Finance (No. 2) Bill

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

Wednesday 11th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Jim Allister]

That is a very insightful question, but the answer is even more insightful. The growth we have had in Northern Ireland is in the services sector—lo and behold, the sector that is outside the Windsor framework. The manufacturing sector, which is clobbered by the Windsor framework, has not grown. The growth we have had—and thank goodness for it—is in the services sector. Contrary to the hon. Gentleman’s mantra of believing that all things EU are precious and beneficial, that is an illustration and an indication that our liberation from the EU in terms of services has served us well, but our entrapment in the EU in respect of manufacturing has served us very ill. The Bill underwrites that disadvantage to Northern Ireland.

I say to the Minister: tell my constituents and my businesses why they are treated differently, why they are less deserving of the same capacity to be supported, why they cannot draw in the same level of venture capital or investment schemes, and why they are the second-class citizens of this United Kingdom. The answer, as I have said, is because this Government are wholly beholden to the EU. This is a Government with a reset policy. If they follow the trends of Northern Ireland, then very shortly under their reset policy, they are going to enslave themselves again to EU state aid rules; they are going to end up in the same predicament, where they will not be allowed to increase their state aid, such as they are doing here.

There is one final point that the House needs to understand. If there is a dispute over whether there has been state aid that might breach the rules of our foreign masters, it is not the courts of this land that would decide on such a matter, but the European Court of Justice. It is so obnoxious, so wrong and so offensive that, though I sit as a Member for a United Kingdom constituency and come to this Parliament of the United Kingdom, this Parliament cannot make laws governing these issues in Northern Ireland because of the surrender of sovereignty to the EU. If this Government had any backbone and cared about parity in the United Kingdom and about the businesses in my constituency, they would be setting about giving us an equal playing field and facing down those who insist that it is their laws, not ours, that must apply.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call the Minister to wind up.

[Dan Tomlinson]

I thank all Members for their contributions at this stage of the Bill’s passage—we are almost there. I will take some time to respond directly to the amendments that have been discussed today.

I will first address amendments 1 to 4, 5 and 7, which were spoken to by the shadow Exchequer Secretary, the hon. Member for North West Norfolk (James Wild). Amendments 1 to 4 would remove the increase in dividend, savings and property income tax rates; amendment 5 would prevent income tax thresholds from staying at their current levels until 2030; and amendment 7 would remove reforms to the inheritance tax treatment of pensions. Based on costings that have been certified by the OBR, the direct impact of these amendments would cumulatively reduce forecast revenue raised in 2029-30—the year of relevance for our fiscal rules—by a whopping £12 billion. These amendments therefore pose a significant risk to the sustainability of our public finances and to our ability to fund the NHS and the public services that we all rely on. I therefore urge the House to reject them.

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[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Lucy Rigby)]

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.

The Budget in November was a Budget to build a stronger, more secure economy. It contained fair and necessary choices to deliver the public’s priorities by cutting the cost of living, cutting debt and borrowing, cutting child poverty, and cutting NHS waiting lists. At its heart were three deliberate pro-growth choices. First, by choosing to maintain economic stability and getting inflation and interest rates down, we gave businesses the confidence to invest and our economy the room to grow. Secondly, by choosing to reject austerity, we protected over £120 billion of additional investment in growth-driving infrastructure. Thirdly, by choosing to back the fast-growing British companies of the future, we supported the investment, the innovation and the economic dynamism that will increase growth, raise living standards, and boost the country’s prosperity in the next decade and beyond. The measures in the Bill deliver on those choices by introducing tax levers to unlock investment, back our wealth creators and attract talent by sticking to commitments in the corporate tax road map to provide certainty for businesses, and by doubling the limits for our enterprise tax incentives so that scale-ups can attract the capital and talent that they need in order to grow.

