Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Jamie Reed Excerpts

Monday 21st March 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jamie Reed (Copeland) (Lab)]

It is not often that those of us privileged enough to gain membership of this House witness a political statement that destroys a political philosophy. Last week, however, the Chancellor’s Budget statement did precisely that when it destroyed the philosophy of compassionate conservatism. Compassionate conservatism has been killed stone-dead and, at a stroke, the Chancellor has re-toxified the Conservative party. The nasty party is back.

We have a Chancellor who introduced a Budget last week that was morally wrong, politically stupid and economically incompetent. The Chancellor has missed every target that he has set for himself. He sets his own tests, he marks his own tests, and he then proceeds to fail every single test. This vainglorious Budget contains a clear national vision, a vision that the Government have been rolling out at speed in every policy area. It is a national vision that balances the books on the backs of the poorest and most in need. It is a vision built upon mortgage debt, hollowed-out public services, collapsing councils, decrepit adult social care, rising child poverty and defunded children’s services. It seeks as a matter of principle to strip the national health service of the funding it needs while actively misleading the public at every turn.

It is remarkable that it has taken the resignation of the former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr Duncan Smith) to illustrate this flawed, nasty national vision, because we have been told for years that the right hon. Gentleman is on the right of his party, but he has outflanked his Chancellor on his left in recent days. The Chancellor has disappeared. He was unable to make his sums add up or to defend himself or explain his own incompetence. The Chancellor is in the bunker, sat in the ashes of his incinerated ambitions. He is a man who has placed his personal ambitions and the electoral calculations of the Conservative party above every single consideration for the national good.

I was a boy when the former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions was described by Prime Minister John Major as one of the “bastards” outside his Cabinet. Thatcherism was entering its final days back then, but it is back, making sure that austerity works for the rich while punishing the poor. Millions of people all over the country now see this Prime Minister and this Chancellor in precisely the same way as John Major saw his Maastricht rebels. The Budget fails our country, it fails my constituents and it fails every community in west Cumbria.

Before the Budget I wrote to the Chancellor setting out again what my community required from him on infrastructure, on our local NHS, on the second phase of the West Cumberland Hospital and on NHS recruitment, yet only a deafening silence followed. Thanks to our locally produced, real, long-term economic plan, established by me over 10 years ago, west Cumbria now stands on the verge of a truly transformative era. We have the opportunity to become one of the fastest growing sub-regional economies in the whole country. The single biggest private sector investment Cumbria has ever seen, in the shape of new nuclear reactors at Moorside, presents west Cumbria with remarkable opportunities. The project has taken over 10 years to reach this point and meaningful Government assistance could expedite progress.

The A595 is the main road artery in my constituency and the industrial Cumbrian coast. The road cannot cope as it is, but the increased population and works traffic resulting from Moorside will put even more pressure on it. The case for improving the road is overwhelming.

[Mrs Sharon Hodgson (Washington and Sunderland West) (Lab)]

West Cumbria is part of the north, so is there any sign of the great northern powerhouse over there? We are yet to see it over in the north-east.

[Mr Reed]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention. The fact is that the north will succeed despite this Government, not because of them, but we could have a whip-round to buy the Chancellor a map to explain to him where the north actually begins and ends.

My local health economy is currently engaged in the success regime process, which is already being undermined by Ministers in the Department of Health. A necessary body of work—working out how we adapt the Cumbrian health economy to best meet the needs of such a challenging geography and a dispersed population with specific needs—is becoming fatally compromised by the refusal of Ministers to listen to those who have been tasked with undertaking the success regime. To secure the outcomes and achieve the improvements that the clinicians and other experts within this process want, the system requires more resource. This is simple and obvious, and the request is being made, but the response from the Government so far has been a resounding no. Without additional resources, the success regime will fail, yet this Budget offers no help for our effort to recruit more health professionals; to finish the redevelopment of West Cumberland hospital; and to finally achieve the ambitions of everyone in Millom for our local hospital services or of the public and patients concerned about future services at Keswick, Maryport, Cockermouth and Workington hospitals.

