Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Michael Meacher

Wednesday 15th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Last but not least, Mr Michael Meacher.

[Mr Michael Meacher (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab)]

Q13. If this is such a great economic recovery, why are wages still 6% below the pre-crisis level of seven years ago? Why was the growth rate in the last quarter a mere 0.4%? Why has productivity been flat for five years? Why is UK investment as a proportion of GDP one of the lowest in the world? And why is the balance of payments in traded goods now in deficit by £100 billion a year?

[The Prime Minister]

If the right hon. Gentleman wants to know why, there are two words: ask Gordon. But if he wants to know what is actually happening in our economy, let me tell him. The deficit has been halved from its peak—[Interruption.]

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Michael Meacher

Wednesday 5th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I will certainly do that. We review very regularly the performance of broadband targets, because that is absolutely essential, particularly for rural areas. If someone is left off superfast broadband, it is much more difficult to take part in the modern economy. Progress has been very good, and it has made a big difference that British Telecom is prepared to publish all the areas not yet covered, so that other companies can come in and see what they are able to provide. We are also making available broadband vouchers for small businesses, which are very successful, and we can look to see whether we can expand that. I am convinced that spreading broadband right around the country is one of the most important priorities for this Government.

[Mr Michael Meacher (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab)]

Q12. Since the Prime Minister likes to bang on about Labour overspending, is he aware that in Labour’s 11 years before the crash in 2008 the biggest deficit was 3.3% of GDP, whereas the Thatcher and Major Governments racked up deficits bigger than that in 10 out of their 18 years? So who are the over- spenders? It is a no-brainer.

[The Prime Minister]

There is only one problem with what the right hon. Gentleman says, which is that the deficit that Labour left, and we inherited, was 11.5% of GDP. It was bigger than almost any other country’s anywhere in the world. If he does not believe me, he can listen to his own shadow Chancellor, who said this:

“I think that the fact that you had the massive, global financial crisis which happened on our watch meant that people saw their living standards hit…I don’t think we would be being straight with people if we only said it was the financial crisis. It was also after 13 years in government we had made some mistakes.”

There we have it—some mistakes. You bet there were mistakes: overspending, over-borrowing, overtaxing, wasteful welfare, bloated expenditure. A complete and utter failure and it is extraordinary they are still sitting there on the Front Bench.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Michael Meacher

Wednesday 11th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is entirely right. The biggest hit to living standards would be if we let spending and borrowing get out of control and interest rates went up. That is what we want to avoid, which is why we got the deficit down, and we must continue with our difficult spending decisions. That has enabled us to cut the taxes of people working and living in Basildon. By next year, with the first £10,000 of income coming out of tax, people on the minimum wage who are working a full-time week will see their income tax bill come down by two thirds. That is real action on the side of people who work hard.

[Mr Michael Meacher (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab)]

Q5. Is the Prime Minister aware that FTSE 100 directors now get £86,000 a week on average, while at the other end of the scale 5 million workers get less than the living wage and three quarters of a million people who cannot get a job and get sanctioned get nothing at all and are left to starve? Is there no end to the brutality and nastiness of Tory Britain?

[The Prime Minister]

I say to the right hon. Gentleman, who served in Labour Government after Labour Government with a 40p tax rate—it is now 45p—and a bonus bonanza in the City 85 times higher than it is now, that he has a lot of brass neck.

Point of Order

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Michael Meacher

Wednesday 20th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Meacher]

I want to ask, Mr Speaker, whether it is parliamentary to use such an unjustifiable, rude and offensive phrase about another hon. Member.

[The Prime Minister]

I completely respect the right hon. Gentleman and the important question he asked, which I tried to answer with the point about inward investment into Britain. I made a light-hearted remark—if it caused any offence, I will happily withdraw it. I think it is very important that we can have a little bit of light-hearted banter, and a sense of humour on all sides.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Michael Meacher

Wednesday 20th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I rather fear that that is true, having known the hon. Member for New Forest East (Dr Lewis) for over 30 years.

[Mr Michael Meacher (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab)]

Is the Prime Minister aware that, according to The Economist, Britain is now 159th lowest in the world in terms of business investment, just behind Mali, Paraguay and Guatemala? Will he therefore please tell the House when, under his esteemed leadership and that of his Chancellor, Britain can expect to catch up with Mali?

