Economy: Productivity

Lord Watts Excerpts

Monday 5th September 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord O'Neill of Gatley]

My Lords, I am not sure that I would agree with my noble friend’s assertion. However, I agree with the inference that many things lie behind our apparently low and disappointing productivity performance, which I spend far too many hours trying to wade into. If you look at this in the kind of detail that I do, it is interesting to note that, if you take away the negative contributions made in those areas such as finance about which people are usually the most critical, our productivity performance since the recession of nine years ago is not any worse than that of any other member of the G7. There are many reasons behind our apparent—and probably realistic—disappointing productivity performance.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, the Government have cut business taxes when at the same time many companies are now cash rich. However, they are failing to invest in plant or in their staff. Why is that?

[Lord O'Neill of Gatley]

My Lords, the noble Lord has raised an important and interesting question. It is something that I spend quite a lot of time trying to explore. It is a feature throughout the western world that levels of cash held by corporations, including in economies that might be perceived as being more successful than ours, are very high, but despite low interest rates and favourable tax rates, the reported amount of investment being undertaken by corporations in many parts of the developed world remains disappointing. We need to understand this further and when we know why, we must try to do more about it.

National Minimum Wage

Lord Watts Excerpts

Wednesday 15th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dave Watts (St Helens North) (Lab)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Alec Shelbrooke]

I have already given way quite a lot, so I am afraid that I will not use up any more time. Having listened to the contributions of Labour Members, it seems to me that every single one of them has a different idea of what to do with a living wage.

Conservative Members accept the lessons of the past. Our party accepts that it was wrong to oppose the minimum wage. The Chancellor, the Prime Minister and many Conservative Members have made that clear. Indeed, we are a party of young people from normal backgrounds these days. As the previous Member for South Shields said, the trouble is that the Conservative party is the party with working-class people in it and the Labour party is full of failed polytechnic lecturers. The fact is that their philosophising and great ideas that sound good around the table have a real impact on the lives of people at the bottom of society.

Those who cannot afford to keep up with inflation because their income may not rise with it need proper, sustainable policies. One such policy is the opportunity we have taken in this economic climate to cut taxes on business and cut the national insurance contributions of business leaders and employers, followed by making sure that those tax cuts go back to the people who create the wealth in the first place. That is a sustainable and sensible policy and a long-term economic plan. For all those reasons, I urge the House to support the amendment in the name of my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Watts Excerpts

Tuesday 10th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Nicky Morgan]

I congratulate my hon. Friend. I am sure that the fall is a result of much work in his constituency, doubtless led by him. He is a doughty champion of his constituents.

The Government are also investing in apprenticeships. Over half a million more are being created, including 20,000 more high-level apprenticeships, as was announced last week. The Youth Contract is helping up to half a million young people to take up employment and education opportunities, and in the three months since September the number of 18 to 24-year-olds in employment rose by 46,000. We know that there is more to be done, but things are moving in the right direction.

[Mr Dave Watts (St Helens North) (Lab)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

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

The core purpose of the Treasury is to ensure the stability and prosperity of the economy.

[Mr Watts]

The Chief Secretary seems to be spending most of his time feathering his own nest in his constituency, but can he take some time out from that important work to confirm that energy bills will go up by more than £50 and that energy companies, who are making fat profits, will not pay one penny to reduce bills?

[Danny Alexander]

I can confirm to the House that the action the Government are taking will ensure there is £50 off people’s bills this year. That is as a result of serious-minded work to ensure we reduce the pressure the Government are putting on people’s bills. That includes taking the warm homes discount, which helps 2 million low-income people in this country, on to the Government’s balance sheet. That is the right option, compared with the complete con that unfortunately is still being peddled by the Opposition.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Watts Excerpts

Tuesday 5th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

I do not know whether Labour is opposing the scheme. That was not the impression I got. This is a very simple scheme. It does not require applications or involve any of the complexities that we saw with two of the Labour national insurance contribution schemes. We are confident that the current scheme will work. It has been widely supported by business groups and I think it will make a big difference to small businesses.

[Mr Dave Watts (St Helens North) (Lab)]

10. What assessment he has made of the effect of his spending plans on the cost of in-work benefits.

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

The latest forecasts of benefits and tax credits are available online via the website of the Department for Work and Pensions. They are consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts and reflect the Government’s wider policy.

