Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Iain Duncan Smith and Hugh Bayley(10 years, 9 months ago)
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Hugh Bayley (York Central) (Lab)
T7. Two of my constituents—both of whom are UK citizens—went to other European Union countries to find work, but when those jobs ended and they came home they found they were no longer eligible to receive benefits in the UK. Did the Government mean to penalise UK citizens who go abroad to get off the UK unemployment register, and is not that exactly the wrong signal to give? Will the Secretary of State change the regulations?
Mr Duncan Smith
As the hon. Gentleman should know, we are bringing forward tougher sanctions on those who come here just to take benefits, rather than to work. Of course, British citizens working abroad are more likely to have gone abroad with a strong work record in the UK, so when they come back that is taken into account. If the hon. Gentleman is worried about a particular case, perhaps he would like to write to me and I will take it up. The sanctions are fair because they stop people coming to countries such as Britain just because they have better welfare systems than theirs.
Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill
Debate between Iain Duncan Smith and Hugh Bayley(11 years, 10 months ago)
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Mr Duncan Smith
I want to make a little progress before I give way again.
We need to remind ourselves that although the Opposition spent the debate in Committee going on and on at my hon. Friends about taxes on the wealthy coming down, we are raising more in tax from the wealthiest than they ever planned to throughout the whole of their spending programme. Hon. Members should remember that Labour was the party that said early on that it was
“intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich”.
We will take no lessons from the party that did not raise the upper rate to 50% until the last month or two before it lost the election.
Mr Duncan Smith
I shall give way in a second, but I want to make a little more progress.
Let me deal with the point about deficit reduction, which is really important. The Opposition did not answer a key question during our debates in Committee. They have voted against every single measure to reform and reduce the overall spending on welfare so that we can get the deficit under control. Let me quote somebody whom they might remember. The quote is this:
“from 2005 onwards Labour was insufficiently vigorous in limiting or eliminating the potential structural deficit.”
That was their former Prime Minister, Tony Blair. I agree with him. In 2005 the previous Government raised spending dramatically as a device for electoral success, as we said earlier. Time and again Labour has voted against our reforms.
Mr Duncan Smith
I wonder why I bothered to give way to the right hon. Gentleman. Every one of those statements was a spending commitment. They were not reductions. Every one of them would still leave a Labour Government with a vast bill to pay. I remind the Opposition that what they have opposed remains the reality. They are stacking up spending commitments without one single observation about how they would make the savings necessary to cut the deficit that they left us—one of the worst deficits, as I said before. Their proposed raid on pensions, which they wanted to talk about, would not cover it. They have already spent several times over all their little gimmicks. Voting against the Bill is another spending commitment.
Mr Duncan Smith
I will give way to the hon. Gentleman, but first I want to deal with some of the claims that the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill made in the course of the debates on the Bill. The first claim that he made was that spending on out-of-work benefits was falling before 2010. That is not true. The figures published show that between 1997-98 and 2010-11 spending on out-of-work benefits rose by £2.6 billion. There we have it. Even the Opposition’s attempt to whitewash what was a very small idea is not true. Overall benefits and tax credit spending increased by £75 billion, from £122 billion to £197 billion, which is 60% in real terms.
The Opposition’s decision to vote against the Bill has financial implications equivalent to 48,000 nurses’ salaries or more than 500,000 primary school places. That is the kind of mess that they have got themselves into because they have taken the easy course in opposition, which is to oppose everything and to come up with no serious proposals.
Hugh Bayley
In York there is a particularly large gap between private sector rents and the levels of housing benefit because the broad rental market area for York includes a number of towns 20 miles away, such as Malton, Norton and Easingwold, where rents are about 40% lower. A new clause was tabled that suggested that the Department should analyse those gaps on an annual basis, but there was not time to discuss it. How would the Secretary of State respond to that proposal? Would he support such a proposal if it were made in another place?
Mr Duncan Smith
We are always analysing what we are doing with local housing allowance and housing benefit generally, so that is an ongoing process for us. We are also testing our proposals for universal credit when it comes to housing.
