Oral Answers to Questions

Luke Murphy Excerpts

Tuesday 9th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Dan Tomlinson]

My hon. Friend is right to highlight the fact that we have had five interest rate cuts since the election. That has reduced the cost of mortgages for families up and down the country, and reduced the cost of borrowing for businesses that are thinking about investing. It is good to see that there is more investment coming both domestically and internationally, particularly as a result of our investment summit that I was pleased to attend last year.

[Luke Murphy (Basingstoke) (Lab)]

When I was elected for the first time last year, my constituents told me that they wanted this Labour Government to rebuild our public services, which is what our tax changes are delivering. Does the Minister agree that Opposition parties, of whatever colour, want the benefits of our investment in public services but are not willing to take the tough decisions to deliver them?

[Dan Tomlinson]

Yes, I agree strongly with my hon. Friend that Opposition Members continue to will the ends—they want the spending on public services—but are not willing to come forward with a plan for the means and the money to invest in our public services so that we can change things for people up and down this country.

Property Taxes

Luke Murphy Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Sir Mel Stride]

I think that council tax, different variants of it, revaluations and so on are things that Government should look at, because we do not want them to be entirely static; there can always be reform and change. I will observe, however, that the average council tax paid in Labour areas is demonstrably higher than the equivalent taxes in Conservative areas. That comes down to the approach that a Conservative council takes to spending and to ensuring that councils are efficiently run, rather than the profligate approach of the Labour party.

[Luke Murphy (Basingstoke) (Lab)]

One of the suggestions made to the Government earlier this year was from Conservative-run Hampshire county council, to increase the council tax on my constituents by 15%. That was blocked by this Government, by the Secretary of State. Will the right hon. Gentleman join me in condemning Conservative-run Hampshire county council’s proposal to increase council tax by 15%?

[Sir Mel Stride]

I am not going to get into specific things going on in the hon. Gentleman’s area. How can I be expected to opine with authority on something of that nature relating to his constituency? [Interruption.] Hold on. My general point stands: the simple fact is that Labour-controlled local authorities charge more in council tax than Conservative-run councils do.

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[Sir Mel Stride]

In a word, badly.

[Luke Murphy]

A moment ago, the shadow Chancellor suggested that he would not get into speculation, but this whole debate is premised on media speculation. I asked him to comment on an actual proposal that was made to the Government by a Conservative-run county council to increase local council tax for my constituents by 15%, so he is asking us to vote on a motion about media speculation but he will not comment on an actual proposal.

Property Taxes

Luke Murphy Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Luke Murphy (Basingstoke) (Lab)]

As my hon. Friend the Member for Gateshead Central and Whickham (Mark Ferguson) pointed out, the motion we are debating is based purely on media speculation. It also conveniently overlooks the Conservatives’ own disastrous record. Let us not forget that it was the Conservatives who presided over 14 years of failure, during which the very foundations of our economy rotted away. It was on their watch that taxes were increased 25 times in the last Parliament and the costs of mortgages soared, crippling family finances across the country.

We have heard Conservative Members talk about covid, and Russia and Ukraine—and some even seem to acknowledge the travesty that was Liz Truss. However, a 2021 report from the cross-party Treasury Committee highlighted that the OBR had been warning since 2011 about an “unsustainable” fiscal trajectory in the public finances, although the Government failed to engage with that fact. Who was the Chair of the Treasury Committee making that shrewd analysis? It was of course the current shadow Chancellor. Before we got to Russia, covid and the disaster of Liz Truss, the Conservatives had already been mismanaging our economy.

Now the Conservatives come to this House to complain about a Budget that has not even been written, offering no credible economic plan of their own and continuing to make unfunded promises. This Labour Government took immediate emergency action to stabilise our economy, and made difficult but absolutely necessary decisions. We are already seeing the early signs of promise: wages are now rising faster than prices; we have had five interest rate cuts, bringing down the cost of mortgages; and we have secured three major trade deals.

[Jerome Mayhew]

The hon. Member and a number of his colleagues have referred to the reduction in interest rates as the sign of a growing economy. If he even googled it, he would realise that the first explanation for the Bank of England reducing interest rates is that it is worried about a weakening economy. Does he not realise that?

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[Luke Murphy]

The foundation for being able to cut interest rates is a stable economy, and that is exactly what the Bank of England has done.

