Economic Policy

Lord Evans of Rainow Excerpts

Monday 25th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I will not make a prediction about that. [Interruption.] Moody’s is clear that we can win the rating back provided that over time we show our commitment to dealing with our debts and rebalancing our economy, and we will of course provide that commitment. Its market notice is clear that a reduced political commitment to fiscal consolidation—the policy advocated by the shadow Chancellor—would risk further downgrades.

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend the Chancellor remind the House that he has cut the deficit by a quarter under this Government? Will he also remind the House that it is Labour Chancellors who ultimately run out of money and have to go to the IMF to be bailed out?

[Mr Osborne]

It is an eternal truth that all Labour Governments have left office with unemployment higher than when they came in. I think that they have all left the country with a fiscal crisis, so let us make sure that history does not repeat itself.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Evans of Rainow Excerpts

Tuesday 11th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)]

10. What steps he is taking to reduce the cost of living.

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

15. What steps he is taking to reduce the cost of living.

[The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Danny Alexander)]

The Government continue to take steps to support households. We will increase the personal allowance further to £9,440 in April 2013 to support hard-working individuals. That cash increase of £1,335 in 2013-14 is the largest ever. We have also cancelled the 3p fuel duty increase that was planned for January, and announced a third council tax freeze and a two-year reduction in the cap on rail fares.

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[Graham Evans]

I welcome the announcements in the autumn statement, particularly the announcement of an increase in the personal allowance, which will take 2.6 million people in the north-west of England out of income tax altogether. Will my right hon. Friend reassure us that he will continue to raise the allowance to ensure that it always pays to work?

[Mr Speaker]

In relation to the cost of living?

[Graham Evans]

Indeed, Mr. Speaker.

[Danny Alexander]

Ensuring, through increases in the personal allowance, that low and middle-income workers in particular can keep more of the money that they earn rather than handing it over to the Exchequer helps those people to deal with pressures related to the cost of living. I can certainly assure my hon. Friend that I will continue to push that policy, along with my Liberal Democrat and Conservative colleagues. At the time of the last general election I made a key promise to lift the income tax threshold to £10,000, and I intend to deliver that promise as soon as possible. [Hon. Members:“ Like the promise about tuition fees?”]

Autumn Statement

Lord Evans of Rainow Excerpts

Wednesday 5th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

As I have said, we have increased the personal allowance to increase the income going to working families. Of course, these are difficult economic times. We are having to take difficult decisions but they are decisions that support those who want to work hard and get on.

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

Hard-working strivers in Weaver Vale will welcome my right hon. Friend’s announcement that their personal tax allowance will increase to £9,440. Can he remind the House of the 10p tax fiasco that hit the poorest hardest? Does he agree that it is those on the Government Benches who always make it pay to work?

[Mr Osborne]

My hon. Friend puts it extremely powerfully on behalf of his Cheshire constituents. We remember the income tax decisions of the previous Government—the abolition of the 10p tax rate that hit the poorest. For 13 years, as I said, the rich were paying less in income tax than they are paying in any one year of this Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Evans of Rainow Excerpts

Tuesday 6th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

The hon. Lady was a pro-European once; I still am. We seem to be seeing an outbreak of amnesia on the Labour Benches. Not only has the hon. Lady forgotten what Labour did in the last multiannual financial framework negotiation, when it gave away half of Britain’s rebate by not forming any alliances and instead giving up vast amounts—billions of pounds—of Britain’s money, but the shadow Chancellor seems to have forgotten that more recently his party was running the largest structural deficit in the world economy in the good times, leaving this country more exposed than ever to the financial crisis. This country does not want amnesia from Labour—it wants an apology.

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

T5. Manufacturing in this country halved during the Labour period, falling from 22% of GDP in 1997 to 11% in 2010, and during that period the sector employed half the number of people it did in 1997. With this in mind, what recent representations has my right hon. Friend received regarding investment in manufacturing industry in the north-west?

[Danny Alexander]

My hon. Friend is right to highlight the work that we are doing to increase manufacturing through, for example, the advanced manufacturing technology institute and investment from the regional growth fund. We have had a number of representations from the north-west, not least from my hon. Friend the Member for Burnley (Gordon Birtwistle), who has made representations on capital allowances for businesses.

