Amendment of the Law

Debate between Danny Alexander and Chris Leslie

Monday 23rd March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

It is fair to say that the current Prime Minister also discouraged this policy. In the television leaders debates in 2010 he said it could not be done and could not be afforded. We have shown in this Parliament that we can afford it. The difficult decisions we on the Government Benches have been willing to make in other areas have meant that we have been able to deliver the largest income tax cuts for working people in a generation. That is something of which I am very proud indeed.

My right hon. and learned Friend also rightly highlighted how much progress we have made in tackling tax avoidance during the course of this Parliament. He was humble enough to admit that progress had not always been as strong during his time as Chancellor. There were many measures in the Budget to tackle tax avoidance and evasion.

We then had a contribution from the right hon. Member for Edinburgh South West. It is fair to say that there were many things in the Budget that he was not very keen on. He certainly made that clear. He did not like the rollercoaster, as he described it, of the public finances. I have set out my own alternative scenario on that. He did not mention the big dipper that the public finances had been on during his time in office.

The right hon. Gentleman rightly welcomed the package of measures to support the oil and gas sector, which was a very strong feature of the Budget. The measures will ensure that the sector, which is suffering from a dramatic fall in the oil price, has some confidence in the future. He welcomed those measures, but he rightly pointed out that the oil revenues in the OBR forecast at this Budget were a little more than a 10th of those predicted by the nationalists in the recent Scottish referendum. He made the point that had Scotland voted for independence and experienced the fall in oil prices, the difficult decisions made in this Parliament—I think I quote him correctly—would have seemed like a school picnic in comparison.

The right hon. Gentleman was too modest to remind the House of the service he rendered to his country with the leadership he showed in the Better Together campaign. I hope that Members on all sides of the House express their appreciation for that. It was certainly something I experienced first hand. It was immensely important in ensuring that the people of Scotland voted the right way in the referendum. The experience of working with him on that campaign, although we may have disagreed on many other matters over the years and will no doubt continue to do so, is one I will always remember. He showed himself to be a man of the greatest statesmanship in his conduct of that campaign.

Before I respond to some of the other points, I want to respond to the jibes from the shadow Chief Secretary—[Interruption.] It certainly is not—there are another 10 minutes to go. The shadow Chancellor, the shadow chunterer, is in his place chuntering as usual. He doesn’t have many policies, but he sure does like to chunter.

The Budget, as set out in the Red Book, was agreed by Conservatives and Liberal Democrats working together in the coalition Government. There is no policy measure in the Budget which Liberal Democrat Ministers did not sign off. Are there differences in the way the two parties in the coalition would approach the task of deficit reduction in the next Parliament? Yes, of course there are. I have made clear in this House and outside that there is another way we can meet the fiscal mandate that all parties signed up to when we voted for the charter for budget responsibility in January. Opposition Front Benchers appear to have forgotten about that, but we can do it in a more responsible and stable way. For that reason, last week I published and set out an alternative fiscal scenario for the next five years—a plan to borrow less than Labour and cut less than the Conservatives, a plan to give the UK a brighter future without sacrificing financial prudence. As the independent OBR mentioned in its economic and financial outlook, this profile of public expenditure

“is driven by a medium-term fiscal assumption”,

but

“both parties have said that they would pursue different policies if they were to govern alone.”

The Budget that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor presented last week is a coalition Budget that reflects the hard work the coalition Government have carried out over the past five years to turn the country around from the mess we inherited from Labour and to set us on a path back to prosperity. I do not hesitate, therefore, to speak in favour of it.

[Chris Leslie]

This is very confusing. So the right hon. Gentleman supports the Budget, but he opposes the Government. He wants to be a Minister, but he does not want to be a Minister. Will he at least agree that the cuts for the next three years are extreme and would be damaging, and will he confirm that he does not support the depth of the cuts to our public services over the next three years?

[Danny Alexander]

It really is not that confusing. Even the shadow Chief Secretary ought to understand that two different parties in a coalition Government will have different views about the future direction of policy in this country. I would say—[Interruption.] If the hecklers would silence themselves, I would say that Labour signed up to £30 billion of deficit reduction in the first three years of the next Parliament when they voted for the charter for budget responsibility. I am sure you remember the occasion, Mr Speaker. It was an important debate in the House, and one to which the country should be paying great attention. It is fair to say that all parties in the House have different views about how to achieve that £30 billion of cuts, and I set out my view to the House on Thursday.

--- Later in debate ---

[Danny Alexander]

No, I am not giving way. I am going to make some progress. The hon. Lady was not here for the debate, so I am certainly not giving way to her.

[Chris Leslie]

rose—

[Danny Alexander]

No, I am not giving way. I am going to finish.

The income tax personal allowance will increase to £10,800 in 2016-17 and—

[Chris Leslie]

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

[Danny Alexander]

No, I will not.

This is the most significant tax cut for working people in a generation. As a result of the increases to the personal allowance, a typical basic rate taxpayer will be £905 a year better off in 2017-18, and 27.2 million individuals will have benefited from increases to the personal allowance since 2010. As a result of these changes, over 3.7 million people—[Interruption.] Opposition Members do not like to hear about tax cuts for working people, Mr Speaker.

--- Later in debate ---

[Chris Leslie]

rose—

[Danny Alexander]

No, I will not give way. Opposition Members do not like to hear about tax cuts for working people because they did not deliver those cuts themselves. If they cared about cutting taxes for working people, they would be welcoming and celebrating the fact that 3.7 million working people on the lowest incomes no longer have to pay any income tax at all. That is something that Government Members would celebrate; Opposition Members should be celebrating it, too.

When a Government lose control of the public finances, it is the poorest who are hardest hit. That is why imposing fiscal discipline was such a priority for us in 2010. We created the stability necessary to deliver growth, jobs and investment. Last year, the shadow Chancellor channelled Ronald Reagan and asked, “Are you better off than you were in 2010?” On Thursday, the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies confirmed that families are set to be £900 better off in 2015 than they were in 2010.

Compared with five years ago, we have lower inequality; child poverty is down; pensioner poverty is at record lows; the gender pay gap is smaller than ever; and the number of students at university from disadvantaged backgrounds is at an all-time high. Some 1.9 million people are now in work, which is 1,000 new jobs a day, four fifths of them full time and four fifths in skilled occupations. This is a record to be proud of, and I am proud of these achievements. I am proud of the role my party has played in achieving them.

Responsible government does not mean standing on the sidelines and complaining about how long other people are taking to clean up the mess they created. Responsible government is about stepping up to the challenges and not flinching from taking the tough but necessary decisions. That is what we have done since 2010. We have created a stronger economy, we have created a fairer society, and we have delivered for the people of the United Kingdom. I commend the Budget to the House.

Question put.

Fiscal Responsibility and Fairness

Debate between Danny Alexander and Chris Leslie

Thursday 19th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op)]

What a farce! Why has the right hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Danny Alexander) been allowed to use the Government Dispatch Box for his party political pleading this morning? Is this a statement of the Treasury’s policy or not? He said he was publishing fiscal plans today—where is that document? I thought that statements in the House of Commons were supposed to be from Ministers speaking collectively on behalf of the Government, but the right hon. Gentleman has totally abused that privilege, assembling MPs this morning on a false pretence.

