Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and Danny Alexander

Tuesday 9th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

I agree with my hon. Friend. This Government have taken consistent action to tackle tax avoidance and to reduce tax evasion, raising billions of pounds to help avoid some of the pressures to which she refers. Dodging taxes is as morally reprehensible as claiming the wrong benefits or doing what she described. Those are all things that we, as a society, want to see stopped, and the Government are taking action to see that they are.

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

On infrastructure spending, the Government’s claims earlier this year that flood defence spending had increased were rubbished not by insignificant people but by Sir Andrew Dilnot, chair of the UK Statistics Authority, the Channel 4 “FactCheck” programme and many others. On that basis, what confidence can we have that spending on flood defence will increase, when it went down £200 million in the first four years of this Government?

[Danny Alexander]

This Government’s investment in flood-risk management has increased in real terms by 5% compared with spending in the previous five years. We will be spending more than £5.2 billion over the course of this Parliament on flood and erosion risk management compared with £2.7 billion in the previous five years. That is a record of which I am proud.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and Danny Alexander

Tuesday 10th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

I am grateful, as always, to my hon. Friend for his question. He is absolutely right: it is a huge cut in income tax. In fact, over the course of this Parliament and before we take any decisions on next year’s Budget, we are already committed to spending £38 billion to reduce the income tax of working people. That is a massive commitment from this Government to cut income tax for the working people of the United Kingdom.

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

7. What recent representations he has received on reform of the Office for Budget Responsibility.

National Infrastructure Plan

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and Danny Alexander

Wednesday 4th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

I agree wholeheartedly with my hon. Friend on both his points. On the latter, I have said enough, but the Opposition are just completely hopeless on the economy, as they have demonstrated again today.

I travel through Gatwick regularly when flying back and forth to Inverness—this is not the reason why Gatwick is in the plan—and I have to say that the airport railway station does not present a great face to the world for people arriving in this country for the first time. That is why the investment is much needed, and we welcome the fact that Sir Howard Davies has suggested making such an improvement. The £50 million we are providing will of course need to go alongside investment by the airport, but provided that that is forthcoming, we can get on with the project.

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

How many of today’s announcements and the many re-announcements are in response to real tragedies for the economy, such as RWE’s decision to walk away from a potential £4 billion investment in the Atlantic array, which would have brought much-needed jobs? Has the Chief Secretary had discussions with RWE on resetting the strike rate, and would it now be at the table if he had done so sooner?

[Danny Alexander]

As RWE said at the time, its decision about the project was a commercial one taken for a range of reasons. It was aware of the timetable for setting out the strike prices. I know that my hon. Friends in the Department of Energy and Climate Change had conversations with that company.

Investing in Britain’s Future

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and Danny Alexander

Thursday 27th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

Many of these matters are devolved to the Welsh Assembly Government, and so it is for them to take them forward. I have regular and friendly discussions with the Finance Minister of the Welsh Assembly Government, and I will draw my hon. Friend’s concerns to her attention in my next conversation.

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

As regards capital spending that creates jobs, it would be wrong to say that this is a “jam tomorrow” statement; it is a case of jam in a couple of years and then only perhaps and not very generously. Can the Chief Secretary confirm that in 2014-15 flood capital spending will be £344 million less than we spent in 2010? If he is not sure, he can turn to the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the hon. Member for Newbury (Richard Benyon), who is on the Bench next to him and who should have been making that statement today.

[Danny Alexander]

In 2014-15 spending will be £358 million, rising to £370 million in 2015-16.

Comprehensive Spending Review

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and Danny Alexander

Thursday 28th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

I will give way to the hon. Gentleman sitting next to the hon. Member for Warrington North.

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

Does the right hon. Gentleman accept that the localised hotspots he mentioned, where the cumulative impact of his measures will take the most drastic and tragic effect, include Wales, the north-east and other areas that either rely heavily on public sector workers as a proportion of the work force or where the benefits reforms will have a significant impact? Does he also accept that he will be judged in 12 or 36 months or five years of this Parliament on whether the north-east, Wales and elsewhere are disproportionately and tragically affected by the cumulative impact of the measures he is ramming through?

[Danny Alexander]

Of course I accept that people will judge the Government’s performance on the basis the hon. Gentleman suggests. I fully understand that, which is why I am spelling out the measures we are taking to ensure that those areas that are most affected are supported through the regional growth fund. His point is important and serious, but I observe only that the previous Government created the mess of the Budget deficit. We have to clean up the problems facing our economy. The worst thing possible for Wales or other parts of the country would be to leave the deficit untackled, which would lead to lower growth, higher interest rates and less employment.

[Huw Irranca-Davies]

rose—

[Danny Alexander]

I will not give way again to the hon. Gentleman; I shall press on.

Also in June, the OBR forecast total jobs in the economy over the next four years, which Opposition Members seem to have missed. It implies 1.6 million additional private sector jobs over the period. We will do all that we can to help those leaving the public sector to take advantage of those opportunities, and we must remember at all times that the gravest threat to jobs in our economy would be a failure to deal with the deficit. Deficit denial is the single biggest danger to employment in this country today.

Throughout the review, I have been clear on one thing: our decisions need to improve life chances. Fairness is not just the net sum of cash transfers. That is important, but there is more. Fairness is about opportunity and the chance for a better future, especially for the next generation. We know about the attainment gap between children from different backgrounds, which starts at an early age.

In these difficult times, perhaps no one would have noticed had we quietly turned a blind eye, but fairness demands more, so we have chosen to invest. That is why we have introduced a new pledge for 15 hours’ child care for disadvantaged two-year-olds, matching the 15-hour commitment for all three and four-year-olds that was previously introduced by this coalition Government. Cash spending on Sure Start services will be maintained, with a renewed focus on life chances. Although this has meant a greater challenge for other Departments, I am proud that the schools budget will not only match but outstrip inflation in each of the next four years. When we factor in reduced pressure from pay restraint and back-office savings, that amounts to a very significant boost to the classroom. A new £2.5 billion pupil premium will target additional resources on those with the most to gain.

We will be relentless in our focus on social mobility, and in extending the ladder of opportunity. Fairness runs through the heart of this spending review.

Capital Gains Tax (Rates)

Debate between Huw Irranca-Davies and Danny Alexander

Monday 28th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

No party went into the election promising to increase VAT, but the hon. Gentleman should make no mistake: the rise in VAT is a result of the public finances that we inherited from his Front-Bench colleagues. One could say that it is a Labour inheritance tax.

[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

[Danny Alexander]

I shall press on. I have already given way.

In response to the points raised by my hon. Friend the Member for St Ives (Andrew George), I can say that we have already demonstrated our commitment to transparency by publishing data on the distributional impact of the Budget measures, which has never been done before. We are committed to continuing with that level of transparency in future fiscal events, and we will continue to look at whether we can further improve the breadth of information provided. Parliament will, of course, as my hon. Friend requested, continue to have full scrutiny of the Government’s decisions, and I hope that the information that we have already provided, and will provide in future, will facilitate that debate.