Oral Answers to Questions

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Tuesday 4th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Priti Patel]

We have already made changes to that whole area, and that is something we will look at further.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

14. What estimate he has made of the rate of growth in the economy.

[The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Danny Alexander)]

In the year to the third quarter of 2014, GDP grew by 3%; it is now 3.4% above the pre-crisis peak. The International Monetary Fund expects the UK economy to be the fastest growing in the G7 in 2014.

[Bob Blackman]

Clearly the fact that we are leading our European partners in economic growth shows that the long-term economic plan is working. Does my right hon. Friend agree that, with the eurozone in crisis and external factors uncertain, the last thing we want to do is return the keys to those who crashed the car in the first place?

[Danny Alexander]

I am sorry that my hon. Friend has brought up the shadow Chancellor’s recent driving incidents, but I agree with the point that the Labour party made the economic mess that we—Liberal Democrats and Conservatives—came together in a coalition to sort out. We have made strong progress in this Parliament, including achieving the strongest growth in the G7. The last thing that the country needs is to hand the keys back to a majority Labour Government.

Eid and Diwali (Public Holidays)

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Monday 21st July 2014 Westminster Hall

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the e-petition relating to making Eid and Diwali public holidays.

Mr Bayley, it is an honour to serve under your chairmanship for the first time. Jai Shree Krishna, Salaam Alaikum, Namaste and Shalom!

This e-petition was not my idea and I cannot claim ownership of it. However, I will explain why I have agreed to be the Member who sponsors it and makes sure that it is debated in the Houses of Parliament. I am the MP for Harrow East, an area of enormous diversity of culture and religion—in fact, I would claim that it is the most diverse constituency anywhere in the country, containing people of all religions and from every country on the planet.

I celebrate all the religious festivals in a number of ways. I join my Hindu friends at all their various festivals, including Diwali—or, to use the term more appropriate for my constituency, Deepavali. I join my Muslim friends at Eid, my Jewish friends for Rash Hashanah and Hanukkah, and my Christian friends for Christmas, Easter and other celebrations. I join my Sikh friends for Vaisakhi and my Chinese friends for Chinese new year. I also celebrate many other occasions throughout the year with all kinds of groups within my constituency alone.

I myself am a committed Christian, but it is probably fair to say that I am a Chrinjew—a Christian with Jewish roots and a deeply embedded friendship with the Hindu religion. I believe that Harrow East is a beacon of everything that is positive about the enormous cultural diversity of London and the rest of this country. Being the MP for the area has given me a broad insight into the question of holiday observances. When this petition was forwarded to the Backbench Business Committee, I felt it was my duty to ensure that it received full and due attention in the House.

Given all the pressures on the parliamentary timetable in the run-up to the recess that is just about to start, it was important to bring this matter forward now, within the required timeline of three months. That is why the Backbench Business Committee has taken the unusual step of scheduling this debate in Westminster Hall on a Monday afternoon, when it is not normally open. If we had not scheduled the debate for today, the petition would have fallen and no debate would have taken place. If that had happened, we would have lost a great opportunity to debate this matter in Parliament and there would have been enormous dissatisfaction for the people who care about it passionately.

Consideration should be given to whether we, as a culturally diverse nation, should start public holidays for non-Christian religions. Such consideration raises all kinds of issues, which I will briefly touch on today. First, I will address some of the main objections to the idea straight away. The Government response to the e-petition was:

“Whilst we appreciate a new national holiday may benefit some communities and sectors, the cost to the economy remains considerable and any changes to the current arrangements would not take place without a full consultation.”

I do not disagree with having a consultation or with the need to ensure that there are benefits to a public holiday. Such concerns are valid. According to the Centre for Economics and Business Research, each public holiday costs £2.3 billion per day due to losses in retail, commercial, service and other industries. If that estimate is correct, we are looking at an overall economic cost of just less than £5 billion if the Muslim faith and the Hindu faith were to be given one specified public holiday each.

Further, the centre believes that annual output would be raised by £19 billion if all public and bank holidays were scrapped. Accountants RSM Tenon had an even higher estimate, reckoning that £30 billion would be recouped if we cancelled all public holidays. However, that is not likely to happen; I cannot believe that any Government would ever dare to cancel Christmas.

