Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between George Osborne and Robin Walker

Tuesday 19th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

The hon. Gentleman is right to draw attention to the fact that the UK has had a productivity challenge for many decades, and the financial crisis caused a significant impairment that had an impact as well. Productivity is improving, but the key weakness in the British economy, consistently identified by everyone who looks at it, is the weakness of our skills. I hope that the apprenticeship levy and the expansion of the apprenticeship programme will go some way towards addressing that historical weakness for Britain.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

Credit unions can play a vital role in improving financial inclusion and creating a stronger savings culture. As I know from my work with the all-party credit unions group, they have support in all parts of this House. With the opportunity of the World Council of Credit Unions coming to the UK—to Northern Ireland—later this year, will the Chancellor commit to making sure that we continue to build on the work of the credit union expansion programme and back this vital group?

Spending Review and Autumn Statement

Debate between George Osborne and Robin Walker

Wednesday 25th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

To be honest, I am not going to take advice from the right hon. Gentleman about political projects that do not come to anything. He tried to make his country independent, but the people of Scotland had the good sense to say no.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

I congratulate the Chancellor on the way in which he balanced efficiency with compassion throughout his statement. He was as right to invest more in the NHS and housebuilding as he was to clamp down on tax avoidance. To keep up investment in our vital public services, we need to increase our income, both nationally and as individuals, so we need to keep investing in skills. Will the Chancellor expand on how his funding for apprenticeships and the apprenticeship levy will help smaller businesses to invest in skills?

[Mr Osborne]

The apprenticeship levy and the commitment we have made to 3 million apprentices is a huge boost to skills in this country, and it addresses one of the endemic weaknesses in the British economy that has bedevilled us for many decades. Small businesses are a big winner from the scheme: they do not have to pay the levy, but they get the advantage of the funded apprenticeships. We are also increasing the amount we pay for some of the apprenticeship courses. Indeed, there is a general uplift in apprenticeship funding. This will help small businesses, which do so much to support our economy, but which did not always get the support they wanted for training in the past.

Autumn Statement

Debate between George Osborne and Robin Walker

Wednesday 3rd December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I have taken measures to reform stamp duty in a progressive way and introduced a tax, which could have been introduced in any Budget by a Labour Chancellor, to deal with multinational companies that divert their profits overseas. I have ensured that profits cannot be written off against losses incurred during the financial crisis—again, any Labour Chancellor could have done that but they did not. I am determined to ensure that the richest in our society make a contribution and that businesses pay our low taxes. More generally, the result of a pro-business policy is that in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency alone—I think he just dismissed this out of hand—unemployment has fallen by 20% in the last year. I would have thought he would welcome that.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

In our nation of shopkeepers there will be relief at the decision to extend small business rates relief and increase the benefit for small shops and cafés to £1,500. In his review of business rates, may I urge the Chancellor to take account of the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee report that urged a fundamental reform? The Conservative party believes in low taxation, and it needs to reform fundamentally a tax that can only ever go up.

[Mr Osborne]

My hon. Friend is a champion of small businesses in Worcester and infrastructure investment in Worcestershire and that part of England, and I thank him for his representations. In part because of those representations, we have been able to help with business rates and high street shops in the statement. We now want a review of business rates, but it must be done in a way that is consistent with stable public finances. It is appropriate to consider how the modern economy has changed and the impact of things such as the internet, and that is why we are undertaking that big review.

EU Budget (Surcharge)

Debate between George Osborne and Robin Walker

Monday 10th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

What we achieved was the simultaneous application of the rebate, so we will pay only £850 million.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on maintaining the application of the UK rebate in a way that the Opposition utterly failed to do when they were in power. Would he have been strengthened in that position had he maintained a euro preparations unit in the Treasury?

[Mr Osborne]

The first and kindest cut of all was closing down the euro preparations unit, which I discovered in the Treasury on coming to office.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between George Osborne and Robin Walker

Tuesday 29th April 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

5. What recent assessment he has made of growth in the economy.

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

As you know, Mr Speaker, GDP grew by 0.8% in the last quarter and 3.1% over the year. Growth is broadly balanced, and those who predicted a year ago that our plan would choke off recovery got it spectacularly wrong.

