Bank Branch Closures
Kirsten Oswald Excerpts(2 years, 8 months ago)
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Ms Qaisar
I entirely agree. When banks decide to close, we as Members of Parliament rightly engage in meaningful discussions. We fight for our constituents and try our level best to ensure that they have access to the local branch for as long as possible. If a branch does close we will fight for those banking services, but the reality of these commercial decisions is that all too often such discussions do not end in a positive outcome for our constituents. I say to the Minister that, with only a handful of banks on our high streets, now is the time for Government intervention. The banking issues that my constituents are facing will affect people in all four nations. I would welcome the Minister’s comments on what work she plans to do to ensure that our high streets do not become banking ghost towns.
Kirsten Oswald (East Renfrewshire) (SNP)
My hon. Friend said that there was “meaningful” engagement between MPs and the banks. It may be meaningful on one side—indeed, I know that it is—but it certainly does not appear to be meaningful on the other. The lack of proper consultation between the banks, the communities and their representatives is particularly unhelpful at a time when the banks are abandoning so many of our high streets.
Ms Qaisar
I completely agree with my hon. Friend.
In 2018, a Scottish parliamentary inquiry into the impact of bank branch closures on local businesses, consumers and the Scottish economy highlighted a number of concerns. It stuck out to me that Pete Cheema of the Scottish Grocers Federation said:
“We need to go back and talk to the banks. It is very clear that the decisions are being made in London. Up and down the UK, 600 branches have closed, but part of Wales, the whole of Scotland and bits of the south-west of England have suffered the most. We need to take that in context; I wonder sometimes whether the banks understand Scotland’s landscape.”
Evidence from Which? indicated
“there are 130 ‘cash deserts’ in Scotland (places where there is no access to either a branch or an ATM within a reasonable distance).”
Ms Qaisar
I will make some progress.
Banks are so much more than simply a place to deal with money. Age Scotland has argued:
“For many older people, going to the bank…gets them out of the house… This is an important component in addressing the…effects of loneliness”.
The stark reality is that bank branch closures deny vulnerable communities their right to independent living.
Face-to-face banking must not be lost. Will the Minister clarify what work she is doing to ensure the social inclusion aspect of banking is not lost for those who need it? Bank branch closures affect around 20% of small businesses with a turnover below £2 million, as they often use branches as their primary means of banking.
I remember working part time in retail as a university student and having to jump over to the bank with the takings of the day or to ensure we had enough petty cash in the register. Such access to banking and cash is vital, especially if we want to ensure that small businesses continue to hold a place on our high streets.
Ms Qaisar
I will make some progress, if my hon. Friend does not mind. [Interruption.] I am trying to be polite, Mr Deputy Speaker.
The concerns I have outlined also apply to charities and trusts, which often heavily rely on cash donations and payments. There is a security risk to volunteers, causing additional pressure, if they have to travel a distance to an alternative branch.
Cost of Living Increases
Kirsten Oswald Excerpts(2 years, 8 months ago)
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Kirsten Oswald (East Renfrewshire) (SNP)
The message from both Opposition day debates is clear: when times are tough for ordinary people, the Conservative party drags its heels, erects barriers and rolls out excuses for being unable to help. It feels like the UK Government are devoid of a plan about this issue and are resorting to piecemeal measures that do not address the actual problem but give the appearance of action. Unfortunately, many of their actions actually make the situation worse.
The cost of living crisis has not just happened. It is not only a result of war in Ukraine but a foreseen consequence of the UK Government’s policy failure, as my hon. Friend the Member for Midlothian (Owen Thompson) has just set out. That includes Brexit, as we have heard, which Scotland did not vote for—that is further compounding the cost of living crisis, leaving households and businesses all the more vulnerable.
Bodies such as the Joseph Rowntree Foundation have warned that the UK Government should not withdraw pandemic support in the face of rising and sustained inflation. The UK Government’s failure to heed this kind of warning has contributed to the crisis that households across the UK face today. Indeed, a recent YouGov poll shows that 84% of Scots said they were worried about the Tory cost of living crisis and 43% said they were very worried, and no wonder.
Family budgets are under pressure from all sides, with real terms cuts in wages, the £1,040 a year cut to universal credit and significant rises in the cost of basic foodstuffs and energy that will hit low-income households hardest. People are deeply concerned about how on earth they are going to manage; they are not managing right now, as my hon. Friend the Member for West Dunbartonshire (Martin Docherty-Hughes) described. Next month the Chancellor plans to raise national insurance, which will hit low and middle-income households hardest.
The effect of the Tory Government’s policies is that many families are already unable to buy the essentials, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Dundee East (Stewart Hosie) eloquently explained. According to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, when the increase in NI takes effect as many as 1 million UK households could be facing destitution and the spectre of spiralling debt, just as interest rates are on the rise.
As Victoria Benson, the chief executive of Gingerbread, has put it, budgets have already been cut back as much as possible, so the stark reality is that there is nowhere else to go other than into debt or poverty. The Chancellor needs to do something to put money into the pockets of low and middle-income households as quickly as possible, to help them address the inflation that has already taken place and, as my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh North and Leith (Deidre Brock) indicated, the worst that is yet to come.
Universal credit is a driver of poverty, including among working people, although the UK Government seem to forget that all too often. The withdrawal of the £20 a week uplift hits people very hard. Many households on universal credit are already worse off than they were in 2019 and many now fear for the future. The uplift must be reinstated. The UK Government should also reconsider their position on uprating given the forecast inflation rate in 2022 of 6%; the Scottish Government have just announced that they will increase six Scottish social security benefits by 6% from 1 April, helping low-income households and carers in light of the Tory cost of living crisis. That is the kind of swift and decisive action that matters so much now.
With energy bills for millions rising by £693 from April, Energy UK warning of further rises by October, which will make people significantly worse off, and concerns about the impact of the war in Ukraine on energy prices, this issue needs to be looked at very seriously. The way to do that is not, as the Chancellor has suggested, through a kiddy-on loan of £200; that is not an adequate response and, as my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeen South (Stephen Flynn) pointed out, that is being forced on people.
