The Economy

Maria Caulfield Excerpts

Thursday 24th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[John McDonnell]

No, I will press on. The hon. Gentleman will have the opportunity to speak.

The Government have made £47 billion in cuts to our public services, they are giving away £110 billion, and to ramp up the profits of these corporations, they have sold out our public services to them: £9 billion-worth of contracts in health and social care were handed over to private companies this year. Outsourcing under this Government has been exposed this week for the racket it is. A report by the think tank Reform showed that outsourcing contracts wasted £14.3 billion of taxpayers’ money in the last three years. Nothing in this Queen’s Speech even acknowledges these rip-offs, let alone promises action to reverse them.



I found nothing either in the Queen’s Speech that addresses the scandal of the industrial scale of tax avoidance and money laundering that is staining the reputation of our country. Today, Transparency International published its report “At Your Service”, which shows how

“UK service providers have been involved in some of the most egregious cases of corruption in our time.”

From the looks of this Queen’s Speech, the Government will continue to do nothing about it. The registration of overseas entities Bill, which will create a register of controlling owners of overseas legal entities that own UK land, is nowhere to be seen in the Queen’s Speech, three and a half years after the Government first committed to it.

We are at the tail end of what has been nearly a lost decade for our country—a near decade of the grotesque mismanagement of our economy by successive Conservative Chancellors; I am on my third in three years. The New Economics Foundation has shown that austerity has suppressed growth by almost £100 billion—that is more than £3,600 per household. After nine years of stuttering growth, GDP even went backwards in the last quarter. Public debt was meant to peak at 70% of GDP in 2013-14, only for it to rise to 86% of GDP in 2018-19. For all their stale claims of reducing the deficit, the reality is that the Conservatives have simply shifted that burden on to the shoulders of headteachers, councillors, NHS managers and police chiefs. These are the people who have had to make the tough decisions, not Ministers, and who have had to face up to the undermining of their services by these cuts.

Part of the testament to the Government’s failed fiscal strategy has been the litany of fiscal rules, invented, published, broadcast widely and then quietly and embarrassingly dropped. Within weeks, we hear that a new fiscal rule—probably largely stolen from us—will be announced in the Budget. I should say that we may have a new fiscal rule because we cannot be sure: only yesterday, despite the Chancellor announcing the Budget and its date, other Government sources were briefing that it was off. We have a Chancellor whose staff are sacked and escorted by armed guard out of their office, without his being told, and now Cummings is possibly cancelling his Budget. I give a word of advice to the Chancellor and his colleagues: get a grip on Cummings before he does any more damage to our country.

Apart from Budget making, one of the vitally important responsibilities of the Chancellor is to ensure that the Government and this House have the fullest information before them when considering legislation or issues impacting our economy. It is therefore extraordinary, and I think a dereliction of the Chancellor’s duties, that he—unlike his predecessors—has refused to publish a detailed economic impact assessment of the Government’s Brexit proposals. Studies of similar proposals have indicated a hit to the growth of our economy of between 3.4% and 8.1%. Even the lower range of that hit will have a severe impact on our people’s jobs and living standards, and on the economy overall. Surely it is only reasonable for Members to have a degree of information and analysis from the Chancellor’s Department before they make this momentous decision.

In their most recent manifestos, both the main parties committed themselves to respecting the outcome of the referendum. We do and we will, but, as we made clear on Tuesday, the House will not be bounced into an unrealistic and unfeasible timetable for considering and scrutinising such a critically important piece of legislation. That is why the Leader of the Opposition and Labour’s Chief Whip met the Prime Minister yesterday to offer a genuine compromise and to agree on a proper timetable that will allow, in the normal manner, proper scrutiny of the Bill and the opportunity to promote, debate and determine amendments. The Opposition have set out their views on the parts of the Bill that it wishes to amend, but of course we accept that it will be the House that decides. As always, we must accept the will of the House, even if, on many occasions, we disagree with it. It is a pity that the Prime Minister does not adopt that attitude.

There is an opportunity here for us to demonstrate to our people that Parliament can and does work. If we can demonstrate civility and a rational process in the House, we may be able to help to overcome some of the division and, indeed, bitterness that have set in within our own society.

