Economic Growth

Andrew Western Excerpts

Tuesday 14th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

I could not agree more with the hon. Gentleman. Our life sciences sector is key for Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and yet too many businesses are looking to relocate, including to the Republic of Ireland, but we want those jobs and those investments here in Britain.

There was no legislation in this King’s Speech for fairer tax measures. The Chancellor and the Prime Minister have been so quick to raise taxes—they have done so 25 times between them—that we now have the highest tax burden in 70 years. It is the biggest tax hike ever in a single Parliament, with working people and businesses hit hard, yet the Government allow unjustifiable tax loopholes to remain. I believe that if people make Britain their home, they should pay their taxes here, too. That is why we will abolish the non-dom tax status and introduce a modern scheme for people who are genuinely living in the UK for short periods. Why is it so hard for this Prime Minister to say the same?

There was no legislation in this King’s Speech to increase security at work or to update employment rights. Having confidence to plan a family’s future should be not a luxury but something that working people deserve, and we need to grow our economy from the bottom up and the middle out. If an economy is not working for working people, it is not working at all. This King’s Speech has no serious plans for tackling the cost of living crisis or for growing the UK economy.

The Conservative economic failures are piling up high: a failure on growth; a failure on infrastructure investments; a failure on the cost of living; a failure on public services; and a failure on tax. The responsibility for such disappointment and damage has been a Conservative team effort these past 13 years. The Government cannot get our economy back on track or make our country better off. The Conservatives cannot and have not tackled the cost of living crisis because they are the cost of living crisis.

[Andrew Western (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that we are still paying the price of the failed Tory policies since 2010 that have weakened our NHS, stripped funding from our local council services and stopped Labour’s school repairs programme?

[Rachel Reeves]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. The truth is that the combination of austerity, which was five Prime Ministers ago, Brexit without a plan—which relates to most of them—and the kamikaze Budget has contributed to the parlous state of our economy and the cost of living crisis that we are enduring today.

This is a party led—and I say “led” in the loosest sense of the word—by a Prime Minister with no mandate whatsoever and with no authority or vision for the future. This Prime Minister appears to be spending more time polishing his CV in conversation with Elon Musk than fighting for the livelihoods of manufacturing workers in Scunthorpe, Port Talbot and Derby.

And it is the previous Prime Minister, the right hon. Member for South West Norfolk (Elizabeth Truss), who still sets the tune for so many in the Conservative party. She wanted to scrap the bankers’ bonus cap in the kamikaze Budget last year, and that has now been dutifully delivered by this Prime Minister and this Chancellor. When the previous Prime Minister called this year for delaying the timetable for new electric cars by five years, undermining both the net zero consensus and the British automotive industry, this Prime Minister and this Chancellor delivered. Today, the former Prime Minister’s so-called growth commission is setting out its demands for next week’s autumn statement, oblivious to the damage already done. Will the Chancellor tell the House whether he agrees with the person who appointed him to do the job he is now doing and her proposals to slash corporation tax, abolish inheritance tax, abolish stamp duty and other unfunded commitments that make last year’s mini-Budget look like small fry, with tax cuts announced totalling £80 billion?

Labour will never gamble with the livelihoods of working people, as the Conservatives have. Labour’s economic approach is built on a rock of fiscal responsibility, with respect for taxpayers’ money. We will work in partnership with industry to bring about the change that our country so desperately needs. We know what the Tories did last autumn. They blew up our economy with their reckless, unfunded promises and a trashing of our economic institutions. It was a collective failure from the Tories. It was not just one bad apple, but a whole orchard of irresponsibility. The Conservative leadership contest of summer 2022 produced a sum total of £200 billion of unfunded promises. The Chancellor did not want to be left out. His leadership candidacy might not have been as successful or lasted as long as he may have wished, but there was still time for him to make almost £80 billion of unfunded commitments himself on corporation tax, business rates and defence, with no idea how those commitments would be funded.

Following the leadership election last year, Conservative Cabinet Ministers tried to blindfold the nation and global financial markets by preventing the Office for Budget Responsibility from publishing its assessments. The Conservatives knew that the truth would hurt, but they continued to gamble with the livelihoods of our country. The pound crashed, pensions were put in peril and interest rates soared. Working people were made to pay the price for the Conservatives’ kamikaze Budget and reckless eagerness to cut the taxes of the wealthiest few. It was reckless, it was irresponsible, and with Labour it will never happen.

The result is an average Conservative mortgage penalty of £220 each and every month for hard-working homeowners. This out-of-touch Government do not have a clue about what that really means for people. That is a lot of money to try to find from nowhere each and every month. It means holidays cancelled, spending cut back and life made harder. Some families are having to downsize, and others who have been trying to get on the housing ladder for years have had their dreams snuffed out. Meanwhile, rents rise as landlords see their mortgages go up and want to pass the costs on.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Western Excerpts

Tuesday 21st March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mike Amesbury (Weaver Vale) (Lab)]

10. Whether he is taking steps with Cabinet colleagues to support homeowners with increases in mortgage rates.

[Andrew Western (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)]

16. Whether he is taking steps with Cabinet colleagues to support homeowners with increases in mortgage rates.

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Andrew Griffith)]

Mortgage lenders are required to offer a range of tailored support to borrowers in financial difficulty. The Chancellor and I have made clear our expectation that they live up to those responsibilities.

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrew Griffith]

The Government are supporting households with a £94 billion package of support. We have kept the energy price guarantee for an additional three months and we are bearing down—I hope the hon. Gentleman joins us in doing this—on the biggest cost of living challenge faced by families, which is inflation.

[Andrew Western]

Thirteen years of failed Tory economic policies, alongside last year’s disastrous mini-Budget, have, as my hon. Friend the Member for Weaver Vale (Mike Amesbury) says, left thousands and thousands of mortgage holders subject to high interest rates and sky-high inflation. So I repeat his call: will any member of the Treasury team have the decency to apologise to the very many hard-pressed families who are currently subject to the Tory mortgage penalty?

[Andrew Griffith]

Interest rates are not only falling but are still below the level at which they peaked under the last Labour Government, despite the fact that we have had a covid pandemic and war in Ukraine. I welcome the news last week from the Office for Budget Responsibility that the country is on track to avoid a recession, and we must never forget the words of the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Liam Byrne): there is no money left.

Draft Electricity Supplier Obligations (Excluded Electricity) (Amendment) Regulations 2023

Andrew Western Excerpts

Monday 13th March 2023 General Committees

[Amanda Solloway]

Following a consultation in spring 2023, we will come forward with our proposals on the recently announced British industry supercharger, which aims to roll out further support to important manufacturing businesses by exempting firms from certain costs arising from renewable energy obligations, as well as GB capacity market costs, while exploring reductions for network charges, which are the costs industrial users pay for their supply of electricity.

[Andrew Western (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)]

Given the intention to look at the list of industries, will the Minister commit to reviewing the inclusion of the mining of hard coal? My hon. Friend the Member for Southampton, Test, suggested that it may be wise to do so.

[Amanda Solloway]

The list of eligible sectors is determined by their electricity and trade intensity. I commend the regulations to the Committee.

Resolved,

That the Committee has considered the draft Electricity Supplier Obligations (Excluded Electricity) (Amendment) Regulations 2023.