As the Scottish Trades Union Congress says, this “buy now, pay later” loan comes nowhere near tackling the problem. As the SNP points out, it must be converted to a grant as part of a proper support package. The Chancellor must listen to the widespread calls to scrap VAT on energy bills and fuel, and consider a fuel duty regulator to feed back to consumers the additional income he receives through price increases.
We have heard that Jack Monroe has very sensibly highlighted the real effect of the cut in income for the poorest households and, focusing attention on the inflation premium facing low-income families with children, concludes that the impact of the cost of living crisis will be “fatal” in some cases. That must be a wake-up call for the Chancellor and the UK Government.
Maternity Action has highlighted concerns, pointing out the challenges facing new parents as the basic rate of statutory maternity, paternity and parental pay has fallen behind wages. From April, the basic rate of these vital payments will be just 47% of the already inadequate national living wage. So it is even more pressing that the UK Government should join the Scottish Government in backing a real living wage, including for younger workers. Someone’s age should not determine how much they are paid. The UK Government should also reverse the decline in support for expectant and new parents and, as we have heard, reform statutory sick pay.
Pensioners face a grim future after the Chancellor’s triple lock betrayal, reneging on clear commitments in his party’s manifesto. UK pensioners already get the lowest state pension in north-west Europe and now will be among the hardest hit by the cost of living crisis, losing £520 this year and £2,500-plus over the next five years, just as they face massive increases in energy and other costs. I spoke to a constituent in Neilston on Saturday, who wanted to know why she was being abandoned on the cost of living by the UK Government. She is a WASPI woman, and let me say yet again that it is high time the UK Government settled the claim by WASPI women.
As the SNP Scottish Government are demonstrating, with the limited levers at their disposal, it does not have to be this way. With the full powers of independence, we could do so much more with Scotland’s resources. Already, the Scottish Government are using their limited powers to support low-income households and to mitigate the Tory cost of living crisis. Nearly £70 million is going in direct financial support to households through the pandemic support payment, and discretionary housing payments of over £80 million are protecting more than 70,000 households, most of it going to mitigate the UK bedroom tax.
My hon. Friend the Member for Airdrie and Shotts (Ms Qaisar) mentioned the £20 million fuel insecurity fund, helping households at risk of self-disconnection. There is a £290 million cost of living support package, which supports council tax reduction. Spending on devolved benefits will already be about £4 billion in 2022-23, which is 10% above the funding from the UK block grant. The Scottish child payment will double in April, immediately helping 110,000 children. The Child Poverty Action Group estimates that, once that is doubled and the planned expansion of free school meals is in place, the net cost of bringing up a child in Scotland will be nearly £24,000 lower for low-income families than elsewhere in the UK.
Rolling out similar child-friendly policies across the UK would make a real difference, because a decade of Tory mismanagement has led the UK into this cost of living crisis. I am very keen to hear from the Minister about the missing employment Bill, which, as my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow South West (Chris Stephens) highlighted, could also deliver real change.
The Chancellor has an opportunity in his Budget to begin to fix this. He could start by applying a broad-based windfall tax on excess profits of major companies, so that major organisations such as Amazon and other large retailers, as well as energy companies, can help to relieve the burden that millions of households face. He could also scrap the £4 billion tax giveaway to the banks. Above all, he needs to stop making excuses, stop ignoring the realities of people’s day-to-day lives and what the Tory cost of living crisis is doing, and start delivering to make a difference where it is needed. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Dundee East said, the UK Government must take urgent and immediate steps before this crisis spirals out of control.
Oral Answers to Questions
Kirsten Oswald Excerpts(2 years, 9 months ago)
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Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Brighton, Kemptown) (Lab/Co-op)
Kirsten Oswald (East Renfrewshire) (SNP)
Ian Lavery (Wansbeck) (Lab)
Rishi Sunak
The energy price cap has already protected millions of people against rising energy bills. On the taxation of companies, it is probably worth bearing in mind that one thing that the last few months have shown is that there is an opportunity to invest more in providing natural gas as a transition fuel as we make our way to net zero in a measured manner. To that end, we should be encouraging investment in exporting our natural resources, not disincentivising it.
Kirsten Oswald
While Ministers travel the globe in private jets, more and more families across the UK go hungry. Last year, the Trussell Trust delivered 2.5 million food packages through its food banks, which is 100 times more than in 2008-09. Now families face further cuts in benefits, increasing taxes and the cost of living crisis. Does the Chancellor not think that addressing that perfect storm of poverty drivers would be a better use of his time than plotting leadership bids as he waits for the downfall of his lame duck Prime Minister?
Rishi Sunak
The hon. Lady talks about poverty, but the track record of this Government and the Governments since 2010 shows very clearly that more than 8 million fewer people are living in poverty as a result of the actions of those Conservative Governments. Income inequality today is lower than it was in 2010.
Mr Clarke
We are running the Government of the United Kingdom, and we needed to respond at speed to an unprecedented public health emergency. If we had failed to provide the £400 billion of support that we gave, we would have seen the worst fears, with millions of people unemployed and thousands of companies closing. We struck the right balance in getting that support out to firms and then building in the protections needed to protect the taxpayer interest, and we are, as I have said, going to go after anybody who has defrauded the Exchequer.
Kirsten Oswald (East Renfrewshire) (SNP)
The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Rishi Sunak)
Thanks to our vaccine booster roll-out, we now have one of the most open economies in Europe, and thanks to our economic plan, we are set to have one of the highest growth rates in the G7 this year and last. We continue to deliver on our plan for jobs, doubling down with a new target to move half a million more people off welfare and into work by the end of June. Unemployment is falling and is now down to almost record lows. Youth unemployment is already at record lows. All of this shows that our plan for jobs is working.
Kirsten Oswald
People in Ukraine are living in dread at the prospect of Russian invasion. While the UK Government talk tough about sanctions, US think-tanks warn that the UK is such a haven for money laundering that such sanctions would not be meaningful. Will the Chancellor take heed of Lord Agnew’s powerful resignation speech and bring his powerful economic crime Bill before the House as soon as possible?
