UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue

Debate between Luke Murphy and Rachel Reeves

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 Spending: Inheritance

Debate between Luke Murphy and Rachel Reeves

Monday 29th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

As the hon. Gentleman knows, estimates have to be published to ensure that Government funding continues, so we had to publish those main estimates, but we will be presenting new estimates to the House based on the revelations that we have set out today.

[Luke Murphy (Basingstoke) (Lab)]

Can I express the anger that many of my constituents will be feeling, not just about the economic mismanagement and the litany of broken promises from the Conservative party, but about the complete failure to be transparent both with them and with the British public at large? What does the Chancellor have to say to the Conservative party about the way it behaved in office?

[Rachel Reeves]

We have now been in the Chamber for one hour and 40 minutes, but we have not had a single apology from any Opposition Members. They should have come to the Chamber today and apologised; they have not done so. The country kicked them out of office three and a half weeks ago, and we can tell why.