Oral Answers to Questions

Robin Walker Excerpts

Tuesday 21st June 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Mr David Gauke)]

May I also point out that our tax policies include taking hundreds of thousands of people out of income tax altogether? On the particular subject that the hon. Lady raises, of those taken out of income tax following the announcement in the Budget earlier this year, 56% will be women.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

T8. Which does the Chancellor think is better for low-paid workers in Worcester: the Government taking 1 million of the lowest paid out of tax altogether; or the previous Government’s move to double their tax by scrapping the 10p tax rate?

[Mr George Osborne]

As my hon. Friend points out, we have taken more than 1 million low-paid people out of income tax. We are committed to further such moves through this Parliament, and that is in stark contrast to the 10p tax raid in the previous Parliament. Of course, we now discover that, before the decision was made, the shadow Chancellor knew all about its impact on the poorest fifth in our society.

Motoring Fuel Costs

Robin Walker Excerpts

Tuesday 14th June 2011 Westminster Hall

[Justine Greening]

What was missing, however, was any kind of long-term plan for how to deal with changes in the price of oil feeding through to the pump. We wanted to look at how a stabiliser mechanism would work, which we felt would be in the interests of households, companies and the overall economy.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

I have been listening carefully to the Minister and, like other hon. Members, I am grateful for the actions that the Government have already taken. One issue that has been raised by Back Benchers from all parties concerns differential pricing around the country. There are sharp differentials—a difference of about 5p between petrol prices in Worcester and those 20 miles away in Cheltenham. Will the Minister comment on how the Government could address that issue and increase transparency, as my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon) has urged?

[Justine Greening]

My hon. Friend is right to raise that point. In a sense, the most extreme examples of that problem are the reason why we are bringing in a pilot scheme for the rural fuel rebate. We are making progress on that.

Hospices (VAT)

Robin Walker Excerpts

Tuesday 10th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

Again, hon. Members are raising fair points. To jump to the conclusion, we are looking closely at this area.

The help that we provide to charitable giving is important. Charities are central to our big society agenda. The 2011 Budget announced the most radical and generous reforms to charitable giving for 20 years, including reducing the inheritance tax rate when 10% or more of the net estate is left to charity. From 2013, a new scheme will allow charities to claim a gift aid-style top-up on small donations that they receive without gift aid declarations for up to £5,000 for each charity every year. Overall, 100,000 charities can benefit from the 2011 Budget changes to the tune of about £600 million.

It is also worth mentioning the transition fund that was announced at the spending review. It makes £100 million available to charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises that are delivering front-line services and are affected by reductions in public spending. The fund provides grants of between £12,500 and £500,000 to help organisations make the changes necessary to thrive in the long term. Funding was made available in 2010-11 and 2011-12, and the fund is focused on helping organisations transit and adapt to the new funding environment rather than merely keep going. The first 18 awards were made on 15 February, with further awards in March, April and May.

The Government continue to examine ways of ensuring that VAT does not act as a barrier to the reform of public services, which was the point that the hon. Member for Cheltenham (Martin Horwood) raised. We are examining such options where they are open to us and affordable within agreed funding arrangements. For example, the Government announced in the Budget that we would continue to consult charities and organisations in other sectors to explore options for implementing the EU VAT exemption for cost sharing. I can tell the House that one of the options under consideration is to issue a consultation paper on the subject within the next two months, and we are exploring that possibility closely.

More widely, there are often ways of mitigating the impact of VAT within the existing system. For example, where local authorities and other public bodies enter into contractual rather than funding arrangements with charitable providers, it can greatly lessen any irrecoverable VAT incurred by those providers in many cases. It has to be acknowledged, however, that such an approach does not offer much scope for services that fall within the health exemption.

As I said earlier, I recognise that there is genuine concern about VAT among people involved in hospices. That was why, in March, I met the hon. Members for Scunthorpe (Nic Dakin) and for Leeds North West (Greg Mulholland) and people working in the hospice sector, including for Sue Ryder. Following that meeting I asked officials to continue the dialogue, and they have met subsequently with the intention of exploring any viable options. I hope that that provides some reassurance, although I cannot give more detail at the moment. I am certainly keen that we explore options.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

Will the Exchequer Secretary respond to a suggestion that has been made by Richard Shaw, the treasurer of the excellent St Richard’s hospice in my constituency? He has suggested that under the NHS reforms, if hospices’ income from doctors’ consortia could be deemed to be VAT standard rating, that would allow hospices to recover a lot more VAT on their charges. Will that be one of the options that his officials look into?

[Bob Russell]

It will now.

Fuel Prices and the Cost of Living

Robin Walker Excerpts

Wednesday 16th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

I will be brief, as I know many other Members want to speak in this short debate.

I am glad that the Opposition have chosen the subject of fuel prices, as it is an issue that affects all our constituents and MPs of all parties have already urged the Government to take action. I have signed cross-party early-day motions 1252 and 1241, which call for progress on a fair fuel stabiliser. Along with colleagues of all parties, I have also supported the Federation of Small Businesses in its campaigns. There is a great deal of ground for cross-party consensus on this issue. We all recognise that the cost of living is rising and that fuel prices play an important part in it. We all recognise that the soaring costs of petrol and diesel have knock-on effects on the price of everything—from food and clothing and the cost of getting to work to the cost of educating children.

[Mr Chuka Umunna (Streatham) (Lab)]

The hon. Gentleman is right to refer to the rising cost of living. The big difference between now and a few months ago is, in many ways, the rate of inflation. The Governor of the Bank of England has been clear that he has no way of further loosening monetary policy right now. The talk before Christmas was about such further loosening, perhaps with a further round of quantitative easing. That is clearly no longer an option, which means that the only option is to alter fiscal policy, yet we have heard not a single word from the Minister to suggest that there will be any change in fiscal policy. Does the hon. Gentleman believe that the Government are right to sit on their hands when they are in a position to act to relieve the burden on people like my constituents?

[Mr Walker]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that long intervention, but we are likely to hear what action the Government are planning in the Budget next week, which I would not want to pre-empt at this stage, so I shall continue with my argument.

There would be no disagreement about the underlying premise of today’s motion—that fuel prices drive up the cost of living. We can legitimately debate the action that Governments are able to take. Like many other Members, I believe the Government should take action on fuel prices by introducing a fair fuel stabiliser and by looking at whether they can put off any increase in fuel duty suggested under the last Government’s escalator policy. It is vital to take into account the real impact on the cost of living but, perhaps even more importantly, the cost to the economy of the rising price of petrol at the pumps.

In fact, having read the detailed response of the Office for Budget Responsibility to the Government’s initial suggestion of a fair fuel stabiliser, I believe that it strongly makes the case for intervention in the fuel price. What the OBR showed was that, contrary to the belief that Government revenues rise as a result of higher fuel prices, the depressing effect on the economy, output and therefore tax receipts, along with the impact on inflation, mean that in the long term, Government net revenues are hurt by higher prices. While that might make more challenging the worthy aim of coming up with a revenue-neutral stabiliser, it clearly shows that success in limiting fuel price rises will bring long-term dividends to Government in terms of tax receipts and lower inflation. The real lesson of the OBR’s report is that the Government need to act on fuel prices, through the fuel duty, to avoid a substantial loss of revenue through economic growth. I am confident that that lesson will be taken into account when we receive next week’s Budget—a Budget for growth in the UK.

I know that the Government have already promised action in remote and rural areas, which I welcome, but I represent an urban constituency that has also been badly affected by rising prices, so I want to remind the Government of the need for action everywhere. As a county town, Worcester’s economy is affected by high fuel prices in rural areas, but our city suffers from higher prices than many other urban areas around it.

