Autumn Statement Resolutions

Gavin Newlands Excerpts

Monday 21st November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)]

Surely the biggest headline from the Chancellor’s statement came from the Government’s own Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast of a 7.1% drop in household living standards over the coming two years, which will be the biggest fall since the second world war. Real wages will fall as inflation hits hard and, as spending in the economy slumps early next year, the effect on retail and other sectors is likely to be devastating. The coming years could be among the worst economically that any of us have experienced in decades—certainly in my adult life. That is a damning indictment of the policies followed by the Government and the Conservative party for the last 12 years. Their imposition of austerity from day one, happily supported by their Lib Dem sidekicks, has directly led to the appalling situation that we now have on these islands.

The UK is at the bottom of the G7 for economic growth post covid and, as with so many other league tables that the UK sits at the bottom of, the policies and plans outlined last week by the Chancellor will simply make the situation worse. That is obviously except for bankers, given that their bonuses have been uncapped while the Government and Conservative Members ask for wage restraint.

Last Thursday, in this Chamber, I mentioned the incredible work of the Renfrewshire toy bank in my constituency, which is helping families with no means to get their children Christmas presents to ensure that they get at least something on Christmas morning. Last year, it helped 2,000 families; this year, referrals are on track to see that number soar by 50%. The response from the Leader of the House was that

“they do a tremendous job in plugging those gaps.”—[Official Report, 17 November 2022; Vol. 722, c. 906.]

There was no acknowledgement that those gaps should not exist in the first place, and no acceptance that those gaps are directly created by the policies of a Government that she proudly serves. In a wealthy country like this, the fact that there are gaps meaning that children rely on charity and the kindness of strangers to get a present from Santa is utterly shameful. We should all be ashamed by that situation.

Last Thursday was also a missed opportunity to follow the lead of the Scottish Government and introduce a UK version of the groundbreaking Scottish child payment, giving hundreds of thousands of families a huge financial boost at a time when it is needed most. That is £1,300 for each eligible child, which is helping to fight poverty at its root cause.

However, it should not be up to the Scottish Government to mitigate the disaster down here in Westminster. Scotland is a wealthy country, but we have seen our resources—both natural and human—squandered and wasted by successive Governments here at Westminster, almost all of which we had no say in electing whatever. We have seen our oil and gas assets stripped and plundered to subsidise the deindustrialisation of our own country, with that gas linked into our energy supply and market in a reckless manner so that, rather than using the proceeds of decades of fossil fuel extraction and production to invest in new renewables and decouple energy prices from fossil fuel prices, we have households with no gas supply that are entirely reliant on the gas price as it determines the cost of heating their homes. The situation is farcical.

The Chancellor’s statement addressed none of the immense damage that his Government and previous Governments have done to our energy industry. The UK is trapped in a vice of its own making. There have been decades of under-investment in renewable alternatives, while corporations have been allowed free rein to coin it in off the back of households who can barely afford to put the living room light on. Sellafield and Dounreay remain among the most toxic places on planet Earth, yet the Chancellor announced yet another blank cheque for a nuclear industry that has an unbroken track record of gigantic public subsidy, beaten only by bigger strike prices with an impact on all our energy bills.

The Chancellor’s answer to soaring energy bills and to the need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels was to announce a household energy efficiency programme that will not even start for three years. Let us cross our fingers that it will not be like the last UK Government green deal on domestic energy efficiency, under which hundreds of my constituents were shafted by a rogue trader, HELMS, which mis-sold, lied and manipulated data under the banner of a UK Government scheme. My constituents have been trying for years to be properly recompensed.

“Pay now, wait until later” is not the kind of support that households need. We need real, immediate investment in social housing and housing infrastructure to quickly and permanently reduce energy consumption and, in turn, bring down costs for consumers. As a side note, since the SNP came to power in Scotland in 2007, the Scottish Government have built nine times more social housing than the UK Government.

Last week’s statement left plans for transitioning to a zero-carbon future in real doubt. Making electric and zero-emission vehicles subject to the same level of vehicle excise duty as internal combustion engines, when we are still so far behind countries such as Norway on the transition to electric, is short-sighted and represents a failure to understand the bigger policy goals.