We cannot make a case for or against further public holidays just on the basis of money; if we did, we would not have any at all. Saying that is not to diminish the response of the Department for Business, Innovations and Skills to this petition, but to make the case that there are bigger considerations than just the cost.

[Toby Perkins (Chesterfield) (Lab)]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for securing this debate. He may be about to mention this, but will he clarify something? Is he saying that we need two extra public holidays or that he wants to reallocate existing bank holidays so that they come at the right time to recognise these festivals?

[Bob Blackman]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I will come to the issue of the number of public holidays and how they should be apportioned in a few minutes. If he allows me to develop my points a little further, all will become clearer.

Another contentious issue is the fact that both Eid and Diwali have unpredictable timings. They fall on different days every year, but so does Easter; Easter is not a fixed time in the calendar, but we schedule that without too much difficulty. It is also useful to consider that Eid and Diwali fall at times of the year that are currently devoid of public holidays. Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, comes around the end of July, while Diwali comes towards the end of October or the start of November, depending on the phasing of the moon. Public holidays at those times would work well in giving workers an even spread of celebratory days off.

This e-petition attracted the signatures of 122,991 people, which I believe makes it the largest e-petition that has come to central Government since e-petitions began. That demonstrates that this issue is an important concern for a significant number of people in this country. Furthermore, it is probably worth mentioning that a responding e-petition, which called for the status quo to be maintained, has not even received 40 signatures yet. So the groundswell of opinion certainly appears to be in favour of this particular move.

Islam and Hinduism are the second and third largest religions in the UK respectively, after Christianity. Combined, they account for 6.8% of the population, with the trend of their growth increasing. The Muslim population is predicted to increase by 8.2% by 2030, due to a higher than average birth rate among Muslims and increased immigration from Muslim countries. In Manchester, one in 10 school days were missed due to religious occasions for Muslims, which raises concerns about educational attainment in that particular community. With young Muslim men currently twice as likely to be unemployed as other young men, according to the Office for National Statistics, this has to be of paramount concern; it is an issue not only in that community, but in the whole community.

In 2013, the average unemployment rate for young people in all minority ethnic groups, who are typically from these faith communities, jumped from 33% to 37%, according to the Department for Work and Pensions. Young people of faith should not be put in the position of having to choose between their religious festivals and their education; that is not good for them and it is not good for the country or the economy as a whole.

With regard to all Muslims and Hindus who are working and contributing to our economy, is there not an argument to be made about the validation that would come with a sense of recognition? Would it not be a statement that we, as a nation, embrace these religions and the people who hold them dear and are ready to recognise their place in our society? Creating these public holidays would be an important step towards promoting the understanding and tolerance of different faiths, not only at home but abroad. We want other nations to look to the UK for a good example of positive integration, and highly skilled prospective immigrants to consider coming to our country with the sense that their faith is a respected part of their identity.

That is particularly important for the Muslim community, who have been the target of all kinds of hate campaigns and abuse because of the sins of a very small minority of extremists. To give a snapshot of the problem, I should say that ChildLine reported that 1,400 people—an increase of 69% of students—claim that they have suffered racial and Islamophobic bullying.

Education is important, as is societal acceptance, and public holidays are not just for the few; they are a national event that everybody can take part in, regardless of whether they subscribe to a particular faith or to none. The argument has to be made that educating a wider section of the population in the traditions and holidays of different religions in such a widespread way would be valuable in helping to normalise the integration of those faiths into our cultural identity. It would be valuable in promoting cohesion and peace among the religions in our country, as it would not place preference for one over another.

I realise that this argument prompts a question: why only create public holidays for Hindu and Muslim festivals? Why not also add days for other religious groupings as well? At the last count, in the 2011 census, there were 2.6 million Muslims, 800,000 Hindus, 420,000 Sikhs and 260,000 Jews in this country. Although this petition focused on the former two groups, I do not see why it should not be expanded to include other popular major religions. Just because Judaism already has some festivals that coincide with the Christian holidays—for example, Passover and Hanukkah—does not mean the Jewish religion should not have its own public holiday for Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur. If we stay away from the cost issue for the moment and look at the ulterior social benefits involved, why not? Why not give each of these main faiths an honoured place in our calendar?

