Government Performance against Fiscal Rules Debate

Full Debate: Read Full Debate
Department: HM Treasury

Government Performance against Fiscal Rules

Brendan O'Hara Excerpts
Monday 7th July 2025

(1 day, 17 hours ago)

Commons Chamber
Read Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts

Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.

Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.

This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record

Darren Jones Portrait Darren Jones
- View Speech - Hansard - - - Excerpts

This Government recognise that it was because of cuts, especially to capital investment through the austerity years under the Conservative Government, that we had such poor productivity in our economy. We are still suffering the consequences of that, which is why, as the Chancellor said at the Budget, we are choosing investment over decline.

Brendan O'Hara Portrait Brendan O’Hara (Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber) (SNP)
- View Speech - Hansard - -

A year ago we were promised radical change, but the only radical change appears to be in the Labour party itself, which has decided that if you are poor, old or disabled, it will be you who will bear the brunt of the cuts and on whose backs the books will be balanced. So were the fiscal rules always predicated on going after the most vulnerable and the weakest and those least able to organise and fight back, instead of taking on the rich, the powerful, the multinationals and the tax avoiders?

Darren Jones Portrait Darren Jones
- View Speech - Hansard - - - Excerpts

As a consequence of the Chancellor’s decisions, we gave Scotland the largest real-terms spending increase since devolution began, and the only radical change that we are now looking for is the Scottish National party to be kicked out of Holyrood next May.