Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between George Osborne and Alun Cairns

Tuesday 28th January 2014 Commons Chamber

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

We heard today that our economy continues to grow and we know that there is currently the greatest number of businesses in the UK on record—around 400,000 more than at the general election. We have supported that by reversing the previous Government’s increase in the small companies tax, undoing their jobs tax, cutting red tape, freezing fuel duty, taking the smallest firms out of business rates and helping the high street, and in a few months’ time, we will have our employment allowance, a £2,000 cashback on jobs, which will take almost half a million small firms out of employer national insurance altogether. Unlike others, we are unabashedly pro-business.

[Alun Cairns]

Small businesses recognise the supportive economic framework that the Chancellor has set out, such as reductions in corporation tax, national insurance and business rates, among many others, by recruiting more people than ever before. Will the Chancellor reassure me that he will not follow any advice from the shadow Chancellor, who called for a plan B and predicted a double and even a triple-dip recession?

[Mr Osborne]

There is no danger of that. In the last few days, even the Labour Ministers who served with the shadow Chancellor are not prepared to follow his advice. The important point here is that we have supported a private sector recovery, small businesses are absolutely at the centre of that, and the Prime Minister yesterday, at the Federation of Small Businesses, reinforced the point that we are there to do more to help small businesses and we encourage them to come forward with ideas for the Budget.

Autumn Statement

Debate between George Osborne and Alun Cairns

Thursday 5th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I very much support my hon. Friend and his campaign to make sure that the university thrives in Stafford, and I commend him for identifying this as such an important issue for our country. Some 60,000 people a year have the grades, have the ambition, are willing to take out the loan and want to go to university, but at the moment we say no, because of a Gosplan system that has been in place. We get rid of that today. There will be a big increase in student numbers—of course quality will be maintained—and that will be great for the people he represents.

[Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan) (Con)]

Over the time that council tax rates have broadly been frozen in England, my constituents and people across Wales have faced council tax increases in the region of 9%. Will the Chancellor join me in supporting the “Freeze the bill” campaign—the council tax bill campaign—to ensure that my constituents get fair play? This is a tax that politicians can control.

[Mr Osborne]

I absolutely support my hon. Friend and his campaign to make sure that the local council helps local hard-working families by freezing council tax—that is what it should be doing. By bringing this to our attention, he reminds us that there are things we can do to help people, and we are doing them today.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between George Osborne and Alun Cairns

Tuesday 11th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

Yes, I do, and the CBI has welcomed it. I hope that the hon. Gentleman welcomes the fact that we have record employment in our country—a record number of women are working—and that youth unemployment has fallen recently as well.

[Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan) (Con)]

Benefits have increased at twice the rate of earnings since the onset of the financial crisis. Could the Chancellor reassure me that, in spite of criticisms from those on the Opposition Benches, he will not veer from the 1% commitment that he made last week?

[Mr Osborne]

My hon. Friend has that reassurance. We have discovered an extraordinary thing today, namely that Labour will vote against yet another measure to deal with the deficit. Labour would have a higher benefits bill as a result of that decision and it will have to explain that to the hard-working people of this country.

Autumn Statement

Debate between George Osborne and Alun Cairns

Wednesday 5th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I am very happy to look into the specific situation for businesses in Ashfield if the hon. Lady wants to write to me—or we can meet and I will see what I can do to help. Businesses in Ashfield and elsewhere across the east midlands are eligible for the regional growth fund. We have put more money into the fund and made substantial transport improvements in the east and west midlands, which I hope will also benefit businesses in her constituency.

[Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan) (Con)]

I warmly welcome the Chancellor’s statement and pay particular tribute to the increase in the pension draw-down limit and the increase in the ISA allowance. Will the Chancellor tell the House when he expects them to be implemented?

[Mr Osborne]

The ISA uprating takes place as normal. The draw-down limit will be in the Finance Bill, which we will introduce next week.

Bank of England

Debate between George Osborne and Alun Cairns

Monday 26th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I think that that would breach the confidentiality of the interview process, but Mr Carney will come before the Select Committee and will no doubt be asked about his views on the Vickers reforms. As I have said, he supports them and it is important—this comes back to a point made by my right hon. Friend the Member for Louth and Horncastle (Sir Peter Tapsell)—that we now have consensus across our regulatory system. John Vickers has provided that consensus. We will introduce a Bill next January. Let us get on and make that important change. We are leading the world and, interestingly enough, a lot of the rest of the world is thinking of following us in that direction.

[Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan) (Con)]

Mark Carney’s actions have played a major part in helping Canada to avoid the worst of the financial crisis. Will the Chancellor reassure the House that he will be given the necessary freedom to take the required action here in the UK —something that the current Governor did not always enjoy under the last Administration?

