Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Goggins Excerpts

Tuesday 5th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his warm words. Britain already has 20 banks offering Islamic financial products. We also have 49 sukuk listed on the London stock exchange, valued at over £25 billion, and 25 law firms that have significant Islamic practices. We will bring all this experience together to further develop Britain as an Islamic finance centre, and I am sure that will help his constituents with their investment decisions.

[Paul Goggins (Wythenshawe and Sale East) (Lab)]

4. If he will introduce a time-limited exemption from air passenger duty on new long-haul routes from uncongested airports.

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Nicky Morgan)]

The Government are always open to ideas that promote regional growth. The Airports Commission will shortly publish a report on the best use of existing airport capacity in the short to medium term and the Government will take its findings into account in our response.

[Paul Goggins]

I am grateful to the Minister for her answer, and I welcome her to her position. As part of the growing links between the north-west and China, Manchester airport is seeking to develop a new route to Beijing, but one of the major obstacles is the very high level of UK APD. Will she take a careful look at new research by York Aviation, which has concluded that a time-limited exemption from APD on new long-haul routes from regional airports would make the Manchester-Beijing route immediately viable?

[Nicky Morgan]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his question. The Government will always take a look at the evidence. In fact, we debated APD in the House only the week before last. In October 2012, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs published modelling on price differentials at UK airports, and it showed that even large price changes have a relatively small impact on total passenger demand, but I am sure he will welcome my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s announcement of the £800 million investment in Airport City in Manchester, which will create over 16,000 jobs. The involvement of Beijing Construction Engineering Group as a partner in this project is the latest in a line of new partnerships being forged between the UK and China.

Air Passenger Duty

Paul Goggins Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Sammy Wilson]

I think that that applies to the United Kingdom as a whole. The debate about whether Heathrow should be expanded or whether there should be an alternative to Heathrow is relevant to regional airports in not just Northern Ireland, but other parts of the United Kingdom, to which I am sure other Members will refer.

[Paul Goggins (Wythenshawe and Sale East) (Lab)]

The hon. Gentleman rightly emphasises the importance of protecting the existing route between Northern Ireland and north America, but does he agree that APD is also preventing new routes from opening up? May I offer an example from Manchester airport in my constituency? AirAsia X was looking to open a new route from Kuala Lumpur and was considering Manchester as the destination, but it dropped the plan in favour of Paris Orly simply because of APD.

[Sammy Wilson]

That is one of the reasons why the Northern Ireland Executive sought the devolution of long-haul APD. We pay the price for that, as the lost revenue has to come out of the block grant for Northern Ireland, but despite that, it was important because of the freedom that it gave us to look for new long-haul routes, which would be good for the economy. I have heard time and again from regions in England and Scotland that industry leaders believe it is important to try to get new long-haul routes for connectivity in terms of selling exports, getting inward investment and making business connections, but that is being held back because of the high level of APD for long-haul flights.

Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Goggins Excerpts

Tuesday 25th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

The A14 is a strategically important road, not just for my hon. Friend’s constituents, but for the whole country. It links ports to many of our largest cities. It is at the forefront of our mind. My right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary will set out on Thursday not just the capital plans for 2015-16, important as they are, but our long-term plans for road investment. Central to that is making sure that Britain has the economic infrastructure that we need to succeed in the modern world, and the A14 is part of that infrastructure.

[Paul Goggins (Wythenshawe and Sale East) (Lab)]

T9. The Chancellor must be concerned about the spiralling costs of air travel, with fares currently up by 22%. Does he agree that we need to increase competition by making better use of spare capacity at regional airports? To that end, will he agree to look again at reforming air passenger duty in order to promote growth at airports such as Manchester airport?

[Mr Osborne]

The right hon. Gentleman and I represent both ends of the runway at Manchester airport and know how important it is to our constituents and to economic growth in the north-west. We looked specifically at whether to split APD into a tax for hub airports and a tax for regional airports, but we ruled that out because we do not think that it would be fair. We have stuck with the APD rates we inherited from the previous Government. With regard to the campaign being run on the subject, it is important to recognise that airlines often refer to charges and taxes, and many of the charges are those, such as fuel charges, that they have chosen to put on. I understand the argument, because we have collectively—it was the previous Government’s decision—taken a tough decision on APD rates, but I think that people should read the small print of the campaign.

Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Goggins Excerpts

Tuesday 14th May 2013 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

It goes without saying that the interests of the taxpayer must be paramount, and I am not aware of any of the briefing that the right hon. Gentleman refers to.

[Paul Goggins (Wythenshawe and Sale East) (Lab)]

Q13. What assessment he has made of the obligations owed by Yorkshire bank to investors in Arck LLP.

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Greg Clark)]

A Serious Fraud Office investigation into Arck is under way, and the Government cannot comment specifically on any ongoing investigations. However, lawyers acting on behalf of Arck investors have themselves announced that the Financial Ombudsman Service is investigating complaints about Yorkshire bank’s role as custodian to Arck LLP. If the FOS were to determine that there had been any regulatory breach or failure by Yorkshire bank, and that that had led to investor detriment, it would be able to set an appropriate level of restitution.

[Paul Goggins]

I am grateful to the Minister for that reply. A constituent of mine is one of the 750 investors who placed about £60 million of their pension funds and savings into a ring-fenced, segregated account at Yorkshire bank. When Arck LLP went into liquidation, it was discovered that there was just £25 left. The Minister must agree that Yorkshire bank has some serious questions to answer. Will he raise this case with the Financial Conduct Authority and do everything he can to ensure that those investors are properly compensated?

[Greg Clark]

I will certainly do that, but I happen to know that the Financial Conduct Authority is already well aware of the case, and it is obviously taking a close interest in the continuing police investigation.

Autumn Statement

Paul Goggins Excerpts

Wednesday 5th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

As I said in my statement, I congratulate my hon. Friend on speaking for motorists and families across the country against Labour’s fuel tax rises. He speaks for Harlow man and woman, and I am glad that, as a result of his campaigning and the difficult decisions we have taken elsewhere to control public spending, we have been able to cancel altogether that fuel duty rise due for January.

[Paul Goggins (Wythenshawe and Sale East) (Lab)]

When the Chancellor describes those on benefits as people who sleep while others work, he does himself no credit whatever. Of course the cheats have to be dealt with, but most of these people are decent people—pensioners and parents who are struggling to make ends meet. Given that they already face cuts to their benefits and public services, how can it be right that they are now to have a real-terms cut to their poverty-level incomes while millionaires keep their handouts?

[Mr Osborne]

Out-of-work benefits have increased by 20% over the last five years, while average earnings in the public and private sectors have gone up by 10%. We have to make difficult decisions, and I think it is a fair decision to uprate working age benefits by 1%. We are also uprating the higher-rate tax threshold by 1%. This is a fair decision. If the right hon. Gentleman can recommend other ways of taking substantial sums out of the Government’s bill, let him come forward with them—and I still have not heard from a single Labour MP whether they will be voting for or against the welfare uprating Bill.

Air Passenger Duty

Paul Goggins Excerpts

Thursday 1st November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Paul Goggins (Wythenshawe and Sale East) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Witham (Priti Patel) on securing the debate and leading it as ably as she has this afternoon. She described how APD, from relatively modest beginnings, has become a real monster because of the economic problems that it creates and the burdens that it places on the aviation industry and our constituents when they seek to take a holiday. This is a tax on holidays. It is also a tax on the aviation industry and, as the hon. Lady argued so effectively, it is a barrier to economic growth.

[Mr Tom Clarke]

Like me, my right hon. Friend is a former Minister; in my case, I was a Minister for tourism. Is he worried by the representations we have received that indicate that APD at the current level—the highest in the world—is a disincentive for the kind of tourism that we expected after the Olympic games, the Paralympics and other events?

[Paul Goggins]

My right hon. Friend was a very able Minister for tourism and he did a superb job. He is right: APD is a tax on our constituents who seek to go on holiday, but it is also a tax on those who want to come here to enjoy the wonderful countryside and the great features of our society, with the associated benefit to our economy.

