Budget Resolutions

James Naish Excerpts

Monday 1st December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Katie Lam (Weald of Kent) (Con)]

Madam Deputy Speaker, it is a particular pleasure to speak with you in the Chair this afternoon, inspiring envy, I am sure, from your new legions of fans.

On Wednesday, the Chancellor said that energy prices were one of the greatest drivers of the rising cost of living. She accepted that the cause of high energy bills must be tackled at source—in other words, at the supply side—and she recognised that the rush towards net zero is driving up energy bills for the British people. Thus far, the Chancellor and I are in agreement—stranger things have happened—but none of that seems to inform the Budget she actually served up. She promised to cut energy bills by shifting certain so-called green levies from bills on to general taxation, but that does not change the fact that the British people will still bear the costs of this Government’s net zero delusions. It is an attempt to hoodwink the public by shifting the costs from energy bills on to general tax bills.

As my right hon. Friend the Member for East Surrey (Claire Coutinho) has repeatedly made clear, the answer is not to rearrange how those costs fall, but to stop imposing those costs altogether. The pursuit of net zero is sadly leaving this country worse off and is making almost no impact on global emissions, as countries such as China and India race ahead to open more coal-fired factories. Even those who have supposedly done everything right are still being crushed. One business in my constituency has invested £1 million in renewables, but it has still seen its energy bills triple. For far too many businesses, those sorts of rises in their energy bills will be the final nail in the coffin.

And rises are coming. Largely thanks to the Government’s policy on energy, Ofgem is again set to raise the energy price cap in January, meaning higher bills for the British public. Any short-term cost savings will quickly be eaten up as a result. The savings the Budget claims to offer are a mirage. Does the Chancellor believe that the British people are not smart enough to notice that, or does she simply not understand how it will play out?

The long-term picture is no better. Last week, our energy system operator officially warned that, thanks to the Government’s plans to cripple our North sea oil and gas industry, we will be at serious risk of running out of gas. Yet the Chancellor’s Budget maintains the windfall tax regime, which is destroying domestic production. They continue to spend vast sums of taxpayers’ money on schemes designed to cripple that industry in the long term.

[James Naish (Rushcliffe) (Lab)]

The hon. Lady and I have had exchanges on this issue before. At the start of the year, the CEO of Centrica recognised that it was the lack of gas storage that was putting £100 on electricity bills and £100 extra on gas bills, and that was down to the decision, in 2017, of the Conservative Government not to invest in Rough. Will she now acknowledge that that was a mistake?

[Katie Lam]

The gas is already stored in the North sea. The problem with the industry, and what is making it unprofitable, is the Government’s determination to hammer the oil and gas industry.

The Chancellor gave no clear verdict on the nuclear regulatory review. Instead, she promised that the Government would set out their plans in three months’ time. That means more delay and uncertainty for companies that might want to invest in British nuclear, and ultimately more delay in reducing the bills of British families and British businesses. This is not a Budget that will make any improvement to the lives of ordinary, hard-working people. It is a Budget that bakes in net zero, which means more taxes on the British people, more businesses forced to close their doors, more reliance on other countries to keep the lights on, and more emissions exported to countries like China.

No country has ever succeeded without cheap, abundant energy. For businesses, high energy costs can be the difference between success and bankruptcy. For people working hard to make ends meet, high energy costs can be the difference between having money to set aside at the end of the month or needing to dip into savings. Punishing those businesses and those people even more in pursuit of arbitrary net zero targets is profoundly cruel. The immense damage wrought by the cost of living crisis cannot be overstated. High energy bills mean families forced to cut back on after-school clubs for their children, businesses forced to cut back on staff, and young people forced to delay buying their first home even further.

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[Grahame Morris (Easington) (Lab)]

I associate myself with the remarks of my right hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster North (Ed Miliband) about the potential of the renewable energy sector. I want to give a shout-out to Power Roll in east Durham, and draw the House’s attention to how important it is that that business is supported to move into volume production, which could create many hundreds of jobs.

I will start my speech proper by thanking my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer. I am going to confine my remarks to mineworkers’ pensions. For more than 30 years, successive Governments have profited from the miners’ pension funds, taking a staggering £8 billion in that time from funds built up by the hard work of miners, who powered this nation. Last year, at the first opportunity, the Chancellor honoured Labour’s manifesto commitment to transfer the £1.5 billion investment reserve fund of the mineworkers’ pension scheme. That decision delivered a 32% increase in the pensions of almost 4,000 former miners and widows in my constituency, money that has gone straight back into the local economy—into local businesses, shops and cafés. It was welcomed by all those who have campaigned for many years to secure pension justice for our retired miners.

Over the past year, the Labour group of coalfield MPs, alongside the British Coal staff superannuation scheme campaigners, have been relentless in our campaign of lobbying Ministers to secure a just settlement for the BCSSS pensioners. I am proud to say that my Government —this Labour Government—and our Chancellor have not only listened to our concerns, but have heard our plea, and have used the Budget to act. The transfer of the BCSSS investment reserve fund announced in the Budget means that a Labour Government have returned almost £4 billion to retired miners through the MPS and BCSSS schemes—a Labour Government standing up for the rights of working people and righting an historic injustice. These are real Labour values in action, showing the difference that a Labour Government can make after decades of neglect by the Tories.