Beer Duty Escalator

Lord Evans of Rainow Excerpts

Thursday 1st November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker.

[Chris Ruane]

Are you the penultimate?

[Graham Evans]

Was that a penultimate, or just a Charlie?

I must confess that I have stopped many barrels of beer going sour over the years. Indeed, I met Mrs Evans in my local pub, The Church House inn in Bollington near Macclesfield, when I was a wee slip of a lad—I was 20-something—serving behind the bar. My mother worked in a pub, by brother and sisters worked in a pub and my father spent most of his time in a pub, so it is fair to say that I grew up in pubs.

Many hon. and right hon. Members have mentioned socialising and communities during this excellent debate, which was ably secured by my hon. Friend the Member for Burton (Andrew Griffiths). As has been said, pubs are often at the heart of the community. They are not just watering holes, but the glue that binds the fabric of local society. The decline in the number of pubs across Britain is, rightly, a source of concern for us all, so I welcome the steps that the Government have already taken to halt that decline. The right to buy has given many local communities the agency to control their own environment, and I sincerely hope that the rate at which pubs are closing continues to drop, as it has done in the past two years.

We are here to discuss the economic value of the beer and pub industry. It has contributed £21 billion to the national economy this year, with some 60% of that coming from beer sales alone. It is understandable that groups such as the Campaign for Real Ale believe that the impact of the beer duty escalator will result in reduced beer sales and a reduction in profit for our hard-working publicans.

We are all aware that society’s relationship with alcohol has changed. With less money in people’s pockets, the appeal of cut-price booze from supermarkets is clear. Many hon. Members have touched on the social and health implications of that change in drinking habits. I welcome the Government’s commitment to a minimum unit price, which will encourage responsible drinking and, I sincerely hope, realistically allow pubs to compete with supermarkets.

It is also worth considering that the previous Government increased beer duty by 60% while spirits duty increased by a mere quarter. Unit for unit, spirits are becoming cheaper and cheaper, and their increased consumption makes it much harder to encourage responsible drinking.

Of course, we are in a difficult economic position. Alcohol excise duty makes an important contribution to reducing our inherited deficit, but it is clear that the escalator is of concern to publicans, constituents and hon. Members. I therefore urge the Minister to carefully consider the duty’s impact on the profitability of pubs, responsible drinking and the future of local communities before making recommendations for the 2013 Budget.

Infrastructure (Financial Assistance) Bill

Lord Evans of Rainow Excerpts

Monday 17th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to see you in your place, Mr Deputy Speaker, and I am grateful for a chance to contribute to this debate. I welcome the Bill, which clearly shows that the Government are serious about growth, about rebalancing the economy, and about investing in infrastructure, especially in the north of England.

I want to start by addressing some of the bleating from Labour Members. It is easy for them to criticise the Government, but what infrastructure projects would they deliver? It is difficult to see what policy they have on anything. Their blank piece of paper remains blank, as far as I can tell. I am very concerned about what appears to be Labour’s thinking on investing in infrastructure. At last year’s “March for the Alternative”, when asked where Labour would make the £14 billion-worth of cuts that it said it would make that year, the party’s deputy leader, the right hon. and learned Member for Camberwell and Peckham (Ms Harman), explained that it would

“hold back on capital investment”.

Given that the total level of capital investment planned is far less than the amount that Labour says it will cut, and given that it has failed to specify any other areas for cuts, one might be entitled to assume that the right hon. and learned Lady intends to scrap all capital investment. Nobody seems to know whether this is official Labour policy; even Labour Members do not know. Perhaps they will take a more middle-of-the-road approach and scrap only half the schemes in the national infrastructure plan. However, it appears that, at the very least, Labour’s deputy leader wants to do the very opposite of what this Bill is designed to achieve.

