Financial Inclusion: Young People

Luke Charters Excerpts

Tuesday 30th June 2026 Westminster Hall

[Mr Luke Charters (York Outer) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir John. I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Hertford and Stortford (Josh Dean) on a terrific speech and on gathering us in Westminster Hall today.

May I take a moment to take you back to your first job, Sir John? I am sure you will remember your pride at bringing home your first payslip. In today’s society, young people are turning to TikTok for beauty advice, fashion trends or the latest dance craze. It is where they learn how to spend their hard-earned cash, but it has also become a place of toxic finfluencers, where so-called get-rich-quick opportunities are being targeted at young people. All of a sudden, things on social media can start to feel slightly odd, because for young people those opportunities are often promoted on familiar apps that they know, in formats that they recognise and delivered by people who seem relatable.

An influencer who a young person might like may appear to be educating them about money, as perhaps a big brother or sister would, but we often find that those types of ads and reels can become exploitative. As a former Financial Conduct Authority regulator, I think we are now entering a phase of TikTokification of financial advice. The FCA, my old place of work, must be commended on its work on financial promotions, but unfortunately it has found that in some cases the majority of TikTok ads breach its finprom rules.

I call on social media giants and big tech to do more to take heed from the FCA’s work on two fronts. First, social media giants must ensure that finfluencers properly declare any conflict of interest. Secondly, there must be greater education, almost like public good messaging inbuilt into the algorithms, where officially verified types of financial education filter through them. Aviva found that one in five children under 16 are now getting financial information from social media platforms, and only one in eight said that they would get their financial advice from school or college, so the math really ain’t mathing. Boys in particular are being brought via the toxic hinterlands of the manosphere into Ponzi schemes and get-rich-quick schemes linked to body dysmorphia and other dangerous influences in the manosphere, which is an important link.

A good way to get young people into healthy financial habits is through savings. Gordon Brown understood that, as shown through the child trust fund, which was scrapped in 2011. Today, a child born into a family with money is likely to have a junior ISA opened in their name, as I have done for my children. Compound interest works favourably over the years, so by the time those young people are adults, they have a foundation that can act as a springboard for life. We need to have that nudge theory built into the system from the start. We have to think about how products delivered by fintechs can get young people saving.

I will briefly touch on fraud, because I am concerned that many of the social media ads I talk about are fraudulent. Some 47% of 18 to 34-year-olds have lost money to scams in the past year. The average loss is three grand; that is over a month’s wages. It could be the first home deposit wiped out in one. That is what financial exclusion does.

I am particularly thankful to the hon. Members who have mentioned the car insurance market. There is a phenomenon called ghost broking, where fraudulent car insurance—insurance that does not really exist—is sold to young people. They are a young driver, they think “premiums are high”, they are sold a pup and an insurance policy that does not exist. They then get into an accident, and things go wrong from there. I would like to see social media companies and the Government prioritise ghost broking and for them to listen to the Association of British Insurers’ work on that.

I want my two boys to grow up in a world in which the first financial lessons they receive come not from a stranger with a ring light and a referral code, but from good, hard-working northerners who know how to match that graft with good financial advice. I think that is the world all of us want to see when it comes to sound financial education for all.

[Sir John Hayes (in the Chair)]

Just for the record, my first job was in Chiesmans, a department store that then existed in Lewisham, where I served in the china and glass department.

Car Insurance Industry: Fraud

Luke Charters Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd April 2026 Westminster Hall

[Mr Luke Charters (York Outer) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I genuinely thank the hon. Member for North Shropshire (Helen Morgan) for securing the debate. I will confine my remarks to ghost broking, which she referred to. I gave a speech on that subject at the Association of British Insurers last year, and I have a keen interest in it, given that I had a career in counter-fraud.

The first point that I want to make is about the nature of the phantom protection that consumers so often receive when they purchase ghost car insurance cover. I am increasingly concerned about the use of AI in fabricating insurance documents. They look genuine to many consumers, so we really must ensure that there is consumer awareness around such uses of AI.

I am also concerned that, with ghost broking in particular, there are some instances where it is operating at scale. It is not just the product of a few rogue actors operating from their basements, or something like that; often, it is a systematised attack used by organised crime groups to target vulnerable groups. I will talk next about what I see as systemic predation and the predatory behaviour of some of these ghost brokers.

Let us imagine a young driver, aged about 17 or 18. They might have a little C1 or another small car, something with a 1.0 litre engine, and they might have their very first job after leaving home—a job that they depend on for their way of life and livelihood. They need that car to get to work. We all know about the very high premiums that young drivers face, so many of them unfortunately fall into the hands of ghost brokers. They face many different losses: not only the loss of their premium but, if they were to unfortunately become involved in an accident, the consequences for their personal finances. The effect of uninsured driving is very much a double whammy, especially for young drivers in such circumstances.