[The Prime Minister]

I can only conclude that the right hon. Gentleman, too, has been on a night out on the town with Rev. Flowers and that the mind-altering substances have taken effect. The fact is that in the first six months of this year, Britain has received more inward investment than any other country anywhere in the world.

G8

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Michael Meacher

Wednesday 19th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yes, my right hon. Friend is absolutely right. That point highlights what a complicated and difficult deal it is. We sometimes think that trade deals are just about taking down tariff barriers and then letting the market decide. Modern trade deals are much more about agreeing common standards and recognition of each other’s standards, and opening up things like services and procurement. The deal will be difficult and complicated, but it has started with good will on all sides, which is the right way to kick it off.

[Mr Michael Meacher (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab)]

The automatic transfer of tax information and the provision of registers of beneficial ownership appear to be no more than a wish list, since the communiqué says that countries “should” do those things, rather than “will”. What sanctions or pressures will be exerted against countries that refuse or fail to comply, given that that could unravel the whole objective?

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman has a long track record of campaigning on these issues. I urge him to read the Lough Erne declaration, because we tried to put down in simple terms something that everyone would understand about publishing information, about companies saying where they pay their taxes and about what extractive industries pay to developing countries. People write and campaign to all Members of the House on that agenda, and we all feel passionately about it. Getting the leaders to sign their name under that declaration means that it will become part of the G8 process. Every time we meet, we will discuss what progress has been made and what fresh agreements have been made. In the end, all countries are sovereign and make their own decisions, but it was remarkable how much progress was made so quickly at the G8 in getting countries to sign up to these things and do them.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Michael Meacher

Wednesday 19th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise this. First of all, let us congratulate Andy Murray on his excellent victory at the Queen’s club at the weekend, and wish him and other British players well for the Wimbledon tournament. We should commend the LTA for its work in trying to make tennis much more of a mass participation sport. I see it in the primary school that my children go to, where more tennis is being taught and played. It still has a long way to go. The LTA has to satisfy Sport England and all the funding bodies that it is doing everything it can to make tennis a mass participation sport.

[Mr Michael Meacher (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab)]

Q3. When, according to The Sunday Times, just 1,000 of our richest citizens have increased their wealth since the financial crash by £190 billion while everyone else has been forced to take on average a 6% real-terms cut in income, is not the Prime Minister’s policy of enriching the perpetrators and punishing the victims the very opposite of a one nation Britain?

[The Prime Minister]

The richest in our country are going to pay a higher percentage of income tax under this Government than they did under the last one. The right hon. Gentleman sat in that Government and had an opportunity to do something about it, but all the time he was a Minister, the top rate of tax was actually lower than it is going to be under this Government.

Leveson Inquiry

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Michael Meacher

Thursday 29th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I think that in the last week we have seen two notable successes in that regard. In two cases, there has not been a bat’s squeak outside the House of Commons. I refer to the announcement of the new Governor of the Bank of England, Mr Mark Carney, and to the report that was published today. There has been not a leak, not a sentence, not a word. How different things were in the past.

[Mr Michael Meacher (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab)]

Lord Leveson states that the selection of the key appointment panel which selects the chair and members of the crucial governing board should itself be independent of both the Government and the industry. Who would the Prime Minister expect to draw up a list of nominations, and who would make the final choice?

[The Prime Minister]

That is a very important question. In his report, Lord Justice Leveson gives a number of alternatives. He clearly prefers his model, but I think that the independence of those either judging an independent regulatory system or appointing people to it is absolutely vital. That is why I am concerned about the role that he puts forward for Ofcom. As I said earlier, the chair of Ofcom is appointed by the Secretary of State, and in my view that makes the two of them too close. In everything that we do, whether via legislation or by means of other backstops, we need to ensure that the people involved in this and the people judging this are properly independent.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Michael Meacher

Wednesday 28th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Michael Meacher (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab)]

Q11. Since the Prime Minister denounced aggressive tax avoidance as “morally repugnant”, why are his Government now actively promoting aggressive tax avoidance by cutting the tax on multinationals that open a finance company in a tax haven from the current 23% to just 5%? How can we be one nation when the Government are on the side of the tax dodgers?

