Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Harriett Baldwin and Rachel Reeves

Tuesday 10th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

The Chancellor will review mileage rates, but with her fuel duty freeze coming to an end in September and the next fiscal event not happening until later in the year, will she commit to review that decision at the end of this parliamentary Session if petrol prices are significantly higher than they are today, for the sake of people’s cost of living?

[Rachel Reeves]

The price of petrol today is 8p per litre lower than if I had followed the plans that were left to me by the previous Conservative Government. From April, it will be 11p per litre lower. Of course, we keep these things under review, but oil prices today are 24% lower than they were yesterday, so things are very volatile at the moment. That is why, as I said yesterday, the most important thing we can do to address the cost of living challenges people face is to de-escalate the conflict in the middle east, which is exactly what this Government are attempting to do.

Middle East: Economic Update

Debate between Harriett Baldwin and Rachel Reeves

Monday 9th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

We are building new nuclear in England and we are building new nuclear in Wales. We would love to build new nuclear in Scotland, but that will be possible only with a Labour Government in Scotland. On renewables, auction round 7 was very successful, and auction round 8 will take place later this year. My hon. Friend is absolutely right: we need to wean ourselves off imported oil and gas and be more secure with our energy supplies here in the UK.

[Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

The Chancellor has announced today that she is not really making any changes at this point, and that she is calling for a de-escalation. What would she say to my rural constituent who uses heating oil and has a virtually empty tank after a long winter, and is facing a 100% increase in the cost of heating oil? I did not hear anything that would help that particular constituent.

[Rachel Reeves]

As the former Chancellor, the right hon. Member for Godalming and Ash (Sir Jeremy Hunt), said, it is too early to know the impact of this. The key is de-escalation and getting vessels flowing through the strait of Hormuz. The hon. Lady will have heard me say that heating oil is uniquely affected. People who use heating oil will get the benefits in their electricity bills, but I urge her to attend the meeting on Wednesday to put the case of her constituent to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Harriett Baldwin and Rachel Reeves

Tuesday 4th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

The Chancellor justified at the Dispatch Box what a working person is. Will she reiterate at the Dispatch Box now what she said to the British public during the general election campaign, which is that her forthcoming Budget will not raise taxes on working people?

[Rachel Reeves]

We will set out all our Budget measures at the Budget.

Spending Review 2025

Debate between Harriett Baldwin and Rachel Reeves

Wednesday 11th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

I thank the Chair of the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee for that question. Warm homes are a big part of our plan to tackle the cost of living crisis, and the money that we have put into the warm homes plan today will mean that millions more homes can be retrofitted with better boilers, insulation and solar panels. On average, that takes £600 a year off people’s bills not just for one year, but for every year to come. My hon. Friend is absolutely right. What we have done today is set out a five-year package of capital investment, because it is crucial that the industry is able to plan for the future and that young people are therefore willing to train up and businesses are willing to invest in apprenticeships. That is why on all of our capital spending, including the warm homes plan, we have set out a five-year plan.

[Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

My constituents in Tenbury Wells are seeking funding for a flood defence scheme. They will have listened very closely to the Chancellor’s remarks today to hear her mention flood defence capital spending, yet it was not mentioned in her speech. Can she confirm that the capital that will be allocated in the spending review period to flood defences will be as high in real terms as it was in the previous Parliament?

[Rachel Reeves]

The hon. Lady knows that we increased money for flood defences in the spending review in autumn last year, because we knew that there was no time to waste. We have already increased that flood defence spending, in addition to what the previous Government were spending.

Spring Statement

Debate between Harriett Baldwin and Rachel Reeves

Wednesday 26th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

I thank my hon. Friend for that question, and I share the deep concern felt by everyone on the Government Benches—in fact, everyone in this Chamber—about the most sick and disabled, who need support. That is why we have set out in the Green Paper that we are consulting on an additional premium payment to the most severely disabled. It is also why, instead of writing people off and not providing the support that they need to do a job that matches their abilities and needs, we are providing that personalised, targeted support. I was at a jobcentre last week in Pudsey, in my constituency, where I heard amazing stories of work coaches helping people into work who are far from the labour market. We want to see more of that. We want to lift people out of poverty and help them to achieve their potential.

[Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

At the general election, the Chancellor promised growth and no increase in taxes, but as Chancellor, she has delivered no growth and a record increase in taxes. Now, the Office for Budget Responsibility is halving her growth forecast this year, with cumulatively half a percent less over the forecast period. More worryingly, it is forecasting a more than 1% reduction in productivity growth. Why does she think that is?

[Rachel Reeves]

I have huge respect for the hon. Lady, but that question does not do her justice. As I said to the right hon. Member for Salisbury (John Glen) earlier, with the starting point of 2023, cumulative growth is lower. However, the general election did not take place in 2023—it took place in 2024. The economy is bigger at the end of this Parliament than the OBR forecast previously. Those are the numbers and the facts, and that is the difference that this Labour Government are making.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Harriett Baldwin and Rachel Reeves

Tuesday 21st January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

Former Chair, Mr Speaker, but thank you very much for calling me.

It is clear that we all want to see economic growth in rural areas and across the UK, but I am concerned that some of the measures in the Chancellor’s Budget are having the opposite effect. Which statistic worries her most: the fact that we are at a 20-year high for business closures, or the 100% increase in millionaires leaving the UK?

[Rachel Reeves]

I have already outlined some of the positive numbers, including the upgrade in the IMF forecast, the PwC report and the fact that the economy had returned to growth in the most recent data and inflation is falling. Instead of talking our country down, I will be banging the drum to bring in investment and jobs to our country.

UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue

Debate between Harriett Baldwin and Rachel Reeves

Tuesday 14th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to say that economic growth has to be built on strong foundations, which is the approach of this Government. Our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower is consistent with that. If we can ween ourselves off fossil fuels and the oil of dictators, we will be more secure in our economy, because we will not have to import so much from overseas.

[Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

It is good to see the Chancellor back from China and to hear her reiterate that growth is her No. 1 mission, because we have not had any growth since her Budget. Given that accepting responsibility is the first step in solving a problem, will she accept that last October’s Budget has caused business confidence and growth prospects in this country’s economy to plunge?

[Rachel Reeves]

I thought for a moment that the hon. Lady was going to apologise for Liz Truss’s mini-Budget. Maybe she will do so on another occasion.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Harriett Baldwin and Rachel Reeves

Tuesday 29th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is why we will ensure that the Low Pay Commission takes into account the cost of living, and why we will close the gap between the youth rate of minimum wage and the overall rate, so that all adults can be paid a fair wage for their work.

[Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

The living standards of a 90-year-old pensioner on a £13,500 income are falling sharply this winter as a result of the Chancellor’s decision to take away the winter fuel allowance. Tomorrow, she has the chance to increase the threshold. Will she take it?

Public Spending: Inheritance

Debate between Harriett Baldwin and Rachel Reeves

Monday 29th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

I thank my hon. Friend for her question. She speaks from her experience as Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, and I agree with her entirely. The charter for budget responsibility will be published. We have already introduced legislation for the new fiscal lock that we set out in our manifesto, so that we can ensure that a Government can never again do what the previous Government did, which was to overspend by £22 billion within one year.

[Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

What a chilling political choice, to choose to take away the winter fuel allowance from a 90-year-old on an income of £10,000 a year. And that was a political choice. I want to ask the Chancellor more about productivity. She used the word once during her speech. What discussions has she had about improving productivity, which according to the Office for Budget Responsibility is still 5% lower in the public sector and has not recovered since the levels we enjoyed before the pandemic?

[Rachel Reeves]

The challenge of productivity sits across both the public and private sectors. In the last 14 years, productivity has flatlined in the public and private sectors and we need to boost both. We need to boost productivity in the public sector to ensure that we get better value for money for our public services, but we also need to improve productivity in our private sector so that we can improve living standards and have the money for our public services.