Budget Resolutions

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Debbie Abrahams]

I absolutely agree. It is a shame that we need food banks at all—this is the state of what we have inherited, unfortunately.

I commend the Health Secretary for the work that has been done to increase capital investment in the NHS, which will boost NHS productivity. A recent Health Equity North report, “Health for Wealth”, showed that by reducing the inequalities between the north and the south, and by improving health in the north, we can increase productivity by £18 billion a year. On health inequalities, I hope we can focus on the weighting given to resource allocation.

My final point is about the commitment to index pre-1997 accrued pensions for inflation, capped at 2.5%, where scheme rules allow. This means that pensioners whose pension schemes became insolvent through no fault of their own, and that have failed to keep pace with inflation, will now have the situation rectified. That will benefit more than 250,000 pension protection fund and financial assurance scheme members, and I give credit to the Pensions Action Group and the Deprived Pensioners Association, and to the Pensions Minister for listening to me.

This is a very good Budget. It gives hope, particularly to my constituents and others like them, so I am very grateful.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

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[Dr Andrew Murrison (South West Wiltshire) (Con)]

I will start on a positive note by commending the lines on productivity in the Red Book, and the recent comments that various Ministers have made about that. Productivity has to be the No. 1 objective in getting our NHS to where it needs to be to deliver for our constituents. I have to say to the Health Secretary that objectives two and three are probably dentistry and adult social care, and on those, I have heard less positive news.

Dentistry in particular is still struggling as a result of the units of dental activity created by Gordon Brown back in the day—a system that has bedevilled the provision of dentistry in this country and is in urgent need of reform. Without that reform, we will make no progress at all on one of the principal issues in the health service that concern my constituents at the moment.

I think that a degree of humility is important when we talk about the NHS, and I say that with all due respect to the Health Secretary, because otherwise he will be setting himself up for a fall. Reform in the NHS is fiendishly difficult, and we all remember the ghost of PFI, which still stalks the corridors of our hospitals and clinics and will do so for some time to come.

The day before the Chancellor of the Exchequer gave her pre-Budget speech, her boss—the Prime Minister, no less—took the very unusual step of personally moving the Second Reading of a Bill. The Bill was admittedly a very important one indeed, and the Prime Minister might have thought, perfectly understandably, that it was too important to be delivered by his Justice Secretary. It was the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, which begins its Committee stage today.

At the heart of the Bill is a new duty of candour, and despite its name, it extends well beyond the holders of public office. It carries a legal obligation to act transparently, creates new criminal offences of misleading the public, and contains new codes of conduct based on the Nolan principles of selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, leadership and honesty, and it imposes appropriate sanctions. Lying is a very strong test, Madam Deputy Speaker, and you would call me out of order if I applied it to any right hon. or hon. Member, but this Government, through their Bill, are insisting on another test. They are insisting on a test of candour, and a duty of candour is a noble principle, but nobility cannot be confined to one area of the public realm; it has to be universally applicable, and it has to be applied from the top.

Now, I am not accusing anyone of lying, but it should be abundantly clear that in preparing for this Budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer did not approach her duties with the candour that she and her colleagues are demanding of others—which the public have a right to expect—and that is incorporated, in principle at least, in the Bill that the Prime Minister introduced on Second Reading just a few days ago. I suggest that before that Bill comes back to the Floor of the House, the Chancellor might like to reflect on the duty of candour as far as it applies to Ministers. I feel that a new clause that would make it more difficult for her and her successors to stray into the kind of shenanigans that we have seen over the past couple of months would be greatly welcomed by the House.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

Order. I think that the right hon. Gentleman means to be discussing the Budget, not the Bill that is in Committee.

[Dr Murrison]

I am grateful for your guidance, Madam Deputy Speaker.

What has unfolded since September reflects badly not just on the Chancellor of the Exchequer, or the Prime Minister, or the Government, but on all of us. On 17 September, the OBR—

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

Order. I call Marie Rimmer.

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[Ian Lavery (Blyth and Ashington) (Lab)]

I am listening to this debate and I am discombobulated—I really, really am. The shadow Minister, the right hon. Member for Daventry (Stuart Andrew) spoke for 20 minutes, but he never mentioned why his party—and others—absolutely opposes withdrawing the two-child cap. In this country, we have kids suffering from scurvy, beriberi and rickets, among many other diseases caused by malnutrition. And you know what? He has opposed lifting children out of poverty. You’re an absolute disgrace.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

Order. Mr Lavery, you will be aware that you have just called me an absolute disgrace with that phrase. I am taking it badly.

[Ian Lavery]

Madam Deputy Speaker, I would never dream of calling you a disgrace—you are far from that—but I was pointing at the two Gentlemen on the Opposition Front Bench, the right hon. Member for Daventry and the hon. Member for North Bedfordshire (Richard Fuller).

