Business of the House

Debate between John Bercow and James Cartlidge
Thursday 17th October 2019

(4 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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I call James Cartlidge.

James Cartlidge Portrait James Cartlidge (South Suffolk) (Con)
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Thank you, Mr Speaker. I am used to waiting, but unfortunately so are my constituents—when it comes to the A14 in South Suffolk. The prospect of an independent trade policy is a great step forward for our economy, but we will only be able to take advantage of it if we support the infrastructure that our crucial ports rely on, including Felixstowe. All Felixstowe’s freight comes out on the A14 so the Copdock interchange is crucial, but it is completely substandard. When does my right hon. Friend expect the Transport Secretary to announce the road investment strategy 2 funding allocations? Let me tell him that it will go down very well if includes funding for the Copdock interchange.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and James Cartlidge
Monday 15th October 2018

(5 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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I thought we might hear from the voice of South Suffolk, but the hon. Gentleman seems disinclined to participate in this exchange even though he has a comparable question. He is not obliged. If he is more interested in his phone, so be it. [Interruption.] Get in there, man. I call James Cartlidge.

James Cartlidge Portrait James Cartlidge (South Suffolk) (Con)
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15. I also extend my congratulations to my hon. Friend. Does he agree that universal credit is not just about getting more people into work, but people currently working part-time working longer hours by getting rid of the disincentives they used to face on 16 hours and so on?

Leaving the EU

Debate between John Bercow and James Cartlidge
Monday 9th July 2018

(5 years, 8 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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I call James Cartlidge.

James Cartlidge Portrait James Cartlidge
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Oh, thank you, Mr Speaker.

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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The hon. Gentleman does not have to look quite so surprised to be called. He was standing. It is very good to know that he knows his own name. I called him, and the House, and perhaps the nation, wish to hear him.

James Cartlidge Portrait James Cartlidge
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The largest employer in my constituency is Philips AVENT, the baby care company, which employs 1,500 people. At the weekend, its chief executive made it clear that in the event of a hard Brexit that plant could close, which would be a massive shock to my local economy. May I say to my right hon. Friend that, although there is a lot of excitement about certain jobs being lost in this place, I will be supporting her negotiating position because it prioritises the jobs that matter—those of our constituents?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and James Cartlidge
Monday 2nd July 2018

(5 years, 8 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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James Cartlidge Portrait James Cartlidge (South Suffolk) (Con)
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I am sure that you will be delighted, Mr Speaker, that Wimbledon is now under way. Of course, that means that tonnes of British strawberries will be consumed. I very much welcome my right hon. Friend’s recent comments about encouraging more British workers to pick that fruit. Will she update the House on her plans in this area?

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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I am even more pleased that Roger Federer won his opening match in straight sets in less than an hour and a half. Conveniently it finished just before Question Time began—that was very helpful.

Tax Avoidance and Evasion

Debate between John Bercow and James Cartlidge
Tuesday 14th November 2017

(6 years, 4 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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James Cartlidge Portrait James Cartlidge
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I had not expected—[Interruption.]

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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Order. There is no obligation on the hon. Gentleman to speak if he does not want to.

James Cartlidge Portrait James Cartlidge
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I will ask the shadow Minister a question. The tax gap is now 6%. It averaged 8% under Labour. Does he accept that if the tax gap was 8% now, the deficit would be £12 billion bigger?

--- Later in debate ---
James Cartlidge Portrait James Cartlidge (South Suffolk) (Con)
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I will speak relatively briefly. Slightly earlier, I had the pleasure of intervening on the shadow spokesman. In fact, I had a unique pleasure in that he allowed me a second intervention; I think it is called a BOGOF.

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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There is no obligation on the hon. Gentleman to speak any further if he does not feel inclined to do so. It will be difficult, but we will probably manage without him. If he does want to speak further, he may.

James Cartlidge Portrait James Cartlidge
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I was referring to my earlier intervention, when there was some confusion; the point of substance I was trying to get at was the difference in the tax gap. The precise figure for the tax gap is now 6%, and it was 8% under Labour. The difference in annual terms is £11.8 billion. That is incredibly important, as the newspapers are dominated by all the coverage of the Paradise papers, and the impression that gives the public is that multinational companies are running the rule over us and getting away without paying their fair share of tax, and that we are failing to deal with that. In fact, all the statistics show significant improvement under this Government in closing the tax gap and bringing forward measures to deal with avoidance and evasion.

As my hon. Friend the Member for Amber Valley (Nigel Mills) mentioned, one important issue is property. My experience, before I came to the House, was in property, as I ran a business helping first-time buyers. One of the great grievances felt by first-time buyers is the sheer quantity of money that has come into the property market, particularly in London. That money is driving up prices and making property less accessible to local people who want to get on the ladder. We should remember that we have brought in two important measures to deal with that. Until April 2015, foreign nationals did not pay capital gains tax when they sold a property in the UK. We closed that loophole in April 2015.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and James Cartlidge
Tuesday 24th October 2017

(6 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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Order. As a very distinguished chartered surveyor, the hon. Member for The Cotswolds (Geoffrey Clifton-Brown) will know that the Cotswold is a very significant distance from the north or the north-west, but we will look forward with eager anticipation to hearing the hon. Gentleman at some later point.