[Maria Caulfield (Lewes) (Con)]

I thank the shadow Chancellor for giving way. It is very generous of him.

The Labour party’s policy of a four-day week will reduce the earnings of the poorest workers in the country. Those are not my words, but the words of a Labour peer, Lord Skidelsky.

[John McDonnell]

Lord Skidelsky’s report suggests a 32-hour week—not a four-day week—but one without loss of pay, which will be achieved over a decade as a result of our investment in the economy to increase productivity.

No-deal Brexit: Short Positions against the Pound

Maria Caulfield Excerpts

Monday 30th September 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Clarke]

The passion that the hon. Lady shows is certainly a match for what I heard when I was in Bishop Auckland recently to address some of her constituents, because they were very clear that we should be leaving the European Union. I have already said that I do not propose to comment on the actions of individuals, because clearly it is for them to account for their actions. The Government do not take a position on the actions of individuals. We do not take a position on the issue of short selling.

[Maria Caulfield (Lewes) (Con)]

May I welcome the Minister to his post? Does he agree that a sure-fire way of stopping speculators benefiting from a no-deal Brexit would be for the shadow Chancellor and his comrades to vote for the Prime Minister’s deal when he brings it back and to stop no deal in the first place?

[Mr Clarke]

I agree with my hon. Friend. Clearly, if we can secure a good deal that is fair to this country, which is our central aim, that is what everyone in the House should get behind, because that will take our country out of the European Union on the smoothest basis—[Interruption.] The hon. Member for West Ham (Lyn Brown) says “Fantasy” from a sedentary position, but what I think is fantasy is the idea that our chances of securing a good deal are improved by continuing to propagate a surrender Act. That is the problem, I am afraid to say, that lies at the heart of this debate. The Opposition are, in essence, trying to take power without responsibility, and it is highly unfortunate and detrimental to this country’s interests if we do not all work together as a nation to deliver on what we, as a country, decided was our future course of action.

Discrimination in Football

Maria Caulfield Excerpts

Thursday 11th April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mims Davies]

I absolutely agree with the hon. Gentleman. The FA needs to review its rules and guidance to enable clubs to be effective and consistent in these situations. As we have heard, ultimately we are talking about a workplace, where people should not be subjected to abuse but supported either to walk away or to stand up to it.

[Maria Caulfield (Lewes) (Con)]

I welcome the Minister’s strong statement on racism in football. I am sure she will join me in wishing Arsenal football club the best of luck in its Europa League game this evening, but will she also join me in welcoming the hard work of the Sussex County Football Association, which takes a strong, zero-tolerance approach at grassroots level, making it easy to report any incidents of racism, carrying out swift investigations and enforcing strong sanctions? Does she agree that stamping out racism at grassroots level is the key to tackling racism in football?

[Mr Speaker]

We all salute the hon. Lady’s anti-racism, and I have to say that I salute her footballing preference. I was not aware of her allegiance, but she is to be commended for her good taste.

Finance (No. 3) Bill

Maria Caulfield Excerpts

3rd reading: House of Commons & Report stage: House of Commons
Tuesday 8th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Vicky Ford]

Absolutely. That is exactly the point: absolute poverty is now at record lows. That also has an impact on children—my hon. Friend made that point— because the number of children living in workless homes has fallen to the lowest level since records started.

[Maria Caulfield (Lewes) (Con)]

Would not the situation for working families be even worse under a Labour Government, with the proposal announced at the Labour party conference of £500 billion of public spending, which would mean a doubling of VAT, a doubling of national insurance, a doubling of income tax and a doubling of council tax? They are not my words, but those of a Labour MP, the hon. Member for Nottingham East (Mr Leslie).

[Vicky Ford]

I thank my hon. Friend for that precise contribution. I cannot understand why the Labour party has voted against increases to the level at which people start to pay tax, because helping people to keep more of their earnings in their own pockets is fundamental to increasing house ownership and to building a fairer economy.

