Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Amanda Milling Excerpts

Monday 13th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Amanda Milling (Cannock Chase) (Con)]

I am very grateful to have the opportunity to speak in today’s Budget debate. This is my first experience of a Budget in this place.

We need only look at our performance on the global stage to see that Britain is back in business. If people visit the west midlands, and more specifically my constituency of Cannock Chase, they will see the benefits of the Conservatives’ long-term economic plan.

Once a mining area, Cannock Chase is now the home of thriving small, medium-sized and large businesses. It is the success of those businesses in the last five years that has resulted in jobs being created, directly leading to a dramatic fall in unemployment. That fall in unemployment was also the result of measures that were taken in the last Parliament to encourage people to get back to work. It is that aspect that I will focus on today.

The benefit cap, which was introduced in the last Parliament, is morally right in ensuring that people are always better off in work. Although I welcomed the cap, I must admit that I always felt that £26,000 was too high. Someone in work would have to earn about £35,000 to take that amount home—a salary or wage that many people in Cannock Chase can only dream of. That view was confirmed by a group of residents in Rugeley only the other day.

In short, the cap was too high but the principle was right. That is why I welcome the changes that were announced in the Budget, which mean that in my constituency benefits will be capped at £20,000. We have a welfare system that we should be proud of, but it needs to be affordable and fair. When I say fair, I mean fair for the people who receive benefits, as well as fair to the hard-working people who pay their taxes so that benefits can be paid. The cap helps to ensure that our welfare system is sustainable in the long term and is there to support the elderly, the vulnerable and the disabled.

We must not just encourage people into work, but ensure that work pays. While unemployment fell significantly in the last Parliament in Cannock Chase, low pay has been an issue in the area. I am therefore particularly pleased to welcome two aspects of the Budget. First, there was the news that the personal allowance will rise to £11,000 from April next year, lifting nearly 900 more of my constituents out of tax altogether. That is a major step towards raising the personal allowance to £12,500 by the end of the Parliament, which will take even more people out of paying tax. That will ensure that working people in Cannock Chase get to keep more of the money they earn—money that they can spend with local businesses and in our town centres to support local independent retailers and market traders across Cannock, Rugeley and Hednesford.

Secondly, I am pleased to welcome the introduction of the new national living wage. As I said, Cannock Chase has historically faced issues of low pay. Cannock Chase deserves a pay rise. That is exactly what my right hon. Friend the Chancellor recognised and addressed with his compulsory living wage.

We need to ensure that that policy is backed by business. That is why I welcome the steps that were taken in the Budget to ensure that the move is not taken at its expense. For small businesses, the increase in the employment allowance to £3,000 means that they can continue to employ four people without paying national insurance contributions at the increased living wage. That is an important step towards ensuring that employers who pay the higher wage will not be stung by the jobs tax.

The path that has been set out to reduce corporation tax to 18% will save businesses across the UK more than £6.6 billion by 2020. That sends the powerful message to international businesses that are looking to invest in companies such as Gestamp, an automotive supplier in my constituency, that Britain is a low-tax, higher-wage, high-skilled economy, and therefore the best place to invest, grow or start a business.

I welcome my right hon. Friend the Chancellor’s Budget. It will help to deliver the Conservatives’ long-term economic plan, and it supports and rewards hard-working people and businesses across the country, in the west midlands and in Cannock Chase.