The APD, as hon. Members know, is the highest in Europe. Denmark, Norway and Holland have scrapped it. Ireland, as my hon. Friend the Member for Belfast East (Naomi Long) pointed out, has all but scrapped it—it intends to do so in the near future.

As the hon. Member for Witham argued, we have to look at this in terms of the wider economy. I wish to look at it particularly from the perspective of the Manchester city region, and it is good to see the hon. Member for Altrincham and Sale West (Mr Brady) in his place. I know that he has a great commitment to Manchester airport. I also see my hon. Friend the Member for Blackley and Broughton (Graham Stringer), who is a former chairman of the airport. It now serves more than 200 destinations, has 24 million passengers a year, and employs 19,000 people on the site, with many thousands more provided in the wider economy. It is estimated to bring in around £3 billion to the UK economy as a whole.

One of my principal concerns, which I have already mentioned, is that APD is a tax on our constituents. Let us reflect on that for a second. Hard-working families already paying tax on their hard-earned incomes have to pay tax again if they want to take their children on holiday. We ought to think about that. In particular, let us consider the economic problems that APD creates. There is clear evidence that airlines are not coming to Manchester airport because of APD. In particular, AirAsia X has dropped its plans for a route from Manchester to Kuala Lumpur and routed instead to Paris Orly. The airlines will go where the profits are greatest, and with those profits will go the jobs and all the additional economic value.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

AirAsia X also stopped flying from Gatwick to Kuala Lumpur, and cited exactly the same reason—APD being far too high. The right hon. Gentleman makes a good point.

[Paul Goggins]

The hon. Gentleman makes it clear that this is an issue not only for Manchester but for other airports and therefore the whole economy.

I am particularly concerned about the barrier that APD might pose to Manchester’s ambitious plans for an airport city—a plan that fits squarely with yesterday’s report by Lord Heseltine, which locates the focus for economic development absolutely in the city regions, the ambition, skill and energy of which are the drivers of that development. Manchester is at the forefront of that. The plans would result in major investment in manufacturing, office development, retail, leisure and an ambitious plan for a medipark that would mean major international investment in health and biotech industries. All that would be in the area around the airport and, crucially, would be facilitated by the presence of that international airport. It could become an economic hub drawing in investment from across the world, bringing high-value investment, much-needed jobs and links to destinations throughout the world.

The vision for the airport city has the Government’s full support. They have given it enterprise zone status, which brings with it rate relief and access to superfast broadband. It is utterly contradictory, however, to have that plan in place but then to impose on every business passenger passing through Manchester airport a tax on that business. It is like saying to an investor from north America, “We’re very grateful for your business, and by the way it’s going to cost you an extra £65 every time you want to visit that investment.” It is preposterous, and it is a barrier to the kind of economic growth that we need and want.

We cannot wish APD away. As the hon. Member for Witham said, it brings nearly £3 billion into the Treasury, which of course helps to pay for our schools and hospitals, but one way or another we must think our way out of this creatively. I support—I suspect that not all hon. Members would—a further investigation into regional APD variations, because they could encourage the use of spare capacity at some of our regional airports and facilitate the kind of economic development, such as our ambitions for airport city that I have described.

[Stephen Gilbert (St Austell and Newquay) (LD)]

The right hon. Gentleman is making precisely the point that I wanted to make. The way APD is implemented can harm the development of regional airports such as Newquay, so I hope that his idea has been heard by the Economic Secretary.

[Paul Goggins]

The Treasury has already considered the argument for regional variations, which has been made before, and I look forward to hearing what the Economic Secretary has to say. It seemed to park the idea after its review, but I hope that Ministers are prepared to reconsider it, particularly to encourage the use of spare capacity and to get behind the vision and drive for economic initiatives such as airport city.

