Debate on the Address

David Rutley Excerpts

Wednesday 27th May 2015 Commons Chamber

[David Rutley (Macclesfield) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Islwyn (Chris Evans) and an honour to have been able to hear at least part of the maiden speech by the hon. Member for Argyll and Bute (Brendan O’Hara)—I congratulate him on having the courage to make it so early in the Parliament. All of us who entered the House in the previous Parliament realise how big a challenge that can be. I congratulate the Scottish National party on the support it has provided him with today, and also on its election victories.

I would also like to welcome new Members on the Government Benches, because we had a good election. I would like to pay tribute to many of them, but particularly my hon. Friend the Member for Fareham (Suella Fernandes), whom I have known for many years. When we first met she was a little smaller than she is today—[Interruption.] I should explain that she was about five at the time; I am not commenting on any other dimension of her being. She was much shorter, smaller and a child—I think I had better stop there and move on. I welcome her to the House and am sure that she will do a fantastic job.

It is wonderful to see so many new Members. I think that it inspires us to realise why we are here: to represent our constituents. It is an honour to have been re-elected in Macclesfield with an increased majority and an increased share of the vote. I will do everything I can to honour my commitment to the people of Macclesfield. Like all other Members, I will do it with complete conviction regardless of the political affiliations of those I represent.

There was also an excellent vote of trust in the Conservative party in local government, as was true in many parts of the country. I am excited to work with local councillors in Macclesfield as we move into a new era of devolution, with the transfer of power to Manchester and increased demand, as today’s debate has shown, to see a greater transfer of powers to the counties as well. Government Members are absolutely committed to ensuring that the northern powerhouse is a real success. Macclesfield is famous for being a powerhouse for silk back in the Victorian days, and now we want to weave new economic threads in the life sciences and various other fields to help take the northern powerhouse further forward. I am pleased that the cities and local government devolution Bill provides us with a vehicle to help that succeed and flourish in the years ahead.

I am an optimist. In fact, in the previous Parliament the former Member for Edinburgh East, Sheila Gilmore, accused me of being over-optimistic—Panglossian, even—in my approach. Well, I have to say that it was Conservative optimism what won it on 7 May. The positive agenda that we took forward appealed to large swathes of the country and helped us win an outright majority. I am pleased that the Queen’s Speech today set out more reasons to be positive as we take our important agenda further forward. The Eeyores and sirens we heard in the previous Parliament, and whom we have heard today, have been proved wrong.

I think that it is really important that the Labour party takes time to reflect on why the electorate did not give it the support that it hoped and expected to get. The Labour party was not trusted with the economy. Moreover, it was not trusted with the task of spreading opportunity to other people and improving social mobility. It goes beyond economic credibility into those other areas. Of course, we have since heard several Labour Members talk about aspiration. It is sad that that is focused on their own leadership aspirations, when in fact they should be thinking about the aspirations of the people they represent. That accusation could not be made against the hon. Member for Bassetlaw (John Mann), or indeed the hon. Member for Ealing North (Stephen Pound), but there are others who I think should be looking at their own agenda and at what they should be doing as a party.

I welcome the Government’s commitment to backing those people who want to work hard and get on in life. That is what our election campaign was about. As the Prime Minister tweeted on 30 April:

“We’re the party of the first chance, the first job, first pay cheque, the first home”.

He could have gone even further; I am sure that the issue was the restriction to 140 characters. We are the Government of the first-time entrepreneur, the first-time employer and the first-time exporter. During the last Parliament, I held a debate on encouraging more entrepreneurs to become first-time employers. Like other Members in the free enterprise group and elsewhere, I have written about the importance of social mobility, which Conservatives feel absolutely passionately about. We need to break down the barriers to first-time businesses, first-time employers and first-time jobs. I am delighted that the Prime Minister has given that issue such a clear focus in the Queen’s Speech.

I hope that when the Bills on enterprise and schools are published and debated, we will see more detail on what can be done to make it easier for those with no family history in enterprise.

[Kwasi Kwarteng (Spelthorne) (Con)]

What are my hon. Friend’s views about the job creation in his constituency and across Britain that we have seen in the past five years and that, hopefully, we will continue to see in the course of this Government?

[David Rutley]

In Macclesfield alone, unemployment dropped by 50% in the past year, which is a huge step. That has come from an unrelenting focus on what I call the four “e”s in an enterprise economy. The first is entrepreneurs; we have a massive over-index of entrepreneurs and the self-employed in Macclesfield. Then there are employers, exporters and, of course, employees—we must help each of them take the first step on their journey, encouraging them so that they see real success in their careers.

It is important to focus on the fact that more people are moving into self-employment. That tremendous change has taken place in just the past 12 or 14 years. Some 4.5 million people are now involved in self-employment: 14.5% of the total workforce, up from 12% at the start of this century. Anybody who has read the work of the Royal Society of Arts and Demos recently will realise that the trend is here to stay.

The pull of self-employment—the flexibility, freedom and dignity—helps make it an attractive option. In the past, some might have said that the push factors, such as redundancy under Labour’s great recession, were decisive. That has changed now; the issue is about the pull factors. We need to encourage more people to take the step. We should give them the information and support that they need, so that they want to become not only self-employed but first-time employers, helping out with first-time apprenticeships as well. I hope that under the enterprise Bill and other legislation more work will be done to support the self-employed in this country.