To acknowledge the intervention by the hon. Member for Chesterfield (Toby Perkins), I should say that it is a sad fact that the UK has fewer public holidays than everywhere else in the world, apart from Mexico and China. We have eight public holidays, including the two at Christmas and Easter, over four-day periods, which are tied to the Christian faith.

Looking at the national picture, the economic recovery that the Conservative-led coalition Government have secured, against all the odds, means that the UK is now set to overtake France to become the fifth largest economy in the world by 2022, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research. I would say that whether that occurs is contingent on gaining a Conservative majority next year, but of course we are on the up and I trust that our coalition partners will continue to join us.

Looking at the economic league tables and comparing the number of public holidays that nations have, we should be able to come to some conclusions about how much public holidays affect our economic performance. The United States has 10 public holidays; Japan, the third largest economy in the world, has 15 national public holidays, with another one recently approved, giving it double the number that we get; Germany, in fourth place, gets nine; and France has 11. I will refrain from making the old joke that half of every day in France is a public holiday, but suffice it to say that our next door neighbours and competitors have more holidays than we do. It is hard to make the case for economic concerns based on those numbers.

Some schools of thought hold that the economy is actually boosted by allowing the work force to have time away from work, which can be in the way, to shop or enjoy sports activities or observe faith-related events. After all, a happy work force is a productive one, as the old adage goes. It is impossible to tell the economic benefit of or the economic damage done by a public holiday, as there are simply too many factors involved. However, no one can doubt that national morale is important and, like it or not, people of different faiths are very much a staple part of our work force and our national cultural identity.

Just as the Christians get to enjoy the traditions associated with Christmas—an early morning start to open presents, joining family and friends in celebration and the traditional feast—so should our second and third largest faith groups be able to do the same on one or two days of particular importance.

In the departmental response to this e-petition, it is also stated, as a matter of rejection, that the

“current pattern is well established and accepted”.

That is true. However, I would argue that traditions have to be made, not just maintained. We have had British Muslims and British Hindus for decades. It is not a case of creating a new tradition; it is a case of observing traditions that already exist here on a more widespread basis—of validating the cultural heritage of all sections of our society, not just the majority.

Let us not forget that people from minority backgrounds still find it a great deal more difficult to have any sort of visibility in public life. I recently instigated the all-party group on British Hindus in an attempt to give that community in particular a way to make their concerns better represented—in politics, at least. I have met Hindus from various parts of the world who have taken the creation of the group as a positive sign that the political establishment no longer intends to ignore their needs.

Being such a peaceful, hard-working, well established and therefore integrated community has in some ways worked against British Hindus, as they were allowed to feel invisible for far too long. However, the truth is that establishing an all-party group is only one small part of what needs to be a far greater effort to ensure that our minority faith communities gain that sense of belonging that the majority take for granted.

Hon. Members who are interested will have noted that an effort is already being made in both Downing street and Parliament, generally, to observe holidays such as Eid and Diwali properly. I expect that many colleagues in the House have attended these occasions and supported them. They are popular, lively, joyous events that I enjoy getting involved with each year. There is something to be said for everybody embracing the heritage of these cultures, even if for only one day a year, and it would be nothing but a positive step to have our observances replicated nationally. If the Prime Minister can take time out to celebrate these occasions and the communities they belong to every year, why should not the rest of us?

The extremely high number of signatures gained by this e-petition should not go unheard in Parliament and by Ministers, because it is not simply about having more public holidays—although more of those would certainly be welcome, regardless of what they are for; it is about the meaning behind them. It is about giving an overwhelming indication that our minority communities are not just on the fringes of our society any more, but are a part of who we are and what our nation will become in future.

To have an Eid public holiday and a Diwali public holiday, as a starting point, would send a simple, straightforward message that transcends any cultural or language barriers. It would be a mark of modernisation in this globalised world for Britain to recognise non-majority faith holidays so decisively. Indeed, it would be unprecedented. I am not suggesting a flurry of new holidays, so the Minister can sit happily for the moment. All religions have many different festivals and occasions that are marked through the year and, if we had a public holiday for all of them, no one would have time to work. I am merely suggesting a single day for each, so that every part of our community is celebrated and able to celebrate fully, without having to sacrifice time in education or work.