We must recognise the need to accelerate the economic growth that can come from airports. With that growth would come higher tax returns. We have to get off this hook. The alternative is to keep overtaxing the aviation industry, which should be one of our best industries, and to watch it decline further and further under this burden we have placed on it, without facilitating economic development in and around our airports, which could put our constituents back to work and get our economy on the move again. I welcome this debate and hope that the Minister is listening, because this issue has to be addressed.

Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Goggins Excerpts

Tuesday 11th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

We are committed to doing that. My hon. Friend is right that the tax gap—the amount of money that should be collected but is not collected—rose from £35 billion to £39 billion under the previous Government. As I have said, our compliance and enforcement efforts have already increased the amount raised by £3 billion, and later this week we will confirm that we have raised £500 million more in extra tax from high net worth individuals as a result of our efforts through Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. We are taking action, but need it to be supported, yet the Labour party recently voted against the changes to disguised remuneration, which were an attempt to clamp down on a particularly egregious form of tax avoidance.

[Paul Goggins (Wythenshawe and Sale East) (Lab)]

One group of people who could not avoid paying tax are the disabled Remploy staff who were recently made redundant. They were put on an emergency code, with the result that their holiday and notice pay was taxed at almost 50%. HMRC has promised refunds, but will the Chancellor go back to his Department and ensure that the payments are made as a matter of urgency and within the current tax year?

[Mr Osborne]

I will pursue the right hon. Gentleman’s point with all haste.

Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Goggins Excerpts

Tuesday 6th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

This has been a major problem over a number of years. Progress has been made since the mid-2000s, when the problem was at its greatest, but we must of course remain vigilant and I know that HMRC continues to monitor the matter closely.

[Paul Goggins (Wythenshawe and Sale East) (Lab)]

Airports create jobs, yet next month’s increase in air passenger duty will apply equally to unused airports in regions with high unemployment and busy airports in the south-east. Will the Chancellor consider introducing a differential level of air passenger duty so that airports in regions with high unemployment can gain some benefit from it?

[Mr George Osborne]

We will of course listen to any representations. My constituency is also served by Manchester airport. Indeed, the second runway is in my constituency, so I am well aware of the representations from the airport, but I gently say to the right hon. Gentleman, with whom I get on well as a constituency neighbour, that the increase in air passenger duty was the policy of the previous Labour Government and was set out in their last Budget. The one thing we were able to do was to delay the increase last year to give passengers some relief. It is a little opportunistic for Labour Members to complain about a tax that they all voted for when in government.

Amendment of the Law

Paul Goggins Excerpts

Monday 28th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Paul Goggins (Wythenshawe and Sale East) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for City of Chester (Stephen Mosley).

I want to start by welcoming three aspects of the Budget. The first of them is the confirmation on page 54 of the Red Book of the announcement made the day before the Budget that the Government intend to fund a new system of savings accounts for children in care. The previous system was lost when the child trust fund was abolished last year. I have been campaigning with Barnardo’s and Action for Children for a new system to improve the prospects of those leaving care, and I am grateful to the Financial Secretary, who is in his place, for the constructive approach he has taken and welcome the Government’s announcement.

Secondly, I welcome the decisions to put on hold this year’s increase in air passenger duty and not to move to a per plane tax. High levels of APD are having an impact on regional airports such as Manchester airport in my constituency, including by putting off airlines from making connecting flights to regional airports. A per plane tax would be even worse, of course. I therefore welcome the consultation the Government have begun, and I encourage Treasury Ministers to look very closely at the regional variations proposal made by regional airports.

Thirdly, I welcome the announcement that Manchester’s airport city is to be one of the new enterprise zones. Politicians, and certainly Opposition Members, hold various and different opinions about enterprise zones, but I welcome the prospect of the rate reliefs that will be available and the superfast broadband. More particularly, having zone status will give airport city the energy to turn the ambitious plans that have been drawn up into reality. Airport city could certainly produce jobs—perhaps as many as 15,000 in total—when all the plans are worked out.

