Financial Guidance and Claims Bill [Lords]

Julian Knight Excerpts

3rd reading: House of Commons & Report: 3rd sitting: House of Commons
Tuesday 24th April 2018 Commons Chamber

[Gareth Thomas]

My hon. Friend makes a good point.

In the United States, federal banking regulators regularly assess how banks are meeting local credit needs. Their assessments affect the way in which the banks are allowed to expand, merge, do acquisitions and so on. Banks can get credits towards their assessments if they invest in community banks or credit unions. Not surprisingly, both the community banking movement and the credit union movement are in even better health in the US than they are here.

Santander, HSBC and Barclays all operate in the United States, where they release far more data on lending, down to postcode level, than they do here. So surely the questions for this House are: why are they not willing to do that here, too; and, as I believe, should they be forced to do so? Last October, Santander announced an $11 billion, five-year settlement on lending and community development in eastern parts of the United States, which is the market in which it operates. That represented a 50% increase in its Community Reinvestment Act-related activity. No such equivalent increase has been announced here in the UK. The Community Reinvestment Act has cross-party support in the US, being backed by Republicans and Democrats alike, including for its data disclosure requirements. If Ministers are not prepared to accept my amendments, I would wish, with your permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, to press amendment 1 to a Division. These amendments are not onerous. Banks and other lenders record this data, and although a little work would be needed so that the information could be released in a useful format, a similar system works particularly well in the United States. In turn, the disclosure of lending details could help the single financial guidance body to make more effective choices.

I shall deal briefly with amendment 31. One key challenge for the single financial guidance body will be, as we all know, to help those who need loans, for whatever reason, to access the cheapest products—those offered by credit unions fall into that category. Surely the SFGB should be mapping where credit unions exist and what further action can be taken to promote the take-up of their services by those who are most in need. Credit unions have very low administration costs. They simply do not have the megabucks of a major bank or a payday lender’s marketing department, so many of those who most need the support that credit unions can offer are often unaware of the services they provide. Surely another challenge for the House is to work out how we help credit unions to make more information available about the products on offer. I know that Ministers are sympathetic to efforts to expand the credit union sector, so I ask them to give specific attention to thinking about what further steps can be taken to help the credit union movement to expand and to support the SFGB in achieving that aim.

[Julian Knight (Solihull) (Con)]

I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I completely agree with what the hon. Gentleman says about credit unions. Does he agree that one key aspect of trying to promote them is improving their professionalism, IT and this information, and using the potential for workplace credit unions? Should we not try to bring this through the workplace and payroll?

[Gareth Thomas]

I agree with that point, which is why it has been encouraging over the past 10 to 15 years to see Departments beginning to do their bit to encourage the workplace take-up of credit unions. I hope the Economic Secretary may be able to tell me that Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs will follow this trend soon, but the point about trying to increase professionalism is well made. Again, it would be good to hear commitments from Ministers that some of the problems that credit unions face due to poor regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority will be dealt with.

Telecommunications Infrastructure (Relief from Non-Domestic Rates) Bill

Julian Knight Excerpts

3rd reading: House of Commons & Committee: 1st sitting: House of Commons & Report stage: House of Commons
Tuesday 5th September 2017 Commons Chamber

[Julian Knight (Solihull) (Con)]

I thank the Minister for giving way—he is being most generous in allowing interventions. In 2015 and last year, Solihull enjoyed a higher growth rate than China, but it is still one of the poorest areas for broadband provision, particularly business provision. The Minister can imagine what more could be achieved if we had better broadband, so the Bill is very welcome, as is the £60 million in targeted tax relief. Does he agree that the relief will not only boost Solihull’s economy but key in to the midlands engine, which is absolutely at the heart of UK growth and productivity?

[Mr Jones]

My hon. Friend is a keen advocate and supporter of the businesses of Solihull. My understanding is that, by the end of the current roll-out period, 91% of properties will have been reached by superfast broadband. However, the Bill will incentivise providers to roll out more direct fibre services to all parts of the country. Hopefully, businesses and individuals in Solihull will also benefit from the provisions in the Bill.

Through these powers, we will target the relief on operators of telecoms networks who deploy—I have reiterated this point a number of times for the sake of clarity—new fibre on their networks. The proposals will incentivise and reward operators who invest in the fibre network.

These concepts have not been defined before for business rates. The powers in the clauses will therefore allow us to develop definitions with experts in the telecoms and business rates sectors. By taking this approach, we can ensure that we accurately capture in the relief only those parts of the telecoms network that comprise new fibre, which has been a significant concern of right hon. and hon. Members.

Balancing the Public Finances

Julian Knight Excerpts

Tuesday 11th July 2017 Westminster Hall

[Mr Harper]

My hon. Friend sets out clearly what has happened in the past, and I want to spend a little time on the challenges facing us in the future, but it is worth looking at the economic record. We did not make the decisions and get the success we have had easily; they were contested, and our political opponents challenged us every step of the way. But we have been successful, which gives us the credibility to talk about facing the challenges of the future.

