Oral Answers to Questions

Helen Jones Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd September 2014 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to stress the importance of lifting the income tax personal allowance, which was a Liberal Democrat manifesto commitment for working people in this country. A full-time worker on the minimum wage will pay three quarters less income tax than they would have done in 2010. A typical basic rate taxpayer will save £800 in cash terms in the next financial year.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

If the Chief Secretary believes in reducing taxation on working families, will he explain why those on universal credit will be subject to a 76% marginal deduction rate on extra earnings? Why do the Government believe that wealthy people have to be incentivised by a tax cut, but the poorest people need to be incentivised by a huge tax rate?

[Danny Alexander]

The hon. Lady deliberately ignores the fact that many people faced marginal deduction rates of more than 100% under the previous Labour Government. It is precisely because we want every single person in this country to know that they will be better off in work than on benefits that we are introducing universal credit, and she should support it as strongly as I do.

Oral Answers to Questions

Helen Jones Excerpts

Tuesday 24th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Nicky Morgan]

My right hon. Friend the Chancellor has said that, yes, he is very happy to look at it. As he said when he visited, infrastructure investment is an important part of our long-term economic plan. I know that my hon. Friend has been working for many years on this scheme. He has built a coalition of partners locally and this is important for the Lee valley. The Government will always look at important infrastructure investment to bring jobs and growth to all parts of our economy.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

In my constituency, 20% of people in work earn less than the living wage and others are trapped in part-time jobs and on zero-hours contracts. Why do the Government keep trumpeting a supposed recovery that, for the first time ever, has left more people in poverty in work than out of work?

[Nicky Morgan]

I am sure that the hon. Lady will welcome the fact that there has been a 24% fall in her constituency in the number of young people on jobseeker’s allowance, and the long-term economic plan is for all people. My hon. Friend the Exchequer Secretary has always talked about the rise in the personal allowance, and it is this Government, as we have already heard, who are taking action on zero-hours contracts. The last Government had 13 years to tackle them and failed to do so.

Charter for Budget Responsibility

Helen Jones Excerpts

Wednesday 26th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Steve McCabe]

Will the Chancellor give way?

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Will the Chancellor give way?

[Mr Osborne]

No; I am going to end my speech now. [Interruption.] Well, I want to make sure that all these Labour Members have a chance to stand up and say exactly what they think of the welfare cap, and tell us that they support it, and that they should have introduced it when they were in office. They look such a cheery bunch. I want to make sure that they have a chance to explain what they are voting for this afternoon—or perhaps some of them will not.

I could set out more of the details, but much of that has already been done in the Red Book. This is the key point that I want to make to Labour Members. The welfare cap brings responsibility, accountability and fairness. Those who want to undo our welfare reforms will now have to tell us about the other cuts that they will make, or else come clean and admit to the public that what they really want are higher welfare bills. The phoney argument that welfare can be magically cut by a Government’s spending more and borrowing more will run into the brick wall of the OBR’s independent assessment. The phoney argument that a Government can spend half a billion pounds of taxpayers’ money on a spare room subsidy and pay for it with a cut in winter fuel payments worth a fifth of that will be exposed by an inevitable breach of the welfare cap. The “welfare party” will have to make its case for more welfare spending in the plain sight of the British people.

Our welfare cap ensures that never again can the costs spiral out of control and the incentives become so distorted that it pays not to work. From now on, any Government who want to spend more on welfare will have to be honest with the public—honest about the costs—and secure the approval of Parliament in order to breach the cap. Twenty-six benefits will be controlled by the welfare cap as part of our long-term economic plan to restore sanity to the public finances. This is a system that is affordable and fair, and I commend it to the House.

Oral Answers to Questions

Helen Jones Excerpts

Tuesday 10th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

I gave the figures for investment in infrastructure in answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Nicola Blackwood). We set them out in our national infrastructure plan and, what is more, with public and private investment taken together over the next decade or so, we have a pipeline of £375 billion-worth of projects. This is the first time that this country has had a serious long-term plan for investing in infrastructure. If the hon. Gentleman believes in the long-term health of the British economy, he should support our national infrastructure plan, not criticise it.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Can the Chief Secretary confirm that the cost of High Speed 2 has increased by £10 billion under this Government, and can he tell the House when he will get a grip on the costs of this huge infrastructure project?

[Danny Alexander]

I do not recognise those figures. Back in the spending round in June, I set a cap on the costs of HS2 at £42.6 billion. We intend that it will be delivered substantially under that budget. The question for Labour Members is whether they support this project or not. Frankly, given the enormous benefits it will provide for cities across the north, Labour Members should support the scheme, not constantly undermine it.