Investing in Britain’s infrastructure is essential for delivering growth and ensuring the long-term competitiveness of our economy. Such projects can in themselves create thousands of new jobs and generate huge numbers of orders for hundreds of businesses. The benefits of the completed projects are almost impossible to quantify, but they include improved road, rail and communication links, and more reliable, clean and affordable energy supplies. They can help to bring people, money and ideas into parts of the country that desperately need it. They make Britain a more attractive place for people to do business in, and bring even more jobs, talent and energy to our shores. Infrastructure projects in the right locations can help to rebalance our economy away from dependence on the City of London and towards more manufacturing, perhaps in places in my constituency such as Runcorn or Northwich.

A lot of exciting infrastructure projects are planned which will bring huge benefits to my constituents in Cheshire. I could happily drone on for hours about High Speed 2, but today I wish to focus on other projects so will simply re-emphasise that HS2 is essential if we are going to solve the west coast main line capacity challenge. The northern hub rail plan will dramatically improve connectivity between northern cities such as Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield. It will also make life considerably easier for a huge number of commuters, improving the rail network and easing road congestion. Such improvements do not just make our cities more attractive places to do business and encourage external investment; they help to improve the quality of life for many of our constituents too.

Another vital piece of infrastructure that I hope will benefit from the Bill is the Mersey gateway project. The fact that this project is going ahead at all is a testament to the Government’s commitment to Runcorn, Merseyside and the north-west region as a whole. Despite years of hand-wringing, the Labour Government failed to approve the bridge. I remember that in the period immediately after the general election there were many fears that it would never happen. Thankfully, those fears were misplaced and this Government have come through. For those Members who are unaware of the scheme, allow me to explain. The project is about building a much-needed extra bridge across the Mersey between Runcorn and Widnes. We have the Silver Jubilee bridge, which is past its best. If it were ever to collapse—heaven forbid!—we would be in real trouble. The new dualled three-lane bridge and associated link roads will form a major new transport route, improving links from the Liverpool city region, north Cheshire and the wider north-west to the rest of the country. Combined with the new enterprise zone at Daresbury, the project will help to bring many new businesses and jobs to Runcorn and the wider north-west.

I am pleased to support the Bill, which will help to finance important infrastructure projects and allow work to commence on them as soon as possible. I hope it receives the support of the whole House, because that will tell the world that we are investing for the future and that Britain is open for business.

Jobs and Growth

Lord Evans of Rainow Excerpts

Thursday 17th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Ed Balls]

I understand my hon. Friend’s concerns at the lack of a youth jobs plan in Scotland. We can understand that from the Conservatives, because they abolished the future jobs fund, but people will find it hard to understand why the Scottish National party Administration in Scotland have failed so woefully to do anything to tackle the challenge of youth unemployment.

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

The right hon. Gentleman referred to investment in this country in manufacturing. Does he agree with General Motors, which has specifically thanked the Government for making the UK a great place to invest in manufacturing and business? Indeed, General Motors has announced today that it will be manufacturing the new Vauxhall Astra at Ellesmere Port, very close to my constituency, providing 700 new jobs and securing thousands of jobs in the supply line. Does he welcome that?

[Ed Balls]

Of course I welcome that. It is good to have more jobs in Britain. The thing that worries me is the 164% rise in long-term youth unemployment in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency. That is a very great concern.

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[Mr Osborne]

First, as I have said, we have used the money available to us in the balanced Budget to cut the small companies tax rate, which the hon. Gentleman wanted to go up. [Interruption.] He says, “Additional to that”; Labour’s policy was to increase the small companies tax rate. We have not done that. We have cut national insurance across the board for low and middle-paid employees by getting rid of Labour’s jobs tax—that applies whether they are employed in small or larger companies—and we have frozen business rates for smaller companies. So, we have done all those things, but I completely agree that we need to do more to help smaller companies by reducing the red tape burden on them and by helping to get credit to them. That is what the national loan guarantee scheme that was launched at the end of March is doing right now.

[Graham Evans]

I am a proud Manchester United supporter. The players proudly wear “Aon”—the name of one of the world’s biggest insurers—on their shirts. Can my right hon. Friend tell us why that fantastic international company is closing its headquarters in the USA and moving it to the UK?