When we came to power in 2010, the budget deficit was the equivalent of just under 10% of the size of the economy, at £150 billion a year. According to the most recent set of actual figures, we have reduced the cash deficit to £46 billion—down by 70%—and the deficit as a proportion of the size of the economy is down by 75% to 2.5%. That is a significant achievement, and it means that in this Parliament the size of our stock of national debt as a proportion of the size of the economy will start to fall. That is incredibly important for the future.

[Julian Knight (Solihull) (Con)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on securing this incredibly important debate. The impact is not simply one of taxes and of borrowing and spending, but of Government spending on personal finances, which has a massive impact because of interest rates and personal interest rates. If we let borrowing get out of control, interest rates in the real economy would rise. That is when we have repossessions, and that then is when we have a depression.

[Mr Harper]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. If we let the public finances get out of control, interest rates would rise and hard-pressed families who are having to make difficult decisions would see the cost of their mortgages and other debts go up, which would not make their lives any easier at all.

Let us consider the impact of controlling the public finances on the real economy. If we look at growth, at how fast the economy has grown over the past seven years, we see that our economic performance among the G7 largest countries in the world has been second only to that of the United States. Interestingly, we have grown our economy at almost double the rate of our nearest neighbour, France. In 2014 and 2016 we were the fastest growing G7 country, and the joint fastest in 2015. That is an impressive record. I mention that because our political opponents often pretend that balancing the public finances has not worked, but in generating economic growth it absolutely has worked.

Economy and Jobs

Julian Knight Excerpts

Thursday 29th June 2017 Commons Chamber

[John McDonnell]

I will come on to that. Household debt is at a record level. Why? Because wages are so low, yet housing costs, and other costs with inflation rising, are biting hard for working families. It is no wonder that they have to resort to increased levels of debt just to get by. Those are the JAMs—the “just about managing”, who were supposed to be protected in the last Budget.

[Julian Knight (Solihull) (Con)]

Does the shadow Chancellor understand the very basic economic point that the ability to borrow relies on confidence? If the individual institution that is lending someone money has no confidence that they will be able to repay it, the interest rate will go up. If we do not have the correct economic policy in place for the correct borrowing, we will end up with higher interest rates.

[John McDonnell]

I am not sure that that adds to the sum of human knowledge.

--- Later in debate ---

[Julian Knight (Solihull) (Con)]

I congratulate everyone who has made their maiden speech today—we have heard some excellent speeches.

If you will indulge me for a moment, Mr Speaker, I would like to make a brief dedication to my predecessor, John Taylor, who sadly passed away during the campaign. I am sure many Members of the House will have happy memories of John, who was a thoroughly decent man and a very good friend to me.

John and I would often talk about the economy, and about Solihull and the growth we have seen there. That growth is not to be taken for granted. Often, people suggest that Solihull is prosperous so it can afford to pay more in tax, and that sort of thing, but the reality is that Solihull is built on entrepreneurship. Since 2010, we have seen a 60% fall in unemployment, and in 2015 we had a GDP growth rate faster than China’s.

However, about 10 days out from the date of the general election, I started to get calls from local businesses that had become deeply concerned as they saw the polls narrow. The reason for their concern was the uncosted spending plans of the Labour party. Their real concern was that everything in the economy is based on the public finances and that without proper public finances and confidence, interest rates rise, and we end up with credit crunches and repossessions, which really feeds through to the real economy.

We should remember that controlling the public finances is not a left versus right cliché about a generous welfare state against a low-tax economy. Putting our public services on a sustainable financial footing is about making sure they are still here in 20 years’ time and addressing the intergenerational injustices built into our current funding model.

It is well known in policy-making circles that there is a time bomb under the welfare state. Our ageing population means that we will be supporting more and more claimants on the system on the back of a proportionally shrinking working-age population. This is not sustainable. Moreover, we not only continue to finance social spending through debt, heaping fresh burdens on the next generation, but hurt living standards today as interest rates rise and squeeze real incomes. On top of that, the Government have to employ cost-controlling measures such as the public sector pay cap, putting even more pressure on incomes. This is long on pain but short on gain, and no substitute, in the long term, for the substantial reform that has to take place.

This election has been widely touted as one where the young began to make their voice heard. That is a really welcome development, and I am sure that as democrats, Members in all parts of the House welcome this new engagement from the young. However, we as Conservatives must convince them that their best bet is not reckless, regressive giveaways such as scrapping tuition fees, but a party that will deliver jobs, a strong economy, sustainable public services that they can rely on, and a fairer balance of taxation between the generations. Tackling the deficit is absolutely essential to building a country that works for everyone. It makes a real difference to lives out there. If we lose sight of that now, I am afraid that we are lost economically. We have to think now that the decisions we make will not just impact on the next five years but will set a pattern for the decades ahead.