We are putting more money directly into people’s pockets, lifting the minimum wage for 3 million workers and delivering free breakfast clubs for all primary school pupils. We are getting Britain building again by reforming the planning system to cut through red tape, bringing in hundreds of new planning officers and making a record investment of £39 billion in affordable housing. We are committed to building 1.5 million new homes, so people are not locked out of the dream of home ownership. We are correcting the mistake of successive Conservative Governments with the crucial £113 billion in extra capital investment right across the country to boost our infrastructure and catalyse high-growth sectors.

Crucially, we have had to make difficult but fair decisions on taxation—decisions that ensure that the richest and larger businesses pay more—because we urgently need to invest in the public services that the Conservatives ran into the ground. That means vital investment in our NHS, schools and other essential services that all my constituents tell me we need. It is only because of the revenue measures applied by this Government, which the Conservative party repeatedly opposed, that we are able to make that investment.

As many others have said, the Opposition parties want all the benefits of our difficult choices, but refuse to say how they would pay for them. They talk about growth, but they consistently attempt to block measures to get our country building and they have been holding our economy back for far too long. As the Prime Minister and the Chancellor have said, the next phase of this Government is singularly focused on making working people better off, improving living standards across the entire country, boosting British jobs and delivering the renewal that our country desperately needs. We will not be swayed by Opposition motions based on their fantasies, or by those who offer no credible solutions themselves.

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[Luke Murphy]

rose—

[Sir James Cleverly]

No, I will not give way. The hon. Member had his chance.

This is the point: the Government love putting up taxes. We in the Conservative party put up taxes when we had to; this Government put up taxes at every chance they get. And the reason they put up taxes whenever they get the chance to do so is that they think taxes are not a necessary evil, but a good in and of itself. That is at the heart of the problem. The fact that gilt markets, bond markets, businesses and individuals know in their heart of hearts that taxes will go up under this Government has produced the stagnation and the stifling that Labour Members are criticising.

I was about to say that we have had a number of good contributions from both sides of the House, but that is being generous. The simple fact of the matter is that a key indicator of confidence in a Government is the cost of borrowing, and, currently, that is at a multi-decade high. As we have said, it has not been higher this century; it is trending in the wrong direction. The Bank of England, when setting interest rates, made it clear that it is concerned about the trajectory—specifically the trajectory on property taxes. Those on the Treasury Bench say that they do not want to speculate on what might be in the Budget later this year. They did not want this House to investigate what they claim to be speculation. They probably should not have spent so much time briefing the media over the summer. They cannot have it both ways. We are asking legitimate questions of the Government, because the markets and the country are worried about what is happening and we want to allay their fears.

Government Performance against Fiscal Rules

Luke Murphy Excerpts

Monday 7th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Darren Jones]

I was not at the event, so I cannot comment on those discussions, but I point the hon. Member to record levels of investment in this country. We have £120 billion of investment from the private sector in the first year of this Labour Government—including, as the Prime Minister said last Wednesday at Prime Minister’s questions, £40 billion from Amazon. We can look at water infrastructure, housing or digital infrastructure. The United Kingdom is a country that people now want to invest in. It is a stable country with a long-term strategy and with lots of great potential and assets, and we look forward to working with those business partners and investors to get the best deal for Britain.

[Luke Murphy (Basingstoke) (Lab)]

The Institute for Government’s review of the Government’s performance against fiscal rules found that the previous Conservative Government changed their rules in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2024. In fact, all of the sets of rules that existed under the Conservatives were abandoned because at least one rule could not be met. Does the Chief Secretary to the Treasury agree that the Conservatives have not met a fiscal rule they did not change, break or, in the case of Liz Truss, blow up?

[Darren Jones]

I thank my hon. Friend for his pertinent question. It rather begs the question of whether the last Conservative Government had any fiscal rules at all. Based on the experience of all of us paying our mortgages and rent, and looking at the cost of inflation at the back end of the last Parliament, the answer is no.

UK Infrastructure: 10-year Strategy

Luke Murphy Excerpts

Thursday 19th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Darren Jones]

I am usually confident in my abilities, to be frank. We will be consulting on some of the design details. We will be using private capital for social infrastructure only in particular potential use cases. We mention in the strategy today certain types of primary neighbourhood healthcare centres. We will be transparently consulting on that detail, and we will only allow such capital to be used in a way that is value for money. We will not be returning to the PFI contracts of the past.

