Economic Update

Greg Clark Excerpts

Tuesday 17th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

I refer the hon. Lady to the measures in the Budget last week, particularly on homelessness and rough sleeping. We announced £640 million to build 6,000 more units and to provide support for substance abuse support services, once people are off the streets, to help them tackle their long-term addictions. That money will make an enormous difference and build on the good work of the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

[Greg Clark (Tunbridge Wells) (Con)]

It was not possible for ordinary businesses and working people to anticipate the scale of the most severe public health crisis for 100 years, so does the Chancellor accept that for many businesses the nation has to act, not so much as a lender of last resort, but as a collective insurer of last resort, meeting their unmet operating costs if they are to keep people employed and inoculate against economic contagion?

[Rishi Sunak]

My right hon. Friend is right to highlight the need to provide support for businesses with their fixed costs, rather than their variable ones. That is what we need to help bridge through—the cash grants today related to rateable value, with reference directly to rent payments—but he is right that other fixed costs are people, which is why we are working up measures in that area.

Oral Answers to Questions

Greg Clark Excerpts

Tuesday 1st October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

I will make certain that the Business Secretary is aware of the hon. Lady’s concerns. The Treasury obviously takes an interest in this issue but she will know that the Department for Business is taking the lead on it. Obviously, and rightly, she is concerned about jobs in her constituency. She would welcome the fact, I hope, that because of the policies of this Government more generally since 2010, we have seen in her constituency a 50% fall in the headline unemployment rate.

[Greg Clark (Tunbridge Wells) (Ind)]

As we leave the EU, we need to reinforce our international reputation as a powerhouse of scientific excellence. In 2017 we spent 1.7% of national income on research and development, while Germany spent 3% and Israel 4.3%. So will the Chancellor use his next Budget to make substantial progress towards our 2.4% target and recommit to the medium-term target of 3% of national income going into research and development?

[Sajid Javid]

First, may I thank my right hon. Friend for his excellent work as Business Secretary, including in this hugely important area of research and development? He set some ambitious targets. We intend to stick to those targets, if not go even further, which I am sure he would welcome. Obviously I will not set out the Budget now, but I absolutely share his ambition, and I think he will be pleased with what we eventually do.

Economy and Jobs

Greg Clark Excerpts

Thursday 29th June 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Greg Clark)]

It is a pleasure to respond to this excellent debate on the Queen’s Speech. Two years ago, I had the same honour in the very same debate, and it fell to me to respond to the first words spoken in the House by the new Member for Batley and Spen, in her maiden speech. She said then that

“we…have far more in common…than things that divide us.”—[Official Report, 3 June 2015; Vol. 596, c. 675.]

That heartfelt observation, and injunction, will live forever in the Chamber, through the shield above her place. It is a reminder that should guide us, particularly in this new Parliament, in which the electorate have required a certain humility from every party. The message from the electorate is that they want Conservative leadership—which is why we won more votes and more seats than any other party—but a leadership that seeks to establish common ground in the country and in Parliament. That is what the Queen’s Speech, and we, in the manner in which we govern, seek to do.

In the limited time that I have, I shall respond to what has been said in the debate, and in particular to the maiden speeches—for this is an historic and important day for those Members and their constituencies—before saying something about the theme of jobs and growth.

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Gillian Keegan), who made a brilliant first contribution. The fact that an ex-apprentice from Merseyside has made a speech of that calibre will be a great inspiration to apprentices throughout the country, and it is a pleasure to have her here. She fills big shoes in following Andrew Tyrie, our former colleague, but she is clearly a woman of good judgment, because she has made a very wise choice as a godparent, if I may say so.

The hon. Member for Warrington South (Faisal Rashid) was appropriately generous in his tribute to my very good friend David Mowat, the previous Member, who did fantastic work in the House for his local community. Warrington has suffered terrorist attacks in the past, and the knowledge of that community that he gained as its mayor will make a big contribution to the House. He will find that the best progress in Cheshire is made when colleagues work together. That is certainly my experience.

The hon. Member for Gower (Tonia Antoniazzi) also made a notable contribution. She said that she had helped to bring the café culture to Gower by promoting the ice-cream parlours that her family had brought to the area. I was a customer of those ice-cream parlours when I was campaigning for her predecessor of happy memory. As the son of a milkman from Middlesbrough, I share her enthusiasm for dairy products, and her view that people from all parts of the country should see no limits to entering this place.

The hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Gerard Killen) was self-effacing in his remarks. He said that he would make every day count, and I hope that he will. He has made history by being the first—as he put it—gay married man to represent his constituency. I hope that he will find other ways to achieve great note and a long-lasting legacy in the House.

Finally, I welcome the contribution of the hon. Member for Bath (Wera Hobhouse). Many people all over the country will admire her family history, and the fact that the daughter of a refugee should find sanctuary in this country and come to represent the city of Bath. The city has a history of representation by independent-minded people, and I hope that the hon. Lady will continue that tradition.

Let me say something about the two Back-Bench amendments that you have selected today, Mr Speaker. First, I should like to thank the hon. Member for Walthamstow (Stella Creasy) and her colleagues. She has brought an injustice to the House and we will put that injustice right. For reasons that she understands, we are unable to pass the amendment as it is drafted, but she and my hon. Friend the Member for Worthing West (Sir Peter Bottomley) and other Members have been persuasive, and I hope that she will not press it so that we can be united in protecting the rights that she correctly defends.

The hon. Member for Streatham (Chuka Umunna) made a truncated speech, and we understand the reasons for that. He wants a good deal from Brexit that involves a parliamentary vote and transitional arrangements, and that respects the devolved Administrations and protects rights. So do I. But he adds to that list membership of the single market. Does he not recall that, only three weeks ago, he was running on a programme promising to leave it? That is quite a big thing to forget. It is a bit like forgetting that he does not have confidence in the Leader of the Opposition.

I welcome all Members to what is going to be an exciting new Parliament. There will, as I have said, be a need for co-operation and compromise, but there will also be a battle of ideas and values in this House, perhaps on a scale that we have not seen for years. Underpinning our programme is a belief that Britain is best served by a thriving market economy that produces prosperity for all and helps to fund world-class public services. Underpinning the approach of those on the Opposition Front Bench is a determination to create a socialist state in Britain, despite all the evidence of the damage this would do. That is not a caricature; it is a description. The Labour party once more setting off down the path of common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange. They have not even determined the cost of all this, but it could be paid for only in one of three ways: you tax, you borrow or you expropriate. Each of those would be a disaster. The Labour party is now dedicated not to a marginal increase in taxation but to increasing taxes to their “highest ever peacetime level”, as the Institute for Fiscal Studies put it.

I am not sure that Labour Members realise what their party has become. And do not let us pretend that those taxes would be paid by some distant multinational rather than by ordinary working people. As any economist will tell you, all taxes on companies have to be paid by workers, by consumers and by pensioners, through lower wages, higher prices and less valuable investments meaning lower pensions. This is not a choice of prosperity for the many or the few; it is a choice of prosperity for no one. During this Parliament, Opposition Members, who hid behind the supposed unelectability of their leader, can hide no longer. Are they going to stay silent while the leadership of their party advocates an approach that they all know perfectly well would be ruinous?

In this battle of political ideas, it is we on this side of the House who will make the case for the policies and the values of the common ground that the British people—and many on that side of this House—know are essential for prosperity. We believe in an enterprise economy in which businesses can compete, succeed and provide for the people of this country. We believe in well-paid jobs and decent public services, and in a welfare state paid for by what we earn rather than by what we can borrow. We are proud of the fact that, in Britain today, more people have jobs than ever before in the history of our country. This is what we propose to do in this Queen’s Speech and how we intend to govern: living within our means; creating good jobs that pay people well; investing in the future by working with businesses to keep Britain competitive; boosting the power of our great cities, towns and counties in all parts of the United Kingdom; implementing the will of the British people to leave the EU in a way that is orderly and sensible; and being a beacon of free trade and internationalism. That is the programme that we have set out in this Queen’s Speech and not one part of it can be done if Britain adopts the high-cost, high-tax, socialist ideology that is now the programme of the Opposition.

We vote tonight not just on a programme of legislation, but on a fundamental approach to the future of this country, and I commend this Queen’s Speech to the House.

Question put, That the amendment be made.

Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Greg Clark Excerpts

Monday 21st March 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Greg Clark)]

No one can pretend that this has been an easy Budget for the Government, but none of them is. Every single one of them is overshadowed by the events of the previous decade, by the deepest recession since the war and by a financial and fiscal crisis in which a large part of our national wealth disappeared in a puff of debt. GDP, productivity and revenue were all decimated. That is what happens when one spends a decade using a credit bubble to inflate the size of government. One day, the income suddenly disappears, but the commitments remain. In 2010, those responsible in the Labour party left government and did so without looking back. In the six years that followed, they have retreated ever further from any sense of responsibility.