I know it is usual to have several days of Budget debates in the Commons, but not several Budgets. On a procedural point, I have to ask you, Mr Speaker: what recourse do we have, as the official Opposition, when statements are made that are not Government policy? [Interruption.] I do not know where the Deputy Prime Minister is going. I think that was his valedictory appearance in the House of Commons.

Can we all have a turn at giving statements and using civil service resources in this way? Will we get to vote on both Budget statements or just one of them? The Government refused to let the Office for Budget Responsibility cost all the manifesto policies of the main parties, but then they waste Treasury time and money specifically funding a Lib Dem policy document. Will the Chief Secretary at least tell the House how much this morning’s phoney exercise cost the taxpayer? What better illustration can there be of the shambolic downfall of this miserable Government when we cannot even tell whether a Minister is speaking in an official capacity? This is an alliance driven totally by party political interests, rather than Britain’s best interests.

The right hon. Gentleman spoke about measures supposedly to tackle tax evasion and tax abuses. Are they actual Government policy or are they things that he would quite like to do but that other Ministers are squabbling about? Are they genuinely new powers to tackle tax evasion or just a series of press releases to give the impression of activity?

The OBR has expressed doubt about the right hon. Gentleman’s approach to common reporting standards and says that these plans have “very high” levels of uncertainty. Can he clear that up? The OBR also says on page 209 of its report that today’s announcement relies

“on extra HMRC operational capacity in order to be implemented as intended.”

How much additional HMRC resource will be committed to the measures? When will it be committed and with what guarantee?

With the tax gap widening a further £1 billion, to £34 billion, why should we believe that these steps will be any different from the Government’s failed deal on tax disclosure with Switzerland, which has raised less than a third of the promised £3 billion and involved agreeing to turn a blind eye to abuses in the future? Would the new powers to tackle offshore tax abuses prevent what looks to have happened at HSBC? The ex-chairman of HSBC’s Swiss bank, Lord Green, apparently admitted last night to feeling “dismay and deep regret”, adding with enormous understatement that

“the real world of the markets is shot through with imperfections”.

You san say that again! Will the Chief Secretary at least now admit that it was an error that Lord Green was appointed as one of his ministerial colleagues in the face of all the evidence, or did he sign up to that as well?

The Chief Secretary came to the Dispatch Box to set out an alternative Lib Dem Budget, desperately trying at the eleventh hour to distance himself from the extreme and hazardous fate that awaits our public services—our police, our defence, our social services and the NHS—if his boss is re-elected. Let us just get this straight: is he now saying he cannot sign up to the Chancellor’s Budget, as in the Red Book, this time around? We know, or at least I thought we knew, that the quad, of which he is a member, had signed off the Budget and autumn statement figures. Is he now saying that next week he will not be voting for what is in the Red Book?

Are the Liberal Democrats ruling out a coalition with the Conservatives after the election? If they cannot even sign up to the Chancellor’s Budget when they are part of the Government, how on earth could they sign up for another five years? Does the Chief Secretary not realise how two-faced he looks? They want to have their cake and eat it—to be in government, but not in government. I can almost hear his constituents saying, “It’s too late, Danny. You’ve been propping up the Tories for five years—taking the NHS backwards, imposing the bedroom tax and trebling tuition fees, while slashing taxes for millionaires—so don’t come along now with your alternative plans and expect anybody to believe you.” It is too late for this: the Liberal Democrats have backed the Tories all the way—working families have paid the price—and now it is time for him to pay the ultimate price for his behaviour.

[Danny Alexander]

Frankly, the hon. Gentleman should know about farce—he has presided over the farce that is his own economic policy for the past five years.

The hon. Gentleman referred to collective agreement. I can confirm that the publication of “An alternative fiscal path beyond 2016-17” has been collectively agreed by the Government as an alternative fiscal scenario. He may not like this constitutional innovation, but he should get used to having coalition Governments in the future. The fact that he does not like constitutional innovation is perhaps why he and his colleagues blocked House of Lords reform earlier in this Parliament.

No Treasury resources were expended apart from in the work of the civil servants who calculated the numbers. It is entirely appropriate for civil servants to carry out work on a scenario on behalf of the Chief Secretary. In relation to the hon. Gentleman’s questions on tax evasion and avoidance, the new powers introduced by this Government are set out in a report today. I am sorry to hear that he opposes the common reporting standard. I would have thought that he welcomed the fact that there is UK leadership on ensuring that there are international agreements to open up offshore bank accounts to scrutiny by tax authorities from around the world. The new offences and penalties will of course hit any organisation, whether a bank or an accountancy firm, that facilitates others to engage in tax evasion.

On the hon. Gentleman’s last question, he knows very well that, as the OBR says in its own document, its forecast is constructed on the basis of a neutral fiscal assumption that is presented for the rest of the Parliament. That conceals a range of differences between the parties in the coalition. It is entirely proper for me to set out today what I think we are undertaking, exactly as the Chancellor did in his speech yesterday. Instead of this pathetic display, the Labour party should get on with apologising for the economic mess it created, and it should congratulate the Liberal Democrats and the coalition Government on clearing up its mess.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Danny Alexander and Chris Leslie

Tuesday 10th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

My hon. Friend has made a very fair point. Comparing the NHS performance of different Administrations is an important activity, in which I am sure he will engage very fruitfully over the next few weeks. Let me add that if we are to judge a Labour Government by their actions, we should look at the mess that the Labour party made of the economy when it was last in power. If we found ourselves with problems of that kind again, money for our NHS would be one of the resources that would suffer.

[Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op)]

As we heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Denton and Reddish (Andrew Gwynne), the pressures on the NHS are already putting care services in crisis. Why has the Chief Secretary colluded in Tory plans to shrink public investment and take an additional £70 billion from public services in the next Parliament, thus posing an even bigger risk to health and social care? He has dodged the question in the past; will he give us a straight answer now? Why did he sign off those Tory plans in the autumn statement?

[Danny Alexander]

The hon. Gentleman would do better to begin any question about the NHS with an acknowledgement of his own party’s failures I have made it clear that the figures published by the Office for Budget Responsibility represent a neutral assumption. I think the hon. Gentleman’s party would borrow too much and the Conservatives would cut too much, and that what we need is a balanced approach in the middle.

[Chris Leslie]

I do not know whether the Chief Secretary knows what he is doing. The letter from the OBR’s Robert Chote explicitly says—I have it in front of me—that the forecast for that £23 billion of surplus in 2019-20 was

“signed off by the ‘quad’”,

of which I think the Chief Secretary is a member. Is Robert Chote wrong, or did the Chief Secretary not realise what he was signing up to? Will he at least assure us that, if that was a mistake or he did not spot it in the past, he will be opposing a repeat of those Tory plans in next week’s Budget Red Book?

[Danny Alexander]

Matters relating to the Budget will be revealed by the Chancellor in his Budget statement next Wednesday and not before, as I am sure you would expect, Mr Speaker. I have listened to the hon. Gentleman today, as I listened to him on the “Today” programme yesterday, and there was not a single answer about how Labour would balance the books, and not a single answer about how Labour would invest in public services. I heard yesterday about Labour’s zero-based review, which seems to mean zero savings, zero ideas, zero economic credibility.

Charter for Budget Responsibility

Debate between Danny Alexander and Chris Leslie

Tuesday 13th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

Each Government have to account for their own economic policy in their own way. I am proud that we have put in place a plan that has got the deficit down by half and, more importantly, got us the best economic growth in the European Union and the strongest record of job creation—Opposition parties are notoriously silent about that.

