"I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention, which prompts me to remind the House that the top 1% of wealthy people in this country account for 30% of tax revenues. As my hon. Friend has pointed out, they constitute a very small segment of the population, and I think …..." Margot James - View Speech
"I want to make some progress on the main subject of the debate, which is the freezing of tax allowances, but first let me make a couple of other points. Labour Members did not mention that the other thing that the Budget has rightly done is take many people out …..." Margot James - View Speech
"I did not make representations to the Chancellor on a matter as technical as the one that we are discussing. Having dealt with that point, I will now proceed to discuss the freezing of older people’s allowances.
"I thank the hon. Gentleman for his comments, but I should not take any more interventions as other Members wish to speak...." Margot James - View Speech
"My hon. Friend has, in part, responded to the point made by the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Robert Flello), and I was going to say that some 5 million older people will not be affected by this measure. We can split hairs on this issue, but I accept that …..." Margot James - View Speech
"I am sorry, but I will not take any more interventions.
As a result of that Government pledge, there will be no cash losers from this allowance freeze. We have protected universal benefits, with the single exception of not renewing the temporary increase of £100 in the winter fuel payments. …..." Margot James - View Speech
"This is a Budget for long-term growth set out in extremely difficult economic conditions. The lowering of the corporation tax main rate to 24% and of the small profits rate to 20% will give us one the lowest rates of corporation tax in the OECD. Combined with the reduction in …..." Margot James - View Speech
"I was an avid reader of pre-Budget commentary in the newspapers and found that there was plenty of new content in the Chancellor’s presentation yesterday that had not been covered at all and plenty that the media had got wrong. Is this not a complete waste of parliamentary time, and …..." Margot James - View Speech