Draft Social Security (Contributions) (Rates, Limits and Thresholds Amendments and National Insurance Funds Payments) Regulations 2022 Draft Tax Credits, Child Benefits and Guardians Allowance Up-rating Regulations 2022

Margaret Greenwood Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd February 2022 General Committees

[Lucy Frazer]

As I said earlier, I am happy to write to him on the subject.

[Margaret Greenwood (Wirral West) (Lab)]

Will the Minister also set out for us what the SIs will mean for levels of child poverty, because I am very concerned that more than 4 million children are already living in poverty, and the rate seems to getting worse?

[The Chair]

Given the interest in the Committee, it would be helpful if the Minister sent a copy of her response to all members of the Committee.

0.7% Official Development Assistance Target

Margaret Greenwood Excerpts

Tuesday 8th June 2021 Commons Chamber

[Margaret Greenwood (Wirral West) (Lab) [V]]

As host of this year’s G7 summit, which takes place later this week, the Government should be leading by example. Instead, they are abandoning their responsibilities to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people. The Government’s plan to cut UK aid to developing countries will have devastating consequences.

The Government’s decisions will mean a cut of nearly 60% in humanitarian funding to Yemen, in the face of what is considered the world’s worst humanitarian crisis; a cut of 40% in aid going to education, resulting in 700,000 fewer girls receiving an education; and a cut of more than 80% in aid for water, sanitation and hygiene projects in developing nations. The Government should be ashamed.

Save the Children has highlighted that

“areas critical for children like basic nutrition, family planning and reproductive healthcare are all set to see substantial cuts”.

Several constituents have emailed me in recent days to echo that. They have raised concerns that the cuts will have far-reaching consequences for the world’s most marginalised children, especially girls, at a time when they most need our support. In their view and mine, Ministers have turned their back on the world’s most vulnerable children.

How can the Government claim that the UK remains a world leader in international development? In cutting aid from 0.7% to 0.5% of gross national income, the UK will drop from the third largest donor in the G7 to third from last, damaging our reputation and credibility on the world stage. The Conservatives’ 2019 manifesto stated:

“We will proudly maintain our commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of GNI on development, and do more to help countries receiving aid become self-sufficient.”

So much for election promises.

The 0.7% overseas aid target is enshrined in law. Lord Macdonald of River Glaven, a former Director of Public Prosecutions, has made it clear that the Government’s decision to cut foreign aid without passing new legislation is “unlawful”. The Government have said that

“we will return to our commitment to spend 0.7% of gross national income on development when the fiscal situation allows.”

That is to ignore the immense suffering that the cuts will cause right now. One Wirral West resident who wrote to me with her concerns said:

“There is a danger that, once reduced, it will not return to 0.7%. Other excuses will be found.”

Numerous charities that work in climate and international development—including Greenpeace, Christian Aid and WaterAid—have said that the cuts will make it harder for countries to respond to climate change, and that they

“will inevitably harm the most vulnerable in society, pushing huge numbers back into poverty”.

Ministers should consider the long-lasting damage that their callous, short-sighted and counterproductive cuts to the aid budget will do to the UK’s reputation globally. There is significant opposition in this House and right throughout the country to the Government’s decision to cut overseas aid. The Government must think again, and they must maintain the commitment to 0.7% for international development.

Economy Update

Margaret Greenwood Excerpts

Thursday 5th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Margaret Greenwood (Wirral West) (Lab) [V]]

The Chancellor’s U-turn on furlough comes after intense lobbying by the TUC, the CBI, Labour and leaders in the Liverpool city region. Can the Chancellor explain why workers in the north were expected to get by on 67% of their pre-crisis wages when tier 3 restrictions were put in place, but that that has now changed to 80% once areas in the south of the country are being locked down? Will he give a cast-iron guarantee to the people of Wirral West that workers in the north will never again be treated as second-class citizens?

[Rishi Sunak]

It is simply not the case that the wage support schemes we have put in place differentiate between people on the basis of where they live. All the schemes, whether the furlough scheme or the job support scheme, treat people equally wherever they live in every region or nation of the UK. To suggest otherwise is simply wrong and, quite frankly, a misrepresentation of what the hon. Lady knows to be the case. She mentions the TUC, and the TUC welcomes the introduction of the job support scheme, and I am grateful for its help in designing it.

Public Health Restrictions: Government Economic Support

Margaret Greenwood Excerpts

Tuesday 13th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

My hon. Friend raises a good point, and it speaks to the point raised on youth unemployment a moment ago. We have invested £2 billion in the kickstart scheme. We are tripling traineeships. We have the £2,000 for firms taking on apprenticeships. That is something that the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is particularly focused on, as well as the doubling of work coaches. Linked to that is our investment in green jobs through net zero and the package that was announced by the Chancellor, including the decarbonisation of public buildings and homes and the creation of green jobs. We are bringing forward the £5 billion infrastructure package that the Prime Minister announced the week before the summer economic update. We then need to link those jobs to skills through schemes such as the kickstart, so that for those who are not able to retain their jobs, we are able to get them into the new jobs of the future.

[Margaret Greenwood (Wirral West) (Lab) [V]]

It is important that the Government understand the reality of people’s lives as new restrictions are introduced. Figures from the Low Pay Commission show that around 1,800 people in Wirral West are paid at or around the minimum wage. Many people on low pay work in bars and restaurants, and I am very concerned about the impact that the new restrictions will have on their ability to pay their bills. What action will the Government take to ensure that working people in Wirral West do not face poverty as a result of these new measures?

[Steve Barclay]

The hon. Lady is right to highlight that worry that many people have, particularly with the additional announcements. That is why we have taken the action we have, with the additional £7 billion into welfare to enable universal credit to top-up where there is an impact on people’s wages. That combination of the job support scheme and universal credit speaks exactly to the concerns she raises.

Economic Update

Margaret Greenwood Excerpts

Wednesday 8th July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I know that he shares with me a passionate belief, as I said, in the nobility of work. This plan today is about providing everyone in North West Durham and every other part of the country with the opportunity to secure good work.

[Margaret Greenwood (Wirral West) (Lab) [V]]

This week saw the first meeting of the ExcludedUK all-party parliamentary group, an APPG for the excluded, the estimated 3 million people who have missed out on Government support and are facing real financial hardship. I note that the Chancellor has avoided answering questions on this matter so far today. May I explain to him, the excluded include people on zero-hours contracts, the directors of small companies paying themselves through dividends, and many self-employed people? In my constituency, that is taxi drivers, joiners, beauticians, childminders, care workers, driving instructors, IT consultants—the list goes on. Will the Chancellor look again at providing support to the excluded, so that they, too, can play their part in the recovery?

[Rishi Sunak]

I have not avoided answering the question; I have answered it not just today, but on every other occasion that I have been at this Dispatch Box. We have provided comprehensive support to many millions of people, especially the self-employed—more generous and comprehensive than any other country—and I have acknowledged that we have not been able to help everyone in the exact way that they would like but, because of the strengthening of our welfare system that we put in place and our universal loan schemes, everyone has been able to access some form of support.

Economy and Jobs

Margaret Greenwood Excerpts

Monday 20th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Margaret Greenwood (Wirral West) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Speaker. We have had a number of maiden speeches today, and I congratulate all Members who made theirs. My hon. Friend the Member for Cynon Valley (Beth Winter) paid tribute to her predecessor in the House, Ann Clwyd, and spoke about the scourge of high unemployment and low wages that characterises so many of her constituents’ experiences. The hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Andrew Griffith) spoke about the beauty of the area that he represents and its role as a dark sky reserve.

My hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham East (Nadia Whittome) made a very impressive speech in which she spoke of the urgency of addressing climate change and the reality of life for so many of her constituents when 42% of children live in poverty and firefighters are using food banks. There were also maiden speeches from the hon. Members for North West Durham (Mr Holden), for Loughborough (Jane Hunt), for Dover (Mrs Elphicke), for Kensington (Felicity Buchan), for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Aaron Bell), for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Jo Gideon) and for Gordon (Richard Thomson).

