Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Marsha De Cordova Excerpts

Tuesday 21st March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

Thank you for calling me, Mr Deputy Speaker. It is good to see you this afternoon.

This country is experiencing the biggest fall in household living standards since records began, with weak growth, low pay and a workforce shortage. Last week’s Budget should have been an opportunity for the Government to try to unlock the potential of our great country, but, after 13 years of Tory rule, it has just shown how out of touch and out of ideas they really are. They have no long-term plan for growth, yet they still want to champion the virtues of Brexit. