Oral Answers to Questions

Helen Morgan Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD)]

8. What fiscal steps she is taking to increase economic growth in rural areas.

[Helen Morgan (North Shropshire) (LD)]

20. What fiscal steps she is taking to increase economic growth in rural areas.

[The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (James Murray)]

A prosperous rural economy will be underpinned by improvements in rural connectivity and productivity, the availability of affordable energy, access to public services and a thriving farming sector. To that end, the Government are investing £5 billion in broadband connectivity, which will support growth in rural areas across the UK. In addition, we are spending £5 billion for the farming budget in England over the next two years, including the largest amount to be directed at sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history.

--- Later in debate ---

[James Murray]

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury will set out any fiscal measures in due course. I am not sure whether I will get away with committing him to a visit to the hon. Gentleman’s constituency, but I am sure that many of us would like to visit it. In fact, I shall be in Scotland in the next few days, but as it is for a Labour party fundraiser, the hon. Gentleman may not want to join me.

[Helen Morgan]

Rural North Shropshire is home to some great independent businesses that we are looking forward to celebrating on Small Business Saturday this week, but they are held back by the business rates system, which benefits big online retailers and holds back investment not only on the high street but in the countryside. Will the Minister consider a much more radical reform of business rates which takes account of land values, encourages businesses to invest and puts high street retailers on a level playing field with online giants?

[James Murray]

Until the hon. Lady’s last sentence, I thought she was declaring support for our business rates plans, because we are setting out to level the playing field for high street businesses and the online giants. We are doing that by way of a permanent tax cut for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses on the high street, which is paid for by the higher multiplier for those with a rateable value of £500,000 or more—a category that includes the warehouses used by online companies. I look forward to the hon. Lady perhaps contributing towards our “Transforming Business Rates” paper, which sets out our wider ambitions for reform.

Oral Answers to Questions

Helen Morgan Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Tulip Siddiq]

I think I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his question, but may I point out gently to him that, had our economy grown at the average rate of other OECD economies over the last 13 years, it would have been £140 billion larger? I also point out that under the Conservatives the tax burden rose to its highest level for 70 years. I will take no lessons from the Conservative party, because the last Government oversaw the biggest drop in household real disposable incomes since records began.

[Helen Morgan (North Shropshire) (LD)]

5. What fiscal steps she is taking to support pensioners with the cost of living.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Rachel Reeves)]

This Government support the triple lock. As a result, the state pension is worth £900 more than it was this time last year. In April, it will go up again by the highest of inflation, average wage growth or 2.5%. Our commitment to the triple lock is for not just one year but the duration of this Parliament. In addition, pensioners will continue to benefit from free eye tests, free prescriptions and free bus passes, and those pensioners most in need will continue to receive winter fuel payments alongside the pension credit.

[Helen Morgan]

I thank the Chancellor for her answer, but nearly 22,000 pensioners in North Shropshire are forecast to lose their winter fuel payments very soon, just as energy prices for the average household are about to go up by 10%. Many of my pensioners live in bungalows and older housing stock, which is expensive to heat. A lot of them have been in touch with me to say that they are worried sick about this winter. We know the Chancellor has difficult choices to make, and we accept that, but will she consider that the broadest shoulders are not those of pensioners who earn less than the minimum wage and are about to lose this vital support?

[Rachel Reeves]

I understand the concerns that the hon. Lady sets out. The state pension is worth £900 more than it was a year ago and energy bills are lower this winter than they were last winter. As she points out, we inherited a £22 billion black hole from the previous Government, who had made unfunded spending commitments with no idea how to pay for them. When I became Chancellor, I undertook an immediate audit of the spending situation to understand the scale of the challenge, and I made difficult decisions—some very difficult decisions—to put the public finances on a sustainable footing. They were tough decisions, but they were the right decisions in the circumstances we faced. They included the decision to make the winter fuel payment better targeted, so pensioners who need it most will still get it alongside pension credit. Targeting the winter fuel payment will save around £1.5 billion a year to support public finances.