Rishi Sunak
With regard to sanctions, as I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Thirsk and Malton (Kevin Hollinrake), nothing is off the table. It is right that we work with our international partners to develop the most robust sanctions package that we can. The hon. Lady can rest assured that I and my team are doing that. With regard to the economic crime Bill, which contains important measures to strengthen our ability to tackle money laundering, obviously it would not be right for me to pre-empt the Queen’s Speech, but the hon. Lady can be assured that I, the Home Secretary and others fully support the Bill.
Cost of Living Increases
Kirsten Oswald Excerpts(2 years, 10 months ago)
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Kirsten Oswald (East Renfrewshire) (SNP)
It is interesting to see the contrast in how much attention the UK Government are giving to their ever-increasing self-inflicted chaos while it goes completely unremarked by Government Members that the UK has the worst levels of poverty and inequality in north-west Europe and the highest levels of in-work poverty this century. It is all about choices, and while the Tory UK Government are choosing to look in on themselves just as the cost of living crisis really bites, the SNP Scottish Government, with their limited powers, are seeking to support those who need it most, whether through doubling the Scottish child payment, baby boxes or free prescriptions—I could go on.
It is not some random accident that has led us here; the Tory Government’s choices have propelled us down this road. It was their choice to cut the universal credit uplift, which has been so devastating. What might not be a large amount of money for those in the market for fancy gold wallpaper, for instance, is actually a whole lot of money for someone who is short of funds to feed their family or heat their home. So much for the sunny Brexit uplands that we were promised, and so much for the utter lies written on the side of that Brexit bus or the extraordinary nonsense spouted by the right hon. Member for North East Somerset (Mr Rees-Mogg), who told us that
“the price of food…will go down”.
In reality, pursuing Brexit—against the will of the Scottish electorate, let us remember—has caused substantial damage to families and businesses, and will continue to do so.
The Government have chosen to remove the pensions triple lock, and their decision to write off the £4.3 billion in fraudulently claimed covid business funding, which has today caused Lord Agnew to resign at the Dispatch Box, is a very different approach from that taken by the DWP when it makes mistakes resulting in overpayments, which causes huge hardship to those affected. Whichever way we look at it, the choices that this Tory Government are making are pressing hard on household finances, but they are just closing their eyes to it, looking the other way while they prop up a Prime Minister who is so remote from the cost of living crisis that he would not know it if it arrived in his own garden dressed up as a work event.
The headline facts are bad enough. Consumer prices were 5.4% higher in December 2021 than the year before. It is the highest inflation rate recorded since 1992, and it is forecast to carry on rising. Energy prices are an enormous worry for many. Domestic gas prices increased by 28% between January and November last year, and electricity by 19%. We need serious action on that now.
We also need to drill below the headline figure. Low-income households will always take a bigger hit because they need to spend a bigger proportion of what comes in on energy and food. The cost of living crisis presses them so much harder. Those of us who work here in this Westminster bubble could do with reflecting on some of the points that Jack Monroe has made over recent days. Headline figures say that food prices increased by 4.2% in the year to December, but she looked further. Since this time last year, the cheapest pasta in her local supermarket went up by 141%. Similarly, rice is up by 344%. Those increases disproportionately hit those who, by necessity, have to shop for the cheapest items. How are people meant to make ends meet with those kinds of price increases for basic food supplies when their income is being reduced thanks to the UK Government’s universal credit cuts, fuel price crisis, regressive NI increases to come, and two child limit? I could go on.
All those UK Government policies are actively pushing people into hardship—and they know that full well. The Resolution Foundation recently reported that the UK welfare system no longer does what it is meant to do—protect the poorest. It no longer provides a safety net. The UK Government know that but choose to ignore it. Ask yourself why that is: why do they not choose to follow the lead of the Scottish Government, who use their limited powers to support wellbeing with free prescriptions and dental care, free higher education and increased free childcare? Why do they not match the Scottish child payment and make it available for families across the UK? Why not introduce a real living wage of at least £10 an hour, or an energy payment for low-income households?
The UK Government know all of this. They know that, as the cost of living rises, propelled by their policy choices, many more people are in significant hardship. Their choices and their priorities have consequences, and it is absolutely clear to me that, as long as Scotland is under Westminster control, we will always be vulnerable, and it is time to make a fairer, better choice.
Several hon. Members rose—
Downing Street Garden Event
Kirsten Oswald Excerpts(2 years, 10 months ago)
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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.
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Michael Ellis
The Prime Minister will be here tomorrow, at Prime Minister’s questions, in the normal course of events; that is more frequent than almost any other Minister answers departmental oral questions here. I think it is only fair to point out that the Prime Minister answers these questions himself. I have the support of the entire Government in this matter, in the answers that I can give, and my answers are predicated on the fact that in the order of natural justice, we wait for the results of the inquiry and investigation that is taking place. That would be the case with anybody else—it is not special treatment—against whom an inquiry is taking place. I am sure the hon. Lady would accept that.
Kirsten Oswald (East Renfrewshire) (SNP)
I wonder whether the Paymaster General can simply clarify for us—has he asked the Prime Minister about this party?
Michael Ellis
I will not disclose personal conversations, or otherwise. What I will say is that it is my—[Interruption.] I am answering the questions on behalf of the Government today and the reality is, the investigation will take its course and the hon. Lady will have answers then.
Conduct of the Right Hon. Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip
Kirsten Oswald Excerpts(2 years, 11 months ago)
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Michael Ellis
I will give way more than the right hon. Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber, but not yet.
For my part, I relish the opportunity to set a different scene for the House of what the Prime Minister is achieving for the people who returned him to No. 10, many of whom voted Conservative for the first time. At the election, he made a clear commitment to spreading opportunity more fairly and to uniting our country.
Higher skills, higher wages, higher productivity—that is the United Kingdom that the Prime Minister promised to create and is creating, and SNP Members know it. He got Brexit done. Since, he has been using our hard-won freedoms outside the European Union—the catastrophists on the Opposition side do not want to accept it—to serve the interests of the whole precious United Kingdom with policies that encourage innovation and growth throughout the whole United Kingdom and that deliver for the whole United Kingdom.
Michael Ellis
The right hon. Member’s statement is obviously disproven by the fact that the Prime Minister won an 80-seat majority—the biggest Conservative Government majority since the early 1980s.
