Employer National Insurance Contributions

Clive Jones Excerpts

Wednesday 4th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Clive Jones (Wokingham) (LD)]

Paul and Melissa Johnson, the directors of Home Instead, are local business owners of an adult social care provider based near Twyford, in my constituency. They predict that the national insurance increase will be in the region of £45,000 a year on the basis of their current payroll, and that the increase in the minimum wage and other costs will add a further £55,000 a year. Some similar businesses may have to scale back their plans for growth or their existing operations, or may even face the prospect of closing down. Inevitably, that will have a significant impact on their elderly clients, along with the local authorities with which they work.

Nationally, it is the same story, because the Government’s job tax will be the tipping point for thousands of care providers. This could have been avoided if the Government had instead chosen to increase taxes on big banks, online gambling companies and social media giants, all of which need to pay their fair share of tax. The Conservatives allowed those banks and social media giants to get off the hook; why are Labour doing the same?

Let me ask the Minister this: will the Government commit themselves to exempting social care from the increase in employers’ national insurance contributions, and if not, how will they protect those who are affected by the potential closures of social care providers?

The concerns do not end there. I recently visited Twyford surgery and spoke to its fantastic GP partners about the impact that the increase will have on their ability to deliver primary care effectively. It is the same story that we hear all over the country: they are looking at, in effect, a 4% reduction in funding, which will have an impact on the services they are able to offer, including joint injections and contraception. The Chancellor will compensate the NHS for the cost of the tax increase, but that support will not be available to GPs or to the vast majority of care providers that are in the private sector, which will lead to even greater pressures on our health and care services.

At a time when the GP-patient ratio for my area is rising, with 2,101 patients for every GP compared with England’s national average of 1,664, this is simply unacceptable—and it is happening at the worst possible time, because general practices are already in crisis. Patient lists are soaring, and we simply do not have enough GPs. The Government must provide assurances, as a matter of urgency, that general practices will be given the same protection as the rest of the NHS, and will receive the necessary funding to cover these additional costs. I am sure that millions of people across the country will agree that it is simply common sense to protect GPs at a time of crisis.

[Dr Al Pinkerton (Surrey Heath) (LD)]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Clive Jones]

Okay, yes.

[Dr Pinkerton]

I thank my hon. Friend for that reluctant acceptance, and I congratulate him on his speech. Does he agree with me, and with those in Lightwater surgery in my constituency, that in an average general practice such as Lightwater the national insurance rise equates to the salary of a fully qualified nurse, and that, whether by accident or design, it will have a significant impact on our constituents and their receipt of healthcare?

[Clive Jones]

My hon. Friend is 100% right.

GP surgeries have told me that they spend a disproportionate amount of time seeking out different funding pots, which requires time and resources—time that could be spent on patient care. Will the Minister commit to simplifying the process of funding for GPs?

Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill

Clive Jones Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 25th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Clive Jones (Wokingham) (LD)]

This Bill has several issues, but its glaring failure is the lack of immediate support for the many small and medium-sized businesses outside the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors that are important to our national economy and our local high streets.

The Government claim that they would like to have a level playing field between the high street and the online giants, but this Bill fails to properly address the issue. Many small businesses fall outside the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors and will therefore see no benefit from the Bill. These small businesses need their tax burden to be reduced too.

Labour’s plan to increase national insurance contributions and business rates will prove too much for many small businesses, including charities in my constituency that tell me their increased national insurance contributions will seriously affect them and reduce the amount of money they can spend on supporting the residents of Wokingham.

Small businesses in my constituency have seen a huge increase in both rent and costs, and they had to do their best to survive under a Conservative Government who trashed the economy. As a result of Conservative policies over the last few years, a household with a mortgage now has at least £6,000 a year less to spend on our local high streets where our friends and neighbours work. What these small businesses need now is a proper overhaul and reform of the business rates system, not a Bill that meddles around the edges to provide ineffective and short-term solutions, and they do not need an increase in employer’s national insurance contributions.

My constituency has approximately 3,585 businesses outside the retail, hospitality and leisure industries, which is roughly 70% of the businesses in Wokingham. This make-up is not too dissimilar from the national picture, so the Bill will be ineffective for businesses across the UK.

The Bill fails to offer support to the vast majority of businesses that desperately need their tax burdens to be reduced. It is clear that this Bill does not do enough, and so many businesses and charities that are so important to our high streets will be left to absorb all the extra taxation levied on them by the Government.

This Bill will not fix the broken business rates system, and it will seriously damage the retail and small business sector in our economy.

