Cost of Living Increases

Debate between Nigel Evans and Andrea Leadsom

Tuesday 25th April 2023 Commons Chamber

[Dame Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

I want to speak very briefly to commend the Government for their efforts, not just over the last couple of years, and not just since the appalling aggression of Putin in Ukraine and the post-pandemic crisis, but all the way back to 2010, when a Conservative coalition Government inherited the biggest mess out. When I was doing a bit of research for this afternoon’s debate, I looked back through the years since 1973. Just look at unemployment. Every single Labour Government have left office with unemployment higher than when they came in. When I looked back, I could see that unemployment continued to fall very briefly following the excellent legacy left by a Conservative Government, but then, inexorably, it crept up again. And under Labour, there was no money left when the Conservatives took office in 2010. That is the start of the story. When we look at what really matters to people and at how young people want a role model and want to learn, get out there and get a good job for themselves, we see that unemployment matters so much. In the United Kingdom now, we have the lowest unemployment figures since the early 1970s—in fact, since 1975.

When we look at growth, yes, at the moment we are challenged, as are all economies around the world, but actually, looking at the facts, the UK was growing faster than any economy in the G7 over the last three years, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (John Redwood) said. Last year, only the UK had growth of 4%; Germany’s was 1.8%. It is easy for the Opposition to talk about the cost of living crisis and what the Conservative Government have done wrong, but they are not looking at the big picture. They should look at our trade policy. The UK has left the EU, and what are we able to do? We can turn to what is predicted to be the fastest-growing area of the world: Asia. We can expand our global trade and be an advocate for global free trade. There is an opportunity for all nations to rise on the back of more global trade. For so many years, the Opposition tried to scupper the will of the people, as expressed in the Brexit referendum, by preventing us from leaving the EU. Instead, we are now free to form our own trade policy and to trade with the rest of the world, which is fantastic.

The hon. Member for Hampstead and Kilburn (Tulip Siddiq), for whom I have a lot of time, talked about pensions and the difficulties for people in the UK. I wanted to intervene to ask her about the Leader of the Opposition. Bearing in mind that he had legislation to protect his own pension—with no lifetime allowance, can protect his family as much as he likes—will he resile from that? Will he scrap that little statutory instrument, so that he can be in the same boat as the rest of us? Or is it one rule for him and a different rule for the rest of the country? [Interruption.]

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Order. Mr Elmore, you have a fantastic baritone voice. Save it for singing.

Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill

Debate between Nigel Evans and Andrea Leadsom

Report stage
Tuesday 24th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Before I call Dame Andrea Leadsom, I remind everybody that a number of cases are still before the courts, and we do not know all the cases that there are. Even though the sub judice rule does not apply when we are legislating, Mr Speaker has urged caution for those live cases. If Members could do us a favour and look up cases that they intend to mention, that would be really useful.

[Dame Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Glasgow Central (Alison Thewliss). I agree with much of what she said, particularly about this House wishing her mum a very happy 70th birthday.

I also pay tribute to the Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, my hon. Friend the Member for Thirsk and Malton (Kevin Hollinrake). I find it amazing that he has only recently become a Minister, as he has been such a stalwart and incredibly diligent in promoting better performance by the banking and business sectors. It is great to see him in his rightful place at the Dispatch Box.

I rise to speak to new clause 20, in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Barrow and Furness (Simon Fell), and to the two amendments I tabled that, very annoyingly, have not been selected, which are to do with phoenixing. I agree in general terms with the thrust of the debate: for reform of Companies House to be effective, it needs to be required to do new things. It is not enough to facilitate things; it needs to be given new duties and therefore the resources to be able to fulfil those duties. I can tell the House that in the brief time I spent as the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, I had discussions with the excellent team of civil servants who are looking at company law reform, corporate governance and the Insolvency Service, and it is true to say, I am afraid, that they were not invited to go and talk to Ministers terribly often. They were definitely a bit of a Cinderella out there in BEIS, and this incredibly important area needs much more focus.

Energy Security Strategy

Debate between Nigel Evans and Andrea Leadsom

Tuesday 19th April 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Order. Don’t forget: we want short questions and short responses, please.

[Dame Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend is aware that the Back-Bench committee on business, energy and industrial strategy has done a very swift and urgent inquiry into how businesses and households can reduce their energy bills this winter. Will he and the Minister for Energy, Clean Growth and Climate Change meet me and my vice-chairs to discuss some of the very sensible and practical measures in the inquiry?

Budget Resolutions

Debate between Nigel Evans and Andrea Leadsom

Wednesday 27th October 2021 Commons Chamber

[Dame Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

What a fantastic Budget. It is fantastic for all sorts of reasons. It demonstrates how incredibly well our Chancellor and our Government did during the covid pandemic in supporting lives and livelihoods. The much more optimistic economic forecasts that have come out are testament to the effort that was put in and the result that we are starting to see.

The Budget is also fantastic for the support it gives to the leisure and hospitality sector, which will help businesses in South Northamptonshire. I thank my right hon. and learned Friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, who is sitting on the Front Bench, for that.

