Oral Answers to Questions

Gregory Campbell Excerpts

Tuesday 19th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[Gareth Davies]

My hon. Friend is right to engage in the way that she is with her small businesses. We believe that the £90,000 threshold, which has just been increased, strikes the right balance between managing the public finances and supporting small businesses. I encourage her to look at the wider package of support that the Government are providing for small businesses, not least the business rate relief that I was just talking about.

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

Will the Minister have discussions with his counterparts in the devolved institutions to ensure that the likes of sole traders and small businesses see a reduction in bureaucracy to make them more profitable, offering more business opportunities to more people across the United Kingdom?

[Gareth Davies]

I can assure the hon. Gentleman that the Government engage frequently with our counterparts in the Northern Ireland Administration, and that will continue to be the case.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gregory Campbell Excerpts

Tuesday 6th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Laura Trott]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question, and I will take the two parts of it in turn. The Government continue to support businesses with the higher costs through a generous package of support. At the autumn statement, we showed our commitment to supporting small businesses by extending the 75% retail, hospitality and leisure relief, and by freezing the small business multiplier, which will protect more than 1 million properties from the multiplier increase. Yesterday, we announced a wide-ranging package of support worth £600 million for local councils, including £500 million of new funding for social care.

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

I understand that concerns were expressed some years ago about how a significant increase in the minimum wage may well have a knock-on effect, particularly on the hospitality sector. Given that that did not come about with previous living wage increases, will the Chief Secretary commit her Government to ensuring that future increases will be monitored closely to enable and assist small businesses to increase wage levels systematically and sustainably over the longer term?

[Laura Trott]

I can commit to the hon. Gentleman that we are absolutely monitoring the effects, but, as I said, a good package of support is in place for businesses.

Hospitality Sector: Fiscal Support

Gregory Campbell Excerpts

Wednesday 31st January 2024 Westminster Hall

[Steve Double (St Austell and Newquay) (Con)]

It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Bardell. I am delighted to take part in this debate, and I very much congratulate the hon. Member for Stirling (Alyn Smith) on securing it. I am delighted to see the Minister in his place to respond; along with my hon. Friend the Member for Sutton and Cheam (Paul Scully), there have never been two greater champions in Government for the tourism and hospitality sector. I am delighted that the Minister is now in the Treasury, because I am sure that he can be a champion there for this very important sector—not putting any pressure on him at all!

I represent a constituency that is one of the most dependent on the tourism and hospitality sector in the whole country. For example, it is estimated that around 60% of all jobs in the town of Newquay rely on it, and that one in three households across Cornwall derive at least some of their income from hospitality throughout the year. The subject is therefore so very important to us in St Austell and Newquay. We have some amazing hospitality businesses, from St Austell Brewery—which was established in 1851 and is, I believe, the biggest family-owned brewery in the country; it produces amazing beers, like Tribute and Proper Job, has been around for nearly 170 years, and employs hundreds of people in my constituency and well over 1,500 people in the wider region—right through to an American diner in St Austell called Rocky’s, which opened last week. I was delighted to be there on the opening night, and I wish the people there well in starting up a hospitality business in these very challenging times.

We have amazing hotels like The Headland in Newquay, with which the Minister is familiar, the Watergate Bay Hotel in Watergate Bay, and Scarlet in Mawgan Porth. On the south coast, we have the Carlyon Bay Hotel, which Mr Speaker very much enjoys, and Fowey Hall in Fowey, in which I know many hon. Members have stayed. They all play a vital part in the economy and the communities that I have the pleasure of representing.

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

I thank the hon. Member for giving way as he extends his conducted tour around his constituency; I congratulate him on so doing. Does he agree that we all, Government especially, need to ensure that the magnificence of areas like his, and like mine on the north coast of Northern Ireland, are promoted nationally and internationally, in order to maximise the benefits for all our constituents?

[Steve Double]

I absolutely agree. We need to get international tourists who come to this country out of London. Too many never venture past London. I know that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has worked on that, and we have certainly seen some benefits of more international visitors coming to Cornwall and enjoying all that we have to offer.

