Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Williamson Excerpts

Tuesday 10th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

Of course one of the key things as the economy recovers is not to make the mistakes of the past and not to have the unbalanced economy that we had before the financial crash, when, for example, even in the boom years, private sector employment fell in some regions such as west midlands. What we must do in my hon. Friend’s constituency and elsewhere is support small businesses that are starting up, get the capital to the small businesses that want to expand and encourage the big companies to invest. In all those areas, there is positive news, but we have to stick at it.

[Chris Williamson (Derby North) (Lab)]

T5. Yesterday, the Chancellor said that those who opposed austerity had lost the argument, but wages are falling, child poverty is increasing and he is presiding over the slowest economic recovery in over 100 years. Unless the Chancellor is living in cloud cuckoo land or residing on planet Zog, he will surely admit that his record of economic competence has been less than satisfactory—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am sorry, but we have a lot to get through, so much shorter questions are required.

Living Standards

Chris Williamson Excerpts

Wednesday 4th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Gentleman parts from his Front-Bench colleagues and at least acknowledges that there is progress. He calls it a glimmer of hope, but I think the 1.3 million people employed in new private sector jobs regard it as much more than that. The hon. Gentleman will know that the first step to creating sustainably high living standards is to get people into work and into good jobs. I will say more about that in a moment.

[Chris Williamson (Derby North) (Lab)]

May I take the right hon. Gentleman back to the Conservative manifesto from 2010? It said:

“We want to see an economy where not just our standard of living, but everyone’s quality of life, rises steadily and sustainably.”

Is it not a fact that 20% of the British work force are paid below the living wage and that 60% of the jobs that the right hon. Gentleman is referring to are themselves low paid? How is that a mark of success when people are being forced into poverty wages?

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Gentleman should pay attention to the more thoughtful members of his party. If he looks at the work of respected think-tanks such as the Resolution Foundation, which does some excellent work, he will see that the problem of low wages is affecting many western countries and has been for some time. In fact, the right hon. Member for Southampton, Itchen (Mr Denham) pointed out in the summer of 2010 that the problem under the previous Government was that hard-working families who played by the rules and paid their taxes did not get a great deal back, that their pay had not increased much and that they thought there was fundamental unfairness in the system. This is a problem that afflicts many western countries. It started under the previous Government. I will come on to explain how the best way to pursue the matter is to raise sustainably high living standards.

Spending Review

Chris Williamson Excerpts

Wednesday 26th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

The short answer is yes, and the Exchequer Secretary is doing an excellent job in changing that culture, with the Department.

[Chris Williamson (Derby North) (Lab)]

The Chancellor talked about rail investment in his statement. How many jobs is he creating in Dusseldorf, now that his Government have finalised their plans to spend £1.6 billion building the Thameslink trains in Germany, rather than in Derby? Is that a sensible use of taxpayers’ money?

[Mr Osborne]

Well, we were operating under the procurement rules of the previous Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Williamson Excerpts

Tuesday 25th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Chris Williamson (Derby North) (Lab)]

The Prime Minister assured us that by 2015 the books would be balanced. Is it not a fact that as a consequence of the Chancellor’s abject economic failure we are now looking at the deficit reaching £96 billion by 2015? What does the Financial Secretary have to say about that?

[Greg Clark]

I have followed the hon. Gentleman’s interventions over time and he should be familiar, as we all are, with the study from the Institute for Fiscal Studies that made it very clear that if the policies of his party had continued, the debt would be £200 billion higher.

Economic Growth

Chris Williamson Excerpts

Wednesday 15th May 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

We inherited an 11.5% budget deficit that was adding to our national debt every year, and what the hon. Gentleman and the shadow Chancellor want to do is add further to borrowing. The shadow Chancellor was asked time and again what the cost of the proposals in the amendment the Opposition are asking the House to vote on tonight would be. He would not give that figure, but I will give it for him: it is a £28 billion amendment that would add to borrowing. He comes up with the ludicrous argument that by borrowing more, we can borrow less. That is why he is making so little progress with his economic argument.

[Chris Williamson (Derby North) (Lab)]

Will the Chancellor at least acknowledge that when he came into office he inherited a growing economy, and his policies have led to it flatlining?

