Autumn Statement

Debate between Debbie Abrahams and George Osborne

Wednesday 3rd December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I thank my hon. Friend for what he has said. I should have been extremely disappointed if my announcement of a big improvement in our support for postgraduate students had not been welcomed by the Member of Parliament for Cambridge. He is absolutely right: the lack of financial support available to people doing post-grads is indeed a barrier, which falls particularly on those from low-income backgrounds, and which has been identified as a real problem in a number of reports on social mobility. I am glad that we have been able to work together to bring about this change.

[Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)]

The OBR’s analysis clearly states that borrowing over the forecast period will increase above and beyond what was forecast back in March, predominantly as a result of the reduction in tax receipts. Far from rebalancing the economy, and failing to meet his own deficit reduction targets, the Chancellor is presiding over a low-pay, zero-hours-contract economy in which one in five people—one in three in my constituency—are paid below the living wage. Is it not an insult to the 3 million people on the lowest incomes, and an insult to the value of British fair play, that the Government will be hammering them yet again with a potential cut in tax credits?

[Mr Osborne]

Today we have increased the personal allowance, which increases the number of low-paid people taken out of income tax to 3.5 million.

It is interesting to look at the caricature of what is happening in this country that Labour Members have tried to present. They said that all the jobs were part-time; it turns out that 85% of them are full-time. They talked about the gender pay gap; of course that remains a challenge, but it is at its lowest level in British history, and has fallen since the period of the last Labour Government. They complained about the abuse of zero-hours contracts; I had to sit there for 13 years listening to Labour Chancellors, and never once did they introduce a reform of zero-hours contracts. That reform is now taking place, and we are ending the abuse that comes with the exclusive contracts.

Ultimately, the people who suffer most when the economy fails—when economic stability is destroyed and unemployment rises—are the poorest people in the country. That, sadly, was their experience under a Labour Government, but under this Government, employment is growing and economic security is returning.

The Economy and Living Standards

Debate between Debbie Abrahams and George Osborne

Thursday 12th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)]

Before the Chancellor descends further into his self-congratulatory speech and quotes statistics about my constituency to me, will he confirm that the employment rate is still below pre-recession levels and that a third of the jobs in my constituency are below the living wage?

[Mr Osborne]

Well, yes, the employment rate is below what it was before the economy crashed and we had the deepest recession since the 1920s and ’30s, but the good news, as the hon. Lady will have noted, is that there has been a sharp rise in the employment rate in the last year—800,000 new jobs created. The employment rate now is very close to its pre-recession peak, so I would suggest that she should not make too many predictions on that front.

I am absolutely explicit that I want to get the employment rate up. I want to ensure that our schools are providing kids with the right skills, that we are creating more apprenticeships—one of the great success stories of this Government—and that we have more students coming out of our universities with the right graduate qualifications, so that we get our employment rate up even higher and achieve the goal of full employment in this country.

One of the risks that will face any economy—particularly one such as the United Kingdom’s, with a large number of financial services in it—is any risk from financial markets. As we begin to see the slow withdrawal of monetary stimulus here in the UK and in the United States, and with the eurozone heading in the other direction, we might expect to see an increase in market volatility. That is all the more reason why the financial markets in foreign currencies, commodities and fixed income should be fair and effective. Tonight at Mansion House and here in the House of Commons, I want to set out briefly the steps that the Governor of the Bank of England and I are taking.

We will bring forward enhanced criminal sanctions to punish and deter market abuse, but we will not opt into European rules, instead developing our own tough domestic powers. We will extend the senior managers regime proposed by the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards—so ably chaired by my hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Mr Tyrie)—so that it covers the branches of foreign banks. We will also use the legislation we asked Parliament to pass in the wake of the LIBOR scandal to regulate further benchmarks in areas such as foreign exchange, fixed income and commodities. The new review that the Governor and I are establishing, chaired by the former deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Minouche Shafik—now the deputy governor of the Bank of England—and involving the Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority, will provide further recommendations.

Let me be absolutely clear: the integrity of the City matters to the economy of Britain. Markets here set the interest rates for people’s mortgages, the exchange rates for our exports and holidays, and the commodity prices for the goods we buy. We are going to deal with abuses, tackle the unacceptable behaviour of the few and ensure that markets are fair for the many who depend on them. We are not going to wait for more financial scandals to hit; instead we are going to act now and get ahead. We will take these steps to build resilience in our financial markets and our economy.

