The Economy

Luke Hall Excerpts

Wednesday 18th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Luke Hall (Thornbury and Yate) (Con)]

First, I wish to associate myself with the call made by my hon. Friend the Member for Eastleigh (Mims Davies) for people to shop locally. Before coming to this House, I worked in retail from the age of 16, so I would say to people that the next time they are in south Gloucestershire, they should go to the high streets in Chipping Sodbury or Thornbury, which are two of the most beautiful in the UK.

I also wish to clarify a point. It was said earlier that the deficit was cut by just a third before the election, not a half, but figures released by the Office for National Statistics on 22 September demonstrate that public sector net borrowing fell between 2009-10 and 2014-15 from 10.2% to 5%, which is a fall of more than half in the last Parliament.

Managing a country’s finances and responsibly managing taxpayers’ money is one of the most important tasks of any Government. When the Government came to power in 2010, the country was borrowing more than £150 billion a year and unemployment had increased by nearly half a million. We had the second biggest structural deficit of any advanced economy. There have been some huge achievements over the past six years: as I have said, the deficit is down by more than half; there are over 900,000 more businesses, which have contributed to creating 2.5 million more private sector jobs; employment is up by over 2.1 million ; there are more women in work than ever before; unemployment in my constituency is down by over 60%; and there are more women in work there than ever before, too. But the job is not done, and I urge the Minister to remind this House that there is more to do.

There are risks in the global economy that are threatening this country. I urge the Minister to stick to the plan and principles that have got us this far. I want to see those 2 million more jobs delivered, so that unemployment in my constituency can continue to fall. I want to see the 3 million more apprenticeships delivered, so that South Gloucestershire and Stroud College in my constituency can continue the excellent work it is doing by training more apprentices. I want to see taxes cut so that when those young people start apprenticeships or go into work they will be keeping more of their own money. I want to see us reform welfare, so that we can assure those young people that work always pays. I do not want to explain to my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren why my generation has burdened them with more debt than they can ever hope to repay.

Positive economic news has continued to come in the past few weeks. The OECD has forecast that we will be the joint-fastest-growing major advanced economy this year. The CBI has forecast that the UK economy will grow by 2.4%. The UK’s trade deficit narrowed in September, construction grew in October and manufacturing growth accelerated in October. A World Bank report has ranked the UK sixth for “ease of doing business”, so we are up two places from last year. I know that there will be more difficult decisions to come in the years ahead, but this Government will work tirelessly to continue to tackle them. It is clear from what we have seen over the past five years that markets, manufacturers and businesses around our country and in my constituency have confidence in this Government. I congratulate the Government on their fiscal management and policy, and ask that we plough ahead with our long-term economic plan.