We heard from the hon. Member for North Shropshire that these ghost brokers increasingly operate on social media. I really believe that the Financial Conduct Authority can go further, with Ofcom and some of the social media platforms, to call out that behaviour. There is a conversation to be had about the verification process that social media platforms go through when they receive advertising revenue. Those platforms—be they Meta, TikTok or whatever—should not be making money from ghost broking ads.

The ABI was spot on in trying to create greater consumer awareness of this problem. I invite my hon. Friend the Minister to join me in saying a very common Yorkshire phrase: “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.” That really applies to many of the policies sold by ghost brokers. The ABI has called for greater consumer awareness of the risk of ghost broking, and I encourage my hon. Friend the Minister to join me in supporting that call today.

I am concerned about the statistics from the ABI that show an upward trajectory in ghost broking—for example, there has been a 22% increase in ghost broking over the last couple of years. In addition, there are over 50,000 motor insurance scams, worth half a billion pounds in total, and up to half of all fraudulent claims could feature some aspect of ghost broking. Really staggeringly, around three in 10 young drivers have purchased insurance from illegal sellers on social media, and the average loss per victim is around £2,000, even though an annual premium is obviously less than that. This means that, for many years, many drivers have been going about on the roads uninsured.

The final issue with ghost broking that I want to talk about is the “second wave” that I have heard about anecdotally from those in the sector. Once the ghost broker is there, then, like a vampire, they have got their victim and they steal some of their identity. They then resell that identity, or part of it, for the purposes of identity theft later on. Not only have uninsured drivers, including young drivers, bought the ghost broker’s policy—that is, they lost their premium and have been uninsured; they may even have been in an accident or whatever—but some years down the line, they might become a victim of identity theft too.

We must have a conversation about having a specific offence of identity theft. Although this does not relate to car insurance, I will briefly tell Members the story of a constituent who served abroad in the armed forces and who had his identity stolen. He found out that mobile phone contracts had been taken out in his name, and I worked with him to get his credit file back on track and to get some of this expunged—some of the credit reference agencies were very slow in righting this wrong.

In the end, there was no financial loss to my constituent, but it had a big impact on his life. He was serving overseas and his credit file had been wrecked; when his partner then found a perfect family home for them, he unfortunately realised he could not get a mortgage. He had come back from deployment, and he knew he would be in the UK for a year or two, so he wanted to use that time to settle into a family home. That was his dream—he had been apart from his girlfriend for some time—but he could not do that because his credit file had been wrecked. I had to sort that out with him, and it was all the consequence of his identity having been stolen.

Identity theft is not a victimless crime. It is particularly acute when it comes to car insurance, but we must tackle it in all its forms. As part of the next iteration of the Government’s fraud strategy, I would welcome a specific offence of identity theft. The Computer Misuse Act 1990 is a broad vehicle according to some of the police I speak to, and it would be beneficial to have a specific offence of identity theft.

[Peter Swallow]

At the start of his speech, my hon. Friend mentioned the involvement of AI in this. That issue was raised with me by the Thames Valley police roads team, which said it is now quite possible for uninsured drivers to use AI to generate a fake insurance document at the roadside, and in that way to prevent the police from tackling this crime. I detect that my hon. Friend may know more about this than me, so I encourage him to say a little more about it before he wraps up his excellent speech.

[Mr Charters]

I thank my hon. Friend for drawing attention to that example. Large language models can be in one’s pocket, and such documents can be generated even without internet connectivity. When I was in the counter-fraud sector, I used some of the AI models that criminals had in order to create hypothetical, fabricated documents. My team created some of those documents—bank statements and identity documents—and showed them to me alongside real documents—and I, an experienced fraud practitioner, could not tell the difference with my eyes. We are now having to use digital tools to detect AI manipulation; sometimes the eye of the beholder is insufficient to detect that a document has been fabricated by AI. As a fraud practitioner, one has to stay one step ahead of the fraudsters. I invite the police to think about how they could do that, using AI themselves to detect documents fabricated by AI.

It has been a hearty discussion today. I call on the FCA to work closely with Ofcom and social media companies to quickly put a stop to the revenue connected to many of these ads, because that would curtail a lot of this activity. We have to have much greater verification in place when it comes to ads relating to insurance, and the social media platforms have to do something very simple: check that the originator of the ad is actually registered by the FCA.

I hope that some of these straightforward calls can be answered, and that the Minister will join me in saying that if something is too good to be true, it probably is. We need greater consumer awareness when it comes to car insurance fraud more generally.

Middle East: Economic Update

Luke Charters Excerpts

Monday 9th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

I said in my statement that despite what we did in last year’s Budget to take £150 off domestic energy bills, there is a unique situation with regard to heating oil. That is why I was pleased to receive representations on that topic over the weekend—the Treasury is working through those proposals—and it is why the Financial Secretary to the Treasury will meet MPs this week. The reason prices are going up, though, is the challenges in getting oil and gas out of the middle east. That is why it is so important to de-escalate, but it is wrong for anyone to profiteer off the back of this crisis.

