Debate on the Address

Kwasi Kwarteng Excerpts

Wednesday 27th May 2015 Commons Chamber

[David Rutley (Macclesfield) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Islwyn (Chris Evans) and an honour to have been able to hear at least part of the maiden speech by the hon. Member for Argyll and Bute (Brendan O’Hara)—I congratulate him on having the courage to make it so early in the Parliament. All of us who entered the House in the previous Parliament realise how big a challenge that can be. I congratulate the Scottish National party on the support it has provided him with today, and also on its election victories.

I would also like to welcome new Members on the Government Benches, because we had a good election. I would like to pay tribute to many of them, but particularly my hon. Friend the Member for Fareham (Suella Fernandes), whom I have known for many years. When we first met she was a little smaller than she is today—[Interruption.] I should explain that she was about five at the time; I am not commenting on any other dimension of her being. She was much shorter, smaller and a child—I think I had better stop there and move on. I welcome her to the House and am sure that she will do a fantastic job.

It is wonderful to see so many new Members. I think that it inspires us to realise why we are here: to represent our constituents. It is an honour to have been re-elected in Macclesfield with an increased majority and an increased share of the vote. I will do everything I can to honour my commitment to the people of Macclesfield. Like all other Members, I will do it with complete conviction regardless of the political affiliations of those I represent.

There was also an excellent vote of trust in the Conservative party in local government, as was true in many parts of the country. I am excited to work with local councillors in Macclesfield as we move into a new era of devolution, with the transfer of power to Manchester and increased demand, as today’s debate has shown, to see a greater transfer of powers to the counties as well. Government Members are absolutely committed to ensuring that the northern powerhouse is a real success. Macclesfield is famous for being a powerhouse for silk back in the Victorian days, and now we want to weave new economic threads in the life sciences and various other fields to help take the northern powerhouse further forward. I am pleased that the cities and local government devolution Bill provides us with a vehicle to help that succeed and flourish in the years ahead.

I am an optimist. In fact, in the previous Parliament the former Member for Edinburgh East, Sheila Gilmore, accused me of being over-optimistic—Panglossian, even—in my approach. Well, I have to say that it was Conservative optimism what won it on 7 May. The positive agenda that we took forward appealed to large swathes of the country and helped us win an outright majority. I am pleased that the Queen’s Speech today set out more reasons to be positive as we take our important agenda further forward. The Eeyores and sirens we heard in the previous Parliament, and whom we have heard today, have been proved wrong.

I think that it is really important that the Labour party takes time to reflect on why the electorate did not give it the support that it hoped and expected to get. The Labour party was not trusted with the economy. Moreover, it was not trusted with the task of spreading opportunity to other people and improving social mobility. It goes beyond economic credibility into those other areas. Of course, we have since heard several Labour Members talk about aspiration. It is sad that that is focused on their own leadership aspirations, when in fact they should be thinking about the aspirations of the people they represent. That accusation could not be made against the hon. Member for Bassetlaw (John Mann), or indeed the hon. Member for Ealing North (Stephen Pound), but there are others who I think should be looking at their own agenda and at what they should be doing as a party.

I welcome the Government’s commitment to backing those people who want to work hard and get on in life. That is what our election campaign was about. As the Prime Minister tweeted on 30 April:

“We’re the party of the first chance, the first job, first pay cheque, the first home”.

He could have gone even further; I am sure that the issue was the restriction to 140 characters. We are the Government of the first-time entrepreneur, the first-time employer and the first-time exporter. During the last Parliament, I held a debate on encouraging more entrepreneurs to become first-time employers. Like other Members in the free enterprise group and elsewhere, I have written about the importance of social mobility, which Conservatives feel absolutely passionately about. We need to break down the barriers to first-time businesses, first-time employers and first-time jobs. I am delighted that the Prime Minister has given that issue such a clear focus in the Queen’s Speech.

I hope that when the Bills on enterprise and schools are published and debated, we will see more detail on what can be done to make it easier for those with no family history in enterprise.

[Kwasi Kwarteng (Spelthorne) (Con)]

What are my hon. Friend’s views about the job creation in his constituency and across Britain that we have seen in the past five years and that, hopefully, we will continue to see in the course of this Government?

[David Rutley]

In Macclesfield alone, unemployment dropped by 50% in the past year, which is a huge step. That has come from an unrelenting focus on what I call the four “e”s in an enterprise economy. The first is entrepreneurs; we have a massive over-index of entrepreneurs and the self-employed in Macclesfield. Then there are employers, exporters and, of course, employees—we must help each of them take the first step on their journey, encouraging them so that they see real success in their careers.