It fell to us on the Conservative Benches to put things right: to rebuild an economy on firm foundations, to wrestle down the deficit and to mend the many institutions left in disarray. Financial regulation, educational standards and the housing market—all were broken, and all are being painstakingly restored to working order by this Government. However, every decision we made has been a hard one, because when the gap between the need and the Government’s resources is so wide there are no easy answers. We have not always got them right first time—the least worst option is not always apparent—but this is a Government willing to listen and to respond, while also keeping on track to squeeze out debt, encourage growth, generate jobs and build new homes. On all these fronts, we are moving the country in the right direction, while the Opposition rush headlong to the left. They can go their way, but we will keep on moving forward.

[Clive Efford (Eltham) (Lab)]

This Government said that they would eradicate the deficit in four years. Will the right hon. Gentleman tell me when that policy changed? How long does a long-term economic policy last for?

[Greg Clark]

I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman was in the Chamber for the Budget statement. If he was, he will have seen that the Office for Budget Responsibility confirmed that we are on track to eliminate the deficit by the end of the Parliament and to have a surplus. He should spend a bit of time talking to his right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Liam Byrne), who might provide the answer to why it has taken some time to reduce the deficit.

[Mark Spencer (Sherwood) (Con)]

Hundreds of thousands of small businesses are paying lots of those taxes. What assistance can the Secretary of State give to small businesses that are facing rate demands from local authorities?

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend draws attention to a very important point. We have doubled small business rate relief, benefiting businesses right across the country—the small businesses that are the backbone of our economy and that are contributing a record number of jobs, meaning that we have more people employed than ever before.

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby) (Lab)]

Will the reduction in small business rates have an impact on local authority incomes?

[Greg Clark]

If the hon. Lady had attended DCLG questions earlier in the day, she would have heard me confirm that every penny will be made up. I am sure she is delighted to hear that.

[Mr Clive Betts (Sheffield South East) (Lab)]

I asked the Secretary of State about this issue in questions earlier. He said that the cost of small business rate relief in this Parliament would be funded by section 31 grants. Will he confirm that that grant will not come from any other part of local authorities’ budgets, and if it is not will he point out precisely where in the Red Book it says how that is funded?

[Greg Clark]

On page 84, line 15.

Let me turn to the subject of today’s debate, which is infrastructure and devolution. Those issues will still matter a year from now—indeed 10 years and 100 years from now. In “The Wealth of Nations”, Adam Smith spoke of three fundamental duties of Government: the defence of the realm, the maintenance of law and order, and a third duty that he described as follows:

“the duty of erecting and maintaining certain public works and certain public institutions, which it can never be for the interest of any individual, or small number of individuals, to erect and maintain; because the profit would never repay the expense to any individual or small number of individuals, though it may frequently do much more than repay it to a great society.”

We can therefore take it from the father of free market economics that there is no contradiction between faith in free markets and public investment in infrastructure. Indeed, they support one another and this Budget shows how.

The Budget announces new infrastructure investments in every part of the country—from Crossrail 2 in London to High Speed 3 for the northern powerhouse. There can be no more tangible demonstration of our belief in a one-nation economy.

[Toby Perkins (Chesterfield) (Lab)]

rose—

[Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab)]

rose—

[Greg Clark]

I will not give way.

Not for us the discredited model of a one-city economy, because much as we value London it is wrong to rely on a single centre of wealth creation. Instead, wealth must be created and retained in communities across our nation —hence our ongoing commitment to HS2, a north-south axis linking London to the midlands engine and to the northern powerhouse. Quite literally, we must go further. We must build the vital east-west links needed to unlock the full potential of our great cities beyond London.

The Pennines might be the backbone of England, but frankly they are not the Himalayas. Some of our nation’s greatest cities stretch like a string of pearls across the north—and they can and should be drawn together. That is why this Budget strikes out in a new direction with the key announcement on HS3.

[Toby Perkins]

rose—

[Greg Clark]

No, I am going to make some progress, given the time constraints.

This is a transformative project. In particular, it provides the prospect of a better, faster line between Leeds and Manchester.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Greg Clark]

I want to make some progress.

[Mr Betts]

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. The Secretary of State gave me a direct answer about where in the Red Book the cost of the compensation for local authorities will come from is specified. He referred to page 84, line 15. However, that deals with the cost of the loss for small business rate relief, and does not deal with the grant that will replace it. Whereabouts is the section 31 grant covered in the Red Book?

[Greg Clark]

I have told the hon. Gentleman where it is—

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)]

Order. I think we had better have an answer to the point of order first. I realise that the Secretary of State has recognised that this was not a point of order, which is exactly the point I was going to make!

[Greg Clark]

Before the Chairman of the Select Committee comes to Budget debates, he should read the Red Book and do his homework. I am not going to help him in this debate.

Our road investment will complement rail investment. This includes the M62, accelerating progress to the achievement a four-lane smart motorway fit for the 21st century. Other improvements to both road and rail are not quite as high profile, but they are just as important—improving local links to bring home the benefit of national infrastructure.

[John Glen (Salisbury) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend recognise that the road improvement of most interest in the south-west is the upgrading of the A303—in particular, for my constituents, the tunnel at Stonehenge—which will transform the whole south-west peninsula?

[Greg Clark]

I do agree, and I note two things about what my hon. Friend says. The first is that this never happened when Labour were in government, and the second is that this could not have happened without the strong economy that this Government have built.

Many of these investments, such as the road just described by my hon. Friend the Member for Salisbury (John Glen), are long overdue. It has fallen to this Government to make improvements that could and should, as my hon. Friend says, have been made in earlier decades. That is why we must continue to make savings across the public sector.

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

Will the Secretary of State join me in welcoming not only the improvements to the road links to the south-west but the money put aside for further development work on rail resilience in the south-west to ensure that in future we have a railway that works and serves our region?

[Greg Clark]

I can certainly confirm that. It is a welcome development that we are following the traditions of our Victorian predecessors with the great revival of railway building, which is so important for the south-west that my hon. Friend so ably represents.

[Toby Perkins]

rose—

[Greg Clark]

I am going to make some progress.

In order to make these investments, we need to continue to make savings. The failure to control current expenditure means not just more borrowing, but that less is available for capital expenditure—a double dose of debt for our children and grandchildren, with financial debt compounded by infrastructure debt. The decisions that we make must be for the long-term good of the nation. This Government are therefore determined to draw upon the very best advice available, including that of Lord Heseltine, who will chair the Thames Estuary 2050 Growth Commission, and that of Lord Adonis, the chair of the National Infrastructure Commission, whose excellent work has informed many of the decisions made in this Budget.

[Derek Twigg (Halton) (Lab)]

Further to the point raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield South East (Mr Betts), on which page and in which paragraph is the compensation issue referred to?

--- Later in debate ---

[Greg Clark]

I have already given not only the page, but the line number—and the hon. Gentleman too should have done his homework.

I am delighted to say that the remit of the National Infrastructure Commission will be expanded to include large housing developments. It is vital that the big decisions we make on transport and utilities infrastructure are co-ordinated with those we make on housing. As well as building more homes, we need to build better homes. The idea that we can sacrifice quality to achieve quantity is utterly wrong-headed. The only way to build the homes we need over the long term is through forward planning, good design and sound finance.

That is why the Budget lays the groundwork for a new generation of garden villages, towns and cities. We will provide targeted support for local authorities to develop locally led schemes. We will adjust the legislative framework to speed up and simplify the process of delivering new settlements. We will adopt a localised, deal-making approach to planning reform, working with councils to tailor the system to local needs in return for commitments on housing delivery. Instead of trying to force new housing through a fundamentally unreformed system—the approach of the last Government—this Government understand that only a different policy can deliver different results.

[Tristram Hunt]

rose—

[Greg Clark]

There are time constraints, so I am going to make some progress.

This month marks four years since the introduction of the national planning policy framework. Overnight, 1,300 pages of central Government guidance were replaced with 52 pages of plain English. I see in his place my hon. Friend the Member for Henley (John Howell), who played such an important role in that. It is a crystal-clear guide to achieving sustainable development. We have seen massive improvements in planning performance and housing delivery in that time. Before, most councils did not even have a local plan; now, most of them do; and before long, all of them will.

This is not just about plans, but about planning permissions—and not just permissions, but new homes actually being built. And not just new homes, but popular support for new homes. We are seeing a rekindling of the faith in development that was destroyed under the tenure of the Labour party. There is a sense that development can make places better, not worse—not least owing to another achievement of our planning reforms, including the NPPF, which was to establish a fully fledged system of neighbourhood planning.

I am proud that the neighbourhood planning process is under way in thousands of communities across the country. Through community consultation and neighbourhood referendums, local people have been given a real say. This is proof that when the planning system is made accessible and accountable, we can deliver both quantity and quality. However, we do not regard the progress of the last four years—important though it is—as mission accomplished. Rather, it is a spur to further action: to implement the new measures set out in the summer Budget, the autumn statement and this Budget, and to continue the work of reform until we have fully achieved our vision of a property-owning democracy.

The NPPF was a new start, not an end point. The same applies to the other great reform agenda that my Department is responsible for: devolution. It was four years ago that I stood before this House to announce the first wave of city deals. The response from the Labour party was mixed: disparaging in this Chamber but welcoming beyond the confines of Westminster. Four years on, the process of decentralisation has gone further and faster than even the enthusiasts thought possible.

[Tristram Hunt]

Will the Secretary of State give way?