[Mr Luke Charters (York Outer) (Lab)]

Many of my constituents stranded in the middle east have been left out of pocket because of their travel insurance. In my view as a former regulator, those policies have overly broad exclusion terms. Will my right hon. Friend update the House on her meetings with the insurance sector, the Financial Conduct Authority and consumer groups, and will the City Minister meet me to discuss this issue?

[Rachel Reeves]

I am sure that the relevant Minister—whether that is a Minister in the Department for Transport or the Economic Secretary to the Treasury—will meet my hon. Friend. It is important that everybody who wants to get home from the middle east is able to do so. We welcome the work that airlines are doing with the support of the Government to get people home, but it is also important that people are not ripped off for that.

Business Rates

Luke Charters Excerpts

Tuesday 27th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dan Tomlinson]

We are, in the usual way, using long-standing definitions set out in business rates guidance to define pubs, and similar venues to which the relief will apply.

[Mr Luke Charters (York Outer) (Lab)]

I thank Gary at the Marcia Inn in Bishopthorpe and Adam at the Wenlock Arms in Wheldrake for meeting me to discuss support for pubs. The Tories created a ticking time bomb on business rates, then walked away, like someone who spilled a pint and left us to mop it up. Does the Minister agree that this Government are determined to back legendary landlords in Britain, like Gary and Adam?

[Dan Tomlinson]

Very much so. We want to support legendary landlords. I have my own in my constituency, and I look forward to having a pint with them this weekend to discuss the changes that the Government have made.

UK Infrastructure: 10-year Strategy

Luke Charters Excerpts

Thursday 19th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Darren Jones]

I am sure that the hon. Gentleman makes a very good case, which Ministers in the Department for Transport will need to answer, but I am pleased to know that the Liberal Democrats think maintenance is sexy after all.

[Mr Luke Charters (York Outer) (Lab)]

Through my work on the Public Accounts Committee, I have seen just how severe the public estate maintenance backlog has become. In fact, the Conservatives had their heads so deep in the sand on building maintenance that I am surprised they did not apply for planning permission. Can my right hon. Friend confirm that York’s public buildings will benefit from the £9 billion maintenance fund that he has announced?

[Darren Jones]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. One of the challenges that I learned on coming into government is that the last Government did not even ask what the maintenance backlog was in certain Departments. There was not a clear set of data that told us which assets the Government own and the quality or state of them, so we have some pretty basic work to be getting on with through NISTA as we allocate the money, which will go directly to the schools, hospitals and other public sector buildings that have been ignored for many, many years.

Defence Sector Financing

Luke Charters Excerpts

Wednesday 7th May 2025 Westminster Hall

[Sir Edward Leigh (in the Chair)]

I will call Luke Charters to move the motion. I will then call the Minister to respond. I remind other Members that they may only make a speech with prior permission from the Member in charge of the debate and the Minister. As is the convention for 30-minute debates, there will not be an opportunity for the Member in charge to wind up.

[Mr Luke Charters (York Outer) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered barriers to defence sector financing.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Edward. I thank my hon. Friend the Minister for responding today. Every era has ideas that capture imaginations, but only some give birth to institutions that genuinely have the chance to reshape history. The World Bank kick-started post-war reconstruction, and in 1949 NATO was founded, representing a giant, global step forward towards peace and security—frankly, it is hard to imagine a world without it. The lesson here is clear: when institutions are bold and are built for the long term, they secure the peace that prosperity depends on.

Today I want to present another bold idea about an institution that would strengthen and deepen our alliances for generations. What makes this opportunity even more unique is that one of the architects of the concept will hopefully be joining us later. I speak, of course, of the urgent need for a multilateral defence development bank. In my view, that is the single most transformative lever the Government could pull to fortify our collective security.

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing today’s debate on defence sector financing. Given the current precarious security situation in Europe, we cannot be complacent and be left behind while our adversaries and others ramp up their military capabilities. Does he agree that it would be highly misguided to hold back British industry in such volatile and unpredictable times?

[Mr Charters]

I thank my hon. Friend for his sterling work on the Defence Committee. Through our collective industrial strength, what greater deterrent could there be to our adversaries?

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I spoke to the hon. Gentleman before, so he knows what is coming. Is it not ironic that at a time when the Government want to increase defence spending—most MPs support that, and I am one of them—the trustees of the Members’ pension fund have decided that there is to be no investment of MPs’ pension contributions in the defence industry? Is it not time for the pension trustees to change their attitude immediately? What a disgrace. I hardly believe it.

[Mr Charters]

There could be nothing more ethical than investing in the companies that support our Ukrainian friends.

I believe Britain’s membership of a multilateral defence development bank could cement Britain as a leader not only in financial services, but in defence. Today, I will also talk about how we can bolster our sovereign defence industries by fixing the capital stack here at home and by sorting out the credit and cash-flow issues for British companies.