The fact of the matter is that the Prime Minister is taking care of the people’s priorities, not focusing on the polemics of the SNP. He is looking at what the people care about most—
Michael Ellis
I will give way, and perhaps the hon. Member could answer why it is that the SNP has not chosen to speak about health and the national health service in their precious parliamentary time. [Interruption.]
Kirsten Oswald
I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. I am not sure what he was asking me because, over the noise of his colleagues’ barracking, I could not actually hear him. He may have been asking me why we did not choose devolved topics in the Chamber, and I think that that somewhat answers itself.
The Minister speaks about the people’s priorities. I have to say to him that the people’s priorities are not stuffing the House of Lords with unelected donors and cronies, but worrying how they are going to put food on the table because of the cuts his Government are making to universal credit.
Michael Ellis
This Prime Minister of course takes care of the people’s priorities, looking after what they care about the most and keeping his promises to them, while SNP Members play political games—they are not very good at them either.
This Government are responsible for there being more nurses, more police officers, more money for schools and more money for the pupils in those schools, because people care about their health, they care about their safety and they care about their children’s educations. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister is focused on improving our infrastructure, too. He is boosting public services to get us on the road to recovery from the pandemic. What exactly does that look like? It looks like £3.7 billion to build 40 new hospitals, three quarters of them outside London and the south-east; 50,000 more nurses and 20,000 more police officers; and a further £4.7 billion in the core school budget by 2024-25, meaning a total cash increase of £1,500 per pupil by that date compared with 2019-20, so we are actually delivering.
This is not the polemics or the pantomime of the SNP; this Government are delivering. It is not just talk; it is a £36 billion package to reform the national health service and social care, tackling the issues that successive Governments have ducked for decades. Thanks to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, this Government will deliver around £12 billion a year in extra funding for our health and social care services over the next three years. This is in addition to our historic 2018 settlement for the NHS, which will increase its budget by £33.9 billion a year by 2023-24.
Michael Ellis
I gave way last time and it really was not worth it.
There is also the £150-million community ownership fund to protect valued community assets.
In getting Brexit done, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary have turned their attention to immigration. The Nationality and Borders Bill will break the cruel business model where criminal gangs exploit.
Andrew Bowie
I thank my right hon. Friend for asking that question, because I do think that. I am angry that, while constituents of mine—[Interruption.] SNP Members might heckle and make light of the fact that Scots are freezing in their homes and have no access to services at this time, but I am angry that we are here debating this when people in Finzean, Strachan, Kincardine O’Neil and many other places in my constituency are dealing with a catastrophe and a crisis. It was not outwith the realms of possibility for the right hon. Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber (Ian Blackford) to table a motion for today to debate how the Scottish and UK Governments might work together to support all those across the UK who have been affected by Storm Arwen, but we are here debating this motion. Indeed, as of earlier this afternoon, the First Minister of Scotland—Scotland’s most prolific social media activist, it would seem—had yet to post any comment—
Andrew Bowie
She may have now, but that was not the case before I came into the Chamber.
Andrew Bowie
I will not give way because before I came into the Chamber she had not. The power went off on Friday; today is Tuesday. The First Minister of Scotland had not made one comment in relation to the fact that 72,000 Scots were without power over the weekend. I thank my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister for expressing his concern last night and offering the Scottish Government any support that the UK Government could give to support my constituents and, indeed, constituents throughout the rest of Scotland.
When the right hon. Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber announced at the weekend, in his typical understated fashion, that he would table this motion, he said he would do so to be the “real opposition” and to hold the Government and the Prime Minister to account for our “disastrous actions”. I have to admire the brass neckery, if nothing else. One might suggest that, if SNP Members did not spend so much time playing politics down here at a time of crisis in Scotland, they might have noticed that at home in Scotland the SNP is supposed to be a real Government.
If we are going to talk about disastrous actions by Governments—I just wish I had time to go into them all—let us look at the record of the SNP in government in Scotland over the past 14 years. On drug deaths: failure, with 1,264 deaths in 2019. That is 15 times worse than Germany, 35 times worse than France and three-and-a-half times worse than the rest of the United Kingdom.
On education: failure, with Scotland under the SNP having fallen in the science, reading and maths rankings. We have the lowest scores in maths and science since Scotland started to participate in the programme for international student assessment—PISA—20 years ago. Literacy and numeracy rates are declining, the attainment gap is widening and someone is now more likely to go to university if they are from a deprived background in England than if they are from a deprived background in Scotland. That is a shameful record.
On Scotland’s NHS, 25% of GP practices have unfilled vacancies and 500 consultant posts are vacant in Scotland’s hospitals. I could go on.
The north-east of Scotland: not failure, just abandoned. North sea oil workers have been told that they have no future by the SNP’s partner in government. The First Minister has declared that there should be no more exploration in the North sea and that Cambo is a bad idea. The SNP Government are reneging on their plan to dual the A96 and have failed to deliver the money for improved rail journey times that they promised in two manifestos, and their broadband roll-out is going to be five years late. That is not so much disastrous SNP action; the SNP is missing in action when it comes to the north-east of Scotland.
All that, while more than 50,000 Scots were without power at the weekend and many were without water. While the nation recovers from Storm Arwen; while many people worry about the new strain of covid; while businesses recover from the past two years; while teachers work hard to support those kids who have been left behind; while doctors and nurses slog away to deal with the backlog and support all our constituents; while Police Scotland does more with less; while oil and gas workers worry about their future—what does the SNP choose to do today? Point scoring, petty politics and, frankly, a stunt that is wasting the time of us all. It is little wonder that the First Minister’s popularity ratings are in free fall, support for independence is on the decline and independence now ranks eighth in the priorities of the Scottish people.
This motion is on the conduct of the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson); I just wish I had any confidence in the conduct of the Scottish Government and how they are running my country.
Budget Resolutions
Kirsten Oswald Excerpts(3 years ago)
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Ian Blackford (Ross, Skye and Lochaber) (SNP)
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I think that we are used to the Prime Minister perhaps being fast and loose with facts, making things up as he goes along, but I have to say that I think better of the Chancellor. I have to say gently to him that if he thinks he is going to cut air passenger duty for Inverness and the highlands and islands, he is wrong—because there is no air passenger duty in Inverness. One would have thought that if he were going to make announcements, he would check his facts first.
