Economy and Jobs

Virendra Sharma Excerpts

Monday 20th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Virendra Sharma (Ealing, Southall) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to speak in this vital debate. Over the last 10 years, under the Tory Government, pay has stagnated, while poverty and insecurity have disturbingly risen. Under the Conservatives, we have seen the emergence of the “left behind”—those people whose lives are defined by a constant state of uncertainty and unease. For those families, work no longer guarantees a route out of hardship. Nine million households where at least one adult works now live in poverty. Such families are often only a handful of pay cheques away from destitution, hunger and despair. These families cannot plan for the future, and many have lost all hope. The fact that this injustice exists in the sixth richest economy in the world is a stain on this Government. We must do better than this.

Last Friday I visited St Mellitus church, which operates a food bank in my constituency, and I was shocked and distressed by what I saw. Recent research by the Trussell Trust has shown that food bank use has increased from 61,000 distributed parcels in 2011 to a record 1.6 million parcels last year. Last year’s figure represents a staggering 20% increase on the previous year. Even more shocking is the fact that a third of last year’s parcels went towards feeding young children. At my local food bank, I spoke to a volunteer who told me an all-too-familiar story. She said that the vast majority of service users at St Mellitus do not wish to use it but are forced to do so by a combination of low pay, food insecurity and bad luck. People are struggling due to the simple reason that they cannot afford to buy food. Many suffer from severe stress and anxiety from their situation and feel embarrassed as parents. The volunteer I spoke to said that parents who access food parcels often skip meals to ensure that their children have more to eat. Some can go several days without eating properly. In London alone, 400,000 children are food-insecure, which affects their educational, physical and social development. What kind of Government would not want all children in society to fulfil their potential?

My local food bank at St Mellitus church—with support from other churches, gurdwaras and mandirs in my constituency—does superb work under huge financial constraints, but surely our Government should accept their responsibility and end this scourge. One key reason for the increase in food bank use in recent years is the introduction of universal credit. The five-week wait to receive the first payment is pushing many into debt, food bank use and the hands of those willing to exploit the vulnerable. The Government must scrap the five-week wait, which is distressing for so many families.

While the Government have pledged to increase the minimum wage, they must go further and meet the living wage of £10.75 in my constituency. Research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has shown that secure and fair incomes for employees result in increased workforce motivation and reduced staff turnover and sickness. A living wage will not only tackle the injustice of food insecurity, but address our economy’s productivity crisis.

Finally, we must provide greater investment for on-the-job training and strengthen labour laws to protect people from exploitation and zero-hour contracts. We must also champion the creation of highly skilled and well-paid jobs for the next generation of young people, such as the commitment to create 10,000 apprenticeships at Heathrow airport. The Prime Minister may be too frightened to make up his mind on Heathrow airport, but he must show some real leadership to end the tragedy of in-work poverty and deprivation in our society.

Oral Answers to Questions

Virendra Sharma Excerpts

Tuesday 7th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Virendra Sharma (Ealing, Southall) (Lab)]

T5. Let me wish you, Mr Speaker, and every Member a happy new year. The London Stock Exchange already has more bonds from African countries listed for trading than any other international stock exchange. What steps will the Chancellor take to support his colleagues in the Department for International Development to generate private sector investment in financial markets across Africa, so that services, businesses and start-ups can grow and create 50,000 jobs?

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (John Glen)]

The Government are always willing to work with the City and interested parties to consider how we can advance investment across all those sectors, and I would be happy to discuss such matters with the hon. Gentleman.

Oral Answers to Questions

Virendra Sharma Excerpts

Tuesday 9th April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

I know that my hon. Friend has been in touch with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on this issue. We fully expect building owners in the private sector to take action to ensure appropriate safety measures are in place. We have written to all owners to remind them of their responsibilities. In addition, local authorities have the power to complete works and recover costs from private owners of high rise residential buildings.

[Mr Virendra Sharma (Ealing, Southall) (Lab)]

19. What recent assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of productivity since 2010.

[The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Robert Jenrick)]

Since 2010, UK labour productivity has grown by 3.9%, leaving it 1.9% above its pre-crisis peak. Slow productivity growth since the crisis is not a phenomenon exclusive to the UK, but is common across the G7. We have created the £37 billion national productivity investment fund to tackle it.

[Mr Sharma]

The UK’s productivity remains weaker than most other advanced economies. Does the Chancellor agree that the Government should lead the way in tackling the productivity crisis, starting with getting rid of the haphazard Transport Secretary?

[Robert Jenrick]

No. We are taking a range of interventions, including investing £600 billion in our national economic infrastructure. Over the course of this Parliament, investment in transport and other forms of infrastructure will be £460 million a week in real terms higher than under the previous Labour Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

Virendra Sharma Excerpts

Tuesday 5th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The Member for Shipley will not stop going on about it until he gets it; I think of that we can be absolutely certain.

[Mr Virendra Sharma (Ealing, Southall) (Lab)]

7. What steps his Department has taken to mitigate the potential effect on the economic sustainability of the manufacturing sector of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mel Stride)]

The steps we are taking to protect our manufacturing in the event of no deal include supporting the Prime Minister’s deal and the negotiations to make sure that we have a smooth exit from the European Union, and the Treasury itself has made available in excess of £4 billion by way of contingency funding for Departments right across Whitehall.