I will just take a couple of steps back. When I was at the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority, I was working on cross-border payments, sanctions and so many related things, but more importantly, I had a front-row seat to the regulatory and financial barriers that defence start-ups faced when I was acting head of compliance at a fintech. I saw how everything from export controls and dual-use rules to complex international regimes made it really difficult for those defence customers.

A few months ago, the Prime Minister pledged the largest defence spending rise since the cold war. That sent a clear signal that now is the time to invest in peace. Yet British defence innovators have told me they still face hurdles accessing finance, bank accounts and insurance. That is why my hon. Friend the Member for Aldershot (Alex Baker) and I brought together over 100 Labour parliamentarians to write to the sector, highlighting some of those challenges. Following that, we wrote to the FCA, which helpfully published a statement that, as we have heard from firms, has eased environmental, social and governance perception concerns.

[Mrs Sureena Brackenridge (Wolverhampton North East) (Lab)]

At this pivotal moment for national security, I welcome my hon. Friend’s call to clarify ESG rules to better back defence investment. Collins Aerospace in my constituency works really hard to create highly skilled jobs and apprenticeships. Does my hon. Friend agree that financial institutions play a vital role in supporting the defence sector, so we can further boost UK jobs in our economy?

[Mr Charters]

If we can get the financing environment right for Collins Aerospace, perhaps it can grow at more pace and deliver more high-skilled jobs in my hon. Friend’s constituency, for which I know she is such a powerful advocate. My hon. Friend the Member for Aldershot and I hosted a summit at the Guildhall last month, and we were kindly joined by the Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry, my right hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool Garston (Maria Eagle). Also joining us were defence primes, small and medium-sized enterprises, major banks and other stakeholders.

[Chris McDonald (Stockton North) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend mentioned small and medium-sized businesses. Would he agree that, for small businesses in defence-adjacent industries that want to grow into the defence market—such as those in the Teesside defence and innovation cluster in my constituency—a defence development bank, as he proposes, would give them that opportunity for market growth?

[Mr Charters]

My hon. Friend is a really powerful advocate for the businesses in his constituency, and as I will come on to, a multilateral commercial bank could help commercial lenders lend to the SMEs in his area.

When we were at the Guildhall, we were gathering evidence from UK banks, investors, defence primes, SMEs and start-ups. We drafted a light-hearted report, of more than 6,000 words, which is due in the coming weeks. It diagnoses domestic financing barriers for defence companies, which can be summarised as the six Cs: credit, cash flow, capital, contracts, compliance and consensus. I will focus on two of those, credit and cash flow, before returning to the concept of a multilateral defence bank.

If the UK is serious about strengthening its sovereign defence capability, we must build a proper defence financing stack, from early-stage equity to multilateral development finance. The stakes could not be higher, as one outstanding British SME founded by a veteran, told me they are likely to move to the US because some of the issues I am about to touch on.

We know funding challenges affect all SMEs, but those issues are more acute in defence. The sector’s unique risks, long procurement cycles, unpredictable cash flow and stringent compliance requirements all make commercial lending much harder. Let me start with some reflections on cash flow. We know cash flow constraints significantly increase defence SMEs’ working capital requirements. If a prime contractor delays payments, it creates a knock-on effect that constrains smaller suppliers. Commercial lenders see those risks and apply higher risk premiums to working capital loans—or, in some cases, deny lending altogether.

To its credit, the Ministry of Defence under this Government is leading by example, paying 95% of invoices within five days. That is world class. However, some primes are not at that standard, and their slow payment practices squeeze liquidity from the very companies we need to support. I have been told first hand by commercial lenders that they find it difficult to raise lending limits for existing borrowers in the defence sector, or even worse, are not always able to lend to those with promising growth potential.

One UK bank, which is doing quite a significant amount in this space, has written to me calling for the creation of a Government-backed defence guarantee scheme. That scheme would allow defence SMEs to access loans that might otherwise be unavailable commercially. It could also increase lending to those with a restricted borrowing capacity, and it could be modelled on existing schemes run by the British Business Bank.

We also need to address, head-on, poor payment practices of some of the major contractors. I thought about naming some of the firms under parliamentary privilege, but I shall not. One commercial lender wrote to me with the idea of a prime contractor scheme, where major contractors are required to reduce payment terms or even pay some British defence companies in advance. That could be transformative for SMEs operating in this high-risk sector. Let us back British defence SMEs, not just with warm words but with the finance stack, fair terms and funding guarantees they need to succeed.

The two ideas I have set out—a prime contractor scheme and a Government-backed defence guarantee scheme—would both tackle the classic market failure, which is more prevalent in defence. This is where information asymmetries and high-risk premia leave a segment of the market undercapitalised. By underwriting a proportion of commercial lending via Government guarantees, we would be able to reduce some of those borrowing spreads, lower the cost of capital for those firms and better align commercial lending with our national security aims. I warmly invite the Minister to work with colleagues in the Department for Business and Trade and the Ministry of Defence to see whether those ideas have merit.