More fundamentally, COP26 kicks off this weekend. What on earth are we doing? When we are saying to the rest of the world that we are trying to engage other countries to step up to the plate with their climate obligations—the Prime Minister has spoken today about the importance of 1.5°—the Chancellor wants to cut air passenger duty on domestic flights. [Interruption.] I can see him nodding his head. He is increasing air passenger duty on long-haul flights, admittedly, but the fact is that carbon dioxide emissions per mile are much higher for domestic flights than for long-haul flights.
What on earth are we doing? How can we say that we are taking our climate obligations seriously? By the way, the Scottish Government, exactly because of our climate responsibilities, took the decision in 2019 to remove our planned reduction in air passenger duty. Chancellor, this is a disgrace. Quite frankly, it shows that this is not a Government who understand the climate challenge that we all face. The Chancellor should withdraw and remove that proposal.
The Budget that the Chancellor has just delivered is tantamount to grabbing 20 quid out of people’s pockets, handing them back a tenner and expecting them to be grateful. Today’s announcement does not even come close to compensating for the tax rises and cuts that he has imposed over the past month. Let us take our pensioners as an example: with the removal of the triple pensions lock, there will be a £6 billion saving for the Government from their raid on pension tax credit and on pensioners.
That is the harsh reality under this Tory Government. The raw reality of that fiscal trickery means that millions of families and workers will be worse off this winter. This is a Budget that brazenly cuts taxes for the banks, while it cuts universal credit for the poor. We welcome the changes to the taper relief, but they do not change the fundamental fact that everybody on universal credit has just lost £1,000.
The Chancellor who once promised to do “whatever it takes” is now a very distant memory. The true test of this Budget was whether it would act radically and tackle the cost-of-living crisis, the Brexit crisis and the climate crisis, and it has failed that test on all three fronts. Instead of doing “whatever it takes”, the Chancellor has done as little as possible. The Tories’ half-hearted rhetoric about fairness has predictably only produced half-measures when it comes to soaring household bills and the crippling cost of inflation.
Perhaps worst of all, before the Chancellor stood up today, millions in poverty knew that they were facing the choice between heating and eating this winter. The ultimate failure of this Budget is that when the Chancellor sat down, those millions of people were still left with that terrible choice. I think that once the full details of today’s announcement sink in, the Tories’ cheers for their Chancellor will quickly fall silent. We can already sense that discontent growing among Government Back Benchers in the red wall seats, because another hidden truth of this Budget is that it only promises capital spending tomorrow, but delivers austerity today.
The Chancellor is living in the naive hope that the public will somehow have forgotten what his Government have hit them with over the last few weeks. He came in today and bragged about his Government’s generosity, but for the last month his Government have hammered working people and ordinary families with regressive national insurance tax rises, the premature ending of furlough, and, worst of all, that disgraceful £1,000 cut in universal credit. I am sorry to break it to the Chancellor, but the public have far from forgotten. They know the political choices that this Government have made, and they know the choices that have made them poorer. They know that they have been badly hit in the pocket by this Government, and that today goes nowhere close to making up for it. They know, too, that the rise in the minimum wage is welcome, but I must say to the Chancellor that the Living Wage Foundation will update the real living wage on 15 November this year. That will reflect what is happening.
Perhaps the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Scotland might listen, because this is important. This is about the poorest—this is about people in poverty—and I am asking the Chancellor to recognise the Living Wage Foundation’s announcement on 15 November of the real living costs for the poorest in society. While I welcome today’s announcement of the increase in the minimum wage to £9.50, I ask him to give a commitment that that figure will rise to the amount of the real living wage this year, because that, fundamentally, is what will keep people out of poverty. We know that a full-time worker on the minimum wage this year will still be hundreds of pounds worse off because of the cuts in universal credit.
The smoke and mirrors act about rising wages just doesn’t cut it. The Chancellor may want folk to think he is giving with his left hand, but in reality he is taking much more out of their pockets with his right hand. However, no one is fooled. The only people who are living in their own parallel universe are the neighbours in Nos. 10 and 11 Downing Street. In the real world, people are struggling with a Tory cost-of-living crisis that this Budget fails to fix.
Under the leadership of the Prime Minister and the Chancellor, the public are being hit with an energy crisis, a Brexit crisis, a labour crisis and an inflation crisis, and it all adds up to a Tory cost-of-living crisis that is punishing workers and punishing families. It is a deeply damaging pattern that has become all too familiar. What we are experiencing is a United Kingdom in constant crisis, and it is very little wonder that Scotland wants out. [Interruption.] They are predictable. I hear, from a sedentary position, the Secretary of State for Scotland—at least, that is what I think his job title is—
Ian Blackford
Who does not have a mask on, despite the fact that Members of this House are falling ill with covid.
I say to the Prime Minister and I say to the Secretary of State for Scotland that the simple fact of the matter is that all of us have to recognise democracy, and the Conservatives have to recognise that an election to the Scottish Parliament took place this year. There is a majority for independence in that Parliament, and that Parliament will bring forward a referendum Bill. It ill behoves those who lost the election in Scotland—and the Conservatives have lost every election there since 1955—to deny the right of the people of Scotland to their own sovereign will, their own sovereign decision, to have a referendum on our future, offering us the hope that is failing from this Tory Budget today. More and more people are coming to the view that independence now offers safety and stability—an escape from the constant crisis of Westminster control. They are coming to the view that we can simply no longer afford to pay the price of being part of this failing union.
The defining decision of this Budget is the failure to fully reverse the cuts in universal credit. Tapering the rate is only tinkering around the edges of the problem. The decision was fully wrong and it needs to be fully reversed, because not only was the cut to universal credit the wrong policy, but it came at the worst possible time. [Hon. Members: “ Callous!” ] It was a decision that was callous, and it was a decision made before the rapid rise in inflation was truly known. But instead of having the strength to admit that they were wrong, the Tories have decided to dig their heels in. Earlier this week, the Chancellor, in many of his pre-Budget announcements, said that this Budget was a chance for him and his Government to get back to
“a more normal way of doing things”.