The Bill contains a series of other responsible decisions on tax, and that is because, at the time of the Budget, the Government faced choices. We could have made the reckless choice to abandon our fiscal rules and let borrowing and debt increase, but instead we made the pro-growth choice to get borrowing, debt and inflation down, more than doubling our headroom. We could have made the irresponsible choice and returned to austerity, cutting public services as the Conservative party did and undermining capital investment, but instead we made the pro-growth choice to protect the investment in Britain’s infrastructure and to build a better, stronger, more secure economy.

In line with our commitment to fiscal responsibility, the Bill maintains income tax thresholds for employees and the self-employed at the current levels for a further three years, from April 2028 until April 2031. It also contains measures to strengthen the integrity of the tax system by closing loopholes and removing barriers. That includes reforms to collect more unpaid taxes and to modernise the tax system to make it easier for taxpayers to get their tax right first time. We are introducing new powers to close in on promoters of marketed tax avoidance, and to challenge those who knowingly engage in fraudulent business in the construction industry. Alongside the measures announced in the 2024 Budget, the measures in the Bill to close the tax gap will bring the total revenue from tax gap measures announced in this Parliament to £10 billion in 2029-30.

I wholeheartedly thank all Members, on both sides of the House, for their contributions during the Bill’s passage. The Bill contains the right choices for the public finances, the right choices on investment, the right choices for businesses and for working people, the right choices for our public services, and the right choices for Britain. For those reasons, I commend it to the House.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call the shadow Minister.

[James Wild]

I join the Minister in thanking hon. Members on both sides of the House who participated in the debate—there are rather more of them here than there have been throughout our proceedings. I also thank the parliamentary staff, and the hon. Members who chaired the Committee.

In this 534-page Bill, the Government have chosen to impose a raft of tax-raising measures that hit work, enterprise and investment, and which add significantly to the regulatory costs on UK businesses. They have extended the freeze on income tax thresholds, dragging hundreds of thousands more working people into higher tax bands; they have introduced a family farm and family business tax, targeting rural communities and family firms; and they have increased taxes on savings, property income and long-term investment. Taken together, these measures amount to billions of pounds-worth of extra taxation, pushing the overall tax burden to record levels. Ultimately, the Chancellor has chosen to make the UK a less attractive place for businesses and for the investors who we need to grow the economy.

Just last week, the Office for Budget Responsibility cut growth projects again. At a time of global uncertainty, the Government are taking the wrong course, and it shows. Unemployment is up, taxes are up, welfare spending is going up, and living standards will fall over the course of this Parliament. This Government have led the country into a high-tax, low-growth doom loop.

There is a long list of voices sounding the alarm over the economy, but the Chancellor is still not listening. Rather than change course, she is sticking to her failing plan of higher taxes, higher spending and borrowing. This Bill breaks the promises to the British people, and we will oppose it this evening.

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Charlie Maynard]

I speak on behalf of the Liberal Democrats, and the shadow Minister’s audacity in talking about a “high-tax, low-growth doom loop” is pretty high.

With regard to this Bill, I ask the Government to look again at four things. I will go through them quickly, and then I will sit down. I ask the Government to provide more detail, and quickly, on their plans to prevent pensioners from being dragged into paying income tax; to publish information on how the freezing of tax thresholds until 2030-31 impacts households at various income levels; to recognise the impact that the Government’s policies are having on youth unemployment, which is up by 100,000 in the last year, and to take steps to halt this rapid rise, which at a minimum would include reducing the national insurance contributions rate paid by employers on part-time employees earning between £5,000 and £9,100 per year; and, finally, as per new clause 11, which we just pushed to a vote, to look again at taking a fairer approach to farmers by allowing the thresholds on agricultural property relief to rise over time in line with agricultural land prices, rather than having those thresholds eroded over time.

Question put, That the Bill be now read the Third time.

The House proceeded to a Division.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

Will the Serjeant at Arms investigate the delay in the Aye Lobby?

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Bill read the Third time and passed.

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

Order. Before we move on to the next business—unfortunately the Government Chief Whip has left the Chamber—may I emphasise to all Members the need to vote in a prompt manner? There can be no excuse for loitering in the Lobby.