I am delighted to be joined today by Rob Murray, an outstanding ex-Army officer. He has been working on the concept of a multilateral defence bank, known as the Defence, Security and Resilience bank. It would be not-for-profit and is one of the strongest proposals out there because of his expertise and that of his team. A multilateral bank, backed by allies across the world, be it the EU, our North Atlantic friends or Indo-Pacific allies, is the right fit for Britain at this time. Let me set out why.

Take the ongoing war in Ukraine. We are already feeling the effects of that in the UK, industrially and financially. While Russia is fighting with artillery, we are fighting with accounting rules. That is why now is the time to be involved as a founding member of a multilateral defence bank. On my earlier concept of the defence financing stack, a multilateral bank would supply a much larger funding source to support large-scale industrial capacity. It would sit alongside the other two ideas I mentioned. It would be a World Bank-style financial vehicle, focused on defence, and it is ready to launch. Owned by nation states, it would mobilise capital into allied defence production and supply chain resilience. It would raise capital at triple A rates and guarantee working capital loans to commercial banks, who would then in turn lend to individual companies. That would mean that commercial lenders would be able to get credit at sensible prices backstopped by a multilateral bank.

Not only that but, through its triple-A rating, it could save 50 to 100 basis points for some countries. It would hold factories, tooling and inventory on its own balance sheet, meaning that Governments would not need to borrow and book public debt, creating vital fiscal headroom in the process for nation states. It would crowd in private sector capital and kick-start reindustrialisation in Britain and Europe without breaching fiscal rules, such as my favourite acronym in fiscal politics: PSNFL or public sector net financial liabilities.

The reason this idea ultimately wins for me is on value for money. I know through my work on the Public Accounts Committee that it is not just about how much money is spent but how smartly it is spent. This is a great opportunity to continue the Prime Minister’s work to make Britain a leader on the world stage once again. A multilateral bank could unite our allies, and the UK could anchor a multilateral defence bank at the heart of any future defence pact with Europe. The UK and EU summit on 19 May could be an excellent place to start this conversation. It could also include like-minded partners from around the world, be it Canada, Australia, Japan or Ukraine on the frontline.

[Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Highgate) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend for giving way and congratulate him on a very important speech. I know he has been vocal on this topic since he was elected. He will not be surprised to know that I agree with him: the City has an important role to play in mobilising capital to support the defence industry, as he mentioned.

I also know how important it is for UK companies to have access to EU finance. For example, there is the Horizon scheme. British scientists have already secured £500 million in research funding, thanks to the UK rejoining the programme. He just mentioned the summit coming up. Does my hon. Friend agree that co-operative defence procurement should be a high priority for the Government at the UK-EU summit?

[Mr Charters]

As always, my hon. Friend is absolutely right. To secure lasting peace, we need greater co-operation in defence procurement and financing with the EU and allies across the world.

Last month, my hon. Friend the Member for Aldershot and I warned that Russia plans to produce 4,500 tanks and armoured vehicles this year, plus 250,000 shells per month. That would lead to stockpiles three times larger than those of the US and Europe combined. Let that sink in. This is not a temporary surge; it is a long-term shift. We must match military strategy with financial and industrial muscle through a multilateral defence bank.

[Mike Martin (Tunbridge Wells) (LD)]

The hon. Member is speaking eloquently about the need for joined-up financing and fundraising for defence, but the other side of that issue is clarity about what the Government want. A key example is space: the UK has significantly underperformed and punches well below its weight in defence space, which is spread across two Ministries. There is no clarity. The sector says, “We want just one person in Government to tell us what they want.” Does he agree that, as well as sorting out the funding, the Government’s key role is to be clear about what they want? I think that that is the strategy of which he speaks.

[Mr Charters]

Growth in the defence sector, and allied sectors such as space, will deliver prosperity across the UK. If we can get commercial lending working for defence, it will support growth in those allied sectors too.

My hon. Friend the Economic Secretary to the Treasury is one of the most erudite Members, and understands the City of London better than anyone else, so I am sure she agrees with me that there is no better home for the bank than the Square Mile, not least because of our relationships across the Atlantic and our proximity to Europe. My simple ask today is that the Government invite officials from finance Departments around the world to meet in London to discuss and explore the concept of a multilateral defence bank.

[Steve Barclay (North East Cambridgeshire) (Con)]

I join colleagues in welcoming this debate. The hon. Member is making some constructive suggestions, but a simple thing that the Government could do, because they have sole control of it, is look at the British Business Bank, which is sector-agnostic. That would be persuasive to international partners and would fit with the arguments he makes. Why are Ministers not willing to give a steer to the British Business Bank?

