Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between David Gauke and William Bain(9 years, 2 months ago)
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Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)
For hard-pressed taxpayers, the real test of whether the Government are committed to cracking down on tax evasion and avoidance will be whether this month’s Finance Bill contains legal penalties for breach of the general anti-abuse rule. Will the Financial Secretary tell us whether those will feature in the Finance Bill—yes or no?
Future Government Spending
Debate between David Gauke and William Bain(9 years, 2 months ago)
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Mr Bain
I am most grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way at last.
The “Charter for Budget Responsibility” states that the Treasury will balance the current budget
“by the end of the third year of the rolling, 5-year forecast period.”
Can the Minister point out the reference to 2017-18? If he cannot, his figure of £30 billion of cuts is entirely bogus.
Mr Gauke
It is by looking at where we are and then adding three years. It is really not that difficult.
In the motion, the Opposition attempt to evade the hard choice between more tax or more borrowing facing those who oppose spending cuts by saying they will grow the economy faster so that wages go up and the problem is solved, despite this being a structural issue. Every Government want the economy to grow faster. When François Hollande came to power, with a new economic model praised by the Leader of the Opposition, I have no doubt that he wanted the French economy to grow faster, but it did not, and I have no doubt that in 2008 the Labour Government also wanted the economy to grow faster, but that did not prevent it from shrinking by 6%. Wanting an economy to grow is not the same as achieving economic growth, and nor is it an excuse for not making the hard decisions necessary to reduce the deficit.
Where is Labour’s plan for growth? If we examine the motion, do we find a single policy that would help economic growth? One specific policy is mentioned, about punishing high earners, but that is hardly a policy for growth. After five years, where are these policies for growth? They could mention increasing the number of apprenticeships, reforming banking regulation and increasing infrastructure investment, except that those are policies delivered by this Government. Or they could set out how they would encourage business investment by putting in place competitive business taxes and reducing regulatory burdens, except those are policies they intend to reverse. Or they could mention improving education standards or securing the future of universities, except that they would abandon the progress we have made, not least with their shambolic policy on tuition fees.
Labour’s policies have three characteristics: they are not long term, they are not economic, and they do not constitute a plan. The motion reveals a vacuous Opposition horribly ill-prepared for government. The motion, like the Opposition, has little to say on macro-economic policy and nothing to say on supply-side policy. It is evasive on the deficit and incoherent on economic growth. The motion, like the Opposition, is destined for a heavy defeat.
Finance (No. 2) Bill
Debate between David Gauke and William Bain(11 years, 1 month ago)
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Mr Gauke
That is not actually what the OBR numbers at the last Budget showed, but clearly we are faced with difficult economic conditions. It is striking, however, that whereas, when the previous Government faced difficult economic conditions, the deficit ballooned, we have taken tough action to ensure that we continue to reduce it. Would we like to be reducing it more? Of course we would. Why is that not happening? The difficult economic conditions clearly apply. But is the right approach to these difficult economic conditions to go on a borrowing splurge, as the Labour party consistently advocates? The answer is clearly no.
Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)
If the Finance Bill is such a success in stimulating additional growth, will the Exchequer Secretary explain the statistics on page 103 of the OBR’s fiscal outlook, which reveals that since its December forecasts, forecast income tax revenues are £6.5 billion lower for 2014-15, £6.9 billion lower for 2013-14 and £7.1 billion for 2015-16? Not much of a success, is it?
Mr Gauke
If the hon. Gentleman looks through the OBR’s analysis, he will see its explanation for growth being lower than it had anticipated, which has an impact on the fiscal numbers. It is more than explained by the disappointing performance of our export markets and the fact that we have not been able to export as much as the OBR had anticipated. The question is: how do we respond to that? Do we try to put in place a competitive tax system that makes businesses and industries want to locate and invest in the UK? We have heard nothing from Labour on that front, whereas this Government’s record is very strong.
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation
Debate between David Gauke and William Bain(11 years, 1 month ago)
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Mr Gauke
If the hon. Lady is concerned about people on waiting lists or living in overcrowded conditions, she might want to think about what we could do about too many people who have got spare rooms.
We heard a number of speeches from the Labour party, and two points about the fiscal situation were consistently raised. First was the concern that borrowing is higher than we had wanted and expected it to be—borrowing is too high and debt is increasing too fast. We then had a number of speeches that called for more spending and said that we should not worry quite so much about borrowing and should be prepared to borrow more. Remarkably, a number of speeches made both points at the same time, but the reality is that the Labour party believes that the right approach to our current difficulties in the economy is to borrow more. The proposals from the shadow Chancellor involved £33 billion more spending.
The most interesting point in the entire debate was when the hon. Member for Glasgow North East (Mr Bain) called for more spending in a particular area, and my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Jane Ellison) intervened to ask how he would do that in a fiscally neutral way. At that point the hon. Gentleman paused and said, “Well, we are on a different path.” He is an articulate and eloquent speaker, but rather than say what that path was, he refused to answer. Labour Members are on the path that dare not speak its name. Their path is simply more borrowing.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between David Gauke and William Bain(11 years, 6 months ago)
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Mr Gauke
The Government have increased stamp duty land tax on the most valuable properties. We have also increased the rate of capital gains tax. It is a question of balancing that with practicalities; we think that some of the proposals in this area may have a number of practical difficulties. But we have taken action on some of the taxes that have increased the burden on the wealthiest.
Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)
21. What recent assessment he has made of the effect on economic growth of the level of bank lending to businesses.