Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Bridget Phillipson Excerpts

Tuesday 9th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)]

Last week’s Budget should have been the moment when our country was put back on the path to growth. It was an opportunity to put in place the building blocks of a recovery that benefits every part of our country. It was the chance to give people hope that, despite the challenges we faced over this last year, a better future lies ahead—a future in which all parts of the country share in our prosperity, where our economy is resilient so that everyone, no matter where they are and no matter where they live, can expect a good job, a reliable wage and a roof over their head.

We have heard from a great number of Members this afternoon and this evening—sadly too many for me to mention them all individually, and I hope they will forgive me— but the contributions from those on these Benches made it clear that we needed a Budget that not only addressed the devastating impact of the pandemic, but tackled the burning injustices that have built up over the past decade under successive Conservative Governments.

The sad reality is that the Budget does not even come close to resolving the problems our country faced going into the pandemic. There is no plan for jobs, no plan to rebuild our economy and no industrial strategy. Indeed, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster North (Edward Miliband) observed, we have a Secretary of State for industrial strategy who does not even believe in industrial strategy. That does not bode well for our recovery as we come out of the pandemic.

The Chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol North West (Darren Jones), was right to emphasise that we need to see a focus on growth as part of a transition to net zero. We should have seen that joined-up approach to support growth in every part of our country, with decisions based on genuine need, not narrow, partisan advantage.

It is not even the simple cynicism of saying, “Vote Tory, see local investment.” It is starting to feel a lot like, “Vote Tory, see your money go to richer areas.” Let us take the levelling-up fund, which pits regions and nations against each other for vital funding. We want to see proper funding for every region, but it is crucial that it is done transparently, fairly and with a say for local communities, and this fund fails on all those counts.

In the powerful contributions of my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley East (Stephanie Peacock) and my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Dame Diana Johnson), they exposed the reality of this. Although a new economic campus for the Treasury in Darlington will bring 750 jobs, we should be clear that almost 7,000 civil service jobs have been lost in the north-east alone since 2010. Madam Deputy Speaker, you will not be surprised to hear that, as a north-east MP, I will always welcome jobs coming to our region, but how will it help with the much-needed task of delivering an investment-led recovery? How will it drive wider private sector growth? How will it rebalance our economy as we emerge from this crisis?

Madam Deputy Speaker, like me, you will have now listened to many Budget speeches from many different Chancellors, and we all know the structure of these things. We sit here expectantly, wondering what the centrepiece will be, wondering what the final flourish will be, waiting for the moment when the Chancellor makes it clear what he thinks is the biggest announcement of the day. Some of us were hoping that perhaps, at long last, the Chancellor would grasp the enormous challenge of social care, which touches on so many lives up and down the country, but, no, once again it was passed over in silence. The Chancellor could not even bring himself to say the words, and in so doing he ignored the economic as well as the moral case for social care reform, as was so eloquently set out this afternoon by my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester West (Liz Kendall).

That sense of disappointment was compounded when the Chancellor revealed that he has not had a new big idea in five years, and that he still believes that freeports will solve all our problems. I know that this is a hobby-horse of his; it has been for a while. In 2016, he claimed that they would deliver 80,000 new jobs in the UK. Those of us who have followed closely his approach to the pandemic have been unsurprised to learn of the rather simplistic economic modelling underpinning these claims, simply taking the total number of existing jobs in free zones in the US and scaling it down for our smaller population and for our smaller labour force.

The truth is that there is little evidence that freeports create new jobs. Instead, they simply risk moving them around, with the additional risk that deprivation is intensified in the areas just beyond the immediate vicinity of the freeport. They do not make companies more productive. They do not increase demand for the goods in the wider economy or increase the tax take for the Treasury. On the contrary, we know that there are real concerns about tax evasion and the risk of smuggling associated with freeports. With Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs left increasingly overstretched over the past 10 years, I fear that our country is not well-placed to manage these new risks.

We can only build a strong economy if we secure the recovery, and that means action now to secure jobs and to support job creation in the future, and it means clear steps to help businesses through the worst of this crisis. It means ambitious measures that would help build a greener, fairer and more dynamic economy, and on every one of these measures, the Budget falls short.