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Charters]

I praise the last Government for their role in setting up the national security strategic investment fund as part of the British Business Bank. One of the problems with it is that it allows lending only to dual-use parts of the defence supply chain. That is an interesting point for the Government to look at. We must not think about these institutions in silos; we have to look at the BBB, the national wealth fund and UK Defence Innovation as a collective to find out how they can best support the sector.

Defence has always operated on two fronts: economic and military. This week, we reflect on VE Day 80 years ago. During world war two, factories in Britain were transformed overnight to churn out Spitfires, tanks and munitions, while rationing and war bonds mobilised a home front economy to sustain the fight. Let me be clear: Britain faces strategic competition not just on the battlefield but in our factories, our budgets and our very financial systems. This is not a challenge on the horizon; it is one that is already confronting us, economically, industrially and financially. Turbocharging financial support for our defence industrial base will empower companies of every size and truly build a powerful economic and industrial deterrent. It is time to remove the barriers and act faster, further and more decisively in supporting British defence.

Growing the UK Economy

Luke Charters Excerpts

Wednesday 29th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Darren Jones]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising that case. Let me encourage him to write to the Transport Secretary and copy me into his correspondence, so that we can look at the details and consider it further.

[Mr Luke Charters (York Outer) (Lab)]

Officials told the Public Accounts Committee on Monday that nutrient neutrality rules were blocking the creation of new prison spaces, and the same rules are blocking the building of 150,000 homes. Will the Chief Secretary commit to speeding up the Government’s review of those rules?

[Darren Jones]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question and congratulate him on his upcoming paternity leave. He knows that the Government are committed to protecting the environment but also to cutting red tape. We have shown that that can be done in a win-win way, through the nature fund announced by the Environment Secretary recently. We will be doing further work on this issue in the coming months to ensure that we can deliver for Britain and for the natural economy.

Crown Estate Bill [Lords]

Luke Charters Excerpts

2nd reading
Tuesday 7th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Luke Charters (York Outer) (Lab)]

I am pleased to speak in today’s debate, because although the Bill is short, it is an incredibly important piece of legislation, not least because it ties together two things that we on the Government Benches care about: unlocking growth and driving clean energy. Perhaps Conservative Members do not care about those things, judging by the Conservative Benches today. The Bill gives us the chance to start delivering the growth that this country desperately needs, without requiring a new fiscal statement or drastic economic reforms. Most importantly, the Bill will benefit my constituents in York Outer and the country as a whole.

For too long, the Crown Estate’s ability to act as an engine for growth has been held back by outdated rules. Imagine a business sitting on vast potential—real estate, seabed rights and assets worth billions—but unable to reinvest or leverage those resources to their full extent: the Bill changes that. By freeing up the Crown Estate’s balance sheet and allowing it to operate more like a modern, agile business, it creates the conditions for growth, without requiring sweeping fiscal reforms or additional taxpayer contributions.

However, the Bill is not just about numbers on a balance sheet; it is also about impact. Through the Crown Estate’s role in renewable energy, the legislation will support the creation of new projects, secure our domestic energy production and unlock up to £60 billion in private sector investment. That is the kind of forward-thinking approach we need to create a secure and prosperous future.

[Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that the Bill is another example of how this Labour Government are rolling up their sleeves, getting the job done, and creating growth and jobs for communities in York Outer and in Harlow?

[Mr Charters]

I always agree with my hon. Friend. He will recognise the impact the Bill brings not only to the Crown Estate but to GB Energy, which was one of the first initiatives implemented by the new Government. Taken together with the Great British Energy Bill, these are two pieces of thoughtful, complementary legislation that will support our green energy transition and economic growth—what a stark contrast to the previous Government, who not only ran out of ideas but failed to make the few ideas they had work in the first place.

The interaction between the Crown Estate Bill and the Great British Energy Bill is vital. In York Outer, we have a number of exciting projects that are ready to go and exemplify how these changes can drive forward our ambitions for a clean, secure energy future. For example, proposed battery storage facilities in York Outer could become critical national infrastructure for our local energy network, and Hessay solar farm was awarded funding from the contracts for difference scheme a few months ago. I welcome the exploration of wind projects, such as the Harewood Whin green energy park and the North Wigginton onshore wind project. Just today, we discovered that wind power was Britain’s largest source of electricity in 2024, topping gas-fired power plants for the first time in history. With the Crown Estate Bill, we can make even more projects like those in York Outer possible, unlocking clean energy for my region and beyond.

That takes me to the issue of energy security. Conservative Members, wherever they are, continue to oppose our publicly owned clean power company. Perhaps they have forgotten why it is so crucial to transfer power back into the hands of the British people. The myopic and naive approach of the last Government left our energy portfolio far too exposed. The Bill supports Britain’s flexibility and freedom to secure our own energy supply. It enables British households to be supported by British power—produced, owned and delivered by the British people. That is what Great British Energy is all about. We have all seen the cost of relying on foreign oil and gas. Families and businesses paid the price of our energy supply being dictated by foreign powers. Under this Government, that needs to stop—and it will stop. This Bill is a huge win for our energy independence.