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Osborne]

I will give way to Labour Members in a moment if they can help me answer this question. What on earth is the policy of the Labour party towards an in/out referendum on Europe? The shadow Chancellor was asked that again and again. The question is this: do the Opposition rule out offering an in/out referendum at the next general election—yes or no? What is the answer?

[Chris Williamson]

Perhaps the Chancellor can answer this question. Toyota, just down the road from my constituency and the biggest inward investment in western Europe, came to Derbyshire because it gave access to the European market. Does the Chancellor think that, if an in/out referendum was hanging over this country and Toyota was thinking about investing now, it would take that decision to invest in Derbyshire, or would it take its investment somewhere else inside the EU?

[Mr Osborne]

A lot of those big Japanese car plants came to Britain under a Conservative Government who were offering them a competitive place to do business in the world. I am pleased to say that under this coalition Government we now export more cars than we import for the first time since the mid-1970s, and we will go on having a successful car industry because we have specific policies to back the car sector, but above all because we have cut corporation tax and made this a competitive place in which to do business.

Autumn Statement

Chris Williamson Excerpts

Wednesday 5th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I know my hon. Friend speaks with great knowledge on these subjects and she chairs the all-party group on trade and investment. We have provided a 25% increase in UKTI’s budget. We are seeking to strengthen the capacity of overseas chambers. It is not just about exports from this country; it is also about attracting investment into this country, and we want Britain to remain the No. 1 destination for foreign direct investment in Europe.

[Chris Williamson (Derby North) (Lab)]

The reality of this Chancellor’s period in office is that poverty is rising, growth is falling and debt is increasing. Why does he not just admit that his ideologically-driven tea party experiment has been a complete and utter failure?

[Mr Osborne]

I suggest the hon. Gentleman wakes up and smells the coffee of the situation that we inherited. We inherited a country that had just been through the biggest recession and banking crisis in modern history. We have dealt with the question about Britain’s credibility and its ability to pay its way in the world. The deficit has gone down, 1.2 million jobs have been created and he should give us some credit for cleaning up the mess that his party created.

Infrastructure (Financial Assistance) Bill

Chris Williamson Excerpts

Monday 17th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Chris Williamson (Derby North) (Lab)]

We have had almost two and a half years of this Government pledging one thing and delivering another. As we have already heard from the shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds West (Rachel Reeves), the reality of the Bill is different from the rhetoric. Although it hints at activity, everyone knows that, behind the hyperbole, Ministers are driven by a laissez-faire ideology that is resulting in economic indolence.

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury suggests that the Bill will trigger economic growth, but the backdrop to the Bill is the Government’s failed austerity programme, which is resulting in economic strangulation. The damage has already been done.

I suppose hon. Members should be grateful that Ministers are at least taking a few tentative steps in the right direction, but the Government’s economic incompetence has left a mountain to climb. The Bill hardly represents a damascene conversion. I know from personal experience that if I put half a tank of petrol in a diesel engine, I will damage the car. I cannot fix it by topping it up with a half tank of the right fuel. To make the car work again, I must repair the engine before applying the diesel.

That is a simple metaphor, but we need to speak in simple terms to help Government Members to understand the error of their ways. Let us remind ourselves that they are responsible for two and a half years of counter-productive and damaging cuts; two and a half years of hurting this nation’s most vulnerable people; two and a half years of sucking the lifeblood out of our economy rather than breathing new life into it; and two and a half years of destroying employment, creating a housing crisis, killing off opportunities for young people, devastating public services and driving forward a dangerous economic and social experiment. That is the Government’s legacy after just two and a half years.

Commendable though it might have been two and a half years ago, the Bill is in danger of being too little, too late. In any event, where is the guarantee that the Government will deliver on any of what is proposed in the Bill? Let us be honest: given the Government’s dismal track record to date, people are not exactly holding their breath in anticipation. We have already heard mention of the Government’s abject failure to bring about any of the road-building projects announced in the autumn statement. Promises to deliver on housing have been followed up with statistical proof that up and down the land there has been a dramatic fall in the number of new housing starts. Away from infrastructure, the Government have fared little better, having pledged to hand control to communities but then producing legislation taking power back to the centre.