For the half a million unemployed young people who desperately need hope for a better tomorrow, there is still nothing on offer but the Chancellor’s kickstart scheme, which has only created enough opportunities for just one in 49 eligible young people. Likewise, his much vaunted restart scheme has not even begun and will not begin to meet demand until March 2022, months after unemployment is estimated to peak at 2.2 million. It beggars belief that, in the grips of the worst economic crisis for a generation where our economy has taken the biggest hit of any major economy, this is the best that the Government can muster.

But it is worse than that. At the point at which the furlough scheme is due to end and joblessness peaks, what do the Government plan to do? They plan to cut social security at a time when families will need it the most, sucking demand out of our economy in the process. We can only support job creation if we ensure that businesses remain viable now and into the future. That means helping as many as possible survive through these incredibly challenging circumstances in which they find themselves, not looking on while many good businesses teeter on the edge, unable to deal with the mountain of debt that they have built up over the past year.

The incredible work of our NHS staff and volunteers gives us all hope that soon we will see a semblance of normality return, which is why businesses are so frustrated. They feel that the Government are simply not listening to the immediate pressures they face. While of course Labour wants to see business investing and driving job creation, we also want to see Government playing their full and proper role. That means providing much-needed investment to support our recovery and bringing forward £30 billion of capital spending, not cutting capital spending by £500 million in the next financial year and cutting the green homes grant by £1 billion.

The pattern is clear: on every measure, the Government have fallen short, with no coherent strategy to rebuild and rebalance our economy. Indeed, the only obvious factor linking these policies is a complete lack of ambition, other than to take us back to the failed policies of the last decade—the same approach that weakened the foundations of our economy and left us so exposed when the virus hit. We simply cannot afford another lost decade.

Our country should take a different path: a future in which Government forge a new partnership with businesses and trade unions to get Britain back to work and support the creation of good, secure, clean jobs; a future in which Government take a strategic and fair approach to ensuring opportunity and prosperity in every region and nation of the UK; a future in which our economy is strong and resilient, making our country the best place to grow up in and the best place to grow old in. This is the future that our country deserves, and it is the future for which Labour will fight.

Leaving the EU: Protection for Workers

Bridget Phillipson Excerpts

Wednesday 6th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Lady is a little churlish in ignoring some other examples. I would have thought she would welcome, for example, the introduction by a Conservative-led Government of the national living wage, which has made a big difference to many low-paid people across the country. Clearly, the judgment that was made by the Court struck down those fees. We will respect the judgment of the Court in the proposals that we make as we respond to it.

[Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)]

I listened to what the Secretary of State had to say, but the fundamental issues remain the same. This Government’s Brexit deal fails to protect jobs, living standards, and workers’ rights. I am sure that he will tell me otherwise, but if he is so confident that this is the right deal for our country, why will he not let the people decide and have the final say on it?

Nissan in Sunderland

Bridget Phillipson Excerpts

Monday 4th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

I do agree with my right hon. Friend that the House needs to come together and enter into a deal that can provide that confidence. When it comes to the customs arrangements, as she well knows, the motor industry has been absolutely clear, as I set out in my statement, that it wants to make sure that the agreement involves no tariffs, no rules-of-origin checks and no frictions added to what has been a spectacularly successful trading relationship.

[Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)]

Nissan has been clear that uncertainty around our future trading relationship with the European Union has been a factor in this decision. Is it not the case that even if the Government’s deal is passed, we will still face years of uncertainty and negotiation, which will put jobs and investment at risk at Nissan and throughout the country?

[Greg Clark]

No. The industry has been clear that the deal that has been negotiated meets its requirements to continue what has been a very successful investment programme. One of the opportunities that we have and one reason I really do think it is in the country’s interest to come together on a deal is that I am familiar with investment plans into what is a very successful environment of innovation and excellence on the part of the workforce, and people are poised to make investments if we can settle the question of the terms of our exit and our future relationship. That is why I hope that in the weeks ahead the House will come together to provide that certainty.