[Luke Murphy (Basingstoke) (Lab)]

I welcome the Chief Secretary’s statement. As someone whose parents and grandparents grew up in and lived in council housing and benefited from that opportunity, I particularly welcome the record investment in social and affordable housing. Under the previous Government, the UK was 28th out of 31 OECD countries for business investment, and it was regularly at the bottom of the G7 for the combination of public and private investment. Will the Chief Secretary confirm that this strategy today will begin to turn that terrible legacy around?

[Darren Jones]

I agree with my hon. Friend on our extremely ambitious plans for council houses—or social and affordable houses, as we call them now. He will know that I, too, grew up in a council flat. I now represent the constituency of Bristol North West, and over 20,000 people in the city of Bristol are waiting for secure housing. I am very confident that our £39 billion commitment on building affordable and social housing will make a huge difference to the lives of people across the whole country.

My hon. Friend asks about unlocking private capital. The good news is that plenty of investors want to invest private capital in the UK, but they have told us through the British infrastructure taskforce and other vehicles that they did not invest for many years because they thought that we had lost the plot in this country, whereas we now have a clear strategy. We have stability both politically and economically, and we will now work with those investors to provide opportunities across the country to bring money to communities that have missed out for too long.

Oral Answers to Questions

Luke Murphy Excerpts

Tuesday 4th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[James Murray]

As we have debated several times in this Chamber and Westminster Hall, the changes to agricultural property relief and business property relief retain a generous relief for people accessing those benefits within the taxation system. That means that people will get £1 million before inheritance tax is due, in addition to the existing nil rate band for spousal transfers. Over that, it is up to an effective rate of 20%, and any money due can be paid over 10 years, interest free.

[Luke Murphy (Basingstoke) (Lab)]

The Government’s recent £100 million investment in hospices, including St Michael’s hospice in Basingstoke, will help to modernise facilities, enhance digital services and provide more comfortable spaces for patients and their families. Given the vital role that hospices play in all our communities, will the Treasury continue to work with the Department of Health and Social Care to ensure the sector’s long-term financial stability?

[James Murray]

As my hon. Friend rightly points out, £100 million is being made available for hospices—£25 million in 2024-25 and £75 million from April 2025. That capital funding is intended to help charitable hospices in his constituency and elsewhere across the country to improve and modernise their facilities and physical estate.

UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue

Luke Murphy Excerpts

Tuesday 14th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

The national wealth fund created by this Government will get investment into industries such as carbon capture and storage, green hydrogen, ports and, indeed, steel. We were really pleased at the end of last year to be able to announce investment in carbon capture and storage in Merseyside and Teesside, securing billions of pounds of investment into those economies and securing many thousands of jobs.

[Luke Murphy (Basingstoke) (Lab)]

I thank the Chancellor for her statement. I think it is worth reminding the House that under the previous Government business investment fell to 28th out of 31 OECD countries, which was lower than Latvia, Slovenia and Hungary. Could the Chancellor set out how our industrial strategy will overcome that terrible legacy on business investment left by the Conservatives?

[Rachel Reeves]

One of the reasons for such poor investment—the lowest of all the G7 economies—is that our planning system makes it so hard to get anything done in this country. That is why the planning and infrastructure Bill, which is being brought forward by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister, will turn that around, making it easier to invest in transport, in digital, in housing and in so much more. That is the way to get our economy growing after 14 years of failure.

Public Finances: Borrowing Costs

Luke Murphy Excerpts

Thursday 9th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Darren Jones]

You will correctly tell me, Mr Speaker, that it would not be right for me to comment on legal proceedings, but I am happy to say that one of the huge lessons for the country, for the British voting public and perhaps, one day, for the Conservative party is that the actions that the Conservative party took were not just reckless and negligent, but had a direct impact on public finances in every single constituency. There was a direct connection: it was Conservative Ministers’ hubris, ego and lack of focus on working people that ruined the lives of people across the country. I say that today and I will say it every day, because the British people must never forget the recklessness of the Conservative party.

