National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill

Debate between Judith Cummins and Jim Dickson

Committee of the whole House & 3rd reading
Tuesday 17th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[The First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means (Judith Cummins)]

Order. I remind Members that this debate in Committee is about national insurance contributions.

[Jim Dickson]

I thank the right hon. Member for Beverley and Holderness for his comments. He praised the Conservative party as the most successful party in western democracy because it always takes a pragmatic and hard-headed view of matters such as the public finances, but I am afraid that he has just revealed why it is no longer in government. None of what he said added up. The £12 billion of welfare savings that we were repeatedly promised when he was in government were never realised, and none of what his party has proposed since makes those numbers any more likely to be achieved.

This week, The Guardian reported on a poll by the University of Bristol of 5,000 voters—a large sample—that found that fewer than a quarter of respondents thought that the changes to tax announced at the Budget were “not necessary”. Nearly 50% of people polled thought the changes were “necessary”. So the British people, showing admirable common sense, understand the steps that need to be taken to address our country’s problems.

Based on that polling, the kindest thing to say about the Conservative party is that it is out of touch. Indeed, we learned this week that the Leader of the Opposition is apparently toying with the idea of flat tax, which would be a big gift to the already wealthy. According to estimates from the Tax Policy Associates, such a change would mean average earners would pay £1,200 a year more and those earning above £200,000 would pay £30,000 a year less.

[The First Deputy Chairman]

Order. The hon. Gentleman is making an interesting speech, but I remind hon. Members that in order to be in scope for the debate, the majority of their remarks need to address the issue in front of us, which is national insurance contributions.

[Jim Dickson]

Thank you for your advice, Madam Chair.

In closing, in raising national insurance, the Labour Government are taking the tough choices to fix our public finances. As I said at Second Reading, the Bill is a crucial part of our plan to fix the foundations of this country. It provides a major part of the funding needed to fix our public services after 14 years of decline under the previous Government.

Education and Opportunity

Debate between Judith Cummins and Jim Dickson

Wednesday 24th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Jim Dickson (Dartford) (Lab)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for allowing me to make my maiden speech. I welcome you to your place. I commend the brilliant speech of my hon. Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Tony Vaughan). We envy his sea views, but it is great that he and I are part of a group of 12 Kent Labour MPs—up from one before the election—and I am delighted that my speech is likely to be followed shortly by that of my hon. Friend the Member for Gravesham (Dr Sullivan), who is also one of our number; it is brilliant to see her here as well. It has been said that when Labour is strong in Kent, we are strong in the country, and I think we are proving that with our presence in Parliament.

I very much welcome the new team of Education Ministers, and particularly their promise of new investment and additional teachers for Kent and Dartford schools. I welcome the priority given to education under this new Government. Investment cannot come soon enough, particularly at a time when Kent county council is looking at reducing the rights of parents of special educational needs pupils. Again, the arrival of a Labour Government could not come soon enough.

I would like to say a very warm thank you to the electors of Dartford for placing their trust in me to represent them. It is truly an honour for me that they have done so. They do not change their Member of Parliament often—there have been as few as eight since 1945—and, needless to say, returning the same MP for many years is a tradition that I strongly approve of and hope to see continue long into the future.

That prompts me to remember the contribution of two of my immediate predecessors as Member of Parliament for Dartford. Gareth Johnson, who represented the constituency for 14 years until the recent election, is a former Dartford grammar school pupil whose commitment to the constituency and its residents cannot be questioned. To his great credit, he has already provided assistance to me as I start in this role. I really do wish him well. I first came to Dartford more than 20 years ago to knock on doors for the constituency’s last Labour MP, local GP Howard Stoate, a Member whose commitment to public service above all else is still warmly remembered by residents and whose example I will do my very best to emulate.

Among other things, I have spent many years both as a council leader and more recently as a cabinet member for health in the south-east London local authority of Lambeth, so I stand here as a passionate advocate for better public health and for central and local government action to prevent ill health for all our population. That is why, in addition to the really welcome steps that the new Government are taking to restore the NHS, I am particularly supportive of their decision to retain the Bill proposed by the last Government to prevent all those born after 2009 from starting smoking. In Dartford, nearly 10,000 people—almost 12% of the population—smoke, with resulting health and care costs of more than £24 million a year according to Action on Smoking and Health, and of course, tragically, many early deaths. When it comes to smoking, it is vital that we stop the start.

