Economic Regeneration (Glasgow)

Debate between Mark Hoban and Margaret Curran

Wednesday 16th February 2011 Westminster Hall

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mr Mark Hoban)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Glasgow East (Margaret Curran) on securing the debate. She struck me as passionate about her city, its people and their prospects. I commend that, and it will serve her well in this place.

I have to disappoint the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Tom Greatrex), but I am not sure that I need much of a history or geography lesson about the city. I have visited Glasgow quite frequently, I have met businesses in Glasgow and I am going to Edinburgh next month. [Interruption.] I know there is some fraternal rivalry between the cities, but the hon. Member for Edinburgh East (Sheila Gilmore) is in her place representing Edinburgh and ensuring that the Glaswegians do not get everything their own way. I understand some of the challenges in the Scottish economy. Having been born and brought up in the north-east, I recognise from my own region some of the trends referred to by the hon. Members, such as the decline in shipbuilding, or in coal mining, as mentioned by the hon. Gentleman. I see strong parallels.

I congratulate other right hon. and hon. Members, including my hon. Friend the Member for East Dunbartonshire (Jo Swinson), on participating in the debate and making the case for their constituencies.

Before I turn to the main text of my contribution, let me deal with four areas mentioned by a range of speakers. First, it is vital for Glasgow to use the Commonwealth games as an opportunity for economic development. I note the job creation initiatives around the games. Some lessons could be learnt from the London Olympics, not only in the regeneration provided for east London but in how the games are a focal point for businesses to promote the benefits of London as a place of inward investment. I encourage people in Glasgow to work closely with the Olympic authorities in London to understand the opportunity to attract inward investment and to raise the profile of the city.

The Clyde Gateway, as with the spending for the Commonwealth games, is a devolved matter, for prioritisation by the Scottish Government, but I am sure that Scottish Enterprise will have heard the strong messages from this morning’s debate. However, if MPs and others from Glasgow wish to see funding devoted to that project, they must place pressure on the Scottish authorities.

I will raise with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport the issues about the completion of High Speed 2, which affects a number of areas of the country not covered by the current route, such as the northern part of England as well as Scotland. I will ensure that he is aware of the concerns expressed.

On the green investment bank, I am afraid that Glasgow will have to join the queue of bidders for the headquarters. A number of parts of the country have made representations through their Members for the site of the headquarters. Green investment is a huge opportunity for economic growth and development. Existing skills in local communities or in the universities serving those areas can be used to promote renewable energy and green industries. The issue affects all parts of the country but, at the time of the Budget, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer said that at least £250 million from the green investment bank will be spent in Scotland. We have not lost sight of the important role such investment can play in stimulating economic growth.

As pointed out by the hon. Member for Glasgow East, Glasgow was at the forefront of the industrial revolution and it remains one of the most important and innovative cities in the UK. It is Scotland’s largest urban economy, generating £13 billion gross value added each year and supporting 400,000 jobs. As we heard, the jobs are enjoyed by those living not only in Glasgow but in the surrounding areas, as part of the economy of the west of Scotland.

We want to work in partnership with the Scottish Government to promote our shared objective of increasing economic prosperity for all in Scotland and Glasgow. As mentioned, economic regeneration policies are largely a matter for the Scottish Government and their local authorities and agencies, which was evidenced by the criticism made by the hon. Lady of the Scottish National party Government. I am sure she will take every opportunity over the coming weeks to remind SNP Members of that and to question their non-attendance today.

Setting out the Government’s economic strategy and its impact on Scotland—in particular, Glasgow—will be helpful. We set out three strands last year: first, to reduce the deficit inherited from the previous Government; secondly, to increase economic growth, including by rebalancing the economy throughout all the countries and regions of the UK; and, thirdly, to promote fairness for all.

As my hon. Friend the Member for East Dunbartonshire rightly pointed out, we have a deficit to tackle and we are spending £120 million on interest every day—we spend more in interest than we do on schools. Clearly, we need to resolve that issue if we are to support economic growth, keep interest rates low and protect jobs in all parts of the UK.

The reality that the right hon. Member for Delyn (Mr Hanson) keeps trying to escape from—he and I have had many debates on such issues—is that the previous Government set out cuts starting from April this year that would have been only £2 billion less than the cuts we have outlined. When he talks about front-loading, he ought to think about the previous Government’s plans and acknowledge that the cuts this year are only £2 billion more than in the plans we inherited. All parts of the UK, including Scotland, must bear their share of the deficit reduction made necessary by what we inherited from the previous Government.

Funding for the Scottish Government in the spending review reflects the Government’s commitment to invest in infrastructure and to ensure that conditions for growth are in place throughout the UK. The spending review increased capital funding in the UK by £2 billion compared with June’s Budget plans, which is more than what the previous Government had set out as their capital plans for the new Parliament. I repeat, the right hon. Gentleman must be careful what he criticises: we have been more generous in our capital settlement than his Government had intended. We are keen to ensure that capital expenditure is used to protect projects with high, long-term economic value and that spending is focused on investment promoting economic growth, including in transport, science, regional growth, digital infrastructure and supporting the low-carbon economy. Glasgow MPs need to challenge the Scottish Government on how they will prioritise their budgets to deliver those objectives. These are devolved matters, and the Scottish Government are accountable for the priorities they set and how they respond to the needs of Scotland.

[Margaret Curran]

I take the point about devolved matters, and we do pursue those. Housing benefit, however, is a reserved matter. Will the Minister confirm whether the Government are going ahead with the 10% cut in housing benefit after a year to those receiving jobseeker’s allowance?