[The Prime Minister]

I think the right hon. Gentleman has misunderstood what we are doing. We are introducing a general anti-avoidance rule—something that he, in 13 years of Labour Government, never managed to do. We will do it in three.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Michael Meacher

Wednesday 4th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The Father of the House makes an extremely good point. It would be completely wrong if people who were leaving in those circumstances were given some vast pay-off. It would be completely inexplicable to the British public, and it would not be right. I very much hope that it does not happen. In terms of what the Government can do, we are going to legislate so that all pay deals are put to shareholders with a binding vote, and those deals should include any severance payments. The party opposite had 13 years to do that; we are going to do it in two.

[Mr Michael Meacher (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab)]

Q10. Given that the richest 1,000 persons in Britain made gains of £155 billion in the past three years of austerity, why will the Government not charge those gains at the capital gains tax rate, which would bring in about £40 billion? That would be enough, without any increase in public borrowing, to generate 1 million or more jobs. It would be far better to cut the deficit in that way—through growth, rather than through the Chancellor’s failed slump.

[The Prime Minister]

I hate to remind the right hon. Gentleman, but he was a Minister in the Government whose capital gains tax rules meant that people in the City were paying less in tax than their cleaners were paying. We have lifted the rate of capital gains tax to 28% so that we have a fairer system.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Michael Meacher

Wednesday 27th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

It is quite clear that the Opposition just want to shout down anyone who wants to talk up what is happening in our economy. In the last quarter we saw 200,000 new private sector jobs, which was more than four times the rate of growth that we saw in terms of the decline in the public sector. We are seeing a rebalancing of our economy, and 2011 was a record year for the creation of new small businesses in our country, and on this side of the House at least we are in favour of encouraging that.

[Mr Michael Meacher (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab)]

The coalition agreement stated that the Government would introduce a House business committee by the third year of this Parliament. Will the Prime Minister therefore confirm to the House that he will introduce it within the next 12 months?

[The Prime Minister]

We are looking carefully at this issue. Let me just say to the right hon. Gentleman, who has served as a Minister and a Back-Bench MP, that this Government, by introducing the Back-Bench days and Back-Bench business, have already made one of the most fundamental reforms of this place. Back-Bench Members are able to determine both the time and subject of debate, something that never happened under 13 years of the Labour Government.

Ministerial Code (Culture Secretary)

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Michael Meacher

Monday 30th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I have to say, on the argument made by the Labour party, that if its Ministers had resigned every time one of their special advisers had got something wrong, we would have had a new Government virtually every week.

[Mr Michael Meacher (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab)]

Is it not obvious that the real reason the Prime Minister is so reluctant to refer this matter to the independent adviser on the ministerial code is that, if the Secretary of State were forced to resign as a result, the Prime Minister would find himself on the front line and having to answer for every future revelation about the covert links between the Murdoch empire and the Conservative party? In those circumstances, is it not inappropriate that the Prime Minister, who has a vested interest, should take this decision, rather than Parliament, based on a substantive motion and a vote in the House?

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman could find any sort of complicated, circuitous explanation he wants, but he could always go for the simple one, which is that, having consulted the Cabinet Secretary and listened to the views of others, the best way to find out the facts is to allow Leveson to run its course. That does not in any way excuse me from exercising my duties under the ministerial code. That is the answer. Sometimes the simple explanation is actually the right one.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Michael Meacher

Wednesday 11th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for his work on this issue, and to the Age Concern campaign. We have a huge challenge to rise to this agenda and we want to do so through the White Paper. There are three elements: we must do something about the rising costs of domiciliary care, improve the quality of the care that people receive, and address the issue of people having to sell their homes and all their assets to pay for care. We are looking hard at all those issues to work out a way forward that is right for our system, and that the country can afford.

[Mr Michael Meacher (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab)]

Q6. The Sunday Times showed that in the past two years the 1,000 richest persons in Britain got richer by £137 billion—enough to pay off the entire deficit. Will the Prime Minister therefore tax them to fund the creation of 1 million jobs, which would be a far better way of cutting the deficit than prolonged austerity?

[The Prime Minister]

For a minute, I thought that the right hon. Gentleman was talking about the Prime Minister he served under. It is essential that as we reduce the deficit and take difficult decisions we are fair, and are seen to be fair. What we have done so far has seen the top 10% of the country paying 10 times more than the bottom 10%. Crucially, the top 10% in terms of earnings are paying more not only in cash terms, but as a percentage of their income. As we go ahead with this agenda, I want to ensure that people behave responsibly, and that the Government do too.

