Economic Growth

Anas Sarwar Excerpts

Wednesday 15th May 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

In every single year under this Government the rich will pay more in tax than in any single year of the Labour Government that the hon. Gentleman consistently supported, and the top rate of tax will be higher than in any single year of the Labour Government he supported. We put up capital gains tax so we avoided the scandal that they presided over—indeed, that the shadow Chancellor presided over—of cleaners paying higher rates of tax than the hedge fund managers they work for. That is what we have done to ensure fairness in our tax system, and that is what we are going to continue to do.

[Anas Sarwar (Glasgow Central) (Lab)]

The Chancellor said those who work hard will be rewarded. Can he explain why wages are falling, household budgets are falling and the cost of living is going up? How is that fair?

[Mr Osborne]

Let us look at what the Governor of the Bank of England said in his press conference this morning:

“there is a welcome change in the economic outlook…But this is no time to be complacent—we must press on to ensure a recovery”.

Yes, there was also the disappointing news that unemployment had gone up, but we also saw that the claimant count and youth unemployment had come down, and the monthly unemployment data were a lot more encouraging than the three-month survey. That is the reality of the current data.