I should be grateful if the Minister provided a fuller analysis of the Department’s causes of objection to this e-petition and responded to my points on the many and varied positive aspects of introducing these holidays. Some 122,000 people deserve a better answer than a vague excuse regarding costs and established traditions. I look forward to the responses from the Opposition spokesman and the Minister on this important subject that I believe is without precedent.

--- Later in debate ---

[Bob Blackman]

I thank both the Minister and the Opposition spokesman for putting on the record their considered and thoughtful contributions to this debate. We should remember that this e-petition, signed by 122,000 people, has demonstrated that there is a demand out there in the community for us to consider this particular idea. Today is the starting point for that discussion, not the end of it. It is important that I commend the Government and the Opposition for all their attempts to break down religious barriers. I believe passionately that if religions open themselves up to participation by those in other religions, to enable understanding of what they do, we will break down the barriers of ignorance and encourage people to celebrate their religions in peace and harmony.

The key point about the e-petition is that if we were to grant public holidays for Eid and Diwali, as well as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur for the Jewish community, that would enshrine the major religions of the world and recognise the important part they play in this country. There would also be a challenge—the hon. Member for Chesterfield asked whether Eid and Diwali would always fall on set days or during the week—but we are British and very good at resolving such problems for the benefit of the whole community. The British people’s traditional tolerance and ability to find practical ways of resolving issues would come to the fore.

The Minister raised the key issue of the work done by volunteers across communities. The Jewish community celebrates Mitzvah day, when everyone gives a day of service to the community free of charge, and the Hindu community does the same on Sewa day. Both should be applauded. The Minister also mentioned the Big Iftar, which is a tremendous boost for the whole economy. If we declared those to be public holidays in the UK, they would become a major tourist attraction, drawing people from across Europe and other parts of the world to celebrate those great religious experiences. They would bring great tourist trade to this country. Anyone who has been to a mosque or a temple on Eid or Diwali will know that they bring a tremendous number of people and families together. People would come from different parts of the world and we would attract more tourists—not just for one day but for many days either side of the great public holiday that would be created.

This e-petition, the largest we have had in Parliament, deserves a positive answer. As parliamentarians, we should consider it carefully, take it forward and develop it. Will the Government consider holding a consultation to see what benefits would accrue from enshrining those great religious days as public holidays in our calendar? There are difficulties, but we can overcome them if we come together as one big group.

This debate seems to have gone into overdrive in the Twittersphere this afternoon, with many people listening and observing. That shows that we have started a debate that the public think matters. That is all important, and we as parliamentarians are placing on the record views sympathetic to the concerns being raised. I thank hon. Members for the debate and the opportunity to put our views on the record, and I trust that this debate will be the beginning and not the end.

Question put and agreed to.

Oral Answers to Questions

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Tuesday 29th April 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

We are introducing a cap on payday lending, and that will be an important—[Interruption.] The shadow Chancellor chuckles. He was the City Minister; he could have taken that decision at any point when he was—[Interruption.]. Why has it taken so long? Labour had 13 years to do these things—13 years when its team were running the Treasury. That is why people will not listen to what they have to say. The answer to the hon. Gentleman’s question is this: by supporting credit unions, capping payday lending and encouraging competition on the high street, we will help his constituents and many others.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

T8. As the economy continues to prosper and grow under the excellent stewardship of our Chancellor, will my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating the tube workers who turned up to work today to keep London moving, and in congratulating the workers who went to work this morning despite the antics of the RMT?

[Mr Osborne]

I join my hon. Friend in thanking those who went to work today on our tube system. The strike is totally irresponsible and unnecessary. It impacts on the economy and makes it difficult for people in London to get to work. [Interruption.] Well, perhaps the reason that so few Labour MPs are at Treasury questions is that they are manning the barricades with the RMT.

