Autumn Statement

Debate between George Osborne and Sarah Wollaston

Wednesday 3rd December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

The plans that I have set out involve spending reductions and welfare reductions. By the way, the Labour party is the first to attack me for them. People have seen the decisions and the approach that we have taken on spending. We will go on reducing spending and reducing welfare, and we do not need tax increases.

As I remarked in my exchange with the right hon. Member for Edinburgh South West (Mr Darling), the previous Labour Chancellor planned to increase VAT after the general election—he put that in his memoirs—and those of us who were in that Parliament will remember that the Labour Treasury produced, by mistake, a document that said VAT would go up, which caused the Government great embarrassment at the time. As I say, our plans involve spending reductions and welfare reductions, and that is what we are committed to do.

[Dr Sarah Wollaston (Totnes) (Con)]

I warmly thank the Chancellor for investing the extra billions of pounds in our NHS. There is not only extra revenue, but a transformation fund that will transform the NHS into the service that we need for the future. Does he share my concern, however, that our endorsement of the NHS’s forward view—our long-term plan for the NHS—would be put at risk if we handed it over to a Government who had no long-term economic plan to fund it?

[Mr Osborne]

My hon. Friend is right. The transformation fund is an important part of the NHS’s forward view, which has been looked at and endorsed by the Health Committee, which she chairs, the various health charities and the royal colleges. The head of the NHS, Simon Stevens, who drew up that plan, welcomed what we announced at the weekend and travelled with me to Homerton university hospital to explain how the transformation can take place. My hon. Friend is right that it is impossible to have a strong NHS unless we have a strong economy: we are delivering both.

LIBOR (FSA Investigation)

Debate between George Osborne and Sarah Wollaston

Monday 2nd July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

My hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Mr Tyrie) is more than capable of demonstrating his independence, and I remind the House that thanks to the reforms of this Government he was elected to his post by the entire House of Commons.

[Dr Sarah Wollaston (Totnes) (Con)]

I have just received a heartbreaking letter from a 72-year-old pensioner who is being pursued through the courts for a disputed and modest tax claim. How can it be right that those telling lies for eye-popping sums are not ending up in court?

[Mr Osborne]

The Serious Fraud Office is independent of the Government, but it is pursuing every avenue to see whether it can bring criminal prosecutions in this case. This is, however, a matter for the SFO, which is going to come back to us by the end of the month to tell us whether it can do so, and it will have heard what the House has said today. We also want to ensure that in future the regulators have the criminal sanctions that they need, and that is why we seek these investigations to change the law now, rather than waiting four or five years to do so.

Eurozone Crisis

Debate between George Osborne and Sarah Wollaston

Thursday 27th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Dr Sarah Wollaston (Totnes) (Con)]

How confident is my right hon. Friend that countries such as China will want to contribute to the special purpose vehicle, and what will happen if they do not?

[Mr Osborne]

The short answer is that we will find out whether China wants to contribute. The President of France is speaking to the President of China today, and he will no doubt give us all an update following that conversation.