Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Ruane Excerpts

Tuesday 9th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Andrea Leadsom]

My hon. Friend is quite right. Our stamp duty changes have meant that 98% of the people who pay stamp duty will receive a cut, which will enable more people to get on to the housing ladder. Our Help to Buy scheme will also encourage more aspirational young people to buy their first home.

[Chris Ruane (Vale of Clwyd) (Lab)]

11. What proportion of recipients of tax credits are in employment.

[Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton South East) (Lab)]

13. How many employed people are in receipt of tax credits.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Speaker]

Formally the group of questions falls if the Member with the lead is absent but I dare say we can improvise.

[Chris Ruane]

Thousands of hard-working families in my constituency have been bit by tax credit cuts, a £300 increase in their energy bills, the bedroom tax and the increase in VAT. This Government offer tax cuts to millionaires and porridge and food banks to low-paid workers. When will the Government allow British workers to share in the wealth of this country?

[Priti Patel]

It is fair to say that this Government ensure that people are better off in work, in stark contrast to the failed dependency policies of the Labour party. We are the party in government that has taken action to support people on low incomes by increasing the personal allowance, taking 3.2 million people on low incomes out of tax altogether and increasing the national minimum wage. We should all remember which party was responsible for the cost of living crisis; it was Labour’s great recession. We are the Government who have frozen fuel duty and council tax and it is our policies that are now leading to growth in the economy.