[Luke Murphy (Basingstoke) (Lab)]

I thank the Chief Secretary for his statement—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. It is an urgent question, not a statement.

[Luke Murphy]

I am sorry, Mr Speaker. During these exchanges on the urgent question alone, we have heard chuntering from Opposition Members about the cut in the winter fuel payment. We have heard them oppose the tax increases that have been introduced to pay for public spending, and we have heard them urge the Government to call off talks with economic partners including China. Is it any wonder that the GDP-to- debt ratio rose by a full 30 percentage points under the Conservative Government?

Farming and Inheritance Tax

Luke Murphy Excerpts

Wednesday 4th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[James Murray]

My response to the right hon. Gentleman is the same as that to the right hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Sir John Hayes). I believe he is looking at the data for the total value of farms, rather than for inheritance tax claims. The two are different things. For instance, a farm worth £5 million owned in equal shares by five individuals would have no inheritance tax liability because of the way claims work. That is where I think some of the confusion has come from. There is different data around the value of farms and around the value of inheritance tax claims. For the purpose of today’s debate, it is the inheritance tax claims that are the right data to focus on.

[Luke Murphy (Basingstoke) (Lab)]

On the point about facts, I was fascinated by the end of the shadow Secretary of State’s contribution. She opined on whether Labour was sticking to its promise to end the decline in the countryside. I wonder who was in government for the last 14 years while the countryside was declining. The Conservative Government sold out British farmers through trade deals and 12,000 farming businesses went out of business. Does my hon. Friend agree?

[James Murray]

I very much agree with my hon. Friend. He points out a repeated pattern of the Opposition: their total refusal to take any responsibility for the damage they caused over the past 14 years. They may wish it never happened; the British people disagree.

National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill

Luke Murphy Excerpts

2nd reading
Tuesday 3rd December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Luke Murphy (Basingstoke) (Lab)]

For too long, this country has suffered from irresponsible and short-sighted fiscal management from Conservatives, saddling working people with the bill for their broken promises, incompetence and chaotic approach to governing. They hiked taxes for working people to record rates and left behind a £22 billion black hole in the public finances. Then, to add insult to injury, the Conservatives spend their first few months in opposition washing their hands of 14 years of failure in power. That changed on 30 October when my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer gave a historic Budget, which led to this Bill. The Budget delivers the swift action needed to repair the immediate fiscal crisis and a long-term plan to repair our public finances, while also laying the foundations for a decade of national renewal.

We heard a lot from the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for North Bedfordshire (Richard Fuller), and no doubt we will hear much from Opposition Members, about the Bill. But really, the gist of their argument is that they want all the benefits of the Budget, but have no idea how to pay for it. Boris Johnson may no longer be the leader of the Conservative party, but his belief in cakeism lives on. On cake, they are pro having it and pro eating it.

The right hon. Member for Richmond and Northallerton (Rishi Sunak) attempted at first to wean the party off its cakeism addiction. Running in the first leadership context, he told his party not to believe in

“comforting fairytales that might make us feel better in the moment, but will leave our children worse off tomorrow”.

But under his leadership, the Conservatives once again succumbed to the fairytale of cakeism. That is why they lost the general election. The hon. Member for North Bedfordshire spoke of polls, but he will remember that they lost an election just a few months ago because they could no longer handle the challenges of the world as it is. They ducked the hard choices and, in opposition, they continue to duck them and to drift away from reality.

Back in the real world, let me remind the House what this Government are delivering, funded in large part by the Bill. They are delivering £25.6 billion in increased NHS funding, ensuring that our health service can meet rising demand and creating 40,000 more elective appointments every week. They are delivering more teachers, and investing £1 billion in special educational needs provision. They are investing billions in surgical hubs and diagnostic scanners. There is a further £1.5 billion to rebuild crumbling schools and ensure that every child learns in a safe environment. Those are investments that Conservative Members must surely support.

[Mr Angus MacDonald]

Does the hon. Gentleman not agree that the impact of this measure is hitting the most vulnerable businesses and the most vulnerable charities throughout the United Kingdom? Surely a much better way of raising the money—which I can understand is needed—would be to raise corporation tax, or to increase taxes on, for instance, social media or the very largest companies.