It is therefore very telling that in the same Budget he has confirmed that disgraceful cut in universal credit. He is cutting the surcharge on banks from 8% to 3%. So “back to normal” for this Chancellor clearly means one thing. It means the mindless mantra of the Tory long-term economic plan. It means austerity for the many and tax cuts for the few.
There is a very simple way for the Tories to prove me wrong. They can do the right thing: reverse the cut in universal credit, and put £,1000 back into the pockets of those who desperately need it. And while they are at it, they can remove the benefit cap, the two-child limit, the rape clause, the sanctions regime and the five-week wait, and—finally—introduce statutory sick pay at the level of the real living wage.
As well as those permanent measures, specific and targeted measures are needed to help with energy prices for the winter ahead. That is particularly true for the 2 million pensioners in poverty who have been let down by the removal of the triple lock. We believe that the fairest way to help is to introduce an emergency energy payment to cover families who simply cannot afford the soaring cost of heating and electricity bills. That would be, at the very least, the best way to protect people this winter.
I suspect that inflation will not be the pressing issue of this Budget alone; I fear that it may well be the defining issue of many Budgets to come. The Bank of England’s new chief economist has warned that inflation could soon hit 5%. Mortgage holders are rightly fearful that that this inflationary spike will be met with a sharp rise in interest rates. The Chancellor seems to think that all this is merely transitory, but complacency on this issue is not an option. History shows how quickly an inflationary spiral can get out of control.
It is worth remembering that in 1980 the inflation rate hit 18%. None of us can afford to go back to that place.
However, the inflationary threat is just one element of what amounts to a perfect storm of economic vulnerability. The covid crisis can no longer camouflage the deep damage that Brexit has done, and the single biggest threat to our recovery remains being dragged out of the European Union, against the wishes of those who live in Scotland. The consequences of Brexit are here and they are hurting: our exports down 14% year on year, our fishermen blatantly betrayed, our farmers sold out in fire sale UK trade deals, labour shortages, food shortages, medical shortages. It cannot be said often enough that Scotland is paying the price for a policy that we never supported.
Brexit has already cost billions, but while the European Union is giving Ireland €1.05 billion to mitigate the damage of Brexit, Scotland has yet to receive a single penny of compensation from Westminster. So I would like to ask the Chancellor: where is same billion-pound package of support for struggling businesses that have been hit by Brexit? I know those on the Government Benches do not like to hear this, but what those businesses also need is a return to freedom of movement. They need the 1% hike to employer and employee national insurance halted, and our hospitality and tourism sector needs the 12.5% VAT rate to be made permanent. All those businesses badly need a break from Brexit.
As we know, this Budget comes a matter of days before COP26. Keeping the target of 1.5° alive depends on a Government commitment to embrace the green economy, but let us be honest: this Budget today does not help. The fact that this crucial conference is happening in Glasgow is a chance to show moral leadership, but it is also an opportunity to grasp the opportunities that the green economy can provide. Moving to a just transition from oil and gas is essential to capture the economic opportunities of the new energy technologies and to support people into new jobs. The depth of anger felt in the north-east of Scotland at this Government’s decision to renege on their promise to ensure that we have carbon capture and storage in Scotland obviously has not hit home on the Government Benches.
If this Chancellor was—[Interruption.] Chancellor, this is really important. This is about our ability to get to net zero, and it is about the fact that the Treasury has blocked carbon capture and storage in Scotland. I say this directly to the Chancellor: perhaps he will meet me in the coming days to ensure that the Scottish Acorn project is put back on track and that we increase the number of carbon capture and storage projects from two to three, for the simple reason that we need that to deliver on our net zero targets and to deliver 15,000 jobs in Scotland for that just transition.
I say to the Government directly: let us ensure that we give some hope to the north-east of Scotland, because £350 billion of tax revenues has been taken out of the North sea. We need a helping hand to deliver that just transition, and I need the Secretary of State for Scotland to stand up for us—to stand up for Scotland and ensure that we get that just transition.
If the Chancellor was serious about supporting Scotland, he would have stood up today and announced that the Scottish cluster would go ahead. The reality is that it was a purely political choice to deny Scotland carbon capture and storage. What on earth is the Secretary of State for Scotland doing? Sitting on his hands and failing once again to stand up for Scotland’s interests. [Interruption.] I hear “Hee haw” from the SNP Benches. Maybe he is the Secretary of State for hee haw.
It is not only on carbon capture where this Government are holding back our renewable opportunities. I am passionate about the potential of tidal stream energy, but the contracts for difference budget of this UK Government means there is currently no route to the domestic market for that industry. Despite the Prime Minister’s warm words in response to my questions last week, there is no ring-fenced £71 million budget for tidal stream energy—a small pot of money that would kick-start the opportunities in this industry and prevent it from being lost overseas.
Let us be real about this—[Interruption.] It is really important that the Chancellor listens to this debate. It is his debate. We are serious about the opportunities—[Interruption.] He can point to the clock all he likes, but we are talking about the future of the renewable energy industries in Scotland, and about paying attention to what the industries are saying.
We know about the breakthroughs in technology, and we know that the Royal Society has painted a picture of an industry that could represent 20% of our electricity needs throughout the United Kingdom, but it needs to be kick-started with financial support. However, when we were all talking about our responsibilities to net zero, it is the UK Government who are standing with their foot on the brake preventing this industry from getting off the ground and delivering for people— not just in Scotland, but right across the United Kingdom.
There is also no commitment to match the Scottish Government’s £500 million investment for a just transition in the north-east of Scotland. Now that the Chancellor has blown up the idea of a Boris bridge across the Irish sea, he should have plenty of spare money to invest. On that point, can I ask him whether the estimated £20 billion cost for that cancelled bridge will now be ring-fenced for future transport projects in Scotland and Northern Ireland? Or is that just one more promise that will be broken—just one more example of Westminster holding back Scotland’s green future?
This Budget could have been an opportunity to do things differently, to get a grip on the cost-of-living crisis and to kick-start a fair recovery. But this Budget does not signal recovery. It signals that this Chancellor is dragging us into another winter of discontent, but I can assure the House that Scotland has been discontent with Westminster control for more winters than one. Our country has not voted for a Tory economic plan since 1955. Westminster’s choices are not our choices. The last thing Scotland needs is another winter of discontent imposed by another Tory Government.