But the benefits of this Bill go beyond energy. The Crown Estate is already a significant contributor to the public purse—last year it generated over £1 billion in net revenue profit, much of which was returned to the Treasury. By giving the Crown Estate the freedom to reinvest and modernise, we can grow that figure even further. That is not just a win for Government revenues; it is a win for taxpayers, as the money can be reinvested in public services and infrastructure in York Outer and across the UK.

I know that some Conservative Members, wherever they are, may worry about fiscal rules. I reassure them that although the Bill is radical in what it achieves, it does so in a sensible manner. By allowing the Crown Estate initially to use its cash reserves for investment, there is no immediate need to trigger new borrowing powers. This is therefore a measured approach that creates confidence for investors, while keeping fiscal discipline intact. It is not about ripping up the rulebook; it is about using the rulebook more effectively.

[Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech, which I am sure those on the Front Bench are enjoying. He mentioned sensibleness and moderation—both words I would use to describe my constituents. Will he join me in urging the Crown Estate, as it enjoys its new freedoms and powers in looking to invest for the future, to give a thought to the people, the place and the economy of Newcastle-under-Lyme?

[Mr Charters]

I was half-expecting my hon. Friend to mention Walleys quarry, although I cannot conceive of how he would link it to the Crown Estate Bill. He will agree that the additional revenue raised by the Bill will benefit his constituents as much as mine.

Over the past decade, the Crown Estate has returned £4.1 billion in net revenue profit to the Treasury. Just imagine how much more it could achieve with the freedom that this Bill provides—not just for the country, but for constituencies such as York Outer. This is what smart, forward-thinking legislation looks like: supporting businesses, securing energy and driving growth. I urge Members on both sides of the House, and particularly Conservative Members, wherever they are, to back this Bill and help us deliver a brighter, greener and more prosperous future.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call the shadow Minister.

Finance Bill

Luke Charters Excerpts

2nd reading
Wednesday 27th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Chris Coghlan (Dorking and Horley) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to speak in this debate as a member of the Treasury Committee. After suffering the highest fall in living standards since records began, the United Kingdom desperately needs economic growth, yet the OBR forecasts that the policies in the Government’s Finance Bill and Budget will have no impact on growth over the next five years. The recessionary impact of the tax rises, combined with a focus on current spending that crowds out the private sector, largely offsets the fiscal stimulus of one of the largest fiscal events in recent decades, and of borrowing an extra £32 billion a year.

There are potential upsides to the growth forecasts in the Budget, mainly from the impact of planning reform, but this Budget and Finance Bill are a missed opportunity for growth. That matters, because there are chronic structural problems in the British economy that we must address. Indeed, given that public sector net debt is now approaching 100% of GDP, the Government’s ability to borrow to invest in the future, or to cope with an unforeseen shock, is severely constrained.

Many Labour Members have spoken about the importance of public investment, which I agree with, so I would like to address the following points. Since the 2008 financial crash, the UK economy has been hampered by productivity growth collapsing to 0.6% per year—the second worst in the G7. Unless and until we solve the productivity crisis, the UK will not escape its downward economic spiral of higher taxes, an ageing population, ever crumbling public services and ever higher debt. A key cause of that is chronically low public and private investment. In 24 of the last 30 years, the UK has had the lowest total investment of any G7 economy, yet as the OBR testified, under the Budget, public investment will remain flat as a share of GDP, so the Budget is unlikely to help solve the productivity crisis. This is why the OBR is forecasting that for every £1 borrowed by the Government, the economy will grow by only 60p next year, and that these effects will reverse in five years.

[Mr Luke Charters (York Outer) (Lab)]

The hon. Gentleman knows that I hold him in high regard, but I am slightly perplexed because he welcomes this Government’s investment in public services, the NHS and so forth, yet his colleagues oppose many of the revenue raisers in this Finance Bill—and perhaps he does, too. Can he help me square that circle?

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Luke Charters (York Outer) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend the Member for South Derbyshire (Samantha Niblett) has left the Chamber, but I praise her for her maiden speech. I am pleased to speak on this Finance Bill. It underpins the first Labour Budget in 14 years. It also raises the revenue that this country needs in order to recover, rebuild and renew. I will not spend ages talking about the Conservatives and the mess they have made, but—cue groans from Conservative Members—we all know about the £22 billion black hole, the mini-Budget and their reprehensible record on public finances.

However, I want to take a moment to praise the shadow Chancellor, the right hon. Member for Central Devon (Mel Stride), because I genuinely enjoyed his astronomy references. It is just a shame that he is not quite on planet Earth when it comes to recognising that we need to not only invest in public services but pay for them—the vehicle for that being this very Finance Bill. Even while this Government are tackling the Tories’ toxic inheritance, we are, through this Finance Bill, protecting payslips, when it comes to income tax and employee national insurance.