[James Naish]

I want to acknowledge my hon. Friend’s own leadership on this issue within the House. There are almost 200 former British Coal staff living in my constituency who will see a 41% uplift in their pension, and my hon. Friend has played a large part in that, so I thank him on behalf of the House. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.”]

[Grahame Morris]

My hon. Friend is characteristically generous, and I appreciate his warm words. Many MPs representing coalfield constituencies will have cause for celebration. As chair of the coalfields group, I thank my right hon. Friends the Chancellor and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury for taking the time not only to listen but to understand the nature of this campaign over the past year. I also thank the Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, my hon. Friend the Member for Stockton North (Chris McDonald)—he is a good friend—and his predecessor, my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon West (Sarah Jones), for meeting coalfield MPs, trustees and dedicated campaigners over the past year and for understanding the strength of feeling on this issue.

This Labour Government have gone above and beyond for coalfield communities, fulfilling their manifesto promise at their first Budget and, within a year, delivering justice for British Coal staff superannuation scheme pensioners. Our coalmining communities paid a heavy price—a legacy of shorter lives and industrial diseases. Ending this pensions injustice is a long overdue recognition of that service and sacrifice. It has been a long-fought battle to end one of the biggest occupational pension scandals in our country’s history, and let us be clear: it was only through this Labour Government that the change was delivered.

Just as this Labour Government have gone above and beyond for former mining communities, we must now build on that progress by addressing the entrenched inequalities that are breaking our nation. I welcome the lifting of the two-child cap. The Chancellor has listened on the issue of mineworkers’ pensions; I hope she will also reflect on the contributions that Labour Members have made this evening and throughout this Budget debate as we continue to work towards building a fairer and more prosperous country for all.

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[Wendy Morton (Aldridge-Brownhills) (Con)]

The Budget is built on fantasy. The Chancellor claimed that there was a fiscal black hole so deep that she had no choice but to hammer working families with the highest tax burden since the war, but we now know the truth: the OBR told her in October that the so-called black hole did not exist. She actually had a surplus, but she deliberately told the public the opposite.

This is now a political crisis of the Chancellor’s own making. Even a Cabinet Minister has said:

“At no point were the Cabinet told about the reality of the OBR forecasts”,

and called this Budget

“a disaster from start to finish”.

The Chancellor promised the country that she had “wiped the slate clean” and would not “come back for more”, but we now know how wrong she was.

Labour Members can dress it up however they like, but this is the “Benefits Street” Budget—tax hikes to fund a welfare splurge, paid for by ordinary, hard-working people who get up, go to work and do the right thing. Labour promised not to raise taxes on working people. That was printed in its manifesto, but within weeks of coming to power it did exactly that. A Chancellor who breaks her word cannot expect to command the public’s trust. She must come to this House and explain herself, and I hope she does the winding-up speech tomorrow evening at the close of the debate.

While this Government play politics with the public finances, it is working families in my constituency, and others up and down the country, who are paying the price. In Aldridge-Brownhills, families who have never been higher rate taxpayers in their lives will now find themselves pushed into a higher band, with no increase in real pay. That is not fairness; it is failure. Businesses reached their verdict within hours. The Institute of Directors found that 80% of business leaders felt negative about the Budget. They know that Labour Members do not understand what business is.

Labour’s job tax has hit employers hard. On Friday, businesses in my constituency told me that they have frozen recruitment and investment, that they have no choice but to pass costs on to customers, and that in some cases they are beginning to think about redundancies. Small businesses—the backbone of our economy—were forgotten entirely in this Budget, and the Federation of Small Businesses has said that dividend tax hikes punish people for investing in their own companies. New employer charges are a bad idea, and the business rate measures fall far short. Small Business Saturday is on this coming weekend, and I am sure that many Conservative Members will be going out and supporting small businesses in their constituencies. Why? Because we understand what business is.

[James Naish]

Will the right hon. Lady give way?

[Wendy Morton]

I am sorry—I do not have time. Connectivity drives growth too, yet we see reheated announcements. The midlands rail hub is crucial for our region, but we do not know whether this is new money or recycled rhetoric. There was no reinstatement in the Budget of the £27 million for Aldridge train station—money that was siphoned away by the Labour mayor—and my constituents deserve better.

Let us be clear: households are being squeezed, food price inflation is running high at nearly 5%, and our farmers are still being hit by the Government’s decisions. This Budget raises taxes, weakens growth, ignores business, hits farmers, sidelines communities and breaks promises. Above all, it is built on fantasy—a black hole that did not exist. My constituents, and this country, deserve better.

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[Heidi Alexander]

I will certainly undertake to have those conversations with colleagues.

[James Naish]

Will the Secretary of State give way?

[Heidi Alexander]

In the interests of time, I will not give way.

It is because we understand what life is like for ordinary people that we have taken decisions in this Budget to provide real help with the cost of living. We know that an average household spends more than 10% of its income on getting around, getting to work and school, and making essential daily trips. That is why this Budget has not only extended the fuel duty freeze beyond the spring of next year, but restated our commitment to protect the bus fare cap.

For the first time in 30 years, we are freezing rail fares. If someone has a season ticket, is a commuter on a peak return or is travelling off-peak between major cities, they will get to keep more of their hard-earned cash. It is good news for millions of passengers, some of whom will save hundreds of pounds a year. That means extra money in people’s pockets, and it means that we will continue to keep a lid on everyday costs that drive inflation.