Spending Review

James Morris Excerpts

Wednesday 26th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

Child poverty went up by 300,000 during the recession of the previous Government, and the hon. Lady was a Government MP at the time. We have taken a number of actions today, such as that on the pupil premium, to help the poorest kids, and there is also the troubled families initiative. That means 400 families helped by our plans. The distributional analysis, as I showed, shows that the richest quintile in our society are paying the most as a result of the collection of these measures. We are demonstrating that it is possible to have progressive policies while living with sane public finances.

[James Morris (Halesowen and Rowley Regis) (Con)]

In my constituency, 2,500 more people are in work than at the time of the general election. That employment growth is largely a result of Government investment in apprenticeships and skills. Does the Chancellor agree that we need to invest more in apprenticeships and skills and to give local areas more control over how they invest in skills?

[Mr Osborne]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. It is good to hear that the businesses of the west midlands and Halesowen and Rowley Regis are taking the opportunity to grow, expand and take people on. We are committed to the apprenticeship programme and are also committing to more local involvement in how money is spent through the Heseltine local growth pot, which will be £10 billion over the rest of the decade. Through some of our apprenticeship reforms set out in the Richard review, we will give the businesses my hon. Friend represents much greater influence over the kinds of skills that are taught locally.

amendment of the law

James Morris Excerpts

Monday 25th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Alok Sharma (Reading West) (Con)]

I welcome this responsible Budget, which targets help to individuals and businesses intelligently. Our time is short, so I wish to focus on three points: personal allowances, the employment allowance and exports.

Like my right hon. Friend the Member for Hazel Grove (Andrew Stunell), I welcome the raising of personal allowances to £10,000. That is being delivered by a Conservative Chancellor and, as a result, more than 42,000 people in my constituency will be paying less tax and more than 4,000 will be taken out of paying tax altogether. Before the Budget, I suggested to the Treasury that we set an aspiration for future years that nobody on the minimum wage should pay income tax. I know that the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, who is not in his place, shares that aspiration. It will take some years to deliver and it will be an expensive measure, but it is fair and it is the right thing to do. I hope that aspiration will be set and I hope it will be in the 2015 Conservative manifesto.

Small and medium-sized businesses in my constituency welcome the employment allowance, which is a big boost to job creation. The private sector is the engine of growth, and Reading, the town I represent, is an economic powerhouse in the south-east. No matter what the Opposition may say, the private sector is creating jobs. This morning, I met the chief executive of Huawei, a Chinese IT and telecoms group, which is opening its head office in my constituency in the next few months. It is bringing hundreds of new jobs to Reading and creating several hundred more over the next few years.

In the past few weeks, Tesco has confirmed that it is starting recruitment at a new distribution centre in my constituency, and I am pleased that this brownfield redevelopment is taking place. I have been discussing it with Tesco and its advisers since 2011, and it means more than 1,000 new jobs in my constituency.

A couple of months ago, I met Ross Snape, the chief executive officer of United Asphalt, a successful independent business located in Theale in my constituency. He said:

“All too often we hear politicians and the press talking down the economy, which can have really negative effects on business and the decisions we make on investment and employing people…it is time to move on and face the challenges we have with confidence.”

I could not agree more. Many billions of pounds have been sitting on UK corporate balance sheets as deleveraging has been going on, but businesses based in my constituency have decided that it is now time to invest. They realise there are no easy fixes to the economy because of the problems that had built up.

[James Morris (Halesowen and Rowley Regis) (Con)]

My hon. Friend is giving good local examples of job creation. Does he agree that as the Budget contains one of the proposals relating to the single pot of funding, a recommendation of the Heseltine review, his local area will be helped to develop even further?

[Alok Sharma]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right about that proposal, which will help not only my local area, but other areas. It also advances the whole aspect of localism, on which this Government are very keen, as I am. As I was saying, companies in my constituency have decided that it is time to start investing, and I hope that many others up and down the country will follow suit.

