Fuel Prices

Jo Swinson Excerpts

Tuesday 15th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Dr Wollaston]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. This is about whether a 3p a litre increase will generate any income. Many of my constituents feel that it will lead to a drop in income, because they will simply not be able to fill up their cars.

[Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire) (LD)]

I agree with the hon. Lady’s case, which has been made by others, that the Government need to take account of the impact of the high price of fuel and the hurt it is causing to families, individuals and businesses. She mentions an important short-term measure, but does she agree that in the medium and long-term it is also important that the Government take action to reduce our dependency on oil, the price of which is only likely to rise, and look towards investment in things such as electric cars and charging infrastructure across the country, so that we will be set for the rest of the 21st century?

[Dr Wollaston]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. Indeed, one organic business in my constituency said that it would find a rise more acceptable if it could be seen directly as a green tax. Unfortunately, that is not the case. In my constituency, people will be badly hit by a double whammy, in that the bus service operators grant is set to be reduced by 20% next year. Just when they cannot afford to use their cars, people are being hit by a real threat to rural bus services, which are already at a critical level in south Devon. I hope that the Minister will set out what proportion of the rise will be set aside for green taxation purposes.

Public Service Pensions

Jo Swinson Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

As I said earlier, that depends on a variety of circumstances, but today we are publishing a document that the hon. Gentleman can obtain from the Vote Office, entitled “Public sector pensions: good pensions that last”, and I am sure that it will provide much of the information that he requires.

[Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire) (LD)]

I welcome my right hon. Friend’s improved offer on public sector pensions, which shows that the Government are serious about meaningful negotiations. Will he challenge the rather misleading claims from some quarters that people will have to pay more, work longer and get less? Surely the truth is that—although people will indeed have to pay more and work longer—far from getting less, they will get much more, not least because on average they will receive 10 years’ more pension payments than the previous generation.

[Danny Alexander]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and she is also right to warn people against some of the misleading propaganda that is circulating. I think it important for public sector workers—teachers, nurses and civil servants—to take time to study the offer that we are making for themselves. The document that we are publishing will be available on a website, so they can check out the new arrangements. As my hon. Friend says, yes, we are asking people to work longer and yes, we are asking them to contribute more, but many people will receive a significantly better pension on retirement than they would receive now.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jo Swinson Excerpts

Tuesday 1st November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

As the hon. Gentleman well knows, we are consulting on the possibility of introducing a different corporation tax rate in Northern Ireland, reflecting the fact that the Irish Republic has a much lower corporation tax rate. The consultation is ongoing, and we are of course in discussions with the Northern Ireland Executive. We are clear that Northern Ireland would have to bear the cost of that in forgone revenues, and an important part of the discussions will be working out what exactly those forgone revenues would be.

[Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire) (LD)]

I am concerned by reports that the Government are considering breaking with the 20-year convention of uprating pensions and benefits by the September inflation figure, now that the CPI has come in at 5.2%. Does the Chancellor recognise that it would be unfair to change the rules of the game suddenly, hurting vulnerable pensioners and disabled people in the process?

Oral Answers to Questions

Jo Swinson Excerpts

Tuesday 6th September 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I am very aware of the issue relating to the continental flight from Belfast to the eastern seaboard of the United States, and I have spoken to Northern Ireland’s First Minister and Deputy First Minister about it. I can see that there is a particular challenge because of the proximity of the airport in Dublin, and the British embassy in Washington has also been very active in dealing with the company in the United States. I can assure the hon. Lady that we are on the case.

[Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire) (LD)]

There is still huge public anger that taxpayers have had to bail out the very banks whose cavalier and risky behaviour led to the global economic meltdown. Further to the eloquent question from the Father of the House, the right hon. Member for Louth and Horncastle (Sir Peter Tapsell), when Vickers reports next week will the Chancellor ensure that he acts promptly to introduce any necessary legislation to implement the recommendations, in order to avoid a repeat of the financial crisis, and that he does not listen to the vested interests arguing for delay?

[Mr Osborne]

It was this coalition Government who established the Vickers report. Those questions were simply not asked by the previous Government—we are asking those questions. However, I am afraid that the hon. Lady will have to wait until Monday to hear the Government response to the Vickers report.

Global Economy

Jo Swinson Excerpts

Thursday 11th August 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

As I have already explained, we have an independent Office for Budget Responsibility—[Interruption.] I am pretty tempted to say that the answer is that the previous Chancellor did not want to have to downgrade his borrowing forecast four weeks before the general election, so he kitchen-sinked the borrowing forecast a year before, to make sure that he was able to show a reduction just before the general election.

[Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire) (LD)]

I support the Government’s plans for cutting the deficit, leading to lower interest rates and increased international confidence in the UK economy, but the Chancellor is well aware that our economy is still fragile, so if tax revenues are higher than expected, or if there are receipts from asset sales, will the Chancellor reinvest that in capital infrastructure projects and skills development, to give a boost to our economy and create jobs, rather than being seduced by the voodoo economics of giving tax cuts to the rich?

[Mr Osborne]

There are quite a lot of American references in this debate. We have used the receipts of some of the asset sales that we have proposed—and indeed undertaken—to invest in new infrastructure, or in a particular industry. Of course, we have to do that on a case-by-case basis, but the spending review set out how we were going to use the proceeds of some of the asset sales for future investment.

Summer Adjournment

Jo Swinson Excerpts

Tuesday 19th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire) (LD)]

I would like to make the case for including body image classes in schools. We already recognise the need for our schools to inform young people about a wide range of issues such as the dangers of drugs and alcohol misuse, how to have a healthy lifestyle, and basic financial literacy in relation to mortgages, interest rates and debt. I believe that these personal, social and health education classes should now include body image.

We live in a looks-obsessed society and huge commercial and social pressure is placed on young people to aspire to unachievable body “ideals”—so much so that half of young women aged between 16 and 21 say that they would consider cosmetic surgery to change the way they look, and half of young men feel bad about their body after reading men’s magazines. Eating disorders now affect 1.6 million people in this country. Most worryingly perhaps, the prevalence of eating disorders doubled between 1995 and 2005. Even when the situation is not as serious as a full-blown eating disorder, negative body image can have a real impact on educational achievement. A study in 2005 by Lovegrove and Rumsey found that 31% of teenagers—almost a third—say they do not engage in classroom debate for fear of drawing attention to their appearance and that one in five pupils reported staying away from school on days when they lacked confidence in their appearance.

Channel 4’s “How to Look Good Naked” is a fabulous example of what the media can do to play a positive role in developing body confidence. Its presenter, Gok Wan, has also championed the cause of body image classes in schools. In May, he brought a massive body confidence lesson to Parliament. There are lots of great examples up and down the country. Y Touring, the theatre arm of YMCA, has taken its discussion-provoking play “Beautiful” into schools, and the campaign group Body Gossip has developed “gossip school”, in which individuals who have recovered from eating disorders go into schools and lead discussions about body confidence. In the US, the body project, which got young people to critique the “thin ideal” in essays and role plays, was shown to reduce the risk of participants’ developing eating disorders by 61%.

The university of the West of England’s centre for appearance research will soon publish its evaluation of different types of body image lessons. It suggests that the technique of cognitive dissonance—putting young people in a position in which they challenge the stereotypical, ideal body themselves—is the most successful in changing attitudes, and can reduce body dissatisfaction and the likelihood of developing eating disorders.

What should the Government do? First, the issue needs to be examined in the context of the forthcoming review of personal, social and health education, and I hope that the Government will conclude that body image should be taught in all schools, just like education on drug abuse and safer sex. Secondly, the Government should work with various partners to develop a range of resources that teachers can use for those lessons. My hon. Friend the Minister for Equalities has entered into discussions with Media Smart to develop a media resilience and body image toolkit that can be offered to schools. It is a great start, and we should undertake more initiatives like that.

Thirdly, we need to encourage teachers and schools to use those resources by sharing best practice at education conferences, in teacher training colleges and by using the media to highlight successes. Setting time aside in the curriculum to develop teenagers’ body confidence makes sense for the sake of both the academic performance and the long-term health and well-being of our young people.

Economic Regeneration (Glasgow)

Jo Swinson Excerpts

Wednesday 16th February 2011 Westminster Hall

[Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire) (LD)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Glasgow East (Margaret Curran) on securing her first Westminster Hall debate on this very appropriate topic, and on how she introduced it. She is well known for being dedicated to her constituency and constituents, and she captured the city of Glasgow’s past and continuing energy.

Like that of the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Tom Greatrex), my constituency is just outside the city of Glasgow, although it does not have the same natural boundary. The town of Bearsden in my constituency is right next to Anniesland in Glasgow, and Bishopbriggs in East Dunbartonshire runs into Springburn in Glasgow. It is fair to say that people in the west of Scotland who live near the city are very aware of whether they are within Glasgow city boundaries, but the further away they live, the more solidarity they feel with Glasgow. As a student in London, I recall sometimes feeling like an outpost of the Glasgow tourist board. When I said that I was from Glasgow, people would say to me, “Oh, that’s a dirty, horrible industrial city,” and I found myself putting those myths straight.