Fiscal Rules

Clive Jones Excerpts

Monday 28th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Darren Jones]

My hon. Friend has invited me to answer the question, “Why wasn’t there investment over the last decade or so?” Quite frankly, it is because of the choices of the Conservative party. This Labour party in government is taking a different set of decisions and we will set out the detail on Wednesday.

[Clive Jones (Wokingham) (LD)]

First, I declare my interest as a governor of the Royal Berkshire hospital, and I have a family member who is a shareholder in a health company. As Lord Darzi said, the Conservatives have failed to provide proper capital funding for our NHS. I thank the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and the Minister for Secondary Care for their engagement with me and other MPs on the review of the new hospital programme. Will the Chief Secretary to the Treasury guarantee that the changes to the fiscal rules will mean that my constituents can see new and immediate funding for the Royal Berkshire hospital?

[Darren Jones]

The hon. Member asks me so politely, but he will know that I cannot guarantee anything in advance of the Budget. However, it sounds as though he has already experienced the positive way in which this Government are approaching how we will repair the NHS and get it back on its feet, both by getting junior doctors off the strike line and back into wards and by investing in hospitals for the future. I know that he will look forward to the announcements in the Budget on Wednesday.

Budget Responsibility Bill

Clive Jones Excerpts

Committee of the whole House
Wednesday 4th September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Clive Jones (Wokingham) (LD)]

Thank you very much for calling me, Madam Chair. I congratulate the hon. Member for Rother Valley (Jake Richards) on his very interesting speech—I learnt an awful lot about his constituency. I have also learnt a lot today about Southend East and Rochford, Portsmouth North and Swindon North, and especially about my colleagues, my hon. Friends the Members for Woking (Mr Forster) and for Chelmsford (Marie Goldman). I actually knew quite a lot about them before, but it was nice to hear some more. I particularly liked the speech from the hon. Member for Loughborough (Dr Sandher), who suggested that the Minister might like to get his chequebook out. Let me say to him, “If you are getting your chequebook out, I would like you to spend some money for the constituents of Wokingham.”

Members on these Benches have a strong sense of social justice. This comes to us from many directions during our lives. Fifty years ago, I had an inspirational social and religious studies teacher, John Featherstone, to whom I am grateful for helping to instil these values in me. This sense of social justice will, I hope, guide me during my time in this House. I am very pleased that John is up there in the Gallery today.

It is a pleasure to represent the constituency of Wokingham, whose boundaries somewhat changed at the last general election. I would like to pay tribute to my three predecessors, who each represented part of the constituency. From James Sunderland, the former MP for Bracknell, my constituency inherited the parishes of Finchampstead and Wokingham Without. I always found James approachable and straightforward, and I understand that his constituents found the same.

Sir John Redwood was the MP for the former Wokingham constituency for a remarkable 37 years—a tremendous stint of public service—during which he had a profound influence on public policy. He served in Margaret Thatcher’s Government as a junior Minister, and in John Major’s Cabinet as Secretary of State for Wales, where he is best known for his enthusiastic miming of the Welsh national anthem.

The wards of Thames and Twyford were represented by Theresa May—now Baroness May of Maidenhead—for 27 years. She was a dedicated public servant who served as Home Secretary and Prime Minister. She also has a well-deserved reputation among her former constituents, who hold her in high regard and talk about her warmly, with affection and with much respect. Although our politics are different, I wish all of my predecessors well in their future endeavours.

It is an honour and a privilege to be elected to represent the people of Wokingham, where I have lived for much of the last 50 years. I went to school there, and my children went to school there. They were born in the nearby Royal Berkshire hospital, where I am proud to be a governor. It is also the hospital where doctors found my cancer in 2008 and began my successful treatment. In 2016, they were there to help me again, and diagnosed a need for a quadruple heart bypass. Without the Royal Berkshire hospital, I would not be standing here today. Our NHS staff are wonderful, and clinicians at the Royal Berkshire hospital deserve all the praise that is heaped on them by my constituents.

Today we are debating the Chancellor’s Budget Responsibility Bill. In a previous debate, she announced the pausing of the new hospital building programme, which included the Royal Berkshire hospital. Parts of the building date back to 1839, and staff have to work in offices where the windows do not open, and they regularly have to walk around buckets that are there to catch dripping rainwater. I must repeat my plea to both the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care for a speedy decision as to when the much-needed rebuild of our beloved hospital will happen.