--- Later in debate ---

[James Morris (Halesowen and Rowley Regis) (Con)]

Few things are as natural as the aspiration to own a home, but for too many of our constituents, the aspiration is too often out of reach. The high cost of housing is one of the most frequently raised issues at my surgery. The problem affects not only would-be first-time buyers, but many going through family breakdown. The deposit typically required for a mortgage on even a small starter home is higher than many working families’ annual income. Without parental support, raising that sort of money can be nearly impossible. The “help to buy” schemes announced last week will help to put home ownership back within the reach of hundreds of thousands of our constituents.

I am delighted that the Chancellor is extending right to buy further, so that council tenants can buy the homes in which their families live and local authorities will receive receipts from the sales, to be used to build new social housing. I am proud that, while under Conservative leadership, Dudley built some of the first new council housing in the area for a generation. Right-to-buy receipts, and the doubling of the affordable homes guarantee programme, will mean that more councils and housing associations will be able to build new social housing for local residents.

Last week’s jobs figures showed another increase in the number of people in work—the number in Halesowen and Rowley Regis is now the highest ever—but the fact remains that many people aspire more than anything else to a job that will give them more independence and create a better life for themselves and their families. I remember from when I was setting up my own small businesses that nothing was more rewarding than being able to offer somebody their first job, or to offer work to a person who had been unemployed for some time. Hon. Members know that Governments cannot magically create sustainable jobs, but they have a responsibility to do everything possible to avoid putting barriers in the way of those who can. Every £1 that we add to non-wage costs represents an additional barrier to small and medium-sized businesses taking on extra employees. That is why I am pleased that the Chancellor has launched his scheme. The £2,000 employment allowance is a direct boost for new jobs. It will help to bring more people into work and open up a new set of possibilities and aspirations.

Shortly before the Budget, I attended the launch of the youth budget in Parliament with a number of other right hon. and hon. Members, including the Chancellor. Fourteen to 18-year-olds from around the country came together to discuss young people’s priorities, which were drawn up following a national vote. That generation wants to get on, and the conclusion they came to in their youth budget could not have been clearer: they want the Government to bring down the deficit more quickly.

The House spends a lot of time talking about the economic effects of unsustainable deficits. The continuing turmoil in the eurozone is a current reminder of the dangers of failing to address the deficit. However, the young people gathered together for the youth budget remind us that, as well as being economically foolish, it is morally wrong for one generation to expect the next to pay for its overspending.

Members on both sides of the House will recognise that growth remains weaker than had been hoped for or expected, as it does in most other developed countries. There was much in the Budget and the Chancellor’s autumn statement that will help wealth creators to deliver the economic activity that we need to provide growth, but there is also much to help to make things that little bit easier for the millions of families who are working hard to get on and build a better life for themselves and their families. I believe that those who strive and those who aspire will see this Budget as a Budget for them.

Oral Answers to Questions

James Morris Excerpts

Tuesday 12th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

There was an issue regarding end-of-year reconciliation, which is an errant part of the pay-as-you-earn system. When we came into office, 17 million cases needed to be dealt with. I think that backlog is about to be cleared—we have made great progress. We are reforming the PAYE system so that tax will be collected at the right rate at the right time, and much more accurately than in the past.

[James Morris (Halesowen and Rowley Regis) (Con)]

Does the Chancellor agree that increasing the personal allowance again will mean that a basic rate taxpayer in my constituency will pay £600 less in tax as a result of the measures taken by the Government?

[Mr George Osborne]

That is already planned and was announced last year. In April, people will be £600 a year —£50 a month—better off. We have also taken 2 million people out of tax altogether, which is a sign of our commitment to those on low incomes and a sign of our commitment to all those who work hard and want to get on.

Infrastructure

James Morris Excerpts

Tuesday 12th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[James Morris (Halesowen and Rowley Regis) (Con)]

Unusually, I would like to start by thanking the Leader of the Opposition for choosing the subject of this debate, even if the text of his motion is fundamentally flawed. In the language of “Yes Minister”, it is extremely courageous of the Opposition to choose a debate on a subject on which their own record is so weak, particularly when they would have cut investment by 50% had they won the last election. I agree with the Leader of the Opposition that investment in infrastructure is vital to the economy’s long-term prosperity. It is also vital that we take effective action today to address the infrastructure deficit left by the previous Government.