[Barbara Keeley]

Is my hon. Friend as concerned as I am that two more cuts to the NHS will hit and cause extra pressures? There will be £650 million of pressure from the pension contributions that have to be paid for NHS staff and a £1.1 billion cut in the maintenance and repairs bill for the NHS. All of that will have to be found.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Mrs Eleanor Laing)]

Order. A great many people wish to speak in this debate. Every time there is an intervention—and these have been too long—another minute goes by and somebody else drops off the end of the list. Just so long as hon. Members know that when they make interventions, the time available for the debate does not increase but merely prevents their colleagues from speaking. I am not saying for a moment that the hon. Member for Worsley and Eccles South (Barbara Keeley) has done anything wrong. She is perfectly entitled to intervene, but I merely point out the consequences.

[Mr Reed]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I appreciate my hon. Friend’s intervention and I share her misgivings. Let us make no mistake about the message being sent to the NHS in Cumbria—this Government are saying that people in Cumbria have to make do with a defunded NHS that cannot provide the same level or standard of care that the rest of the NHS does in terms of quality or accessibility. If that is true, the notion of a truly national health service is yet another casualty of this Prime Minister’s twisted national vision.

The future of Copeland—the most remotely accessible constituency from Westminster in England—and west Cumbria is brighter than it has ever been. As I said earlier, that is despite, not because of, this Government. With investment and support from Government, we can remove the barriers that are preventing us from achieving our vast economic potential. The achievement of this potential is in the national interest as much as the local interest. West Cumbria can help, perhaps better than many other areas, to rebalance the national economy, secure our national energy supplies, help us to fulfil our environmental objectives and attract massive, truly significant overseas investment.

Finally, let me say that this rotten Tory Budget has been made possible only because my party failed to convince the British people to trust us at the last general election. The consequence of that failure is this Budget and more like it between now and 2020. These Budgets damage our communities, they damage those most in need and they damage the life chances of the very people that my party was founded to represent. On the Opposition Benches we must listen to the people of this country, regain their trust and, by any means necessary, ensure that we are in a position to earn their confidence and support at the next general election. Because wherever you are in our country, whoever you are, and whatever your background, race, ability or circumstance, you deserve better than this Government, and it is the job of my party to provide precisely that.

Draft Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (Initial Capital Contribution) Order 2015

Jamie Reed Excerpts

Monday 19th October 2015 General Committees

[Mr Jamie Reed (Copeland) (Lab)]

Briefly, the Government’s policy of engagement with China, as well as the direction of travel inherent within that, which I broadly support, is clearly a high-wire act. Everyone in the House should seek to support it. China, too, has enormous economic ambitions. Those familiar with the new rulers of the country will understand the Made in China 2025 programme that is in place. The Chinese intend to transform their economy beyond all recognition in the next 10 years, which is a huge undertaking that is already under way.

The content of the draft order should really have been the subject of an Act of Parliament, not simply put in a little-scrutinised instrument such as the one before the Committee today. That is something we will all come to regret.

The draft order represents an initial contribution, as the Minister outlined. When will the other contributions be expected? What kind of amount will we be expected to contribute in future? What assurance will the Minister give to those millions of working families about to lose £1,300 as a result of Government policy that—

[The Chair]

Order. That is absolutely nothing to do with the draft order.

[Mr Jamie Reed]

I absolutely obey your strictures, Mr Gray.

Finally, will the Minister provide us with some reassurance on the attitude of our colleagues in the United States towards our heavy investment in the bank?

--- Later in debate ---

[Greg Hands]

The Government have in place a number of procedures. Such contingent liabilities have been around for some decades. For example, the UK has been a contributor to the International Monetary Fund since the 1950s, and an interesting question might be whether the Opposition’s position is to continue being a contributor to the IMF, given that they voted against that in the previous Parliament. I will not dwell on that, however.

My hon. Friend the Member for Stafford asked why the World Bank is dealt with by the Secretary of State for International Development and the AIIB is dealt with by the Chancellor. That is a divide across various international financial institutions. The Treasury deals with the IMF, the European Investment Bank and others that focus on the market, whereas DFID concentrates on the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and so on. The purpose of the AIIB is to support economic growth, which is clearly within the Chancellor’s remit, bearing in mind that we are talking about infrastructure.

My hon. Friend also asked about climate finance. The president-designate of the AIIB, Mr Jin, has made it clear that his vision is for a “lean, clean and green” bank; and the UK is at the table helping to make those decisions, by being an early contributory member. My hon. Friend’s point about the parliamentary network of the 57 countries was interesting, and we will reflect on whether there should be a parliamentary network in a similar way to what can happen for other multilateral institutions. I will perhaps write to him about that.

