Capital Gains Tax (Rates)

David Rutley Excerpts

Monday 28th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[David Rutley (Macclesfield) (Con)]

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak in this debate, Mr Deputy Speaker. We have heard some wonderful maiden speeches today, including those of the hon. Member for Glasgow Central (Anas Sarwar) and my hon. Friends the Members for Truro and Falmouth (Sarah Newton), for Pudsey (Stuart Andrew) and for Thurrock (Jackie Doyle-Price), among other great constituencies of this country. I congratulate them. Our talk about the Budget today has been vital, because it will define the challenge of this Parliament and, quite possibly, of a political generation.

I should like to thank hon. Members on this side of the House for electing me a member of the Treasury Committee. It will be a great honour to serve on the Committee, which plays an important role in Parliament, and I look forward to working with its Chairman, my hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Mr Tyrie), and all its other members, in carrying out my duties.

Before I go into the content of the Budget, it is important to remind the House why such a Budget is required. Yes, there has been a global economic crisis, but the sheer scale of the budget deficit has clearly been exacerbated by the policies of the previous Government, and it is time that Labour Members had the honesty to acknowledge that. As a special adviser in the Treasury during the last Conservative Government, when “canny Ken” was Chancellor, the most important lesson that I learned was that you cannot spend what you have not got. Based on the exchanges in the last couple of debates, however, it is clear that that lesson has been lost on Labour Members. It is as though they think that spending is an end in itself, that it is good to spend, and that we should carry on spending regardless. Well, we have had to take the measures to stop all that.

The economic crisis is affecting the whole of the country, including Cheshire, despite what the Leader of the Opposition said last week. In Macclesfield, we shall see the loss of 600 jobs with the closure of BAE Systems’ Woodford site in 2012. There are also closures at Kay Metzeler in Bollington, and at Swain and Sons in Poynton. Most recently, we have heard the announcement of the loss of 250 jobs when the Cheshire building society closes down its operations in our town. We have now seen a staggering 177 % increase in unemployment in the past five years. We are working hard locally to address the situation, and we will be holding a business forum to determine what further action can be taken.

It is clear, however, that an improvement in the economy locally, as well as in constituencies across the country, will require national action as well. That is why I welcome the Budget, with its measures to show that Britain is open for business. That will be important for local employers in Macclesfield, such as AstraZeneca, who need to have the confidence to go on investing in this country, and for those looking to start new businesses in regions such as the north-west, where job creation needs a big boost from business, not from the public sector. I am also pleased that the Chancellor is taking positive steps to reduce the budget deficit. It is the biggest in living memory, which is why we are having to take tough action to get the economy moving again.

Given such difficult circumstances, the focus of our debate should be not only on what needs to be done, but on how these huge objectives can be achieved. Policies and programmes will need to be reviewed as planned, but let us not forget the process by which the challenges should be addressed. My hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough (Mr Leigh) has already made some important points on this. The public spending review will be a critical task. Lord Waldegrave of North Hill, my former boss at the Treasury, recently gave the Chief Secretary to the Treasury some advice. He told him that he would need to have the hide of a rhinoceros in taking the review forward, and I have no doubt that that is true. I wish the Chief Secretary every success in establishing a rigorous and challenging review, and in deciding the urgent priorities in Government spending.

Delivering the Budget will also require a transformation in the culture of our civil service. We need to help civil servants to feel proud about their efforts to save taxpayers’ money. When I worked at Asda, colleagues there were genuinely motivated and proud to work towards delivering a lower cost of living to customers. They knew that to deliver everyday low prices they had to focus on delivering everyday low costs, and they were proud to do that. It was part of every bit of work that they did, day in, day out. I suggest that there are lessons to be learnt from that approach in the delivery of value for money in Government and effective public services. It is clear from the actions of Ministers in the coalition Government that they are committed to bringing about cultural change of that kind, and I fully support their efforts.

It is good to know that clear objectives are being set at the top, and that value-for-money Ministers will be appointed in every single Department; but I trust that, in such difficult circumstances, those objectives will be shared throughout Whitehall, and that the Cabinet Secretary will give more priority to the value-for-money objectives of permanent secretaries and their teams. I believe that much of the knowledge required for the achievement of those objectives rests with those responsible for front-line service provision, where the proximity of customers provides powerful knowledge and understanding.

During the general election campaign, I met thousands of public sector workers who were appalled at the amount of waste and the layers of bureaucracy that they had to face every day of the week. One hospital chef told me that he had three bosses. I think most people would agree that that should not be part of the recipe for providing nourishing meals for patients in hospitals. That is why I support Ministers in their efforts to learn from people in the front line and, despite many competing priorities, find time to listen to their views and work with them. I urge those Ministers to continue their efforts to break down the barriers that are preventing taxpayers from receiving the effective services and real value for money that they so richly deserve.

For those reasons, I support the Budget. It is tough and it will be challenging to deliver, but it is the medicine that is needed to treat the trauma of this economic crisis and return our ailing economy to full health. I entirely support the Chancellor’s proposals, which are set out so clearly in his Budget.