There is no question that poor infrastructure discourages inward investment. As Professor Dieter Helm wrote towards the end of the last Labour Government in 2009:

“Few would choose to locate in Britain because of its infrastructure”.

He went on to describe it as

“not fit for the digital age”.

Bringing our infrastructure up to a standard that businesses and residents should be able to expect is essential if we are to create the flexible and successful economy on which prosperity will depend.

One of the most damaging legacies the Government inherited was the unsustainable imbalance in the economy that had built up over previous decades. We cannot build the prosperity we need based on London and the south-east alone and we cannot unlock the potential of the whole country without the modern infrastructure that makes doing business across the country and around the world as straightforward as it can be.

The prosperity gap between the black country, part of which I represent, and the south-east grew out of control under the previous Government. Gross value added per head in Dudley and Sandwell fell from 88% of the national average in 1997 to just 74% in 2008. World-class transport infrastructure such as the HS2 scheme will play an important role in closing that gap. We need to make it as easy to do business with Frankfurt, New York and vital emerging markets from our regional cities as it is from the City of London.

Labour left a rail system rapidly approaching capacity. Network Rail forecast that the west coast main line would be completely full by 2004. The inter-city rail network would be unable to cope without the additional capacity that will provided by HS2, and I am proud that the Government are taking the bold steps necessary to take that scheme forward. Businesses thinking of locating in my constituency know that they will have regular connecting services from the three main line stations in my constituency to the HS2 terminal in Birmingham, offering fast routes to London and later to Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

I would like to make one representation to the Minister. That investment, which is so important to bringing our largest cities together, must be complemented by a new focus on the importance of our regional airports. Whatever the rights and wrongs over the debate about expanding Heathrow, there can be no doubting the benefits of making better use of existing and potential capacity at airports outside London. Building a second runway at Birmingham airport, for example, would increase spare capacity to 50 million passengers per year, creating or sustaining 50,000 jobs. Transforming Birmingham, Manchester and other regional airports into additional hub airports would transform our regional economies and relieve some of the pressure on Heathrow.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

Does the hon. Gentleman think that we also need to increase the turnover and capacity of regional airports in Scotland and Northern Ireland, particularly Aldergrove, Belfast city and Londonderry airports, in order to strengthen the economy across the whole of the UK?

[James Morris]

The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point. We need to encourage greater use of capacity for all our regional airports, as part of the vital effort to rebalance the British economy in the way I described.

Transport infrastructure is not only vital to business, but essential to people’s everyday lives. As the Minister said, the previous Government explicitly set out to price people out of their cars in order to reduce demand for investment in road infrastructure. Instead, we need to look at how we can make our roads better. My constituents are pleased that the Government are investing more in local roads through the highways maintenance block grant to councils. Unfortunately, Labour’s record in local government highlights the hypocrisy of the Opposition’s motion. People in Dudley borough have benefited from £2 million of additional investment in local road maintenance. Unfortunately, the new Labour administration is cutting the road maintenance budget by the same amount, pound for pound, as the additional funding from the Department for Transport. Labour in local government has shown time and again that, as far as it is concerned, infrastructure spending is a very low priority, but residents know that we cannot build a strong local economy with third-rate local infrastructure.

[Steve Reed (Croydon North) (Lab)]

I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman understands that some of the cuts that local government is delivering might well be the result of the 50% cash reduction that most authorities are experiencing over the comprehensive spending review period.

[James Morris]

The hon. Gentleman knows that the decisions taken by local authorities are about priorities. I was giving an example from Dudley borough of a specific decision about priorities for local funding which will be greatly detrimental to local residents.

I welcome this Government’s commitment to effective and efficient investment in vital infrastructure at a time when finances are constrained by the need to tackle the record deficits built up by their predecessors. Using Government guarantees to leverage private investment is a prudent use of public funds, whereas overuse of PFI has left taxpayers paying over the odds for capital schemes, as has been described in this debate.

