Autumn Statement

Debate between George Osborne and David Miliband

Wednesday 5th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

My hon. Friend makes a good point: many of the problems in our economy are borne of the credit constraints and the elevated bank funding costs, which I talked about when I mentioned the OBR’s assessment of the economic forecast. There are several responses. The funding for lending scheme has brought bank funding costs down. That scheme, according to the OBR’s assessment, has had an impact, and it is an important part of our macro response. I agree with him that we must do much more to encourage competition in our banking system. We have some new entrants, but we can go further, and we need a much more competitive banking system that is able to serve the public better.

[David Miliband (South Shields) (Lab)]

This time last year, the Chancellor told me not to worry about youth unemployment on the grounds that his Youth Contract would take care of it. Now we know that 450,000 young people have been unemployed for more than six months and that 179,000 have gone on to the Work programme but only 5,920 have got a job as a result. That is 3% of those going on the Work programme and less than 2% of the long-term youth unemployed. Will he now agree, without point scoring, to look at the level of the wage subsidy to incentivise take-up, at the structure of the Work programme, so that voluntary organisations are not squeezed out, and at the role of a part-time job guarantee to give hope to these young people?

[Mr Osborne]

The right hon. Gentleman often has interesting and intelligent things to say about welfare to work programmes, and I am happy to consider the points he makes. I read some of his work earlier this year—it was quite a good job application for being shadow Chancellor.

Autumn Statement

Debate between George Osborne and David Miliband

Tuesday 29th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I agree with my hon. Friend that that is a very important part of making sure that customers get the best possible deal. It was the part of the Vickers report that got the least coverage because of the interest in things like ring-fencing. We are determined to introduce changes that allow people to switch their current accounts very easily, and we hope to have them in place before the end of the Parliament.

[David Miliband (South Shields) (Lab)]

The Chancellor has recognised that 260,000 young people have been unemployed for more than 12 months—that is over 100,000 more than 18 months ago. He has rejected the argument for a job guarantee and instead embraced wage subsidies, which he says will help about 53,000 young people. For the sake of those young people, will he look at the similar scheme announced by his right hon. and learned Friend the current Secretary of State for Justice, in 1995? That scheme promised 130,000 jobs, but only 2,300 applications came forward. Will the Chancellor look at that experience to make sure that we do not have a repetition of the very low take-up of wage subsidy schemes?

[Mr Osborne]

We have worked with the business groups and businesses to make sure that the youth contract is going to be effective. I respect the fact that the right hon. Gentleman told us some days ago that the problem of youth unemployment was not invented by this Government. I respect his honesty in saying that. This is a problem that all western countries are facing at the moment. Frankly, in Britain youth unemployment has been going up for the past seven years. A subsidised job in the private sector is part of the answer. The work experience places are already working well, and we are adding to those. Of course, there is some conditionality in all this, so we are introducing, for example, weekly signing on after five months.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between George Osborne and David Miliband

Tuesday 1st November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

Actually, you just have. You made him your general election strategist. However, I will not comment on the tax affairs of individuals, although I suspect that many will over the coming years.

[David Miliband (South Shields) (Lab)]

The Chancellor will remember, in his first Budget, fixing a target for debt

“to place our fiscal credibility beyond doubt”. —[Official Report, 22 June 2010; Vol. 512, c. 167.]

That target was for debt to be reduced by the end of the Parliament, but, according to figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility, it depends on economic growth of 2.8%. How far below 2.8% must growth fall for the Chancellor’s fiscal mandate and his fiscal credibility to be shot to pieces?

Global Economy

Debate between George Osborne and David Miliband

Thursday 11th August 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I completely agree with what the Chair of the Treasury Committee says about the credibility of the deficit reduction plan and how disastrous it would be in the current environment to weaken that plan. We would—within hours, I think—find ourselves sucked into the global debt whirlpool from which other countries are struggling to get out. I also agree with him that we need to do more to improve the supply side of our economy. That is hard work for Governments, and it means taking on difficult vested interests. We have seen the argument in the last few days about planning controls, where we are trying to make it easier to have economic development, and there are plenty of groups that pop up and oppose that. That is an example of some of the battles that we will have to have and win. I can confirm that we will be producing the second phase of our plan for growth at the time of the autumn forecast.

[David Miliband (South Shields) (Lab)]

I would be grateful if the Chancellor confirmed private sector estimates that I have seen that a 0.4% downgrade of the growth forecasts for the next four years means that it will be impossible for him to hit his fiscal target of turning the debt-to-GDP ratio down by the end of this Parliament.

[Mr Osborne]

The most recent independent analysis of the British economy was done by the IMF this month. It made an assessment using lower growth forecasts, and came to the conclusion that we will hit both our fiscal mandate and our target for reducing debt, which the IMF made clear in its article IV assessment. I cannot help but note that if the right hon. Gentleman had given the leader’s speech that he had written, the Labour party would be in a much more credible place than it is today.