Income tax (charge)

Frank McNally Excerpts

Thursday 31st October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Frank McNally (Coatbridge and Bellshill) (Lab)]

I start by commending Labour Members for such wonderful maiden speeches this afternoon.

I am proud to support this historic Budget. Our new Labour Government are working tirelessly to deliver the change that my constituents in Coatbridge and Bellshill need, and this Budget represents an important change—an important step towards fixing the foundations and repairing the damage caused by 14 years of economic mismanagement and fiscal vandalism by the previous Government.

The scale of that challenge is immense—public services have been pushed to breaking point, wages have been stagnant for far too long, child poverty is on the rise and too many people in my constituency are forced to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet.

In Scotland we have had the double whammy of two bad Governments. Just like the Tories, the SNP has decimated our public services, pushed our NHS to the brink and forced Scots to pay more to get less, as my hon. Friend the Member for Glenrothes and Mid Fife (Richard Baker) highlighted in his excellent speech. The Budget offers significant support to my constituents and provides record funding for Scotland. On top of the £47 billion block grant, the level of investment in public spending outlined by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor will generate an extra £3.4 billion in Barnett consequentials, resulting in the strongest settlement yet for Scotland in the devolution era. Sadly, the SNP Government have not yet worked out whether to love or loathe this Budget, and as my hon. Friends pointed out earlier, SNP Members are not here to tell us. As the Scottish Trades Union Congress highlighted yesterday, however, the blame game is now over—the SNP Government have the money and they must act to address the challenges impacting Scots.

The Budget has also addressed a number of fundamental injustices, from the infected blood scandal to Horizon and—critical for me—the mineworkers pension scheme. Representing mining communities and as a member of the coalfields parliamentary group, I wholly welcome the ending of this injustice and the delivery of Labour’s manifesto commitment of more than £1 billion to ex-miners. For the retired miners in the scheme in my community, that will mean an increase of £29 a week in their pension. Ending that scandalous injustice has not been a short or easy undertaking, and I commend my predecessors and all hon. and right hon. Members who have fought on this for many years before my time in this place.

I also commend the Government for their commitment to ensuring that £20 million will come to Coatbridge in my constituency through the towns fund. The previous Government announced that plan, but their fiscal irresponsibility put it in doubt. I am grateful to Ministers for taking the time to meet me to discuss these matters and delighted that the £20 million for Coatbridge is now costed and will be delivered by this Labour Government. That will allow our town board to help develop and deliver a long-term local plan, support business and secure investment.

I am also delighted that the Budget delivers a pay rise for 200,000 Scots. Increasing the national minimum wage by 6.7% and, critically, starting the journey to end age discrimination banding for 18 to 20 year-olds by increasing their wages by 16.3%, are key steps, as is the 18% increase for under-18s and apprentices. Young people are not immune to the challenges linked to the cost of living crisis and often struggle just to make ends meet. It is unfair that, for so many of them, their work —their labour—is valued less than that of their peers, simply because of their age. It has to end, and this Labour Budget has set us on a course to eradicating it.

This is the first Budget of this new Labour Government, and it lays the foundations to deliver the change our constituents voted for. Serving in Government is a privilege: it is an incredible honour that no party should take for granted. It is clear from the Conservatives’ actions that their party failed to live up to that solemn duty; they drove our country, our constituents, down a dirt path of decline until they ran out of road. They tried to mask their failings with fantasy economics and imaginary money pots, and it now falls to this Government to clean up their mess.

It is not the only mess that Labour will have to clean up. The SNP Government are equally hapless, and we are counting down the days to 2026 to deliver the change we need in Scotland too.

After 14 years of failure, our Labour Government have set a new course—to restore public finances, transform public services, tackle poverty and raise living standards. This is an honest Budget, which does not cynically shrink from the challenges, but seeks to tackle them head on—a Budget that will deliver the change that Scotland needs, that Coatbridge and Bellshill needs, and it should be welcomed across the House.

--- Later in debate ---

[Graeme Downie]

I believe the Chancellor outlined all of that absolutely perfectly yesterday. I would never seek to improve on the performance of our fantastic Chancellor, from whom we heard just yesterday.

Whereas the rest of the UK has only had to endure 14 years of the Conservatives’ incompetence, we in Scotland have suffered even more. We have had 17 years of the SNP blaming the Tories for its own economic incompetence and decisions. We have had years of two failed Governments who have been content to play political games, rather than come to the help of the people of Scotland.

[Frank McNally]

My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. Following yesterday’s Budget, there will be a significant increase in investment in further education, which is critical to delivering the skills revolution that we need. In Scotland, further education has been decimated by the SNP Government. Does he agree that they need to recognise the important steps taken by the Chancellor and follow suit?

[Graeme Downie]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. As I and other Members from Fife know, we are celebrating the 125-year anniversary of Fife College. I will attend a college dinner this week and I will make exactly that point to those attending. Further education is critical in providing the skills that Scotland needs, as I said yesterday during Scotland questions in relation to the defence sector. We need to ensure that the investment being provided by this Government is best used in Scotland to develop the skills that we need.

We have had years of two failed Governments but that time is coming to an end. It will truly end only in May 2026 when the people of Scotland have the opportunity to elect a Scottish Labour Government. But before the SNP exits stage right—although SNP Members seem to have exited the Chamber during this debate—I urge it to use the record funding wisely and start delivering for the people of Scotland.

The SNP Government must abandon their austerity programme of cuts to public services and a focus on their pet projects as they have gone along. They might be on their way out the door, but the least they owe the people of Scotland is not to leave the same kind of mess as their partners in constitutional distraction, the Tories, have left for the rest of the UK. That includes projects such as the Kincardine health centre in my constituency. Like the health centre mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Glenrothes and Mid Fife (Richard Baker), that has been delayed by more than a decade after being promised by the SNP.

Alongside the good news, we heard the Chancellor outline the mess and legacy left after 14 years of Conservative Government, who made announcements with no funds allocated. Among the empty promises from the Conservative Members was the £500 million of cultural funding promised to the city of Dunfermline in my constituency. While it is absolutely clear that the blame for that lies with the previous Government, it is none the less disappointing for the city of Dunfermline that the Government have been forced to consult on and review the funding. Dunfermline is an old city and the historic capital of Scotland, but it was officially awarded city status only in 2022. It is a growing city, which has the potential to be the driving force for the economy of Scotland. To achieve that, however, we need the right investment and support.

As the consultation on cultural funding is under way, prior to the Budget, I also wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer asking for assistance and support to find a small amount of investment for the port of Rosyth in my constituency to enable a new, regular passenger and freight service between Scotland and the continent. With major local employers such as Mowi and Amazon UK in the area, a ferry service to Europe would further strengthen their position as major contributors to the Fife economy and provide the option of more environmentally friendly logistics by removing truck journeys from the road.

Both the previous UK Conservative Government and the current SNP Scottish Government have talked about supporting that project, but neither have been willing to make the necessary investment. Having being failed by the previous Government promising money that they did not have, will Ministers meet me and others behind these plans to find ways of perhaps funding that commitment?

Yesterday, we truly turned the page on 14 years of Tory austerity and have given the UK and Scotland the chance to grow and succeed again. I will be the proudest Member of Parliament to support this Budget, which fixes the foundations of our country and sets us on a path to prosperity and growth in the future.