Despite the warm words of Ministers, the Queen’s Speech fails to put an end to a decade of austerity that the Government must take full responsibility for. There is no shortage of evidence to show just how badly the Government have failed. Child poverty is at record levels at over 4 million and is set to rise to over 5 million by 2022 as a direct result of Government policy. Thirty per cent. of children in the UK are growing up in poverty and, in parts of the east end of London, Birmingham and Manchester, that figure is over 50%. There is no moral case for the Government to continue—[Interruption.] I do not understand why Government Members are making such a noise at the news that in some parts of this country, 50% of children are living in poverty—they should be hanging their heads in shame. There is no moral case for the Government to continue with business as usual, and radical action is needed. Most urgent is the abolition of the two-child limit in universal credit and the provision of free school meals to all primary schoolchildren.

Only last week, a major new study highlighted that the wealthiest people in the UK can expect to live around nine years longer in good health than the poorest people in our society. That is a stark indication of the deep-rooted inequality in our country. The UN special rapporteur on human rights and extreme poverty said, in his report on the UK, that

“much of the glue that has held British society together since the Second World War has been deliberately removed and replaced with a harsh and uncaring ethos.”

That is a damning indictment of Conservative Governments’ shameful record.

Average wages still remain lower in real terms than they were in 2008. Meanwhile, the dividends paid to shareholders have increased at three times the rate of inflation. UK private sector corporations are stockpiling reserves, so total cash and bank deposits increased by 8.3% last year. That picture suggests uncertainty rather than confidence in the future.

The last decade has also seen a sharp rise in the number of people in low-paid, insecure work. While the Government propose to increase the national living wage, it will fall far short of a genuine living wage, as set by the Living Wage Foundation. The Government have even missed their target of £9 an hour by 2020, set by George Osborne back in 2015, let alone Labour’s goal of £10 an hour for all workers aged 16 and over.

There has been an increase in the number of workers who are not even being paid the current national minimum wage. In 2016, just over 22% of workers aged 25 years and over who should have been paid the minimum wage were underpaid. Now the figure stands at 26%, according to a new study by the Resolution Foundation, which estimates that around 350,000 of the 1.4 million people over 25 who were paid the national living wage in 2019 were paid less than they were legally entitled to. It is truly shocking that so many people are being exploited in this way and that so many employers think that it is okay to pay less than the legal rate. Despite that, since mid-2018 the Government have suspended the naming and shaming of employers found by HMRC to be underpaying. They claimed to have done so on the advice of the director of labour market enforcement, but that is not quite right: in fact, he had called for an evaluation and specific improvements, so why have the Government abandoned workers who are being badly exploited?

Low pay is not the only matter of matter of concern. The world of work has changed enormously in the last decade. Two thirds of the growth in employment since 2008 has been in areas such as self-employment, zero-hours contracts and agency work, while the total number of people in insecure work is estimated at around 3.7 million by the TUC, and that estimate includes 1.5 million self-employed people earning less than the national living wage. For those in insecure employment, it is extremely difficult to report abuse, not just in the case of underpayment of the minimum wage but when it comes to sexual harassment. Women are more likely to be in insecure work involving temporary, agency or zero-hours contracts than men, and nearly 900,000 people are now on zero-hours contracts, more than half of them women. In July, the EU introduced a directive on transparent and predictable working conditions, part of which was aimed at addressing the use of zero-hours contracts by employers. The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy told the House that the Government had gone further than the directive, but that is not entirely accurate. For example, they have not gone so far as to require employers to give employees a minimum period of notice of their shifts and compensation if they are then cancelled. Can the Minister confirm whether the Government intend to do so, and if so, when?

Alleged bogus self-employment has been the subject of high-profile legal challenge in the past few years. As with underpayments of the minimum wage, the concern has to be whether employers are trying to escape their basic responsibilities to their workers. Are they requiring self-employed status to avoid paying for uniforms, equipment and national insurance contributions and to avoid paying into pensions? The Taylor report and the BEIS and Work and Pensions Committees have called for reform of the law on employment status to place greater emphasis on whether there is an employer who exercises control and supervision over a person who is allegedly self-employed. The Opposition believe the Government should end bogus self-employment by creating a single status of worker for everyone apart from those genuinely self-employed in business on their own accounts. The employment Bill does not seem to address the issue of employment status at all, so can the Minister tell us why not?