I will never forget the moment, shortly after the lockdown was announced, that I read a report that said that my constituency of Newquay was predicted to be the hardest hit by the lockdown. Those days were deeply worrying for me. I had business owner after business owner on the phone asking, “What am I going to do? This will literally devastate my business.”

There was a sense of relief a few days later when the then Chancellor—the now Prime Minister—announced the package of support that would be put in place, particularly the furlough scheme but also the targeted support for the hospitality sector. My phone lit up with the people who had rung me in the preceding days; they were so relieved that the Government were stepping in. That demonstrates that this Government understand the importance of the hospitality sector. They provided more support to the hospitality sector than to any other part of our economy during the pandemic, and I know hundreds of businesses in my constituency who are so grateful for it. It is sometimes very easy to forget that support, but it shows the importance that the Government place on the sector.

However, as we have heard, many of those businesses are finding times equally challenging right now. The challenges are different; they are mainly to do with rising costs rather than with demand being taken away. Those could be energy costs, costs in the supply chain or rising wages. I absolutely support the increase in the national living wage, but we need to appreciate that there is pressure on businesses to meet that increased wage. There is therefore a need for the Government to look at what further support they can provide to this sector, not just to get it through the current challenges, but for the long term.

I would ask two things in closing—both of which have already been said, but I will add my voice. There is a case to be made for cutting VAT. I would go for a 10% cut in the VAT rate for hospitality. We have shown that that works. I know there were concerns about how much the cut that was put in place during the pandemic was passed on; I think about 70% of businesses passed on at least some of that cut, but we need to work with the sector to ensure that if VAT is cut, all of the cut is passed on to the customer.

Business rates also need to be looked at. The rise of 6.7% is out of step. I urge the Government to look to the October rate for inflation when increasing business rates. We need more fundamental reform of business rates for the hospitality sector in order to reduce the burden of that tax.

Financial Advice and Guidance: Consumer Market

Gregory Campbell Excerpts

Tuesday 9th January 2024 Westminster Hall

[Harriett Baldwin]

I want to limit my remarks today to consumers and their access to financial advice, but the Treasury Committee is doing an inquiry into access to finance for small and medium-sized businesses, and I encourage the hon. Gentleman to share with us any evidence he might have in that regard.

Our constituents need more personalised help to make them more financially resilient over their lifetime. We want them to be more prosperous, better informed and more able to prepare for the inevitable highs and lows of financial life. With the success of auto-enrolment, we now have millions more people taking personal decisions about saving for their retirement, possibly across a multitude of different pension schemes over a full working life. They need an expert hand to help them to make good decisions and yet, despite our world-leading financial services sector, it is surprisingly difficult to get help. That is because of the advice/guidance legal definitions.

Mrs Harris, I want to try out an analogy on you. Imagine a supermarket where, if you pay an up-front fee of several hundred or perhaps even several thousand pounds to join, you will, over your whole lifetime, be allowed to go into a section where you have a full choice of delicious, healthy food and other goods, offered at competitive prices. Someone will ensure that you are buying things appropriate for your age and dietary needs; they will suggest some terrific, easy-to-cook, healthy recipes and wonderful meal plans.

However, to make it worth paying the up-front fee, you have to buy exceptionally expensive goods or sufficient quantities, and only 8% of our constituents would in fact choose to pay the fee; everyone else in the supermarket chooses to avoid it. They wander round the generic aisles of the supermarket. They may see some generic NHS advice about healthy eating or something on the supermarket website. They pay much higher prices for the same range of goods and often choose the unhealthy and expensive options. They even find scam and rogue options that scam them out of their shopping money altogether, because anyone can set out a stall in the supermarket I am describing.

It is a slightly stretched analogy, but I know that you know what I am getting at, Mrs Harris. The quality and cost of financial advice in this country mean that we have created a marketplace where only the richest 8% of the population choose to shop and benefit from the healthy financial choices that our excellent financial services firms can give.

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

I congratulate the hon. Member on this very timely and important debate. She is now moving into the important area of providing professional, impartial, independent consumer advice to ensure that people avoid making bad choices and to steer them in the direction of making good, effective choices.