[Greg Clark]

I am going to make some progress, given that about 60 hon. Members want to speak in the debate.

We have seen a second wave of city deals and the launch of growth deals and devolution deals to encompass cities and shires alike. We have even seen something of a change of heart on the Labour Benches. I very much welcome that, if it is a genuine source of support—however qualified—for the principles at stake. If the party of central planning accepts that power must be exercised locally, that is progress indeed.

[Norman Lamb (North Norfolk) (LD)]

Perhaps the Secretary of State will come on to this point, but will he tell me whether he is at all concerned about social care? The independent Health Foundation estimates that there will be a gap of about £6 billion by 2020, and the Local Government Association wanted a roll-forward of extra funding for the better care fund, which has not been forthcoming. Does he not have real concerns that if the amount being spent on social care is not enough, it will simply place an extra burden on the NHS?

[Greg Clark]

As the right hon. Gentleman knows, provision was made in the local government financial settlement and the spending review to allocate up to £3.5 billion for adult social care by the end of the Parliament. The directors of social services and the Local Government Association actually asked for £2.9 billion, so our provision went beyond that. We also need to bring together the treatment of our elderly members of society so that councils and the NHS can, between them, look after those people well. After all, those requiring health care and social care are often the very same people. I know that, as a former Minister in the Department of Health, the right hon. Gentleman will favour that. Part of the devolution deals that we are pursuing will do that. We are seeing it happening in Manchester, and I hope that he will follow that with interest.

[Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) (Lab)]

Will the Minister give way?

[Greg Clark]

I am going to make some progress, as I have said.

This Budget announces a number of new devolution deals establishing combined authorities for the West of England, Greater Lincolnshire and East Anglia, and there are more to come soon. Far from erasing local diversity, the deals make the most of it—for example, by bringing together shire, unitary and district authorities to work together for the common interests of their area. The Budget announces further transfers of power to the Liverpool city region and to Greater Manchester. This shows that establishing a combined authority, with the accountability of a directly elected Mayor, is just the beginning: a democratic basis for the ongoing devolution of power.

Growth deals are another front for the advance of localism. Through the business-led local enterprise partnerships, we are devolving control over the £12 billion local growth fund. The Budget explains how we will allocate the latest tranches of the fund. It will be done on a truly competitive basis to encourage ambition, innovation and the productive use of taxpayers’ money. I am also delighted to see the announcement of new city deals in Wales and Scotland. Specifically, the conclusion of a deal with the Cardiff capital region and the opening of negotiations with Edinburgh and south-east Scotland are important steps forward.

From north to south and from east to west, devolution is transforming our nation. In 2010, the UK was one of the most centralised countries in the free world. There were no combined authorities, and only one big city mayor. Nearly 80% of local government expenditure was centrally controlled. By 2020, there will be combined authorities across the country, and at least eight big city mayors. Local authorities will keep 100% of the income that they collect. This Budget describes and accelerates a process of profound change involving the revival and rebalancing of our economy, the rebuilding of our national infrastructure and the redistribution of power from the few to the many. I commend it to the House.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jon Trickett]

I agree entirely with my hon. Friend’s point.

Let me make some progress on devolution. The average pot of money available to the metro mayors appears to be about £30 million a year, but that is dwarfed by the severity of the cuts that each of their councils has suffered. Top-down devolution, compounded by financial injustice, simply will not work as an enduring solution. Labour wants properly funded, real devolution, which would include, for example, the power for every council to open schools, build homes and regulate buses—mayor or no mayor.

That brings me to the Budget’s implications for the north of England. The Chancellor boasts about his northern powerhouse, but his Budget cuts to northern councils alone since 2010 add up to £3.9 billion being taken out of the northern economy. What do we get instead? A few million pounds for a scaled-down flood defence scheme in Leeds, and a few million more to fund not an electrified rail link, but a study that might report eventually on whether there should be electrification. None of that cuts the mustard—it is more of a power scam than a powerhouse.

Let me express my great admiration for councillors of all parties who do their very best across the nation, despite years of cuts, to protect services. Libraries, for example, are one of the most prized assets in any community, but they are frequently the first to go. On Friday, I visited Wyke library in Bradford. The council has managed to keep it open, despite the prospect of losing half its budget in a decade. The library is a beacon of hope and self-improvement, buzzing with learning. I met people there who were studying to better their lot in life. They told me there was no way on earth they could afford to buy the books they could borrow from a public library or to use the internet, which was also available. The priority had to be putting food on the table for their kids, but they were able to come to the library and have access to knowledge. I met one man who was using the internet—publicly provided in a public library—to complete his PhD. Cutting libraries, cutting museums, cutting theatres—all of this is nothing short of cultural vandalism.

The Secretary of State did a round of media interviews this morning. On ITN, he told Conservative Members to come together again; he said they should stop scrapping with each other. Well, good luck with that. Then he went on the “Today” programme and talked about the rough and tumble of Budget negotiations, as if that explained the resignation of the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr Duncan Smith).

I think the Secretary of State is a decent man, and I suspect that, in his heart of hearts, he appreciates the value of local government services. He knows the role—how could he not?—that many of them play in supporting the vulnerable, but what does he really know about the rough and tumble of Budget negotiations? He was the first Secretary of State to sign up on the Chancellor’s terms.

On the radio this morning, the Secretary of State referred to the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green as his very good friend. My guess is that he may not want to follow the path of his very good friend and resign from the Government to defend local councils. I hope, however, that he will decide to fight his corner rather more strongly than he has this year against a Chancellor who has proved his judgment is nil.

[Greg Clark]

I am grateful for this little riff on resignations, but coming from a party that resigned from reality last August, it is pretty rich.

[Jon Trickett]

I think the Secretary of State should have stayed in this seat rather than make that intervention.

It is time for the Secretary of State to stand up to the demands of an unreasonable Chancellor, rather than standing by while communities are decimated. If he will not, we will.

Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Greg Clark Excerpts

Monday 13th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Greg Clark)]

Just over five years ago, on Friday 7 May 2010, another emergency summit of Finance Ministers from across Europe was convened to save the economies of Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Ireland from falling over like a row of dominoes. Here at home, unemployment was galloping away and had passed 2.5 million, 1 million more people than five years before. The Government had lost control of spending, spending nearly £150 billion a year that they did not have in the biggest structural deficit in the western world, which meant they had to borrow one pound in every four they spent. That very day, a note was waiting in the desk drawer of the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, telling his successor with brutal bluntness that “there is no money”.

The Cabinet Secretary had to intervene in the discussions between the political parties to impress on them the consequences of delay in forming a Government. As The Daily Telegraph reported that day:

“UK bond investors, facing huge borrowing demands from the Government this year, started selling…The fear stalking investors is that a delay in forming a coalition will set back plans to tackle Britain’s record Budget deficit, triggering a full-scale run on the pound.”

[Emily Thornberry (Islington South and Finsbury) (Lab)]

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

[Greg Clark]

On that fateful day, in those dramatic circumstances, a Conservative-led Government did what history has regularly called on Conservatives to do and begin to pull the nation back from the brink of ruin after the disastrous denouement of a period of Labour Government. During the five years that followed, Britain’s prospects have been transformed, with the deficit cut by half, 1 million low earners taken out of income tax and spending on the NHS and schools safeguarded. More people are working than ever before in our history and Britain’s economy is the strongest growing in the western world. Thanks to the hard work and enterprise of the British people, our nation is on the rise again, but our task is far from complete. On 7 May this year, the British people looked at the past, looked to the future and asked us to finish the job. We are determined to repay their trust.

The Chancellor’s Budget puts our economic security first by cutting the deficit at the same pace as in the last Parliament until we have a surplus and ensuring that Britain pays its way in the world. It will help working people, support aspiration and boost productivity. It will reward work and allow people to keep more of the money they have earned. As the Chancellor said last week, the Budget is a new settlement for Britain.

Let me be frank: not every Budget goes according to plan. Some are cheered and others are jeered, such are the ups and downs of government, but it takes a special kind of genius to have an omnishambles Budget while in Opposition. I am sure that the whole House is eagerly awaiting the latest news from the hon. Member for Wolverhampton North East (Emma Reynolds) on whether the Opposition have a view on the Budget. Yesterday, the acting Leader of the Opposition announced that Labour would support the welfare cap and the restrictions on family tax credits, but within hours of her announcement three of the four leadership contenders—the right hon. Members for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper) and for Leigh (Andy Burnham) and the hon. Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn)—denounced her and a policy that they had presumably agreed. We await the view of the hon. Member for Leicester West (Liz Kendall), but we have her representative on earth here—the hon. Member for Wolverhampton North East, who supports her campaign—and we want to find out whether the chaos is complete or partial. After the disarray of the last 24 hours, who could disagree with the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Tristram Hunt) when he said yesterday:

“The speed and rapidity with which we are beginning to be regarded as irrelevant…is really terrifying”?

We on the Government Benches have a settled view on the matters at hand. This afternoon, I will talk about two aspects of the Budget in particular: the opportunity that it offers to every part of the country to participate in our national success; and the imperative that it sets to move our economy to one of high productivity by addressing vital challenges, at the centre of which is building more homes.