[Mr Walker]

In March last year, with youth unemployment in Worcester at 645, the shadow Chancellor said that

“the economy will get worse”.

Youth unemployment in Worcester is down by a quarter since then and by 40% since it peaked under Labour. Will my right hon. Friend the Chancellor update the House on how the wider economy has performed during that time?

[Mr Osborne]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Since the shadow Chancellor made his prediction, the economy has grown by more than 3% and almost 1 million jobs have been created. In Worcester the claimant count is down by 20% in the past year, so we have more of these predictions from the shadow Chancellor and the economy just keeps growing.

Autumn Statement

Debate between George Osborne and Robin Walker

Wednesday 5th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I think we have roughly the same pallor, from looking at the hon. Gentleman. We have been completely transparent. We have published the OBR forecasts. They are independent and people will look at them and draw their own conclusion, which is that under Labour borrowing went up and up whereas under this Government the deficit has come down.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

The claimant count in Worcester today is 500 lower than it was in 2010, when the city had a Labour MP, and youth unemployment is 150 lower. In that context, may I welcome the Chancellor’s early response to the Heseltine review? Extra money for LEPs, the regional growth fund, the increase in capital allowance and investment in infrastructure should mean that that good progress can continue.

[Mr Osborne]

I am delighted that there has been that good news in my hon. Friend’s constituency and I hope that with the new investment allowance for businesses in his area there will be more jobs. He is right to say that the Heseltine review also asks big questions of us as a Parliament about how we spend money locally and whether we should create a single pot for which LEPs could make bids. I have announced that we want to proceed in that direction and we will have much more to say about it when we have our spending review.

LIBOR (FSA Investigation)

Debate between George Osborne and Robin Walker

Monday 2nd July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

We are not proposing to put complex derivative products inside the retail ring fence; that is not part of our proposals. As I say, we are coming forward with plans to implement the Vickers reforms and I hope that the hon. Lady welcomes that.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

We have had regrets but no apology from Opposition Front Benchers. What our constituents really want is action. May I commend the Chancellor for taking action to set up a swift parliamentary inquiry? Will he make sure that the proceeds from any fines go to the taxpayer, not the banks?

[Mr Osborne]

I thank my hon. Friend. I say again that I came to the House just last Thursday and said that I would look to see what I could do on the fines. I have now come forward, a few days later, and said that we are going to take those fines—including the fines that Barclays will pay—and make sure that they are put to the public benefit, not to the benefit of the financial services industry. We are acting extremely swiftly on this. As I said, I would have thought that it was in everyone’s interests that we get on and deal with the matter in the coming months.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between George Osborne and Robin Walker

Tuesday 21st June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

T8. Which does the Chancellor think is better for low-paid workers in Worcester: the Government taking 1 million of the lowest paid out of tax altogether; or the previous Government’s move to double their tax by scrapping the 10p tax rate?

[Mr George Osborne]

As my hon. Friend points out, we have taken more than 1 million low-paid people out of income tax. We are committed to further such moves through this Parliament, and that is in stark contrast to the 10p tax raid in the previous Parliament. Of course, we now discover that, before the decision was made, the shadow Chancellor knew all about its impact on the poorest fifth in our society.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between George Osborne and Robin Walker

Tuesday 21st December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

We monitor the European situation closely. I do not think that a collapse of the euro is remotely on the cards, but obviously stability in the eurozone is in our interests. We want to see a comprehensive solution early in the new year to some of the fundamental issues on having a currency union while not having a fiscal or political union, and we know that eurozone member states are working on those. It is also up to individual member states to do what they can to put their own economic house in order, and we would urge them to do that as well.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

T8. Does the Chancellor agree with the chief executive of a FTSE 250 engineering company, with whom I recently met, that the single most important decision by the coalition Government to date was to cut corporation taxes and thereby signal that Britain is open to business? What further plans does he have to reduce and simplify the burden of taxation on our businesses?

[Mr Osborne]

The reduction in corporation tax from 28% to 24% keeps the UK as an incredibly competitive place to do business and, over the next few years, will help to ensure that Britain gets its fair share of the growing global economic cake. The Office of Tax Simplification, which we have created, is specifically looking at the burden of tax on smaller businesses so that we can also bring benefits to them, although we have been able to avoid Labour’s increase in the small companies tax rate.