[Mr Osborne]

I am reminded that the players used to wear “AIG” on their shirts. Perhaps it is a sign of how things are improving that they now wear the name of a major Chicago-based insurer that has chosen to move its headquarters to London. We remember all the stories of companies that moved their international headquarters from Britain a few years ago; now they are coming back.

I want briefly to say something about the eurozone crisis.

Finance (No. 4) Bill

Lord Evans of Rainow Excerpts

Thursday 19th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friends the Members for Stourbridge (Margot James) and for Ipswich (Ben Gummer), who have eloquently made many of the points that I intended to make. I do not want to repeat them.

First and foremost, the Bill makes it clear that the Government are sticking to the plan to deal with the mess left by Labour and eliminate the structural deficit. That is essential for market confidence in the future of our economy and wealth creation.

Secondly, the Bill is clearly on the side of working people and pensioners. It is pro-business and helps people who want to do better for themselves and their families. It cuts tax for 24 million ordinary families across the country, including 2.5 million in the north-west. Thanks to the Budget, most basic rate taxpayers will keep an extra £220 of their salary every year. That represents the largest real personal tax cut for people on average earnings in more than a decade. I appreciate that £220 might not seem like that much to the Labour leader, sat in his multi-million pound home in Primrose Hill, but for people struggling to get by in Cheshire, £220 is a real help. The Bill therefore helps working people.

[Mark Garnier (Wyre Forest) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that over the period of the changes to the tax-free allowance, the total contribution will be more than £500 for the average individual?

[Graham Evans]

I am most grateful to my hon. Friend for making that good point, with which I agree. It is a good Budget for working people on basic rate tax.

[Sheila Gilmore]

Does the hon. Gentleman accept that, particularly for families with children, the decreases in tax credits and other benefits more than outweigh the increase in the personal allowance?

[Graham Evans]

As a father of three young children, I realise that we are all in this together, and we need to make those sacrifices. The Government’s maximum benefit cap of £26,000 is all to do with that.

[Brandon Lewis]

Following on from the intervention about growth and families, since the Budget one company in Great Yarmouth has made an acquisition and an investment of hundreds of millions of pounds that will create more jobs. Another company, Seajacks, has received investment from a Japanese company of hundreds of millions of pounds, which will allow expansion and create more jobs, which will help those families who need that money and families of pensioners. Does my hon. Friend agree that that sort of work in the Budget, which facilitates such growth, will move our country forward and ensure that we get out of the mess that we inherited from the previous Government?

[Graham Evans]

Absolutely; I am most grateful to my hon. Friend for that contribution. At the end of the day, the Budget tells the world that this country is open for business because private sector investment and wealth creation through businesses such as those that my hon. Friend mentioned are critical to the success of the whole nation, not just young people and hard-working families, but pensioners.

Thanks to measures such as the clamp-down on tax loopholes, the very rich will pay more. There is an ideological divide: the Labour party wants the rich to pay symbolically higher rates of tax; the Budget ensures that the rich actually pay more tax. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and the independent Office for Budget Responsibility agree that the 50% rate raises next to nothing. Indeed, having a higher income tax rate than communist China indirectly reduces tax revenues as it fundamentally undermines the competitiveness of the UK economy, discouraging inward investment and risking a brain drain of our brightest talent.

[Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)]

The hon. Gentleman’s comparison with communist China is completely spurious when we look at what remains of a western capitalist economy, but does he accept that it is widely agreed, including by the OBR, that the calculations on the amount raised by the reduction of the 50p rate to 45p are highly speculative?

[Graham Evans]

The hon. Lady makes a valuable point. I have huge respect for her and for everything she has done on child poverty, but if the 50% tax rate was so important to right hon. and hon. Members of the Opposition, why did the Labour Government introduce it only a month before a general election? Why did they not introduce it in 1997, 1998, 1999 or any of those 13 years? They left it until their last month.

[Brandon Lewis]

Bearing in mind what the hon. Member for Stretford and Urmston (Kate Green) said, was my hon. Friend as surprised as I was yesterday when we voted on a Labour new clause that would have cut the rate to 40%?

[Graham Evans]

My hon. Friend makes a good point, which the Prime Minister made yesterday at the Dispatch Box.