[Andy McDonald (Middlesbrough) (Lab)]

rose—

[Emily Thornberry]

rose—

[Greg Clark]

I will give way to the hon. Member for Middlesbrough (Andy McDonald)—the Member for my home town.

[Andy McDonald (Middlesbrough) (Lab)]

May I tell the Minister what is truly terrifying? It is his Government’s proposal to introduce a two-child policy that will punish the most vulnerable and the poorest in our society. That is the terrifying thing about this Budget.

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Gentleman can make that intervention in the parliamentary Labour party meeting later this afternoon, because I understand that that is the official Labour party policy.

Let me say a few words about devolution. As we recover from the recession and look to the future, it is clear that economic progress cannot come from London alone. One of the most striking achievements of the past five years is that the recovery has come from every part of our country. Businesses have created 2 million jobs over the past five years. Before 2010, only one in three jobs was created outside London and the south-east; now the figure is three in every five.

Where are exports growing fastest in the country? Is it in London? No, it is in the north-east, the home region of the hon. Member for Middlesbrough and myself. Where in England has the largest trade surplus? Is it London, or the south-east? No, it is the north-east again. Where is employment rising fastest? Is it in the south-east? No, it is in the north-west of England. For Britain to succeed, every part of the country must be firing on all cylinders.

That requires that we ask every city, town and county what they need to prosper. No two places are the same —Manchester cannot be confused with Margate, nor Newcastle with Newquay—so it should be obvious that a central plan for everywhere will end up working nowhere. For decades, however, that is exactly what central Government Departments tried to do; they prescribed blanket solutions for diverse local problems, which were enforced through unaccountable and expensive regional bureaucracies.

During the last Parliament, we made great strides towards reversing the failures of centralisation by devolving powers on planning, housing and economic growth. The Chancellor has already set out a bold vision for building the northern powerhouse, and this Budget will take us further.

[Jonathan Ashworth (Leicester South) (Lab)]

I know that the right hon. Gentleman is committed to devolving powers to the regions. However, in the last Parliament Conservative Ministers made a commitment to deliver the electrification of the midland main line. Why will the Government not get on with that, because it would be good for the east midlands economy?

[Greg Clark]

I share the hon. Gentleman’s view that that project is very important, and we are committed to it. However, to the regret of, I think, every Member, it has been necessary to pause it, to ensure that it can be done according to prudent budgetary principles. Nevertheless, the Transport Secretary has made it absolutely clear that such transport projects are very important for the hon. Gentleman’s constituency and others.

[Mr Nigel Evans (Ribble Valley) (Con)]

Did the Minister also welcome the news that BAE Systems announced last week that it wishes to take on 2,000 apprentices by 2018, which yet again reinforces the image of the northern powerhouse?

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right; that is marvellous news and a reflection of the confidence in the economy of the UK and of the north-west. It also underlines the point that that is happening not only in our country’s big cities, important though they are, but in all parts of the north and, indeed, all parts of the country.

The Chancellor made it clear in the Budget that we have reached agreement with the 10 councils in Greater Manchester to devolve additional powers to them, beyond those powers that were devolved previously. A land commission will help to release public land to build new homes; fire services will be put under the control of the new mayor; and new powers will encourage further collaboration on children’s services and employment programmes. This historic process of devolution is now available to other cities and other parts of the country. The Chancellor made it clear that we are in active negotiations to devolve powers to the Sheffield city region, to Leeds, west Yorkshire and its partner authorities, and to the Liverpool city region. Each area will receive far-reaching devolved powers and resources in return for the election of a directly elected mayor. We are also in advanced negotiations with Cornwall on the first devolution for a county in this country.

This is just the start. The Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill, which is before the House of Lords, will enable us to negotiate with cities, towns and counties right across the country to give them the power that they need to galvanise their local economies. Such deals are in their local interest, but also in the national interest. At a time when limited public resources must be invested wisely, it is right to offer our cities, towns and counties a bigger share of the funding that is available. Why? Partly, it is because they have already demonstrated that they can make funding go further by managing it more creatively and attracting private sector investment.

[Mr James Gray (North Wiltshire) (Con)]

I absolutely agree with my right hon. Friend about the importance of devolving power in the way that he describes. However, he will recall that it was a Conservative Government who abolished Avon, Humberside and Cleveland—those much-hated examples of regionalisation. Will he make a commitment today that, although devolution is a good thing, it will not become a substitute for regionalisation, and that if counties such as Wiltshire, for example, do not want it, we will not have to have it?

[Greg Clark]

I can give that reassurance to my hon. Friend. That is the essential difference between the programme of devolution that we are offering and what has been attempted in the past. Every proposal will come from local people. I do not have the power, still less the inclination, to force local people into any arrangements other than those for which they are enthusiastic.

[Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)]

Will the Secretary of State explain to me and the residents of Greater Manchester how the devolved £6 billion health and social care budget marries with the £7.1 billion that is currently spent in Greater Manchester? What will happen to the residents of Greater Manchester when that money runs out?

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Lady, who is a Greater Manchester Member of Parliament, should talk to her leaders in Greater Manchester who put the proposal to the Government. The proposal was not invented in Whitehall and visited upon Greater Manchester. The leaders of Greater Manchester made the very good point that when there is a strong connection between the needs of the national health service and the social care of residents across Greater Manchester, it makes complete sense for them to be managed together. That was their proposal and, in line with what my hon. Friend the Member for North Wiltshire (Mr Gray) said, we were very pleased to endorse it.

As I said, this is just the start. We want to build on the ingenuity and experience of local councils and civic and business leaders in an area to attract private investment to match the public investment. The city and local growth deals that we implemented in the last Parliament have transformed £7 billion of funds from central Government Departments into £21 billion of local investment. This Budget represents a golden opportunity for local leaders to repeat that success on a grander scale. Furthermore, with measures such as the creation of new enterprise zones, for which an invitation has gone out to places across the country, and the extension of the coastal communities fund, we are determined that this invitation should be extended to all parts of the country.

[David Morris (Morecambe and Lunesdale) (Con)]

Would my right hon. Friend look favourably on an enterprise zone application for Morecambe White Lund and on a coastal communities investment, because Morecambe needs more money on top of the £1 billion that was delivered by the previous Government? I am sure that, with the Secretary of State’s help, we can do better.

[Greg Clark]

I know from the last Parliament what a fighter my hon. Friend is for his area. I would welcome an application for Morecambe not just for an enterprise zone, but for the coastal communities fund—announcements were made on those two important policies in the Budget. I say to Members from all parts of the House that this is a big opportunity for them to work with the council and business leaders in their area to put forward a compelling bid for funds and, indeed, the devolution arrangements.

[Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)]

The Secretary of State is a most cerebral Minister, so I wonder whether he can help with a problem that I am grappling with. One way in which the north has competed with the south in the past has been through lower wages. I am not saying that that is right, but how will the living wage impact on it? When employers increase wages, they normally do so as a result of an increase in productivity. If there is a living wage imposed by the state, how will we avoid increased unemployment or lower productivity —or both?

[Greg Clark]

I served my apprenticeship with my hon. Friend on the Public Accounts Committee, and partly as a result of the rigour that he imparted to the Committee’s members, I believe that the key to driving productivity is to invest in education and skills. One of the most important announcements in the Budget was the transformation of our apprenticeship system. There is a serious commitment on the Government’s part to ensure that all regions have the ability to invest in the skills that will drive productivity and justify the new wages.

In the proposals that places across the country have started to draft in response to my invitation to have more local arrangements, the common denominators are greater local involvement in skills and engagement with local employers. That is absolutely right, and I will back it in devolution deals.

[Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)]

I have listened carefully to what the Secretary of State has said about giving local people a say and not forcing areas to do things against their will. Why will the Government not devolve further powers to the north-east without a directly elected mayor, and why do they refuse to give local people a say on whether they even want a mayor in the first place? Will the Secretary of State listen to the north-east?

[Greg Clark]

I listen to the north-east all the time, and I have met its civic leaders in recent days and will no doubt have further conversations with them. I have always had a strong and fruitful dialogue with them. In fact, I have a letter from the leader of the hon. Lady’s own council, Sunderland City Council, who said: “The support you provided to Sunderland was crucial to us securing the deal which is so vital in helping boost the economy of our area. Your thorough understanding of the issues in our region should be commended and demonstrates this Government’s commitment to putting the north of England at the heart of its plans to strengthen the economy of the whole country.” I have good dialogue with city leaders across the country, and the hon. Lady should talk to them.

I am conscious that many hon. Members want to speak, so I will move on and say a word about housing. I am convinced that our communities will rise to the challenge of devolution, but I have made it clear to authorities across the country that in doing so, they must deliver the homes that their people need for this generation and the next. Much progress was made during the last Parliament, which began with the lowest level of peacetime house building since the 1920s and first-time buyers locked out of the housing market. Housing starts and the number of first-time buyers have doubled since 2009 and are continuing to rise. Last year alone, the number of first-time buyers rose by 20%, but we must go further. That is why the Government are committed to encouraging home ownership and building homes that people can afford to buy.

[Tom Pursglove (Corby) (Con)]

There is a real desire in Corby for a new enterprise zone, not least because of the success of enterprise zones in the original wave back in the 1980s. We are also seeing enormous housing growth. Does the Secretary of State agree that the areas that are taking that growth should be rewarded when it comes to jobs and infrastructure?