Cost of Living

Helen Jones Excerpts

Wednesday 27th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Chris Leslie]

I will take one final intervention from my hon. Friend.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend realise that the reason why some of us worry about the proposals of the Free Enterprise Group is that they are all of a piece with what the Tories have done already, including a drop of £35 a week in real wages in my constituency, the imposition of the bedroom tax on the poorest people and, contrary to what they say, increases in council tax for the poorest people? The reason Tory Back Benchers worry about being seen as the party of the rich is that they are the party of the rich.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)]

I am concerned because the debate has been going for 36 minutes already. The time limit on Back-Bench speeches is due to be five minutes. I do not want it to go below that. At this rate, a lot of Members will drop off the list.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sajid Javid]

I accept that the sharpest move in debt to GDP that this country has seen in recent times was under 13 years of Labour rule when national debt more than doubled. We will take no lectures from the Labour party about growing public debt. Allow me to remind the House, especially Labour Members, why people are facing such challenges.

[Helen Jones]

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I note that the Chief Secretary to the Treasury is not present. Can you investigate whether that is because the Lib Dem part of the coalition no longer takes responsibility for economic policy?

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)]

As the hon. Lady well knows, that is not a point of order. It is certainly not a matter for the Chair and does not want to be. I call the Financial Secretary.

Economic Growth

Helen Jones Excerpts

Wednesday 15th May 2013 Commons Chamber

[Ed Balls]

Many other Members want to make speeches, and I have taken rather a lot of interventions already.

Let me ask a political question that brings us back to the economy. Why have things gone so badly wrong for the Prime Minister and his strategy over the past three, four, five months? I think I can help. I have discovered a column that was written in January by the Chancellor’s cheerleader, the former Member of Parliament, and now Sun columnist, Louise Mensch. Straight after the Prime Minister’s Europe speech, she wrote that

“the sound we just heard was Cameron shooting Farage’s fox...This speech saw the George Osborne/Michael Gove wing of government triumphing over the Nick Clegg one...Canny Tories will take this and run with it...George Osborne is a tactical genius.”

There we have it, from a former MP whose one political achievement was to make Corby Labour again. There it is, completely exposed: the Prime Minister is the front man, but the tactical genius—the brains behind the Europe strategy—is the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

We all remember when the Prime Minister said that his Europe speech represented

“a tantric approach to policy-making.”

I have to say that from this side of the House it looks more like sado-masochism—and we all know that the Chancellor likes a bit of that. “'If it’s not hurting, it’s not working” has been his motto for a long time.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

[Ed Balls]

Not now.

I have checked this, and, sadly, it is true. A rather more serious Conservative commentator, Mr Paul Goodman of ConservativeHome, confirmed on his blog back in May of last year that the Chancellor was, indeed, the brains behind the Prime Minister’s referendum stunt. That casts further doubt on the judgment of the Prime Minister. Surely by now he has worked it out. After all, his Back Benchers and the country have worked it out. This is the Chancellor who claimed bringing back Andy Coulson would be a strategic triumph. He is the one who said taking child benefit away from middle-income families would be a masterstroke. He is the one who said that gambling his credibility on our triple A rating was sound economics, and that cutting tax credits and labelling as scroungers 3 million working families—an average of 6,000 in every Tory constituency—was somehow good politics, and that cutting taxes for millionaires would wrong-foot Labour. Surely even the Prime Minister has worked it out by now. This is the man who last year gave us “Omnishambles 1” and “The Budget debacle” and who has now given us “Queen’s Speech 2”, “Omnishambles 2” and the European debacle as well. The fact is the economic plan has failed, the deficit plan has failed and the European plan is failing as well, and when this Government finally collapse in chaos, it will be this Chancellor who gets the blame.

Economic Policy

Helen Jones Excerpts

Monday 25th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I agree with all the sentiments expressed by my hon. Friend. Of course, all countries in the western world are confronting their debt problems. When it comes to trade, one of the big initiatives we need to pursue in the next couple of years, principally through G8 leaders rather than the G7 Finance Ministers, is the possibility of a free trade agreement with the United States. It was encouraging that the President mentioned that in his inauguration speech. That is one objective, alongside EU free trade agreements with India and Japan, that we should pursue in the coming months.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Last year, just before he was booed at the Olympics, the Chancellor said that this country’s triple A credit rating showed that the world had confidence in his policies. What does he think the downgrading shows?

[Mr Osborne]

As I have been explaining for the past 57 minutes, the test is there each day and each week as we have to borrow money to fund the deficit we inherited—even if it has come down. That is the test, and at the moment the world is lending us money at some of the cheapest rates in our history.

Changes to the Budget

Helen Jones Excerpts

Monday 11th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

I am grateful for the constructive way in which my hon. Friend and other Cornish Members have engaged in this process throughout.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Will the Minister explain why he chose to listen to representations on pasties, caravans and charities, but not to representations on the granny tax? Was it because pensioners do not have loud enough voices, or because he does not care about them?

[Mr Gauke]

No. It was because we found the arguments on the three items that we are discussing today persuasive that we decided to make the concessions we have made.

Living Standards

Helen Jones Excerpts

Monday 5th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

The hon. Lady has had her chance; I will carry on.