Let us put this matter into some sort of context. While we have been busy cutting the deficit, the shadow Chancellor and the Leader of the Opposition have spent their time marching their troops up and down the hill of deficit denial. If their votes today are to have any credibility, they will have to march them down that hill again. We have still not heard one word of acknowledgement for their role in the crash of 2008, let alone a word of apology.

By the end of this Parliament the Government will have halved the deficit as a percentage of GDP. That has meant facing up to reality and taking difficult decisions. This has been a process during which Labour voted against every measure that we have had to introduce to rescue the economy. There have been scores of votes on deficit reduction and, you guessed it, the Opposition voted against every one. So I say this to Labour: “Supporting this motion does not restore your credibility on the deficit. You have said your aim is to push out the time scale as far as possible. You are perfectly happy to borrow tens of billions of pounds more. That will mean more debt, more interest payments and the pain of rebalancing the books dragging on for years to come.”

Numerous contributions have been made to this debate, and I thank those who have spoken from the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Benches. We heard a wise contribution from the right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe (Mr Clarke), and excellent contributions from my hon. Friend the Member for Redcar (Ian Swales) and from the hon. Members for Hexham (Guy Opperman) and for Ipswich (Ben Gummer), in particular.

However, some Conservative Members have criticised me in this debate for the views I have taken on Conservative plans beyond 2017-18—the shadow Chief Secretary asked me about this, too. Let me send a note of warning to some of my Conservative colleagues. We formed the coalition to tackle the deficit in a timely manner. That is why we agree that the structural deficit must be eliminated by the end of 2017-18 and debt must fall as a share of GDP. Hitting that 2017-18 target will require further consolidation to the tune of some £30 billion, and to say that we can reach that figure by spending reductions alone, with some £12 billion coming from cuts to welfare, would be grossly unfair. It would hurt millions of families who are trying hard to make a success of their lives. Tax on the wealthy should and must play a significant part in how we finish the job in the next Parliament. But our real concern, and where we differ, is on what happens after that mandate is met. As a country we should not be wedded to austerity for austerity’s sake. People in this country supported our coalition approach because it has been necessary and successful in turning the economy around, but they will not support an ideological drive for an ever smaller state.

[Chris Leslie]

rose—

[Danny Alexander]

I will give way if the hon. Gentleman speaks very quickly.

[Chris Leslie]

I will. Why then did Robert Chote say that these assumptions were

“signed off by the ‘quad’”?

Did the Chief Secretary sign them off? Was it a mistake or is he now trying to “reverse ferret” out of it? Which is it?

[Danny Alexander]

It is a neutral assumption about the public finances that does not reflect the policies of the Liberal Democrats. I was just in the middle of describing those things, because people want to see some light at the end of the tunnel. They do not want a Dickensian world of decimated public services. I do not see any need for tens of billions of pounds of further cuts beyond 2017-18. If it happens, the reality for many people would be grim. Going too far or too slowly will not offer that light at the end of the tunnel.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Danny Alexander and Chris Leslie

Tuesday 9th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op)]

Will the Chief Secretary confirm that table 2.3 on page 67 of the autumn statement shows that total managed expenditure will fall to 35% of GDP by 2020? According to the Office for Budget Responsibility, that is a level not seen since the late 1930s. Does he stand by the autumn statement or not?

[Danny Alexander]

The way in which the autumn statement is constructed is that the OBR is given an assumption about the path of the public finances over the course of the whole of the next Parliament. As I explained yesterday to readers of The Daily Telegraph—perhaps the hon. Gentleman does not count himself as one of them—a neutral assumption is built into the public finances post 2017-18 which assumes that spending will stay flat in real terms. That enables the OBR to construct its forecast. In my view, when we have finished dealing with the structural deficit post 2017-18, public expenditure will be able to grow faster than that.

[Chris Leslie]

It does not sound as though the right hon. Gentleman stands by the autumn statement much, Mr Speaker. On Wednesday, the chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility wrote to the Business Secretary confirming that the autumn statement and all the policy assumptions leading to this figure of 35% were

“signed off by the ‘quad’”.

Is the Chief Secretary still a member of the “quad”, and is that actually true? Why is he now pretending to distance himself from his consistent record of Tory collaboration when he has been as thick as thieves with them in vote after vote, year after year, time and time again?

[Danny Alexander]

I guess it is a tough job being shadow Chief Secretary: he has to deal with the shadow Chancellor. I saw a quote from the previous Chancellor just this weekend, in Alan Cochrane’s diaries. It said, “I don’t think Miliband gets much of a look-in on the economy now. He’s a difficult man, is Balls.” I guess that is what they mean by a zero-zero economy: one Ed has zero influence; the other has zero credibility. Let me say this to the Labour party and to the Conservative party: both of them, in different ways, are advocating relentless austerity for the whole of the next Parliament, and it is only the Liberal Democrats turning around the public finances after 2017-18 who offer any hope of a change in the future.

Finance (No. 2) Bill

Debate between Danny Alexander and Chris Leslie

Tuesday 1st April 2014 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

It was because our first priority in business taxation was to bring down the very high, internationally uncompetitive headline rate of corporation tax. It was 28% when we came to office, and it will come down to 21% this year and 20% next year. We also chose to reverse the Labour Government’s planned increase in the small firms rate of corporation tax from 21% to 22%. Instead, we took it down to 20%. Those were the right priorities at the start of this Parliament, but given the present encouraging environment for investment, it is now important for the Government to put in place incentives to bring some of that investment forward.

[Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op)]

My hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh East (Sheila Gilmore) has made a pertinent point. The Government brought down investment allowances from, I think, £100,000 to £25,000—a significant reduction, which kicked in from April 2012. With hindsight, will the Chief Secretary to the Treasury admit that that was a mistake?

[Danny Alexander]

No.

The Bill also recognises that social enterprises have a role to play not only in growing the economy but in rebalancing the economy and in reforming public services. At present, public services are often ineligible for existing reliefs. The Bill introduces a new tax relief for investment in social enterprises at a rate of 30%, the same as for existing venture capital schemes. I believe that this will unlock up to £500 million of additional investment in social enterprises over the next five years. I hope that Members on both sides of the House will welcome that.

amendment of the law

Debate between Danny Alexander and Chris Leslie

Tuesday 25th March 2014 Commons Chamber

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

It is a pleasure to close this excellent Budget debate. We have heard some very good speeches today. I particularly commend my hon. Friend the Member for Forest of Dean (Mr Harper), who gave strong support to the Budget. I pay tribute to his work as a Minister, not least as Minister responsible for constitutional reform when he worked so closely with the Deputy Prime Minister on those matters.

I particularly note the speech by the right hon. Member for Edinburgh South West (Mr Darling), who rightly highlighted the importance of securing this country’s long-term competitiveness. I would also highlight the work we are doing on infrastructure, on skills, and on making this country more attractive for investment. In that context, I find his party’s decision to vote against the corporation tax cut utterly extraordinary. If we want this country to become more welcoming to investment, that is precisely the sort of measure we should be supporting.