Although the Bill would authorise the Treasury to incur costs in order to support infrastructure, please forgive me if I am a little hesitant in believing that it will yield many positive outcomes. That lack of clarity will continue to hinder true economic recovery. Half-baked legislation will not address the carnage left behind by the Government’s reckless ambition to shrink the role of the state. The British people are crying out for a fundamental change in direction from the Government. Plan A has been an utter disaster. For goodness’ sake, let us at least consider some of the alternatives. It is blindingly obvious to anyone with a modicum of common sense that only real investment will bring about the jobs and growth that the country desperately needs. That is the only way to extricate ourselves from the double-dip recession that Downing street has inflicted on the nation.

Labour has said it from day one; more and more political and economic commentators are saying it; and the public realise it too. It is only the stubborn, dogmatic attitude of this supercilious Tory-led Government that is holding Britain back. Unlike Labour’s five-point plan, the Bill is not joined up, is not part of a bigger picture and will not go anywhere near far enough to fix our economy. It is another example of the Government flattering to deceive, rather than delivering anything meaningful.

We need look no further than the plans to amend building regulations to facilitate the Government’s flagship green deal. It has been reported that the Prime Minister intervened to block the proposed changes, and that his intervention could prevent about 2.2 million homes from taking up the flagship green deal. And for what? So that a few more conservatories and extensions can be built with less control from local authorities. And that is supposed to drive forward construction. Do me a favour! Pardon my scepticism, but I would have rather put my money on insulating 2.2 million homes to help Britain’s builders get back to business, than on making it easier to build a few more extensions around the country.

The Government need to restore confidence by demonstrating that they are committed to investing in the economy, rather than playing around the edges, which, sadly, is all the Bill does. Of course we need to invest in infrastructure if we are to help our economy to recover, but we need to do so with much more vim and certainly more vigour than the Bill is capable of delivering. I am not fooled by it, and British people will not be fooled by it either. Actions speak louder than words, so the Government will be judged on their ability to grow the economy. They have failed spectacularly so far, however, and I regret that the Bill will do little to reverse the damage they have already done. I hope that I am wrong, but I do not believe that I am.

Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Williamson Excerpts

Tuesday 26th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

My hon. Friend—a knight of the realm—is absolutely correct. Despite these very difficult and challenging economic times, the private sector is creating jobs. We of course have to help it to create more jobs through the measures I have already outlined—cutting the small companies tax rate, help with credit and the like—but we also need to help those looking for work. That is why we have the Work programme and the youth contract, instruments that are much more effective than the programmes promoted by the previous Government at helping people who are out of work to link up with companies that want to employ people.

[Chris Williamson (Derby North) (Lab)]

Britain is the only G20 country in a double-dip recession, youth unemployment is at record levels, poverty is on the increase, public services are in meltdown, and the Government are borrowing around £4 billion more this year than they did last year. The lessons of the 1930s demonstrate that the austerity programme that the Chancellor is pursuing will not work. Will he learn the lessons of history—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We are extremely grateful, but I am afraid that we do not have time to go back to the 1930s now. We have the gravamen of the hon. Gentleman’s question.

Living Standards

Chris Williamson Excerpts

Monday 5th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

The people who voted Conservative at the election, and indeed others, recognise that this Government are prepared to take difficult decisions to get the public finances on track to provide the long-term credibility that our public finances need and to ensure that our economy can grow strongly once again. By sticking its head in the sand and opposing every step taken to get the deficit under control, the Labour party does itself no favours.

[Chris Williamson (Derby North) (Lab)]

The Minister talks about putting the public finances in a sound state, yet are not the Government’s policies singularly failing because the Government are having to borrow an additional £158 billion? Surely that should tell the Minister that he is getting it wrong, that he needs to think again and put people back in employment to give them the opportunity to pay tax and contribute to society rather than wasting taxpayers’ money on keeping people idle on unemployment benefit.