[Harriett Baldwin]

That is exactly right. I am using this analogy to make us realise what a scandal it would be if we had supermarkets like the ones I have just described, but that is sort of what we have in our financial services supermarket. It is a slightly stretched analogy, but the quality and cost of financial advice means that we have created a marketplace where only the richest 8% of the population shop and benefit from the healthy financial choices on the menu that our excellent financial advisers can give.

The remaining 92% of our constituents end up unadvised. If they are lucky, they might find out that there is state-sponsored guidance such as Pension Wise and the Money and Pensions Service, perhaps through a newspaper article or a Google search. A small number do find that advice, but it is very generic. It can be useful and helpful but, more often than not, it leaves them with more questions than answers; it offers some very simple thoughts, which perhaps leaves people not knowing how the advice relates to their personal circumstances. Without urgent Government action to explore solutions for the unadvised, I fear that we are creating terrible long-term consequences for the nation’s savings health and for the prosperity of our constituents in retirement.

At its best, that generic guidance and the personalised guidance available through the Money and Pensions Service and Pension Wise is a bit like the generic advice from the NHS to eat five pieces of fruit and vegetables a day: it is useful but it is not going to help anyone make an informed investment choice. Yesterday, I did some mystery shopping on the Money and Pensions Service website to see what advice my constituents would get if they had received a small lump sum—perhaps an inheritance, a redundancy payment or some tax-free cash they had taken from their pension. I followed a link on the website’s landing page to an article labelled, “Types of investments”, which I thought might be helpful. That page then asked,

“Do you need help making smart investment choices?”

which I thought was probably the right page. I was then directed to the Financial Conduct Authority’s InvestSmart website. On the landing page of that website, the first article is called, “Crypto: The basics”. That is on the FCA’s website. The third article on the landing page is called, “Investing in crypto”. The website then said that, if I wanted advice, I needed to see a financial adviser, so I was back to square one. Those crypto pages are probably there prominently to warn people not to buy those products, but the prominence ends up looking like an endorsement.

There used to be a network of bank branches in this country, where people could go to talk to a human being who might be a bit more helpful, albeit that they would focus on their own-brand products. However, there have been so many bank closures that most people would not know where to start to find anyone to speak to face to face about savings and investment choices. Yet, we have asked millions more people to invest in their own pensions through auto-enrolment and have left them with a default provider—the National Employment Savings Trust—which charges an up-front load of 1.8%. We have given people pension freedoms, which means some very big decisions can be taken at the age of 55 that will have long-term consequences for people’s financial health.

As you can tell, Mrs Harris, I am not happy with this outcome for my constituents, and I am sure you are not happy with the outcome for yours. When I was Economic Secretary to the Treasury in 2015-16, I commissioned the financial advice market review, which tried to make financial advice and guidance work better for consumers. It came up with some good recommendations, including allowing consumers to redeem a small part of their pension pot against the cost of retirement advice in certain circumstances. However, at the time, it was constrained in what it could do by European regulations. Now that we are under way with the Edinburgh reforms and there is scope for a more UK-centric regime, I have been raising the problem once again.

In addition, Parliament has legislated for a consumer duty on financial services firms, which began to be implemented last July. We have a world-leading financial services sector with many excellent firms serving consumers well, but they are held back by regulations from offering their consumers any helpful advice from their own expertise. That could even contradict their consumer duty—if they can see their customers making poor decisions such as leaving long-term savings in taxable, low-interest accounts when they could perhaps be in an individual savings account or earning higher rates. Even Martin Lewis, whom many people turn to for financial wisdom, has told me he feels he is held back from recommending certain sensible things because it might be considered financial advice. So I very much welcome the proposals that the Government and the FCA have published jointly to address the advice gap. I think they go in the right direction.

There are three elements. Further clarifying the boundary between advice and guidance would give FCA-authorised firms greater certainty that they can give more support to consumers without providing a personal recommendation. It would help firms give consumers greater levels of support with more confidence to operate closer to the boundary. That is a necessary element, but on its own it might not surmount the cautious behaviour that we see from some compliance departments.