Autumn Statement

Debate between Debbie Abrahams and George Osborne

Thursday 5th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I know that my hon. Friend has campaigned on this issue. When I announced this measure in the autumn statement, one member of the Opposition Front-Bench team said, “Why aren’t you doing it sooner?”. Labour had 13 years to make this tax change, and the man who actually designed the tax policies and wrote the statements is the shadow Chancellor. I find it extraordinary that, whether it is dealing with this unfairness in capital gains tax or the general unfairness where they boasted that people in the City were paying lower tax rates than people who cleaned for them, we have stepped in to deal with the unfairness.

[Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)]

I find the Chancellor’s hubris absolutely breathtaking. Given that the economy would have to grow 1.5% every quarter until 2015 just to reach the levels that applied at the end of 2010, his hubris is staggering. He did not answer the question put by my hon. Friend the Member for Brent North (Barry Gardiner), so given today’s terrible weather, does he regret cutting the flood defence budget in 2010?

[Mr Osborne]

First, we are putting in additional money for the flood defence programme. Indeed, additional money in the autumn statement has gone into coastal management, too. The hon. Lady makes a point about the economy, but we have not, of course, heard a serious economic argument advanced by the Labour party so far. Let me point out that in the hon. Lady’s constituency, unemployment is down 30% and youth unemployment is down 48%, which are very significant falls for the people she represents.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Debbie Abrahams and George Osborne

Tuesday 5th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)]

The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that more than 1 million more children will be living in poverty in 2020, which absolutely wipes out the number of those lifted out of poverty under the previous Labour Government.

[Mr George Osborne]

The best approach to lifting children out of poverty is to ensure that they live in working households. We now have the lowest number of workless households since records began, which is due to the achievements of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, and of the economic plan that is getting the parents of children into work.

Spending Review

Debate between Debbie Abrahams and George Osborne

Wednesday 26th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

Yes, absolutely. We received representations to include the state pension. We are not going to do so, but of course that will ultimately be decided at a general election.

[Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)]

Given the 5% cut in the grant to museums and the increase in operational freedoms the Chancellor has announced, when does he expect charges to be introduced and how much does he think the average cost will be?

Autumn Statement

Debate between Debbie Abrahams and George Osborne

Wednesday 5th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

My hon. Friend is right that we are on the right track. We are making progress. To turn back would be a complete disaster. I congratulate him on speaking on behalf of the businesses that he represents. He has asked me what we can do on capital allowances for plant and machinery and on business rates for small businesses. I hope he can see in the announcements that we made today that we have been listening to him and to the people in his constituency.

[Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)]

Can the Chancellor confirm not only that growth has been downgraded yet again and the welfare bill is rising, but that child poverty and the number of working families living in poverty is increasing? This is happening at the same time as millionaires are getting their tax cuts. Is this fair? Are we really all in it together?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Debbie Abrahams and George Osborne

Tuesday 21st June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)]

13. What assessment he has made of the likelihood that the growth outturn will meet or exceed the forecast for 2011 made by the Office for Budget Responsibility in June 2010.

[The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr George Osborne)]

The Office for Budget Responsibility’s latest economic forecasts were published in March. The whole purpose of creating the OBR was to have forecasts that were independent of the Chancellor, so for me to give a running forecast would completely undermine the institution. To strengthen its independence, I am today announcing the appointment of Lord Burns and Kate Barker as the new non-executive members of the OBR. They were posts that the Treasury Select Committee recommended that we create. I am also announcing today the new appointment of Michael Cohrs as a non-executive director of the Court of the Bank of England, along with the re-appointment of Sir Roger Carr, Lady Susan Rice and Harrison Young—

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Osborne]

The OBR is a new institution that I think we all agreed should be established and put on a statutory footing. It is independent, and it makes independent forecasts. If the Chancellor of the day started giving a running commentary on those forecasts or making his own forecasts, that would completely undermine the OBR. The institution was introduced in order to give more credible independent information to Parliament. It is interesting that, in the acceptance speech that the former Foreign Secretary would have given if he had become the Labour leader, one of his central points was that Labour should embrace the OBR as an idea that it should have had while in office and that it should support in opposition.

[Debbie Abrahams]

Over the past six months, we have seen the economy flatlining, whereas in the previous six months we saw growth of 1.8%. Can the Chancellor explain to the House exactly what has changed?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Debbie Abrahams and George Osborne

Tuesday 22nd March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

Of course we want to ensure that we prolong the life of the North sea fields. One area on which we can work with the industry is ensuring greater certainty about decommissioning costs and about the tax regime that was operated under previous Governments and how that will apply over the next 10 years. I hope to work with the industry on that.

[Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)]

9. If he will review the pace of proposed reductions in public expenditure to take into account GDP figures for the fourth quarter of 2010.