Lord Tyrie
Main Page: Lord Tyrie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Tyrie's debates with the HM Treasury
(9 years, 11 months ago)
Commons ChamberThe first thing I would say to the hon. Gentleman is that of course we need to tackle long-standing regional disparities in our country, and we are putting investment into Wales, including transport and infrastructure investment, to try to lift the economic performance of Wales. The broader point I make is that we need to bring the economic geography of our country closer together. That is an argument I have made about the north of England. The gap between the regions grew under the last Labour Government. By making the long-term investment under our long-term plan we hope to reduce the disparities under this Government.
The crucial task now is to develop a long-term supply side reform agenda. Does the Chancellor agree that at the heart of that must be policies to release the energies of millions of small businesses and sole traders up and down the country? With that in mind, will he examine the policies of both the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Mirrlees review, which in different ways have proposed to reduce the burden of national insurance contributions when that is affordable? Is that not an essential part of Britain’s long-term recovery?
I agree with the sentiment that my hon. Friend expresses that we want to make it easier to employ people. I would argue that the reductions that we have already made in national insurance on coming into office and the provision of an employment allowance, which has been enormously popular among smaller businesses, and next year’s move to remove under 21-year-olds from the jobs tax are all steps we are taking to support the creation of jobs in the economy. Of course, the Labour party would like to put up the jobs tax, but that would be deeply counter-productive and put people out of work.