My constituents have often pointed out that there is a substantial differential of around 5p a litre between prices in Worcester and prices in Gloucester or Birmingham, just a short drive away. Driving as regularly as I do between Westminster and Worcester in my small diesel car, I feel this price differential very directly and often find it is as cheap to fill up at a motorway service station as it would be in my own constituency. The website petrolprices.com quotes prices as high as £1.45 a litre of diesel in Worcester today compared with an average of £1.39 in Gloucester just 28 miles away or £1.38 in Birmingham. I therefore urge Ministers to look into the differential pricing around the country, whereby some areas, whether urban or rural, pay much more for their fuel, and to assess what can be done to address the problem.

I certainly accept that people in rural areas have greater need for their cars, but I urge Ministers to accept that action on fuel prices across the board will benefit the whole economy. We have seen in previous fuel crises that when fuel prices spike, economic growth slows down, both globally and domestically.

I therefore support taking action on the cost of fuel, but I do not support this Opposition motion, which I believe is poorly targeted and opportunistic. It hits the wrong target in focusing on the impact of VAT and only touching lightly on the far more significant issue of fuel duty. Perhaps that is because the Labour party did so much to encourage the escalation of fuel duty when it was in power. As the Government amendment points out, the Labour Government planned for six consecutive fuel duty rises up to 2014 on top of the 12 increases they made when they were in power. It is fair to say that those increases, like the introduction of the fuel duty escalator under the Conservatives, were made in a different environment from today’s, when the uncertainty in the middle east is adding to the upward pressure on prices. There has been no indication, however, that Labour has shifted from its ideological attachment to ever-higher duties on fuel, which rose from 36p to nearly 58p when they were in government, with Labour Members boasting that they left the duty intact at 65% of the cost of fuel at the end of their term.

It is cynical and opportunistic for a party whose last Chancellor laid the groundwork for the increase in VAT to be lashing out at its implementation, and it is beyond the bounds of belief that Labour Members should want to earmark all the proceeds of a bank levy they failed to make on to a rebate they know they could not have given—even if they had been in power. It is even more astonishing, when they have already suggested other plans to spend this levy many times over through opposing changes to child benefit, that they suggest funding more capital spending and reversing changes to tax credits. The Opposition motion has no credibility on this very important issue.

I urge the Government to act on fuel prices, but I urge them to do so through a fair fuel stabiliser on which there is a broad political consensus, and through looking at the broader case for changes in fuel duty to reflect the economic circumstances of today.

Oral Answers to Questions

Robin Walker Excerpts

Tuesday 21st December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

We monitor the European situation closely. I do not think that a collapse of the euro is remotely on the cards, but obviously stability in the eurozone is in our interests. We want to see a comprehensive solution early in the new year to some of the fundamental issues on having a currency union while not having a fiscal or political union, and we know that eurozone member states are working on those. It is also up to individual member states to do what they can to put their own economic house in order, and we would urge them to do that as well.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

T8. Does the Chancellor agree with the chief executive of a FTSE 250 engineering company, with whom I recently met, that the single most important decision by the coalition Government to date was to cut corporation taxes and thereby signal that Britain is open to business? What further plans does he have to reduce and simplify the burden of taxation on our businesses?

[Mr Osborne]

The reduction in corporation tax from 28% to 24% keeps the UK as an incredibly competitive place to do business and, over the next few years, will help to ensure that Britain gets its fair share of the growing global economic cake. The Office of Tax Simplification, which we have created, is specifically looking at the burden of tax on smaller businesses so that we can also bring benefits to them, although we have been able to avoid Labour’s increase in the small companies tax rate.

Crown Currency Exchange

Robin Walker Excerpts

Tuesday 7th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Tessa Munt]

I have one quote from the FSA complaints department. It says:

“We are unable to look at your case under our complaints scheme as your complaint falls outside the scope of the scheme…However, we will deal with the complaint…It appears that registered companies are not part of the complaints scheme.”

It seems a little confused. To be honest, if the FSA does not know what falls within and without the complaints scheme, it will be difficult for any member of the public who has been brought into the situation with a false sense of security.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing this important debate. On behalf of my constituent Chris Neath, who lost more than £3,000 in this scandal, I would like to ask this question. Does she agree that we must remove the confusion among the public between registration and regulation? We should make it clear in this debate that the FSA must take a much stronger line on companies of this size and this sort.

