Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gavin Shuker and Danny Alexander

Tuesday 10th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

I very much share my hon. Friend’s ambition for this policy. We should consider a threshold of at least £10,500 in this Parliament, and that will be an objective of my Liberal Democrat party. It would be right for the age-related threshold and the main threshold, once they are aligned, to rise in tandem thereafter.

[Gavin Shuker (Luton South) (Lab/Co-op)]

18. Does the Chief Secretary share the concerns of Citizens Advice that changes to the threshold are more than swamped by the changes to benefits in other areas?

[Danny Alexander]

No, I do not share that analysis. It ignores the fact that increases to the personal allowance, along with many of our reforms to the welfare system, increase substantially the incentives for people to go into work. The private sector has created a net 1.4 million jobs since 2010, so there are more job opportunities to go around too.

The Economy

Debate between Gavin Shuker and Danny Alexander

Tuesday 11th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Shuker (Luton South) (Lab/Co-op)]

Will the Minister give way?

[Danny Alexander]

I want to make some progress first. I know that many Members want to speak and there is already a time limit on speeches.

The forecasts are those of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility, and I do not think that the Labour party’s trend of attacking it is welcome.

[Gavin Shuker]

Will the Minister confirm that, under any measure, this Conservative-led Government will borrow more in the five years of this Parliament than Labour did in 13 years?

[Danny Alexander]

It is transparent from the figures presented by the Office for Budget Responsibility that borrowing is higher than it forecast in 2010. If the hon. Gentleman was being fair-minded, he would also draw the House’s attention to the analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which suggests that if we had continued with the path of spending set out by the previous Chancellor, we would be borrowing a further £200 billion —something that the country can ill afford.