The right hon. Member for Salford and Eccles (Hazel Blears) spoke particularly about social investment. I welcome her support for the tax relief on social investment that we confirmed in the Budget. The hon. Member for Aberdeen South (Dame Anne Begg) gave an important speech about her concerns about pensions and annuities. I am sure that those issues can be addressed as the Finance Bill goes through the House. My hon. Friends the Members for Bedford (Richard Fuller) and for Daventry (Chris Heaton-Harris) made particularly strong speeches. I commend the hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire North (Jim Sheridan) for his speech, particularly the attention he paid to the warm welcome in the Scotch whisky industry for the measures we have taken on spirits duties—just one of a number of ways in which this was a Budget for Scotland. He is right to have welcomed that.

However, we heard at the end the most extraordinary speech by the shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. I gather that his party is intending to vote against the whole Budget tonight. That is surprising—or perhaps not that surprising in the context of Labour’s changing position on annuities and pension reform. Last week’s announcements on annuities complete the most progressive and important reforms to our pension system since Lloyd George was the Liberal Minister in the Treasury. The reforms are founded on the decisions we have made and are being ably led by the Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions, my hon. Friend the Member for Thornbury and Yate (Steve Webb), who has responsibility for pensions. They include the creation of a single-tier pension—a firm foundation on which everyone can save—and the triple lock, which ensures finally that we will not have the kinds of derisory pension increases that we saw when Labour was in office.

People often wonder whether there will be a rabbit-out-of-the-hat moment in a Budget and I am sure the whole House will agree that our annuities announcement has been successful in rabbit production—a whole Labour Front Bench of them. They are rabbits caught in headlights. It has gone on for days. As my hon. Friend the Member for Daventry memorably said in his speech, Labour’s economic policy is like a chameleon that has fallen into a bag of Smarties. You can ponder for yourself what that means, Mr Deputy Speaker, but I think he was drawing attention to the fact that we have not had a sensible reaction from the Opposition. [Interruption.] I am not sure: I think ginger rodents play a very important role in our democracy, to answer the shadow Chancellor’s remarks.

On Wednesday the Leader of the Opposition said absolutely nothing. On Thursday the hon. Member for West Bromwich East (Mr Watson), presumably frustrated by the continued silence of his Front Benchers, took it on himself to tell his party that it should oppose our plans on annuities and pensions. Friday saw the hon. Member for Leeds West (Rachel Reeves) getting around almost at least to welcoming the move. To think that Labour Members used to say that we in my party wore sandals; they are surely now the flip-flop party. They now say—this is a serious point—that they will vote against the Budget as a whole and, therefore, against all of the reforms contained in it. They did not know what to say about the reforms, then they were against them, then in favour of them, then sort of in favour of them and now in just a few minutes’ time they are going to vote against them. The truth is that our great liberalisation of the pensions market has hit Labour Members like a missile. It has cracked open one of the great dividing lines between their values and our values. We on this side of the House know that the best people to trust with money are the people who earn that money in the first place. Labour Members do not seem to agree with that.

I draw the House’s attention to the following quote:

“You cannot trust people to spend their own money sensibly”.

Who said that? It was a former Labour adviser in No. 10 under the previous Government. That says it all. Having been in opposition to that Government for so long, I understand John McTernan’s concerns. After all, when the Labour party was given access to the public purse, it went on a giant spending spree. It splurged on all sorts of unsuccessful projects. It is a party that wastes money and expects someone else to clean up after it. We are the party—the Government, the coalition—that it has left with the cleaning up. [Interruption.] Yes, the Liberal Democrats are clearing up the mess that the Labour party made of this country’s economy. I think that the people of this country know not only about the mess the Labour party made of our economy, but that people who have spent their lives saving for their retirement can be trusted to make sensible, long-term choices. It is just the Labour party that cannot be trusted to do that.

This was, in the end, a Budget for freedom. It was a Budget for the freedom of pensioners to choose to use their own savings in the way that best suits them; a Budget for working people to be free to keep more of the money they earn for themselves; and a Budget to support businesses that want to invest. The only way we can deliver the rise in living standards that has been discussed by some Labour Members is by making sure that our policies are as fair as possible.

[Chris Leslie]

Now that the Chief Secretary has finally come to the question of living standards, will he do what he failed to do four times when asked on the “PM” programme on the day of the Budget and admit that living standards will be lower at the time of the next election than they were at the last election—yes or no?

[Danny Alexander]

I rather agree with the analysis that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions set out on that question. In his opening remarks—[Interruption.] The Opposition might not like it, but no matter how much the shadow chunterer makes his noises from the Front Bench, I will make the point that the recession that they helped to cause when they were in office cost every household in this country £3,000. That is the mess that they made. It is no wonder that we are having to work so hard to repair the British economy and to ensure that there are jobs for people.

[Chris Leslie]

Will the Chief Secretary give way?

[Danny Alexander]

No, I will not give way any more—sit down. I will give the hon. Gentleman the treatment that he deserves.

In the Budget, we have sought to help those at the bottom of the earnings scale by taking them out of tax altogether. I am incredibly proud, as a Liberal Democrat, to stand at this Dispatch Box and say that, come next April, the rise in the personal allowance will mean that typical basic rate taxpayers will be £800 a year better off than they would have been under the previous Government’s plans.

[Chris Leslie]

Will the Chief Secretary give way?

[Danny Alexander]

No; I am going to make some progress.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Danny Alexander and Chris Leslie

Tuesday 11th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

I join my hon. Friend in congratulating Warburtons bakery on that investment and on the jobs it is creating. It is of a piece with businesses creating more than 1.6 million private sector jobs since the Government came to office, because we have created the right conditions for businesses to grow. The reduction in employers’ NICs for young people will give that business an incentive to take young people on in those new jobs.

[Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op)]

How many more young people have been claiming jobseeker’s allowance for more than 12 months compared with when the Chief Secretary took office four years ago?

[Danny Alexander]

As I said in my answer to the first question, the number of young people on jobseeker’s allowance is 120,000 lower than it was in May 2010. The Labour party told us that it would not be possible to create enough jobs even to take up the jobs lost in the public sector but, in fact, more than 1.6 million jobs have been created in the private sector since the Government took office. The hon. Gentleman should congratulate us on that record.

[Chris Leslie]

Perhaps the Chief Secretary did not hear me properly—I asked about the long-term youth claimant count. The number of young people who have been out of work for 12 months or more has doubled under this Government from 28,300 to 56,100. Frankly, 56,000 young people will be staggered by the complacency of his answer. Surely we should be offering a guaranteed starter job for all young people who have been out of work for a year or more, paid for with a repeat of the bankers’ bonus tax. Does he still believe that those bankers need their millions more than those young people need their opportunities?

[Danny Alexander]

Long-term youth unemployment was down 25,000 on the quarter. Youth unemployment is down 15% in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency, and he ought to welcome that. The fact is that the bonus tax, which the former Chancellor says would not raise any money, is being spent on, I believe, 10 different measures by Labour, showing how fiscally incredible its plans are.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Danny Alexander and Chris Leslie

Tuesday 28th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

We have already taken steps to ensure that the annuities market works better. We are examining it further to ensure that people who have saved for a pension can get a proper deal in retirement.

[Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op)]

When it comes to the cost of living, does the Chief Secretary now agree that it was a big mistake for the Chancellor to issue such dodgy statistics last week, desperately pretending that the public have never had it so good? The Government’s first statistical dodge was adding in only tax changes that they like and ignoring tax rises and cuts to tax credits, which, by the way, disproportionately hit women. Their other dodge was trying to prove that the rich were really doing very well by leaving out that thing that they do not like talking about today—the millionaires’ tax cut. They were such blatantly skewed figures—is the Chief Secretary not just a little bit embarrassed about such statistical trickery?