Oral Answers to Questions

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Tuesday 11th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

In the Budget in which we reduced the 50p rate to 45p, we introduced measures that raised five times more from the wealthiest people, including, for example, the annual tax on enveloped dwellings, which is a mansion tax for tax dodgers in respect of people from overseas who own properties in this country. It raised five times more than we expected at the time.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

T5. I congratulate my right hon. Friend on the slow but steady progress on improving the economy. Does he agree that the most important thing now is to ensure that people have more money in their pockets to spend as they wish and that therefore the threshold for the 40% rate of tax needs to be increased so that middle earners can see the benefit of this Government?

Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Thursday 21st March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Ed Balls]

I think the hon. Lady may find that that is before the millionaires’ tax cut kicks in in 14 days’ time.

The hon. Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton asked whether I am being serious. I am being deadly serious about the failure of this Government’s economic plan. They are failing on growth and on borrowing, and living standards are falling as families and businesses pay the price. I warned the Chancellor two and a half years ago that his plan could not work and that, given that a global hurricane was brewing, it was the wrong time to rip out the foundations of our own house. I told him that monetary policy in a situation akin to that of Japan in the 1990s or of the world in the 1930s could not do the trick to restore growth. I warned him that attempting to have the biggest tax rises and fastest spending cuts in our post-war history, and probably beyond, would backfire and choke off recovery rather than support it.

The Under-Secretary of State for Skills, the hon. Member for West Suffolk (Matthew Hancock) is the Chancellor’s former adviser and he is now a member of the Business Secretary’s ministerial team. He wrote an article in The Times in the autumn of 2010 in which he said—this is the Chancellor’s former adviser—that faster deficit reduction would lead to stronger growth. He said, as the Chancellor has also argued, that this was an example of expansionary fiscal contraction, but fiscal contraction has not been expansionary—it choked off the recovery. If the Chancellor was relying on advisers like the hon. Gentleman, it is no wonder that he got into such trouble.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

The shadow Chancellor has made great fun of tax changes and other issues relating to growth. Does he welcome the Government measure that means that next month 36,270 working people in his own constituency will get a tax cut?

[Ed Balls]

The hon. Gentleman needs to look at the figures and understand the impact on working families in his constituency. The problem with his Chancellor is that he gives with one hand and takes a lot more with the other. A one-earner family on £20,000 and with two children are worse off, even with the personal allowance, by £380 a year because of the cuts to tax credits. Working families are losing out. The Chancellor tried to divide the country into strivers versus shirkers, but we do not hear that any more because it turned out that his shirkers were the working people of this country.

The real tragedy for this Chancellor is that he is set to join a long line of past Chancellors. Philip Snowden, Norman Lamont and now George Osborne—

--- Later in debate ---

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Steve McCabe), who grudgingly accepted that there are good things in the Budget as well as things to condemn. A Budget is a snapshot in time that builds on previous Budgets. Good things have come out of previous Budgets and there are great things in this Budget.

One performance measure of an economy is the level of unemployment. In my constituency, in April 2005, the level of unemployment was 1,402. By the time the Labour Government left office in April 2010, it was 1,901. That is an increase of 36%, but then we all know that Labour Governments always leave office with higher unemployment than when they arrive. Now, however, unemployment is down to 1,632—a fall of 14% in three years—showing that despite the recession and the difficulties, the Government have got it right on encouraging and promoting employment.

Next month, 4,035 of my constituents will be taken out of tax completely by the Government’s increases in the personal allowance. More importantly, 40,101 working people in my constituency will get a tax reduction, which means they will have more money in their bank accounts to spend as they choose. One of the great measures is the new employment allowance, from which 145,000 businesses across London will gain. They will be able to employ people without having to pay national insurance contributions. Furthermore, 75,000 of those businesses will pay nothing at all for the people they recruit, which has got to be great news. Combined with the abolition of the fuel and beer duty escalators, that means that the Government have got it right on taxation.

I want to dedicate most of my speech to the treatment of Equitable Life policyholders. For 13 years, when Labour ran the country, it refused to do anything about the 1 million people who suffered as a result of this scandal. I am proud to belong to a party and a Government who have taken steps to assist the victims. In 2010, the coalition Government honoured our election pledges to compensate the victims of that fiasco. The claimants asserted that £5.2 billion-worth of compensation would be needed, if full compensation was to be paid. Clearly, given the economic position, we could not afford that, so £1.5 billion was set aside to ensure that the victims received due recompense.

