Government Performance against Fiscal Rules

Debate between Lola McEvoy and Darren Jones

Monday 7th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Darren Jones]

The Government are committed to the independence of the OBR. We will keep setting out future fiscal plans at one fiscal event a year.

[Lola McEvoy (Darlington) (Lab)]

Does the Chief Secretary agree that without the fiscal rules we would not have seen four interest rate cuts, which have benefited thousands of constituents across the country?

[Darren Jones]

I agree with my hon. Friend that we have had four interest rate cuts under this Government which is good for mortgage holders and renters. Wages have increased faster than costs for the first time in many years, and the Chancellor has been able to invest billions of pounds in our country while keeping markets stable. That is the consequence of stability in our economy and in our politics and the fact that we are implementing our fiscal rules in the way we said we would.

UK Infrastructure: 10-year Strategy

Debate between Lola McEvoy and Darren Jones

Thursday 19th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lola McEvoy (Darlington) (Lab)]

I thank the Chief Secretary for his excellent work on this strategy, which will turbocharge confidence in the investment community while improving the lives, incomes and opportunities of my constituents in Darlington, which is exactly what I was elected to do. It will not surprise him to hear me ask politely for him to outline more detail on his ambition for the place-based approach, the Green Book reforms and the pilots that he has mentioned. Can we have one in Darlington, the home of many of his Treasury colleagues?

[Darren Jones]

I will give a shorter answer, given the time available. We will be setting out further detail shortly about where we will be piloting these place-based business cases. It is a new process for Whitehall. It requires a level of co-ordination that does not currently exist, but the outcome if we get it right will be people experiencing co-ordinated, thoughtful infrastructure spending in the places they live, in a way that makes sense for how they live in those areas. I am sure my hon. Friend will continue to bid for Darlington as we decide where to pilot those place-based business cases in due course.

Public Finances: Borrowing Costs

Debate between Lola McEvoy and Darren Jones

Thursday 9th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Darren Jones]

The fiscal rules are non-negotiable, and they will be met.

[Lola McEvoy (Darlington) (Lab)]

Does the Minister agree that the reckless ideological austerity measures taken by the Conservative party in government have directly led to my constituents being significantly worse off and made it harder for them to get on in Darlington? Can he outline the impact that the new Office for Value for Money will have on the huge inefficiencies and waste that the last Government presided over?

[Darren Jones]

The Office for Value for Money is an important part of our spending review process, as we undertake for the first time in 17 years a zero-based review of every single pound of public spending. We should focus on that for a moment: not once under the last Conservative Government was there a zero-based review. Not once did they go line by line through every pound of taxpayers’ money and public spending to check it was being spent in the people’s interests. Not once did they think that was a responsible thing to do. That is the first thing we are doing in government.