The second proposal is targeted support. The new regulatory framework will enable firms to provide broader support without up-front charges based on the limited information that they have on their consumer, and enable firms to suggest products or courses of action. That will be a key proposal to close the advice gap.

The third proposal is for simplified advice for consumers with smaller sums or simpler needs at a price that is commercially viable for both consumer and firm. With the development of technology, more powerful artificial intelligence tools and more data out there, innovators will find ways to give consumers more customised, less generic, financial advice—something like coaching or help—at a commercially viable price. Whatever we call it, such changes will help our constituents by giving them better and more personalised information to make their choices.

Some consumer groups worry about allowing our financial services firms more leeway to help their customers. To go back to the supermarket analogy, there are some bad apples even in the premium aisles of the supermarket. Last year the Financial Services Compensation Scheme paid out millions to those who were badly advised, but doing nothing about the advice gap is also a choice. I believe consumers are being harmed much more in the generic aisles of the supermarket, where often there is no regulatory redress.

The proposals are to be welcomed and should be brought in as quickly as possible. Let us also agree to do more for our constituents by making sure there ia much higher awareness of services such as Pension Wise and the financial advice money that people can take from their pension to pay for financial advice at key moments. I wish my hon. Friend the Economic Secretary well in implementing this important change. It will cost taxpayers nothing. It will harness the expertise of a range of excellent financial services firms and get much more personalised advice to our constituents when they take key financial decisions. I give power to the Minister’s elbow in bringing the changes forward.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gregory Campbell Excerpts

Tuesday 14th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

The Government have done a lot to raise personal allowances, for which our party has advocated for many years. However, given that that is an improvement for people at the bottom end of the income scale, will the Treasury now turn its view towards hard-working, middle-income families, who also want a reduction in their tax burden?

[Nigel Huddleston]

We appreciate the support for taking 3 million of the lowest-paid people out of paying income tax altogether since 2010—an important and significant change. I understand the hon. Gentleman’s comments, but I cannot comment further, especially this close to a fiscal event.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gregory Campbell Excerpts

Tuesday 5th September 2023 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Griffith]

The FCA has significant sanctions in respect of the closure of ATMs that would leave communities without the right of free access to cash. On the closure of bank branches, we are seeing a significant change, and I hope my right hon. Friend would respect the fact that technology is changing and consumer patterns are changing. During the recess, I had the privilege of visiting the excellent community banking hub in Brixham, which I think is a brilliant opportunity. There should be more than 100 on their way, and that is my objective.

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

Does the Chancellor accept that many people see income tax rates at the moment as exceptionally punitive, and does he also accept that there is a need to move as quickly as possible into a growth-based economy and to supercharge our economy in the United Kingdom?

[Jeremy Hunt]

As a Conservative, I want to bring taxes down as soon as we can afford to do so, and I am very proud that for the first time ever people can earn £1,000 a month without paying a penny of tax or national insurance.

Cash Acceptance

Gregory Campbell Excerpts

Monday 20th March 2023 Westminster Hall

[Martyn Day]

The Father of the House makes a valid point, and one that I shall echo a number of times as I make progress through my speech—if there are no other interventions.

Zachary Stiling, creator of the more recent petition, told me:

“We must protect the individual’s right to use cash in all physical transactions. While there are many obvious advantages to digital payments, it is not suitable at all times or for all people…There are dangerous political implications with going cashless, as instances of banks and financial service providers closing accounts for political reasons are not unprecedented and are clearly at odds with liberal society’s cornerstone of freedom of belief.”

As we have heard from a number of interventions, freedom of choice is a central tenet of this issue. To be clear, the choice to use cash is still one that many people wish to make. Indeed, 95% of respondents to the Petitions Committee survey ahead of this debate stated that they preferred to use cash to pay for things over other means of payment. I know from my own experience that I would be happier using cash when I am in a pub or a restaurant than when I am shopping. It is different horses for different courses.

Figures from the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce 2022 cash census showed that 96% of people withdraw cash at some frequency, with 83% having cash either in their wallet or at home. Furthermore, figures from the Financial Conduct Authority’s 2022 “Financial Lives” survey showed that 6% of adults in the UK had used cash to pay for everything, or for most things, over the 12 months from May 2021. That is a significant number of people.