The hon. Member for Copeland asked whether there should be primary legislation, but the Opposition cannot have it both ways. They cannot claim that the orders result from their own Act—the International Development Act 2002—and at the same time question why there is no primary legislation. Perhaps they should get their position in order first.

[Mr Reed]

The Minister knows that I hold him in significant respect and regard, but does he regret that we are rushing to push through a complex and important measure to satisfy the need for a press call with the Chinese premier tomorrow?

[Greg Hands]

I disagree about that. We announced in March that we would be joining the bank, and I think October is a reasonable time for us to be debating that in the House of Commons. I do not personally feel that that seven months to join a multilateral institution is particularly rushed.

The hon. Gentleman asked about the position of the United States. The US was initially a little sceptical about joining the AIIB, but its tone softened in recent months, and at the recent Chinese state visit to the US, a joint statement said:

“Both sides acknowledge that for new and future institutions to be significant contributors to the international financial architecture, these institutions, like the existing international financial institutions, are to be…operated…with the existing high environmental and governance standards”.

To go back to the hon. Gentleman’s earlier point, the measure was scored in the summer Budget. He had a perfect opportunity to ask more questions between 8 July and today about the operation of the bank.

We have had a good debate today. I have been heartened by the wider recognition that, to continue building a strong economy in this increasingly globalised world, building productive relationships is vital. Our commitment to the AIIB is a classic win-win situation, with all sides benefiting. Countries in Asia and the Pacific will have many more of their infrastructure needs—very pressing needs, in some cases—delivered. Those are business opportunities that UK companies are ideally placed to make the most of.

Question put and agreed to.

The Economy and Living Standards

Jamie Reed Excerpts

Thursday 12th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

Order. For goodness’ sake, everybody calm down. That is good enough: “sorry” is on the record in relation to the hon. Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood). That is the end of it.

[Mr Jamie Reed (Copeland) (Lab)]

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker.

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

No. I am not going to take a point of order; I am going to listen to what Mr Balls has to say. This is getting ridiculous.

Savings Accounts and Health in Pregnancy Grant Bill

Jamie Reed Excerpts

Tuesday 26th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hoban]

Spending on that scheme was included in the spending score card by the last Government. We are not spending the money; therefore we are saving it.

If we had not found the savings where we have found them, we would have had to find them through other spending cuts, through tax rises or through higher borrowing, and that would have kept the deficit higher for longer. Those who oppose the Bill must tell us what they would cut instead.

Having explained the context of the Bill, I shall now describe its measures in more detail starting with the most straightforward element, which is clause 2. It repeals the Saving Gateway Accounts Act 2009. As Members may be aware, the saving gateway would have been a cash saving scheme for people on lower incomes based on matching—there would have been a Government contribution for each pound saved. The scheme was due to be introduced in July 2010; that is when the previous Government booked the spending from. I believe that people in Britain, including those on lower incomes, need to save more, and there was evidence from the saving gateway pilots that matching was a popular and easily understood incentive to save, but when we looked at the proposal ahead of the Budget, it was clear that this would have been exactly the wrong time to introduce a new scheme that would have cost us up to £115 million a year.

[Mr Jamie Reed (Copeland) (Lab)]

I was grateful for the support the hon. Gentleman’s party gave when in opposition to the then Labour Government’s efforts to reduce child poverty. What assessment has his Department made of the effect of the withdrawal of these grants and schemes on child poverty in this country, not just in general but by region and constituency?

[Mr Hoban]

There was clearly a choice. We could have continued with these schemes and cut spending elsewhere, but we decided that it was better to take action now to tackle the deficit than to put that decision off, as the hon. Gentleman’s party would do, and therefore have to make deeper cuts in the future. I think the steps we are taking are the right course of action to tackle the deficit.

Although the previous Government had agreed with RBS and Lloyds Banking Group that they would introduce saving gateway schemes, none of the other big high street banks were planning to do so, and although the Post Office was going to offer the accounts, that was only because the previous Government had agreed to pay it to enable it to do so. Also, while a number of credit unions were signed up, not a single building society signed up to provide the saving gateway account. Therefore, although I appreciate the engagement of those who had planned to offer saving gateway accounts, I was concerned that not everyone in the eligible population would have had an accessible provider. For these reasons, we announced at the Budget that the saving gateway would not be introduced. We therefore stopped the Saving Gateway Accounts Act from coming into force, and this Bill repeals it altogether. Although we may want to come back to this idea at some point in the future, we have no plans to do so at present so it would be wrong to leave this legislation on the statute book.