Cat Welfare

Maria Caulfield Excerpts

Tuesday 11th December 2018 Westminster Hall

[Rehman Chishti]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. He will have seen the PDSA’s PAW report, which talked about cats’ five welfare needs, one of which is companionship. We talk about loneliness and the Government doing the right thing and people having the required environment to be happy, and what cats and animals do is absolutely amazing, so he makes a valid point.

My first point is about the compulsory microchipping of cats. I spoke to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 25 October. He said that the proposals in my presentation Bill on the compulsory microchipping of cats and ensuring that car accidents involving cats are reported, as they are when dogs are involved, were very reasonable, and that he would ask his civil servants to look into the matter. I take the Secretary of State at his word, and if he says that the proposals are very reasonable, it therefore means that to do the opposite would be very unreasonable.

In the light of the Secretary of State’s commitment and his saying that the proposals are very reasonable, I ask the Minister: are cats less important than dogs? A statutory instrument requiring dogs to be compulsorily microchipped was introduced in 2015, so there does not need to be primary legislation; such a change could be done through a statutory instrument. At the time it was said that such a change would be done with dogs first to see how the process worked, and that extending it further would then be looked at. That was in 2015. I know that the Government and Parliament work slowly, but three years to see how a system works is long enough.

I know the Minister. He and I have been here for the same amount of time—eight years. He is a wonderful man who cares passionately about animal welfare and doing the right thing, and he listens to what people have to say. A petition on change.org, “Help me to change the law for Cats involved in RTA’s”, received 377,000 signatures. A parliamentary petition about microchipping had 33,413 signatures. A petition to introduce compulsory microchip scanning for vets, rescues and authorities had 70,800 signatures. That demonstrates that people out there want Parliament to do the right thing, as the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) says is our duty. Ministers can see the public interest in this area through the petitions put forward and the contributions of Members today and in previous debates.

[Maria Caulfield (Lewes) (Con)]

My hon. Friend mentioned microchip legislation. It is also true that the Road Traffic Act 1988 could be amended. Section 170 requires motorists to stop and report accidents involving animals, including horses, cattle, mules, sheep, pigs and dogs, but not cats. Does he agree that it is time to amend that legislation?

[Rehman Chishti]

My hon. Friend knows a lot about this because she chairs the all-party parliamentary group on cats and has done amazing work on this issue. She is absolutely right. We were told that legislation does not cover cats is because they are free-roaming. I say to everyone, “Let’s get away from technicality. Let’s do the right thing and let’s look at what counterparts around the world do on this issue.”

I am grateful to Mandy at CatsMatter. She gave me a copy of a piece of legislation, which I have with me today. It is article 26 of the agriculture and markets law from the State of New York Department of Agriculture and Markets. Rather than using the RTA, we could have a specific section in animal welfare provision. Section 601 in that document is entitled “Leaving scene of injury to certain animals without reporting”. It states:

“Any person operating a motor vehicle which shall strike and injure any horse, dog, cat or animal classified as cattle shall stop and endeavor to locate the owner or custodian of such animal”.

If the free-roaming issue is the reason why we cannot amend the legislation here—the RTA—I point out that cats are also free roaming in the United States, but there the issue has been addressed through separate animal welfare legislation.

I was going to come later to the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (Maria Caulfield), but I shall come to it now. It is absolutely at the heart of this. If an individual is going along at night and knowingly hits a cat, is there a moral obligation on them? Many people would already act, but I make to the Minister the same point that I made earlier: are cats less important than dogs? We have legislation, but we argue over a technicality. I have read Hansard for when the matter was debated previously in the other place: “Well, the issue is free roaming and we would define ‘free roaming’ this way.” Let us avoid the RTA and go with animal welfare legislation and do that because it is the right thing to do.

If someone knowingly strikes a cat, they should do the same thing as they would if they struck a dog. They would try to find the owner. If they could not find the owner, they would report the accident. This point was made to me when I asked people to clarify the matter. They said, “Should one then report it to the police? That might be onerous for the police in terms of resources.” I say, “Well, we do it for dogs, but if you don’t have to report the accident to the police, you could report it to a vet or to the local authority. You could do a number of different things.” Technicality can be avoided. This is about doing the right thing in the first place. I completely agree with my hon. Friend. That was the second part of my speech; I am grateful that it has now become the first part.