[Mr Osborne]

I will leave the accounts of what happened under the previous Government to the various memoirs and the like. Of course, Mark Carney has independence in monetary policy and will have to work with the Government on financial stability, which is a crucial issue in which the elected Government are also involved when public money is put at risk. We will work closely together to secure the British recovery and ensure that we have something more of the Canadian experience here in Britain.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between George Osborne and Alun Cairns

Tuesday 24th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

The right hon. Gentleman says I am the Chancellor, and he is right. Since inheriting those fuel duty plans from him, I have cut fuel duty, cancelled the fuel duty increases that he voted for and got off the fuel duty escalator that he supported. That is what I have done to ensure that families are better able to cope with the economic mess he presided over when he was in the Treasury.

[Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan) (Con)]

T2. I welcome the Financial Services Bill, which we debated yesterday. It is a significant step towards re-instilling confidence in the financial services industry, but does the Minister accept that regulators, including the current Financial Services Authority, have an obligation to work with other regulatory bodies that go beyond their competence to bring about negotiated settlements when the product is far more complicated than is covered by their jurisdiction, such as in the Arch Cru affair?

Autumn Statement

Debate between George Osborne and Alun Cairns

Tuesday 29th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

Yes, I think that we all want to see a move to a banking system that is more responsive to local businesses and local people and that is not just based on a computer model that allocates credit and the computer says no. We want to return to having local bank managers empowered to make decisions, and a number of banks are doing this. One of the notable successes at the moment is Handelsbanken, which is out there lending money to small businesses and taking more of this local approach.

[Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan) (Con)]

The Chancellor’s statements of support in favour of energy-intensive industries will be welcomed in south Wales, the midlands and the north, which are areas that have seen a particular decline in manufacturing over the past decade. The statements will be particularly welcomed by Dow Corning, a chemical manufacturing company in Barry in my constituency. How will they work in practice in order to support these companies in reducing their energy bills?

[Mr Osborne]

We are going to provide specific compensation for electricity-intensive businesses affected by the EU trading system and by the carbon price floor. We are also going to increase the climate change levy relief and work to make sure that those businesses are not adversely impacted by the electricity market reforms. We have a suite of measures, but the overall intention is clear: we want to help businesses such as the one in my hon. Friend’s constituency. I should say that I was first alerted to what we can do by a visit before the election to the steel works in Port Talbot, where I was very struck with the argument made there that the business could simply be moved to Holland if we did not act. We have been able to come forward with help that I think is going to support industries in south Wales.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between George Osborne and Alun Cairns

Tuesday 1st November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

In his pitch for a job, the hon. Gentleman failed to mention that youth unemployment rose by more than 40% under the Labour Government. There is complete amnesia about the fact that 16 months ago they left this country with high unemployment, a high budget deficit, the deepest recession this country has seen in the last 100 years, and the biggest banking crisis in our history.

[Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan) (Con)]

T7. Some of the most needy children in the Vale of Glamorgan and across the UK will benefit from today onwards from the Government’s junior ISA. That presents an opportunity to return to a culture of savings among families. What plans have the Government to develop that further?

[Mr Osborne]

We have indeed announced today the launch of the junior ISA, which will enable many millions of parents to save for their children up to £3,600 a year tax free. It should help more than 6 million children who will be eligible for it immediately and many more as they are born and grow up. It is all about trying to foster a savings culture after the age of irresponsibility and the culture of debt that we saw over the past decade.

Global Economy

Debate between George Osborne and Alun Cairns

Thursday 11th August 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

We abandoned the Bretton Woods arrangements in the early 1970s, so it has been a while since we have operated under those international arrangements. Let me, however, make a few observations, because the hon. Gentleman has made a serious point about the eurozone.

I think that it would be disastrous for Britain’s economy if the eurozone were to break up, and I think that it would also be disastrous for the economies of the eurozone themselves. It would lead immediately to a balance of payments crisis in many European countries. That is why it is in our interests for the eurozone to work. Some of us questioned whether it was right to go ahead with it 15 years ago—we certainly did not want Britain to be part of it—but it exists now, and, as I have said before, “I told you so” is not an economic policy for today.

I agree with the hon. Gentleman that we need better international arrangements to monitor and deal with global imbalances. For instance, there are currently huge creditor countries such as China, and big debtor countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States. I am afraid that progress on that at the G20 and the International Monetary Fund is painfully slow. At some of the meetings, it has not even been possible to agree on the definitions. I hope that, if there is a silver lining to the present black cloud of the financial market crisis, we will see at the autumn meetings of the various institutions much more progress towards the arrangements that I think everyone accepts should be in place.

[Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan) (Con)]

I congratulate the Chancellor on the deficit reduction programme that has secured the United Kingdom’s triple A rating, but can he tell us what analysis he has made of the rising price of gold, and how much better off the UK economy would be if the last Government had not sold off our gold in the same way?

[Mr Osborne]

I expected that that question might arise, as it often does at Treasury events. As people will have seen, the price of gold has hit a record high of $1,800. It was $300 when the shadow Chancellor sold our gold stocks. As a result of that action, this country has lost £12 billion.