It has been rightly observed that Dartford has at this election continued another tradition, which is the longest in the country: that of electing an MP of the same party as the Government. I know that Dartford residents are rightly proud of the canniness and common sense that that reveals in their outlook. It is a place where strong values co-exist alongside, thankfully, an openness to change.

It is worth noting that it is nearly 63 years since two former pupils of Wentworth primary school in Dartford bumped into each other on platform 2 of Dartford station and began discussing their shared interest in black American blues music. The sequel to that chance meeting of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards is one of national and global success. It is pleasing to note that, even as we speak, they are touring the United States. So Dartford remains a bellwether constituency and the Rolling Stones are still playing live—you could say, Madam Deputy Speaker, that those are two reasons why we can be confident that the sun will go down tonight and come up tomorrow morning. Their story, and that of Dartford, is not just one of continuity, but one that is very much about embracing new cultures and change.

Dartford is a historic market town that, alongside its beautiful surrounding villages of Darenth, Longfield, New Barn, Joyden’s Wood, Greenhithe, Swanscombe, Bean, Stone, Ebbsfleet and Southfleet—I think I got them all in—has an unquestionable place in the story of our country. It is where Henry VIII kept a grand residence, later provided as a home to Anne of Cleves, the wife who I think we can all agree had the good sense to get out early. It is also the location for much of the life’s work of Richard Trevithick, father of the steam engine, which powered the UK’s 19th-century industrial might; his presence is still commemorated in the Royal Victoria and Bull pub in Dartford. Even in the digital age, paper produced in Dartford, as it has been over the centuries, still sends vital information across the UK and around the world.

Dartford and its people are a true marker of our past and our history. It is also the fastest growing town in the UK, with new residents arriving all the time from a multitude of places, making Dartford more diverse and bringing fresh energy and new ways of thinking to our town. We have a growing and much cherished Hindu community joining our Sikh and Muslim populations, an increasing African-Caribbean population, and a Nigerian and west African heritage community emerging impressively quickly. Many residents have recently arrived from Southwark, Lewisham, Greenwich and across the river in east London, seeking homes that they and their families can just about afford, and bringing their strong cultural influence to bear.

However, action is sorely needed to make the new homes being built in the constituency more affordable and accessible to all. I strongly welcome the Government’s plans to address that issue. If the Government can help us set in place the infrastructure in new communities such as Ebbsfleet, including new hospital and GP capacity—our wonderful Darenth Valley hospital is overrun—investment in schools and the better transport that these communities need, as well as addressing the stubborn inequalities still felt by our long-term less affluent residents, Dartford can be a model—the kind of multicultural community that demonstrates just how our country can succeed.

Regrettably, Dartford’s roads are frequently gridlocked. A new Thames crossing is needed to cope with the volume of traffic using the Dartford crossing, and to meet the requirements of the growing north Kent economy. Our station at Ebbsfleet must be given back its status as Ebbsfleet International, and cross-channel services should stop there once more. Residents of Swanscombe need action to restore the A226 Galley Hill Road, which is partially collapsed, and to end the nightmare of large vehicles diverting down its narrow streets. For the new communities living on estates run by management companies, reform of leasehold law and stronger regulation of management companies cannot come soon enough.

To complete the picture, we also need Dartford and its Princes Park stadium back in national league south, and looking upwards to where they belong, following last season’s relegation to the Isthmian league. I fully appreciate that that may be beyond even your powers, Madam Deputy Speaker. The Darts—alongside Dartford cricket club, one of the oldest in the country, built and started in 1727 and about to have its 300th anniversary, and Dartford Valley community rugby club—are anchors of our community in Dartford, alongside our Orchard theatre, which is suffering from reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete and is currently closed, but which we hope to see reopened as soon as possible.

Notwithstanding the need for those improvements, I look forward to being a strong voice in this place for Dartford, and to being a champion for the town, our villages and all our residents.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

I call Steve Witherden to make his maiden speech.