Economic Affairs and Work and Pensions

Iain Duncan Smith Excerpts

Tuesday 8th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr Iain Duncan Smith)]

It has been a really interesting debate, and I thank the right hon. Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper) for her kind comments welcoming me back to the Dispatch Box. Her husband is probably away doing whatever one does when one is standing to be Leader of the Opposition. Let me say this to her so that she can quietly say it to him: it is not all that it is cracked up to be. She might whisper that in his ear and hope that he does not get the nominations.

We have had an excellent debate; the right hon. Lady is correct about that. As for all those who made maiden speeches, the degree to which they consider it a real honour to have been elected is a great reminder to all of us who have, over time, become a bit more cynical about the speeches that we make in this place. Almost every one of those speeches reminded me—and, I know, pretty much everyone else in the House—of that fact.

My hon. Friend the Member for Bromsgrove (Sajid Javid) confessed to being a banker, as the right hon. Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford said. That is a pretty brave thing to do in this House at the moment. He paid a moving tribute to the two soldiers from his constituency who died. My hon. Friend the Member for Loughborough (Nicky Morgan) said that she was happy to be here, and I am happy about that, too, but she replaced a good friend of mine from the other side of the House, Andy Reed, with whom I used to play football. I am rather sorry to see him go—he was a very good MP—but not that sorry, and I am pleased to see my hon. Friend here.

The right hon. Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford is right to say that the hon. Member for Stretford and Urmston (Kate Green) comes to this House with a strong record on the subjects that we are considering. I look forward to hearing her speak informatively, and to her bringing her great knowledge to debates. Most of us will consider her a real asset to this House.

The hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent (Nick Smith) said that he stood on the shoulders of giants, and I must say that they do not come any bigger than the two to whom he referred—Nye Bevan and Michael Foot, probably two of the greatest orators to have sat in this place—so he has huge shoes to fill. He spoke about benefit dependency, a huge issue, and one to which I shall refer in a second; it is at a ridiculous level.

My hon. Friend the Member for High Peak (Andrew Bingham) challenged anyone in this House to match his constituency for natural beauty. I can with Chingford. We do not have a lot of countryside, but we have a lot of people who work very hard—and who pretty well tell their MP that MPs do not.

The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) talked about high unemployment in Northern Ireland; it is, of course, staggeringly high there—higher than in most other places. We know that there is a historical issue there, but there is also much more that we have to do about it. I hope that he will play a full part in that when the time comes.

My hon. Friend the Member for Aberconwy (Guto Bebb), who spoke very well, talked about his constituency. He said that my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House told him, when he arrived here, not to get too used to this place because his constituency would soon be abolished. That threat has been given to all of us throughout the years; it is either our constituency or we who should be abolished. One way or another, one can fit oneself around that. In my case, it was more me than the constituency that was to be abolished.

The hon. Member for Bethnal Green and Bow (Rushanara Ali) spoke about her direct predecessor, George Galloway, who stirs emotions on both sides of the House—not necessarily very constructive ones among Labour Members. Her predecessor but one, Oona King, was highly respected on both sides of the House. If she was in another party, I would wish her the best of luck with any chance that she has to be Mayor, but in the meantime, she will be a great adornment to the campaign.

May I tell my hon. Friend the Member for Worcester (Mr Walker), who mentioned his father, that those are a big pair of shoes to fill? I knew the father of my hon. Friend the Member for Rugby (Mark Pawsey) incredibly well. Jim Pawsey was well regarded by Conservative Members and well liked, so my hon. Friend will have a big act to follow, as his father was always direct in telling people what he thought, regardless of whether it cost him a job: it did. The hon. Member for Labour—rather, the hon. Member for Leeds West (Rachel Reeves); I apologise, I did not quite hear some of the speeches, and I did not write all these notes. However, I gather that she made an extremely good speech, and spoke about her predecessor, John Battle, who was well liked in the House. She also quoted the Japanese advice to lead, and not to reduce borrowing quickly. I am an eighth Japanese, and the Japanese are not always right about everything.

My hon. Friend the Member for South Staffordshire (Gavin Williamson) praised his predecessor, Patrick Cormack—[Interruption.] Yes. Many of us remember him fondly. The one thing that we do remember about him is his incredible ability to speak about this place in 17th-century terminology as “Parliament assembled”. He will be much missed, and I hope that my hon. Friend fills his shoes very well indeed. The hon. Member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr (Jonathan Edwards), who is a member of Plaid Cymru, spoke about fuel poverty—something to which we shall definitely return—and benefit complexity. I welcome him to the House if he shows interest in those subjects.

The hon. Member for St Austell and Newquay (Stephen Gilbert) spoke about being got rid of as a result of a boundary review affecting his constituency. Again, I suggest that he fight that if he can: he may be here longer than he thinks. My hon. Friend the Member for Vale of Glamorgan (Alun Cairns) spoke very well, and referred to “Gavin and Stacey”. I am not quite sure what the connection is, except that Gavin came from Essex—near Chingford—and Stacey came from Wales, which shows that on this side of the House, we can unite the party yet again. It is a fairly tenuous link, I grant.

The hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood (Shabana Mahmood) has very big shoes to fill. Clare Short ended her parliamentary career in some measure of dispute with her party, but I can hardly think of anyone who has left the House, whether in government or opposition who was more well respected—[Interruption.] Well, she spoke passionately, but people did not always agree with her. However, if someone’s fault is that they are passionate in the House, it is a fault with which everyone will agree.

My hon. Friend the Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds) spoke well about his support for preventing poverty. The hon. Member for South Down (Ms Ritchie) was keen on the poverty agenda, and spoke about living in the same house as St Patrick. Any attempt to be deified in the House will end in tears. My hon. Friend the Member for South West Norfolk (Elizabeth Truss) spoke about the importance of skills, in another very good speech. The hon. Member for Stockton North (Alex Cunningham) spoke about credit unions and loan sharks. I am with him on that: we need to do a lot more to try to break the stranglehold of doorstep lenders and, more particularly, of the very bad elements among loan sharks. I am very strong on seeing what we can do about credit unions.

May I tell my hon. Friend the Member for Grantham and Stamford (Nick Boles) that his seat is a Conservative gain, although it was Conservative before? His predecessor remains a friend of mine. It was always difficult to know quite where Quentin was going to be standing at any one time.

[The Prime Minister (Mr David Cameron)]

Underneath his bell tower.

[Mr Duncan Smith]

That is exactly right.

The hon. Member for Belfast East (Naomi Long) said that she was dedicated to bridging the political divide and the regions, as a member of the Alliance party. She should come across to this side of the House: we are the living embodiment of an alliance, so perhaps she could join us. My hon. Friend the Member for Wycombe (Steve Baker) made a very good speech, and I remember his predecessor, Paul Goodman, very well. The hon. Member for Edinburgh South (Ian Murray) made an excellent speech and spoke about astronomical manufacturing. I am not quite sure what that means, but it sounded good at the time.

The hon. Member for Edinburgh West (Mike Crockart) spoke about the pivotal role of community groups. I agree with him. The hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne Central (Chi Onwurah) paid tribute to the grass roots and sense of respect of the people of Newcastle. She made an extremely witty speech. If she carries on like that in the House, she will rise fast and dominate her own side. I commend her.

My hon. Friend the Member for Orpington (Joseph Johnson), who made a very good speech, said that he did not have the humour gene of his brother, but he proved that not to be true. He has the hair, too, of which I am rather jealous. He will go far in the House, provided he follows his brother’s trait of never sticking to any particular line for any length of time but ending up being elected to highest office while he is at it, which is a pretty good record of success.

The hon. Member for Lewisham East (Heidi Alexander) made a very good speech. My hon. Friend the Member for Spelthorne (Kwasi Kwarteng) spoke about business being strangled by red tape. The hon. Member for Edinburgh East (Sheila Gilmore) made an excellent speech. My hon. Friend the Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Nadhim Zahawi) made a very good speech in which he spoke in Shakespearean terms about the gathering clouds and the dark lowering economy. I was getting so worried at one stage that I thought I would not get to the Dispatch Box to speak at all. Never mind, here we are.

I shall touch quickly on speeches not made by new Members. The right hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough (Mr Blunkett), whom I know and like enormously, blamed bankers, the world economy, the leadership candidates in his own party, and everyone except the previous Government, for the shambles that we are now in. He should think again. It was the Government of whom he was a member who reduced the country to the state that it is in.

[Mr Blunkett]

rose—

[Mr Duncan Smith]

We do not have a great deal of time. I will give way, but I shall finish shortly.

[Mr Blunkett]

I am grateful and I shall be brief. Perhaps the right hon. Gentleman, whom I wish well, would describe to all of us why the rest of Europe has been devastated by the Labour Government.

[Mr Duncan Smith]

I can answer many questions, but I cannot say what the last Labour Government did as they toured Europe destroying all those economies, so I am afraid I cannot help the right hon. Gentleman. All I know is that we have spent huge sums, much of it not carefully adjusted to see whether it was working, including the future jobs fund, about which I was asked earlier. The issue is not that it was not creating jobs, but that the jobs that were being created were more than likely to be temporary, they were nowhere near the number originally projected, and the cost of the programme was running out of control.

Everyone wants to create jobs and stop the wage scar for the young unemployed, but I must tell the right hon. Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford that we face a nightmare in which we have to look at the spending to make sure that whatever we spend delivers real life change. We will be doing that with welfare reform to try to make it much easier for people to get back to work, and to make sure that the money they earn is real money and means that going to work pays. We will reform pensions. The right hon. Lady and her party managed to lower the level of life chances for far too many people in this country, and it is the coalition Government who now set out to help the young, the unemployed and the impoverished in Britain once and for all.

Question put, That the amendment be made.