Spending Review 2020 and OBR Forecast

James Wild Excerpts

Wednesday 25th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

My hon. Friend knows this well, from his own business experience, and he is absolutely right. What businesses have been asking for is more flexibility on how levy funds are used. I am pleased that we can deliver that today. It means businesses can transfer their unspent levy funds down the supply chain easily, in bulk, to small and medium-sized companies. We are going to create a matching service for that to happen, and we are also going to allow employers, in certain industries at first, to front-load some of their training funding, which is what they also wanted. Those obviously will be funded by the Government—all those changes that happen as a result of our getting less in the levy funding—but we think they are the right thing to do. They will support business and support apprenticeships, and he is right to raise it.

[James Wild (North West Norfolk) (Con)]

The focus on the NHS and infrastructure is welcome. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn is on the frontline of dealing with covid, and it is 40 years old but was built to last only 30 years. Will my right hon. Friend look seriously at the compelling case for QEH to be one of the eight additional hospitals to be built on top of the 40 announced today?

[Rishi Sunak]

I look forward to hearing from my hon. Friend about the plans and the ambitions he has for his local hospital. The Secretary of State for Health will also be interested. My hon. Friend will know how committed we all are to improving our hospitals and having new ones across the UK. There is funding for that today, but I am happy to discuss it further.

Lockdown: Economic Support

James Wild Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Steve Barclay]

Not least through the eat out to help out scheme, one can see the Chancellor’s support to this sector. Also, VAT was cut from 20% to 5%, and many within the sector have benefited, particularly from the wider universal package of schemes such as the furlough scheme. The exact health advice, as I said to my right hon. Friend the Member for Romsey and Southampton North (Caroline Nokes), is a matter for the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. I will relay the hon. Gentleman’s concerns to him, but this is driven by the epidemiology and the health data; it is not a question of the Treasury acting arbitrarily, as he says.

[James Wild (North West Norfolk) (Con)]

The Government’s financial support has included the very welcome £200 million for hospices. However, the Norfolk Hospice in my constituency has warned that the national restrictions and the closure of charity shops will result in a loss of income of £100,000, so will my right hon. Friend ensure that when the Care Minister meets the sector tomorrow, a package of urgent support can be put in place for hospices, their patients and their families?

[Steve Barclay]

My hon. Friend raises an issue that unites the House. The huge value of the work done by the hospice movement was recognised as part of the package of measures put in place by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor, with £750 million of support for the charity sector and with the hospice movement being specifically identified. I am happy to continue working with my hon. Friend as we work together, and we recognise the importance of that sector.

Covid-19: Economy Update

James Wild Excerpts

Thursday 22nd October 2020 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

I am pleased to tell the hon. Lady that the tier 2 grants that I announced today will be backdated, so that her businesses and local authority will receive funding that is backdated to when they entered tier 2 restrictions. I think those grants worth up to £2,000 over a month will be of enormous support to businesses in her constituency, at what I appreciate is a difficult time.

[James Wild (North West Norfolk) (Con)]

Although Norfolk remains in tier 1, the additional support for hospitality, tourism and other businesses is welcome. As well as the short-term measures in this plan for jobs, looking longer term, will my right hon. Friend bring forward proposals in the spending review for tourism zones, including one for Norfolk and Suffolk? Will he accelerate the roll-out of gigabit broadband for businesses in North West Norfolk, so that they benefit sooner from greater connectivity?

[Rishi Sunak]

My hon. Friend regularly reminds us all about the importance of digital connectivity in rural areas such as his, and indeed mine, and he will know, as I do, that the Government are committed to bringing both gigabit-capable broadband and mobile phone networks to all the parts of our country that otherwise might not have as strong connectivity as they would like. I know he will join me in welcoming that, as it will make an enormous difference to the local economy in his and other rural areas.

Future Relationship with the EU

James Wild Excerpts

Tuesday 9th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

The best way to protect the Belfast/Good Friday agreement and to implement the protocol is to take a pragmatic approach that always has at its forefront jobs and the economy in Northern Ireland. That is why it is our policy that there should be no new procedures, no new customs infrastructure and no tariffs on internal UK trade, and that remains our policy.

[James Wild (North West Norfolk) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that even the five months that Monsieur Barnier talked about on Friday for finalising legal texts on an agreement on the level playing field, fisheries and other matters is possible, provided that the agreement reflects the fact that we have left the EU? Is not what is needed here the flexibility in the EU mandate that we saw when the Prime Minister successfully renegotiated the withdrawal agreement?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I agree with my hon. Friend wholeheartedly. Remember, we are not starting from scratch; there are many precedents and it is perfectly possible for us to make progress. I sincerely hope we do so.

Oral Answers to Questions

James Wild Excerpts

Tuesday 7th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[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.

[James Wild (North West Norfolk) (Con)]

T3. When my right hon. Friend the Chancellor joined me in King’s Lynn during the election campaign, he heard from Merxin, an innovative medical company, about how our infrastructure revolution could benefit west Norfolk. Will he work with me, ahead of the Budget, to ensure that dualling the A47, and half-hourly rail services, are part of that investment programme?

[Sajid Javid]

I will work with my hon. Friend, and I welcome him to his place. I was incredibly impressed by Merxin, the company we visited together. It was a reminder of the difference the right infrastructure in west Norfolk can make and how it can attract even more local business success. I will work with him. We will have an infrastructure revolution. It will benefit Norfolk and it will transform the local economy.