It is important to focus on the fact that more people are moving into self-employment. That tremendous change has taken place in just the past 12 or 14 years. Some 4.5 million people are now involved in self-employment: 14.5% of the total workforce, up from 12% at the start of this century. Anybody who has read the work of the Royal Society of Arts and Demos recently will realise that the trend is here to stay.

The pull of self-employment—the flexibility, freedom and dignity—helps make it an attractive option. In the past, some might have said that the push factors, such as redundancy under Labour’s great recession, were decisive. That has changed now; the issue is about the pull factors. We need to encourage more people to take the step. We should give them the information and support that they need, so that they want to become not only self-employed but first-time employers, helping out with first-time apprenticeships as well. I hope that under the enterprise Bill and other legislation more work will be done to support the self-employed in this country.

We need to ensure that enterprise is about what happens not only in this country, but Europe—particularly the European Union. Reform of the EU is not simply in the UK’s national interest, although that is our first concern, but in the interests of the EU as a whole. The world is changing and the EU must change to embrace it. There are clear opportunities and real challenges in the global economy in the 21st century. There are also compelling organic reasons for the need for reform. Many more eurozone countries want to pull together in ever closer union; I would not want to countenance that, but they are moving in that direction. States such as the UK that are rightly very much outside the eurozone need to make sure that the relationship between countries in and outside the eurozone is better defined. This is an important time for the debate about the renegotiation.

--- Later in debate ---

[Kwasi Kwarteng (Spelthorne) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to speak in this debate, Mr Speaker, and an honour to follow the hon. Member for Bassetlaw (John Mann), who made an impassioned speech. It is good to see him returned. I notice that not many of his colleagues were returned, which is good for Conservative Members.

The general election result was extraordinary, and every Member will be aware of the dramatic events on 7 May—we all have our personal stories. To secure a Conservative majority after 23 years was a great victory, and there is no doubt that the Prime Minister and those around him deserve all credit for securing that resounding victory, in a spirit of one-nation Toryism and openness, and for coming up with a Queen’s Speech that I think—I am not sure about Opposition Members—was very exciting. It represents a big opportunity to deal with our economic problems in a way that carries the whole country with us—the governing party—and reaches a better outcome for all the people of Great Britain.

One thing that was talked about a lot in the run-up to the general election—but not in this debate—is the size of the deficit. Members will remember that, when the coalition Government were formed in 2010, the deficit stood at £160 billion. It was clear to me as an MP campaigning in the election that only one party was believed and had any credibility when it came to dealing with this huge deficit. The Labour party was simply not credible, as can be seen in the election numbers: Labour now has 232 MPs, having started the previous Parliament with 258 MPs. It does not take the brains of an archbishop to work out that Labour lost a net 26 seats—an extraordinary result for anyone who felt that Labour had any credibility on the economy. It did not, and this Queen’s Speech has focused our minds on the fact that the economic questions—those relating to the deficit, job creation and how this country can make its own living and pay its way in the world—are the fundamental ones.

[Michael Ellis (Northampton North) (Con)]

Has my hon. Friend noticed the economic improvements in his own constituency of Spelthorne over the last few years?

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who will not be surprised to know that I have noticed the difference that the Government’s policies have made. I am proud that the unemployment rate in my constituency is now less than 1%, having been about 3% at the beginning of the last Parliament. That is a signal improvement about which everyone in my constituency is pleased. The idea of aspiration can sometimes sound woolly, but in my constituency people really understand what it means. There are huge numbers of people in employment; there is a burgeoning private sector; and there are many who successfully aspire to be entrepreneurs. I am grateful to the Government and the people of Spelthorne for that. All the Government have done is to allow people to realise their own ambitions and to unlock their spirit of enterprise. I have certainly found that to be the case in my constituency.

I am pleased to follow on from my hon. Friend the Member for Macclesfield (David Rutley) who spoke eloquently about the need for more entrepreneurialism and for a Government that interfere less in the workings of the private sector and of people who want to better themselves, go into small business and set up their own businesses. That should absolutely be commended and applauded. Frankly, it was depressing and disappointing during the campaign to note that Opposition Members—not SNP Members, but Labour Members—failed to mention wealth creation. They never talked about how this country was supposed to pay its way. They were deficit deniers, and I hope that they will come to appreciate that in the course of this Parliament.