If I may, Madam Chair, I would like to give you a short tour of the Wokingham constituency. In the north is the world-famous Henley regatta course at Remenham and the very successful Leander rowing club—one of the most successful sports clubs in the world. I was delighted that the former Prime Minister chose to visit the Leander Club during the recent general election, and even more so that his visit coincided with a boat trip that I and my hon. Friends the Members for Henley and Thame (Freddie van Mierlo) and for St Albans (Daisy Cooper) were making to highlight the dumping of raw sewage into our waterways. It was fun to wave at the Prime Minister from that beautiful stretch of river, and the media all seemed to enjoy it as well.

Wokingham has wonderful, picturesque villages. Wargrave was first recorded in 1061 and features in the Domesday Book. The village of Twyford dates from 871, when Alfred the Great’s army escaped Viking pursuers by crossing the River Loddon. Wokingham has a thriving and growing brewing sector that is establishing great reputations among beer lovers, including the Loddon brewery, the Elusive brewery and the Siren brewery. The Stanlake Park wine estate in Hurst is one of the oldest wine producers in England.

The Chancellor will know that our town centres and village centres, like many others in the UK, are finding life difficult. The cost of living crisis created by the previous Government continues to limit people’s spending power, and online competition is ruthless. Business rates are a huge issue for our local retailers, who make our high streets the great places they are, and I do hope that the Chancellor and Ministers will look into the reform of business rates at the earliest opportunity.

Wokingham town received its market charter in 1219. I thoroughly recommend the market, especially the fruit and veg stall and the fishmonger. My wife likes me to buy flowers for her from Darren’s flower stall. She says they last longer than any supermarket flowers. Using this market is good value for money and it is an important part of our local character.

Today, the constituency is gaining a reputation as a home for life sciences businesses. I was pleased, when leader of the council, to be involved in the early stages of discussions with Lonza, a Swiss public company that will be investing several hundred million pounds in the constituency over the next few years.

Wokingham has many charities in which volunteers work hard to improve the lives of our residents. I will mention just a few: the Wokingham food bank, First Days, Wokingham in Need, Building for the Future, Citizens Advice, Age UK Berkshire, Wokingham United Charities and the Cowshed. The dedication and hard work of the volunteers in these charities and many others is truly inspirational.

In the southern part of the constituency, in Arborfield, there is a former Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers garrison, with which the town had an important relationship for many years.

John Walter, a newspaper editor and politician, and the son of the founder of The Times, lived on the Bearwood estate. He was a Whig MP for the county of Berkshire before 1832—early beginnings of what I hope will become a long-standing tradition in our area.

Madam Chair, from your chair you must be thinking that this 59th Parliament has so many young faces, and I hope you will be including me in that category. I bet you are wondering, “What is his secret?” It is very simple: I worked in the toy industry for many years, running manufacturing and importing businesses. Playing with toys every day for the last 30 to 40 years is what makes me look so young. Our toys made many young people and their parents happy. I am hoping to be just as successful in my second career, helping the people of Wokingham to improve their lives. If I can achieve this, I will have had two worthwhile careers.

Finally, I am grateful to the many people—in particular, my family and friends—who have helped me in my campaigns to be elected to the House of Commons, some of whom are in the Gallery today. Wokingham has never before elected a Liberal Democrat MP. I will work tirelessly to represent my constituents and I will endeavour to make them feel recognised and supported. I come here idealistic and hopeful, hoping that we can make the public feel the same about our institutions, and I want to ensure that we do them justice on these battered but far from broken green Benches.

[The Second Deputy Chairman]

I call Sonia Kumar to make her maiden speech.

Public Spending: Inheritance

Clive Jones Excerpts

Monday 29th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

The response today from former Conservative Ministers just shows how deluded and out of touch they were. The British people delivered their verdict three weeks ago, and after the evidence they have seen today, they will understand that things are even worse than they had thought.

[Clive Jones (Wokingham) (LD)]

Welcome to your place, Madam Deputy Speaker. I wish the Chancellor well in reversing years of economic mismanagement by the previous Government. I really welcome the commitment to speak to MPs who are affected by the failure to provide 40 new hospitals, which were promised four and a half years ago. Patients and—just as importantly—staff at those hospitals will have been waiting for a long time. Will the Chancellor ensure that there is a decision soon so that the staff and patients do not have to wait another four and a half years to know what is happening with their hospitals?

[Rachel Reeves]

I share the hon. Gentleman’s frustration, anger and disappointment that the promises made by the previous Government turned out to be built on sand. The money simply was not there.

The decisions that we are having to take today are not easy. They are not the decisions that I want to make, but we have to put our public finances on a firmer footing. That is essential. My right hon. Friend the Health Secretary will meet the hon. Gentleman and others affected as soon as possible to talk through the next steps to ensure that all our constituents have the public services, including the hospitals, that they rightly deserve.