Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between George Osborne and Philip Davies

Wednesday 25th May 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

As I said, the Home Secretary will write to the right hon. Gentleman with the details of the case, but may I make a suggestion to the Scottish National party? It now has substantial tax and enterprise powers, so if it wants to attract people to the highlands of Scotland, why does it not create an entrepreneurial Scotland that people want to move to from the rest of the UK in order to grow a business and have a successful life?

[Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)]

Q6. Why is the Chilcot report not being published before the EU referendum? Is it because the Prime Minister and the Chancellor do not want the public reminded, ahead of the EU referendum, of how the Government of the day and the establishment are prepared to produce dodgy dossiers, make things up and distort the facts to con the public into supporting something they otherwise would not?

[Mr Osborne]

No, it is because it is an independent report and the inquiry team decides when to produce it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between George Osborne and Philip Davies

Tuesday 1st December 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

We should all be proud of the fact that in this country jobs are being created and the economy is growing yet our carbon emissions fell by 8% in the past year. We are doubling our investment in renewable energy and at the same time putting investment into things such as low-carbon nuclear power and small modular reactors, which will be of real benefit to South Yorkshire and the north-west of England. My broader point is that we do not believe that the way to help save the Earth is by piling costs on people’s electricity bills, so we have also taken action to ensure that our home efficiency scheme is more efficient, so people’s household energy bills will go down by £30 as well.

[Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)]

2. What estimate his Department made of the potential cost to the public purse of a HM Revenue and Customs regional hub being based at (a) Leeds and (b) Bradford.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between George Osborne and Philip Davies

Tuesday 27th October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I agree with my hon. Friend on the constitutional point, which is a matter that the whole House of Commons will want to address. I take very seriously the point he raises about his constituent. I have made it clear that we will listen with regard to how we make the transition to a lower welfare, higher wage economy. When we introduced controversial welfare changes in the last Parliament, such as the removal of child benefit from higher earners and the introduction of the welfare cap, we made changes, having listened to Parliament, to smooth the transition to both those important reforms. Of course we will listen to the House of Commons in this respect, but the end goal is clear: this country cannot have an unlimited welfare budget that squeezes out other areas of public expenditure. We cannot have a situation whereby we have 1% of the world’s population and 4% of the world’s economy, but 7% of the world’s welfare budget.

[Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)]

May I urge the Chancellor to stick to his guns on tax credits? Gordon Brown spent billions of pounds he did not have on tax credits, to try to buy votes at the 2010 election. Does the Chancellor agree that there is no painless way out of huge debt and that people would do well to remember that before they ever elect a free-spending Labour Government again?

[Mr Osborne]

I completely agree with my hon. Friend. Spending on tax credits went up three times during the last Labour Government, yet working poverty increased during that period. In other words, it had completely the opposite effect from that intended. The people who suffer when the country loses control of its public finances are, indeed, the low paid. They are the people who get turned out of work. It is not the richest in the country or the trade union barons who lose their jobs when that happens; it is the poorest in the country. What we can deliver for them is economic security. So, yes, we will listen on the transition, but we are determined to deliver controlled welfare and economic security for the working people of this country.

Greece

Debate between George Osborne and Philip Davies

Monday 6th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)]

Is not the genesis of the problem that the EU allowed Greece to fiddle the figures in order to join the euro in the first place? Is not this blinkered pursuit of a political project of ever-closer union, rather than thinking through the economic consequences, the reason why we need to leave the European Union?

[Mr Osborne]

I know my hon. Friend has consistently held that view since he put it in his maiden speech, as I remember from listening to him many years ago. He identifies two challenges. One, fiddling the figures, we have addressed in this country by creating the Office for Budget Responsibility. When it comes to ever-closer union, that is precisely one of the issues that we are seeking to address in the renegotiation that we are conducting with the European Union.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between George Osborne and Philip Davies

Tuesday 16th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

If the hon. Gentleman is worried about the effect of the EU referendum, why did he vote to have one? We have heard the argument over the past couple of years that the fact of having a referendum would put a dampener on investment. In fact, we have attracted the lion’s share of investment in the European Union since my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister set out our policy, and he has now won public support for that policy. Of course we now want to resolve the uncertainty, but the way to do that is to achieve a good deal in the European Union and put that deal to the British people at the referendum, and we will have the referendum when we have the deal.

[Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)]

Given that even the most fanatical supporters of our membership of the European Union now accept that we could trade freely with the EU even if we left, will the Chancellor set out for us exactly what we get for our £19 billion a year membership fee?

[Mr Osborne]

I certainly commend my hon. Friend for his consistency. I remember that in his maiden speech he made the case for Britain leaving the European Union, and he will of course have his opportunity in the referendum. I would say that this is precisely the judgment that the British people and this Parliament have to make: what are the economic benefits of our European Union membership, such as the single market, and what would be the alternative? That will be part of the lively debate, and as I say, the Treasury will be fully involved in that debate.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between George Osborne and Philip Davies

Tuesday 28th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I was the shadow Chancellor for five years and never once did the Labour Government propose a cap on payday lending. It is this coalition Government who are introducing a cap on payday lending. I would have thought that of all people the hon. Lady, considering her campaign, would welcome that.

[Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)]

T2. Does the Chancellor agree that the previous Government led us to financial ruin not through taxing us too little but by spending too much, and that the solution to the problem is to reduce spending to affordable levels? Will he therefore guarantee to plug the remainder of the deficit through spending reductions, rather than through tax rises on hard-working and hard-pressed families?

[Mr Osborne]

While no responsible Chancellor rules out tax changes, I believe the remainder of our deficit reduction plan can be achieved by reducing spending. Indeed, the reduction in the deficit has contributed to the economic stability that has been a platform for the economic growth we have seen. Perhaps the shadow Chancellor will get up and welcome that.

Economic Policy

Debate between George Osborne and Philip Davies

Monday 25th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I know that Labour MPs keep reading out the Whips’ note, but perhaps the Whips will also circulate a note on what Labour’s economic policy is, and then we can have a more constructive debate.

[Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)]

Does the Chancellor agree that the reason he inherited such a big deficit was that the last Government had overspent, rather than that we were under-taxed? Is growth not sluggish because the tax burden is higher now than the one that he inherited, and is the deficit not higher than it should be because spending is higher than the level that he inherited? Is it not about time that we had some proper spending cuts and some proper tax cuts to put money in people’s pockets and get some growth into the economy?

[Mr Osborne]

We have further difficult decisions on spending to take this year to set the spending round for 2015-16. I know that my hon. Friend has always been consistent in supporting all the difficult spending decisions, so I look forward to that consistent support in the years ahead.