Oral Answers to Questions

Bridget Phillipson Excerpts

Tuesday 8th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Claire Perry]

I would be delighted to meet my hon. Friend and I am also very interested in the consultation results. I want to make the point quickly that the era of crude subsidy is over, partly because the price of renewables has dropped so significantly. We are trying to ensure that bringing forward the decentralised energy that we believe is so important to our system is also the objective of this tariff, and I would be interested to hear his views as well as those of his constituents.

[Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)]

11. What steps he is taking to support the manufacturing and automotive sector.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Richard Harrington)]

The automotive sector is one of the great success stories of our country, and our sector deal is a good example of how we will continue to support it going forward. We have committed around £1 billion over 10 years up to 2023 through the Advanced Propulsion Centre to research, develop and commercialise the next generation of low-carbon technologies, to keep us at the cutting edge of the automotive industry’s development.

[Bridget Phillipson]

The UK car industry is under huge pressure, yet far from providing the certainty that the sector needs, we will be debating our trading relationship with the European Union for years to come. Is it not the case that the deal that the Government are putting forward fails to protect tens of thousands of highly-skilled automotive jobs in my region? Not only that, but it is far worse than the deal we have now.

[Richard Harrington]

I am sure the hon. Lady knows that the deal has been backed by everybody in the automotive sector. I meet regularly with them and they have been outspoken about the perils of defeating the Prime Minister’s deal. I hope that the hon. Lady will think about that when she goes through the voting Lobby.

Oral Answers to Questions

Bridget Phillipson Excerpts

Tuesday 20th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and she will know that we are taking steps to reinforce in statute some of the measures that have been good practice across the industry. Indeed, the small business commissioner has been appointed to the prompt payment code compliance board to help with that.

[Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)]

Does the Secretary of State truly believe that what has been negotiated with the European Union will be better for jobs and business than the deal we have now?

[Greg Clark]

If the hon. Lady was at the CBI conference yesterday, and if she has read the responses from businesses small and large up and down the country, she will know that they are very clear that this deal will help to create the confidence that will allow investment to be made and jobs to be created and preserved across the country.

Oral Answers to Questions

Bridget Phillipson Excerpts

Tuesday 14th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Margot James)]

The new phase of the “Get in Go Far” campaign focuses on helping small employers understand the benefits of apprenticeships. The National Apprenticeship Service supports that by contacting small businesses that have previously engaged with the programme. That will be of great benefit to small and medium-sized enterprises in my hon. Friend’s constituency.

[Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)]

T3. The Government’s industrial strategy Green Paper talks of the need to close the skills gap and invest in infrastructure, so can the Secretary of State explain to the House why childcare is not mentioned once?

[Greg Clark]

Making ourselves attractive as a country to the workforce and making sure that we are the best place to operate a business and to work is an important theme of the strategy. I look forward to the hon. Lady’s contribution to the consultation, and if that issue does not have the emphasis that she thinks it needs, we will have the opportunity to address that.

Nissan: Sunderland

Bridget Phillipson Excerpts

Monday 31st October 2016 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

As I have said to other hon. Members, what I was able to say is how we would go into a negotiation, which seems to me to be to find common ground. We certainly did not get into any discussions of particular models, as my right hon. Friend would expect. One can overcomplicate these things; to be clear about one’s intention to find common ground and to pursue discussions in a rational and civilised way is not a bad thing to be able to convey.

[Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)]

I wholeheartedly welcome Nissan’s decision, which will protect thousands of jobs and many of the people whom I represent. May I press the Secretary of State again on the issue of the supply chain? He has talked about the supply chain of the future, but what more can he say by way of reassurance both to the existing supply chain and to the wider manufacturing sector in the region that he will do everything in his power to protect their interests and the medium-sized businesses that serve it?

[Greg Clark]

I certainly will do everything in my power. I look forward when I next visit Sunderland to meeting the existing supply chain. The hon. Lady will know that we have already done quite a lot in that regard. I helped to negotiate the Sunderland city deal and to establish the advanced manufacturing park near the Nissan site, precisely to provide better facilities. She will know about the new bridge for which we secured funding to assist with that. I know very well the importance of not just the major sites, vital though they are, but of the whole ecology of business around them. That is one reason why this investment is so important. Important though Nissan is, the investment gives another big boost to the existing supply chain and to those competitors that will join it in the future.