Oral Answers to Questions
Natasha Irons Excerpts(3 weeks, 2 days ago)
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Sir Stephen Timms
It is crucial that we have a fair system. We are reviewing universal credit at the moment, considering problems such as the five-week wait that was inserted when universal credit was introduced and changes to ensure that universal credit effectively tackles poverty and does the job that we need it to do. Fairness will be at the heart of the system.
Natasha Irons (Croydon East) (Lab)
The Minister for Employment (Alison McGovern)
In Croydon East, young people aged 18 to 21 will be helped by the youth guarantee trailblazer being delivered by the Greater London Authority. It will strengthen early identification and outreach to engage young Londoners who are not, or risk not being, in employment, education or training, by linking them to enhanced support, employment and education opportunities and the essential services that they need. I am glad that the DWP will continue to support communities in Croydon East by hosting an information stall at my hon. Friend’s upcoming advice fair in New Addington.
Natasha Irons
Croydon is London’s youngest borough. Given that 6.6% of people aged 16 to 24 in my Croydon East constituency claim out-of-work benefits, supporting young people into work, and breaking down barriers to opportunity, is vital. Will the Minister give a little more detail about the additional funding for the London youth guarantee trailblazers, and will she outline how that will help Croydon’s young people into work? I look forward to having the DWP with us in New Addington.
Alison McGovern
I will pass on my hon. Friend’s comments to my colleagues in Croydon, who are keen to work with her and the other MPs there. In the summer, the Secretary of State announced further funding of £45 million for our eight youth guarantee trailblazers. That will ensure that in London, as in the rest of the country, our young people get the choices and chances that they deserve.
Welfare Reform
Natasha Irons Excerpts(6 months ago)
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Natasha Irons (Croydon East) (Lab)
The system is clearly broken, and I welcome the urgent work to get it fixed. What reassurance can the Secretary of State provide to children living in households that receive PIP but are in poverty? What reassurance can she provide to the one in five people in receipt of universal credit and disability benefit, who are reliant on food banks already? What reassurance can she give to my constituents, 6,000 of whom claim PIP, which they need for dignified lives?
Liz Kendall
Having chaired Feeding Leicester for years—unfortunately, I had to give it up when I got this job—I know only too well the issues that people face right across my city and my hon. Friend’s constituency. Our objective is to get those who can work into good work, because that is the sustainable way to tackle poverty and inequality in this country. We are also committed to developing a bold, cross-Government child poverty strategy, which we hope to publish shortly.
Income Tax (Charge)
Natasha Irons Excerpts(10 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Mel Stride
We fought for the “triple lock plus” in our manifesto, which would have spared millions of pensioners from being dragged into income tax, many for the first time, under this Government’s arrangements. There were, as the hon. Gentleman knows, particular circumstances in October 2022, including inflation surging above 11%.
What are the broad effects of this Budget? The tax burden will rise to the highest level in the history of our country—higher than in 1948, when we first started to collect the data. We will be borrowing a staggering £140 billion over the next five years. What are the consequences of that, apart from passing on debt to future generations, who will have to pay it by way of higher taxation in the future? It is the crowding-out of private business investment, which this Government say they are eager to drive up.
If we look at OBR’s forecast from the spring Budget last year and for inflation in every year under this Budget, it is higher in every single year. Why? Because there has been a huge fiscal splurge, particularly in the first two years of the forecast, that will require a monetary response, so interest rates will stay higher for longer. That will mean, the OBR estimates, an extra 0.25% on mortgages—or over £400 extra for the average family, up and down the country. According to the OBR’s forecast, wages will stagnate across the period, with lower real household disposable income than under the spring forecast, when the Conservative party was in government.
I am surprised that the Secretary of State raised the subject of living standards. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimates:
“The average family will be £770 worse off in real terms by October 2029 compared with today.”
I am also surprised that she raised the issue of poverty. When we were in government, we faced so many lectures from Labour Members, while we were bringing poverty down—the number of pensioners in absolute poverty fell by 200,000.
Mel Stride
The number of children in poverty fell by 100,000 in total. I will come to the record of this Government in a moment, but first I give way to the Secretary of State.