[Mr Hoban]

I will return to the issue of housing benefit in a moment. Let us be clear: the Scottish Government have not suffered disproportionate cuts. Funding has been determined by the Barnett formula in the usual way. The percentage of Scottish Government total reduction in departmental expenditure limits for 2014-15 is below the UK average—they are getting a better spending settlement than the rest of the UK. Public spending per head in Scotland is substantially above the UK average and is expected to remain so over the spending review period. The Scottish Government have benefited from substantial increases in spending since devolution.

If we are to promote strong and sustainable economic growth that is evenly shared across the country and between industries, we need to tackle the debt and deficit that we inherited. The Government are inviting businesses to take part in a fundamental review into what each area of Government is doing to address the barriers facing industry. They have already acted to remove barriers to growth, and the growth review announced last year set in train an intensive programme of work to drive forward action on the Government’s priority areas. That relentless focus on growth will continue to form the basis of the Government’s agenda for the rest of this Parliament. We started by focusing on planning, trade and inward investment, competition, regulation, access to finance and corporate governance.

The review will look at all sectors of the economy, but we have first identified six key sectors: advanced manufacturing; digital and creative industries; business and professional services; retail; construction; and health care and life sciences. Manufacturing is a strong part of the Scottish economy, and it has seen six consecutive quarters of growth. That is a helpful sign of the rebalancing of the economy.

As the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, financial services is my specialist topic, and the importance of financial services to Glasgow has been mentioned a couple of times during the debate. In 2009, I visited National Australia Bank at the Clydesdale branch in Glasgow and spoke to management and businesses from the west of Scotland. The financial sector is one of the most significant contributors to UK GDP and employment, and although London is the heart of that industry, there are important financial centres across the country, including in Glasgow. Financial services firms in Scotland account for 9% of total UK employment in the sector.

Financial services is one of the biggest employers in Glasgow. In 2008, 95,000 people were employed in financial services firms in Scotland, and many of those jobs were based in Glasgow. Major local employers include National Australia Group, which I referred to earlier, and Lloyds Banking Group. I know that Glasgow has recognised the potential role that financial services can play in a growing economy. The £750 million joint public-private venture investment in the international financial services district could bring an extra 20,000 jobs to the city.

We often think of the strong tradition of businesses that are based in Scotland, but we should not lose sight of the fact that many international financial services that we associate with Canary Wharf and the City have significant operations outside London. Morgan Stanley is in Glasgow, as are Deutsche Bank and Citibank. Those global businesses chose to locate some of their operations to Glasgow, which shows that the benefit of having London as a global financial services centre spreads beyond the boundaries of the square mile. We are doing as much as we can to ensure that the UK remains an attractive and competitive place for financial services to do business.

As well as measures for the financial services sector, we must ensure that the UK is a good place for inward investment. In the Budget we announced plans to reduce the rate of corporation tax from 28% to 24% over the next four years. We published a corporate tax road map that set out a significant programme of corporate tax reforms designed to restore the UK’s tax competitiveness, including reform of the controlled foreign company regime. The Government are responding to business concerns about the instability and unpredictability of the UK tax system while taking action where they can to improve the UK’s competitiveness. We will work with our partners in the Scottish Government and elsewhere to ensure that Scotland is an attractive place in which to do business.

Increasing fairness is a strand of our work, and that point was touched on by a number of hon. Members. We must be clear about the important reforms to welfare set out by the Government. I recognise that there is a degree of support for those reforms from Labour party Members, but we clearly need to improve work incentives and get more people into work. Too many people must make a decision about whether they can afford to go to work, or whether the system means that they are trapped on benefits. That is why my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is setting out plans for the universal benefit, which will be introduced from 2016. It means that for new claimants, it will always be better to be in work than on benefits. That sends a positive signal that people should take employment opportunities and will be better off if they do. That is not just economically better off—significant social benefits flow from people being in work.

The future jobs fund was mentioned by a number of hon. Members, and it is a convenient soundbite to say that the fund has been scrapped. We should all recognise, however, that many of the jobs that were funded were temporary and many were in the public sector and did not represent good value for money. That is why we are bringing forward the Work programme that will strengthen support for those seeking to get into work.

The hon. Lady mentioned housing benefit. She will recognise—as do a number of her colleagues—that the bill for housing benefit increased significantly under the previous Government. There are some anomalies in how the system works and the way that it distorts incentives. That is why it is important to restructure housing benefit and engage in reforms. We recognise the challenges that that will create, which is why additional money has been set aside to help manage the transition.

The hon. Lady also spoke about defence and shipbuilding. She will know that some of the work on the new aircraft carriers is being done on the River Clyde, just as some is being done in Portsmouth just outside my constituency in the Vosper Thornycroft yard. The Astute class submarines will also be based in Scotland and there is a great deal of support for Glasgow from central Government. However, if we are to achieve the great goals of this Government to rebalance the economy, spread wealth and prosperity, create jobs and ensure that prosperity continues across the nation, not just in London and the greater south-east, difficult decisions have to be made. We must tackle the deficit and find ways to remove some of the barriers to growth in the UK. That is why the Government are committed to the growth review and to ensuring that we do as much as possible to remove the barriers to economic growth.

Having claimed part of Merseyside and north Wales, the right hon. Member for Delyn (Mr Hanson) spoke about the importance of partnership. It is important to recognise the way that Scottish local authorities have worked with the private sector on a number of initiatives to support economic growth. We need to see more such partnerships but we must also tackle some of the underlying issues that we inherited from the previous Government, including the deficit and the national debt. Alongside tackling those things, we must lay the foundations for increased prosperity across the whole United Kingdom.