[Tessa Munt]

Absolutely. I hope that that will be part of the outcome. I ask the Minister in particular whether he would agree to meet members of the group Action against Crown Currency Exchange, me and other Members whose constituents have an interest, so that we can explore what might be done. It certainly seems to me that the legislation does not allow the FSA to operate in an effective way. Perhaps it is for the House to deal with that.

Independent Financial Advisers (Regulation)

Robin Walker Excerpts

Monday 29th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Heather Wheeler (South Derbyshire) (Con)]

I declare my interest: I am an associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute, having studied for and passed my professional exams in 1985. Although I have not practised as an insurance broker since 1987, I wanted to speak tonight because I recall the debate when I was studying about how the importance of exams was a strong factor in professionalising the insurance sector. At the time, I felt that that was an over-egging of the situation, and here we are 25 years later and the Financial Services Authority is using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

I am totally opposed to the new rules that the FSA is imposing on independent financial advisers. If I felt that it was imposing them because there had been bucket loads of horrendous examples of mis-selling, or because clients had been ripped off, or because there were statistics to show that IFAs had been responsible for the majority of the complaints in the industry, perhaps I could understand. But none of that is true. As we have heard, IFAs are responsible for only 2% of complaints from customers; the banks bear the brunt, at 61%.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

I and congratulate my fellow Worcestershire Members on having this debate. Does my hon. Friend realise that the figures of 2% and 61% that she has just cited are further strengthened by the fact that the proportion of complaints against IFAs has gone down every year for the past five years and the proportion of complaints against the banks has risen every year over the same period?

[Heather Wheeler]

My hon. Friend is correct. Is that not interesting? Many of us have been trying to get to the background of why this retail distribution review was brought in and where the FSA was coming from. The statistics really speak for themselves, and I am astonished that we find ourselves in this position.

Equitable Life (Payments) Bill

Robin Walker Excerpts

Tuesday 14th September 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

I add my congratulations to my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce) on her excellent maiden speech. In a spirit of fairness, I recognise that some Opposition Members have spoken passionately on this issue and gone against their Front Bench. It is unfortunate that Labour Front Benchers remain committed to the previous Government’s position of not awarding adequate compensation to victims of this scandal.

I do not want to take too much of the House’s valuable time as I am well aware of the many hon. Members who wish to add their views on this subject and raise the concerns of their constituents.

I wish to declare an interest, as set out in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, as I do some consultancy work with Finsbury Ltd, where I worked before my election to Parliament, which provides advice to the current management team at Equitable Life. But the interest for which I speak today is not corporate, but rather that of my constituents who were affected by this scandal and the basic concept of fairness, which is so key to this debate and this Government.

I do not intend to retell the stories of the countless constituents who have written to me, many of them those trapped annuitants worst hit by the scandal. They worked hard, did the right thing and put money away for the future. They were let down by poor management, dreadful regulation and a Government who did not care. I will not repeat the details of those cases as the House is already well aware of the need for justice. More than half of hon. Members signed the EMAG pledge during the general election and it is only appropriate that this subject should see such rapid progress early in the life of the new coalition Government.

Fairness was put at the heart of the coalition’s programme for government and it is fairness that must remain at the heart of our approach to Equitable Life. I welcome, as the parliamentary ombudsman has welcomed, the clear focus, energy and rapid progress that the new Government have brought to this issue. I support the Bill entirely because it will enable compensation that is long overdue.

Alongside EMAG, I warmly welcome the appointment of an independent commission to allocate compensation, and the fact that within months we will know the extent of that compensation. It is tragic that so many Equitable Life members were allowed to die under the previous Government without compensation, and it will be a great achievement of the coalition that their heirs, as well as living members, will be compensated.