[Mr Sharma]

I thank the Minister for that response. Last month, I surveyed businesses in my constituency and they overwhelmingly said that they wanted Brexit cancelled. Will the Chancellor stand up for British businesses, end the uncertainty and use his immense personal prestige in the Cabinet and with the Prime Minister to stop Brexit once and for all?

[Mr Speaker]

I hope the Chancellor heard the bit about his prestige.

Oral Answers to Questions

Virendra Sharma Excerpts

Tuesday 18th April 2017 Commons Chamber

[Simon Kirby]

The Government are focused on delivering the existing deal. If the SNP Government want to do something in addition to that, it is within their power to do so.

[Mr Virendra Sharma (Ealing, Southall) (Lab)]

16. If he will support public registers of beneficial owners for all legal entities, including trusts, during negotiations on the EU anti-money laundering directive.

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Simon Kirby)]

The UK has spearheaded improvements in the transparency of beneficial ownership information. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs is already building a register of trusts with tax consequences, which will improve transparency and assist law enforcement agencies.

[Mr Sharma]

We are now a year on from the anti-corruption summit. Will the UK now ensure that the overseas territories and Crown dependencies also have public registers of beneficial ownership?

Oral Answers to Questions

Virendra Sharma Excerpts

Tuesday 25th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

2. What his Department’s objectives are in negotiating double taxation treaties with developing countries.

[Mr Virendra Sharma (Ealing, Southall) (Lab)]

4. What outcomes his Department seeks to achieve when negotiating double taxation treaties with developing countries.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jane Ellison]

I disagree with the hon. Gentleman. In fact, double taxation treaties help developing countries. They often remove uncertainty about the way in which businesses choose to make investments, and they open up the route to fairer and more open trade. The majority of the UK’s double taxation treaties are based on the OECD model double taxation convention, and we work very closely with countries to reach mutually acceptable treaties.

[Mr Sharma]

What plans does the Minister have to carry out assessments of the impact of the UK’s tax treaties on developing countries, and will her Department offer poorer countries the opportunity to renegotiate treaties that do not do enough to support their development?

[Jane Ellison]

As I have said, there is a rolling programme of renegotiation to make sure that treaties reflect modern standards. More broadly, the UK has a very proud record on capacity building in this area. We lead international efforts to support developing countries in tax capacity building. One example is that DFID funds the Global Forum, the World Bank and the OECD to provide technical assistance to partner countries. We can be proud of that record.

Oral Answers to Questions

Virendra Sharma Excerpts

Tuesday 21st July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Virendra Sharma (Ealing, Southall) (Lab)]

The Institute for Fiscal Studies pointed out last week that although the number of workless households in poverty has fallen, that fall has been matched by a rise in the number of working households in poverty. Will the Chancellor acknowledge the scale of in-work poverty, and does he accept that cutting tax credits for working families and repealing the child poverty legislation will make the situation worse, not better?

[Mr Osborne]

I do not accept that cutting people’s taxes and introducing a national living wage will in any way hurt working people—it will help working people. The people who suffer most when we cannot afford Government services and welfare are the poorest in our country, and we saw that when Labour was in office. We have taken the approach of entrenching economic security by making sure that Britain lives within its means. Last night this House voted through the important welfare package. Now we have launched the spending review to finish the job.

amendment of the law

Virendra Sharma Excerpts

Monday 25th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Virendra Sharma (Ealing, Southall) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for allowing me to speak in this crucial debate.

While this country faces the biggest housing crisis in a generation, the Government are using the Budget to help their millionaire friends buy second homes. Once again, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has left hard-working people who are on lower wages struggling and hurting. Building new homes is central to this country’s economic recovery and to getting hard-working families on the housing ladder, yet in Budget after Budget the Government have come up far short of the mark. In this Budget, the Chancellor introduced “help to buy”. Last year, he introduced NewBuy. It is clear that the policies that have been introduced to help people get on the property ladder have failed and that they are not the solutions that the country urgently needs to end the housing crisis.

In my constituency of Ealing, Southall, families are desperately struggling to find suitable and affordable homes. Just last week I heard from a family who have been waiting more than a year to find a bigger and more suitable home for them and their three children. Sarah has been sharing a two-bedroom flat with her husband, her two sons—one of whom suffers from a severe form of Asperger’s—and her two-year-old daughter. They have been told that they will have to make do with their two-bedroom flat for the foreseeable future because no new housing is coming up.

More needs to be invested into building affordable homes to meet demand; that is a sound, logical and reasonable investment for the future of our housing market and economy. Building more housing is not only a solution to end this housing crisis, but an effective way of boosting growth. For every £1 invested by the public sector, 56p returns to the Treasury. Removing the cap on housing revenue account borrowing in London could add 0.5% to GDP—growth that is much needed. By investing in the capital’s housing infrastructure, more than 19,000 jobs would be created. Why will the Chancellor not invest in housing and growth?

