and training approach for large contracts.

I think again, some very good points here and I agree it needs to be a tool to provide local communities with the skills they need. The social model value at the moment provides some flexibility for contracting authorities in that regard. For example, things like skills gaps or local problems in the area. But there is more we can do and I will consider the points he raises and get back to him, so thank him for that. He also asked about whether all vacancies are on the DWP.

Sorry, all vacancies for works contracts are on the DWP. Find a job website. The answer is yes. As of February 2025, there has been a requirement for all government suppliers to advertise jobs in the local job relating to government contracts in the local job centre. The aim here, as I'm sure we can recognise, is to make sure local people have every opportunity to access quality jobs. Again though, I will look at the points he makes about how that's playing out and if we can improve it.

The hon. Gentleman mentioned Northern Ireland and how we can do more to support procurement in there. I am talking with the Northern Ireland Executive at this about how we can work together and try and make sure that new legislation we bring forward in the next session could also apply in Northern Ireland, should they wish to do so. In conclusion, I want to thank the hon. Member for securing this important debate. I think procurement is one of the most important levers we have in government, and we should have far more debates in this House on it because it matters to government, it matters to taxpayers, it matters to British businesses, and it matters to workers and people across the country.

The best way we can support UK businesses to further deliver growth is to go further and faster on reforming public procurement. That is what this government has already done. It's what it will continue to do. We will deliver simpler, less bureaucratic process, better value for taxpayers and more opportunities for local jobs skills in all parts of the country. We will bring that forward soon. Madam Deputy Speaker and I thank the hon. Member and other members for

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contributing to the debate tonight. The question is that this House do now adjourn. As many of us say, do now adjourn. As many of us say, I the ayes have it. The ayes have
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