[Danny Alexander]

A vast amount of words, but not one of them welcoming the most important set of statistics today—the growth figures that have been published this morning. The year 2013 was the first calendar year since 2007 with economic growth in all four quarters, and I wish the hon. Gentleman had welcomed that.

[Chris Leslie]

Week after week, month after month, we come to the Dispatch Box and beg the Government to do something about the cost of living crisis, but all we hear from the two Government parties is, “Crisis? What crisis?” How out of touch can they possibly be? I want to ask the Chief Secretary a simple question. Does he really, genuinely think that the British public are better off today than when he came to office?

[Danny Alexander]

I know for a fact that the British public are better off than they would be if the hon. Gentleman’s party had stayed in office. He’s got a cheek, he really has.

Again, no welcome for the growth figures or the fact that, last week, we saw the largest quarterly rise in employment in our country’s history. No welcome for the big tax cuts for working people in this country or the range of measures that we have taken to ask the wealthiest to pay more. Those are the things that are getting this country back in the right direction, something that the hon. Gentleman’s party would fail to do.

National Infrastructure Plan

Debate between Danny Alexander and Chris Leslie

Wednesday 4th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op)]

(Urgent Question): To ask the Chief Secretary to the Treasury to update the House on the national infrastructure plan.

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

Thank you, Mr Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to explain the national infrastructure plan to the House. I thought I might have tested the House’s patience back in June with my lengthy statement on infrastructure, but I am glad that there is an appetite for further conversation on this subject.

In June, I set out our plans to invest more than £100 billion of taxpayers’ money over the next decade towards improving our transport networks, our energy networks and our digital networks, and in other specific infrastructure projects crucial to our civic life. This morning, the Government published the latest updates of the national infrastructure plan and the investment pipeline that goes with it.

First, the documents provide an update on the projects that have been delivered to date—I am sure that we will return to that later. Secondly, the documents update our plans to improve future delivery. The updated pipeline provides the most comprehensive overview of planned and potential infrastructure investment ever produced, which gives investors the long-term clarity and certainty they need to put their money into our infrastructure. The NIP also includes changes relating to legal and planning practices, including reforms to judicial review, for example, the creation of a special planning chamber to ensure that the planning system and judicial review process does not cause excessive delays in any infrastructure project.

Thirdly, the documents published today update some of the details of our previous infrastructure plan. Let me give the House a few details. First, we set out changes to the strike price regime for renewable energy, and they have a number of components. We have reduced slightly the support being offered in the future for onshore wind and large-scale solar production. We are also increasing substantially investment in offshore wind. In particular, we think that the strike prices we have announced, with the increase in 2018-19, are likely to lead to at least 10 GW of investment in offshore wind between now and 2020—more if the prices can come down. This is about meeting our growth commitments and our green commitments as cost-effectively as possible.

The NIP sets out decisions on the future of the renewable heat incentive and the prices that we pay for different technologies under it. The plan also sets out a few changes to some specific transport schemes. We have listened carefully to the public response to the consultation on the tolling of the A14 and we have decided not to go ahead with that tolling, but not at any cost in terms of the time taken to deliver that very important project. We have decided to provide new investment in the A50, a crucial road link where there are many delays and bottlenecks. We are working closely with Staffordshire county council and the local enterprise partnership to work through the delivery of that. We have decided to contribute £30 million to the development of the proposed “Garden bridge” in London. We have also made announcements about supporting Government procurement of electric vehicles and some other important developments, such as our plans to double our corporate asset sales target from £10 billion to £20 billion by 2020.

We confirm that the feasibility studies we set out in June, particularly on routes such as the A1 to Scotland, the A303, the A27 and the trans-Pennine routes, are well under way and that full plans for each of those routes will be set out by this time next year. Following correspondence from Sir Howard Davies in advance of the interim report by his airports commission, we have set out plans to improve surface access to airports around London—in particular, £50 million will be contributed to a new Gatwick airport railway station. The subject of rural broadband was mention in the earlier Question Time, and we are committing £10 million to identify the best technologies to reach those hardest-to-treat premises.

Finally, today’s publication lays out the commitment made today by a group of insurers to work with Government and regulators and invest £25 billion in UK infrastructure over the next five years. I am sure that hon. Members on both sides of the House will agree that that represents a massive vote of confidence by some of our most important companies in the UK economy. The plan also draws attention to the new agreement signed with Hitachi and Horizon this morning, which commits us in principle to offering a guarantee for their new nuclear power station in Anglesey. I am sure that hon. Members who have had a chance to look through the document will recognise that this is real evidence that we are making real progress on delivering infrastructure fit for our country’s future. The NIP demonstrates a long-term vision for our energy, transport and digital networks. It is a plan that is helping to secure long-term investment and that will lead to sustainable, strong long-term growth. As such, I look forward to the hon. Member for Nottingham East (Chris Leslie) welcoming it with open arms and congratulating us on the progress we have made.

[Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op)]

Time and again, the Chief Secretary boasts about his grand plans for infrastructure, yet the reality is always such a let down. With the country facing a cost of living crisis, is it not about time that the Government invested in the fundamentals to strengthen our economy for the long term? When will all these reheated press releases finally translate into diggers on the ground? Is it not the truth that since this Government were elected, work on infrastructure has fallen by an astonishing 15%, according to the Office for National Statistics? A 15% fall in infrastructure output since May 2010 should be a badge of shame for this Chief Secretary to the Treasury, as it happened on his watch.

This is a Minister who has a long history of issuing press releases in the hope that they magically translate into delivery on the ground. Once upon a time, many years ago, his press releases claimed that £20 billion from the pension funds would go into infrastructure, but only £1 billion was pledged, and nothing has yet been invested. Why should we believe that today’s press release about a supposed £25 billion from insurance funds is actually going to happen? Will he confirm that there is no new Government money for infrastructure today? In fact, will he admit that he is cutting the capital infrastructure budget in real terms by 1.7% for 2015?

For all the spin from this chief press officer to the Treasury, three quarters of the projects in this pipeline will not be in service until after the next election. Nearly a fifth of them will not be in service until after 2020. Members might have a niggling sense of déjà vu. Should not the Chief Secretary be just a little bit embarrassed to go through this same routine again? He pretends that he has got this fantastic record when he is transparently not delivering. It is worse than the emperor’s new clothes. He has been left exposed by a failure to deliver, and his record is out there for all to see.

Does not the chopping and changing on the A14 tolling in Suffolk say everything about the Government’s incompetent approach to infrastructure delivery? Costs have shot up £200 million and they have wasted three years on faffing around. On flood defences, they have cut spending by £100 million. On green investment, can the Chief Secretary not see that business investors are tearing their hair out at the erratic stop-start approach to support for renewables? Are we supposed to be impressed that the Government are looking at options to bring in private capital for the green investment bank? It is beginning to look like the return of omnishambles.