[Luke Murphy]

The Bill, and the Budget, protect the smallest businesses, as the Minister has already explained. It is disappointing to hear the hon. Member sharing the Conservative party’s cakeism. Opposition Members must surely support the investments that the Bill will deliver, but if they oppose the Bill, how do they propose to fund them? Turning up at the supermarket with a long shopping list but no means to pay does not work in real life, and it does not work in government either.

The Conservatives have clearly learnt nothing from their kamikaze mini-Budget of 2022. Perhaps they believe that cakeism has just not been tried properly. This Government, by contrast, have taken the tough but fair decisions to protect working people, invest in our NHS and rebuild our public services. For too long the burden of tax has fallen on working people, but under this Government, larger businesses and the richest will pay a little more in tax to help fund the NHS and other public services on which working people rely. Where the Conservatives would either cut public services or pick the pockets of working people, this Government are asking those with the broadest shoulders to pay a bit more to help repair our broken public services—broken over the last 14 years. This Bill will help to deliver on the priorities of my constituents in Basingstoke, who will be able to see a doctor when they need one, and schools will be able to deliver the best—

[Pippa Heylings]

Will the hon. Member reassure the GPs in my constituency, in Harston, Comberton, the Eversdens, Melbourn and Queen Edith’s, who have sought reassurances that the Government do not intend to threaten the viability of thousands of NHS general practices through these charges?

[Luke Murphy]

I am not sure that it is for me to give reassurances—it is probably for Ministers to do that—but what I can do is repeat what the Minister said earlier: the Government will bring forward the settlement for GPs in the usual way.

[Dr Luke Evans]

Part of the biggest problem that I have with the way this is being done, looking at the NHS as a whole, is that while at the front door of primary care the raising of national insurance contributions means that GPs do not want to recruit, at the back door social care is also being hit by the increase. It is all very well protecting the centre—the hospitals—but the biggest problem is system-wide, in that both the back door and the front door are jammed shut. How will the Bill resolve that? This is the practicality that the Labour party must explain to the health services, because they are asking the same question and it is going unanswered.

[Luke Murphy]

Both the back door and the front door of the NHS have been broken over the last 14 years, so we will take no lectures from the Conservatives about the state of the NHS or the impact of policies.

The protection of small business is also built into the Bill. The increase in the employment allowance to £10,500—as the Minister said—and the expansion to all employers mean that 250,000 employers will pay less national insurance, and that 820,000 employers will see no difference in their national insurance bills. That will ensure that these changes fall only on the businesses with the broadest shoulders. This Government continue to champion entrepreneurship and wealth creation, boosting public investment by more than £100 billion over this Parliament.

[Monica Harding (Esher and Walton) (LD)]

My constituency has a higher proportion of business owners, entrepreneurs, and high-growth enterprises and start-ups than many others. One of them wrote to me this week to say that they will cut their operations, and that the Budget has crashed any incentive or possibility for businesses to grow. Does the hon. Member agree that this Bill does not protect businesses or the workers they employ, and does not leave any hope for economic growth?

[Luke Murphy]

I take it that the hon. Lady must oppose the large investment in public services that the Government are proposing, and that she opposes the Government’s industrial strategy, which is one of the ways we will grow the economy. I remind Opposition Members that workers in small and large businesses depend on the NHS. As others have already said, many workers have continued to be out of work, which has a massive impact on our productivity. We should make no apologies for investing in our public services.

[Munira Wilson]

The hon. Gentleman keeps accusing those of us on the Liberal Democrat Benches of not supporting public sector investment. We have championed it, and we have said that the big multinationals—the big banks and the social media giants—should bear the brunt. Just yesterday, at the Small Business 100 reception here in Parliament, the owners of Shambles, a popular family-run restaurant in Teddington, told me that the impact of the Budget on them next year will cost £50,000 to £60,000. What are they doing? They are freezing all recruitment for the next few months. How will that deliver the growth that the Labour party is apparently desperate to achieve?

[Luke Murphy]

As I have already said, we are protecting small businesses through this Bill and we have an industrial strategy. We are delivering record levels of public investment in the economy, and I doubt very much that the measures that the hon. Lady set out would deliver the kind of funding that this Bill will deliver. We need serious investment to fix the mess left by the previous Government.