There are two issues on which I seek reassurance, however, and if there is not time to address them in the winding-up speech I would appreciate a letter following the debate. First, it is essential that the zone is shaped and led by its key local partners: Manchester airport, the city council and the University Hospital of South Manchester. Manchester’s international airport will clearly be an attraction for international investors, and the hospital also has an ambitious plan, known as medi-park, which would attract global players in the life sciences industry. These organisations must be allowed to define the zone for themselves, and to get on and make progress. We must hold the Secretary of State to his statement earlier that this will be bottom-up, not top-down. We need a reassurance that that will indeed be the case in practice.

Turning to the second reassurance I seek, airport city is one of the bids being considered for regional growth funding, and it is crucial that funding is made available and that we begin to put the infrastructure in place that will make the zone possible. A particular feature of the Manchester bid is the idea that public money should not simply be spent but be recycled and reinvested as the market develops and progress is made. I hope that that aspect of the Manchester bid model will find favour with Ministers.

The ultimate question about airport city is whether it will benefit the people in my constituency and the surrounding communities who still face severe hardship and disadvantage, and whether they will get the support, training and opportunities they will need to be able to connect to the jobs that will be created. I give an assurance that we at local level will do everything we can to make this a reality, but, frankly, there is little in the Budget that offers us encouragement. The growth estimates are down and the estimates for unemployment and social security spending are up, yet the message from the Chancellor is, “No change. Carry on as normal. Carry on with the cuts.” We have no prospect of new investment in social housing, and even with almost 1 million young people now out of work and on the dole he is not prepared to invest in a proper, quality jobs programme for young people such as the future jobs fund, of which I am very proud, and under which 8,000 young people in Greater Manchester found work in the last year alone, including hundreds from my constituency.

Let me give one example. It concerns the STARS—student tourist ambassador recruit—project run by Manchester airport. Out of 40 young people, 32 now have permanent employment as a result of their going through the future jobs fund, but we have no prospect of that now. All we have is the pale imitation that is on offer: the work experience scheme that will last a maximum of two months. Most worryingly of all, even now, on the eve of a catastrophic loss of jobs and public services, the Chancellor is not prepared to revisit the public spending decisions.

In the days that follow any Budget, we are treated to a mass of statistics, trends and distributional detail, but in the few seconds remaining to me I want to take Members on a journey to a small street in Benchill at the heart of my constituency, so that they can learn what the Budget and this Government’s policies mean for communities such as those I represent. Benchill is a community that knows real poverty through experience, but through previous investment in schools, community infrastructure and housing the trend has been reversed. I recently met the mother of a 14-year-old boy who was destined to be on a programme that would have given him work experience leading to an apprenticeship, but that has now gone because of the cuts. I also met a man who has worked for 25 years in the youth service in Manchester, and who was given his redundancy notice last Friday, and a young woman who works at the local Sure Start centre, and whose job goes in September.

That is the reality of what is happening. The Conservatives think that when the economic prospects improve, all communities will benefit, but that is not true. Particular communities need particular help, and I urge a rethink on the Budget in that respect.

Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Goggins Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

First, of course we will ensure that the scheme is available across the UK, although the exact design has to be determined with the charities. I have listened to the case made not so much by those on the Opposition Front Bench—if the right hon. Gentleman does not mind my saying so—but by the right hon. Member for Wythenshawe and Sale East and the two charities concerned. The sum of money involved will be around £5 million.

[Paul Goggins (Wythenshawe and Sale East) (Lab)]

There is a bit of good neighbourliness breaking out on the eve of the Budget. I welcome the announcement that the Chancellor has made this afternoon. Three quarters of young people leaving care do so with no savings whatever, yet they are expected to be almost totally self-reliant. As ever, the devil will be in the detail, but I am certainly prepared to work with the charities and his Ministers to ensure that we get a scheme that is effective in giving support to care leavers.

[Mr Osborne]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his support—we are one big happy coalition on this issue. I will ask Treasury officials to engage with him so that we get this right. We have to work in a way that is not bureaucratic, but gets money to those who really need it. Having looked at the issue, I think perhaps the best route is to work closely with the charities that know the sector best. Let us work together and make the scheme work.