I cannot argue against any part of the Bill, but I want to take the opportunity to urge the Government to do even better than they have done already. Labour’s shameful record extended not only to failures of regulation, to trying to avoid the issue for almost a decade, and to failing to act on the parliamentary ombudsman’s report when they had it, but to second-guessing that report in a way that was ruled unlawful and to trying to wriggle out of paying fair compensation. The basis on which they did so must not become the basis of compensation today. In that context, I welcome the Minister’s acceptance that elements of Chadwick are highly contentious, and I hope that he will act on that view.

The Government must ensure that, as the ombudsman recommended, people are fairly compensated for their relative losses. We are pledged to do so. Although I can understand why people who were let down for so long by the previous Government are wary of expecting fair treatment from any Government, I expect confidently that this one will show greater resolve for justice. I welcome the Minister’s hard work on this subject, and I look forward with hope to hearing fair compensation being announced in next month’s spending review.

It is a tragedy that Labour’s failure to act sooner means that the debts they bequeathed us have to be taken into account. It is a tragedy, but one that the parliamentary ombudsman rightly acknowledged was always a possibility. The Equitable Life victims I speak to understand that, and they will also understand that, as the ombudsman recommended, the Government must take account of the impact on the public purse and their own fiscal situation in deciding the quantum of payment. In this unprecedented fiscal crisis, it would be wrong for the Government to put the compensation of one set of people, no matter how badly treated, before all else, because now, more than ever, we must adhere to the concept of fairness.

I urge the House to continue to progress this issue with all its might and with all speed possible, and to ensure that those constituents of mine affected by this tragedy can say that this Government, unlike their predecessor, were fair to them.

Economic Affairs and Work and Pensions

Robin Walker Excerpts

Tuesday 8th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

I am very grateful for this opportunity to address the House for the first time. Today’s debate and the excellent speeches of so many hon. Members have done nothing to reduce the awe with which I approach this task, and I commend the hon. Member for Bethnal Green and Bow (Rushanara Ali) for her passionate speech and associate myself with her views on the blockade of Gaza and the importance of creating employment. I share in the salute of my hon. Friend the Member for Bromsgrove (Sajid Javid) to the brave soldiers of the Mercian Regiment, who have laid down their lives for our country.

My first thanks are due to the electors of Worcester, who have sent me to this Chamber, and I am conscious that I shall be forever in their debt. I intend to repay that debt by working tirelessly on their behalf and being Worcester’s man in Westminster. I must thank also my predecessor, the former Member for Worcester, Michael Foster, who for 13 years was a fierce advocate for his party, a tireless campaigner for animal rights and a distinguished supporter of his Government. As a Whip, a Parliamentary Private Secretary and a Minister, he did much to further the interests of peace in Northern Ireland and international development, and for that he deserves the approbation of this House.

It would be remiss of me not to mention some other former Members for Worcester. My hon. Friend the Member for Mid Worcestershire (Peter Luff), who is now an Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Defence, served the city well until boundary changes took him from us. He is a friend and a mentor, the first MP for whom I ever had the privilege to vote, and now one who has the dubious privilege, shared by my right hon. Friend the Member for Charnwood (Mr Dorrell), of having voted for me. I know that every Member will join me in wishing my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Worcestershire success in providing the best possible equipment to our gallant armed forces over the years to come.

Before my hon. Friend’s time there was, of course, another Member for Worcester with whom I am very familiar, but as my hon. Friend spoke so eloquently on his behalf in his maiden speech, I shall say only that, as many thousands of constituents have reminded me on their doorsteps, he is a hard act to follow. I owe that Member, my father, my lifelong knowledge of, and deep love for, my constituency and its history, not to mention my support for the once and future premiership rugby team, the Worcester Warriors, and my support—shared with the Governor of the Bank of England—for the cricket team, which has the most beautiful ground in the country.

The task of representing Worcester, made so enjoyable by those factors, is made all the more daunting by the fact that the city has been represented in Parliament since the 13th century. Empires have risen and fallen and royal houses have come and gone in the time that MPs have spoken for Worcester, but I do not intend to go on for that long. The city, of course, played its own major part in the civil war. The first shots of that war were fired beyond the boundaries of my constituency, near Powick bridge, and its last slaughter took place at the Sidbury gate, now in the heart of modern Worcester, as Cromwell finally crushed the King’s army and took the faithful city. That war started after an arrogant Government had overspent and oppressed the people of the country with unfair taxes.