We are providing businesses with certainty through a corporate tax road map, as others have said, and upholding our commitment to maintain corporation tax at the lowest rate in the G7. I am proud to support the investment in our country, in our NHS, in education and in rebuilding the infrastructure on which hard-working people across our country rely. We are bringing the funding needed to kick-start a decade of national renewal. While the Conservatives sit back to have their cake and eat it, this Government have acted decisively to invest strategically and build for the future.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

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[Daisy Cooper]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that point. Many people work part time, for all sorts of reasons. They could be coming back from a period of poor mental health. They could be returning to work after bringing up their children. They could have a fluctuating health condition, be recovering from surgery or, as I was saying, be picking up the pieces of a broken social care system, having become a family carer. We all know these people. They live among us. They are our friends, our neighbours and our family members. Many people need to work part time in order to contribute to the economy and be productive, and it is also good for their self-esteem.

A number of Labour Members have rightly challenged the Conservatives on how they would pay for this investment in the NHS, and they are right to do so, because the Institute for Fiscal Studies gave a damning account of the Conservatives’ manifesto. It said that it contained

“giveaways paid for by uncertain, unspecific and apparently victimless savings.”

Also, the Conservatives could not say where the £20 billion-worth of cuts could come from, so Labour Members are right to point to the fact that the Conservatives have not answered that question. We should hold their feet to the fire on that point, because we heard time and again in the run-up to 4 July that everything was broken and that the Conservatives had driven our economy into the ground and left our public services on their knees.

By contrast, we Liberal Democrats have set out how we would fund many of these services. The Labour party says that its measures will amount to £28 billion for investment in health and social care, or at least in the NHS, but the Office for Budget Responsibility says that once the amount is adjusted for behaviour changes and public sector rebates, it comes to only £10 billion. We have suggested a number of measures and, in the spirit of constructive opposition, I urge Labour Members to look at them, if not for this Budget, then at least for the next.

If the Government had reversed the Conservatives’ tax cuts for the big banks, that would have raised £4 billion a year. If they had doubled the remote gambling duty, that would have raised up to £900 million a year. If they had trebled the digital services tax, that would have raised £2 billion a year. We have pointed to examples of ways that the Government could have raised funds from those with the broadest shoulders. In the spirit of constructive opposition, I urge Labour colleagues to look at those measures.

[Luke Murphy]

The hon. Lady has cited the IFS, which said of the Liberal Democrat manifesto that

“there are clear risks that their package of tax measures would not raise the £27 billion a year that they claim.”

The IFS also described some of the measures as “a bad idea economically.” Confronted with a Bill promising actual investment and delivering actual money, will the Liberal Democrats really oppose it?

[Daisy Cooper]

The fact remains that the IFS said that our proposals for capital gains tax, which would raise £5 billion, go in “a sensible direction”. I recognise that the IFS does not like our proposal for share buy-backs, but other think-tanks are available. Indeed, the Social Market Foundation and the Institute for Public Policy Research support our online gambling proposals. A broad range of think-tanks support a number of measures in our manifesto. As I said, in the spirit of constructive opposition, I urge Labour Members to look at those ideas.

I finish where I started. This Saturday is Small Business Saturday, and small businesses will shoulder a disproportionate burden from the increase to national insurance contributions. We urge the Government not to proceed with this measure, but if they do, they should, at the very least, exclude health and care providers, which are essential to getting health and care back on their feet.

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[Ben Lake]

I very much agree. I hope that the Minister will return to that in her summing up.

I labour the point about the third sector and public sector organisations that do not stand to receive reimbursement from the Government because they are so crucial to delivering many of the public services that we have heard so much about in the debate. There is a real risk that if our social care hubs, hospices, dentists and GPs are not adequately reimbursed, all the Government will do is erode the value of the investment that they claim to be making in those services.

I could also say a little bit about the university sector. Higher education is a very important sector in my constituency: Ceredigion Preseli is home to two universities, Aberystwyth University and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Both organisations are currently facing very difficult times, as are most higher education institutions, and both state that they will be dealing with quite significant additional costs next year when the Government’s proposals come into force. There is no talk of additional support for those institutions, so I worry very much that we will lose the incredible economic contribution they make to my constituency, let alone their important social and cultural contribution.

[Luke Murphy]

Is the hon. Member about to come on to the part where he welcomes the largest real-terms settlement for Wales since devolution?