Let me quote from the wonderful charity Animals Lost and Found in Kent on the issue of compulsory microchipping:

“Our main job at Animals Lost and Found in Kent Ltd is to reunite animals, our job is extremely hard as 5 cats out of 10 are chipped, the other 5 we can’t get home and end up going through the rescue centres, that isn’t fair or the best for the cat’s welfare as the cat gets confused, upset, stressed and can shut down. Stress in cats can be very dangerous for them and can lead to big problems like a blocked bladder, urinary tract infections and urine crystals which can lead to death if not treated. Stress also brings out more sinister problems in cats like the flu. But if the cat was chipped, we could get the cat home where they belong.”

That quote is from the points given to me by Animals Lost and Found in Kent.

The hon. Member for Barnsley East (Stephanie Peacock) talked about Cats Protection. I am grateful for the comments and notes given to me by Cats Protection on this matter. It says:

“In England a survey conducted for Cats Protection showed that 27% of owned cats are not microchipped. Compulsory microchipping of dogs is already in force across the whole of the UK…In the last 12 months 62% of the cats taken in by Cats Protection’s UK Adoption Centres were not microchipped. Unlike collars, microchips don’t come off, or put cats at risk of collar-related injuries.”

I say to the Minister that it would not be difficult to introduce the legislation that we are calling for. That could be done. Why is it so important? Cats Protection says:

“Failure to microchip a cat can result in the following problems:

Difficulty reuniting a cat that goes missing with its owner

Cats are needlessly rehomed because they are believed to be strays

Worry about a pet cat in the event of an accident

Vets are unable to contact cat owners in any case of emergency

Ownership disputes are difficult to resolve

Detection of cat theft may be difficult”.

Are those not good enough reasons to say that we have to act swiftly?

I have had representations from CatsMatter, Cats Protection, the PDSA and Blue Cross, which I will refer to shortly. If I send the Minister those representations, will he be kind enough to respond to all the points that they have made? In addition, will the Minister be kind enough to meet me and representatives of all the charities that I have mentioned, which have been supporting and making this case, along with my wonderful hon. Friend the Member for Lewes, who chairs the APPG?

I am looking at the time and will mention just two other points. First, the Blue Cross animal hospitals do amazing work. I am grateful to Blue Cross for allowing me to visit one of its centres and see its great work. On microchipping, it says that in 2017, 24% of cats admitted to Blue Cross were considered to be strays, but it is not uncommon for owned animals to be presented as strays because they are not microchipped or do not have updated details on their chip. I agree with those who say, “There’s no point in microchipping if you don’t ensure that the details are correct.” That has to be addressed. The other point is, where will the money come from? Charities such as Blue Cross already do the work voluntarily. The cost is not significant; it can be done. If the issue is cost, I say to the Minister: it is not that expensive; it can be done. Ways and avenues can be found, because it is the right thing to do. Blue Cross says that out of a total of 5,057 cats admitted to Blue Cross for rehoming in 2017, a staggering 80% were not microchipped. If the legislation were amended and compulsory microchipping rules brought into play, that would address a number of those points.

My second point, which my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes has already brought to the fore, is about reporting after an accident. I say this to the Minister: if a jurisdiction in the United States addresses the issue of free roaming by covering it under animal welfare provisions, I think we should move away from amending the Road Traffic Act. That is why the presentation Bill that I put forward is called the Cats Bill. It does not talk specifically about the Road Traffic Act, because the matter can be addressed the other way round.

What I am calling for is the right thing to do. It ties in with what the Government are already trying to do. They have done a brilliant job on animal welfare, but a lot more needs to be done. I have seen the joy that cats bring. In October, for my 40th, I was in Little Rock, Arkansas, with my good friend French Hill. He is a Congressman down there and he has cats called JJ and Timber. I was not there long, but in the short time I was there, I became attached to them—I would see them when I came back after a day out. Cats are amazing creatures. They bring a lot of happiness, and I just think that if they bring us happiness, we have a moral obligation to support them—to make sure that they get the right support.