The Chancellor’s announcement of the new PF2 scheme in the autumn statement was badly needed. We must restore people’s confidence that public money allocated for infrastructure is being spent on roads, schools and hospitals, rather than on swelling contractors’ profits. My constituents were particularly pleased that the proposed new Midland Metropolitan hospital in Sandwell was cited as the first candidate for the new scheme in the NHS. The local hospitals trust has been working hard with the Department of Health and the Treasury to ensure that those plans progress. I hope that my constituents can look forward to further good news shortly. Such investment would not only undoubtedly stimulate local economic activity in the short term, but provide a valuable new facility, providing better services more efficiently for years to come.

I believe that the Government are taking the necessary and tough decisions to invest for the long term in Britain’s infrastructure in order to make up the gap and the deficit left by the previous Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

James Morris Excerpts

Tuesday 29th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

There is a pretty simple definition. Every day and every week the British Government have to go and borrow money to fund the extremely large deficit that was left behind, but we can command record low interest rates because of the confidence that the rest of the world has in our economic plans.

[James Morris (Halesowen and Rowley Regis) (Con)]

Unemployment among 18 to 24-year-olds in my constituency is 15% lower than it was in December 2011, but does the Chancellor agree that we still need to do more to improve young people’s skills, especially in the context of the black country city deal, which is focusing on skills in advanced manufacturing? May I commend that proposal to the Treasury team?

[Greg Clark]

I was in Wolverhampton recently, meeting business and civic leaders from the black country. The proposals to increase skills to help the advanced manufacturing sector in the area to expand are well under way, and I look forward to responding to the bid very soon.

Autumn Statement

James Morris Excerpts

Wednesday 5th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

The richest have paid more income tax in every single year under this Government than in any one of the 13 years for which there was a Labour Government and the shadow Chancellor was the country’s chief economic adviser. If the hon. Lady has a problem with the reduction in the 50p rate to a 45p rate, perhaps she can tell me—her colleagues on the Front Bench certainly will not—whether Labour would reverse that policy if it won the next election.

[James Morris (Halesowen and Rowley Regis) (Con)]

I welcome the Chancellor’s announcement on capital spending, particularly the new PF2—private finance 2—scheme he announced today. Does he agree that that scheme would be ideal for the new hospital in Sandwell, which has been identified by the Treasury today as a priority project for that scheme and will greatly benefit people in Sandwell and across the black country?

[Mr Osborne]

We have identified the hospital in Sandwell as a prime candidate for the new PF2. I know that it will help improve facilities for the many people my hon. Friend represents. It is a very good project and I hope that we will be able to proceed with it.

Infrastructure (Financial Assistance) Bill

James Morris Excerpts

Monday 17th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[James Morris (Halesowen and Rowley Regis) (Con)]

I support Second Reading. It has become a cliché to say that, in terms of the global economy, the world is getting smaller. Modern communication technologies and better transport links have made it relatively simple to do business across the world. It is therefore a sad irony that in our national economy, the gap between the south-east and the rest of the country has, in many ways, grown wider.

Like the rest of the west midlands, the black country, part of which I represent, enjoyed little benefit from the artificial boom that the previous Government created. Gross value added in Dudley and Sandwell fell from 88% of the national average in 1997 to just 74% in 2008. While Labour’s boom may have passed the west midlands by, people and businesses in the black country certainly felt their share of the pain caused by Labour’s bust.

As we work towards recovery, it is essential that we address the regional imbalances that have held back large parts of the country, preventing the economy from achieving its full potential. As the Prime Minister said, we cannot afford to rely on just a few industries and a few regions. I believe that the Bill will help create the essential infrastructure that we need to unlock private investment and help transform our regional economies.

As Dieter Helm of Oxford university wrote in 2009:

“Few would choose to locate in Britain because of its infrastructure”.

Professor Helm went on to describe Britain’s infrastructure as

“not fit for the digital age”.

Addressing that obstacle to growth in the context of the overriding need to tackle the record deficits built up by the previous Government is key to getting the economy back on a sustainable path. In particular, we need measures to stimulate investment in the transport infrastructure that will bring our cities closer together and closer to business centres overseas.

