Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Nigel Huddleston

Tuesday 5th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Philip Hammond]

As I have told the House many times—I will elaborate more at the spring statement next week—in what I now think is the unlikely event of a no-deal exit, the Government have both fiscal and monetary tools available to them to support the economy. Of course, the likely shock would be on the supply side of the economy, and we would have to be careful that fiscal interventions did not merely stimulate inflation. If we are to find ourselves in that situation, we have the firepower and the clear intent to intervene to support the economy.

[Nigel Huddleston (Mid Worcestershire) (Con)]

T6. I am sure that all those on the Treasury Bench agree that it is a really important responsibility of the Government to ensure that our children and young people can achieve their full potential. With that in mind, can my right hon. Friend assure me that skills and education funding will receive the priority attention it deserves in the upcoming spending round?

European Union (Withdrawal) Act

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Nigel Huddleston

Thursday 6th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

The Governor is of course absolutely right. The modelling that the Bank has done has been tested against the financial policy committee’s stress tests to ensure that, even in the worst-case scenario, our financial system would be resilient. The work that we have done since 2010—including increasing banks’ capital ratios and introducing risk-reduction strategies around banks and financial institutions—has ensured that the system will be resilient, even against the most extreme circumstance that the Bank of England has modelled.

[Nigel Huddleston (Mid Worcestershire) (Con)]

With regard to the deal versus no-deal scenario, does the Chancellor agree that the problem with the WTO option is that it is silent on swathes of modern British industry, so it does not cover our economy completely? Aviation is one of the most obvious sectors that is not covered by the WTO option. It is very dangerous for us to go into a situation in which those sectors are not adequately covered.

[Mr Hammond]

My hon. Friend is right, but I think the most telling point about this issue is the one made regularly by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade. If WTO terms are so fantastic and so good for a trading relationship, why do we need to negotiate free trade deals with all these other countries around the world? We already trade with them on WTO terms, but we clearly believe that we can do much more if we negotiate something better than WTO.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Nigel Huddleston

Tuesday 17th April 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

We touched on this matter earlier, I think. It is important that HMRC deals with matters separately from Ministers, but we are aware that HMRC is in discussion with the trustees in this case and we hope for a resolution soon.

[Nigel Huddleston (Mid Worcestershire) (Con)]

T2. Does the Chancellor agree that consideration should be given to making expenditure such as gym membership tax deductible in recognition of its health benefits and, ultimately, cost-saving benefits for the NHS?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Nigel Huddleston

Tuesday 16th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Huddleston (Mid Worcestershire) (Con)]

The Chancellor will be aware that Government debt per household is around £65,000. Another name for that debt is deferred taxation. Does the Chancellor agree that the best way to increase tax revenue and reduce our debt is to grow the economy, which is exactly what we are doing?

[Mr Hammond]

Yes. There are two ways to get our debt falling as a percentage of GDP. By far the easiest way, and the most agreeable way for our constituents, is to grow the economy so that the denominator shrinks.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Nigel Huddleston

Tuesday 24th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Huddleston (Mid Worcestershire) (Con)]

16. I am very proud of the fact that this Government have taken 3 million of the lowest paid out of paying income tax altogether. These are people who cannot afford to pay more tax. Some Opposition Members—and, indeed, others—often say that they would not mind paying more tax. Can we find a mechanism for them to do so?

[Mr Hammond]

I am always very open to receiving from colleagues around the House ideas for specifically targeted taxes. If my hon. Friend has such an idea I would be very pleased to receive it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Nigel Huddleston

Tuesday 25th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

I am glad that at this stage of the process before the autumn statement, I am able to say that all submissions will be carefully considered, and if the hon. Gentleman would care to let me have something in writing, I will happily look at it.

[Nigel Huddleston (Mid Worcestershire) (Con)]

T5. . Will the Chancellor provide an update on what the Government are minded to do about air passenger duty, in response to impending APD changes in Scotland?

EU Membership: Economic Benefits

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Nigel Huddleston

Wednesday 15th June 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

My hon. Friend is right. That is what I hear from many of my European colleagues: we are about to move from one phase of European Union development into a new phase that is hugely beneficial to the United Kingdom, yet we are talking about walking away from it. Our financial services industry alone currently contributes more than 7% of UK GDP and employs more than 1 million people, two thirds of them outside London, but there is not yet a single market for financial services across the EU. The potential is huge.

A fully functioning digital single marketplace could be worth as much as £330 billion a year to the EU economy, with the UK again set to benefit more than any other country, as the leading digital economy in Europe. By the way, it would be a huge boon for Britain’s digital-savvy consumers, who would be able to shop freely across the digital single marketplace. Individuals are already feeling the benefits of last year’s EU agreement, led by the UK, to end mobile roaming charges, which it is estimated will save UK consumers around £350 million a year, and for years we have all been enjoying the budget airline boom created by EU regulations.

[Nigel Huddleston (Mid Worcestershire) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the reason why the markets had such a shock yesterday was the prospect of us leaving, based on a couple of polls? That £30 billion shock to our financial system hit not just capitalists but the pension funds of hard-working people, which deteriorated. If the prospect of Brexit caused that shock, what on earth would actual Brexit look like?

[Mr Hammond]

My hon. Friend is right. We can regard what has been happening in the markets this week as a fore-tremor—a taste of what could be to come if the people of Britain vote to take a leap into the dark on 23 June.

A fully fledged energy union in gas and electricity markets could save £50 billion a year across the EU by 2030, with huge benefits for consumers through their energy bills, as well as making Europe safer from threats of energy blackmail. But it is not just intra-EU trade benefits that our membership delivers. As a member of the world’s largest economic bloc, we benefit directly from being party to EU trade agreements with more than 50 other countries, with terms far more favourable than any that we could have negotiated alone, because of the combined negotiating muscle of an economic bloc with a quarter of the world’s GDP.

Iran: Nuclear Deal

Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Nigel Huddleston

Wednesday 15th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

First, it is not possible to sit with somebody in a hotel for six weeks negotiating a deal without getting to know them a bit better, and I and, I think, all my western counterparts have forged much better personal relationships with the Iranian Foreign Minister and his team and feel we have a channel we can communicate on now. That does not mean that all the problems will be solved or that we are going to agree on everything. Reopening our embassy, supporting our businesses to get in there, supporting Iranian businesses to start exporting again, and building the people-to-people links are the ways to build, over time, the trust that is so missing between our countries, and has been missing for the last 35 years.

[Nigel Huddleston (Mid Worcestershire) (Con)]

What aspects of this agreement with Iran can my right hon. Friend point to as having been particularly influenced by the UK and his negotiating team?

[Mr Hammond]

I am glad my hon. Friend has asked me that question, because it gives me the opportunity to pay tribute to the experts on our team. The UK has contributed to the grinding, detailed, expert effort by nuclear scientists to get this deal right—to check and double-check every aspect of it, to make sure what is written on the paper will deliver the assurances the politicians seek. We have played a very important role in that. We have also played an important role in ensuring that the conventional arms embargo and the missile technology embargo remain in place. These are not directly related to the nuclear agreement, but are very important to reassure our neighbours in the Gulf, and they therefore form a vital part of the overall package.