On schools, the Government scrapped Labour’s Building Schools for the Future, but of the 261 schools that their replacement Priority School Building programme was supposed to deliver, construction has started on only two. There is not a single word in this proposal today about housing investment. The Chief Secretary’s emergency guarantees legislation for £40 billion of underwrites has been a flop. His new version of private finance has not taken off. None the less, I must give him some credit today for one major advance for society. On the front page of his press release today, he pledges £8 million for new light bulbs for NCP car parks. What a shining example of infrastructure investment that is. I must ask: how many Treasury Ministers does it take to announce a change in the light bulbs? It is one thing putting out press releases, but can he at least try to make them vaguely convincing? He even resorts to claiming credit for projects that started before the election. This is a Treasury that has neglected the fundamentals that we need for a economic recovery that is built to last. For all the hype, the hot air and those press releases, we are left with a shambolic infrastructure programme and cuts in infrastructure plans. When will he get a grip?

[Danny Alexander]

It is very rare that I find myself thinking that Labour Members must wish that they had the shadow Chancellor on the Front Bench asking the questions and not the shadow Chief Secretary—the former policy wonk in the shadow Chief Secretary role with no new ideas of his own whatsoever.

The shadow Chief Secretary is quite right to say that this plan is not about new Government money, as I announced £100 billion-worth of new Government policy in June. He is wrong, however, on his comparisons with capital spending. Capital spending is higher in this Parliament as a share of the economy than it was under the previous Government. He is also wrong to criticise our announcements on energy today. The announcements on strike prices have been welcomed by commentators as diverse as Greenpeace, which states that it is right to focus on the costs of offshore wind, and the Renewable Energy Association, which described today’s announcement as a good day for renewable energy and renewable heat. I remind the hon. Gentleman that this Government were the first to put in place a green investment bank, something his party never bothered to do when it was in office.

Hearing the hon. Gentleman talking about infrastructure reminds me that his party cannot even decide what it thinks about the most important infrastructure project in the country, let alone what to do about it. The moment the Labour party comes out with a proper policy on High Speed 2 is, I suspect, a long time away. That is a pretty pathetic failure on Labour’s part to back investment in the north, northern cities and Scotland.

On delivery, let me say this. Onshore and offshore, underground and overground—[Interruption.]—wired and wireless, tarmac and train track, this Government are delivering. [Interruption.]

Investing in Britain’s Future

Debate between Danny Alexander and Chris Leslie

Thursday 27th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op)]

What a lot of hot air from the Chief Secretary. Haven’t we heard it all before? Plenty of empty promises. But I must ask: when will the Government pull their finger out and actually start to build some of these things?

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury has been sent out with this long-winded statement to talk and talk and talk about infrastructure investment, but all the evidence shows that the Government are failing to deliver. As John Cridland, the director general of the CBI said yesterday:

“While the Government talks a good game on infrastructure”—

and I think even that is a bit doubtful—

“we’ve seen too little delivery on the ground so far.”

It is no wonder that the director general of the British Chambers of Commerce has described the Government’s plans for infrastructure as

“hot air, a complete fiction”.

Should not the Chief Secretary be listening to his leader—not the Prime Minister, but the Deputy Prime Minister, who said this week:

“The gap between intention, announcement and delivery is quite significant”?

A little more action and a little less Tory from him would not go amiss. Why is the Chief Secretary neglecting the health of our flatlining economy, and why was there nothing—I repeat, nothing—in yesterday’s spending review to kick-start a strong and sustainable recovery?

Will the Chief Secretary confirm that this Tory-led Government have spent £5.6 billion less in capital investment over the last three years when compared with the plans they inherited from Labour? No wonder that their plans for construction and growth have been such a total flop. Is he not just a little embarrassed that the infrastructure activity in the British economy collapsed by a staggering 50%—it has halved—in the first three months of this year? Does he not realise that three years of economic stagnation means that this is the slowest recovery for over a century, with just 1% growth compared to the 6% that the Chancellor promised when he started his cuts programme?

The Treasury’s performance on capital infrastructure is lamentable. Just one project has been supported by the Government’s supposed emergency guarantees legislation, which should have underwritten up to £40 billion of infrastructure. Two years ago, the Chancellor told us—I do not know whether he remembers this—that a further £20 billion would be leveraged in from pension funds, yet in March he let slip that only £1 billion had been committed and that no investments had yet been made. Of the 576 projects in the Government’s existing infrastructure pipeline, just seven have been completed and 80% of them have not even started. All the while, the construction sector has lost 84,000 jobs since this Government came to power.

When the Prime Minister said, over 18 months ago, that he would go on

“an all-out mission to unblock the system and get projects underway”,

what happened? All that chillaxing has been at the expense of the recovery that should have been well under way years ago.

Let me ask the Chief Secretary about the detail of his statement. Will he confirm that the Government’s plans for housing construction are stagnant and that no Government have presided over such a low peacetime level of new housing completions since the 1920s? Will he confirm, too, that the local government capital budget, which includes housing, is being cut by over a third—35%—in yesterday’s spending round announcements for 2015. Will he confirm that particular figure? It looks, from the Chancellor’s face, that that is in fact the case. What action is he taking to tackle the lengthening time for both major and minor planning applications to be decided, despite his promise two years ago that they would improve on the 13-week time scale? What happened to that?

On transport, will the Chief Secretary now tell us when he is going to publish the three long-awaited national policy statements on ports, transport networks and aviation? I hope that somebody is keeping an eye on the High Speed 2 budget, which seems to have leapt overnight by £8 billion. It was good that he gave the go-ahead to the Mersey Gateway bridge—again. In fact, he also re-announced the A14 funding, which I think the Chancellor announced two years ago in the November 2011 autumn statement—and in exactly the same words.

On energy and carbon reduction, is not the Renewable Energy Association right to describe the decision to undermine the feed-in tariff rates as “a horrendous strategic mistake”? On shale gas, would it not be sensible to be led by the evidence rather than by political antipathy to renewables? If the Chief Secretary really wants to encourage new investment in our energy infrastructure, should he not have a decarbonisation target to clean up our power supply by 2013?

On flooding, it was noticeable that the Chief Secretary said that the devil was in the detail and there is still a lot to be worked out, but will he stand up and confirm that these changes might need primary legislation? If so, when is that going to happen?

On schools, does the right hon. Gentleman not now regret scrapping Labour’s Building Schools for the Future programme? On “Newsnight” last night, the Education Secretary did not seem to realise that his capital budget was being cut in real terms, perhaps because his so-called Priority School Building programme announced three years ago has so far seen construction start on only one school building.

Does the Chief Secretary not understand how dangerous it is to ignore the warnings from the International Monetary Fund, which says that Britain should bring forward capital infrastructure projects because we need a significant near-term stimulus now, in 2013, not several years away? Why does he not listen to the advice of the IMF? Why does he not come clean and admit that he is cutting the capital investment budget overall, in real terms, by 1.7% for 2015-16, as it says at the bottom of page 11, table 2 of yesterday’s spending review, should anyone care to look at the detail? Is it not the truth that there is no new money for infrastructure? He is spinning a line, rolling multiple years together to make the figure sound big, reheating old announcements in his microwave statement, which should have turned into action long ago.

The House can at least agree that the Government have been negligent with the health of our economy and that the deficit is not falling as a result. The scandal is that they are still ignoring the urgent need to kick-start growth when they should bring forward projects without delay. We are seeing no delivery for three years, no infrastructure brought forward and, for all the hype, real terms cuts to long-term infrastructure in 2015. Something has got to be done about this lot, because so far they are not capable of delivering the goods.