Meanwhile, transport overall will face a 30% reduction in spending from this financial year to 2025. We can probably predict where the axe will fall: on zero-emission buses, on our rail network, on public transport and on active travel. Taking £2.6 billion out of a policy area that is key to the net zero agenda shows just how much of a priority the Government place on it.

The grand plans for England’s national bus strategy will be torn up, with consequences for funding across the devolved Administrations. We knew already that the former Prime Minister’s pledge of 4,000 zero-emission buses was largely in tatters, kept in business only through the intervention of devolved Administrations beyond the Department for Transport’s clutches. Without SULEB and ScotZEB—the Scottish ultra-low emission bus scheme and the Scottish zero-emission bus challenge fund—the Department would not be able to pretend that its plans are on track.

The plans for Great British Rail are now in the sidings. They have already been taken out of any transport Bill that will come before Parliament in the near future, and they will surely be another victim of the Chancellor’s cuts. The DFT may slap a few stickers on some trains and stations in an attempt to give the impression of some co-ordination, but without resources behind it, and behind the rail industry as a whole, GBR will simply be a fig leaf for a rail policy as disconnected and disjointed as the system it seeks to manage.

A cut of 30% to Active Travel England’s budget before it has really even begun would be devastating. In stark contrast, the Scottish Government are holding firm to their commitment to ensure that 10% of all transport spending goes on active travel. We are not far off from Scottish spending on active travel matching the UK Government’s spending on active travel in cash terms. That is how ridiculous the UK Government’s plans are.

We know the benefits that transport investment brings to communities and the expansion in local economies that connectivity provides. The inevitable consequence of the cuts will be a loss of connectivity and, in turn, a loss to local economies in the levelling up that, for decades, communities across England staring at the billions upon billions being spent on transport infrastructure in London have been crying out for.

The Chancellor had an opportunity last week to reset the Government’s plans and at least try something different. Instead, we got cauld kail yet again: the extended remix of a dozen years of austerity, this time in the middle of an unprecedented cost of living and energy crisis. The economic policies of the right do not work. Whether it was the immediate self-combustion of the previous Chancellor or the slow-motion crash promoted by the current incumbent, they have resulted in economic conditions for most people in society that have seen living standards racing backwards and inequalities increasing.

In Scotland, we have a chance of a better future in which the economic folly of Prime Ministers with the shelf life of a lettuce is not paid for by the people least able to afford it. On Wednesday, we will hear what route that choice will take, but make no mistake: whatever happens on Wednesday, Scotland will have that choice. I have never been more confident in the choice that Scots will make when they are given the democratic human right currently denied to them by this Tory Government, shamefully cheered on from the sidelines by the Labour party.

Economic Update

Gavin Newlands Excerpts

Monday 17th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Hunt]

I will absolutely do that.

[Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)]

I note that Brexit merited not one mention in the Chancellor’s statement. The truth is that this economic crisis was baked in when his party committed to a hard Brexit; it was just a matter of when, although the Prime Minister substantially brought that forward. The then Member of Parliament for South West Surrey said that service levels and investment in public services would be massively impacted by Brexit. Does the Chancellor agree with the then Member for South West Surrey?

[Jeremy Hunt]

I am very sorry; I missed the last part of the hon. Gentleman’s question. I am not sure whether he is allowed to say it again, but on the first part of his question I would simply say that when it comes to Brexit the UK grew faster than the eurozone countries since 2016, so I do not accept his analysis.

Economic Situation

Gavin Newlands Excerpts

Wednesday 12th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Chris Philp]

We have excellent regulators overseeing our financial system and pensions in particular, whether we are talking about the Bank of England, the Prudential Regulation Authority, the Financial Conduct Authority or the Pensions Regulator. They are all rightly independent, but all of us in Government and Parliament can have every confidence that they are making sure that our system is operating safely and securely.

[Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)]

The Minister said that the Government were being fiscally responsible. I am no expert, but fiscal responsibility does not usually result in the market and the wider UK economy being set ablaze in what can only be described as a bin fire. With the pound in freefall, pension funds on the brink, unfunded tax cuts for the rich, mortgage payments up by hundreds of pounds and the UK’s financial institutions—barring the Institute of Economic Affairs, obviously—utterly undermined, the Government are waiting another six weeks to show their working. That is not fiscally responsible; it is chaos theory-IEA style. Will the poorest pay for this or will benefits be uprated in line with inflation—yes or no?