[David Mowat]

A number of Labour Members have mentioned bravery in respect of Government Members and some Budget measures. I was not a Member of the House before the last election, but perhaps Opposition Members who were could tell us whether they lobbied the Chancellor for a 45% or a 50% tax rate during the 12 years of the Labour Government, in which the disparity between rich and poor in this country rose to the highest level ever.

[Graham Evans]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for making that point on the disparity between rich and poor under the Labour Government.

I accept the point made by the hon. Member for Stretford and Urmston (Kate Green), but bringing the UK’s top rate of tax in line with other international competitors such as Italy, France and Germany, and cutting corporation tax to the lowest level in the G7, will send out a powerful message that enterprise and aspiration are valued in this country. In the spirit of the Leader of the Opposition’s recent Occupy-style hyperbole, I want the 1% to come and occupy and therefore pay tax and create jobs in the UK.

[Graeme Morrice]

The hon. Gentleman said a few moments ago that reducing the top rate from 50p to 45p raises next to nothing. We had a discourse on this in Committee yesterday, and in Prime Minister’s questions, when the Prime Minister said something similar to what the hon. Gentleman says. However, in fact, the official HMRC book confirms that the loss to the Treasury will be up to £3 billion. Should we not use that money to finance the deficit and avoid having to make draconian cuts on our pensioners?

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[Graham Evans]

I am not sure about those figures, but I would go back to my original point: if the 50% tax were so important to the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues, why did Labour not introduce it 13 years ago?

[Stephen Williams]

Perhaps I can help my hon. Friend with his rhetorical question. Apart from Mr Williams in the Chair, the Minister and me, and the delightful Labour Whip, the hon. Member for West Ham (Lyn Brown), everyone in the Chamber happens to be from the 2010 intake and probably did not witness members of the Labour Government cheering when they produced tax cuts for the super-rich—they reduced their capital gains and income taxes while at the same time raising tax for the poorest by abolishing the 10p rate. Therefore, in fact, the pressure was all in the opposite direction.

[Graham Evans]

I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s astuteness in recognising that most hon. Members in the Chamber are relatively new. He raises a good point, but I want to go back to the one made by the hon. Member for Livingston (Graeme Morrice). My hon. Friend the Member for Stourbridge made the point that the top 1% richest people in the country now contribute 30% of tax to the UK Exchequer. In 1976, when Denis Healey, the famous Labour Chancellor, said he would squeeze the rich until the pips squeak, the top 1% richest people in the country contributed only 11%. So the 1% now contribute significantly more. I would be interested to hear how much more the hon. Gentleman feels they should contribute.

The Bill contains a raft of additional measures, some of which have been mentioned, to promote growth, especially in the north of England. There are far too many to list but I will point out a few that as a northern Member I especially welcome. Enterprise loans to help young people to set up and grow their own businesses are a great idea to foster ambition and creativity among the next generation. I firmly believe that what matters is not where someone comes from or went to school but where they are going, and there is no better way for young people to get on than starting up their own business, working for themselves, employing other people, growing that business and contributing to wealth creation.

The introduction of an above-the-line research and development tax credit is a simple but important move. It will help British businesses to stay competitive in the long run and send out the message that we back innovation. I am fortunate to have Daresbury science and innovation campus in my constituency. It is an internationally outstanding campus with more than 100 outstanding start-up businesses. I hope that they will be the Googles, Amazons and Microsofts of the future which are born in this country.

There are also excellent measures to help make the UK the technology capital of Europe, including a new £100 million fund to support investment in new university research facilities; £60 million of investment in the UK centre for aerodynamics; the allocation of £100 million for ultra-fast broadband in 10 of our biggest cities, including Manchester; £50 million to fund ultra-fast broadband in 10 smaller cities; and the extension of mobile coverage to 60,000 rural homes along 10 key roads.

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[The Temporary Chair (Hywel Williams)]

That is a very good point.

[Graham Evans]

Thank you, Mr Williams. I say to the hon. Member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr (Jonathan Edwards) that, as I alluded earlier, many of these points have been raised by other hon. Members on both sides of the House. I will soon bring my speech to an end. I hope he will forgive me.

