Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Baroness McIntosh of Pickering

Wednesday 23rd October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

We need to do a number of things. First, we need to make sure that the financing and resources are in place so that not just the life-saving work, but the broader work on educating the 1 million children who are now refugees can take place. As I have said, we also need to work with host Governments—such as the Jordanian Government, who have been incredibly generous—to make sure that they are well placed to be able to cope with this huge, unprecedented number of refugees.

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

9. Mindful of the impact on Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, and mindful of the fact that this is an international humanitarian crisis, what international co-operation are we receiving with regard to the refugees in those countries?

[Justine Greening]

As I have said, it is deeply concerning that the United Nations donor appeal is only half funded. Having said that, as a result of the Prime Minister’s leadership, since the G20 we have managed to get an additional $1 billion of funding. The key test for us all will be whether the donor conference in January can be successful so that we can meet the needs of the UN agencies that are working so hard.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Baroness McIntosh of Pickering

Wednesday 13th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

The best thing we can do is work through independent, impartial humanitarian organisations and, through the UN, continue our lobbying work to ensure we have access. Access is a real challenge in places such as Mali and is also, of course, a particular challenge in places such as Syria. Without access, we cannot get humanitarian support to people, and that is why we focus on it.

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

2. What support her Department provides to WaterAid.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Baroness McIntosh of Pickering

Thursday 19th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

As I think the hon. Gentleman will know, it is not possible to reduce VAT on fuel without reducing it on standard rated items across the board. I hope that he will welcome the steps we have taken in his local area to make it more affordable for people to travel over the Humber bridge, but his proposition that we can reduce VAT on fuel without reducing it on everything else is wrong. If we did, we would have a huge hole in our public finances that would undermine our investment for public services.

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

Is the Transport Secretary aware that Ryedale has the highest fuel pump prices in the country and that filling up the car costs more than the weekly grocery bill? Will she support my campaign for a rural fuel duty discount for the specific parts of Ryedale and Hambleton that are affected by the high cost of tax on fuel?

[Justine Greening]

I want to ensure that motoring is affordable for everybody. I think my hon. Friend’s question perhaps relates more to Treasury questions than to Transport questions and I know that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor has introduced and put in place plans to pilot such a rural fuel duty discount. I am sure that she will make her case to him on whether it could, in time, be extended to her community, too.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Baroness McIntosh of Pickering

Thursday 10th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

We cannot retender that contract, not least because it would put on hold the vital work being done on the Thameslink project, which is creating, I think, 3,000 jobs. The hon. Gentleman’s point about better reflecting socio-economic factors in the procurement process is, however, a good one. That is precisely why we are looking at how we can improve the procurement process, which I should add was developed by his Government.

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

The post bus carries hundreds of passengers between Foxholes and the villages to Malton, but from April the Royal Mail will discontinue it. How can we access the community transport fund, which we have just heard about, to ensure that this vital rural bus link continues?

Fuel Prices

Debate between Justine Greening and Baroness McIntosh of Pickering

Tuesday 15th February 2011 Westminster Hall

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Justine Greening)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Turner. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Thirsk and Malton (Miss McIntosh) for securing today’s debate. We debated the subject on the Floor of the House recently, but I very much welcome another debate today, because she has clearly raised an important issue.

The cost of fuel is a difficult issue for many families and businesses throughout the country. As I said, the House had an extensive debate last week and, again, we have had helpful contributions from Members throughout the Chamber today. I share the disappointment of my hon. Friend that no Labour MPs other than the shadow Minister participated on an issue that clearly affects all our communities.

In fairness, when we face such difficult times, the impact of fuel duty and fuel prices become even more critical for families and businesses. The Conservative party had recognised that in opposition. We have always acknowledged the impact of oil prices—how they feed through into fuel prices at the pump—to be a real challenge. The Opposition, as we heard again from the shadow Minister, still do not recognise the problem to be in need of solution. We do.

As discussed today, we talked about a fair fuel stabiliser, which I reassure the Chamber we are looking at actively. We take it seriously, and we are looking at how we can develop that policy, among others.

[Miss McIntosh]

I know that the Minister will be pressed to go further, but she will probably not be able to today. One of the coalition Government’s best selling points in the run-up to the election was that we always referred to factors such as rurality and sparsity of population. That was in all areas of life, whether delivering the big society or speaking about the everyday roles of individuals and businesses in rural areas. Will the Minister confirm whether we will go back to that? Do we need a fuel duty regulator? Many of the concerns raised during the debate were about how the reduction in cost would transfer to the motorist if a stabiliser was brought in. I hope the Minister will address the huge and significant differential between the prices of diesel and petrol at the pump.

[Justine Greening]

My hon. Friend raises an interesting point, and this debate has been an excellent opportunity for hon. Members to set out the challenge that fuel prices pose for their communities and businesses. It is difficult—and it would not be right—for me to pre-empt the coming Budget, but my hon. Friend sets out some of the broader issues. This debate is not just about how the oil price feeds through to the price at the pump, but about recognising that rural areas face a particular challenge. I say to my hon. Friend the Member for High Peak (Andrew Bingham) that people in urban areas do understand the impact of fuel prices—they face them too—but we recognise that there are additional challenges for rural areas.

As we have heard, public money is short and the deficit we inherited is unprecedented in modern times. The previous Government had no answers or real ideas—we have heard no ideas today—to tackle the mess that they created. There was something ironic about the note from the outgoing Chief Secretary to the Treasury that said, “There’s no money left.” In many respects, it was even worse than that; we were left with a deficit and debts.

It is worth running through the many rises in fuel duty that we have seen. There was a rise of 2p per litre on 1 December 2008; a rise of 1.8p per litre on 1 April 2009; and a rise of 2p per litre on 1 September 2009. A rise of 1p above RPI was announced in the 2009 Budget. That was phased in from April last year, with a second rise of 1p per litre in October. A range of future increases was announced in the 2009 Budget, one of which has particularly concerned hon. Members in this debate. In spite of all those rises, we picked up an enormous deficit and, according to the outgoing Government, there was no money left. That shows what an absolute mess they handed over which, as has been pointed out, places constraints on what we are able to do. However, we know that we must tackle that mess, and tackle it we will.

We have had to take difficult decisions. Nevertheless, in the midst of that we have taken steps to increase the personal allowance, which will rise by £1,000 from April this year. That will help families on the lowest incomes, and 880,000 taxpayers will be taken out of paying income tax altogether. Parents will be able to take advantage of increases in child tax credits, and pensioners will receive above-indexation increases in the state pension. We have managed to do something that the previous Government did not do in 13 years—re-establish the link between the state pension and earnings. Corporation tax for businesses is being cut from 28% to 24% over the next four years.