[Chris Philp]

The hon. Member was obviously not listening to my previous answers in which I said that the decision has not been taken and the CPI figure, which is a critical input into the decision, has not even been published yet. I also explained how interest rates around the world are rising—they have risen more in the US than they have here—and how the dollar has been strong against a number of currencies. Its strengthening against the euro has been only about 3% higher so far this year than it has against sterling, so I do not accept the hon. Member’s characterisation at all. As for fiscal responsibility, we have the second lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7. The Chancellor said that we will get the debt-to-GDP ratio falling over the medium term. The hon. Member for Argyll and Bute (Brendan O’Hara) has less than three weeks to wait, if he can contain himself, before the medium-term fiscal plan is set out in full.

The Growth Plan

Gavin Newlands Excerpts

Friday 23rd September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

I will absolutely be focused on that. I will be very interested to hear more detail in a conversation with my hon. Friend and to discuss what more we can do to free up the property market.

[Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)]

With your forbearance, Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to pass on to the House the sad news of the passing of my predecessor, Jim Sheridan. He diligently served the constituents of West Renfrewshire, and then Paisley and Renfrewshire North, for 40 years. I am sure that all our wishes and thoughts are with his wife Jean and his family and friends.

Jim and I did not agree on everything, I think it is fair to say, but I am certain that we would have agreed wholeheartedly on the Chancellor’s shameful and regressive statement. Workers’ rights were important to Jim, as they are to me, so the thought of attacking those rights is to the Chancellor’s shame. He spoke of the riddle of growth, so I wonder if he could riddle me this: how is it that giving bankers yet more millions drives economic growth, but giving those on benefits a fair deal, or those on low wages a cost of living pay increase, drives inflation?

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

Before I call the Chancellor of the Exchequer to answer the question, may I pass on to the family of Jim Sheridan, who was a much respected Member of Parliament for a very important constituency, the condolences of the whole House?

Economy Update

Gavin Newlands Excerpts

Thursday 26th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

My hon. Friend is an excellent champion of the industry, and he is right to be so, because it is an important industry for the success of our future economy. It employs hundreds of thousands of people and it invests an enormous amount. We want to see that industry succeed and I know that, with his support and this Government’s, we will make sure that that happens.

[Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)]

This statement may have put out the fires, or some of the fires, on the Back Benches behind the Chancellor, but it does not provide the comprehensive support and plan that these islands require. In a 22-minute statement, which began with an explanation of our rate of inflation, he forgot—or I presume he forgot—to mention Brexit, which has directly caused a 6% increase in food prices relative to international food prices and is the reason the International Monetary Fund expects UK inflation to remain far higher than that of the rest of the G7 for a prolonged period. We have heard the wholly inadequate firefighting today, but what is his plan for the medium to long term?

[Rishi Sunak]

As I spelled out, over the long term, through responsible fiscal policy, independent monetary policy and supply-side activism we will combat and reduce inflation. We are making progress on all three fronts.

Cost of Living Increases

Gavin Newlands Excerpts

Monday 24th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)]

While the immediate cause of the current cost of living crisis is being blamed on rising international gas prices, the real story is that of decades-long abdication of duties by the UK Government and an ideological frenzy of free market extremism.

Fundamentally, the UK’s system of economic regulation is aimed at maximising returns for investors and shareholders, not ensuring a comfortable standard of living for the bulk of people across these isles. If we add Brexit to that mix, the UK Government are overseeing—nay promoting—a cost of living crisis that will impact every resident of the UK, but that will, as ever, impact the poorest and most vulnerable hardest.

There should be no doubt about what Brexit is costing households. Every minute, haulage firms are being held up at the new EU border as more costs are being passed on to consumers. Every extra worker hired to deal with the exponential increase in paperwork caused by Brexit is an additional cost added to sales. Every hurdle put in place by Brexit is another increase in living costs for every household and every family.