There is even more support coming business’s way in my neck of the woods with £4.3 million extra for Cheshire and Warrington local enterprise partnerships. In addition, the Budget confirms a further £130 million for investment in the northern hub rail project, which will work well alongside High Speed 2. Furthermore, the new city deals, which will decentralise power and bring even more investment directly up to Manchester and Liverpool, are excellent news for those great cities and my constituents who commute to them in huge numbers each morning.

[Lyn Brown]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Graham Evans]

I have given away several times. I am bringing my speech to a conclusion.

Finally, I welcome the Chancellor’s announcement that people will now receive a personal tax statement detailing exactly how much tax they have paid and what it has been spent on by the Government. This is a great move for transparency. I know that Labour are nervous about what will happen when people see, in black and white, how much of their taxes go on paying interest on the last Government’s debt.

This is an excellent Bill. It is a radical and reforming Bill. It comes from a Government firmly on the side of business, working people and pensioners, and it tells the world that Britain is open for business.

[Katy Clark]

Thank you, Mr Williams, for giving me the opportunity to follow on from that Second Reading speech by the hon. Member for Weaver Vale (Graham Evans). I will resist the temptation of talking about the Budget because I had that opportunity in Monday’s Second Reading debate.

First-time Buyers

Lord Evans of Rainow Excerpts

Wednesday 14th March 2012 Westminster Hall

[Iain Stewart]

My hon. Friend makes a powerful point. I will be making a few additional points about how the policy will interact with the social housing sector. I congratulate my hon. Friend on making that point.

On localism and building sustainable communities, we need to get away from simply building new flats as the primary housing stock, which was a feature of the old top-down system. Local authorities were given targets for new houses, and the easiest way to fulfil the target was to build blocks of flats. There is absolutely nothing wrong with flats; they have their place. I live in a flat in my constituency—there is nothing wrong with it—but the situation has got out of proportion.

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that when local authorities give planning permission for such developments, the future of a community that involves children should be considered? We need appropriately sized houses for families. First-time house buyers will presumably get married and start families. Once people start families, we get community cohesion with schools, pre-schools and play schools and so on. That really does create a family community on new housing estates.

[Iain Stewart]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. The new neighbourhood plans in the Localism Act 2011 will help enormously. Having a proper mix of housing stock in an area will build up a sense of community.

My last point concerns how we can develop policies in future. I absolutely agree with the scope and direction of the two policies I have mentioned and the right to buy. As my hon. Friend the Member for York Outer mentioned, there is a link with the social housing sector. Even with additional help, taking out a full mortgage will still be beyond the means of some people. My wish is to see a much more flexible transition from social housing to owner-occupancy. We have had the shared-ownership scheme for some time, which has been successful up to a point, but it is a little limited in its scope. As we move forward, I want a scheme—this is a long-term plan over 20 or 30 years—whereby it will be easier for people who cannot afford a full mortgage at a particular point in their life but might be able to afford, say, a quarter of the equity of the house to take that. I want a flexible scheme so that, as people’s circumstances change, they might be able to build up more and more of the equity to reach full owner-occupancy later on. There are many suggestions about how we get there. I just want to put that on the table for the Government to consider and to build on what has been an excellent set of policies to help young people on to the ladder.

I will conclude my remarks now; I know that others wish to contribute. Once again, I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Winchester on securing this excellent debate.

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[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

I will keep my contribution short to give the Minister and shadow Minister time to have their say. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Winchester (Steve Brine) on securing this incredibly timely debate, given the announcements made by the Government this week. I recognise his comments about having a young family who climb into the bed—normally my side—at 4 o’clock in the morning to warm their cold feet. I look forward to the day when they will move away—not too far, but far enough.

If there is any such thing as a British dream, it definitely involves owning one’s own home. I was born and bred in a council house on a council estate. During the 1971 Macclesfield by-election, I remember a parliamentary candidate knocking on our door. I went to the door with my mother and a man was there with his blue rosette. It was Nicholas Winterton saying, “Good evening, Mrs Evans, are you aware of the Government’s right-to-buy policy?” She was not, but we were after that and, in 1972, we bought our council house.