At the end of the battle of Worcester, the parson of the parliamentary army addressed the troops and said to them:

“Say you have been at Worcester, where England’s sorrows began, and where happily they are ended.”

I hope that, given the alleged role of Worcester woman in bringing Labour to power over the past 13 years, the same might be said again today.

The civil war was one of the historic events that gave us the evolved constitution that we have today. Respect for that constitution is one of the things that inspires me in politics, and, despite much tinkering over the past 13 years, there is still much to be defended: the unique position of the Crown; the privileges and stature of this mother of Parliaments in holding the Government to account; the powerful ties that bind Members to their constituencies; and a system of election that is simple, effective and allows for the removal of failed Governments. All those are worth fighting for with the same passion with which our ancestors fought on the battlefields of Worcester.

As I am passionate on that subject, so also I am passionate about opportunity. My party has always been the party of opportunity. In the Gracious Speech and in this debate, we have set out plans to support opportunity for British businesses, for young people, and for those on welfare to escape the traps of unemployment and dependency. Opportunity in business, and that unleashed by the national insurance reforms that we propose, will benefit Worcester Bosch and Yamazaki Mazak, innovative manufacturing companies that, between them, employ thousands of people in my constituency.

The coalition Government have set out exciting plans to support green technology, and I support those initiatives. I believe that they will benefit companies in Worcester, but I am concerned that there has so far been no mention in Government statements of the renewable heat incentive. Given that homes are responsible for 21% of the carbon emissions generated in this country, and that 73% of energy in the home is used for heating or hot water, supporting renewables for heating should be given as high a priority as support for the renewable generation of electricity.

Worcester has a range and diversity of businesses, great and small, that reflects the range of topics covered in the Gracious Speech. The breadth of our economy ranges from engineers to health care companies, industry associations, recyclers and housing associations. I have visited firms, such as Craegmoor Healthcare, Skills for Security, the Remarkable recycling company and Sanctuary Housing, which are all headquartered in Worcester and, as an MP, I want to ensure that Worcester remains a place to which businesses want to come, maximising the opportunities for my constituents.

To maximise opportunity, we need the best education to be available to all, and that is why I welcome the exciting reforms proposed by the Secretary of State for Education. We have already seen how academies can turn around the fortunes of failing schools and, in Worcester, the Tudor Grange academy is a shining example of that trend, so I welcome the decision to open up the opportunity of freer education to more schools in the area.

Supporting opportunity means careful nurturing of further and higher education. I shall support both, and I am very proud that Worcester boasts the country’s fastest-growing university. The university of Worcester, which I congratulate on its recent Ofsted report, was rated “outstanding” for its training of teachers at primary and secondary level, and the principal of Worcester college of technology was recently elected president of the Association of Colleges.

For opportunity to thrive everywhere we need fair funding in education. Today the average pupil in Worcestershire receives £370 less than the national average and a staggering £762 less than children in the neighbouring authorities of Birmingham, despite the fact that some parts of my constituency are among the 10% most deprived areas in the country. I have high hopes for the coalition Government’s pupil premium policy in addressing that issue.

The last Walker to speak for Worcester began his maiden speech by saying,

“I hope that if, in the course of my remarks…I make what are considered to be constructive criticisms of the Government’s economic policy, this will not be considered indicative of a person representing a constituency noted throughout the world for its production of sauce.”—[Official Report, 20 April 1961; Vol. 638, c. 1433.]

I shall be equally ready to make constructive criticisms and to place my constituency at the forefront of my parliamentary career. In the interests of Worcester, I commend the Gracious Speech.

[The Leader of the House of Commons (Sir George Young)]

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. At half-past 6, you will leave the Chair for the last time. May I endorse what Mr Speaker said earlier and, on behalf of the whole House, thank you for your impartial, firm but courteous service over 13 years?