Dan Tomlinson
Main Page: Dan Tomlinson (Labour - Chipping Barnet)Department Debates - View all Dan Tomlinson's debates with the HM Treasury
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Dan Tomlinson Excerpts(2 days, 6 hours ago)
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The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Dan Tomlinson)
Thank you, Mr Speaker. The immediate task facing the Labour Government was to take action to stabilise the public finances and invest in our public services. On national insurance, we did that in a way that protects the smallest businesses by increasing the employment allowance from £5,000 to £10,500. That means that 865,000 employers will pay no national insurance contributions at all, and more than half will either gain or see no change.
Wendy Chamberlain
The national insurance increases in last year’s Budget not only increased national insurance, but impacted on part-time workers, many of whom the hospitality industry relies on. Hospitality companies in North East Fife have written to me directly, but they have also started to share with their customers the real impact of the cost increases they are seeing. Does the Minister agree that there has been an impact on hospitality, and will he commit to ensuring that the Chancellor delivers a hospitality-friendly Budget come the autumn?
Dan Tomlinson
I thank the hon. Member for being the first parliamentarian today who has not asked me, “Who will you be backing in the Labour deputy leadership contest?” I appreciate that very much.
When it comes to small businesses, in particular those in hospitality, overall employment has increased by 380,000 since the Government came to power. This week, I will be having discussions with members of UKHospitality to think about how we can support the sector more through the changes to business rates announced last year. We will come forward with more details on that in the Budget later this year.
Dr Spencer
I am not particularly interested in who the Minister is backing in the deputy leadership contest, but I welcome him to his place. Lebanese Please is a fantastic restaurant in Weybridge, but like many hospitality companies, it is struggling with the impact of national insurance increases. If the partly new Treasury Front-Bench team are considering going for a team lunch, I recommend the warm hospitality of Runnymede and Weybridge, where they can see for themselves the impact that this horrid, harmful tax is having on local businesses across the country.
Dan Tomlinson
I would not presume to know where the next Treasury ministerial awayday will happen, but perhaps we will have to consider the restaurant in the hon. Member’s constituency. He is a strong advocate for the businesses in his constituency. I hope he knows that I advocated from the Back Benches—and will continue to do so in government—for policies that we can implement to boost economic growth and living standards, so that more people have more money to spend in businesses such as the one he mentions in his constituency.
Clive Jones
I have had many meetings with business owners across Wokingham, whether that is world leaders in the defence industry, GP surgeries, medical manufacturers, farmers, hospitality companies or exporters. It is clear that Labour’s hike to national insurance contributions has created immense financial burdens for those companies. This policy has prevented many from hiring more staff and devastated their profits, and it is stifling growth. What steps is the Minister taking to give businesses like those in Wokingham hope that this Government do have their back?
Dan Tomlinson
The big picture on all three of those questions is that at last year’s Budget, the Government made the decision to increase national insurance in order to raise £20 billion. We have put that money into our public services, making sure that waiting lists have fallen pretty much every single month since the election. That means that we have delivered 4 million more appointments, many more people have been seen, and waiting lists are falling in my constituency and across the country. That is the difference that this Government are making: we are repairing the foundations, and making sure that we can look after people now and in the future.
Lola McEvoy (Darlington) (Lab)
This month, we see an expansion of childcare that will benefit families in my constituency to the tune of £7 million, which will go back into their pockets. What assessment has the Minister made of how that spending power will benefit growth across the economy and productivity?
Dan Tomlinson
The investment that this Government are making in childcare, which will increase the number of hours available to families with children aged nine months or older, is the right investment in the future. It is an investment in those children and an investment in making sure that parents can return to work, so that we can improve productivity in our country and have more people who are able to get back to work and enjoy the benefits that that can bring.
Steve Yemm (Mansfield) (Lab)
UK business confidence has hit a 12-month high, according to the latest figures from Lloyds Banking Group. Does the Minister agrees that this is due to the work of this Labour Government, not least the five consecutive interest rate cuts and the three new trade deals?
