Fuel Duty
Andrew Snowden Excerpts(6 days, 4 hours ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)
I thank the right hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay (Mr Holden) for bringing forward this debate. It is a really important one because the impact of fuel costs—both for motorists and for those having to heat their homes—is devastating.
Over the past three weeks, people’s entire ability to budget to be able to afford to live, to buy food and to pay the rent or the mortgage has changed. It has been turned on its head. In every city, town and village in our country, everybody is affected one way or another. I do not mean to diminish the impact of fuel price increases in our cities, which has been huge; nevertheless, for people living in a city, the chances are that they work in the same city, and the chances are also that they can, if need be, leave their car at home, if they have one, and take advantage of public transport. I am very supportive of a cap on bus fares—I wish we still had a £2 cap, but the £3 cap is still a lot better than what we had in the past—but they are a fat lot of good if there is no bus to get on at all.
In rural communities like mine, people on the most modest of incomes have to own a car in order to access our economy or any kind of life at all. Somone living in Kendal might work in Grange-over-Sands, or vice versa; someone living in Ambleside might work in Barrow, or vice versa; someone living in Kirkby Stephen might have to travel 60 miles every day to go and work in the hospitality and tourism industry in Windermere or Bowness. The impact of the fuel price rises over the past three weeks is utterly devastating for these people. Diesel in Cumbria is 160p a litre—up to 170p in some cases—and petrol is near to 140p a litre. Indeed, red diesel is passing the £1 mark for the first time.
Mr Andrew Snowden (Fylde) (Con)
Like the hon. Gentleman, I am a north-west MP representing a rural constituency. Even those of our constituents who work in big suburban areas like Manchester and elsewhere still need to get to a train station, so even those who spend significant time in larger urban areas still rely on their car to be able to get to what resembles public transport to commute to and from work.
Tim Farron
The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point. That will be the case across my communities, too; many people will drive to Penrith, Oxenholme, Grange-over-Sands or Windermere to park and then catch the train to their place of work or study. These are significant costs. Of course, it is worth bearing in mind that these fuel costs will also have a significant impact on public transport providers down the line, and will make it hard for them to continue their current services. The hon. Gentleman’s point was well made and well delivered.
We are talking about motor fuel costs rising, but there is also the impact, as has been mentioned already by hon. Members, on heating oil. The costs for people heating and running their homes have been immense and are causing real hardship already. In Cumbria, 46,000 homes are off-grid. About 35% of the homes in my constituency are off-grid, with people relying on heating oil; in Kirkby Stephen, Tebay and Brough, 74% of properties are off-grid, while in Hawksford, it is almost 80%.
I asked my constituents—many of them did not need asking, I have to say—to give me their impressions and experiences of the past few weeks. It is clear that heating oil has literally doubled in price overnight, although I have heard reports of it trebling, too. Many of my constituents cannot afford to get any more heating oil until or unless the prices drop.
It is important to remember that in a community like mine, 25% of our housing stock was built before the turn of the 20th century. This is true of many colleagues’ constituencies as well. Many properties are solid wall properties, which are very difficult or expensive to insulate—a problem that this and previous Governments have failed to deal with adequately. People are therefore spending a fortune heating their difficult-to-insulate homes, and are now in a situation where they are having to spend up to three times more just to keep their homes vaguely warm.
Oral Answers to Questions
Andrew Snowden Excerpts(1 year ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Sir Stephen Timms
My hon. Friend is right. Our manifesto has a firm commitment that the views and voices of disabled people should be at the heart of everything that we do. Over the past week I have had discussions with a number of disabled people’s fora. When we come forward with our proposals shortly, we will consult extensively with disabled people and their organisations about the right way forward.
Mr Andrew Snowden (Fylde) (Con)
The Government announced billions of cuts to the Department; then, over recent days, Ministers have made U-turn after U-turn, and in the media round over the weekend were spinning out of control. Is there anything meaningful left to announce from the Secretary of State’s original welfare plans?
Liz Kendall
The Conservative party, which left a broken welfare system that is failing the people who depend on it and taxpayers, had 14 years to put it right. We know what their legacy is. Hon. Members will see the proposals soon, but we will not shy away from the decisions that we believe are right to give opportunities to people who can work, security for those who cannot, and to get the welfare bill on a sustainable footing.
Oral Answers to Questions
Andrew Snowden Excerpts(1 year, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Torsten Bell
I have heard the hon. Gentleman’s comment and will raise it with the responsible Minister in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, but it is important that all pensioners who are entitled to support get it. That is what the Government are focused on.
Mr Andrew Snowden (Fylde) (Con)
The Minister for Employment (Alison McGovern)
Thanks to the dreadful inheritance left to us by the Tory Government, we need to raise productivity, reduce economic inactivity, increase employment rates and drive up economic growth. Our “Get Britain Working” plan sets out how we will progress our ambition of an 80% employment rate, which would place the UK among the highest-performing countries in the world.
Mr Snowden
There was some lovely wording in that answer, but the Government appear to be doing absolutely the opposite. Following the Budget, it appears that there is not a week that goes by without another employer announcing significant job cuts. Reed recruitment has already announced that job postings are plummeting. What will the Government do to support the Minister’s Department in the situation it will find itself in—a rapidly increasing number of people looking for jobs and a rapidly decreasing number of jobs being posted because of the Government’s policies?
Alison McGovern
I am glad the hon. Gentleman is bothered by the employment rate and I hope he is bothered by the record of his party, which saw employment fall off a cliff after the pandemic and never recover. We were an outlier in that; it did not happen anywhere else in the world. As it is, our jobcentres, which, as we have said, are full of brilliant staff, see just one in six employers ever consider using them to recruit. We will change that. We have a new strategy. The Secretary of State recently announced our plan to ensure that the Department of Work and Pensions serves businesses and that we get the best jobs into jobcentres so that people can take them up, improve their lives and grow our economy.
Oral Answers to Questions
Andrew Snowden Excerpts(1 year, 3 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Emma Reynolds
I thank my hon. Friend for representing the concerns of his constituent. The Department is working closely with the Pensions Regulator. We are looking to gather information on the number of schemes that provide discretionary increases on pre-1997 benefits and those that do not. At the moment, the trustees of those schemes have discretion over the decision to index those benefits.
Mr Andrew Snowden (Fylde) (Con)
The Minister for Employment (Alison McGovern)
We still have more than 800,000 vacancies in this economy, and businesses are crying out for staff. That is why, through our reform programme, we are determined that the DWP will serve business better. I look forward to working with Members across the House to make that happen.