As someone who has set up businesses in London and who now works closely with businesses in the west midlands, I know from personal experience that too great a premium is placed on businesses being based in London. For many new businesses, and particularly for inward investment in Britain, London almost becomes a default location because of the proximity to major clients and the ease of travel to major cities abroad. Overseas investors are much more likely to invest where there are global links relevant to their businesses. If we want to rebalance our economy, we need to make sure that those global links are easily accessible from our regional centres.

The media recently got worked up about whether London needs greater airport capacity and where it should be. I recognise many Members feel very strongly about that, whichever side of the argument they may take. However, for many of my constituents—and for the businesses I meet—the issue has very little relevance to them, their jobs and the future of their companies. By focusing so strongly on Heathrow and other London airports, we risk giving the false impression that London is the sole gateway to Britain.

Instead, we should invest in transforming our regional airports into world-class facilities, linking our major cities with business opportunities around the world. I know that my hon. Friend the Economic Secretary will recognise the importance of Birmingham international airport to the west midlands region, mid-Wales and parts of the north-west.

The Bill would allow for the fiscal credibility achieved by the Government’s policies to be used to support major infrastructure projects of national significance. Without wishing to put words into the Minister’s mouth, I can think of few projects that would be of more truly national significance than the expansion of international air services at Birmingham airport. Building a second runway there would increase spare capacity at Birmingham to 50 million passengers a year.

In the short term, that project could be expected to create or sustain 50,000 jobs, providing a significant boost to the construction sector and associated industries. In the medium term, by acting as an additional hub airport, it would help relieve some of the pressure on Heathrow. Most significantly, it would transform the midlands as a place to conduct international business, creating effective and efficient transport links to emerging markets around the world without the need to go via London.

High-speed rail will help bring our major cities closer together as places to do business, linking the midlands with London, the north-west and Yorkshire to build a network for growth. Expanding Birmingham airport would connect that network to markets around the world, making the midlands a more attractive place to do business and helping address the regional imbalance that has held back the economy for far too long.

I know that Members of all parties will have their own priority projects—schemes that could make a big difference, but are being held back by lack of credit. The Bill will make it possible to unlock private investment in the projects that our communities and our economy desperately need. It is hard to imagine a more worthwhile use of the benefits gained from the hard work of tackling the deficit—and hard to imagine a greater contrast than with the Labour party’s commitment to over-tax, overspend and over-borrow. While Labour Members’ dogmatic attachment to the failed policies of the past would lead to higher interest rates—hurting businesses and families, and making it even more difficult and expensive to secure credit for investment—the UK guarantees programme uses the resources and economic credibility of Government to underwrite essential investment and support exports.

I am pleased that the Government have decided to fast-track the Bill so that the measures can be implemented and the benefits delivered quickly and effectively, and I am glad that the Opposition will support the measure. Our constituents will not look kindly on those who choose to put political posturing ahead of this much-needed action to boost the British economy.

Professional Standards in the Banking Industry

James Morris Excerpts

Thursday 5th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Ed Balls]

I will give way in a moment.

We need a change not just in laws and practices, but in ethics, culture and responsibility. We need a lasting consensus for the future. Today, in the House, we have a very serious task ahead of us: we have to decide how best that change can be achieved. The way in which we respond will have long-term consequences for the future of banking, for our economy, and also—I say this to Members on both sides of the House—for public trust in this Parliament. We all have a responsibility to get this right together.

[James Morris (Halesowen and Rowley Regis) (Con)]

Will the right hon. Gentleman cast his mind back to the time when he was the City Minister in the last Government? What action did he take to review the regulatory situation, and did he take any action against the manipulation of LIBOR?

[Ed Balls]

As the hon. Gentleman will know—because I said this yesterday—at no point at any time when I was an adviser or City Minister was it suggested to me by the Financial Services Authority, the Treasury, the Bank of England, or anyone in the House that there was any reason to doubt the integrity of the LIBOR market. The facts came to light only subsequently, and they are now being properly investigated. I hope that that serves as a full answer to the hon. Gentleman.

