Budget Resolutions

Debate between Iqbal Mohamed and Sam Carling

Monday 1st December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sam Carling (North West Cambridgeshire) (Lab)]

That is very generous, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am delighted to speak about a Budget that builds on what this Government started last year and takes the necessary decisions to grow the economy and protect working people. With a focus on reducing the cost of living, cutting NHS waiting lists and reducing the national debt, this is a Labour Budget with Labour values.

We have already taken measures to cut the cost of living. We have been improving our energy security, which will bring down energy bills permanently and protect us from the thrall of international markets. We have started rolling out free breakfast clubs in schools, so that parents can get to work on time and kids can start the day ready to learn. We have expanded free school meals and raised the minimum wage, bringing a pay rise to millions of workers.

I am delighted that we are moving forward with further measures. Energy bills are being brought down for households by an average of £150 from April. We are introducing measures to tackle child poverty, which will make this Government the biggest reducers of child poverty since records began. We are lifting over 450,000 children out of poverty and benefiting around 3,200 children in my constituency, according to analysis in the Daily Mirror.

As with last year’s Budget, we see a significant boost to pay for those on the lowest incomes. When the Conservatives, among other parties, decry that by saying that it will impact on inflation, they need to look at the numbers. The OBR forecast shows that Government policy, particularly the energy bills package and the fuel duty freeze, will reduce inflation by 0.4 percentage points in the next financial year. Gilt yields shot down on Wednesday as the Chancellor delivered the Budget. The markets have confidence in our handling of the economy. On Thursday, JPMorgan Chase announced that it will build a new centre at Canary Wharf that will provide 12,000 jobs and boost our economy by £10 billion. That is not the kind of decision that a major player with global reach makes if it does not trust the Government’s handling of the economy. It is a huge vote of trust and mark of confidence in what we are doing.

This is a hugely progressive Budget, as was last year’s. On average, households in the lowest income deciles will benefit most from the decisions taken by this Government from the 2024 Budget onwards. Indeed, by percentage of income, all but the richest 10% of households will benefit from overall policy decisions in 2028-29. When it comes to slashing the cost of living, this Government are backing up their words with real action, reversing the damage done by our predecessors. [Interruption.] Conservative Members are chuntering at me, but I think they need to remember that the last Parliament was pretty much the only one on record in which living standards fell.

People in Peterborough and North West Cambridgeshire are really going to feel the benefits locally. I am delighted that the Chancellor announced £20 million for the new Peterborough sports quarter during her speech. That includes funding for a new Peterborough pool, after the Conservatives closed our regional pool when they ran the council. [Interruption.] Again, I am being chuntered at. The Conservatives closed the pool we had when they ran the council. These are the measures of a Government who are making a difference. By comparison, under our predecessors, living standards were hammered, wage growth was stagnant, and millions more experienced food insecurity.

Labour built the NHS, and we have always been its best custodians. We have proved that in our time in office so far. We promised 2 million extra appointments in our first year, but thanks to massive investment from our first Budget, we hit that target seven months early, and have delivered 5.2 million extra appointments since July 2024. Waiting lists are falling for the first time in 15 years.

[Iqbal Mohamed]

I welcome the investment in the NHS and the reduction in waiting lists for everyone in our country, but does the hon. Member agree that over time, the money that is going to private companies to reduce the waiting lists should be redirected to the NHS, so that profits do not leave the NHS, and there is more money to treat patients?

[Sam Carling]

The hon. Member has made his point. As we heard from the Chancellor, all NHS efficiencies will be reinvested in its budget, and I welcome that. My constituents rarely raise with me the specific way in which their healthcare is being delivered. What they want to know is why they cannot get a GP appointment and why they cannot get to hospital on time. What we are doing will deliver changes.

We must also talk about our national debt. Reducing the debt is a necessary and moral issue. Of every £10 we spend, £1 is spent on Government debt interest. Imagine what we could achieve if we had that money available to invest in our local communities. I am therefore delighted that due to the measures that the Chancellor has announced, combined with the action we took last year, debt as a share of GDP will fall consistently. We will achieve a Budget surplus of £22 billion in 2029-30, which would be the largest surplus for over 20 years.

Let us not forget that the UK was the fastest-growing economy in the G7 for the first half of this year, and both the IMF and the OECD forecast that for 2025 as a whole the UK will have better growth than the eurozone, Canada, Japan, France, Italy and Germany. So while Reform and the Conservatives scream doom and gloom, the Government are quietly getting on with the job. The Budget builds on everything we achieved last year, and I know that we will see the cost of living slashed, debt reduced and NHS waiting lists brought down.