I therefore say to the Minister, who is a good man, from the bottom of my heart: can we please not just say today, “We will look to address this at some point in the future”? Short term, medium term, long term—what is the timescale now for getting this provision on to the statute book and putting it into practice?

Oral Answers to Questions

Maria Caulfield Excerpts

Tuesday 11th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Robert Jenrick]

That was very tenuous. Once a new stadium has been built in Truro, perhaps people will not need to go to Plymouth to support Argyle. We are supporting grassroots sports in several ways—for example, the soft drinks industry levy has ensured that more than £500 million of additional funding has gone into school sport and into the health and wellbeing schemes that are delivered, along with breakfast clubs, in our primary schools.

[Maria Caulfield (Lewes) (Con)]

2. What fiscal steps he is taking to support the high street.

[Peter Heaton-Jones (North Devon) (Con)]

12. What fiscal steps he is taking to support the high street.

[The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr Philip Hammond)]

Budget 2018 announced our plan for the high street, which provides £1.5 billion of support to fund local areas as they make their high streets fit for the future. The plan includes a £675 million future high streets fund, planning reforms, a high streets taskforce, support for community assets and a cut by a third to the business rates bills of independent retailers for two years from April 2019, saving businesses almost £900 million.

[Maria Caulfield]

Although I welcome the measures that the Chancellor just mentioned—they are helping high streets greatly—the business rates system is currently not working for high streets. Will the Chancellor therefore consider a type of transaction tax that would level the playing field between online businesses and those based on premises, and also enable businesses such as Starbucks and Amazon to start to pay their fair share of tax?

[Mr Hammond]

My hon. Friend makes a point that has been raised on many occasions. There is concern about the way the business rates system works. In 2016, we conducted a fundamental review of business rates that agreed that property-based taxes were easy to collect, difficult to avoid and stable. There was no consensus around any replacement for business rates. My hon. Friend will know that separately the Government announced in the Budget a digital services tax to ensure that digital businesses pay tax that reflects the value that they derive from UK users.

Oral Answers to Questions

Maria Caulfield Excerpts

Tuesday 17th April 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

I think that the right hon. Gentleman is being a little bit harsh on the unexplained wealth orders. The legislation has been in place for only a couple of months, and we will of course look at opportunities to use it. As for his challenge on the date for the registers, I will look into the matter, as he has asked me to do. I will then write to him to let him know the reason for the date that we have set, and whether there is any opportunity for it to be brought forward.

I think that we are all in the same place on this issue. We all want to ensure that London cannot be used as a route for dirty money—for the ill-gotten gains of regimes that are stealing from their people and channelling money offshore. It must be recognised that London is the world’s largest global financial centre, which presents us with some challenges, but we will continue the work.

[Maria Caulfield (Lewes) (Con)]

T4. High street retailers such as Toys R Us and Carpetright are closing branches because of the rise in online sales. What measures are Ministers taking to reduce business rates, which currently penalise property-based businesses to the advantage of online retailers?

[Mr Hammond]

My hon. Friend puts her finger on the significant structural challenge that we face. This country has a higher penetration of online retailing than any other major economy—we are at the cutting edge—but that, of course, has an impact on traditional retailing, and we have to expect that patterns of retailing will change. We have brought forward by a year the switch to three-year business rates reviews, and we have introduced a package of £9 billion of business rates relief, but we will have to consider this major structural challenge over the coming years as a nation.

Public Sector Pay Cap

Maria Caulfield Excerpts

Wednesday 5th July 2017 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

We need to look not only at the important issue of fairness for public sector workers and the issue of recruitment and retention, but at the overall health of the British economy, so that we can make sure we carry on having low unemployment rates and growth in our economy and carry on dealing with the debt that is a result of the great depression that we suffered as a country. We need to pay down the debt and get the deficit further down so that we can continue to enjoy high-quality public services.