[Greg Clark]

I do agree, and I encourage my hon. Friend and his local business and civic leaders to make an application for an enterprise zone on behalf of his constituents. I am sure that that would further enhance the prosperity of the Northamptonshire economy.

[Emily Thornberry]

rose—

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Lady has been very patient, so I will give way to her now.

[Emily Thornberry]

I am grateful to the Secretary of State for his generosity.

What would the Secretary of State say to the 19,000 families in Islington who are on the waiting list for social housing about how long they might need to wait to be rehoused?

[Greg Clark]

I would say to the people of Islington that they should be pleased that the highest rate of affordable house building took place in the last Parliament, and that we will increase that rate during this Parliament.

[Mr Clive Betts (Sheffield South East) (Lab)]

On that point, the Budget changed the future rental income forecast for social housing from the consumer prices index plus 2%, to minus 1%. The National Housing Federation said that that will reduce housing association revenue by £3.9 billion in this Parliament, and that a conservative estimate suggests a reduction of 27,000 homes being built because of measures in the Budget. How does the Secretary of State begin to justify that?

[Greg Clark]

The justification is clear: over the past three years the rate of increase in rents for social tenants was twice that of private tenants. Since 2012-13 the increase in social rents has been 9.1%, and 4.8% for private tenants. It seems not unreasonable to reset the baseline—if I can put it that way—to reflect the experience in the rental sector of people in the country. I would be interested to hear from the hon. Member for Wolverhampton North East whether the Labour party will share our enthusiasm for the cut in rent for social tenants of 1% a year, when it has been increasing above inflation. It is an important move.

We want to encourage home ownership and build homes that people can afford to buy. We are extending Help to Buy, which has already helped 100,000 people to buy their own home. In autumn we will introduce the new Help to Buy individual savings account, and we will give more than 1 million housing association tenants the right to buy. The Budget and the productivity plan that the Chancellor published on Friday will free up brownfield land for development, speed up the planning system, and deliver thousands of new homes for aspiring homeowners.

[Roger Mullin (Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath) (SNP)]

The Secretary of State mentions the great productivity plan, but what a damp squib that is. It fails to address the key fundamentals of productivity, whether lending to business, raising intermediate and higher intermediate skill levels that are a major drag on our productivity, or other facets. Surely we deserve better than the damp squib that was produced on Friday.

[Greg Clark]

I do not think that the hon. Gentleman has read the productivity plan. If he does he will find it a substantial document. That this early in the life of this Government there is a clear focus on ensuring that our country is equipped to prosper in the long term is a mark of the Government’s seriousness, and I am surprised that he disparages that.

[Mr Mark Prisk (Hertford and Stortford) (Con)]

The plan includes important planning reforms such as new transport hubs that many Conservative Members welcome, as well as new powers for the Mayor of London. There was, however, one glaring omission because there was nothing about permitted development rights, and many people are concerned about a policy that has helped to turn empty offices into family homes. When will the Government publish their policy on that?

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend, who made a distinguished contribution as housing Minister, is right. Permitted development rights are important to bring otherwise disused spaces, such as offices, into use for homes. He will not have long to wait before we announce the continuation of those arrangements.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

I am interested in the Secretary of State’s proposals to reform planning regulations, but will he look carefully at unintended consequences? We all want an increase in the number of homes being built, but we do not necessarily want to lose valuable employment land.

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Gentleman makes a reasonable point in a reasonable way. He is absolutely right, which is why article 4 directions are expressly available to local authorities to make sure that land is kept for a particular use where it is important to do so.

Some of the proposals will be contained in the housing Bill this autumn and the House will have the opportunity to debate them. The Bill will create a new register of brownfield land to help fast-track the construction of homes, with the principle of development being agreed on 90% of suitable sites by the end of this Parliament. In London, I am pleased that my hon. Friend the Mayor will create an additional 10 housing zones, all on brownfield land. Those additional zones will bring the total number in the capital to 20, which, combined with the 20 housing zones outside London and the eight shortlisted areas that we have agreed to work with, could deliver nearly 100,000 more homes.

[Boris Johnson (Uxbridge and South Ruislip) (Con)]

Will the Secretary of State give way?

[Greg Clark]

I will indeed give way to the Mayor.

[Boris Johnson]

I just want to thank the Secretary of State and the Minister for Housing and Planning for their work in helping us to deliver those housing zones, which are enabling London to build more homes than at any time since the 1980s and a record number of affordable homes. In fact, in the next few years we are on target to build more homes in London than at any time since the 1930s.

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend is right, and it is part of his record as Mayor of London of which he can be very proud. He and my hon. Friend the Minister met just before they came to the House to discuss the London Land Commission and further plans to build on the success that my hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson) has enjoyed. It is vital that we make sure that the capital has homes for the next generation of Londoners, just as he has provided them for this generation.

Local plans have been another success story, as they have helped to drive progress on both the quantity and quality of new development. In the productivity plan, we said that we want to take steps to ensure that there are local plans in every community. We will also make it easier to build 200,000 starter homes on underused commercial land, which can then be offered to first-time buyers under the age of 40 with a 20% discount.

We will update legislation and guidance to ensure that neighbouring councils co-operate on local plans—something that the Communities and Local Government Committee has taken an interest in over the years. The Chair was hopeful that I might listen to the representations from the Committee during this Parliament. We have listened and we are reflecting some of its thoughts in the productivity plan. We want to make sure that planning decisions are made as quickly as they can be; that major infrastructure projects can include some new homes as part of their plan; and that smaller firms have quicker and simpler ways of establishing where and what they can build, particularly on land in the new brownfield registers.

We also want to ensure that our existing housing stock supports working people, which is why the reduction in social housing rents—to bring them in line with the increase that has taken place in private rents—is an important step forward.

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

If I may bring the Secretary of State back to the importance of local plans, part of the problem has been that some local authorities have been slow in bringing forward their plans. I therefore support the Government’s moves to encourage local authorities to get their plans in place, because the Government will do the work if local authorities fail to do so.

[Greg Clark]

I am grateful for the support of my hon. Friend, who has contributed to the Select Committee’s deliberations. Local councils have now had plenty of time to get on with their plans. More than 80% have published a plan, so we are pushing at an open door.

The Budget and its accompanying documents make clear, in tangible form, our commitment to provide the land and a simplification of the planning system to allow the homes that are needed to be built.

[Peter Dowd (Bootle) (Lab)]

On the issue of brownfield sites, my constituency has areas that are heavily contaminated and need significant remediation. Can the Secretary of State advise local authorities and developers where they can get support for that remediation?

[Greg Clark]

One of the benefits of devolving some of the powers and funds to local authorities is that by combining investment in transport infrastructure, housing and commercial development it is possible to get private sector investment in some of those regeneration projects. The hon. Gentleman has a valid point and, in recognition of the issue, we are establishing a brownfield fund that will help with the remediation of some brownfield land.

We have important themes in the Budget. It is an opportunity for our country to be even bolder over the five years ahead than we have been in the past. I am pleased that the shadow Secretary of State is on record as being a moderniser in her party. She supports a leadership candidate who says that she wants to challenge her party to be bolder. I hope that she will take the opportunity to do that. A vigorous debate on these matters—on housing, on planning and on furthering the devolution agenda—is very much to be commended in this House. Reflecting ruefully on the past five years, I found that I had a fruitful dialogue with leaders of local government, not just with Conservative leaders, such as my hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, but with Labour leaders across the country, too. However, I did not, and they did not, get the support from Labour’s Westminster politicians. I hope that will change this time.

The hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central, again providing wise words, said that this needs to be a summer of hard truths. That is good advice to the hon. Lady and I hope she will be bold. As the former shadow housing spokesman and now shadow Secretary of State, if she is not going to be bold, who is? Will she support tenants who dream of owning their own home, or not? Will she support our plan to build 200,000 starter homes? Will she back our register of brownfield sites with automatic planning permission so that builders can get on with building and young people can get a home of their own? Will she back our plans to extend home ownership through Help to Buy, right to buy and the starter homes initiative, or will she sit it out, a would-be radical afraid to speak out lest she finds that her leader is an old Labour figure who takes fright at confronting the future?

Britain has come a long way in the past five years, a journey that has taken us from the brink of ruin to the fastest growing advanced economy in the world. Confidence has returned and living standards are rising. Local economies are prospering and house building is on the rise. Businesses are growing and more people are in work than ever before. This progress bears testament to the hard work and sacrifice of the British people. It is their economic recovery and their hard-fought gains will not be squandered. Having come this far, there will be no turning back to the age of irresponsibility that caused so much damage to our country. The Budget sets out a new settlement for Britain to keep our country on the straight path to economic security and prosperity. It will give cities, towns and counties across the country the power to make their own decisions and to galvanise their local economies; it will help local communities to build the homes they need; and it will ensure that social tenants benefit from a fair rent. It is a Budget for working people and for one nation, so that whoever you are and wherever you live, you can benefit from Britain’s progress. I commend it to the House.

