The Growth Plan Debate

Full Debate: Read Full Debate
Department: HM Treasury

The Growth Plan

Joanna Cherry Excerpts
Friday 23rd September 2022

(1 year, 9 months ago)

Commons Chamber
Read Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Kwasi Kwarteng Portrait Kwasi Kwarteng
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

The tax cuts that I have announced affect everybody who pays tax, and they will affect many, many people in the hon. Lady’s constituency. I am very pleased that, through levelling up, we are now focused on driving growth right across our country, particularly with investment zones. I look forward to the investments there.

Joanna Cherry Portrait Joanna Cherry (Edinburgh South West) (SNP)
- Hansard - -

I am sure that many of my Edinburgh South West constituents will agree that threatening the low-paid with sanctions while ensuring that bankers can get bigger bonuses is not a moral way to go about creating growth. Before the Chancellor says that Edinburgh will somehow benefit from that, I assure him that most of my constituents who work in the financial sector will not benefit from these bonuses.

The Chancellor, not content with doing that, is also attacking the right of low-paid people to strike for better pay and conditions. The European Court of Human Rights has recently reaffirmed that under article 11 of the European convention on human rights, the right to strike is a fundamental human right. Will the Chancellor assure me that any Government legislation concerning strike rights will comply with the United Kingdom’s treaty obligations under article 11?