The growth of low pay and insecurity in the workplace has been accompanied by severe cuts to social security. Universal credit was supposed to lift people out of poverty and smooth the transition into work. It is failing on both counts. The reality is that many people find it far more challenging to make a claim in the first place and then to have to wait five weeks to receive payments. The 1.6 million emergency food parcels distributed by the Trussell Trust last year represented a 20% increase on the year before. In this, as in so much else, the figures show clear regional inequality, with a 38% increase in the north-east of England. It should be a source of deep shame to the Government that food banks have become a hallmark of Conservative administration.

Access to and availability of childcare can make a real difference to people trying to get into work. The all-party group on childcare and early education has highlighted in a valuable report that Government funding for the 30 hours of free childcare is inadequate. It argued that as a result of a £662 million funding shortfall, there is a danger that access will become increasingly restricted in more deprived areas as providers close their doors or charge for extras such as meals or nappies. In the Queen’s Speech, the Government announced additional funding for wraparound childcare, but can the Minister tell us when they will fund their core commitment properly?

Many Members have spoken of their concerns about the replacement of the European social fund, but on this matter the Queen’s Speech was silent. That is a very serious omission, given that numerous organisations providing employment support for disabled people and deprived communities rely on the European social fund for support. The Government may have guaranteed funding in the current round, but the ESF funding for most organisations will end either this year or next, leaving a major question mark over their future. The Government promised a consultation as far back as July 2018 on the future of the shared prosperity fund, but since then they have dragged their heels. When will they give details of the design of the fund so that organisations can at least have certainty? Will the shared prosperity fund match and maintain the funding levels provided by the ESF during its next round of funding? Employment support organisations are at risk of closing before we get answers from the Government, and with those closures will come the loss of vital support and expertise. The confusion over the shared prosperity fund is not taking back control; it is delay and drift. Disabled people and the deprived communities who rely on ESF funding deserve better.

We are facing a crisis in productivity. Rather than our seeing the investment in skills and machinery that we need, much of the economy is based on low-paid, low-skilled employment. Overall growth in business investment in areas such as machinery, IT and intellectual property has been slowing since 2015, and has actually fallen in each of the last two years. A recent survey found that only 50% of UK employers expected to increase their spending on skills development in the next 12 months. The Government have failed to provide a lead. Rather than their investing in skills, public funding of adult skills training is set to be cut by half between 2009-10 and 2020-21. There is something seriously wrong when people from disadvantaged backgrounds, with the lowest qualifications, are the least likely to have access to skills training. That was highlighted by both the Office for National Statistics and the Social Mobility Commission last year.

The increase in low-paid, insecure work is damaging people’s lives. It leaves children going hungry, puts stress on families, and leaves many unable to meet basic household bills. Low-paid, insecure work is not good for people, and it is not good for the economy. The Conservatives have now had 10 years in which to take action to tackle the scourge of low pay and ensure that work is a route of poverty. They have had 10 years in which to ensure that when people are not able to work, they are supported by a social security system that has dignity and respect at its heart. Instead, we find that inequality is deeply entrenched. The most disadvantaged have paid the price of the financial crisis through cuts in social security, and the cuts in public services have weakened the very fabric of our society.

It is time that the Government faced up to their responsibilities and took the action that is needed to tackle climate change, rebuild our public services, and invest in our people at every stage of life.

Oral Answers to Questions

Margaret Greenwood Excerpts

Tuesday 18th July 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mel Stride]

My hon. Friend is right, and he is rightly a champion of business in his constituency. There is no doubt that lower taxes create wealth and in turn pay for the public services that we all desire—contrary to the party opposite. I share one exchange with the House—when my hon. Friend the Member for North East Somerset (Mr Rees-Mogg) asked the shadow Chief Secretary if he was

“aware that tax as a percentage of GDP is going to be at its highest level since Harold Wilson was Prime Minister?”,

his response was:

“Let me put it like this: if we had a Labour Government, the percentage would be even higher.”—[Official Report, 18 April 2017; Vol. 624, c. 579.]

