Support for Pensioners
Debate between Harriett Baldwin and Torsten Bell(2 weeks, 1 day ago)
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Torsten Bell
That argument is made a lot. All I would say is that all of us should want all pensioners to receive the benefits they are entitled to and to drive pension credit take-up. We are confident that this policy will deliver significant savings, and the costings put into the Budget in the autumn take into account an increase in pension credit take-up.
For most pensioners I speak to, concerns about the state of the health service are front of mind. The biggest betrayal of pensioners today is the state of our NHS—run down in England and undermined in Wales, with the capital budgets handed down by the UK Government to the Welsh Government not remotely sufficient to maintain the NHS estate or to invest in badly needed diagnostic equipment.
Torsten Bell
No.
That is why this Government are investing £22 billion in the English NHS this year and next, with consequentials for the Welsh and Scottish Governments. The hon. Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East (Seamus Logan)—
Torsten Bell
No.
The hon. Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East rightly says that society will be judged on how it treats its pensioners, particularly with regard to the NHS, but in Scotland we have now seen five new NHS recovery plans announced in four years. That is not a tribute to our older generations. Supporting pensioners in the 2020s is about more than opposing every tough choice—
Dame Harriett Baldwin
On a point of order, Dame Siobhain. Is it orderly for me to point out that the NHS is suffering from a number of over-65s who sadly have a high level of mortality—
Budget Resolutions
Debate between Harriett Baldwin and Torsten Bell(3 months, 4 weeks ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Dame Harriett Baldwin
Unforced. During the election campaign, the Chancellor told the British public that taxes were too high. She said that she wanted to bring taxes down. She has roundly broken that promise today, because the Budget increases tax for every household in this country, possibly by up to £10,000 over this Parliament. That is way beyond the £2,000 figure that we warned about during the election campaign—a warning that the Prime Minister said on national television was a lie.
The Chancellor campaigned on a general election strategy that I believe was deliberately designed to mislead the electorate. Her plans, and those of the Deputy Prime Minister, end up giving us German taxes with French labour laws—a recipe for higher unemployment if ever I have seen one. The scale of the tax changes announced today for small businesses that employ more than four people is astonishing. Labour Members should let that sink in.
Dame Harriett Baldwin
I will not give way to the hon. Gentleman, who so often gave evidence to the Treasury Committee. I recall that I had to press him on the fact that NHS productivity has not yet returned to its pre-pandemic level. He told us on the record that if it did, that would be worth £20 billion in additional NHS output.
The Chancellor promised that she wanted to focus on growth. That is her mission, but I believe that more taxes, more public spending and more borrowing do not lead to growth; if they did, Venezuela would be one of the most prosperous countries on earth. What the Chancellor was planning all along, together with her Cabinet colleagues —who have no experience of working in the wealth-creating, job-creating, tax-paying private sector—is a Budget of the public sector, by the public sector, for the public sector. She cannot blame us, because in her first 25 days as Chancellor she announced £25 billion of additional new spending, whether that was for Great British Energy, a national wealth fund, or inflation-busting backdated union pay rises with no productivity requirements.
I also want to speak up for my farmers in West Worcestershire.