[Mr Gauke]

For the hon. Gentleman’s information, borrowing is falling year on year, and we are not going to get borrowing down by borrowing more—however often the shadow Chancellor claims that that is the case.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Gauke]

All the measures that will be put in place in 2012-13 are being implemented by this Government. That is the point. It is impossible to disaggregate those measures. They are all going to be put in place, and we are responsible for all of them. If we had wanted to reverse some of them, we could have done so, but we did not.

Of course, none of what we are doing ignores the fact that this will be a tough year for households across the board. We know that that is the case, and it is our reason for going even further to support families and businesses throughout the country.

[Chris Williamson]

Will the Minister give way?

[Mr Gauke]

I want to make some progress.

We are limiting the increase to Transport for London and regulated rail fares, funding South West Water to enable it to cut bills by £50 per year for households that currently face the highest water bills in the country, setting aside an extra £675 million for local authorities in England to freeze or reduce council tax in 2012-13, and providing real help for households that are feeling the squeeze. We are deferring the fuel duty increase that was due to take effect on 1 January to August this year, while also cancelling the further increase in August. As a result, tax on petrol will be a full 10p lower than it would have been, and families will have saved £144 on the cost of filling up the average family car by the end of next year.

Banking (Responsibility and Reform)

Chris Williamson Excerpts

Tuesday 7th February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Derek Twigg]

rose—

[Chris Williamson (Derby North) (Lab)]

rose—

[Mr Hoban]

Will hon. Members calm down for a minute, and allow me to deal with the point about credit easing?

I think that bank credit will remain the principal source of finance for businesses throughout the United Kingdom. That is why in our autumn statement we went further to ensure access to finance. Last year the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced two bold new credit-easing measures to provide up to £21 billion of new lending for UK businesses. Through the national loan guarantee scheme, we are allowing participating banks to raise up to £20 billion of funding with Government guarantees, lowering their cost of funding and enabling them to reduce lending rates to business by as much as 1%.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Hoban]

The national loan guarantee scheme will be open to all banks, including RBS, Lloyds, Barclays and HSBC, and we are currently taking that work forward.

Under the last Government, we witnessed the growth of the bonus culture, where bonuses could be paid in cash, in one year, and were never clawed back in the event of failure. We are changing that culture. Bonuses under the Financial Services Authority code are paid out over at least three years, in shares, not just cash, and failure can be punished by clawing back bonuses, and at both RBS and Lloyds cash bonuses will again be limited to £2,000.

[Chris Williamson]

Will the Minister give way?

[Mr Hoban]

Let me make some more progress.

Through the disclosure regime, we have provided more transparency than ever before, revealing the executive pay of the five highest-earning non-board executives for the Project Merlin banks last year. We are consulting this year on extending the requirement to cover eight executives at all banks operating in the UK, and UK banks now also have to disclose the aggregate pay of all their key risk-takers. These are some of the toughest rules in the world. It is because of our pressure and our leadership that the Commission’s capital requirements directive—CRD IV—contains proposals for additional regulations on remuneration disclosure which closely follow the recommendations of the Walker report.

[Mr Hoban]

Clearly we had more power in opposition than we thought; we seem to be being blamed for the bonus culture and what was happening in the banks. As the hon. Gentleman will recognise, we have seen a bonus culture develop in this country and action needs to be taken. It is a bit rich for Labour Members to be criticising us, given that they were in government for the past 13 years and had the power to do something about the situation.

[Chris Williamson]

rose—

[Mr Hoban]

I will give way to the hon. Gentleman, as I do not want him to feel missed out.

[Chris Williamson]

I am grateful to the Minister for giving way, at about the 35th time of asking. Will he now accept that it would be appropriate to repeat the bankers’ bonus tax and create 100,000 new jobs and 25,000 affordable homes, and give a boost to the construction industry, which is on its knees as a result of his Government’s policies?

[Mr Hoban]

I was going to discuss the bank payroll tax a little later, but let the hon. Gentleman just ponder for a while why the person who introduced that tax, the former Chancellor, described it as a “one-off” and something that was not workable because it did not change the behaviour. What we have done is introduce the bank levy, which the Labour party opposed when it was in government, and every year that is raising £2.5 billion more than the bank payroll tax raised in a single year. That is the product of well-thought-through taxation policy. We have gone ahead and imposed that bank levy, but the Labour party, when in government, opposed it.