Perhaps the Prime Minister and his colleagues could dig out their old bus and slap the truth on the side of it—that Brexit will seriously damage household wealth. However, that sort of honesty would be out of character for the isolationists. They will still maintain that the uplands of Brexit are sunlit and that the confusion and barriers that they have erected are having no impact on the cost of living.

Scotland is being hit hardest despite voting against Brexit and voting, yet again, against the Conservative party. The inflationary pressures caused by the record vehicle fuel prices that others have mentioned are seen right throughout the UK economy but felt hardest in Scotland. The sad irony that we experience higher petrol and diesel costs while being responsible for getting much of the stuff out of the ground in the first place is not lost on many Scots. Until we have fully transitioned to a net zero society, that irony will continue to demonstrate the particular impact that Scotland has to endure as prices rise.

It is scandalous that in an energy-rich country such as Scotland, which has now been awash with both carbon-based and renewable energy for decades, nearly one quarter of households are in fuel poverty. The Scottish Parliament’s limited powers mean that its actions are limited to measures such as programmes to improve household energy efficiency and insulation—programmes that have, in fairness, been pushed hard by both Labour-led and SNP Governments since devolution.

The plain fact is that the fundamentals of the energy market and the radical changes needed to tackle this scourge are in the hands of the UK Government, who have shown no sign of taking the kind of action needed to improve the lot of millions of households in poverty. In fact, rather than take that action, the UK Government simply changed the definition of fuel poverty to something more amenable to them—surely the ultimate in evading responsibility.

There is no dodging the carnage that is coming this year when the full effect of price rises is felt. I fear for the numbers of people who will find themselves in fuel poverty, whether the UK chooses to count them or not, and in particular when I look at what the UK Government think is an acceptable amount to live on for people who have to claim social security benefits. Does the Minister really think that a £2.30 a week increase in jobseeker’s allowance in April will be enough to meet the rising costs? I would be delighted to hear him answer that. The poor, sick and disabled again face the brunt of excessive inflation, because of the Chancellor’s refusal to maintain universal credit at its previous level or even to uprate legacy benefits to match.

As always, the Government will expect communities and charities—organisations such as Renfrewshire food bank and the Darkwood Crew in my constituency—or already hard-pressed local authorities to pick up the pieces. Scotland’s citizens and their household bills are bearing the brunt of the UK Governments’ systemic mismanagement over decades and the short-termism that has been the hallmark of successive Administrations. We are subject to policy made for London and the south-east that is simply unfit for purpose when applied to Scotland. Every resident in Scotland is literally paying the price.

The plain fact is that the UK Government have sat back over the years—indeed, decades—and allowed this crisis to build up as they repeat the mantra that the market will solve everything. The market cannot solve everything. Following that path has been a complete failure and now the chickens are coming home to roost. The Government allied that approach with a kamikaze Brexit that, as they were told umpteen times throughout the process, is destroying livelihoods and driving up the costs of trade and therefore the cost to the consumer.

The UK Government have unleashed a perfect storm on the country, forcing households to choose between heating their homes or eating. The choices made by this Government that have led to the present crisis are not the choices that Scotland made. There is a different road that supports our people instead of punishing them. These choices are not in my name. Scotland will choose its own future soon and I hope—indeed, I know—that it will choose a future that places a greater value on people’s day-to-day lives than the current set-up and the current management.

Covid-19: Government Support for Business

Gavin Newlands Excerpts

Thursday 16th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[John Glen]

I don’t.

[Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)]

I just asked the Secretary of State for Transport about support for aviation and was given the Department for Transport’s greatest hits. The truth is that the aviation sector was hardest hit. Its recovery has been uneven and the weakest in Europe. It will need support. Measures already brought in, such as the coronavirus large business interruption loan scheme, will have to be extended for some sectors, in the same manner as CBILS. Thousands of jobs have gone in my constituency. Does the Treasury actually understand how serious the situation is?

[John Glen]

Yes, we do, and that is why we have given £12 billion of loan guarantees through the covid corporate financing facility for the aviation sector. At the Budget, we put in the airport and ground operations support scheme to help with fixed costs over the next six months. Of course I recognise that the situation is having a significant impact on the sector and the Government will remain engaged to support where we possibly can.