I was struck by the fact that the hon. Member for Bassetlaw still refers to Britain as a socialist country—even after this crushing defeat. In returning a majority Conservative Government, the general election was surely an extraordinary way of showing that Britain was socialist. The result was unexpected, but it belies the hon. Gentleman’s attempts to characterise this country in that way.

More broadly, the Government have not only delivered on job creation, but have focused on distributing wealth and the spirit of wealth creation across the country. In that context, I am particularly happy that the Government will push ahead with HS2 and the northern powerhouse. That is exciting, and Conservative Members will look on it with approval. We are enthused by the broad plan for economic development, which will not be concentrated solely on the south-east.

Clearly, the Labour party has deep-seated problems, and I am surprised to see so many Labour Members here today. It is a tribute to their resilience and fortitude that they are here to participate in the debate. I am particularly impressed by the number of Scottish nationalists who are present. It is great that they are coming into the Chamber and making an impact. I am not sure what the flower is about, but I am sure that I will get to the bottom of that before long. Perhaps one of them will enlighten me. [Hon. Members: “It is royalist!”]

[Mr MacNeil]

It is the “white rose of Scotland” that is mentioned in a poem by Hugh MacDiarmid. I encourage the hon. Gentleman and others to Google it, because it is a very beautiful poem.

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

I am very pleased to have been enlightened. I thought that it might have something to do with Yorkshire, but, although my knowledge of British geography is poor, I understand that Scotland is slightly further to the north.

I welcome the Scottish nationalists. The election result has clearly been fantastic for them, and it has done a signal service to us, because it has severely depleted the number of Labour Members of Parliament. I look forward to hearing the contributions of members of the other “party opposite” during the current Parliament.

I think that, during this Parliament, we should focus on the economic question. The deficit, to which I referred at the beginning of my speech, is still £90 billion. That is an awful lot of money, and it means that we, as a country, are borrowing nearly £2 billion a week. What was said by some of the other parties during the election period was an exercise in complete fantasy. It was as if the deficit did not exist. None of the Opposition parties addressed the fact that we must reduce Government spending over a Parliament, and I think that, ultimately, that was responsible for the Conservative majority and victory. As I said earlier, it was clear that one party was going to adopt a mature and balanced approach to deficit reduction. As far as I could see, all the other parties had their heads firmly in the sand, and were not addressing the big question.

[David Rutley]

My hon. Friend is making an impassioned speech. Did he find on the doorstep, as I did in Macclesfield, that people were genuinely anxious for debt to be reduced because they believed that, if we did not get to grips with it, the debt would be passed on to future generations—to their children and grandchildren? I think that that is what helped us. Does my hon. Friend agree?

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

I found many things on the doorsteps in Spelthorne, where people spoke passionately about a range of matters. However, my hon. Friend is right. The issue of the deficit—the fact that, if we continue to build up debts, our children and grandchildren will have to pay them off, or at least service them by paying interest through taxation—was widely understood in my constituency, and I think that it contributed largely to the increased majority that I, along with many other colleagues, won in the election. It was remarkable to see Conservative majorities of, in some cases, 20,000 or 25,000, not only in the south-east but throughout the west country—where the Conservatives performed very well—and even in the midlands, where a number of incumbent Labour MPs lost their seats. I am sure that pollsters, historians, and other academics and experts will view that as an extraordinary result, and I think that it marks a shift in the political dynamics of the country. Of course, Scotland had its own result, which was remarkable by any standards.

[Dr Eilidh Whiteford (Banff and Buchan) (SNP)]

I may be rescuing the hon. Gentleman, but perhaps it is worth pointing out that the Conservative party had its worst result in Scotland for nearly 100 years. That was because we said, very simply, that we should not balance the books on the back of our most disadvantaged citizens, but should balance them over a slightly longer period, and in a way that would not put people at a disadvantage.

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

I think that we are balancing the books over a longer period. We have not run a balanced budget since 2001. There have been 15 years of deficits, and, in my view, that is too many. Anyone who has heard anything that I have said in the House about the economy will know that I am a balanced-budget Conservative, and I think that we should be balancing the books every year. When I was on the Transport Committee, we went to Switzerland, where we were told, “We have a simple rule: we just balance the budget every year.” That seems a sensible way of proceeding. We are balancing the books over a period of time. At some point, the books have to balance and one is not going to get that by running a deficit year after year, as the parties on the Opposition Benches prescribe.

I am very confident that the Chancellor and the governing team will be able to balance the books or get to some near balance, barring any wider economic upheavals. We should be able to do that in the course of this Parliament. That should be the principal aim of the Government. I am confident that we will achieve that goal.