Banking Act 2009 Reporting

Greg Clark Excerpts

Thursday 12th September 2013 Written Statements

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Greg Clark)]

The Treasury has laid before the House of Commons a report required under section 231 of the Banking Act 2009 covering the period from 1 October 2012 to 31 March 2013. Copies of the document are available in the Vote Office and the Printed Paper Office.

City Deal

Greg Clark Excerpts

Thursday 12th September 2013 Written Statements

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Greg Clark)]

Following the successful completion of the first wave of city deals in July 2012 with the “core cities”, the Government committed to work with a further 20 cities and their wider areas to negotiate a second wave of city deals in October 2012.

These cities—the next 14 largest cities and the six cities with the highest population growth—are in the process of negotiating the devolution of specific powers, resources and responsibilities required to deliver locally-determined economic priorities.

Over recent months I have been in negotiation with Preston city council, South Ribble borough council, Lancashire county council and the Lancashire local enterprise partnership and I am pleased to inform the House that the following proposals from Preston, South Ribble and Lancashire will take effect as the Preston, South Ribble and Lancashire city deal, the first of the second wave of city deals.

The Preston, South Ribble and Lancashire city deal will help to ensure that the city deal area continues to grow by addressing strategic transport infrastructure and development challenges to deliver new jobs and housing across the city deal area.

Over a 10-year period the local enterprise partnership assesses that the deal will support:

More than 20,000 net new private sector jobs, including 5,000 in the Lancashire enterprise zone;

17,420 new homes; and

£2.3 billion in leveraged commercial investment.

The key proposal of the city deal is:

The City Deal Infrastructure Delivery Programme

The city deal infrastructure delivery programme will deliver the critical infrastructure required to enable the full development of significant housing and commercial development schemes. This includes four major new roads, a motorway junction, the preparatory works for a new Ribble crossing bridge and the necessary local community infrastructure, such as new schools, health facilities, open spaces and district centre improvements required to support the scale of such ambitious development.

To achieve this and as a result of significant local investment, the Government have agreed to:

10-Year Transport Majors Allocation—Following prioritisation of transport projects by Transport for Lancashire (TfL) the Government will give TfL a six-year confirmed allocation and a four-year indicative allocation confirming the ten-year investment profile.

Stewardship Board—The homes and communities agency will also invest in the deal through the creation of a city deal stewardship board. The city deal stewardship board will be responsible for guiding the sale of assets belonging to the HCA and local partners for inclusion within an infrastructure delivery programme. Government will transfer into the infrastructure delivery programme the proceeds from the sale of assets placed in the stewardship board and allow the infrastructure delivery programme to retain any uplift in HCA land values over and above the book value of £50.75 million, up to a maximum of £37 million.

The City Deal Investment Fund

The Lancashire county pension fund’s agreement to allocate £100 million for investment in commercial schemes in the city deal area is a core city deal offer. The Lancashire pension fund committee has agreed to approve a new local allocation of £150 million for Lancashire—approximately 3% of the £5 billion fund—to be funded through a re-allocation of existing global equity allocation. This allocation is targeted at the acquisition of real income generating assets in Lancashire, with a target of £100 million within the city deal area and £50 million across the rest of Lancashire.

Oral Answers to Questions

Greg Clark Excerpts

Tuesday 10th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Ann McKechin (Glasgow North) (Lab)]

6. What recent progress he has made on implementation of the mortgage guarantee scheme.

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Greg Clark)]

The Government are making good progress in working with mortgage lenders to introduce the mortgage guarantee scheme from January 2014. The scheme would allow people who can afford repayments on a mortgage but do not have a large deposit to own their own home.

[Ann McKechin]

The dangers of feeding a housing bubble are real. According to the Office for National Statistics, house price inflation in Greater London is four times higher than in the rest of the United Kingdom. Will the Minister confirm his assessment as to the extent that funds spent on the scheme in Greater London will exceed their pro rata share, based on the UK’s population?

[Greg Clark]

The scheme comes into effect in January. Government Members believe that home ownership should not be reserved for the well-off and the children of the well-off, which is why we are introducing this measure. The average deposit has risen to 79% of the income of a first-time buyer. That is why we are introducing the scheme: we are determined to help ordinary working people who want to own their own home.

[Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con)]

I recently met a constituent who purchased a one-bedroom flat at the height of the boom when she was single. She is now married and expecting her first child. They are desperate to move but are in negative equity and cannot move, despite having two good incomes and good savings. Will the mortgage guarantee scheme offer a positive solution for my constituents, and how can they access the scheme?

[Greg Clark]

Yes it will. The scheme is available to purchasers who already own their own home but want to move to a bigger one, perhaps because, like my hon. Friend’s constituents, they have had children. They are currently trapped in the home they have bought, and that is why the scheme we are introducing is important. It will allow people who can afford to pay the mortgage to achieve their dream of home ownership.

[Mr Andrew Love (Edmonton) (Lab/Co-op)]

The mortgage guarantee scheme does nothing to help housing supply. In those circumstances, many organisations suggest that the scheme will be inflationary. What is the Minister doing to reassure those who are concerned that the scheme will increase house price inflation?

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Gentleman is wrong to say that the scheme has done nothing to encourage supply; 10,000 homes have been started under the current scheme. The Home Builders Federation itself has said that a lack of affordable mortgage availability remains the biggest constraint on housing supply. That is a problem; we are solving it.

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

7. What his policy is on the payment of corporation tax by foreign-based companies; and if he will make a statement.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Greg Clark)]

Manufacturing output grew in the most recent quarter by 0.7%, contributing to the growth of the economy as a whole. Growth was broadly based. In June, output increased in all 13 of the published manufacturing sectors, the first time that this has happened since 1992. The whole House will welcome today’s news that Jaguar Land Rover is to create a further 1,700 new jobs in the west midlands and 24,000 jobs in the supply chain.

[Neil Carmichael]

I thank the Minister very much for that answer. Does he agree that the news that manufacturing output has increased to its highest level in 20 years, as exemplified by firms such as Renishaw, Xograph and Delphi in my constituency, represents a good start to the rebalancing of the British economy?

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I pay tribute to him for doing his bit in an important cluster of manufacturing businesses in Stroud. He has invented and promoted the festival of manufacturing and engineering in Stroud, which will take place between 11 and 15 November, helping to give a further boost to the already successful companies in Gloucestershire.

[Andy Sawford (Corby) (Lab/Co-op)]

According to the Office for National Statistics, Corby is the manufacturing capital of the UK, but over the past three years our businesses have survived despite this Government’s policies not because of them. Will the Minister look again at the decision to pick winners in the boat-building industry and not to award money from the regional growth fund to my local firm, Fairline Boats?

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Gentleman is wrong in his assessment. He failed to say that the 13% collapse in manufacturing happened during the last three years of the previous Government. In the first three years of this Government, it has recovered. He mentioned the regional growth fund—paying tribute, I assume, to another successful intervention, which has helped firms such as JLR and will help others, including in the east midlands.

[Emma Reynolds (Wolverhampton North East) (Lab)]

16. What recent progress has been made on implementation of the national infrastructure plan.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

As the Chancellor knows, a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises were let down by the conventional banking system. Many are finding that crowdfunding is a useful way of enabling them to start up and grow. Will he and the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills be very cautious before introducing unnecessary regulation to curb crowdfunding, which is a good thing for most small businesses?

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Greg Clark)]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. We want to see a great variety of sources of finance for small businesses. It is important for consumers and businesses to have confidence in those sources, and the Financial Conduct Authority is considering carefully rules that will strike precisely the balance to which the hon. Gentleman has referred.

[Mr Speaker]

Last but not least, I call Mr Richard Fuller.

Living Standards

Greg Clark Excerpts

Wednesday 4th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

It is interesting that the interventions from Opposition Members refer to the challenges their constituents face owing to falling living standards. It is a shame that hon. Members on the other side of the House want to talk about anything but that.

I would like to talk about a family I met this week. On my first day back from maternity leave, I visited a family in Thurrock who told me what they were up against. The father, once a partner in a thriving small business, lost his livelihood three years ago during the recession. Desperately trying to keep up their mortgage repayments, he has spent the past three years taking whatever work he could get through employment agencies, often on the minimum wage and often on zero-hours contracts. He recently found a permanent job as a driver which, topped up with evening shifts doing deliveries, gives the family a bit more security, but it falls far short of making full use of his talents and experience.

The wife abandoned her dream of training to be a primary school teacher so that she could hold on to her relatively secure but modestly paid job in retail. Their daughter is studying for university and should do well, but she worries about fees. All of them pointed to a gaping and growing disconnect between their rates of pay and the costs they face for travel, housing and other basic necessities. Under this Government, the situation is getting worse for such families—families who want to get on in life.

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Greg Clark)]

It is possible that the hon. Lady has said something significant: that the Labour party has dropped its commitment to the temporary VAT cut. Given that as recently as June the shadow Chancellor said that he was committed to it, what has happened since then to cause it to be dropped?