[Mr Watts]

Will the Minister explain why she is allowing companies that are making massive profits to pay poverty wages that need a subsidy from the taxpayer through in-work benefits? Why does she not stop those companies sponging off the taxpayer and adopt a Labour policy of requiring companies that can well afford it to pay a living wage?

[Nicky Morgan]

It seems that even the shadow Chancellor has questions about a living wage policy, saying in 2010 that he was not sure about it. I am surprised that the hon. Gentleman did not talk about the fact that in the north-west and Merseyside 306,000 people have been taken out of paying income tax altogether as a result of this Government’s policies.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Watts Excerpts

Tuesday 10th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

It is not clear what the hon. Lady is proposing. Is she saying that she is against some of the changes we have made on welfare? Is she pledging more spending, more borrowing, and more debt? The Labour party need a policy on those issues. Our policies are clear: to deal with poverty we are focused on trying to generate even more growth. The economy has turned a corner; there is more to do but jobs are being generated in Britain at a record rate.

[Mr Dave Watts (St Helens North) (Lab)]

4. Whether he plans to introduce a land tax.

[The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Mr David Gauke)]

The Government have no plans to introduce a land value tax at this time. In our view, the complexity and cost of administering such a tax, and, more importantly, the likelihood of a significant increase in tax bills for many council tax payers, particularly those such as pensioners with liquid assets, means that such a proposal is not tenable.

[Mr Watts]

I thank the Minister for his response, but given that we have massive increases in house prices, massive increases in the value of farmland and builders and supermarkets land-banking and pushing up the price of land, and given that 1% of the population own 69% of our total land mass, is it not time for action? Do we not need a land tax?

[Mr Gauke]

The hon. Gentleman will be aware that some of the construction numbers of late are much more encouraging, and the Government are taking action to improve house building, including our Help to Buy proposal. Believe it or not, not every problem this country faces can be solved by another tax.

Royal Bank of Scotland

Lord Watts Excerpts

Thursday 13th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

I agree. We have talked about Stephen Hester and the role he has played in bringing the bank back from the brink, but that would not have been possible without the dedicated staff that RBS has had, and we must never forget the contribution they have made in repairing the bank.

[Mr Dave Watts (St Helens North) (Lab)]

It is clear from the Minister’s statement that the Chancellor has sacked the chief executive. Can the Minister assure the House that there is no gagging clause in the chief executive’s contract when he leaves with his package of £5 million that will stop him setting out his own views on when RBS should be sold?

[Sajid Javid]

I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman was listening to the statement I made. If he was, he would realise that the RBS board made this decision.

Tax Fairness

Lord Watts Excerpts

Tuesday 12th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Foster]

No.

The previous Government introduced the fuel duty escalator, hitting the pockets of families and businesses, whereas we have taken steps that will make pump prices 13p per litre lower than they would have been under Labour. They abolished the 10p tax rate, hitting 800,000 single earners, whereas we are taking 2.2 million people out of paying tax altogether. Whereas in 2000 they gave pensioners a miserable 75p a week pension increase, last year we gave the biggest ever increase of £5.30 a week.

[Mr Dave Watts (St Helens North) (Lab)]

Will the Minister explain why he thinks it is fair that at the same time as they introduce the bedroom tax, the Government find money to give the richest people in the country a tax break?

[Mr Foster]

We are not here to discuss the under-occupancy arrangements. Let me remind the hon. Gentleman, who has breezed into the Chamber, that we have had discussions on many occasions about this. I am aware of 300,000-odd families with two or more spare bedrooms and 250,000 families who are overcrowded, so it is right and proper that we take action to try to help them out, and that is what we are doing. I am more than happy to talk about this Government’s record on fairness.

Economic Policy

Lord Watts Excerpts

Monday 25th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. If we lose that credibility in the markets and are unable to convince the world that we can pay our way—that would be the case if we had a reduced commitment to fiscal consolidation—interest rates would go up, which would affect families with mortgages and small businesses with those crucial loans that are helping them to expand and take people on.

[Mr Dave Watts (St Helens North) (Lab)]

Will the Chancellor change the economic medicine before he kills the patient?