Let me get on to other key measures in the Bill that I welcome. Measures on tobacco duty, non-dom tax status and the oil and gas windfall mean that public services in my constituency of York Outer will be all the better off. Let me start by talking about the NHS. This week, I met Yorkshire Cancer Research to talk about the vital work that it does. As we discussed on Second Reading of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill yesterday, the tobacco duty increase will act as a deterrent to smoking, and it will save lives. Taken together, these measures are important to changing habits, but the tobacco duty increase will also raise extra cash to fund our NHS.

Primary care services such as the York Medical Group, which I recently visited, and York hospital will undoubtedly welcome extra investment. I certainly welcome it, as a parent who recently had to wait many hours in York A&E with a screaming toddler after a trapped finger. It is vital that we get the NHS back up and running for constituents like mine. One constituent has been waiting seven years for surgery. Let that sink in: it is half the time that the Tories were in power. I am clear that this Bill raises the revenue to put the NHS on a much surer footing.

[Dr Luke Evans]

The hon. Gentleman is a conscientious Member of Parliament, and I understand what he is saying, but does he accept that, in the words of a former Labour leader, we invest in public services with the proceeds of growth? When he stands for re-election, will he tell his constituents that he advocated for a Budget to cut growth in his country?

[Mr Charters]

That is slightly laughable, if I may say so as an affable Yorkshireman. Things like the national planning policy framework will drive growth, and some of these measures were not included in the OBR blue book. This pro-growth Government are doing so much for growth, so I find the hon. Gentleman’s question slightly perplexing.

The Bill will abolish the non-dom tax loophole and replace it with a residence-based regime. I had a look, and this change will raise £12.7 billion. Just last week, the Transport Secretary kindly visited me and the Mayor of York and North Yorkshire to announce £12.7 million of funding for our buses, which will transform our region. My quick maths shows that closing the non-dom tax loophole will pay 1,000 times more than that sum, which is the difference this Bill will make.

I will soon be having my office Christmas do. I am sure there is a joke to be made about liquid assets, but I recently visited Elvington brewery, and this Bill rightly cuts alcohol duty on draught products. That is wonderful news for our Yorkshire pubs. I need to declare an interest for myself and my hard-working team, because these measures mean that we are looking forward to enjoying a cheaper pint of the wonderfully named Fairytale of Brew York, which will be launched by Brew York over the festive period. Conservative Members back investment in our public services, but they do not support the revenue raised by this Bill. Perhaps they have been having too many fairytale economic pints.

The VAT increase on private school fees will bring in £1.7 billion a year, which will go directly to schools like those in York Outer. The Budget announced a £1 billion uplift for SEN provision and a £2.3 billion increase in the schools budget, which will make a huge difference to places like Applefields school and Manor Church of England academy.

I have also visited Askham Bryan college, a fantastic agricultural college in York Outer. Its great students, who are studying T-levels, will benefit from £300 million of extra funding for colleges, directly stemming from this Finance Bill. While making some proportionate tax rises in the Budget, we have maintained our position of having the lowest capital gains tax in Europe. We have struck the right balance, because we will have extra cash for our schools, and it is a real lifeline.

For all the Conservatives’ obfuscation, we have actually kept so many of our manifesto promises, one of which was to deliver a windfall tax on oil and gas companies—a policy so good that the Conservatives stole it when they were in government. The additional revenue raised by the EPL will help us to set up GB Energy, which will deliver for the British people by delivering the green jobs of the future.

May I briefly refer to the first Bill I ever spoke on in this House, which is now the Budget Responsibility Act 2024? I said the Bill was important because it was

“the only way we can grow those public services with a stable economy.”—[Official Report, 30 July 2024; Vol. 752, c. 1253.]

That is as true now as it was back then—[Interruption.] I hear grumbles from the Opposition Benches. Conservative Members do not seem to think that economic stability matters when it comes to investing in public services; they certainly know quite a lot about economic instability. This Government have been tasked with ripping out the rot following 14 years of chaos. The Bill helps to fix the foundations by providing the revenue to restore public services in York Outer and beyond.

Fiscal Rules

Luke Charters Excerpts

Monday 28th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Darren Jones]

My hon. Friend will know, from speaking to his constituents during his campaign to be elected and since, that people’s experience of public services across the country shows the fact of the matter: after 14 years of failure from the Conservatives, our public services are on their knees. That is why they need a Government who will bring stability back to our economy, invest in public services and improve outcomes for people who rely on them and work in them.

[Mr Luke Charters (York Outer) (Lab)]

Following the disastrous mini-Budget, the Bank of England was forced to undertake emergency liquidity operations to reduce volatility in markets. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the investment summit’s record £63 billion shows that this Government are creating stable conditions for long-term investment, after years of political chaos from the Conservative party?

[Darren Jones]

I thank my hon. Friend for his excellent question, and I agree that £63 billion invested in this country was a sign of confidence, because investors around the world know that Britain is back after years of chaos.