Working People’s Finances: Government Policy

Debate between Margaret Hodge and Simon Clarke

Tuesday 21st September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Clarke]

We have always been clear, and it has long been the practice, that a proportion of social care bills are met through council tax, and that is the right thing to do. We are saying that, additionally, we need a credible solution to properly fund social care in the long term, so that people can have the dignity in their old age that they deserve. This is a complex and challenging area of policy. While we have stood up and said that we will do the difficult thing and actually increase taxes so that there is enough money for the system not to fall over, Labour simply plays politics with the issue. Voting against what was a progressive, broad-based tax increase to properly fund adult social care was an irresponsible choice, and in their hearts Labour Members must know it.

The new health and social care levy is a £12 billion a year injection into the NHS and social care that will benefit people of all ages and backgrounds. The decision to raise taxes was tough—of course it was; we believe in a low-tax economy—but it was the responsible thing to do given the impact of covid on the country’s finances. Most importantly, that decision was fair: the levy is progressive because those earning more will pay more, and businesses will share the burden.

[Dame Margaret Hodge (Barking) (Lab)]

I congratulate the right hon. Gentleman on his appointment. The point is not whether extra money needs to be raised to fund the NHS or indeed social care; the point is how it is to be raised. National insurance and council tax are regressive, not progressive, taxes, but there are alternatives such as reform of national insurance, looking at assets as well as income, or looking at regional differences. There is a whole raft of options that the Minister and the Government could have considered; why did they not do so? Why have they chosen a regressive system for raising additional money?

[Mr Clarke]

We did look at this, and Treasury analysis showed that lower-income households will be large net beneficiaries from the package announced by the Prime Minister, with the poorest households gaining the most as a proportion of income. This Government are unafraid to make tough choices in order to safeguard the nation’s finances. The difficult decisions that we have made to increase corporation tax rates and temporarily reduce overseas development assistance—which I know will be considered the right decision by my constituents on Teesside—are clear illustrations of our approach on this front.

As a final point, I remind Members that while we have taken extensive action to safeguard workers’ finances during the pandemic, our record of achievement stretches much further back. Indeed, according to official statistics there were 1 million fewer workless households at the end of 2019 than in 2010, while income inequality was lower going into the pandemic than in that year as well. In fact, over the past 11 years successive Conservative Governments have striven to keep the cost of living in check for millions of households.

Let me give the House some examples. Fuel duty has been frozen for 11 years in a row, cumulatively saving the average driver £1,600. The energy price cap has protected 15 million households in the two years since its launch. We have nearly doubled the personal allowance over the last decade, making it the highest basic personal tax allowance of all countries in the G20 and one of the most generous internationally. In combination, our changes to the national living wage, personal allowance and national insurance currently leave a full-time national living wage employee £5,400 better off in cash terms compared with 2010. I am proud of that, and I think all Conservative Members should be. These measures are just part of a record of achievement that has made a real and lasting difference to people’s lives.