[Margaret Greenwood (Wirral West) (Lab)]

The TUC estimates that nurses, firefighters and border guards face losing more than £2,500 in real terms by 2020. For ambulance drivers, who earn significantly below the UK average wage, the figure is more than £1,800. Does the Minister agree that it is about time that we gave hard-working public sector workers the pay rise they deserve?

[Elizabeth Truss]

The hon. Lady should be aware that more than half of nurses and NHS workers saw a 3% pay rise last year. She needs to check her facts.

Public Sector Pay Cap

Margaret Greenwood Excerpts

Wednesday 5th July 2017 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

That is exactly why we have independent pay review bodies: they give us impartial advice and make recommendations. We accepted in full the recommendation of that body.

[Margaret Greenwood (Wirral West) (Lab)]

NHS consultants in my constituency tell me that morale in the NHS is at an all-time low and that this is leading to real problems for recruitment and retention. Having voted against doing so only last week, I understand that certain members of the Cabinet are now in favour of ending the public sector pay cap. Will the Government now heed their calls and give public sector workers the pay rise they deserve?

[Elizabeth Truss]

I am not sure the hon. Lady has heard the last hour of our discussion. We need to maintain sustainable public finances at the same time as being fair to workers in the public sector.

Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Margaret Greenwood Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd March 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

Let me deal with the measures we are taking to control spending, and then I will take some interventions.

The welfare cap is the instrument we have introduced to set out, in a transparent way to Parliament, what we aim to spend on welfare. It is independently judged by the Office for Budget Responsibility every autumn, which is when we either have to comply with the cap or explain to Parliament and the country why we have not done so. I find it incredible to hear Labour Members protesting about the welfare cap. It never existed at all under a Labour Government: there was no cap, no control on the largest area of Government spending, no transparency, no independent forecast, and as a result, welfare costs soared by 60% and the country was brought to the brink of bankruptcy.

[Margaret Greenwood (Wirral West) (Lab)]

On Friday afternoon a couple, Mr and Mrs Ford, came to visit me at my surgery. Mr Ford, who is in a wheelchair, is unable to feed himself, dress himself or do anything for himself. They live on £559 a month in PIP, plus £63 per week in carer’s allowance. They still have a mortgage to pay. They have clocked up 80 years of national insurance contributions between them. They ask the simple question, “How are we meant to cope?” They were in a real state of distress. Will the Chancellor please now apologise to such people for the distress that he has caused?

[Mr Osborne]

I have already said that we are not going ahead with those changes. [Interruption.] I have addressed these issues. The truth is that that family and many more families are getting increased support under this Government. We would not be able to provide any of that support unless we had a strong economy and we controlled public spending, because the people who suffer most when the economy—[Interruption.]

Oral Answers to Questions

Margaret Greenwood Excerpts

Tuesday 1st March 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

We have secured a renegotiation that I think addresses the principal British concerns about our membership of the European Union, and now we can advocate membership of this reformed EU. I think we will be stronger, safer and better off in that European Union.

[Margaret Greenwood (Wirral West) (Lab)]

19. Between 2007 and 2013, more than 8,000 businesses in the north-west were able to start up, thanks to EU funding. I welcome the Chancellor’s comments this morning about the analysis that he will put forward before 23 June. Will that include specific detail about the impact of leaving the EU on the economy of the north-west?

[Mr Osborne]

I am happy to take on board the hon. Lady’s request about the impact that an exit would have on the north-west of England. I am a north-west MP, and I know that many businesses in the north-west have access to that big free trade single market, which is the largest market in the world. All the alternatives on offer, whether we go for the approaches taken in Norway, Switzerland, Canada or the World Trade Organisation—of course, those who advocate withdrawal have not been able to settle on one approach—would involve some kind of barrier to entry, or we would have to pay into the EU budget, as Norway does, and accept free movement of people, which is one of the complaints about EU membership. Examining the alternatives, as we will do in the coming days, will throw a spotlight on the choice facing the country.