Data (Use and Access) Bill [Lords]

Debate between Iqbal Mohamed and Sam Carling

2nd reading
Wednesday 12th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Iqbal Mohamed (Dewsbury and Batley) (Ind)]

I stand in support of the objectives and aims of the Bill. Having worked with data and technology for more than 30 years, I wholeheartedly support the ethical, responsible and equitable use of technology and data to benefit and make easier the lives of the people of the UK, and to increase the efficiency of service delivery in the public sector. I also pay tribute to campaign groups including Big Brother Watch and Justice for their work to protect the vital privacy and data protection rights of people in the UK.

I want to share some concerns I have on the Bill, focused on two areas: clause 70 and clause 80. I urge the Government to take note and amend the Bill to ensure that the British public’s privacy rights and rights to equality and non-discrimination are not compromised. Clause 70 will weaken protections around personal data processing, thereby reducing the scope of the data that is protected by safeguards in data protection law. I am particularly concerned about the executive power to determine recognised legitimate interests, which will allow for more data to be processed with fewer safeguards than is currently permitted and reduce existing protections that ensure the lawful use of data. I am also concerned about the increased power of the Secretary of State to amend the definition of “recognised legitimate interest” through secondary legislation without appropriate parliamentary scrutiny.

Currently, automated decision making is broadly prohibited, with specific exemptions. Clause 80 will permit it in all but a limited set of circumstances. That will strip the public of the right not to be subject to solely automated decisions, which risks exacerbating the likely possibility of unfair, opaque and discriminatory outcomes from ADM systems; limiting individuals’ rights to challenge ADM; permitting ADM use in law enforcement and intelligence, with significant carve-outs in relation to the existing safeguards; and giving the Secretary of State executive control over the ADM regulatory framework through secondary legislation. They may not be direct examples, but Horizon and the many Department for Work and Pensions scandals show the failings and risks of relying solely on automation and AI.

The Bill introduces a new regime for digital verification services. It sets out a series of rules governing the future use and oversight of digital identities as part of the Government’s road map towards digital identity verification. The framework currently lacks important safeguards and human rights principles that prevent the broad sharing of the public’s identity data beyond its original purpose. Further, the Bill misses the opportunity to take a positive, inclusive step to codify a right for members of the public to use non-digital ID where reasonably practicable. Such a right is vital to protect privacy and equality in the digital age. The right to use a non-digital ID where practicable would protect accessibility, inclusion and people’s choice in how they choose to verify their identities when accessing public and private services, legally protecting the millions of people who cannot or do not want to hand over personal identity data online where an alternative is reasonably practicable.

Returning to automated decision making, it is clearly insufficient to move the burden of safeguards from the data controller, who is currently responsible for preventing harm, to the individual to complain if the ADM is unfair, since people may not complain due to a lack of knowledge or confidence, intimidation and various intersecting vulnerabilities.

[Sam Carling]

I understand the point the hon. Gentleman is making, but does he not accept that the Bill very clearly explains that in cases where any automated decision is taken, there would have to be the right to a proper explanation of the decision, which would probably address a lot of his concerns, and that there must always be a right for an individual to make representations about the decision and obtain human intervention if that is what they want?

[Iqbal Mohamed]

I welcome the limited protections in the Bill, but I know from experience that many applications for benefits—especially disability benefits and personal independence payments—that are processed through automated systems are refused, and the applicants have to go through a complicated and laborious appeals process in order to overturn those automated decisions.

Clause 70 introduces significant changes to the lawful bases for processing personal data. While the aim of those changes is to streamline data processing for legitimate interests, they also present challenges relating to privacy protection, parliamentary oversight, and the potential for misuse. It is essential to balance the facilitation of legitimate data processing with the safeguarding of individual rights and freedoms. Although the Bill is intended to modernise data protection laws, the proposed changes to automated decision-making rights in clause 80 raise significant concerns. The potential erosion of individual protections, increased power imbalances, reduced transparency and the risk of discrimination highlight the need for a more balanced approach that safeguards individual rights while accommodating technological advances.

While I welcome the positive elements of the Bill, I urge the Government to ensure that it does not deliver the proposed benefits along with diminished human rights and rights to privacy, increased discrimination and other unintended harms to individuals, the wider public, minorities, artists and creatives, public services, or our country as a whole.