Although Glasgow has a proud industrial heritage, it is also a city with stunning Victorian architecture—indeed, it was the UK city of architecture and design in 1999—and an exciting mix of culture. It was the European city of culture in 1990, which was in itself a great catalyst for regeneration, similar to that which we have seen in Liverpool recently. Glasgow is now very much a modern, vibrant and confident city, and people with an outdated view of it should visit in order to experience what it is like today. Many of my constituents work in Glasgow—the transport links are good—so the economic regeneration of the city is important for the health, well-being and prosperity of people living in East Dunbartonshire. Glasgow has a wide hinterland. It is very much the focal point for all of the west of Scotland in terms of economic activity, which covers everything in the region, from the bustling city centre to the tranquillity of the shores of Loch Lomond.

On regeneration, I want to touch upon a particular part of the hinterland, namely the town of Kirkintilloch in my constituency. It is celebrating its 800th anniversary as a burgh this year, and it is the focus of much regeneration. I think that the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West will know a great deal about Kirkintilloch’s initiative from his previous work for East Dunbartonshire council. The initiative has brought together a multimillion pound regeneration package, including a new leisure centre, a new health centre and a newly opened link road, which, as well as alleviating some traffic problems, makes Kirkintilloch much more accessible to people travelling there from Glasgow. It has helped to regenerate the town, which certainly needed it—it is, perhaps, the part of my constituency that has been in most need of regeneration. That has been successful and much of it has now been completed.

The town has recently been allocated £361,000 for town centre regeneration from a Scottish Government fund. Therefore, although the hon. Lady has genuine criticisms of the Scottish Government, it is perhaps fair to say—particularly because no representative of the Scottish National Party is present—that the Government in Holyrood have done some things right. However, I agree with her complaint about the cancellation of the Glasgow airport rail link. I do not now fly to London—I take the train instead—but that was an important project that would have been helpful had it not been cut. Kirkintilloch has a great deal of heritage—as I have said, it is celebrating its 800th anniversary. The Forth and Clyde canal runs through it, and it has much Roman heritage. In fact, much of my constituency runs along the line of the Antonine wall, which not long ago became a world heritage site.

That brings me to the issue of economic regeneration and tourism. It is frustrating that we underperform in that area in the west of Scotland. One of Scotland’s biggest industries is tourism, but so many people I meet who say that they have visited Scotland have been only to Edinburgh and think that that is enough. We must and can do more to draw people across, even if it is only for a day trip, so that they do not just think, “We’ll go to Edinburgh.” After all, the two cities are only 45 minutes apart on the train, and the west of Scotland has a wealth of activities and things to offer people that they would not necessarily get in Edinburgh. We should be promoting that more.

As I have said, we have the world heritage site of the Antonine wall. We also have the west highland way, which is one of the world’s greatest long-distance walks and which starts in Milngavie in my constituency. We have not properly exploited its economic benefits. Obviously, there is a current economic benefit, but it could be so much greater. The recent opening of a tourist information centre in Milngavie was a welcome start to that process, but it speaks volumes that, until recently, this world-famous, long-distance walk did not even have a tourist point at its start. It has not been given the priority that it should have for many years.

Another reason why we should attract more people to Glasgow is that—if I may be slightly biased—we are a much friendlier city than Edinburgh has a reputation for being. I am sure that if people come, they will want to come back and become ambassadors. Those of us who represent the west of Scotland in this place and in other Parliaments have a responsibility to be ambassadors, as the Evening Times rightly told the hon. Lady. We need a renewed focus on tourism at all levels of government.

The 2014 Commonwealth games provide a great opportunity to sell Glasgow, and they are also clearly a huge boost for economic regeneration through the investment for building various facilities. We should make sure that there are good links—I understand that this is the case—between the teams preparing for 2012 and 2014, but we should also use the expertise of Manchester, which had such a successful Commonwealth games in 2002. Beyond the boundaries of the city, enlightened local authorities surrounding Glasgow have the opportunity to do what some of those surrounding Manchester did in 2002—own the Commonwealth games and use it for economic, educational and cultural benefit by linking up with countries that may want to base their training camps in those parts of the west of Scotland. They could also create much more meaningful links with local school projects and get the whole community involved. Moreover, the 2012 London Olympics and the 2014 Commonwealth games even have the potential to encourage some countries partaking in both games to base their training camp for 2012 in and around Glasgow and to return there in 2014, so there would be a relationship over several years.

