National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill

Debate between Daisy Cooper and Tulip Siddiq

2nd reading
Tuesday 3rd December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Daisy Cooper]

I am grateful to the Minister for addressing my earlier questions. Rather than taking with one hand and giving back with the other, would the Minister support moves to exempt all health and care providers?

[Tulip Siddiq]

The Department of Health and Social Care will confirm funding for general practice for 2025-26 as part of the usual GP contract process later in the year, through consultation with the sector. I understand the concerns about the impact on the healthcare sector, but I can assure the hon. Lady that the Department of Health will continue to engage with GPs, dentists and pharmacists as part of the usual contract process, and that changes in NICs will be taken into account in those discussions.

Let me now turn to the rant, I would say, rather than speech, from the hon. Member for South Shropshire (Stuart Anderson). I was not quite sure what question he was getting to, but he did ask very clearly whether the Chancellor understood the impact of the economic policies that she was making, and whether she would remain in her place. Considering those questions, I wondered what he thought about economics as a whole, so I decided to look into him. Not long ago, he said:

“I have worked with Liz Truss on many occasions…I believe that her economic position…and her parliamentary experience make her the best option to lead our country.”

Finance Bill

Debate between Daisy Cooper and Tulip Siddiq

2nd reading
Wednesday 27th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Tulip Siddiq]

We will set out plans in due course. The Bill does, however, extend the scope of agricultural property relief from 6 April 2025 to land managed under certain environmental agreements. That supports the UK Government’s wider environmental objective of supporting farmers and land managers so that they can deliver, alongside food production, significant and important outcomes for the climate and environment. The measure is intended to prevent the loss of APR being a barrier to the involvement of agricultural landowners and farmers in land use change under environmental agreements including, but not limited to, the environmental land management schemes in England and equivalent schemes elsewhere in the UK.

I want to address something the hon. Member for St Albans (Daisy Cooper) talked about: family farms. This is not in the Finance Bill, but I will still refer to it. Individuals can pass on a sum of up to £325,000 inheritance tax-free; £500,000 if that includes a residence being passed to a direct descendent; and £1 million when a tax-free allowance is passed to a surviving spouse or civil partner. There is also a full exemption from inheritance tax when passing assets to a spouse or civil partner.

[Daisy Cooper]

I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. Madam Deputy Speaker, I beg for your patience as I retread some of the remarks I made earlier. It is my view that the family farm tax gives us the worst of both worlds at the moment. It does not prevent equity companies from buying up land, but it does treat family farms as collateral damage. I urge her to think again on this measure and think about introducing a genuine family farm test. If she were to do that, she would certainly have the Liberal Democrats’ support.

[Tulip Siddiq]

It was a difficult decision, and I understand the point the hon. Lady is making, but the reforms to agricultural property relief mean that farmers can access 100% relief for the first £1 million and 50% relief thereafter, meaning an effective 20% tax rate. It was a difficult decision, but we had to do it to fund public services.

My hon. Friend the Member for Bolton West (Phil Brickell) talked about tax avoidance and fraud. To stop people taking unfair advantage of our system, the Government announced in the Budget the most ambitious ever package to close the tax gap, raising £6.5 billion in additional tax revenue per year by 2029-30.

Financial Services: Mansion House Speech

Debate between Daisy Cooper and Tulip Siddiq

Monday 18th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Daisy Cooper (St Albans) (LD)]

We welcome any reforms that will provide an effective route to growth without putting undue pressure on people’s savings, so we look forward to seeing more details from the Government. In the meantime, I press Ministers on their broader goal of getting investment in innovation. Constituents in St Albans report that their small and medium-sized enterprises have invested in innovation. They have successfully applied for research and development tax credits, only for His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs to claw them back. It is right that HMRC tackles errors and fraud, but thanks to Conservative inaction, it is now widely accepted that a number of SMEs are seeing their valid claims rejected or withdrawn, while others are simply not applying for the tax credits at all. Will the Minister please conduct an urgent review of HMRC’s approach, with a particular focus on whether it is undermining the growth and innovation of the SME sector?

[Tulip Siddiq]

I thank the hon. Lady for her comments. I will pass them on to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, who will look into the matter. I am worried to hear what she says about SMEs; she is absolutely right that they are the heart and soul of our economy—we should be looking into that. I will ensure that he writes to her, but if she needs a further meeting, I am sure he will meet her.