Ultimately, we know that democracy is the only cure and the only solution to that deep discontent. That is why, when the crisis of the pandemic has passed, Scotland’s people will have the right to choose their own future—an independent future. It is a manifesto promise that we made, and it is a democratic promise that we will keep. I look forward to the judgment of the people of Scotland. I look forward to a future that is fair, green and European. I look forward to an independent Scotland.
Oral Answers to Questions
Kirsten Oswald Excerpts(3 years, 5 months ago)
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Jesse Norman
For reasons that I have described, I cannot comment on individual cases. However, the hon. Lady is welcome to raise them with HMRC on behalf of her constituents. I can tell her that legislation provides very specific, well-designed information-sharing gateways under an umbrella memorandum of understanding governing all data sharing between the two sides, and all of that is grounded in strict obedience with the law.
Kirsten Oswald (East Renfrewshire) (SNP)
The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Kemi Badenoch)
The Treasury carefully considers the equality impact of both individual measures and fiscal events on those sharing protected characteristics, including gender, in line with both its legal obligations and its strong commitment to promoting fairness.
Kirsten Oswald [V]
I thank the Minister for that response, but there are glaring gaps. For instance, on women’s pensions, my constituent Kay cannot understand why she has to suffer because of the accelerated timetable for increases in women’s state pension age. What does the Minister say to her and to the Women Against State Pension Inequality who wonder why the Government have not undertaken an impact assessment of the detriment they have all faced?
Kemi Badenoch
The Treasury complies with its public sector equality duty and takes into account all sorts of circumstances that need to be considered before putting forward any policies. We have had numerous debates about WASPI pensions over the last four years, and I am afraid this issue is settled. If the hon. Lady has specific issues with a particular constituent, I encourage her to take those up with the Department for Work and Pensions.
Better Jobs and a Fair Deal at Work
Kirsten Oswald Excerpts(3 years, 6 months ago)
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Kirsten Oswald (East Renfrewshire) (SNP)
There have been many criticisms of what is contained in the Queen’s Speech, but I will focus on one of the glaring omissions: the much promised employment Bill. This was an opportunity to shape the future of work and address the difficulties facing those whose employment is increasingly precarious, and other disadvantaged and vulnerable groups in the workplace. The pandemic has shown just how badly the UK protects its workers. The degree of inequality, including labour market inequality, that the pandemic has exposed is stark. The Government have an obligation to tackle that, but instead they have gone backwards, removing even the promise of an employment Bill from their legislative programme.
We in the Scottish National party favour a different approach: raising the floor of protection and welfare, focusing on equality, and providing transitional support for workers. That is what should be getting urgent attention from the Government, but when Ministers praise the UK’s flexible labour market, they are really praising an increasingly exploitative market where many have been stripped of basic rights. I have spent the past year talking about the future of work and how we must deliver positive change, so that post-pandemic work is fit for the future, but that appears far from the Government’s thoughts. Instead, they are intent on pursuing a furlough cliff edge, the withdrawal of the £20 universal credit uplift and their chaotic Brexit. They are choosing inaction on employment, and the inequality that hampers the future of so many will simply get worse because of that.
For instance, pregnant women and new parents still have no protection from widespread discrimination and unfair redundancy, which even this Government have accepted exists. Maternity Action says that pregnant women and new mothers are facing a wave of unfair redundancies this year. Why will the Government not protect them? Where is the action to protect workers from the fire and rehire tactics so powerfully highlighted by my hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire North (Gavin Newlands)? Why will the Government not act to stop that?
The Prime Minister promised an employment Bill containing measures on flexible working. The recent experience of workers, particularly those with disabilities or parenting or caring responsibilities, makes the need for that clear. Businesses and trade unions back the ability to work flexibly as the default. It must become a right from day one for all employees. Where is the Government action on that? Where is the action on zero-hours contracts? Where is the action on workers in retail and other services on the frontline during the pandemic who were excluded from effective health and safety representation and protection? The Government must act to create a level playing field on health and safety, regardless of employment status.
The failures of the UK’s employment protection legislation affect much of the social care sector, whose workers on the frontline in the pandemic served such a key role. The contrast between the Prime Minister’s vague promises on reforming social care and the actions of the Scottish Government are stark. The SNP Scottish Government will legislate to create a national care service on an equal footing with NHS Scotland, and have pledged a new fair national care wage for staff, with national pay bargaining. That is the bold, decisive action that people expect as we emerge from a pandemic.
The Scottish people know that this Tory Government are making empty promises on work, and are instead working to deliver a post-Brexit race to the bottom. Last week, people in Scotland returned a Parliament committed to fair work and equality. Increasingly, as we see very well from the SNP landslide result, they recognise that the only way to build that fairer society that protects and enhances workers’ rights and supports equality is for Scotland to have the full powers of an independent country.
Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)
We heard in the Queen’s Speech that the Government plan to create jobs and support lifetime training, and on the surface these are good intentions. I am not here to argue against employment or education; few, if any, in the Chamber would do so. But what was striking was what was not mentioned in the Government’s legislative agenda, where there remains no support for those who needed it before the pandemic and during it and who are still in need of support now.
Before the pandemic, it was well established that disabled people faced significant barriers relating to the labour market, and we have seen throughout the pandemic that disabled people have been disproportionately impacted, notably through the Government’s continued refusal to create an uplift to legacy benefits in line with the universal credit uplift. We were told it was too complex to do this quickly at the outset of the pandemic. A year on, it is clear that this Government simply have no appetite to do it. Some have benefited financially during the pandemic, and the Government are relying on them to kick-start the economy.
Kirsten Oswald
I am interested in the hon. Lady’s comments about legacy benefits. This morning at the Dispatch Box, the Prime Minister told me that what needed to be done would be done and that the arms of the UK state would be put round all those in need. Does she agree that I am correct in saying that that is simply not what has happened?
Wendy Chamberlain
I thank the hon. Member for her intervention. I agree that the Government seem to have no appetite to do this. She will hear as I go on to talk about the transition to universal credit that I am in agreement with her.