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

Last year, I was at a coffee outlet in London City airport that only took cards. A constituent asked me to take up the issue, which I did. A few weeks later, it introduced a process for cash and card. Three months later, the constituent sent me a photograph of a sign saying, “Cards not working today, only cash.” How ironic was that?

[Martyn Day]

The hon. Member makes a very good point on which I wholeheartedly agree. As I said, 6% of adults use cash payment for almost everything. That figure increases to 9% of those in the most vulnerable circumstances. I shall return later to the impact of cash refusal on the most vulnerable in our society.

Although the covid-19 pandemic undoubtedly affected payment habits, there has been both a sustained, albeit partial, recovery and a stabilisation in trends around the use of cash, as noted by the Bank of England in its third quarter bulletin in 2022. The Bank also noted that the value of bank notes in circulation remains close to an historic high, reflecting the fact that up to 60% of the population are holding more cash as a store of value.

Beyond freedom of choice, there are other clear benefits to using cash. One benefit for retailers is that unlike card schemes, for which they must pay set-up and transaction fees to providers, with cash every penny goes to them. Another benefit that should not be underestimated is the role that cash can play when other payment methods fail, as the hon. Member for East Londonderry (Mr Campbell) illustrated. I am sure that many of our constituents have had the experience of being unable to use online services or cards in the face of card rejection, IT glitches or system outages.

I can give an example from my own life, when I visited a friend who was recovering from surgery in hospital. I stopped for fuel on the way, which was lucky for me because although I had no cash in my pocket, my card was accepted, and when I got to their house I had an email from my bank telling me that it thought there had been a suspicious card transaction so my card had been stopped; had I tried to buy fuel on the way home, I would have had no means of paying for it. Cash is essential.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gregory Campbell Excerpts

Tuesday 7th February 2023 Commons Chamber

[James Cartlidge]

It is worth stressing that, when we reduced fuel duty at the last spring Budget by 5p on both petrol and diesel, it was only the second time in the past 20 years that both rates had been cut. Future changes will obviously be determined at the appropriate fiscal event.

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

Interest in purchasing electric vehicles has escalated significantly and is expected to escalate further in the next 12 to 18 months. Will the Minister undertake to ensure that greater provision of public-facing EV charging points is rolled out right across the United Kingdom?

[Victoria Atkins]

I am pleased to be able to announce that, through the more than £2 billion of funding the Government have committed to electric vehicle transitioning, 30,000 public charging devices have been made available with the help of industry. Of course we will look to do even more over the coming years.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gregory Campbell Excerpts

Tuesday 15th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Hunt]

I can absolutely give my right hon. Friend that confirmation. Indeed, I intend to meet a group of lenders later this month to discuss that very issue.

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

I think people understand the difficult choices that they and their Chancellor face come Thursday, but will the Chancellor ensure that the small and medium-sized enterprises across the United Kingdom that provide the backbone of our economy and employment opportunities are not forgotten?

[Jeremy Hunt]

I can absolutely give the hon. Gentleman that undertaking. We must remember that, for those businesses, very often the most insidious taxes are those that they have to pay before making any kind of profit, because those are the taxes that can make them go under. As the Conservative party—the party of small business—we will think very hard about their needs.

Oral Answers to Questions

Gregory Campbell Excerpts

Tuesday 17th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[John Glen]

Yes, absolutely, and my officials are meeting the Cryptoasset Business Council later this week. We want to take a dynamic approach to industry engagement. Lots of similar organisations have spawned over the last few months, and I and my officials will work very closely with them as we lead this global leadership aspiration.

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

The cryptocurrency market is expanding rapidly, but what are the Government doing to ensure that the wider public are aware of the wild swings that exist in the market? Yes, profits can be made, but so can significant losses, as the past few months have demonstrated.

[John Glen]

We watch these things very carefully. That is why, in January this year, we announced that certain cryptoassets will be brought within the scope of financial promotions regulation. I am very aware of the Financial Conduct Authority’s advice, which shows that only one in 10 cryptoholders are aware that they can lose all their money. We need to get that number up.