Employer National Insurance Contributions

John Glen Excerpts

Wednesday 4th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Danny Beales (Uxbridge and South Ruislip) (Lab)]

The issue at the crux of the debate is one of economic responsibility. It is about a choice whether to invest or to let further decline take place in our public services.

They say a week is a long time in politics. Well, four months is clearly still not long enough for the Conservatives to have learned any lessons from the last general election about why they might be sitting on the Opposition Benches and we might be sitting on the Government Benches. They crashed the economy, wasted billions of pounds of taxpayers’ hard-earned money and ran the NHS into the ground. They then called an early election to run away from the mess that they knew this Government would inherit.

As legislators, we need to be honest with the electorate about the trade-offs and challenges this country faces, and we cannot simultaneously rebuild our public services and cut taxes at the same time. As has been said, there is no magic money tree—we saw with the disastrous Liz Truss mini-Budget the impacts of a Government who do not understand those facts.

[John Glen (Salisbury) (Con)]

I recognise there are political differences across the House, but the hon. Gentleman surely has to be concerned about the overall impact of the decision on national insurance on the ability and inclination of those who invest in the real economy to generate the wealth and tax revenues that will sustain the economy going forward. Surely he can recognise that the decisions made by his Government are having a negative effect on growth, which will mean more taxes and more borrowing.

[Danny Beales]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that rather long intervention. I must say that the Conservatives do not understand the economy. If someone cannot get a train to work, they cannot work; if they cannot get a hospital appointment, they cannot work. Time and again, I hear from employers that they want investment, stability, and for their employees to be able to contribute in the workplace. To separate public services and the private sector into two diametrically opposed parts of the economy is what the Conservatives did for 14 years. They cut public services time and again, and we all face longer-term costs because of that fact.

The Labour Government understand that. Sadly, the Conservative party still does not. The choice we are still hearing is for continuing austerity. No one in this country voted for that and no one on the Labour Benches, at least, wants that. We want NHS waiting lists to fall. We want crumbling schools rebuilt, and investment in our vital public services and armed forces.