Finance Bill

Debate between Robert Halfon and Sarah Newton

Monday 2nd July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Robert Halfon]

In the Westminster Hall debate, which the hon. Lady mentioned, the Economic Secretary did not give a view either way on the issue and said that the Government were looking at it. Ministers then came to the House for Treasury questions. What better way of informing us that they were going to stop the August rise?

Returning to the “Today” interview with the shadow Chancellor, he said that Labour had “acted” on petrol prices, but a House of Commons Library note says:

“From 2000 the Labour Government increased road fuel duties...In its 2009 Budget the Labour Government announced that in future years fuel duties should rise by 1p a litre above inflation.”

In the next Budget, they

“proposed that the escalator should apply at least until 2014/15”,

and that

“the increase set for 2010/11 would be phased in over the coming tax year in 3 stages...fuel prices continued to rise strongly, driven by this increase in duty rates”.

That is the record we inherited, and which we are now having to unwind.

[Sarah Newton]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Robert Halfon]

I apologise, but I cannot, as I have to allow time for the Minister to respond.

There are still problems: fuel is still at around £1.30 a litre, which is unsustainable. As the RAC has said, duty revenues are shrinking every year, as people are driven off the roads. We must stop seeing cars as a cash cow.

I accept that the Government can only do so much. We are always held hostage by the international oil price. As has been noted, however, pump prices are quick to rise, but it feels as though we need a court order to get them down. Evidence shows that from May to August last year, oil prices fell by 5.5%, but petrol and diesel stayed high, falling by just 1.5%.

The Office of Fair Trading has said it will not investigate the UK oil market. I am petitioning the Backbench Business Committee to table a motion so that Parliament can urge the OFT to investigate that market, which clearly looks uncompetitive and unfair to many people.

Finally, there is the problem of local variation in petrol prices, especially in rural areas, but also in towns like Harlow. Harlow residents often write to me, saying that fuel is 5p cheaper only a couple of miles down the road, and there is no explanation for it, other than a lack of competitiveness. Germany, Austria and America have initiated fuel price regulation to limit price rises. We should be doing the same thing.

In conclusion, the Chancellor and the Economic Secretary have given Harlow families and many millions of motorists across the country at least six months’ breathing room, and I welcome that. I urge the Government to look seriously at the long-term cost of fuel and petrol, and see what else they can do. I also urge them to put pressure on the OFT to do a market study. I will vote wholeheartedly for the Government’s new clause, and I urge the House to join me.

Social Housing (England)

Debate between Robert Halfon and Sarah Newton

Tuesday 28th June 2011 Westminster Hall

[Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve again under your chairmanship, Mr Caton—it seems to be a regular occurrence. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Jeremy Lefroy) on securing the debate. He has a reputation for being a thoughtful and wise MP, and he has shown that today. I also welcome the remarks of my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Withington (Mr Leech), which were very informative and useful. I look forward to reading his speech in Hansard tomorrow.

I would like to declare an interest as set out in the register and to state that I am an unpaid member of the advisory board for the Centre for Social Justice. Our social housing is an enormously valuable national asset, which matters to the 8 million people who live in it. In my constituency, more than 12,000 households are in social housing, which is about one third of the town. A further 4,000 households are on the waiting list, which is down from 7,000 under the previous Government.

Social housing is the No. 1 issue in my constituency mailbox, but it is not just about putting a roof over people’s head—although that is, of course, the central mission. Social housing is a mechanism by which we measure social justice and help people to escape the poverty trap. I want to make three substantive points this morning. I shall acknowledge the major housing problems that we face, set out why some of the coalition’s policies will help to create a more socially mobile society and urge the Minister to go further and faster, particularly on shared equity schemes.

First, let me set out the key problem, which is waiting lists. Nearly 1.8 million households are on social housing waiting lists, which is a substantial increase that has taken place over the past 15 years or so. As I said, although the number of households on the waiting list is decreasing in Harlow, there is still an overhang of around 4,000 households that urgently need homes. The problem is not the queue in itself, which is inevitable, but that many families have no realistic chance of ever getting a home. The waiting lists are particularly clogged up because not enough priority is being given to local people and there are rigid and inflexible tenancies.

I look forward to the day when I can say, “Harlow housing for Harlow people.” I say that because an anguished bus driver—Mr Darren Presland—came to see me at a surgery last Friday evening. He sat in my surgery and was very angry for 10 minutes. He was furious that people from outside Harlow, including many foreign nationals, are allowed on to the Harlow waiting list. It is true that, for many years, local authorities have had to include literally anyone on their waiting list with few exceptions and that they have different bands of priority within the list. Mr Presland was making a serious point: that many people on low incomes are angry and disillusioned with politics because people who are not local are allowed on to the waiting list.

[Sarah Newton (Truro and Falmouth) (Con)]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Jeremy Lefroy) for securing such an important debate. On the point about local needs, Cornwall council has been effective at introducing criteria so that local people have priority on exception sites for social housing in villages. Not only has that been very beneficial to the people in those communities, but it has enabled the council to increase support for building more homes in rural areas because people have the confidence that those properties will be local homes for local people.

[Robert Halfon]

My hon. Friend sets out a very interesting idea, which I will come on to later. That is something other councils should follow.

Mr Presland made a very important point. He asked why families on low incomes should pay very high taxes for houses that they are unlikely to be able to live in. Along with many other Harlow residents, he takes the view that immigrants are not only taking away jobs and opportunities from British people, but being given an unfair priority on the housing waiting lists. It is very hard to dispel that view and it is very dangerous— toxic—for the body politic. Mr Presland is not a racist and he did not come to my surgery with an axe to grind or on behalf of the British National party. I am talking about his feelings and those of a number of other residents.