Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Callum Anderson and Rachel Reeves

Tuesday 9th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

The spread on our gilts over the central bank rate is lower in the UK than it is in Greece, so maybe the right hon. Gentleman should look again at his evidence. The truth is that we have had five cuts in interest rates since this Government came to office. We are paying high levels of interest on the debt, but the debt was accrued by the Conservative party, which destroyed our economy and public services all at once. We are fixing the mess that the Conservatives left.

[Callum Anderson (Buckingham and Bletchley) (Lab)]

The trust of financial markets depends not just on the policy of the Government today, but on whether we keep that trust tomorrow. The Opposition squandered that trust when they were in government by trying to push through tax cuts that they could not afford—that the UK could not afford. Does the Chancellor agree that Labour, too, has to resist the temptation to duck the tough choices on spending, which would not only risk economic stability but hold back growth?

[Rachel Reeves]

I very much agree with my hon. Friend. That is why we published the spending review earlier this year. The review set out plans for day-to-day spending for the next three years and capital spending for the next five. Everything in the review is fully funded and fully costed through the difficult decisions that we had to make in the Budget last year to increase taxes. At the same time, the deficit is expected to fall by 1 percentage point of GDP this year.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Callum Anderson and Rachel Reeves

Tuesday 1st July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

Let us look at the record so far. There are 385,000 more jobs in the UK economy today than there were when Labour came to office a year ago, which is more than 1,000 jobs a day. So businesses are voting with their feet and taking on more workers, because of the policies of this Labour Government compared with the Tory policies that took our economy down.

[Callum Anderson (Buckingham and Bletchley) (Lab)]

As people are living longer, they face more complex financial choices. The new, simplified advice regime announced by the Government and the Financial Conduct Authority yesterday is hugely welcome and will help more people make better informed investment decisions. Will the Minister provide more detail on the steps the Government will be taking to help firms deliver better advice at scale, especially to young people and the self-employed?

UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue

Debate between Callum Anderson and Rachel Reeves

Tuesday 14th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

This is not either/or; we cannot write off one country and say that we are going to put all our eggs in a different basket. China is our fourth biggest trading partner and we cannot miss out on opportunities in a country that is growing quickly, with an expanding middle class, where there are huge export opportunities. As the hon. Lady knows, I was in Brussels in December to reset our relations—the first British Chancellor to go to a Eurogroup meeting since we left the European Union. I am leaving no stone unturned in exploiting export opportunities for British businesses.

[Callum Anderson (Buckingham and Bletchley) (Lab)]

I thank the Chancellor for her statement. Can she set out in more detail how the Government intend to help reinvigorate the UK-China stock connect, so that UK companies and investors can access Chinese capital markets and vice versa?

[Rachel Reeves]

The stock connect is an initiative first set up by the former Conservative Chancellor Philip Hammond to improve links between the Shanghai and London stock exchanges and to help Chinese businesses to access capital on UK financial markets. That is good for financial services firms operating in London, and the enhancement of that stock connect scheme at the weekend offers new opportunities for British businesses in financial services in the UK.