EU Council

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Michael Meacher

Monday 12th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s support but would repeat the point I made last Wednesday. Of course Britain has a key interest in being in the European Union. I do not believe that the sort of options that other countries have outside the European Union give them anything like the influence that we have, because it is not just the markets we need open; it is a say over the rules of those markets. That is what membership of the single market gives us in this country.

[Mr Michael Meacher (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab)]

Is it not utterly bizarre that the Prime Minister has marginalised this country and recklessly thrown away Britain’s international influence, from Washington to Beijing, solely to protect the City from regulation when it is urgently in need of some regulation? In any case, his veto cannot protect the banking sector from any future EU finance directives. Is he not therefore ashamed that never before has so much been thrown away for so little or, indeed, needlessly for almost nothing?

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman clearly wrote his questions before coming to the House and listening to my statement. As I set out in the statement, we were not seeking special protections for the City; we were seeking a level playing field. Indeed, in some ways, we were asking to be able to have more regulation here in the UK, not least because of the shambles of RBS. Let us be clear: the Financial Services Authority report today names only three politicians as culpable—Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister and the shadow Chancellor, who was the man partly responsible for this complete shambles that we now have to clear up.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Michael Meacher

Wednesday 19th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an extremely important point. While we believe that the logic of a single currency drives the eurozone towards greater fiscal integration, that poses particular threats and risks to those of us who want the single market to work properly. At the European Council this weekend it is important to argue for safeguards to make sure that the single market remains robust and properly protected. That is what we must do in the short term. Of course in the longer term there may be further moves towards further treaties and so forth, and at that stage there may be opportunities to bring further powers back to Britain—and there may, indeed, be opportunities to hold a referendum, but I do not believe the right answer is to hold a referendum willy-nilly in this Parliament when we have so much to do to get Europe to sort out its problems.

[Mr Michael Meacher (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab)]

On a statutory register of lobbyists, will the Prime Minister also ensure that so-called think-tanks—whose propaganda is clearly aimed at manipulating both Ministers and the public for their own ends—are required to reveal who ultimately funds them, so that we all know whose interests they really represent?

[The Prime Minister]

We are committed to having a statutory register of lobbyists. That does need to be put in place and, as the right hon. Gentleman says, it needs to include think-tanks and other such organisations. It also needs to include one of the biggest lobbies of all—the lobby that owns the Labour party lock, stock and trade union barrel: the trade unions.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Michael Meacher

Wednesday 4th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

One of the most important things that we can do is make all that information available. This Government have massively increased transparency. Every council in the country has to declare its spending on any item over £500, and people have found that useful in seeing how much council executives are paid, how much councillors are paid, and making sure that they bear down on those costs. I commend what is happening in Fylde, and it is a matter of great regret that there is still one council—Labour-controlled Nottingham—that will not make that information available.

[Mr Michael Meacher (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab)]

Given that private borrowing was falling at the last election why, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility, do the Government plan to ramp it up by half a trillion pounds to a total of more than £2 trillion by 2015?

[The Prime Minister]

What the Government are doing is getting control of Government borrowing—that was the real crisis at the last election. It is an important point to make, particularly on a day when we read about Portugal going for an enormous bail-out. It is worth reminding ourselves that today we have a bigger budget deficit than Portugal. The reason we are not in Portugal’s position is that we took action in two brave Budgets and a spending round to clear up the mess left by the right hon. Gentleman’s hon. Friends.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Michael Meacher

Wednesday 30th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is entirely right, and he has a record as a Minister for Africa and a Development Minister in a previous Government. The fact is that we have made a commitment, both nationally and internationally, to increase our aid spending, and I think Britain should be a country that sticks to its word. I have to say, even to those who take a more hard-headed approach to these things, that overseas aid is in our domestic interest. When we think of the problems that world poverty causes, we see that it is in our interest and that of our national security to deliver that aid. Above all, Britain sticking to its word, as I found at the G8 and G20, gives us the opportunity to have some moral authority and moral leadership on this vital issue.

[Mr Michael Meacher (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab)]

How can the Prime Minister justify the fact that hundreds of thousands of public sector workers, the victims of the financial crash, will unquestionably lose their jobs because of the huge public service cuts to come, when the bankers and super-rich, the architects of the financial crash, whose wealth grew by £77 billion in this last year according to The Sunday Times rich list, stand to lose neither their jobs, their income nor their wealth? Is that what he means by everyone being in it together?