Getting back to the reality, why did the right hon. Gentleman not mention why the Opposition oppose that, in a country where we are one of the richest economies in the world? Why are we not feeding the kids? Why are we not making sure that kids in every constituency in this country are fed when they get into school and get equal opportunities to fill their bellies and learn, and get better opportunities later on? Why? Why did the Conservative party and the media in the press over the weekend continually have a go at the Labour party about “benefit street”? Typical. Reverting to type. Well, I’ll tell you something, Madam Deputy Speaker: 3,000 kids in my constituency of Blyth and Ashington will benefit greatly as a result of just that one policy. I am proud that we looked at that and that we have done exactly what we have done. I just cannot believe people oppose it. I used to have loads of respect for at least one of those on the Opposition Front Bench.

With the time I have left, I would like to mention the efforts of Labour Front Benchers on the inclusion of the BCSSS—the British coal staff superannuation scheme—and the pensions for many mineworkers who worked underground. As the Labour party promised in the 2024 manifesto, the mineworkers’ pension scheme has now agreed to pay the money back from the special reserve fund to the pensioners themselves. It is a great move. People will remember this. For 14 years, the Conservative party refused to pay a single ha’penny to miners who had worked their socks off in the pursuit of black coal for this country.

There is a lot to do. We need to look at a wealth tax. We need to make sure that these billionaires and millionaires are not left out. And if they want to go to Dubai, Madam Deputy Speaker, then bye, bye—nick off to Dubai!

--- Later in debate ---

[Max Wilkinson (Cheltenham) (LD)]

Just this weekend, The Telegraph reported a secret plot to reverse Brexit by taking this country into a customs union with the EU. Sign me up for that, because we would generate plenty of investment and renewal if we did. If only that were the case. As everyone on the Government Benches and in this House knows, there is an alternative to some of the pain in the Budget. The Labour party knows that it does not really need to hike taxes on hard-pressed households or batter businesses. There is a better way.

Depending on which economist we ask, the impact of Brexit has been a hit to GDP of as low as 4% or as high as 8%. What is the Government’s answer? A deal with Europe amounting to a boost to GDP of about 0.3% and a trade deal with India amounting to about 0.13%. Let us not forget the deal with Trump’s America that might be worth something or not very much at all, yesterday, today or tomorrow, depending on how well the President’s Happy Meal is going down.

Those piddling trade deals are used as evidence for not pursuing closer integration with the economic bloc that covers 41% of our exports and 51% of our imports. Such freedoms we have gained: the freedom for Britain to punch itself in the mouth for ever while Reform and the Conservatives tell us that the pain we feel is the sweet taste of freedom champagne and liberty oysters. At least the Government now acknowledge that there is a problem, but the delusion continues while they argue that anything other than the obvious is the solution.

What is the result of that delusion? British businesses are mired in post-Brexit regulation. The cost of living is up, the size of the state has ballooned, much to the annoyance of the Conservatives who told us it would get smaller, tax is at record levels and our economy is more vulnerable to international shocks. We are all poorer, apart from the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage), who is not here but whose profitable grift continues.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

Order. May I just point out that the hon. Member might like to withdraw the choice of word he used to describe the actions of the hon. Member for Clacton?

[Max Wilkinson]

He is making a lot of money on social media, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I am happy to clarify that.

To compound the problem, we have the sort of Budgets that this Government are giving the nation. Last year, they decided to make it more expensive for businesses to employ people. The Government also tell us that their No. 1 priority is growth but persist with needless and harmful trade barriers and increase the cost of employing people. That is at best absurd and at worst a dereliction of duty.

A short time ago, deep into the weeks of endless leaks and speculation, I met concerned local businesses. They wanted the Government to do something to ease the tax burden, to tread carefully when raising minimum wages—they did not say they were against them, though—and to make it easier for their businesses to grow. The opposite has happened. Despite the spin applied last week, here is the feedback. Edward Anderson, who runs three pubs in Cheltenham, tells me his combined business rates for the three premises will increase by £27,000 a year from April. Andrew Coates tells me that the rates across his three premises will rise by £34,500, on top of the impact of the minimum wage rises costing him £25,000. Why?

On occasion, those of us who ask the Government difficult questions about sensitive and divisive matters are shouted down and told we are ignoring the problem. On this matter, it is the Government who are ignoring the problem, and Ministers know it. Without properly dealing with the consequences of Brexit by striking a new trade deal with Europe—a customs union leading to single market access and stronger realignment in future—this country will continue in the slow lane. If this Government continue to be wilfully ignorant of the impact of their actions on the private sector, this country will continue in the slow lane. If the No. 1 priority for this Government truly were prosperity, they would unleash the opportunity of a trade deal with Europe and make it easier to do business here.