Early General Election

Alex Davies-Jones Excerpts

Monday 17th October 2022 Westminster Hall

[Alex Davies-Jones (Pontypridd) (Lab)]

It is an honour to speak with you in the Chair, Mr Mundell. I believe that I was the first Member to call for a general election this side of the summer, in the Chamber during Prime Minister’s questions on 7 September. It is therefore a great privilege to build on that premonition by contributing to today’s debate and fully outlining the reasons why a general election is now the only possible way forward.

Almost 1,000 of my constituents have signed this petition calling for change. Although it was originally set up before the new Prime Minister was even in post, the astonishing scenes this afternoon, with the Chancellor’s stunning reversal of virtually all the Prime Minister’s economic policies, make the wording of the petition more relevant than ever. It rightly notes:

“The chaos engulfing the UK government is unprecedented.”

I don’t know about you, Mr Mundell, but I am sick of living in unprecedented times.

The petition was written before the disastrous events of the Prime Minister’s mini-Budget had even taken place. Make no mistake: the Government are now in even deeper chaos. We are not yet six weeks into the new leadership and a new Cabinet, and collective responsibility has all but disintegrated. Cabinet members are openly briefing against their own leader’s policies in newspaper op-eds, and today, in perhaps the final nail in the coffin, her new Chancellor has completely demolished the ideology of her economic project. Her flagship cut to the basic rate of income tax—gone. Cuts to the dividend tax—abandoned. VAT-free shopping—scrapped. Shamefully, the Government have also chosen to water down their hugely important scheme to cap skyrocketing energy costs for families, which may have actually done some good for constituents, including mine in Pontypridd.

The Government are divided and fractured, and talk of changing to a third Tory Prime Minister in a single year would make a laughing stock of our democracy. The damage is already done. All of us in this place know the truth. The British people know the truth. It is only the Government who are turning a blind eye while the economy continues to spiral out of control. Overnight, people’s pension funds vanished, mortgages skyrocketed and our country was pushed even further into an economic and political crisis of the Government’s own making. This is unprecedented Government incompetence.

Countless residents in Pontypridd and Taff Ely have contacted me to say that they are genuinely worried about surviving the winter because they simply cannot afford to turn on the heating. That is the reality of this crisis: lives are at risk this winter. Is that not a disgraceful indictment of the Government’s failings? It is because of the astonishing fiscal incompetence that I called for a general election during PMQs in September. We need a general election because changing the figurehead at the top of the party is just not enough. As I said in September, I know that residents in my area will never forget that the Prime Minister played a key role in a Government that failed millions.

The governing party in this country is at absolute war with itself and has lost the respect of the British public. For the new Tory Chancellor—the fourth in as many months—to feel compelled to urgently address this House to fully overhaul the Prime Minister’s disastrous mini-Budget shows just how panicked the Tory party is. The Tories have completely destroyed their own credibility, and they know it.

However, it is about not just the incompetence we have seen during the energy crisis, but 12 years of failed Tory rule. The historic failure of this Government to invest sufficiently in renewables and nuclear has exacerbated the energy crisis; the historic failure of this Government to wean our financial systems off of Russian oligarch money has left us internationally exposed to Putin’s posturing as he tries to weaken the west’s resolve; the historic failure of this Government to stimulate any kind of real economic growth in the past 12 years has left our economy weaker and more vulnerable than ever before. Make no mistake: the Tory party is currently the biggest threat to the financial security of thousands of families in my constituency and across the whole United Kingdom.

As the approval ratings of this doomed Prime Minister reach new depths every single day—or hour—I do not think that we have ever had a Government who have failed so spectacularly to command the confidence of their own party, let alone the country. Even worse, the UK Government seem to have forgotten that the decisions made in Westminster have a real impact on local communities across the country. I have genuine concerns that local authorities across the UK, which provide vital services to residents, are feeling the impact of every single U-turn by this Government.

In my constituency, Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council is doing as much as it can with extremely limited resources, but more devastating tax cuts and shamefully low levels of investment are putting councils like mine under more pressure than ever before. Shamefully, it is our communities’ most vulnerable residents who depend on those services and will suffer the most when the Tories refuse to act. It is not just about their fiscal incompetence; across the board, sectors that have been crying out for Government action for years have been completely disregarded by a Government who have clearly lost interest in governing. Where is the desperately needed gambling review, which we were promised all the way back in December 2020? Where is the long-awaited and long-overdue Online Safety Bill, which this House needs to change lives for the better? Finally, do not get me started on the Government’s complete disregard for the safety of all people in the UK.

It is clear to me—and increasingly to the Government’s own MPs—that the only way out of this mess is through a general election. Bring it on. Let us have this general election and turn the page on Tory incompetence for good; let the people decide.

--- Later in debate ---

[Brendan Clarke-Smith]

I bring the hon. Gentleman back to the point that we are in an ever-changing world: nobody expected the covid-19 pandemic or what Vladimir Putin has done in Ukraine. I take the point that circumstances change, but people want stability—they want to be able to support their families and pay their bills—and we believe that supporting the devolved Governments, working together and protecting our Union is the best way to ensure that.

[Alex Davies-Jones]

The Minister is, of course, a Minister for the Union. As the shadow Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Fleur Anderson), quite rightly said, neither of the First Ministers of Scotland and Wales have received a phone call or any contact from the Prime Minister since she has been in post. If the Prime Minister and the Government are so committed to the Union, when exactly will she be in in touch with the First Ministers, and why has it taken so long?

[Brendan Clarke-Smith]

Over the summer, Members will have heard the Prime Minister speaking with great passion about protecting the Union. The £18 billion of annual funding for the Welsh Government is the largest annual amount in real terms since devolution began, so those were not just words but actions. I can also point to the £121 million in levelling-up funding for 10 projects, the £790 million of investment across four Welsh cities, the £115 million for the Swansea Bay city deal, and the £500 million for the Cardiff city deal. I am sure that the Prime Minister will, in due course, contact those elected leaders to see how we can work closely together.

The hon. Member for Putney (Fleur Anderson) mentioned the ethics adviser. I understand that the Prime Minister is considering that matter and will provide an update in due course.

We are in extraordinarily tough times—there is a global economic crisis—and we must remember where this country was heading only a month ago. Families and businesses were fearing unaffordable energy bills higher than £6,000. Inaction would have been unthinkable and the human cost unforgivable. Businesses would have gone bust and jobs would have been lost, and that is why we took the decision to protect people and businesses from the worst energy crisis this winter.

We were elected in 2019 on a pro-growth, pro-aspiration and pro-enterprise agenda, to be on the side of hard-working people and all those who make our country great, and that is what we will continue to do. Today we have moved to cut national insurance, putting £330 in taxpayers’ pockets, and we are delivering a clear plan to get Britain growing through bold supply-side reform. Growth requires stability, and that is what we are offering. We need to move forward and deliver for the British people. A general election risks sending us back to square one by letting the anti-growth coalition into power. We will do whatever it takes to get through the storm and emerge a stronger and better nation.