[Rachel Reeves]

The shadow Chancellor said in his conference speech two years ago that VAT should be reduced from 20% to 17.5% as an emergency measure to stimulate the economy. The reality is that since then the economy has flatlined and we have continued to argue for that, but he has also said that as the economy slowly begins to move into recovery mode—we hope that the growth over the past two quarters will continue—the emphasis should move to infrastructure investment. Were we in government today, our priority would be the £10 billion of infrastructure investment that the International Monetary Fund has called for.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Greg Clark)]

May I begin by welcoming, on behalf of the whole House, the hon. Member for Leeds West (Rachel Reeves) back from maternity leave, and congratulating her and her husband on the birth of Anna? We wish them much joy in the years ahead. Now that she has become used to being interrupted by someone making loud, insistent and sometimes incomprehensible demands, I am sure she is glad to have returned to the House of Commons, where such things never happen.

The necessary condition for rising living standards is, of course, a sound economy. The hon. Lady will be aware that during her absence the economic policy of the Labour party has collapsed. It has spent three years opposing every reduction in public spending that this Government have made; three years calling for more borrowing and more debt; three years denying any responsibility for its failings in government; and three years warning that unless the Government changed course and adopted its so-called fiscal stimulus, the economy would not grow and unemployment would rise. However, because we followed the right policy and did not follow the shadow Chancellor’s advice, and because of the grit and hard work of the ordinary working people of this country, the economy is on the road to recovery.

[Mr Redwood]

Does the Minister agree that President Obama’s economic policy, which has been much misrepresented and much praised by the Labour party, has included a far bigger budget deficit reduction, through spending cuts and tax rises, than anything done here, and that the American economy is growing faster for longer?

[Greg Clark]

My right hon. Friend is right that there is a global consensus, if I could put it that way, that responsibility in fiscal matters is the necessary condition to revive the economy. The only exception to that consensus continues to be Opposition Front Benchers.

We have cut our structural deficit by more than any G7 country. The deficit is forecast to fall this year, next year and the year after that. We have record low interest rates. We are investing more in infrastructure during this Parliament than the previous Parliament.

It is still a world of economic turbulence—let us be clear about that—but the evidence throughout the past few months is that Britain is on the mend. National income has grown for two successive quarters.

[Alison McGovern]

The Minister is talking about economic success and sound economic policies. Would he like to come to my constituency in the Wirral and tell my constituents why sound economic policy and a successful economy have led to their wages being cut by £30 a week under his Government?

[Greg Clark]

As the hon. Lady knows, I spend a lot of time in Merseyside; we met on the other side of the water in Liverpool recently. I would be very happy on one of my visits to Merseyside to meet her and make the point that making the economy competitive, including in the north-west and her constituency, and getting people into jobs and bringing unemployment down is the best way that people can build living standards that are sustainably high. I will come on to say a bit more about that.

There have been 1.3 million jobs created in the private sector, but what has been the Labour party’s reaction, including today, to that news? The first reaction was silence. The entire Labour Front-Bench team went to ground for the summer, although the hon. Member for Leeds West had an excuse. However, three years have passed since she stated in her excellent maiden speech:

“It would not be responsible or sensible to oppose every spending cut or tax increase.”

It was in that same maiden speech that she told the Chamber that she would

“encourage this Government when they get it right”.—[Official Report, 8 June 2010; Vol. 511, c. 239.]

Now would be a good time for her to do what she promised. I would be more than happy to give way to her if she acknowledges that the hard work of the British people is showing success that she did not predict. No answer.

[Geraint Davies]

Does the right hon. Gentleman accept that since his Government took office, GDP per person—productivity per person—and average wages have fallen? We are seeing a glimmer of hope, but the reality is that the 1 million extra jobs are on the same baseline. In other words, that is not success; it is failure. There would have been growth under Labour, as was the case up to 2010.

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Gentleman parts from his Front-Bench colleagues and at least acknowledges that there is progress. He calls it a glimmer of hope, but I think the 1.3 million people employed in new private sector jobs regard it as much more than that. The hon. Gentleman will know that the first step to creating sustainably high living standards is to get people into work and into good jobs. I will say more about that in a moment.

[Chris Williamson (Derby North) (Lab)]

May I take the right hon. Gentleman back to the Conservative manifesto from 2010? It said:

“We want to see an economy where not just our standard of living, but everyone’s quality of life, rises steadily and sustainably.”

Is it not a fact that 20% of the British work force are paid below the living wage and that 60% of the jobs that the right hon. Gentleman is referring to are themselves low paid? How is that a mark of success when people are being forced into poverty wages?

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Gentleman should pay attention to the more thoughtful members of his party. If he looks at the work of respected think-tanks such as the Resolution Foundation, which does some excellent work, he will see that the problem of low wages is affecting many western countries and has been for some time. In fact, the right hon. Member for Southampton, Itchen (Mr Denham) pointed out in the summer of 2010 that the problem under the previous Government was that hard-working families who played by the rules and paid their taxes did not get a great deal back, that their pay had not increased much and that they thought there was fundamental unfairness in the system. This is a problem that afflicts many western countries. It started under the previous Government. I will come on to explain how the best way to pursue the matter is to raise sustainably high living standards.

[Ms Buck]

Does it cause the Minister any concern at all that since his Government took office in 2010 there has been a 50% rise in the number of working people who require help with their housing costs and that this Government will spend £14 billion more on supporting private tenants with their housing costs than the previous Labour Government?

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Lady and my party share the ambition of ensuring that people can earn a living that allows them to pay their and their families’ costs, but the question is how we get there. If Members oppose the reforms necessary to create that possibility they will not make any progress, given the financial situation we inherited.

[Mr Redwood]

I am glad that the Minister has said that we share Labour’s ambition for more people to have better paid jobs. Of course we want people to be better paid, but is not the best way for people to get a better paid job to start with a low-paid job and work their way up and get mentored and trained in the workplace?

[Greg Clark]

My right hon. Friend makes a powerful point. Opposition Members should not be so disparaging about the chances that are being given to millions of people to find work, make progress, learn skills and acquire the necessary experience.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

[Greg Clark]

I want to make some progress.

The Labour party’s policy, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, is to increase Britain’s debt by £200 billion. That would be ruinous, because—this is linked to living standards—that borrowing would fall to the ordinary working people of this country. They would suffer a double hammer blow: more money would be taken out of their incomes to repay debt and there would be higher interest payments on mortgages and business loans. A 1% increase in interest rates would cost householders with a £100,000 mortgage £1,000 a year.

Today and throughout the past three years, the Labour party has persisted in talking down the economy, but its policies would take down the country. In fact, one of the biggest sources of concern in the British economy today is the total absence of a credible economic policy from the people who in 20 months’ time aspire to be the Government of this country. That is of concern even to people in the Labour party. Even the noble Lord Mandelson said recently that the risk of pursuing Labour’s economic policy was too great:

“I don’t think you can really take a chance, I think the markets, whose confidence in us to pay back what we borrow—that confidence is the determining factor.”

He went on to say that

“a lurch in policy…would be quite a risk which I would not blame the chancellor for refusing to take.”

By the way, Lord Mandelson is a friend of the shadow Chancellor. He said:

“I also happen to like him…well, more than I used to.”

We are here to discuss the cost of living and the cost of living is Labour’s legacy. Of course families are finding it tough. The Labour party talks about the cost of living without any mention of its record in government on living standards. It was the Labour Government who doubled council tax. Even in the depths of the recession, when my hon. Friend the Member for Peterborough (Mr Jackson) presciently asked them to consider freezing council tax, as this Government have gone on to do, they flatly refused.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

On that point, will my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating Conservative-run North West Leicestershire district council, which has frozen council tax for four years running, and in condemning the leader of the Labour group, who suggested that we should raise council tax by 2% this year?

[Greg Clark]

I congratulate my hon. Friend’s council. We know that council tax is an important bill that people face. That is why when we came to office, knowing the pressures faced by ordinary working people and families, we froze it.

The same is true of the Labour party’s record on fuel duty. Its fuel duty escalator meant that what working people paid to fill up their car rose by more than inflation every year. Petrol would be 13p a litre more if Labour had stayed in office.

Energy prices for the home escalated under Labour. Between 1997 and 2010, the average domestic gas bill doubled. These matters were raised in our earlier exchanges, but the hon. Member for Leeds West omitted to say who the Energy Secretary was in the last Government. It was the current Leader of the Opposition. When I shadowed him across the Dispatch Box, these issues were not addressed, despite our urging him to do so.

In its 13 years in office, the Labour party failed to safeguard pensions. In one notorious year, it increased the state pension by 70p. This Government have restored the link to earnings. Labour presided over the biggest fall in the number of homes being built since the 1920s, with the consequence that rents have risen and, for the first time in 100 years, the proportion of people who own their own home has fallen.

[Gavin Barwell]

My right hon. Friend is doing a very effective job of comparing the record of Labour in office with the rhetoric that we have heard today. The shadow Chief Secretary talked about priorities. Will my right hon. Friend tell the House what was the effect of the Labour Government’s abolition of the 10p rate of income tax? Which sections of society were made worse off by that decision?

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. Of course, it was the ordinary working people who were struggling to get by who were penalised by that change. We have not had an apology for that. [Interruption.] The hon. Member for Nottingham East (Chris Leslie) talks about raising VAT. It would be interesting to hear from him whether the Labour party would reverse the rise in VAT.

[Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op)]

Will the right hon. Gentleman explain how much the rise in VAT has cost the typical family?