Throughout the Budget the Government have repeated that they are committed to helping those who aspire to work hard and get on, to caring for families and helping them with the cost of living, and to creating more growth. Why, therefore, do they not commit to build more affordable homes, thereby creating more jobs and growth and allowing hard-working families to live in better conditions, rather than helping millionaires buy second homes through their slapdash flagship policy?

The Government had the opportunity to invest in housing, create more jobs and provide a decent living to all those working hard to achieve, and to allow children living in overcrowded accommodation to have a better education. If children have extra space in their house, they will get more education and an improved place in which to live; their health will be improved and they will be able to contribute more to society.

Tax Avoidance and Evasion

Virendra Sharma Excerpts

Thursday 13th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Virendra Sharma (Ealing, Southall) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to speak in this very important debate.

We all know the context in which this debate takes place. We all speak to and listen to our constituents at our surgeries and in our town centres, and we know that they are hurting as a result of an international financial crisis caused by irresponsible bankers and made worse by a double-dip recession made in Downing street. The majority are hard-working families and individuals who pay their fair share of taxes and play by the rules, and expect others to do the same.

Given the budget deficit and strain on the public finances, it is all the more important to ensure that everyone pays their fair share of tax and that tax avoidance—playing the system and looking for loopholes—and tax evasion by those who engage in criminal behaviour to evade paying tax are vigorously clamped down on.

The vast majority of those engaged in tax avoidance are the rich and wealthy, and there is, rightly and unsurprisingly, a public outcry when celebrities, senior civil servants, business men and others use tax avoidance schemes to avoid paying their fair share of tax like everybody else. It is morally repugnant and obscene for a wealthy celebrity to pay only 1% in income tax.

The Government are right to consult on introducing a focused and targeted general anti-avoidance rule to stamp out such abuses. I fully support such a move. Tax avoidance legislation has become ever more specific and complicated. A GAAR should reverse that situation and allow a better use of HMRC resources to tackle avoidance across the board.

I part company with the Government on their current job-cutting at HMRC. I welcome the extra £970 million that they have put into tax collection up to 2014, but it makes no sense to cut jobs when the Department has been successful in collecting more tax. Over the past five years, HMRC has raised an extra £4.32 billion and the Public Accounts Committee’s report shows that an additional £1.1 billion could have been collected if 3,200 job losses had been avoided. It cannot be right to make job cuts when so much tax remains uncollected.

The Public and Commercial Services Union is 100% right on that and the public will think it a very strange thing to do when 11 times the extra investment that the Government are putting into tax collection was collected by hard-working HMRC staff over the past five years, and when even more could have been collected if the 3,200 jobs had been retained. Why are the Government planning another 10,000 job losses? I ask the Minister to think again. This is an investment that will result in billions for the Exchequer.

One of the jobs that staff saved from redundancy could do is work in my constituency, throughout London and other parts of the country to tackle the so-called “beds in sheds” problem. A minority of unscrupulous landlords are exploiting the vulnerable by renting out substandard outbuildings at extortionate rates and evading tax. My constituents regularly ask me, “Why should these landlords get away with not paying tax like everyone else?” This problem is all part of the shadow cash economy that denies the Exchequer billions in tax revenues.

The Government have given one-off funding to help councils tackle the problem with multi-partner teams that include HMRC officers in addition to UK Border Agency, police and council officers; but to really tackle it, raise some revenue and disrupt the shadow economy, more consistent resources are needed in both financial and officer terms.

Billions of pounds of tax remains uncollected as a result of both avoidance and evasion. I urge the Government to be braver and invest more in HMRC, not cut jobs. The returns are clear, the public accounts are in need of it and the public are calling for it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Virendra Sharma Excerpts

Tuesday 24th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

Ministerial salaries were cut by 5% and then frozen for the whole of this Parliament. As Chief Secretary, I now personally sign off any new pay above £142,000, the equivalent of the Prime Minister’s pay. That is a vital deterrent to the cycle of ever higher pay at the top of the public sector—so much so that in central Government alone the number of people paid more than £150,000 has dropped by 55 since May last year. When applications come in, I can and do reject them if I think they are too high. In fact, since May 2010 83 like-for-like cases have sought my approval. Pay was lowered in 45 of those cases and frozen in a further 23, saving more than £1 million a year for the taxpayer, including a £100,000 cut in the pay for the new chief executive of Royal Mail.

[Mr Virendra Sharma (Ealing, Southall) (Lab)]

11. What assessment he has made of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s most recent estimate of the size of the deficit in 2015.

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Miss Chloe Smith)]

The OBR forecast in November that borrowing in 2015-16 would be £53 billion, which is 2.9% of gross domestic product. That compares with £156 billion last year and £127 billion this financial year.

[Mr Sharma]

I thank the Economic Secretary for answering the question. Can she tell us why the Government are now forecast to borrow £37 billion more than the more balanced plan Labour set out before the election, despite the pain of £40 billion more spending cuts and tax rises?

[Miss Smith]

This Government are engaged in a credible deficit reduction plan. I would like to hear the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues tell us what their plan is and whether it veers towards credibility or the policies of the delusional left.