[Maria Caulfield (Lewes) (Con)]

As someone who has worked as a nurse during the period of the pay cap and pay freeze, may I just say that that is very difficult to do as a public sector worker? The issue is greater than just a pay rise; it is also about the pay structure. When Labour introduced the “Agenda for Change” system, it created an increment system under which people have to wait five, six or seven years to get the pay they actually deserve. The increment system is not working, and it also gives trusts the opportunity to downgrade people, with a sister in one hospital on band 7 while another somewhere else is on band 5. The pay structure is not working, and that needs to be looked at as urgently as the pay cap.

Oral Answers to Questions

Maria Caulfield Excerpts

Tuesday 18th April 2017 Commons Chamber

[Jane Ellison]

That is exactly right, and this is something that we have taken extremely seriously. The UK’s tax gap is one of the lowest in the world, and it is certainly one of the most transparent and best documented. Since 2010, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs has secured £140 billion in additional tax revenue as a result of tackling avoidance, evasion and non-compliance. As I have said, the Government are ambitious to do more.

[Maria Caulfield (Lewes) (Con)]

10. What steps he is taking to support economic growth on the south-east coast of England.

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Simon Kirby)]

Would you mind, Mr Speaker, if I started by sending my congratulations to Brighton & Hove Albion on their promotion to the premier league? They are an important part of the south-east economy.

At the autumn statement, we allocated £351 million to the south-east from the local growth fund, and the south-east will also benefit from more than £21 million from the coastal communities fund.

[Maria Caulfield]

I thank the Minister for his response and I, too, congratulate Brighton & Hove Albion. We have just under six miles of motorway in Sussex, and the Brighton & Hove Albion stadium is on one of our motorway junctions. Does he agree that we need to dual the A27 to make the south coast more economically viable? Will he join me in meeting other Sussex MPs to discuss how we can take that forward?

[Simon Kirby]

I am fully aware of the problems on the A27 and their impact on the A259 in my constituency, and I look forward to doing all I can to work with my hon. Friend to reach a solution.

Draft Horserace Betting Levy Regulations 2017

Maria Caulfield Excerpts

Monday 27th March 2017 General Committees

[Tracey Crouch]

I thank Committee members for their engagement and their contributions to the debate. Although the principle of an extension to the levy is, on the face of it, simple, it has been demonstrated by the important points that have been made during this debate that it is more complex than it might seem. I will address each of those points in turn.

I thank the hon. Member for Tooting and the Opposition for their support for the regulations. The hon. Lady is right in her assessment of why this is a necessary step forward. As she said, the industry and the sector have evolved, so we can all now gamble in very different ways than we could 50-odd years ago.

The hon. Lady’s comments about greyhound racing are very topical. I recently wrote to Bet365, the only major online operator contributing to the voluntary fund, to thank it for taking a lead in this key area, and I have also written to trade bodies representing all the betting operators to ask that they take part in discussions to improve the current funding position. Lord Lipsey has volunteered to chair that act of mediation. Although there are no plans to introduce a statutory levy for greyhound racing, we will try to encourage more money into the sector.

[Maria Caulfield (Lewes) (Con)]

May I support the Minister’s argument? Greyhound racing grounds are closing in record numbers, which is exactly why we need these regulations. Plumpton racecourse in my constituency welcomes them, because it needs that extra funding to make it sustainable.

[Tracey Crouch]

I thank my hon. Friend for that comment. We are incredibly proud of the whole racing industry. I have met greyhound industry representatives on a number of occasions to tell them that we continue to support them. We will try to encourage more money into the sector on a voluntary basis. We want to ensure, through the levy for horse-racing, that it has a fair amount of money going into it from the offshore sector.

The hon. Member for Tooting also asked about the living wage. Although that is not a matter for the levy, we expect racing to work with racecourses to ensure best practice. As she is aware, the Government have increased the national minimum wage, and all those working in racing will benefit from it.

The hon. Lady and other Committee members mentioned the timeframe for a review. We believe that the seven-year review set out in the regulations strikes a balance between certainty and a reasonable timeframe. The rate can be reviewed at any time if there are changes in the industry that suggest that the rate no longer remains appropriate. Otherwise, it is required to be reviewed automatically within seven years. I hope that that answers the hon. Lady’s questions.