Dan Tomlinson
My hon. Friend is right to highlight the fact that we have had five interest rate cuts since the election. That has reduced the cost of mortgages for families up and down the country, and reduced the cost of borrowing for businesses that are thinking about investing. It is good to see that there is more investment coming both domestically and internationally, particularly as a result of our investment summit that I was pleased to attend last year.
Luke Murphy (Basingstoke) (Lab)
When I was elected for the first time last year, my constituents told me that they wanted this Labour Government to rebuild our public services, which is what our tax changes are delivering. Does the Minister agree that Opposition parties, of whatever colour, want the benefits of our investment in public services but are not willing to take the tough decisions to deliver them?
Dan Tomlinson
Yes, I agree strongly with my hon. Friend that Opposition Members continue to will the ends—they want the spending on public services—but are not willing to come forward with a plan for the means and the money to invest in our public services so that we can change things for people up and down this country.
Daisy Cooper (St Albans) (LD)
The jobs tax has hit small businesses the hardest, with statistics from the Office for National Statistics showing that vacancies among small businesses alone have dropped by 18%. This proves that the jobs tax is not only crushing growth but crushing opportunity, especially in hospitality. Have Treasury Ministers commissioned their officials to look at any of the fairer revenue raisers that we Liberal Democrats have put forward—such as taxes on the banks, the tech companies or the gambling companies—in order that the Treasury could scrap the jobs tax at the next Budget?
Dan Tomlinson
When the Liberal Democrats were last in government, they made the decision to whack up VAT on businesses, whereas this Government are doing all we can to reform business rates so that retail, hospitality and leisure industries can get the support that they need from the business rates system. The national insurance changes that were made last year protect the smallest businesses, with many seeing lower business rates or not seeing increases.
Bobby Dean (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD)
The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Dan Tomlinson)
Tax reliefs are an important feature of the UK tax system, and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs has invested significant resources in improving understanding of their cost and effectiveness. Since 2019, it has produced costings for 350 reliefs, including detailed analysis of the 38 largest non-structural reliefs, which cost more than £500 million a year.
Bobby Dean
The Minister detailed that about 350 reliefs have been assessed, but my understanding is that more than 1,200 tax reliefs are on the books, amounting to hundreds of billions of foregone revenue for the Treasury. Given that the Treasury examined the spending of all Departments in detail over the summer, I wondered whether it was considering applying the same level of scrutiny to itself.
Dan Tomlinson
It is worth noting that some 800 of the 1,200 reliefs the hon. Member mentions ensure that the tax system operates as intended by defining the scope of tax correctly and that it operates fairly and simply. I am sorry to disappoint the hon. Member, but I will not be able to comment specifically on any changes that we may or may not make to tax reliefs—any decisions will, of course, be announced at the Budget, which is not today.
Oliver Ryan (Burnley) (Lab/Co-op)
Kim Johnson (Liverpool Riverside) (Lab)
As the sixth richest economy in the world, we should not have 4.5 million children living in poverty. The former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has proposed raising £3 billion by looking at reforming gambling taxation. Will the Chancellor consider undertaking those reforms so that we can end the epidemic of child poverty?
The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Dan Tomlinson)
The issue of child poverty is incredibly important to this Government, and the child poverty taskforce will report later this year. I would like to add that this is an important personal issue for me: I grew up in family with very little money and I received free school meals as a child. For those children across the country who are living in poverty right now, I hope that they and their parents know that this Government are on their side and that we will do all we can to invest in our welfare system, in our economy and in ensuring that more people can get into work so that we can get poverty down, rather than have it rising as it did under the previous Government.
Graham Leadbitter (Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey) (SNP)
Hiking excise duty by 14% over the past two years was expected to raise £600 million for the Treasury in duty on spirits, but it has actually cost £600 million. With 70% of spirits produced in Scotland, this is nothing short of a tax on Scotland. The Chancellor has 77 days to back Scotch, support Scotland and sustain growth in this iconic and entrepreneurial sector. Will she therefore commit to reversing the Government’s attacks on a great Scottish success story by bringing down whisky duty in the Budget?