[Mr Osborne]

We have revived the patient from the near-death experience it had under the Labour Government.

Banking Reform

Lord Watts Excerpts

Monday 4th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

I agree with both parts of my hon. Friend’s question.

[Mr Dave Watts (St Helens North) (Lab)]

The Minister says that he wants to establish new bodies to set bonuses and pay in banks. Can he guarantee that on those boards will be ordinary customers and businesses, and that they will not be stacked with bankers’ friends?

[Greg Clark]

I think it important for the responsibility exercised by remuneration committees in particular to have regard to the experience of ordinary working people up and down the country. I see no reason why the way in which bonuses are thought about in boardrooms in the City should be any different from the way in which they are thought about in any other industry.

Professional Standards in the Banking Industry

Lord Watts Excerpts

Thursday 5th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Ed Balls]

All my experience—and there are many Members on both sides of the House who have more detailed experience than I have—is that Select Committees find it much harder than a judge-led inquiry to secure the release of necessary and essential documents and, more importantly, to find out which documents they should ask for in the first place.

Finally, and above all in our view—and I note that the Attorney-General did not correct me on the calling of witnesses, but perhaps he will advise the Chancellor for his speech—only a judge-led inquiry can truly persuade the public that the inquiry is properly independent and objective and, given the Chancellor’s behaviour, non-partisan.

[Mr Dave Watts (St Helens North) (Lab)]

Is it not clear that the Government, stacked with bankers and payrolled by the bankers, are frightened of a judge-led inquiry because they want to cover up the scandal?

[Ed Balls]

My hon. Friend makes his point in his own particular way. I was saying that the inquiry needed to be independent, objective and non-partisan, so I understand his concerns. I would probably also understand his bafflement about why the Chancellor and Prime Minister seem to be unwilling to appear before a public inquiry looking at wider issues of culture.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Andrew Tyrie (Chichester) (Con)]

The rigging of the LIBOR market is shocking. It is the worst case of City malpractice I can recall. The Chancellor proposed the idea of a Joint Committee to me in several phone calls over the weekend. It was an honour to be considered. None the less, I made clear right from the start what ingredients I viewed as required to make a success of it.

First, the Joint Committee’s terms of reference should be tightly drawn and forward looking. This cannot be a witch hunt. Having an exhaustive and inquisitorial committee of inquiry, whether it be within or outside Parliament, into the respective roles and responsibilities for mistakes of Ministers, civil servants, the Bank of England, regulators and commercial banks would do more for the history books than for the quality of legislation. The job of the Joint Committee must be to concentrate on how to get one part of the banking Bill into better shape, and in quick time. For that purpose it will need tightly drawn terms of reference, focused on improving standards and corporate governance in banking, and it can and should do the work quickly.

Secondly, as I said in that conversation, any committee of inquiry, particularly a parliamentary Committee, must have the support of the major parties across the House of Commons. It appears from what I am hearing here that it does not have that support at present.

[Mr Watts]

Is it not the case that any inquiry will have public support only if it is carried out on a cross-party basis? It is amazing that a Chancellor who seeks such co-operation from the Opposition should go out and the first thing that he does is tell lies about—

[Hon. Members]

Withdraw!

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dawn Primarolo)]

Order. Sit down, Mr Watts. I am on my feet.

Mr Watts, you will have to rephrase that last bit. You will do it briefly, and then Mr Tyrie will continue his speech—and that includes withdrawing the accusation of lying.

[Mr Watts]

I will withdraw that comment, Madam Deputy Speaker. I will say that the Chancellor gives the impression that he did something that he did not do, and then refuses to apologise. How does he think that he can secure co-operation across the Benches when he does that?

[Mr Tyrie]

I shall not address the second part of the hon. Gentleman’s question, but the first part was absolutely right. I think it essential for us to have cross-party support for any inquiry of whatever type.

Let me now refer to a tiny bit of history. A hundred years ago, partisanship made a mockery of an attempt by a Select Committee to investigate the Marconi scandal. The Conservative Opposition killed any value that that inquiry might have supplied, and as a result Select Committees were written out of the piece for inquiries for nearly 100 years. I think it vital for Parliament that another clash of the Titans—which seems to be going on now—does not leave us in a position in which we, as Parliament, cannot subject this issue to an inquiry of any type.