Amendment of the Law

Chris Kelly Excerpts

Monday 26th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Chris Kelly (Dudley South) (Con)]

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for calling me to speak in this important Budget debate. It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Coventry South (Mr Cunningham), a fellow west midlands Member. Before I begin my remarks, I wish to draw the House’s attention to my declaration in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, as I am a company director.

I broadly welcome this radical, reforming Budget. We are fortunate to have a Chancellor of the Exchequer and a Treasury team who have been able, over the past two years, to steady the markets and instil a sense of confidence once again in Britain’s ability to earn its way in this globalised world and to repay its debts. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor’s emergency Budget in June 2010 was crucial in signalling to the international markets that the British Government were serious about addressing our structural deficit and debt situation. His Budgets in June 2010 and March 2011 have played a significant part in the crucial task of ensuring that Britain will not be weighed down by crippling rates of interest and spiralling costs for servicing our debts; we have shown that Britain is able to reform its economy, earn its way out of recession and pay off its debts.

Last week, my right hon. Friend reaffirmed his unwavering commitment to dealing with the debts Labour left behind and that mean that we spend over £120 million every day on debt interest. He is rightly sticking to the plan. Our country’s credibility is helping to keep interest rates low for households and businesses in my constituency and around the country. If we listened to Labour’s calls for more spending, more borrowing and more debt, we would risk a sudden loss of confidence and a sharp rise in interest rates.

One of the most important things that this Budget has done is to provide even greater support for working families on middle and lower incomes. I welcome the largest ever increase in the personal allowance, which will provide a tax cut of up to £220 for 24 million income taxpayers, from next year. Taken with previous increases, this means that the coalition Government will have taken 2 million of the lowest paid out of tax altogether, and basic rate taxpayers will be up to £526 better off. Thousands of families in Dudley South will keep more of their income in their own pockets to spend on their own priorities for their own families. I am pleased that the Chancellor has listened and decisively dealt with the cliff-edge issue in relation to the payment of child benefit while ensuring that 90% of families will still be eligible for the benefit, again helping working families in my constituency.

On more than one occasion, I have taken my right hon. Friend to visit manufacturing and engineering businesses in Dudley South. I know that he has taken a great deal of time to visit businesses the length and breadth of this country to listen to their concerns and to see at first hand some of the innovation and creativity that is happening every day in the UK economy. So I am pleased that this Budget has unashamedly backed business, large and small.

The Government are right to be simplifying small business taxes and to have cut corporation tax again. This means that we are on our way to a 22% corporation tax rate, which will be one of the lowest in the world. There is a great big “Open for business” sign now hanging over the UK. As founder chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on family business, I know that that support will be widely welcomed in the family business sector, which is responsible for employing four in every 10 people working in the private sector, representing 9.5 million jobs throughout the UK and almost a quarter of our gross domestic product.

We cannot spend what we have not earned, and this Budget will help Britain to earn its way out of the disastrous financial situation that we inherited from the last Labour Government. The Chancellor has had to make many difficult choices, including on personal allowances for pensioners, but this is a radical, reforming Budget that will help Britain to earn its way in the world. It is a Budget that rewards work, backs businesses and puts Government Members firmly on the side of those who aspire to do better for themselves and their families.