[Greg Clark]

It is 20 months before the election and the Labour party cannot say whether it would keep or reverse the rise in VAT.

The Labour party established the beer duty escalator, the council tax escalator, the fuel duty escalator and the biggest escalator of them all—the deficit escalator. The deficit trebled in its last two terms in office and that all has to be repaid by the hard-working people of this country. The facts are stark: the deficit that we inherited equates to about £6,000 per household every year. Of course it is painful to find an average of £6,000 per household in revenues and savings, but that is the effect of the previous Government’s profligacy.

[Emily Thornberry]

rose—

[Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)]

rose—

[Greg Clark]

I will give way to the hon. Member for Islington South and Finsbury (Emily Thornberry) because she has been patient.

[Emily Thornberry]

I wonder whether I might drag the right hon. Gentleman back from the political knockabout to the realities of life. A point was made earlier about the number of working people who are now dependent on housing benefit. Is he aware that the cheapest four-bedroom flat to rent on Rightmove yesterday cost £440 a week? Given that the minimum wage is £212 a week, how can people live?

[Greg Clark]

Where has the hon. Lady been for the past three years? We have reformed the planning system. Since the national planning policy framework was adopted, which I had something to do with, planning permissions for new homes have risen by 22%. That is the action that is required if the problems that she identifies are to be solved.

The Labour motion talks about the standard of living, but no Government in living memory have done more to scupper the standard of living of ordinary working people in this country than the last Labour Government.

[Stella Creasy]

The Minister wants to talk about his Government’s record, so let us talk about the last six months alone, during which the proportion of people in this country who are worried about their personal debt has risen to 50%—20 million people in this country are desperately worried about the level of personal debt that they are in. Does he accept that his low-wage economy is part of the reason why so many families in this country are lying awake at night, frightened about how they will put food on their table and make it through to the end of the week?

--- Later in debate ---

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Lady is an experienced and effective campaigner on debt issues, but she will know that the explosion in debt happened under the last Labour Government. The reforms that we have made in financial services, the line-by-line scrutiny of which the hon. Member for Nottingham East participated in, have improved the regulation of such matters. She is right in the sense that the only way of ensuring that people can confidently earn enough to support themselves and their families is for them to be in work and in a good job. That is the purpose of our reforms.

[Gavin Barwell]

The hon. Member for Walthamstow (Stella Creasy) is right to identify low wages as a problem. They are a particular problem in the parts of the country that have the highest living costs because we have a national minimum wage. The second part of the problem is the high level of tax that the Government levy on people who are in low-paid work. Will my right hon. Friend therefore answer the question that the shadow Chief Secretary ducked and tell us what has been the change in the income tax bill for somebody who works full time on the national minimum wage?

[Greg Clark]

Of course, the amount of income tax that is paid by somebody on such modest earnings has been halved. That is the purpose of our reforms. Those people are better off.

Every Member of the House wants the standard of living enjoyed by the people of this country to rise. That is the purpose of economic policy. Let us therefore have a serious analysis of how that can be achieved.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

[Greg Clark]

I will make some progress, then I will give way.

We must have a serious analysis of how that can be achieved in a way that is substantial and sustained. The first requirement is to do everything that we can to ensure that people are able to earn a good living. The second is to do everything that we can to reduce the costs that people face—especially those that are imposed by the Government.

On the first requirement, if people are to earn enough to generate a good standard of living, our country needs to be competitive against its rivals. The UK is at the top of KPMG’s league of the best countries in which to do business, ahead of Switzerland, the USA and France for the first time ever.

[Kwasi Kwarteng (Spelthorne) (Con)]

I am grateful to the Minister for the point that he is making about international competitiveness. How did Labour’s 12 increases in fuel duty improve competitiveness and the living conditions of British families?

[Greg Clark]

Those increases hit people in two ways: they hit the people who paid the duty when they filled up their tanks and they hit small businesses who employed people. It was a disastrous policy, which is why we scrapped it.

We will shortly have the joint lowest corporation tax in the G20. Last year, Britain was the biggest destination in Europe for inward investment. That competitiveness is creating jobs—jobs that give people incomes. Since 2010, 1.3 million jobs have been created in the private sector. More people are working in Britain than ever before and we have the lowest proportion of workless households for 17 years. There have been more net new private sector jobs in the past three years than there were in the previous 10 years under the Labour party.

People’s living standards are higher if they are in work, but I also want people to be able to earn higher wages. The only way to achieve that is to improve the levels of education and skills in the workforce. That is why the reforms of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education are so vital. It is why we need rigour in the exam system. It is why his announcement this week that we must ensure that people leave school qualified and skilled in all ways, but especially in maths and English, is so important. It is why the 86% increase in new apprenticeship starts between 2009-10 and 2011-12 is so important.

[Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) (Lab)]

I would not want to waste the opportunity, with the Secretary of State for Education in his place, to raise again the cost of living issue of school uniforms, which the Prime Minister ignored earlier as though there were no issue to consider. In Manchester, one of the new academy secondary schools is charging £300 for a boy’s uniform. Families are really struggling, as I mentioned to the Prime Minister, although he did not seem to take the point on board. That cost is pushing a lot of families into debt and payday loans. The Financial Secretary talked about families struggling to get by, and this month some families are struggling to get by because they have had to shell out £300 to send their children back to school. What does the Secretary of State for Education have to say about that?

[Greg Clark]

I suggest that the hon. Lady turn up to Education questions if she wants to question the Secretary of State, but since her question refers to the cost of living, I hope she would not want the policies on such matters for every school in the country to be set from the Department for Education. It would be an interesting statement from the Labour party if it did want that. My experience of good schools in my constituency that have a uniform code, which parents welcome, is that they typically have schemes and mechanisms to help people obtain uniforms if they find themselves in financial difficulties.

Getting good jobs requires investment in skills and education for those in work. For those who are retired, incomes have been helped by the biggest ever increase in the state pension.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Member for Leeds West did not give way to Members who had already intervened once. Given the number of Members who want to speak, I think I will do the same thing. However, I will give way to my friend the hon. Member for Birmingham, Erdington (Jack Dromey) before I make some progress.

[Jack Dromey (Birmingham, Erdington) (Lab)]

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman. May I first correct the figures that he gave earlier? Under the Labour Government there were 2 million new homes; it was under the current Government that house building fell to its lowest level since the 1920s.

This is “Yes to Homes” week, and housing organisations all over Britain have predicted that without fresh measures by way of investment in housing supply, rents will rise by 46% by 2020 and the price of buying a house by 42%. Why not heed the advice of the International Monetary Fund, which has said that if we want a serious, sustainable economic recovery, £10 billion should be invested in our economy? Why not invest that in building 400,000 affordable homes and creating 600,000 jobs and apprenticeships?

[Greg Clark]

I have enjoyed debates with the hon. Gentleman over the years, and he will know that no one in the Government is more committed than I am to increasing the number of homes. He knows that our reforms to planning—I have heard some recent statements suggesting that the Labour party may wish to resile from them—are increasing the number of planning permissions given for new homes. I would have thought that he would welcome that.

The Government are relentless in driving up employment and the quality of skills, which are the foundations of high living standards. However, we must also act to reduce the costs that people have to pay, where the Government can influence those costs. A credible plan for reducing the deficit has kept interest rates low, as the IMF has acknowledged. We must not underestimate the importance of those low interest rates to the monthly budgets of thousands of families. Indeed, as I said, if mortgage interest rates were to rise by just 1%, average mortgage bills would increase by about £90 each month.

We have enabled local authorities to freeze council tax for five years, meaning that the average person pays £200 less each year than they would under the Opposition’s plans. We are increasing the tax-free personal allowance to £10,000 from next year, meaning that the average person will pay nearly £500 less each year than they would under the Opposition’s plans. We have frozen fuel duty, meaning that the average person pays nearly £170 less each year than they would under the Opposition’s plans.

On top of that, we have capped rail fares, extended free nursery care, taken action to reduce energy costs and cut the tax paid on a pint of beer. Under the Opposition’s plans, it would cost more to drive a car, more to take a train, more to heat a home and more to drink a pint. In fact, if we add it all up, someone with a car to run, a mortgage to pay and a home to heat would be about £2,000 worse off every year under the Labour party, yet it has the audacity to claim that things are getting worse for millions of working families.

The combination of rising employment and the increase in the personal allowance meant that last year, real household disposable income rose by 1.4%. However, there is more to do, and as the recovery continues we want to see living standards rise. The people of Britain know that there is no shortcut to higher standards of living and no magic money tree. They know that the only way is for us to live within our means; invest in education and training; spend prudently, not profligately; and exercise the same values in government as people do in their own lives. That is what this Government are doing, that is the path to prosperity for all, and that is why a good future awaits the people of this country.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

Financial Services Authority

Greg Clark Excerpts

Wednesday 10th July 2013 Written Statements

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Greg Clark)]

The annual report 2012-13 of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has today been laid before Parliament.

Copies are available in the Vote Office and Printed Paper Office. The report forms a key part of the accountability mechanism for the Financial Services Authority under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA), and assesses the performance of the Financial Services Authority over the past 12 months against its statutory objectives.