The failure to do this uplift means that an estimated 1.9 million disabled people are missing out on much-needed support. The delays in the managed transition programme to universal credit have also meant that a number of people have inadvertently transitioned. I have raised the case of a constituent of mine in the House before: having volunteered during her nursing studies to work in the NHS, the unintended consequence was the loss of legacy benefits and ineligibility for universal credit. Research by the Leonard Cheshire Foundation has found that there has been an impact on 71% of disabled people’s employment since the start of the pandemic. Not only are disabled people more likely to suffer job loss, but employers are simply more reluctant to employ them, with 42% of those surveyed stating concerns about doing so.
I turn briefly to universal credit again. Claimants whose payments are assessed based on their monthly earnings lose out when their pay dates do not match the Government’s ideal of being paid on a strictly monthly basis. The Secretary of State is likely to respond by saying that after a legal challenge last year the regulations were changed to allow some degree of flexibility, but those changes did nothing to help those on other payment cycles, such as every two weeks or every four weeks, who continue to be incorrectly awarded varying levels of support. Again, I have a constituent who has experienced this difficulty and lost passported local authority benefits as a result and may do so again in future. This system must be amended so that it is suitable for the real world of work, which the Government say they want to support.
I ask where women are in the Government’s plans for jobs and better work. Evidence given to the Select Committee on Women and Equalities on the gendered impact of the pandemic showed that women were more likely to be working in sectors that were completely shut down during lockdown, more likely to be in insecure work and less likely to receive topped-up earnings if furloughed.
One of the first things the Government dropped as a result of the pandemic was gender pay gap reporting; we know that what is measured gets attention, and with this decision the Government highlighted what their priorities were and were not. The Queen’s Speech talks about the creation of green jobs. Women account for less than 25% of the STEM—science, technology, engineering and maths—workforce. More needs to be done to encourage greater diversity in our high-value sectors, where the Government want to drive and are expecting growth.
We do not yet know the impact of long covid on employment and whether sufferers will need the same support as many disabled people do now. We do not yet know how the bereavements experienced by so many families will change the number of single parents needing support. I join my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Ed Davey) in asking the Government to extend bereavement support to unmarried couples. We do know the devastating impact on the employment of young people and in sectors such as hospitality and tourism, which are so important to constituencies such as mine, but we do not know what the future of those sectors looks like. Finally, what we do know is that what has been promised by the Government in the Queen’s Speech is limited in its vision of both support and growth.
Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities
Kirsten Oswald Excerpts(3 years, 7 months ago)
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Kemi Badenoch
I thank the Father of the House for his question and for his comments, which I completely agree with. The issue he describes around education back in the day is actually something I experienced myself. There is still much to do, but we have come a long way from 25 years ago when I first immigrated to this country. On Gurpal Virdi, I am happy to meet my hon. Friend to fully understand what happened and to see what the Government can do.
Kirsten Oswald (East Renfrewshire) (SNP) [V]
I thank the Minister for advance sight of her statement. A United Nations working group strongly rejected this report, saying that it
“further distorted and falsified historic facts”,
could fuel racism and twists data, among other pointed criticisms. The Minister just spoke about the lack of evidence of institutional racism, but the Runnymede Trust rightly points out that evidence of institutional racism was submitted to the commission. Twenty thousand people joined the Runnymede Trust and Amnesty International in calling for the report’s withdrawal, and 36 trade union general secretaries have repudiated the report.
In contrast to the Prime Minister, who said that the report contains “interesting observations”, Scots campaigner Talat Yaqoob called the report a “whitewash of reality” produced only to let the UK Government abdicate responsibility for tackling institutional racism. How can the Minister justify a report that says policies such as the hostile environment were not deliberately targeted at the UK’s ethnic minorities? Leading clinicians have said the report will worsen systemic health inequalities. The NHS Race and Health Observatory has declared that institutional racism exists in the UK, the health and care system and across wider public bodies. In the light of those responses, will the Minister repudiate the report’s glossing over of the impact of covid on ethnic minority groups?
The SNP will always work hard for Scotland to be a global leader in diversity and inclusion. If re-elected, we will introduce a Scottish diversity and inclusion strategy, focusing on institutional barriers and providing education on colonial history. The Scottish Tory manifesto is silent on these issues, but in bringing forward this report, it certainly looks like the UK Government are going in the opposite direction. So can the Minister tell us specifically what the Tories are doing to tackle institutional inequality and to deal effectively with colonial history? Can she understand why so many people will be deeply disappointed with this response, which feels, at best, like a bunch of cans being kicked down the road?
Kemi Badenoch
Before I begin to answer the hon. Lady’s questions, I would like to point out that the PM wrote to devolved Administrations shortly after the commission was established to invite them to engage with this work. It is noticeable that Northern Ireland was keen to take part, and hosted the commission on crime and policing matters. However, the Scottish National party Administration did not engage, so I believe that the words the hon. Lady is now saying about how dedicated they are to fighting racial inequality are completely hollow. When the commission was set up, I am afraid that they did very little indeed to engage.
Regarding the statement by the UN experts, the group grossly misrepresented the commission’s report; the statement is clearly born of the divisive narratives perpetrated by certain media outlets and political groups that are seeking to sow division in our ethnic minority communities. It is also quite clear that the UN experts did not read the commission’s report, judging from some of their statements, which seem to have been cut and pasted from a Labour party press release. The obvious flaw in their critique is that there is no comparison to be drawn with peer countries in Europe, especially because they do not even collect data on race and ethnicity. As such, I share the commission’s disappointment in, and rejection of, yesterday’s statement by the working group of experts on people of African descent, and I will be writing back to them in the strongest of terms.
It is no surprise that the hon. Lady has listed a lot of left-wing groups that disagree with the report. Disagreement and debate is part of politics. We have no issues with people disagreeing with the substance of the report; what we do have an issue with is people misrepresenting it. This report was tasked with finding out why disparities exist. It was not supposed to define where exactly we are seeing institutional racism, but to call racism out where it exists, and it did that. Perhaps if the hon. Lady spent some time reading the report, rather than remarks on Twitter, she would be better informed about what it actually says.