Most people think that that was a Thatcherite policy, but it was, in fact, the Ted Heath Government of 1970-74 who introduced it. As my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys (Paul Maynard) said, it is in the Conservative party’s DNA to give people the right to buy. However, for millions of people, achieving that dream seems further away than ever. One of the most important things that any generation can do is build enough good new homes for the next generation. However, the previous Government presided over a fall in house building to its lowest peacetime level since 1974. Inevitably, that led to a sustained decline in home ownership and soaring housing waiting lists.

The figures are most depressing. The number of first-time buyers fell from around 501,000 in 1997 to 185,000 in 2009. That is the lowest figure since records began. The average age of a first-time buyer without financial assistance from the bank of mum and dad is, as was mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys, 37. Admittedly, that age is somewhat exaggerated by the recording of divorcees buying a home on their own rather than jointly for the first time. However, it still highlights the current gloomy outlook for many young people in my constituency who hope to get on to the property ladder for the first time.

Luckily for those striving to own their own home, the coalition Government are pursuing an unashamedly ambitious housing strategy to help boost opportunity in our society. The Government are supporting an innovative new build indemnity scheme led by the Council of Mortgage Lenders and the Home Builders Federation that will allow home buyers to secure 95% loan-to-value mortgages for new build properties. That will help people in two simple ways: it will increase access to affordable mortgages, and it will encourage more homes to be built, driving down the long-term price of houses.

The Government are also investing £500 million in a new Firstbuy scheme that will help thousands of people longing to be home owners to get a foot on the housing ladder by contributing to their deposit on new build homes. Crucially, as announced on Monday, the coalition is also breathing new life into the hugely successful right-to-buy policy. That policy was so popular because it gave millions of people the chance to own their home when they had previously thought it impossible—families such as mine.

Labour disgracefully made repeated cuts to right to buy and deliberately reduced discounts and restricted eligibility. The new proposals to increase discounts dramatically will make it considerably easier for people living in social housing to buy their home. Under the new plans, for every home purchased under right to buy, a new affordable home will be built in its place. That should allow for a further 100,000 extra affordable homes to be built and help create a significant number of new jobs.

Finally, the Government have also created the new homes bonus. That multi-million pound programme rewards communities when they accept more house building in their area, creating a huge incentive to build the new homes that we desperately need. Critically, the programme also applies to empty properties brought back into use, which will help to end the scandal of thousands of good quality homes lying empty while people are left in limbo for years stuck on housing waiting lists.

It is very clear that there are many exciting developments that will help bring the dream of home ownership much closer to realisation for so many of our constituents. I am very proud to support the Government, who are absolutely committed to making that happen.

Autumn Statement

Lord Evans of Rainow Excerpts

Tuesday 29th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I can absolutely assure my hon. Friend that we are going ahead with the cap on housing benefit, which is an important part of controlling costs. It is not fair that working people pay taxes to fund the rent for people who live in houses that those working people could never afford out of their salaries. It is quite right to introduce a cap to try to control those costs. Of all the benefits provided under the previous Government, this was one that really went through the roof, so to speak. Dealing with it and controlling it is a very important policy and it is a tragedy that the Labour party opposes the measure and no doubt wants to get rid of it at the next election.

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

Mrs Evans informs me that my three children will be on an unforeseen holiday tomorrow and I wondered whether my right hon. Friend would join me in urging the unions to call off tomorrow’s irresponsible strike. Does he agree with the shadow Chancellor’s “huge sympathy” for those going on strike tomorrow?

[Mr Osborne]

We should not be having a strike tomorrow. Negotiations are ongoing and we want those negotiations to conclude. I urge the unions, even at this late hour, to call off the strike and stop doing something that will damage the British economy and potentially cost jobs. Let us get around the table and try to get a deal, because I think that what is on offer is not only generous to the public sector and people who rely on public sector pensions but is also fair to the taxpayer. As Lord Hutton, the former Labour Pensions Secretary, has said,

“it is hard to imagine a better deal”.

I urge the trade union movement to take the deal.