When it comes to child benefits, a Government who say that they believe in rewarding work are creating a perverse and damaging incentive for people near the higher-rate tax threshold to limit their hours or pay, because of the crude cliff-edge effect that their policies will create. At the same time, changes to the rules for working tax credits will mean that some families could end up £728 better off on benefits than in work, according to a written answer from the Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions, the right hon. Member for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling).

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

The Chancellor said when he took office that he did not intend to balance the books on the backs of the poor. Is that not now exactly what he is intending—and failing—to do? That is the real answer to the hon. Member for Broxtowe (Anna Soubry).

[Rachel Reeves]

It is even worse than that, because the Chancellor is not even balancing the books.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Gauke]

I shall speak in greater detail about the reforms to the working tax credit in a moment, but there is a question that we all have to answer. As the hon. Lady knows, there is a threshold for claiming the credit. For lone parents, it is 16 hours a week. We think it entirely reasonable that the joint target for couples should be not 16 hours a week but 24; we believe that that incentive will be helpful. The principle of a threshold has been in the tax credit system since it was put in place.

[Helen Jones]

rose—

[Joan Walley]

rose—

--- Later in debate ---

[Helen Jones]

Given that the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development says that one in five firms are cutting hours, rather than increasing them or creating new jobs, how are people who work 16 hours a week going to find the extra hours to qualify for working tax credit? Where are those hours going to come from?

[Mr Gauke]

The figures for the last quarter for which figures are available show that there were more than 1.1 million jobs—[Interruption.] That is not a net number; it is the gross number of people moving into employment. We are not going to do anything for employment in this country if we undermine credibility, or if we see our interest rates driven up because we lack credibility because our policies do not hang together. That is what Labour is advocating, but it would be bad news for private and public sector employees.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sheila Gilmore]

rose—

[Helen Jones]

rose—

[Stephen Williams]

I have already given way twice and I am on a time limit.

The same arguments apply as when the Government had to take tough decisions on whether to raise out-of-work benefits in the comprehensive spending review and the last autumn statement, and those benefits were raised by the high consumer prices index of 5.2%. Child tax credits have also been raised by 5.2%; that is £135 extra this year. As the Minister said earlier, there has been £390 extra cumulatively so far since the general election. Difficult decisions are being taken on the reform of tax credits. The Liberal Democrat manifesto explicitly said that we thought there was scope for the reform of poorly focused tax credits. In 2010, nine out of 10 families with children received tax credits and, even after the difficult reforms we are introducing in these tough fiscal times, six out of 10 families will still receive tax credits.

Child benefit is another area in which the Government have to make a tough choice. If the Labour party’s message is that it opposes even that tough choice of withdrawing child benefit from the richest families in the country, where on earth is it going to find the cuts? I look forward to hearing, in all the Labour speeches between now and 10 o’clock, what alternative cuts would be made to replace that cut in child benefit. The cliff edge of the higher rate tax threshold is difficult. We all acknowledge the anomaly that was expressed in the extreme by the hon. Member for Wansbeck (Ian Lavery) regarding the earnings of two people in a household. The Deputy Prime Minister confirmed this morning that we are looking for ways to smooth that withdrawal of benefit from those who are marginally over the threshold; we will have to wait until the Budget to see the outcome of those discussions.

The Government are introducing other measures to support families with children. This morning, I visited a secondary school in my constituency, St Mary Redcliffe, and on Friday I visited the City academy in my constituency as well. Both those schools and all the other schools in all our constituencies are benefiting from the introduction of the pupil premium. Parents who are working need support with child care, and the Government are introducing 130,000 extra places for two-year-olds.

At least this motion mentions pensioners. The last time we had an Opposition motion on living standards, it neglected to mention pensioners at all. That was hardly surprising because the Government had just announced the largest cash increase in the state pension since it was introduced by Lloyd George and Asquith in 1908. The Government have a triple lock in place to ensure that pensioners always receive an increase. We will not have the embarrassment of 75p pension rises in future.

The Government are taking action on tax avoidance. I note that the motion says that everything Labour wishes for, whether on child benefit, child tax credit or working tax credits, is somehow going to be paid for through tax avoidance measures that are unspecified in the motion. That would have more credibility if Labour had voted in favour of the tax avoidance measures introduced by the Government in the last Finance Act, rather than voting against them. I want to see more action on tax avoidance in the Budget, such as a general anti-avoidance rule, and I look forward to hearing what the Chancellor has to say—

Tax Avoidance (Public Servants)

Helen Jones Excerpts

Thursday 2nd February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

I suspect that they will feel, as I do, that urgent action needs to be taken. We have changed the arrangements in this case, and the review will root out whether any other such arrangements were put in place either under this Government or when the hon. Gentleman’s party was in office. He should wait carefully for the results of the review.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury has still not answered the question, so I shall put it to him again. Which Minister or Ministers signed off this tax avoidance scheme, and on what date?

[Danny Alexander]

I have made clear the answer to that question throughout my statement. I am responsible for signing off the salary level for appointments over £142,500, and I discharged that responsibility in this case.