I know that I need to conclude, but I want to say something, as the hon. Gentleman touches on the subject. When we brought in the housing benefit changes, we heard all sorts of threats that those would lead to total disaster. One of the myths propagated by the Opposition was that 82,000 people across London would lose their homes. The reality is, so far, that the figure is up by just under 600. The myth was that 134,000 people would have to move or become homeless. The reality is that across the country, the numbers of those in temporary accommodation is up by only about 900.
In conclusion, the changes that we are putting forward are down to the first point that I made, the second point being that we need to carry them out in the fairest possible way. As my hon. Friend the Minister said earlier, we do not take this course of action lightly, but we know that if we were to go on borrowing at the rate that the last Government would have, we would punish the poorest.
I say to the Opposition that it is not good enough simply to take the easy course. When in government, they left us with the worst deficit and high borrowing that would have completely devastated those who pay their mortgages. They need to come to the Dispatch Box and tell us now how they would be fair to those who have to pay the highest tax bills.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Iain Duncan Smith and Hugh Bayley(12 years, 8 months ago)
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Mr Duncan Smith
As ever, my hon. Friend has hit the nail on the head. Work experience is a great programme, which is helping lots of young people to get into work at a reasonable cost to the Exchequer. Those two things need to be borne in mind. It is no good the Opposition sitting quiet, watching while trade unions back these anarchists and try to stop decent people getting into work.
Hugh Bayley (York Central) (Lab)
People diagnosed with mesothelioma—141 former railway carriage builders in York have now died—can often claim compensation from their employer. The earlier they get compensation, the less they and their dependants need in benefits, so will the Secretary of State talk to the Secretary of State for Justice about fast-tracking these cases through the courts, as is currently done in the royal courts of justice in London, and making that a nationwide approach?
Living Standards
Debate between Iain Duncan Smith and Hugh Bayley(12 years, 12 months ago)
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Mr Duncan Smith
The reality is that the OBR yesterday told us categorically that the position in which the Labour Government left us was significantly worse than anybody expected. It also said that unless we had taken the decisions that we took last year, we would be borrowing more than £100 billion in each year of this Parliament. On top of that, the Labour party’s measures would have resulted in even worse, but at least we had a little honesty from the shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, who said that borrowing would rise because she would borrow more. Given the economic situation, the Treasury estimates that such measures would cost far more—on the back of the OBR figures.
We now know what the Government at the time were doing, and what the Opposition today are about. They are determined to put hard-won interest rates, which we have held down, at risk. Last April, under Labour, our interest rates were higher than Italy’s; 18 months later, we are the only major western country to have seen its credit rating improve. Italy’s interest rates are now about three times ours, despite it having a lower deficit—actually, almost half the deficit that the previous Government left us. So, while the rest of Europe is under intense pressure, the UK remains a safe haven and the Labour Opposition are completely confused.
Yesterday the shadow Chancellor insisted that low interest rates were the sign of an economy in trouble. That is the same man who, back in 2004, described long-term interest rates as
“the simplest measure of monetary and fiscal policy credibility”.
Mr Duncan Smith
Let me lay out the facts to make things simple for the Opposition before I give way. A 1% rise in our market interest rates would add £10 billion to mortgage bills; the average family with a mortgage would have to pay £1,000 more every year; the cost of business loans would increase by £7 billion; taxpayers would be forced to find an extra £21 billion in debt interest payments—and the ex-Chief Secretary to the Treasury has the front, the absolute front, to talk about squeezing living standards. If the Opposition had their way, living standards would collapse.
Hugh Bayley
Does the Secretary of State not recall that at the time of the general election Britain’s national debt was significantly lower than that of Italy, France, Japan and the United States? The reason Italy faces its economic problems is that its national debt is much higher than that which this Government inherited from the Labour Government.
Mr Duncan Smith
It is well worth reflecting on the fact that the previous Government’s debt cannot be detached from their deficit. In case the hon. Gentleman does not understand it, I will explain that what they did was ratchet up spending before the recession began. We had the largest structural deficit of any G7 country before the recession began.
Mr Duncan Smith
No, I will not give way. The previous Government then went on a spending spree, ratcheting up the deficit, which now pumps the debt. It is no good playing silly games—
Mr Duncan Smith
No, the hon. Gentleman can sit down. It is no good. He is not going to play games over the difference between the deficit and the debt. The reality is that Labour cannot weasel out of it. It left us with a tragedy that we are having to put right, which is why we will oppose the motion.