[Danny Alexander]

What a pathetic response to a very serious long-term and detailed plan for this country’s infrastructure. We heard no admission of Labour’s 13 woeful years of delivery of infrastructure. Given some of the hon. Gentleman’s questions, he obviously had not listened to my statement.

On borrowing, our deficit is falling as a share of GDP, which is the proper measure, but only the Labour party could claim that new figures showing that we borrowed less in previous years are bad news for the country—the Labour party is addicted to borrowing— and that is on the day when we learned that the hole that Labour left in our economy was even deeper than previously said. Today’s figures show that the 2008 recession shrunk our economy by 7.2%, not the 6.3% of previous estimates. As the first shadow Minister to respond since the new figures came out, the hon. Gentleman made no apology for the mess the Labour party made of the economy. We are clearing up its mess, and he ought to have shown a little humility on that point.

On delivery, let me give the hon. Gentleman the facts about this Government’s record. Since 2010, 30 major road schemes have been completed. Of the 24 major projects announced since 2010, eight are under construction, and eight more start this year. Of the 56 local road schemes announced, 28 have been completed or are under construction, and 15 more start this year. Some 150 stations have been upgraded across England and Wales, including Blackfriars and King’s Cross. Some 190,000 school places have been completed for the next school year, and 81 free schools have been built. Some 84,000 houses have been completed, and 59,000 houses have been protected from flooding. Crossrail is employing 8,000 workers with six boring machines—more than the Opposition Front Bench.

On investment, we have added £20 billion of investment at every fiscal event since the 2010 spending—

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Danny Alexander and Chris Leslie

Tuesday 25th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and rather than laughing, the shadow Chancellor should welcome the fact that there is the largest investment in our railways since Victorian times. Electrification is under way, ahead of schedule as my hon. Friend suggests; the intercity express programme train purchase programme will help to improve journey times yet further; what was in our announcements in the autumn statement last year will allow direct western rail access to Heathrow from his constituency and other communities served by that line.

[Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op)]

If it is all so wonderful, can the Chief Secretary explain why, two years after he published the national infrastructure plan, according to the Office for National Statistics the level of infrastructure investment in our economy has plummeted by a staggering 50% in the first quarter of this year, its lowest level since he came to office? Why?

[Danny Alexander]

The hon. Gentleman should remember that the capital investment we are putting into infrastructure in this economy is much greater than in the plans his party set out before the last election. As the former Foreign Secretary said, Labour was going to halve the share of national income going into capital spending. We have added to that, and by using the fiscal credibility that this Government’s tough approach to the deficit has secured to offer infrastructure guarantees, we are enabling infrastructure projects in the private sector to come forward that would not be doing so otherwise.

[Chris Leslie]

What planet is the Chief Secretary living on? A year ago, the director general of the CBI was asking:

“Where are the diggers on the ground?”

A year later, the diggers are still gathering dust. I realise that the Chief Secretary and the Chancellor are busy focusing on headlines for the next general election, two years away, but why are they not taking the advice of the International Monetary Fund and bringing forward capital investment now, in 2013, to make up for their lamentable incompetence on this infrastructure plan?

[Danny Alexander]

We are investing more in infrastructure this year than the hon. Gentleman’s party planned during its period in government. We are supporting the private sector to bring forward further investment in infrastructure, thanks to our infrastructure guarantee programme. We are supporting the construction of more affordable homes than his party managed; after all, his party presided over a decline of 421,000 affordable homes in this country. We are increasing investment in that. He should welcome this Government’s infrastructure programme, not criticise it from the position of weakness that he is in.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Danny Alexander and Chris Leslie

Tuesday 14th May 2013 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend. I particularly welcome his comments on the potential for garden cities to add substantially to the housing supply, a matter on which the Government will make further statements in the next few months.

[Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Government have presided over a massive collapse of our construction sector. How can they maintain the pretence that they support the economy when just seven projects out of the 576 that were set out in their infrastructure plan are completed or operational? The director general of the CBI says:

“I have a queue of businesses at my door telling me the Government’s Infrastructure Plan needs speeding up.”

Will the Chief Secretary confirm that, so far, they have managed to deliver only two projects—less than one quarter of 1% of the underwriting guarantees authorised by his emergency legislation last summer?

[Danny Alexander]

The hon. Gentleman is stretching somewhat beyond the area of housing, Mr Speaker, but with your permission I would like to address his question. Some £10 billion worth of infrastructure projects prequalified for the guarantee scheme, bringing forward substantial investment in infrastructure. We are investing more in transport infrastructure in this Parliament than his Government managed during the economic good times. We are investing more in the railways than has been done since Victorian times. He should compliment the Government on our approach to infrastructure, because, whether in transport or communications and broadband, more is happening than his Government ever managed.

amendment of the law

Debate between Danny Alexander and Chris Leslie

Monday 25th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

Will the hon. Gentleman give me a moment? I am going to say something about him. He made some serious points about borrowing powers. As he knows, they are being considered in the light of the Silk commission recommendations.

Many Government Members celebrated both the reaching of the £10,000 income tax personal allowance and the reductions in fuel duty, which one or two Opposition Members also welcomed. I will not single out every contribution, but my hon. Friends the Members for Halesowen and Rowley Regis (James Morris) and for Mid Dorset and North Poole (Annette Brooke) spoke passionately about those subjects. They also mentioned housing, including the important role played by affordable housing in the Budget.

[Chris Leslie]

rose—

[Danny Alexander]

I am going to press on.

[Chris Leslie]

rose—

[Danny Alexander]

Will the hon. Gentleman just let me finish the point?

The hon. Members for Huddersfield (Mr Sheerman) and for Stalybridge and Hyde (Jonathan Reynolds) made passionate speeches about manufacturing. The hon. Member for Coventry South (Mr Cunningham) celebrated the presidency of George Bush, which was somewhat surprising. My hon. Friend the Member for Colchester (Sir Bob Russell) called for a tax on television rights relating to football matches, which is not a suggestion that I shall be following up immediately.

Now I will give way to the shadow Financial Secretary.

[Chris Leslie]

The Chief Secretary mentioned housing. May I ask him about the new homes subsidy? In yesterday’s Daily Telegraph, he was quoted as saying:

“I do not want to get into all the details.”

Has he decided tonight to rule out making that scheme available for second or third homes?

[Danny Alexander]

We have made it clear throughout that there is no intention that this scheme should work to the benefit of second-home owners, but as I said yesterday and as the Chancellor has said repeatedly, we will consult on the detail of the scheme to make sure it benefits those whom it needs to benefit.

There is a very serious problem in this country: many people, especially young couples, can afford the monthly repayments on their mortgage but cannot afford the large deposits that are now required by mortgage—

[Chris Leslie]

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

[Danny Alexander]

No, I am going to press on.

--- Later in debate ---

[Chris Leslie]

rose—

[Danny Alexander]

Sit down; I am going to press on. The help to buy scheme, in its several manifestations, is designed to provide support.

We heard no apology whatsoever from Opposition Front Benchers for the mess they got this country into when in government. That is what we were looking for from the shadow Secretary of State for Local Government and the shadow Financial Secretary.

There were contributions from a number of distinguished members of the—

--- Later in debate ---

[Danny Alexander]

I say, as I said directly to the Scotch whisky industry, that this Government are giving considerable support to it as it seeks to broaden its reach into export markets across the world. The work of UKTI, in particular, is of great assistance to that industry.