Many people wrote to me about universal credit, and the taper will help people who are in work and receive universal credit. Speaking as a former Business Secretary, the investment in R&D is superb. It will create the jobs—particularly the green jobs—and productivity that we want to see across our country.

The Budget is particularly fantastic, however, because of babies. I happen to be holding “The Best Start for Life”—it is not a prop, merely something to lean on. I thank the Prime Minister, the Chancellor, the whole Front-Bench team and many Opposition and Conservative Members for their commitment for many years to making sure that every family gets the support they need to give their baby the best start for life. The Prime Minister is totally committed to that, as is the former Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May). When she asked me to chair an inter-ministerial group to look at the early years, she was completely clear that babies are vital. On that inter-ministerial group a couple of years ago were two Ministers, one of whom was Rishi Sunak, a local government Minister, and the other was Nadhim Zahawi—

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Order. The right hon. Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Rishi Sunak) and the right hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Nadhim Zahawi).

[Dame Andrea Leadsom]

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I should know that by now.

Of course, those Ministers have gone on to fulfil a fantastic pledge for every baby. I also pay tribute to parents and carers across England for their amazing contribution and their determination to have their voices heard and to make sure that “The Best Start for Life” works for all parents and carers.

I will take a moment to explain why that period of life is vital. Essentially, human babies are unique in the animal kingdom in the extent of their underdevelopment at birth. Every other animal can fend for itself pretty well from minutes, or at least hours, after it is born. Human babies cannot do anything for themselves until they are at least one year old, and often they are two before they can really fend for themselves.

The physical and brain underdevelopment of human babies means that they adapt to the environment in which they find themselves, so the baby who is born into a secure and happy home with a loving family will grow up learning that as an instinct for life. They will be able to do well at school, make friends, learn, get a job, hold down friendships and relationships, and then be a good parent themselves. Conversely, the baby who is born into a situation where there is interparental conflict, drug or alcohol misuse, mental health problems or severe deprivation will not have the same life chances. All the research demonstrates in spades that, for those babies, life is much harder. Their instinct for life is not good and they often go on to have all sorts of problems.

Education Recovery

Debate between Nigel Evans and Andrea Leadsom

Tuesday 29th June 2021 Commons Chamber

[Dame Andrea Leadsom]

My right hon. Friend is exactly right: it all begins in the very earliest period of life. The later we leave it, all that happens is that we compound the problem more. Then we end up firefighting instead of preventing. Prevention is so much kinder and cheaper than cure.

To help every family give their baby the best start in life, we need family hub networks that bring together physical, virtual and home visiting services that put the baby’s needs at the centre of everything that we do. The babies born in lockdown and the toddlers who have had so little company and variety in their young lives need our support for their development. We all want them to be school-ready at four years old, able to learn and concentrate, as well as to play, share, and communicate clearly.

When my right hon. Friend the Minister is considering his Department for Education’s priorities for covid recovery, I urge him to be ambitious for these excellent new family hubs, encouraging every local area to adopt best practice in joining up their start-for-life services between health bodies, local authorities, and DFE policies. Let us bring it all together, putting the baby at the heart of everything that we do. Let us make sure that there is a real focus in Government on the 1,001 critical days—the period from conception to the age of two, when the building blocks for lifelong physical and emotional health are laid down for every human being.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

The time limit has been reduced to five minutes forthwith, I am sorry, Mick, that we could not give you more notice.

Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Debate between Nigel Evans and Andrea Leadsom

Tuesday 9th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

I am full of praise for the Chancellor’s work to protect jobs and businesses as we emerge from lockdown, and I support the measures he announced in the Budget, but I also urge him to give even greater focus than he has done to the prospects for our green economy.

In my stint as Business Secretary, I rewrote the Department’s objectives, so that its top priority was for the UK to lead the world in tackling global climate change. On the one hand, there is no doubt that that is the right thing to do—the future of our planet keeps far too many people awake at night. However, on the other hand, building a green economy also makes superb business sense for the UK.

First, the UK is at the forefront of developing green technologies: from offshore wind to nuclear fusion and green hydrogen, we are leading the way. Secondly, the UK has more than 450,000 people in the green collar workforce already. In my time at BEIS, I was confident that a target of 2 million green jobs by 2030 was possible. The particular beauty of the green economy is the breadth of employment opportunities—from apprenticeships in solar power to decarbonisation of heavy industry to cutting- edge scientific discoveries, there is something for all talents. The UK’s green economy could become a bigger jewel in our crown than UK financial services is today, and I urge the Chancellor to share that vision.

COP26 is a great platform, and we need radical action with world-changing initiatives, so I want to put forward three specific ideas. The first is to announce at COP26 a yearbook in which the Paris agreement signatories can record their Government, state and business-level achievements—transparency so that all can see and challenge, while the discussion continues over the more formal measurements.

The second idea is to announce at COP26 three ambitious bilateral commitments to decarbonisation by 2030. The UK can be a key role model, and those pledges could include, for example, working with India on delivering 100 GW of battery storage around the world, with China to deliver 200 GW of offshore wind, and with Brazil, say, to deliver 0.5 billion hectares of new woodland around the world.