The victims split into three groups. The first group comprised the 37,000 with-profit annuity policyholders, who have received full compensation for the losses that resulted from the scandal for which the then Government, the regulator and Equitable Life were responsible. The nearly 900,000 people who took out pension plans have also been compensated, but at a much lower level, because they had the alternative of transferring their pension plans elsewhere. Unfortunately, however, owing to how the scheme was implemented, the people who were most vulnerable and most desperately in need of assistance—those whose money was trapped in their pension plans because they took them out before 1 September 1992—received no compensation at all.

[Mr Love]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on his campaign. Will he be campaigning for further compensation for those who have not received anything thus far?

[Bob Blackman]

I shall come to that when I conclude my remarks.

Some 10,000 of the most vulnerable people received no compensation at all. The all-party group on justice for Equitable Life policyholders put forward clear evidence that they suffered as much as the people being compensated. We pointed out that they could not have known before 1 September 1992 that this scandal was going on, and that they had suffered and lost money like all the others. It has taken a long time and a lot of persuasion, and my hon. Friend the Economic Secretary to the Treasury listened with great patience, weighed the evidence and proposed to the Chancellor that the pre-1992 trapped annuitants receive compensation. I am delighted to congratulate the Chancellor and his team on listening to the evidence, weighing it up and saying, “Yes, we got it slightly wrong.” All the people I have mentioned will now get £5,000 in compensation automatically, as an ex gratia payment without taxation, while those on pension credit will get an additional £5,000. It is not the full compensation that we would like to see, but it is a recognition of the fact that every policyholder suffered as a result of the scandal and will be repaid.

Let me turn to the intervention by the hon. Member for Edmonton (Mr Love). The campaign continues. The policyholders have not received the full compensation that they are due or the compensation that has been promised—it is still being paid. My clarion call to my colleagues on the Front Bench is this. Let us ensure that they receive the money—particularly the trapped annuitants —as fast as possible, because since we started the campaign in 2010, 1,000 of the trapped annuitants have sadly died, and they are dying each day. We want to see people compensated and receiving their money as fast as possible, so that they can enjoy their retirement in a reasonable way. I say thank you to my colleagues on the Front Bench, but with this word of warning: we will carry on campaigning and ensuring that the compensation is paid as it should be.

Finally, I want to refer to housing. Currently, banks and financial institutions are demanding a 25% deposit before they will allow people to get a loan for a mortgage. In my constituency, prices start at £300,000 for a two-bedroom flat. A detached house can be up to £1 million or more. A reasonable three-bedroom property is of the order of £500,000. Imagine trying to find £125,000 as a deposit to buy a family home. It is almost impossible and beyond the reach of ordinary working people. I therefore welcome what the Government are doing to support them. We want to get the housing market moving, with new properties being built and existing properties passed on, so that the starter homes can be used by new people.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

Oral Answers to Questions

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Tuesday 11th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Last but not least, Mr Bob Blackman.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

The Government moved swiftly to compensate the victims of the Equitable Life scandal, who were ignored by the Labour Government. The one set of people who were excluded from the legislation were the pre-1992 trapped annuitants. I know that the Minister has been considering this issue. Will he update the House on what consideration will be given to those weak and vulnerable people who just want some safety for the rest of their lives?

[Sajid Javid]

My hon. Friend has campaigned well on this issue and I recently met representatives of the Equitable Members Action Group to discuss it. The Government are focused on delivering the current scheme efficiently and effectively.

Autumn Statement

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Wednesday 5th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

Under this Government, the level of capital spending is higher than the level in the plans that we inherited from the last Labour Government—which the hon. Lady supported at the time of the last Labour Budget—and, indeed, we have added to it today. Under this Government, the level of public investment as a proportion of GDP is higher than the average level under the Labour Government. As for investment in the north, there is the investment in the A1, the investment in High Speed 2, and the investment in the northern rail hub. There is a whole load of investment in the transport infrastructure of the north and the north-east because we are helping this country, which suffered so much under the Labour Government, when the gap between the north and the south grew.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on announcing the abolition of Labour’s expensive private finance initiative schemes, but may I ask him what the impact will be on schemes on which we have already agreed and which are awaiting approval, such as the one involving a replacement for the Royal National Orthopaedic hospital in my constituency?