Jobs and Growth

James Morris Excerpts

Thursday 17th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Ed Balls]

The Governor of the Bank of England was confident two years ago that the Chancellor was making the right calls on the pace of deficit reduction. Unfortunately, it has turned out that the Governor of the Bank of England and the Chancellor of the Exchequer have both got that wrong. We had gone back into recession even before the eurozone crisis. Let us consider recent entries from the website of the hon. Member for North West Leicestershire (Andrew Bridgen). They show him “criticising cuts” to “local health centres”, and reveal his wish to “Save Moira Fire Station” and for the “replacement” of local bus services. I am not sure that all that is entirely on message. Yet the Chancellor and the Prime Minister are still clinging to the view that they are right and everyone else is wrong. In his speech today, the Prime Minister seemed to be trying to claim that the choice between austerity and growth was a myth. [Interruption.] I think that the Chancellor should listen to this, because I am about to explain why he has got it so badly wrong. He should listen and learn, Mr Deputy Speaker, listen and learn.

If the Prime Minister meant that we should not choose between policies for growth and policies for deficit reduction, he was right. I agree. In fact, that is exactly what Lord Mandelson and I argued in our joint article in Monday’s Guardian. We argued for action now to boost jobs and growth, alongside tough medium-term deficit reduction plans. But that is not what the Prime Minister was saying today. He and his Chancellor are still clinging to the mistaken and, now, increasingly discredited view that cutting spending and raising taxes faster to cut the deficit is the route to economic growth, when all the evidence is to the contrary. Trying to cut the deficit faster has not boosted growth in recession; it has choked off confidence, unemployment is up, and we are borrowing more than he planned, not less. If the Prime Minister is really claiming that he is on the right course, he is even more complacent and out of touch than I thought.

[James Morris (Halesowen and Rowley Regis) (Con)]

Does the right hon. Gentleman not agree that economic policy is about credibility? Would he not have more credibility if he told us how he would cost his so-called plan for jobs and growth?

[Ed Balls]

Credibility is about getting things right, not about getting them wrong. We were told that we were out of the danger zone and that the recovery had been secured, but what has happened? Plan A failed in Britain and in the eurozone too, and it is the very plan that the Chancellor has been urging on us. What did he say to The Daily Telegraph in August last year? He said:

“Britain is leading the way out of this crisis”,

and

“The eurozone must follow our lead and act decisively”.

The Prime Minister is off to the G8 summit this weekend. The only countries in recession that will be represented there are Italy and Britain. How are we leading the way? The fact is that the austerity policies that are failing in Europe are the very same policies that have failed in Britain, and which the British Government have been urging the German Government to urge the eurozone to stick with. That is the reality.

Opposition Members have consistently argued that it will not work for all countries to try to reduce their deficits at the same time, that tough medium-term plans to cut the deficit will work only if Governments also put in place a plan for jobs and growth, and that a time when a global hurricane is brewing is precisely not the time at which to rip out the foundations of the house here in Britain.

IMF

James Morris Excerpts

Monday 23rd April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr George Osborne]

Unfortunately, the shadow Chancellor has not, in the 18 months that he has been doing that job, set out any kind of consistent and principle-based opposition to the Government. It is all over the place, and has ended up with the Labour party voting against an increase in IMF resources. If we asked people for one of the achievements of the three-year Brown Government, they would probably say, “The London G20 summit was about the only one,” and that was all about increasing IMF resources. The position that the shadow Chancellor has led the Labour into is a remarkable one.

[James Morris (Halesowen and Rowley Regis) (Con)]

My constituents have legitimate concerns whenever large amounts of money are placed in international institutions. Will the Chancellor therefore confirm that the money Britain has loaned to the IMF can be used globally and not necessarily in the eurozone, and that the IMF will use its normal, stringent mechanisms for ensuring that the money is spent wisely?

[Mr Osborne]

I can tell my hon. Friend that his west midlands constituents will not have to pay any more taxes for the loan and will see no cuts in public services as a result of it. The money comes out of the foreign exchange reserves—the foreign currencies that Britain holds and always has held. I would also say to the people of the west midlands and elsewhere that the money is available for all countries in the world that get themselves into difficulties. They have to meet certain conditions—very tough conditions—before they get access to the money, but if the world did not have a global institution such as the IMF, we would be in a much worse place. All the manufacturers and exporters in the west midlands understand that problems in the world economy and our export markets come back to bite us very quickly indeed.