Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chris Heaton-Harris and Danny Alexander

Tuesday 28th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Chris Heaton-Harris (Daventry) (Con)]

5. What recent steps he has taken to reduce income tax.

[The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Danny Alexander)]

Since 2010, the Government have increased the income tax personal allowance by more than 50% and it will reach £10,000 this April. That will cut the income tax bills of more than 25 million working people by £700 a year. We can afford to do that because we have stuck to a credible economic plan that is creating jobs and supporting growth, as is shown by today’s excellent figures.

[Chris Heaton-Harris]

That means that 2.4 million people have been lifted out of paying tax altogether. In my constituency, thousands of people are no longer paying tax and are in profitable work. My constituency has a 1.9% unemployment rate and thousands of jobs are coming to Daventry. Does that not show that for my constituents, the Government’s long-term economic plan is working?

[Danny Alexander]

I agree wholeheartedly with my hon. Friend. I can update him on one point of fact. By April this year, we will have taken not 2.4 million low earners out of tax, but 2.7 million low earners.

Public Spending

Debate between Chris Heaton-Harris and Danny Alexander

Thursday 17th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

What I can confirm to the hon. Gentleman is that we have applied value-for-money grounds to this as to all the other projects. With a restricted budget, however, we must make choices about where we can spend money, and unfortunately we simply cannot afford to provide funds for this project any longer. As I have said, officials from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will continue to work with the company in helping to find a private sector solution to the challenge.

[Chris Heaton-Harris (Daventry) (Con)]

Will the Chief Secretary remind the House of the size of the structural deficit, and perhaps remind Opposition Members that these are Labour cuts caused by the state in which the last Government left the country’s finances?

[Danny Alexander]

That is not a matter for my judgment; it is a matter for the judgment of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility, which we established to restore independence to the statistics on which budget judgments are based. According to the OBR, the structural deficit has risen to 8%, while the overall deficit is £155 billion. That is a vast sum. If we are to restore health to our economy we must narrow that gap, and do so quickly.