Johanna Baxter
Main Page: Johanna Baxter (Labour - Paisley and Renfrewshire South)Department Debates - View all Johanna Baxter's debates with the HM Treasury
(3 weeks ago)
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Lucy Rigby
I have to tell the right hon. Member that we are not attempting to cap the prices in supermarkets and nor were we intending to do so. The Chancellor is having discussions with supermarkets, as she is with other sectors, with a view to putting downwards pressure on prices and helping people with the cost of living. As I have said repeatedly, we on the Government Benches recognise that there is a cost of living crisis out there, not least because of the inheritance we received from the Conservatives, and we are seeking to help people with those costs.
Johanna Baxter (Paisley and Renfrewshire South) (Lab)
May I thank my hon. Friend for recognising and supporting hauliers and logistics companies, such as the Malcolm Group, the UK’s leading independent provider of third-party logistics services, which is based in my constituency and supports many hundreds of jobs across Paisley and Renfrewshire South? Those companies play such an important role in keeping our shelves stocked and our economies running. I echo the calls made by my hon. Friend the Member for Bathgate and Linlithgow (Kirsteen Sullivan) for us to go further in supporting greater welfare facilities for drivers. Will the Chief Secretary to the Treasury make some comment on the safety of logistics staff who, too often, man vehicles that are targeted by criminals?
Lucy Rigby
I am glad to hear that the measures will help the Malcolm Group in my hon. Friend’s constituency, as indeed they will hauliers right across the country. She raises, as other hon. Members have, an important point around welfare. She also alludes to freight crime, which has been discussed at length in this House and is something in which I am particularly interested, given the nature of my constituency. The Government are taking forward action to seek to deal with freight crime, as well as taking action on welfare, but I would be more than happy to convene a meeting with other Ministers and my hon. Friend on the issue.