We need to ensure that enterprise is about what happens not only in this country, but Europe—particularly the European Union. Reform of the EU is not simply in the UK’s national interest, although that is our first concern, but in the interests of the EU as a whole. The world is changing and the EU must change to embrace it. There are clear opportunities and real challenges in the global economy in the 21st century. There are also compelling organic reasons for the need for reform. Many more eurozone countries want to pull together in ever closer union; I would not want to countenance that, but they are moving in that direction. States such as the UK that are rightly very much outside the eurozone need to make sure that the relationship between countries in and outside the eurozone is better defined. This is an important time for the debate about the renegotiation.

[Jim Shannon]

The hon. Gentleman has raised an important issue. One thing I would like to see in this Parliament—the response has been negative so far—is a reduction in VAT on tourism. That would be an advantage for Northern Ireland, as we could be competitive with the Republic of Ireland. When it comes to creating employment opportunities in tourism, Northern Ireland especially but the whole UK would benefit from a reduction in VAT. Does the hon. Gentleman agree?

[David Rutley]

Obviously VAT can be quite complex and there are EU rules relating to it. I am not fully aware of what is going on in Northern Ireland in that regard, but I know that the devolution of corporation tax powers to Northern Ireland will create huge opportunities. Let us see how that goes and then there might be further opportunities, but VAT is more complicated.

Let me come back to the importance of reform and renegotiation. Having worked as a Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister for Europe in the previous Parliament, I know from working with MPs in other Parliaments and with senior civil servants in other countries that there is now an appetite for reform in Europe—there is no doubt about that. We need to tap into that appetite and make sure that we move things on in the interests of our own country and the EU as a whole. I know that the Foreign Secretary, the Minister for Europe and, indeed, the Prime Minister are working hard to ensure that we bring about those changes. The unambitious 20th-century model of a fortress Europe sheltering from the world and rigid in its quest for centralisation cannot survive.

The Government believe that it is absolutely right to focus on reducing the bureaucratic burden and cutting the red tape that needs action both in this country and at European level. Last week, when further details were beginning to emerge about what would be included in the enterprise Bill, it was noticeable that those who represent businesses in the UK came forward to say that it was time for change not only in the UK but, particularly, in Brussels. John Longworth of the British Chambers of Commerce said:

“It is great to see the Government start the Parliament with a real drive to support businesses…To further free companies up from red tape and focus on growth, businesses will now expect to see a similar commitment from Brussels.”

That is absolutely the case. Katja Hall of the CBI said:

“Businesses will welcome the Government getting out of the blocks early by following through on its commitment to cut red tape”—

something that I have been talking about for many years. She went on to say:

“Moving forward, it should use its influence in Brussels to combat…regulation that impacts unfairly on British businesses”.

Our ambition for Britain and for Europe is to ensure that we get in place the fundamental foundations of social stability and economic opportunity on which we can rest a ladder of social mobility that will help to push forward ambition and aspiration so that people can thrive, making sure that the wealth we want gets generated so that those in genuine need can get the support they have so desperately needed. The Queen’s Speech shows a clear direction towards building more opportunities not just in enterprise but in helping to improve educational standards. That is critical, because we want to make sure that there are real opportunities for all children across all economic strata to enable them to get the skills that they need to take forward their talents and ambitions.

The Queen’s Speech sets out a very exciting opportunity for many in this country. It will help the self-employed, help our businesses, help to set out an agenda for young people, and help to reform Europe—all in one go.

--- Later in debate ---

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

I am very pleased to have been enlightened. I thought that it might have something to do with Yorkshire, but, although my knowledge of British geography is poor, I understand that Scotland is slightly further to the north.

I welcome the Scottish nationalists. The election result has clearly been fantastic for them, and it has done a signal service to us, because it has severely depleted the number of Labour Members of Parliament. I look forward to hearing the contributions of members of the other “party opposite” during the current Parliament.

I think that, during this Parliament, we should focus on the economic question. The deficit, to which I referred at the beginning of my speech, is still £90 billion. That is an awful lot of money, and it means that we, as a country, are borrowing nearly £2 billion a week. What was said by some of the other parties during the election period was an exercise in complete fantasy. It was as if the deficit did not exist. None of the Opposition parties addressed the fact that we must reduce Government spending over a Parliament, and I think that, ultimately, that was responsible for the Conservative majority and victory. As I said earlier, it was clear that one party was going to adopt a mature and balanced approach to deficit reduction. As far as I could see, all the other parties had their heads firmly in the sand, and were not addressing the big question.

[David Rutley]

My hon. Friend is making an impassioned speech. Did he find on the doorstep, as I did in Macclesfield, that people were genuinely anxious for debt to be reduced because they believed that, if we did not get to grips with it, the debt would be passed on to future generations—to their children and grandchildren? I think that that is what helped us. Does my hon. Friend agree?

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

I found many things on the doorsteps in Spelthorne, where people spoke passionately about a range of matters. However, my hon. Friend is right. The issue of the deficit—the fact that, if we continue to build up debts, our children and grandchildren will have to pay them off, or at least service them by paying interest through taxation—was widely understood in my constituency, and I think that it contributed largely to the increased majority that I, along with many other colleagues, won in the election. It was remarkable to see Conservative majorities of, in some cases, 20,000 or 25,000, not only in the south-east but throughout the west country—where the Conservatives performed very well—and even in the midlands, where a number of incumbent Labour MPs lost their seats. I am sure that pollsters, historians, and other academics and experts will view that as an extraordinary result, and I think that it marks a shift in the political dynamics of the country. Of course, Scotland had its own result, which was remarkable by any standards.