Let me discuss the interaction of bank bonuses and capital. We agree with the interim Financial Policy Committee that capital levels, not bonus payments, have to be the priority. Banks must strengthen their balance sheets as a foundation for lending to families and businesses. That is why the FSA is rigorously scrutinising bank distribution plans, and it will not approve plans unless they are consistent with required capital levels, ensuring that banks maintain the capital they need in order to finance businesses. It is because of our leadership that bonus levels have already started to fall. According to the Centre for Economics and Business Research, City bonuses tripled under Labour, and when the shadow Chancellor was Minister for the City they were £11.6 billion. At the time, the shadow Business Secretary was carefully drafting the contracts to ensure that people could earn those bonuses. Last year, bonuses were almost half that figure, at £6.7 billion, and we fully expect them to fall further this time. Thanks to the action we have taken, bonus pools have come down and Labour’s cash bonus culture has been ended.

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[Stephen Williams (Bristol West) (LD)]

Here we are again in another Opposition-day debate centred on the economy, banks and bonuses. The handwritten notes I prepared earlier this afternoon read, “And yet again we hear no contrition from the Labour Front Bench.” However, as this is a debate and we have to respond to it, I will at least acknowledge that there was some contrition from the hon. Member for Streatham (Mr Umunna). I guess it must be easier for him, and indeed for his Front-Bench colleagues, who were all elected in 2010, to wash their hands of the last Labour Government’s decisions and offer at least some apology for what their predecessors did in office. However, it would be good to hear a collective apology from the Opposition, including those Members who were here in the previous Parliament, for the ineffective regulation and supervision of the banking industry, which was a major factor in the collapse of the banks and the economic failure and contraction that happened four years ago.

[Chris Williamson]

On the point about contrition, will the hon. Gentleman not also call on Government Front Benchers to apologise for calling for less regulation prior to the banking crash in 2008? While on the subject, what about having some contrition from him about tuition fees?

[Stephen Williams]

I am responsible for my party’s statements and, indeed, my party’s mistakes in certain instances but, as I said in my intervention on the hon. Member for West Bromwich West (Mr Bailey), in the previous Parliament, my right hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable) warned consistently about the coming economic catastrophe. The hon. Gentleman was not here at the time, but I think that he would have been ashamed to hear the jeering and cat-calling that my right hon. Friend had to put up with at the time.

It was the culture, not just the lax regulation, that led to some of the problems we have experienced in recent years. During the last decade of the Labour Government, executive pay rose on average by 13.6% per annum, while the FTSE share index rose by just 1.7% a year. In 2002-03, the bankers bonus pool, which is at the centre of the motion, totalled £3.3 billion. In 2006-07, the year before the crash and everything starting to go wrong, the pool was £11.4 billion. In the year of the crash itself, when all the bankers were staring into the abyss, the pool was £11.5 billion. I do not recall any Minister at the time being worried about the size of the bonus pool or the distorting effect it must have had on executive behaviour.

--- Later in debate ---

[Richard Fuller (Bedford) (Con)]

It has been interesting to sit in this debate and hear such an extended series of mea culpas from Opposition Members for the failings of the last Labour Government on this issue. Let us not forget that that Labour Government presided over the decline of British manufacturing, under which the concentration of banks about which they now complain took place and the meaning of the word “bonus” became so debased. There is so much for them to say sorry for, and so little time in a three-hour debate for all of them to come forward and repent.

[Chris Williamson]

rose—

[Richard Fuller]

I see we have a new repenter.

[Chris Williamson]

I am not repenting, but the hon. Gentleman might like to repent for the fact that the real origins of the problems that we are facing can be traced back 30 years to Margaret Thatcher’s Government. [Interruption.] I can hear hon. Members cheering, but it was Margaret Thatcher’s Government who undermined the manufacturing industry, used financial services as an alternative engine of economic growth, ran down the mining, steel, shipbuilding and car-making industries and totally destroyed manufacturing in this—

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)]

Order. Shorter interventions, as I have already expressed, are the order of the evening.