We are building a stronger economy and a fairer society, and we are also helping people who want to get on in life. If you want to get on in life, last week’s was a Budget that will support you. It was a Budget that will give thousands of people the opportunity to step on to the housing ladder or step up the housing ladder. Our £5.4 billion housing package will boost home ownership and kick-start the building of new homes. The intention of the help to buy scheme is to provide help to people who want to get their first home or move home but cannot afford the deposit that today’s mortgages now require. This is a complex policy area, and we are working with the industry to find a practical and sensible way of taking the scheme forward without blunting its radicalism or its reach. I am sure we will achieve that.

[Chris Leslie]

rose—

[Danny Alexander]

I am going to press on, as there is no time left.

There are many other ways the Government are helping people to get on in life. Our tax-free child care measures, for example, will ensure that from autumn 2015 vouchers supporting 20% of child care costs will be available to families when both parents or a single parent is working, neither parent is earning more than £150,000 a year and the parents are not already receiving a more generous level of support through the tax credit system.

The Government are helping people to get on in life and plan for their financial futures. Thanks to the excellent work of my the Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions, my hon. Friend the Member for Thornbury and Yate (Steve Webb), we have already brought in auto-enrolment, which will help bring 9 million people into a workplace pension scheme, and we are also radically simplifying the state pension system and bringing that simplification forward through the single tier.

Of course, there is a lot of work to do in the longer term to strengthen our economy, but we must start by cleaning up the mess made by the Labour party. We believe that we are putting the right measures in place to bring the deficit down and to speed up growth. The Budget is another step towards building a stronger economy and a fairer society to help those people who want to get on, and I commend it to the House.

Question put.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Danny Alexander and Chris Leslie

Tuesday 11th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

I applaud the work of the FairFuelUK campaign in drawing attention to such issues. Having discussed the matter with Clive Maxwell of the Office of Fair Trading, I can reassure my hon. Friend that if the call for information in which it is currently engaged yields evidence of real problems in the fuel market, it will launch a full investigation.

[Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op)]

In four months’ time, more than a million families will see their cost of living rise, with the loss of child benefit and a complex tax change costing the Exchequer £100 million more just to administer. Can the Chief Secretary tell the House how many more families will have to fill out a self-assessment tax form for the privilege of losing their child benefit, and when will those complex forms begin to arrive?

[Danny Alexander]

Letters to people who are likely to be affected by that change will go out in October—[Hon. Members: “Which year?”] October of this year. I am surprised to hear that the hon. Gentleman objects to the change, given that it is a necessary part of our fiscal consolidation, and particularly part of our asking the wealthiest in this country to make a contribution to deficit reduction. His party should support that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Danny Alexander and Chris Leslie

Tuesday 6th September 2011 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

Yes, I very much agree with that. As my hon. Friend will know, the need to tackle the enormous economic problems that we inherited from the previous Government, including the enormous budget deficit, was the founding purpose of this Government. It is a purpose that we intend to see through, and he can be reassured that we will stick to our plans.

[Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op)]

Given the Government’s poor performance on growth, lower tax receipts and higher welfare spending, will the Chief Secretary repeat—a simple yes or no answer will do—whether the Government are still committed to their target of falling public debt as a percentage of GDP by 2015? Yes or no?

[Danny Alexander]

Yes.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Danny Alexander and Chris Leslie

Tuesday 22nd March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

None. The hon. Lady will be aware of the report that the OECD published last week, which strongly endorsed our plans. Its general secretary, Angel Gurría, said that the fiscal position we inherited was “clearly unsustainable” and that the

“consolidation measures and plans that the”—

Government—

“have put in place were therefore vital.”

I agree with that.

[Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op)]

Today’s inflation figures show a sharp leap in the retail prices index to 5.5%, the highest level in 20 years. That hits not only living standards, but public service expenditure plans. Is the Chief Secretary sticking to the coalition agreement guarantee of real-terms growth for the NHS in each year or is he resolutely sticking to his plan A, regardless of economic realities?

[Danny Alexander]

We are sticking to the spending plans that we set out in the spending review, and that is the right thing to do. Of course I understand that inflation has an effect on people’s living standards, which is why it is particularly important to emphasise the increase in the personal income tax threshold—£1,000 extra on the threshold—that comes into force this April, which will put £200 back into the pockets of hard-working people in this country. That is the action this Government are taking to help people through these difficult times.

Finance Bill

Debate between Danny Alexander and Chris Leslie

Tuesday 6th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving me the opportunity to place on the record my thanks and those of this Government to Sir Alan Budd for his superb work in establishing, in a short period, an independent Office for Budget Responsibility with a strong reputation. It was always known that he intended to move on after a short period—a few months—in his post, and that is what he is doing. In a short time, he has established greater independence of the forecasts that go with the Budget than the previous Government managed in 13 years.

[Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op)]

Sir Alan Budd is leaving the Office for Budget Responsibility, so to ensure that that organisation is seen to be independent, will the right hon. Gentleman give the House of Commons the power to appoint the successor or is he going to keep that for himself as a Minister?

[Danny Alexander]

I am not sure that that power ever rested in the hands of the Chief Secretary but, as the hon. Gentleman knows from the Gracious Speech, the Government intend to implement legislation to put the OBR on a statutory footing. He will have the opportunity to make that point in considering that legislation, and I am sure that he intends to do so.

--- Later in debate ---

[Danny Alexander]

I am going to make progress for a few moments, or the former Chief Secretary will never get a chance to have his say.

Clause 4 takes further action to tackle the deficit by increasing the standard rate of insurance premium tax from 5% to 6%. The higher rate of insurance premium tax will increase from 17.5% to 20% from 4 January 2011, to bring it into line with the new VAT rate. The increases are both fair and sustainable.

[Chris Leslie]

rose—

[Danny Alexander]

I am going to make some progress.

[Chris Leslie]

On insurance premium tax?

[Danny Alexander]

I give way on insurance premium tax.

[Chris Leslie]

Is it fair to increase the higher rate of insurance premium tax to 20% on travel insurance, which is vital for many ordinary working people as they take a break and go on holiday? They may be able to do so for only one or two weeks a year. If they do not have travel insurance, that could leave them in significant jeopardy. Will the increase not prevent or deter people from taking out travel insurance?

[Danny Alexander]

I am sure that the hon. Gentleman is right to exhort people to take out travel insurance. As he will know, when insurance premium tax was established, both its lower and higher rates were linked to VAT. It is therefore right that they go ahead together on the same basis.

We have inherited plans to limit tax relief on pension savings for the wealthiest. We have concerns about the complexity of the changes and their potential consequences for pension saving, UK competitiveness and the complexity of the tax system. However, given the state of the public finances, we cannot be blind to the £3.5 billion of revenue that the policy was set to raise. Therefore we have set out our commitment to protecting the public finances by pursuing an alternative approach that raises no less revenue than existing plans, potentially by reducing the annual allowance. We will therefore engage employers, pension schemes, experts and other interested parties to determine the design of an alternative scheme. To keep our options open, clause 5 provides the power to repeal the regime that was legislated for in the Finance Act 2010.

Secondly, our Budget stands for fairness. This is a Budget that protects the most vulnerable, especially children in poverty and pensioners, while ensuring that those with the broadest shoulders take the greatest share of the burden. As my right hon. Friend the Chancellor said in his Budget statement, it is a progressive Budget.