Downing Street Christmas Parties Investigation

Gavin Newlands Excerpts

Thursday 9th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Michael Ellis]

I have noted what the hon. Lady says. That will be a matter for the Cabinet Secretary, and he will be free to seek any documents he needs during the course of his investigation.

[Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)]

We have rightly heard much about the consequences of the Downing Street parties on the moral leadership of this Government at a time of crisis. The response of the Met police thus far, in refusing point blank to investigate, must also be called into question at a time when several instances of the breaking of covid regulations in December last year have been prosecuted in the courts. With important regulations being reinstated, does the Minister think that the lack of respect that many will now accord this Government and the police is a dangerous combination for public compliance?

[Michael Ellis]

I am sorry that the hon. Gentleman chooses to criticise the police. The police are entirely independent in this country, and they make their decisions based on the evidence before them. It is entirely a matter for them, and it is not appropriate for me to comment on the operational actions of the Metropolitan police or anyone else in the police service. I have great confidence in the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and in the service of the Metropolitan police to this country.

Conduct of the Right Hon. Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip

Gavin Newlands Excerpts

Tuesday 30th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)]

The fact is that we are here today because we have a Prime Minister who has spent the past two years undermining the very institution of liberal democracy.

On cash for honours, it is one thing to bestow meaningless medieval titles on people but it is quite another when those titles guarantee a seat for life in this building, subject to zero democratic oversight, zero elections and zero accountability—but it was ever thus. In the days of Maundy Gregory and Lloyd George, there was a price list for honours: £10,000 for a knighthood and up to £50,000—£2.7 million in today’s prices, funnily enough—for a peerage. At least that predated the introduction of VAT and kept prices down for eager customers.

When the law finally caught up with Mr Gregory, he was fined £50 and got two months in jail. He is still the only person to have been convicted of selling honours and, even then, he escaped any prosecution over the sale of British honours—instead, he was collared for punting Vatican ones. That fact alone is incredible given all that we know about the past 100 years of the Lords and political honours, but his sentence also tells a tale about the establishment’s attitude to someone caught in the act: they simply are not interested. Not a single person has ever been convicted of selling British honours. If someone believes that that means that honours have not been sold, I have a bridge or two I can sell them—not a garden bridge or a bridge to Northern Ireland, because only a mug would think that those were feasible.

The British establishment, with the Prime Minister at its apex, has shown over decades that the House of Lords is unreformable. The plain fact is that the Lords’ main function is not to revise and amend legislation as part of democracy’s checks and balances, because the only checks that are required for appointment to the House of Lords need to be made payable to Conservative central office.

The Prime Minister has shown himself time and again to be unfit to decide who sits in that place. He is not the first, but he is possibly the worst. He has used his untrammelled powers over honours to stuff what is supposed to be an upper Chamber of Parliament full of cronies and chums. He should be thoroughly ashamed, but it is not even clear that he has the ability to feel shame.

It is time for Scotland to rid itself of this stink and follow a different course. Whatever challenges independence will bring—and there will be challenges—we will at least have a functioning democracy based on accountability and plurality, rather than the absolutely rotten system that we live under today. We will also no longer live under the Prime Minister and his open contempt for democracy.

Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) (No. 3) (High-Risk Countries) Regulations 2021

Gavin Newlands Excerpts

Monday 22nd November 2021 General Committees

[Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Elliot. I look forward to the answers to the questions from the right hon. Member for Wolverhampton South East. He always makes my presence entirely superfluous with his range of questions, two of which I was going to ask the Minister. I look forward to her response.

We will also not oppose the changes proposed, but we expect the Government to continue to monitor the situation in those countries to ensure banks do not unduly take Government-sanctioned high risks. In fact, it is beyond farcical that they list one of their own territories alongside Iran, Syria and the three countries added to the list today.

Terrorist finance—I will not stray too far into this—is not the only risk in financial services. The Companies House reform consultation is not due to end until February. We have been saying for many years that the UK Government must introduce a robust and transparent system of company registration in order to combat money launderers’ attempts to register entities for illicit purposes. The UK Government must act to tackle the ongoing improper use of Scottish limited partnerships—SLPs—via the proper reform of Companies House. The only question that remains for me to ask is when the Government expect to bring forward proposals to ensure that the register is accurate and covers these beneficial ownerships?