Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness Morgan of Cotes and Stephen Metcalfe

Tuesday 11th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Metcalfe (South Basildon and East Thurrock) (Con)]

9. What assessment he has made of the effect of freezing fuel duty on the price of petrol.

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

The autumn statement confirmed that fuel duty would be frozen for the remainder of this Parliament. As a result of this Government’s actions, average pump prices are now 13p a litre lower than they would have been if we had implemented the previous Government’s fuel duty escalator, and they will be 20p a litre lower by the end of this Parliament.

[Stephen Metcalfe]

Does my hon. Friend agree that this Government’s changes to fuel duty and the scrapping of next months’ increase proposed by the previous Government provide more proof that it is this Government who are helping hard-working families to tackle the cost of living and supporting our long-term economic plan?

[Nicky Morgan]

I thank my hon. Friend for that question. He is entirely right. In total, the Government will have eased the burden on motorists by £22.5 billion over this Parliament, to 2015-16. By the end of this Parliament, it will cost the typical motorist £11 less to fill their car.

Women and the Cost of Living

Debate between Baroness Morgan of Cotes and Stephen Metcalfe

Tuesday 19th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Nicky Morgan]

I am sorry that the hon. Lady, whom I regard as a good neighbourly MP in so many ways, is scaremongering. People have to pay the fee only if they actually go to a tribunal, and there are many stages before that in an employment claim.

Let me talk about women and the workplace. As I said, we want to see not only more women in the workplace, but more women rising to the top of their workplaces. I am delighted that the Minister for Women and Equalities is on the Benches today, as she has been doing so much work to promote women in the workplace. I was also delighted to see Fiona Woolf, the second ever female Lord Mayor of London, coming into post earlier this month. I am sure that she will be an excellent role model for women in the City of London. But we need to do what we can to help more women to reach these senior positions and play an even more prominent role in our recovery. As many hon. Members will know, last month we published a Government action plan specifically designed to help women start out, get on and stay on in our workplaces by taking steps on things such as training, skills and flexible working.

[Stephen Metcalfe (South Basildon and East Thurrock) (Con)]

There is no doubt that we have been through a very difficult time, and that will have affected both sexes—men and women alike. Is not growth the best way out of a lot of these problems? Is it not irresponsible of a Government not to tackle the problems they are presented with, leaving them to be tackled by our children and our grandchildren?

[Nicky Morgan]

My hon. Friend is, of course, right about that. The best way to address living standards is by dealing with the economic crisis, so that families can find work in a growing economy. He is absolutely right to say that it is not fair to burden future generations with debt, which is why this Government have taken the tough actions they have.

I shall now discuss child care. For any mothers and fathers to succeed in the workplace, we need to have the right policy in place to support them. The Labour party is right to draw attention to the importance of parental leave and child care, but let me remind the Opposition that we were the Government who recognised the current system of leave and pay for parents as being not only old-fashioned and inflexible, but as playing a role in reinforcing the idea that women are the primary carers of children. Our new system will give real choice to families, and, from 2015, will allow working parents to share leave once the mother feels ready to end her maternity leave.

I remind the Opposition that we were the party that made sweeping changes on flexible leave and that they were the party that presided over child-care costs rising to the second highest level in the developed world. We are working hard to address that and to make child care more affordable for parents across the United Kingdom. A recent survey showed that 2012-13 was the second successive year in which the price of full day care and nurseries stayed flat in real terms