[Mr Osborne]

We do not intend to disrupt existing PFI schemes—although, sadly, there are not many left, because so many dried up at the very end of the last Labour Government’s time in office owing to financing problems—and the new PFI 2 will help to restart private and public investment. The big difference is that from now on, instead of the public sector bearing the risk and getting none of the reward—as has happened, for example, in the case of a hospital project not in my hon. Friend’s part of London but in south-east London—it will share in the upside as well.

Oral Answers to Questions

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Tuesday 6th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Gentleman, who is a distinguished member of the Treasury Committee, makes an important point. It is crucial that the change we need in the culture of banking is achieved through leadership and through a clear warning that abuse, mis-selling and all the other vices that banks can fall into will be punished rigorously. The FSA knows my views on that and I will reinforce them to the authority.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

17. What recent steps he has taken to tackle tax evasion and reduce tax avoidance.

[The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Mr David Gauke)]

The Government are investing over £900 million in strengthening Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs’ response to evasion and avoidance and are on course to bring in around £7 billion in additional tax each year by 2014-15. HMRC is increasing the number of staff working on compliance and using innovative approaches to improve how it identifies and tackles evasion. The Government will soon introduce the UK’s first general anti-abuse rule while also strengthening avoidance disclosure rules and publicity.

[Bob Blackman]

I am a strong supporter of lowering direct tax rates on individuals and companies, but hard-working families in my constituency want to know that companies and high-worth individuals are paying their fair share of tax. What is my hon. Friend doing to ensure that individuals and companies pay their fair share of tax rather than avoid it?

[Mr Gauke]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. That is why we are taking action to strengthen HMRC’s compliance capability, why we are introducing a general anti-abuse rule, why we want to ensure that everyone pays their fair share of tax, and why the Chancellor made it clear yesterday in Mexico that we are working at an international level to ensure that the system that applies to multinational companies does just that.

Beer Duty Escalator

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Thursday 1st November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Hartlepool (Mr Wright), who has made an impassioned case for pubs and beer drinkers across the country. I have a passionate belief in beer drinking; I have been doing it, and keeping the brewers and the Treasury going, for more than 40 years. Pubs, working men’s clubs, social clubs, sports centres and students union bars all have an important role in our society, not only as places to meet and greet people but as social centres where people can sit down and have a quiet drink and a bite to eat, along with some social interaction. They offer a wide variety of drinks, including soft drinks, wines and spirits, although it is much better to drink beer. They also provide a place for families to get together.

One problem that has arisen in the past few years as a result of the pressure on pubs to make money is the loss of that social atmosphere and the emergence of vertical drinking establishments, whose aim is to pour as much alcohol as possible into individuals in order to maximise profits. That presents huge risks. Similarly, in urban and suburban areas, big pubs with car parks that occupied large plots of land have been bought by ruthless developers and turned into flats, destroying the local community. It is important to protect our pubs from those predatory developers, and I look to the newly appointed Economic Secretary to the Treasury to assist in that task.

[Neil Carmichael]

My hon. Friend is making some excellent points. Will he join me in commending the work of the Campaign for Real Ale, which does an outstanding job of promoting local pubs and sensible drinking? It certainly does that in my area of Gloucestershire.

[Bob Blackman]

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. I must declare an interest as a member of CAMRA. I have been a strong supporter of the organisation since I was at university. It is indeed important to promote the responsible drinking of real ale.

[Jane Ellison (Battersea) (Con)]

The problem that my hon. Friend has just raised about developers is particularly acute in London, where development land is so valuable. We have seen more than 40 pubs go in the past six months. A popular Battersea pub, The Castle, which has been in existence for more than 300 years, is now threatened with demolition, precisely because the land is worth more than the pub. Does he agree that this is an acute problem in London?

[Bob Blackman]

Indeed. Pubs in my constituency have been closed down and redeveloped as flats. The loss of those extremely valuable centres results in the destruction of the whole community.