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Torbay for his contribution, although given that I contributed significantly to the profits of a bookmaker during Cheltenham he had probably better not rely on tips from me for the forthcoming Grand National.

The hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire North asked specific questions about Scotland, and I should say at the outset that I am grateful for the Scottish National party’s support on this issue. Officials have kept the Scottish Government informed about levy reform throughout the entire process. Courses in Scotland do, and will continue to, receive levy funding, and the extension to offshore means that more money will be available for courses across Great Britain. Last year the levy board distributed almost £4 million to the five racecourses in Scotland; I hope that addresses his question.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Newbury is a long-standing advocate for reform, and I am enormously grateful for his sage advice on the sometimes complex issues in this area. He spoke eloquently about the need for these changes and then asked a specific question about governance. This is where I explain that it is quite a complex issue, because there are actually two stages, and today is merely the first phase.

In the short term, the levy board will remain responsible as the governing body, but we will consult on transferring responsibility to a nominated racing authority who will act on behalf of the racing industry. At the moment, the levy board is required to provide an annual report making clear how the money is spent; that is important to make sure that money gets to all parts of the racing industry, as others have raised, and we expect a similar to process to occur under the new racing authority.

I will quickly refer to the transitional phase and some of the administrative changes. The Government will consult on using a legislative reform order to effect the transfer of responsibility to the gambling commission and the racing authority. We will consult affected stakeholders on the detail of those proposals shortly, and we intend to complete transfer of responsibilities in early 2018. It is absolutely crucial that we minimise any disruption when moving to the new arrangements, which is why the administrative changes are intended to be completed in early 2018.

My hon. Friend, as I will call him, the Member for Jarrow has not returned from voting, but I want to put on the record my thanks for his kind words—although I was worried that he was about to reveal all my secrets as a researcher. Distribution is a matter not for Government, but for the board at the moment, and the racing authority in the future. All areas of Great Britain benefit from the levy, and that will not change. As it has done, the levy will continue to benefit the grassroots of the sport, and we expect the new racing authority to have clear criteria for allocating funding and to report that transparently. He also asked about state aid. As the statutory instrument makes clear, the legislation will only come into force once state aid clearance is received.

There is a specific provision within the statutory instrument that says it will come into force on 1 April 2017 or the day after it is made—so, the state aid clearance is expected. My officials have engaged extensively with the European Commission, and as a result I am confident that we will receive that clearance shortly. To be perfectly honest, we would not have introduced these regulations to the House if we did not have that confidence.

My hon. Friend the Member for Tewkesbury spoke very kindly about the reforms. I welcome his support for this; his experience and expertise on all things racing mean that it is even more appreciated. I am grateful.

I turn to my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley. I am pleased that Parliament’s procedures allow him, even as a non-voting member of this Committee, to express his views. I feel that some of his speech was 54 years too late. The levy exists, and it is my duty to make sure that it reflects the world we live in today.

My hon. Friend asked some very specific questions about the need for primary legislation. There is no need for primary legislation; the power in section 2 of the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014 allows the Government to extend the levy in a state-aid-compatible way using secondary legislation. The point of securing the power in 2014 was to allow us the flexibility to use secondary legislation, and the power is broad enough to address all the issues necessary to secure state aid approval.

We do not agree that these regulations are ultra vires. As was made clear in 2013, the levy is a state aid and, as I have said, extension to off-shore operators is a material change to the existing scheme, which requires notification and approval. On-course bookmakers and the Tote have always been liable to pay the levy since 1963, but my hon. Friend is right—state approval is required, and we have sought it and are confident we will get it shortly. The Department’s legal advice has not changed, because we have always been clear that the levy is a state aid.

Finally, my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Harborough spoke with passion about the breadth and depth of the industry. Racing is an important sector, and it is essential that we do all we can to support it, from the small racecourses to the large ones. These reforms are long overdue, and I hope the Committee will agree that they will make a profound difference to the British racing industry and to the thousands of hard-working stable staff, jockeys, trainers and all those who make racing what it is today.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That the Committee has considered the draft Horserace Betting Levy Regulations 2017.