This is a Westminster Hall debate, so there is a general spirit of consensus, which has been well noted this morning. I will end, however, on a slight note of discord. The hon. Lady is right that it is essential that the public and private sectors work together and that that can be successful. I take slight issue, however, with the suggestion that we have a low level of debt and that it is not a major problem. The fact that we have more than a trillion pounds of national debt is a threat to economic regeneration. The fact that we are spending £120 million every single day in debt interest almost makes me want to weep, because it makes me think about what else that £120 million could be spent on. We can all think of things in our constituencies that would promote regeneration and on which that money could be well spent, but at the moment it is, effectively, just dead money going on debt interest.

In the grand scheme of things, much needs to be done to promote economic regeneration in Glasgow and elsewhere, but I agree that tackling the deficit has to be a key part of that. If we do not do that, we will not have the environment that is essential for confident business growth, which will, ultimately, deliver the further improvements that we all want to see in Glasgow and elsewhere.

Bank Bonuses

Jo Swinson Excerpts

Tuesday 11th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

It is precisely the real-world situation—where businesses need more lending, communities need support and we need more investment in our regional economies—that I am seeking to address. As the hon. Gentleman well knows, as a Member from Scotland, we need a successful, properly regulated financial services sector that employs tens of thousands of people in Scotland and, indeed, hundreds of thousands of people across the United Kingdom. That is what we are seeking to agree with the banking system. The fantasy world is the one that the Labour party occupies, where it bears no responsibility for the mess in which it has left this country.

[Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire) (LD)]

The Chancellor must understand the level of public anger about huge bank bonuses and recognise that obscene rewards for short-term gain without regard to the long-term consequences were part of the problem that led to the banking collapse in the first place. Surely it is to avoid a repeat of that that bank bonuses should be restrained and, importantly, weighted towards sustainable long-term performance, rather than short-term speculation.

[Mr Osborne]

I agree with all of that. We want to see bonus restraint; we want to see bonuses lower this year—[Interruption.] Lower this year than they were under the Labour Government. That is one objective. Secondly, we want to see bonuses deferred. Thirdly, we want to make sure that they do not reward risk-taking that goes badly wrong—that is why we want the ability to claw back. We also want to get away from the system—again, this thrived under the previous Government—of guaranteed bonuses, which people got regardless of what happened to their financial institution. That is precisely what the code of practice addresses, it is precisely why we are looking at greater transparency and greater shareholder involvement, and it is precisely why I want this new settlement with the banks.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jo Swinson Excerpts

Tuesday 21st December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire) (LD)]

While travelling on a gap year in New Zealand, one of my constituents had a nightmare experience when she was left with no access to money after her bank cancelled her card, despite her having informed it that she would be abroad. In an increasingly globalised world, will the Government consider whether banks can be made to offer a better service for UK customers living, working or studying abroad to avoid problems such as that faced by my constituent?

[Mr Hoban]

The hon. Lady makes an important point, and I am sorry to hear about the situation that her constituent experienced. It is important that banks ensure a good service for those travelling abroad, and I would encourage her to suggest to her constituent that she writes to the Financial Ombudsman Service to raise a complaint. However, I am sure that the banks will have heard what she said and take heed of her comments.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jo Swinson Excerpts

Tuesday 16th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

It should be obvious to the hon. Gentleman that higher rate taxpayers have greater means than those at the bottom of the income spectrum. It is a basic principle of fairness that underlies the spending review that we need to ensure that those with the broadest shoulders bear a greater share of the burden. As I said in response to the question earlier, asking higher rate taxpayers not to collect child benefit seems to be one of the decisions in the spending review that the Opposition should find it easiest to support.

[Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire) (LD)]

As my right hon. Friend says, it is right that in reducing the deficit, those with the broadest shoulders should bear the greatest burden, but do the Government understand the genuine anger that the public feel when it seems as though wealthy individuals and large companies can get away without paying their tax bills? What reassurance can the Minister give my constituents that the richest in society will pay their fair share?

[Mr Osborne]

We have taken a number of decisions to make sure that the burden is fairly shared. We have introduced the bank levy, and we are taking child benefit away from higher rate taxpayers, although that is clearly opposed by Labour. We are also seeking to conclude a number of deals with countries that have a reputation for attracting tax avoidance and tax evasion, such as the deal that we are negotiating with Switzerland. That will ensure that there are further revenues coming into the Exchequer from those who can afford it.