James Cartlidge Portrait James Cartlidge (South Suffolk) (Con)
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10. What recent progress has been made on reducing the deficit.

Universal Credit Roll-out

Debate between John Bercow and James Cartlidge
Tuesday 24th October 2017

(6 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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Order. May I very gently point out that if Members who have arrived in the Chamber relatively recently intervene, they risk preventing colleagues who have been here for some hours from contributing? I know that the hon. Lady, who is a most courteous person, would not want that to happen.

James Cartlidge Portrait James Cartlidge
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It is absolutely right to look at welfare reform in the context of Brexit. My worry, and I say this sincerely, is that—let us look at the seasonal agricultural workers scheme, for example—there is already pressure for a scheme not to get more British workers, but to ask whether we can have workers from Ukraine or Russia. We must think about that, because at the moment unskilled migrants can come to this country only from the EU, not from outside the EU. We have to look at welfare reform through the lens of seeing whether British people will rise to the challenge of stepping into the breach.

The Work and Pensions Committee—I was a member of it—carried out an investigation and we looked at these issues before the general election, and the truth is that large parts of our economy are dependent on migrant labour. If we are to change that, we must understand that the sorts of reform we are now introducing will be just the start of it. There will have to be a real look at education, training and welfare. None of this stuff may necessarily be easy or palatable, but it should move us to a situation in which, instead of flat wages and flat productivity, British people are given a fair chance: they do their bit, and we back them. We will give them support through the universal credit system and we will give them training, and we will have a competitive post-Brexit economy.

Tuition Fees

Debate between John Bercow and James Cartlidge
Wednesday 19th July 2017

(6 years, 8 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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James Cartlidge Portrait James Cartlidge
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On a point of order—

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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I hope that this is a point of order, rather than a point of frustration.

James Cartlidge Portrait James Cartlidge
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The point of order is that the Leader of the Opposition said to the NME

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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Order. The hon. Gentleman must resume his seat. It was a nice try, and he is an industrious fellow, but that is a matter of debate. He cannot ask the Chair to adjudicate on who said what when, especially when it was outside the Chamber. I appreciate his assiduity, but he needs a rather better disguise than that.

Under-occupancy Charge

Debate between John Bercow and James Cartlidge
Monday 14th November 2016

(7 years, 4 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.

Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.

This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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Order. Mr Opperman, you are a cerebral figure in the House. You now occupy high office as a Government Whip. Chuntering from a sedentary position and gesticulating—even under provocation—is not quite the statesmanlike posture that we have come to expect from a man of your exalted status. I call Mr James Cartlidge.

James Cartlidge Portrait James Cartlidge (South Suffolk) (Con)
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I am reassured to hear my right hon. Friend say that the number of claimants for this subsidy is actually falling and that part of that is due to the fact that people are moving into work from benefits. There are always difficult cases in the welfare system—cases that fall outside the normal rules—but the big picture is that worklessness, which is the biggest cause of poverty, is at an all-time low, and that the spare room subsidy has played a part in delivering that.

Damian Green Portrait Damian Green
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I agree that the subsidy has played a small role. It is also consistent with the rest of our welfare policy, which is about making sure that, as work is the best route out of poverty, as few people as possible face worklessness and that they are helped better than ever before. We have helped more people to get into work and progress in work. [Interruption.] I am afraid that the Opposition do not understand any of that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Bercow and James Cartlidge
Thursday 13th October 2016

(7 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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I would call the right hon. Gentleman who is intently studying his iPad, but as he does not seem keen to engage we will leave him out for now. I am giving him due notice—he had his opportunity.

James Cartlidge Portrait James Cartlidge (South Suffolk) (Con)
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When the former Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the current Lord Chancellor, visited my constituency in May, she visited the Orwell food enterprise zone and heard about the skills challenges faced by local small and medium-sized businesses in the food sector. She said that the Government were considering a proposal to allow large food businesses to share their apprenticeship levy with the local supply chain to encourage local buying of food and local skills. Has there been any progress on that?

European Council

Debate between John Bercow and James Cartlidge
Monday 21st March 2016

(8 years ago)

Commons Chamber
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John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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Order. I warn colleagues: as they know, I normally call everyone and the Prime Minister most patiently replies, but I fear that that almost certainly will not be possible today. Brevity will help, however.

James Cartlidge Portrait James Cartlidge (South Suffolk) (Con)
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I welcome the fact that at the end of the Prime Minister’s statement he reminded the House of his commitment to estate regeneration. Does my right hon. Friend agree that that is a classic example of one nation Conservatism, given that it is proven to deliver not only better homes and communities for those who live in our inner cities, but the supply of new homes for first-time buyers?