The third idea is to announce at COP26 a global green investment bank. Our former rock star central banker, Mark Carney, is now the Prime Minister’s green adviser, and he should be pulling together the global pensions industry, project financing and green investment expertise to work together on financing the decarbonisation of our planet.

As one of the great heroes, Sir David Attenborough, has said,

“real success can only come if there is a change in our societies and in our economics and in our politics.”

The UK has the chance post Brexit to lead that change.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Very professionally done, as we expected, Andrea. Thank you for helping us out. I think our comms are now back. Let us see if we have Barry Sheerman.

Covid-19

Debate between Nigel Evans and Andrea Leadsom

Wednesday 11th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

I want to start with a quote from the incomparable C. S. Lewis, who said:

“The duty of planning tomorrow’s work is today’s duty”.

That is what I want to talk about—our duty to get several steps ahead of this virus so that we are on the front foot in the future. There is no doubt that this pandemic has tested every aspect of government. Right around the world, leaders have had to react fast to the extreme challenges that have faced them.

I know how annoying it is when former Cabinet Ministers poke at Front-Bench colleagues, so I make my remarks today with full appreciation of how hard this is; it is much easier to give advice than to actually make it happen. I simply want to ask my hon. Friend the Minister to give the House an update on whether the Government are now fighting fit, whether we are now outpacing the virus, and whether we can now get several steps ahead and think about the future beyond the pandemic.

First, with the fantastic news of the possibility of a vaccine, can my hon. Friend tell us how the Government have combined the efforts of public and private sectors, to make sure that every aspect of the vaccine programme is scalable from day one across the UK? Secondly, the evidence of the testing programme in Liverpool shows yet again how fantastic our armed forces are at dealing with complex logistics, so can my hon. Friend confirm that their expertise will be used in every part of the country? Thirdly, can my hon. Friend confirm that all preparations are in place to distribute the first wave of vaccines, to determine precisely who will receive them and in what order of priority?

All those steps are vital in giving us an advantage on the path to a post-covid future. Only then can we really set our sights on our ambition for economic success as an independent, sovereign United Kingdom. With that in mind, first, can my hon. Friend provide reassurance that the Government are looking ahead at the potential for the UK to lead the world in tackling global climate change? That is not only the right thing to do but, for this generation, it provides massive potential for new jobs and growth, and will help us to build our global free-trade relationships as we seek to lead the world in decarbonisation.

Secondly, can my hon. Friend tell me how the Government are using the experience of lockdown to better understand how embracing flexible work as standard in all employment could enable the workforce of the future to enjoy a far better work-life balance and improve the quality of life for many people? Thirdly, can she confirm that the Government are looking at what more can be done for small and medium-sized enterprises, which are the lifeblood of our economy and the future job builders? Many business owners have seen their livelihoods destroyed by this unforgiving pandemic, and they will struggle to get back on their feet. We need a strategy to give entrepreneurs help and support, as well as confidence, to restart.

The pandemic has forced us to focus anew on those in society who need our help, including people who have suffered greatly. First, how do we ensure that never again will schoolchildren have to face teacher-assessed grades, with all the potential professional implications that that has for their lives? How will we make sure that younger children catch up so that we do not have a cohort who always struggle with literacy and numeracy? Secondly, how do the Government plan to help school leavers and university students who feel hopeless about their future job prospects? The Chancellor’s kickstart scheme is a great short-term fix, but it does not offer training or a long-term future path that many young people crave. Thirdly, what more can Government do for the most vulnerable in our society who have suffered serious harm and loneliness this year, including those who suffer from things such as Alzheimer’s or those with new babies who have been left isolated, with potential long-term harm for their families?

I believe that we have a bright future post the pandemic, but we must use the time that we have now to get ahead with our planning for the future. I began with a quote from C. S. Lewis, and I will close with another one:

“There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” 

Let us make that true.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Order. After Nadia Whittome, who may speak for five minutes, we move to a time limit of up to four minutes.

Proxy Voting

Debate between Nigel Evans and Andrea Leadsom

Wednesday 23rd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Andrea Leadsom]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that reassurance. Even so, were somebody to be very ill now with cancer or some other awful thing, they would, under the current circumstances, be very tempted to say, “This is related to the coronavirus pandemic.” My right hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough (Sir Edward Leigh) said that people are swinging the lead. I do not think people are swinging the lead, but I do think that, since we have what is in effect a very lax system of self-assessment for any illness related to the coronavirus pandemic, for someone who was recently bereaved or, indeed, very ill with something that was nothing to do with the pandemic, that would be the way to remain enfranchised in this place. Surely, that cannot be right.

Very briefly, on proxy voting during the coronavirus pandemic, I am concerned that we are not really able to socially distance in a properly fit way. Instead of using our passes in the Lobbies, I would love to see us perhaps using them in Westminster Hall, where it would be much easier for people to remain apart from one another. We do have bottlenecks. It is very difficult for the doorkeepers to keep us all away from one another when there are bottlenecks as we are filing through the Lobby, even after using our passes, so I would like to see that change. However, I welcome all these changes, and I congratulate all those who have sought to improve the system.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

Thank you, Andrea Leadsom, for showing huge time restraint.