Beer has a relatively low alcohol content. Those who promote the beer duty escalator talk about the health risks related to drinking, but I am a great supporter of responsible drinking and of transferring people to beer drinking, given its relatively low alcohol content. A person would almost have to drink more beer than their capacity would allow in order to damage their health, whereas relatively small quantities of spirits can cause immense damage.

The supermarkets have not only helped to destroy local pubs; they have completely eliminated off-sales from other environments. Anyone can wander into a relatively small supermarket in my constituency today and buy six cans of beer for a fiver, but if they go across the road to the local pub, The Duck in the Pond, they will have to pay £3 for a pint. Why would anyone do anything other than buy beer from the supermarket and wander off home, or drink it on the street? This is causing real damage to the people who are providing these important facilities.

Some people call for minimum unit pricing for alcohol, and I can understand why they do so. I believe that there are huge risks involved in minimum pricing, but we have to address the supermarkets’ predatory pricing and prevent them from subsidising alcohol sales. We need to ensure that they compete fairly with local pubs, rather than ruthlessly getting customers by selling alcohol as a loss leader.

The Treasury’s own figures show that the beer duty escalator will produce only a flat level of income. If that is the case, and if the duty is going to increase year on year, that can only mean that the Treasury is forecasting reduced volumes of beer sales in this country. That can only mean more threats to our pubs and our communities, and there will be implications for other forms of alcohol as well.

[Guto Bebb (Aberconwy) (Con)]

I have three breweries in my constituency—Bragdy’r Nant, Bragdy’r Gogarth and Bragdy Conwy—and for those slow on the uptake, Bragdy is Welsh for brewery. Those businesses are paying about 50% of their turnover in tax. They recently invested in a pub in the local community, but they will not be able to do that again because so much of their turnover currently goes in tax.

[Bob Blackman]

Indeed, and the potential of local pubs to contribute to growth in the economy is threatened by the beer duty escalator.

There is an alternative. If we abolish the beer duty escalator, promote the responsible drinking of beer, as my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds North West (Greg Mulholland) mentioned, and allow the price of a pint at the pump to be reduced, that will help people to move away from irresponsible supermarket drinking back into pubs. That would mean they consumed less over a longer period and in a more sociable atmosphere, while the Treasury would get more income as those sales increased. We would therefore see a better outcome—for health, for pubs and for the Exchequer—making this a win all round. I thus urge our new Minister to have a full and proper review of how to reduce the price at the pump and dissuade the supermarkets from cross-subsidising their sales, leading to much better social interaction in our society and encouraging pubs to grow, and make sure that it continues.

My final point relates to the growth of small pubs in areas where they are taking over empty shops. I think this is a potentially serious problem, when large groups of relatively small pubs become a threat to the local environment and to local communities. It is a threat to the big traditional pubs, which have served this country so well over many years, particularly in the suburban and urban areas. Landlords of these new pubs often do not have the same sense of responsibility as the previous landlords. We need to look at the impact of that and understand why this it is happening. I look to Ministers to review the situation so that everyone can see the benefits of the great British pub and, indeed, of all the social centres that we have discussed in the debate. We must ensure a fair and reasonable deal for pubs—from the Exchequer and in competition with supermarkets.

LIBOR (FSA Investigation)

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Thursday 28th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

It is clearly vital that we rebuild confidence in the banking system after this further scandal, but there are questions to ask about what compliance regime was going on in Barclays during the mid-2000s and in every other bank. Does my right hon. Friend agree that no matter what the regulations are, it is now vital that the banks come out with a clear, transparent and independent compliance regime to make sure that people who disobey the rules are caught very quickly?

[Mr Osborne]

My hon. Friend is right that the compliance regime is absolutely the first line of defence in the financial services industry. To be fair, Barclays did raise concerns about the LIBOR market operation in late 2007 and early 2008. I think that we can draw a distinction, as the FSA does, between what was going on in 2005-06 and early 2007 and what happened once the crisis hit. He is absolutely right that the compliance regime is vital, and if there are any banks listening to what has happened today that are not looking carefully at their compliance regimes and ensuring they are up to scratch, I think that they are being pretty foolish.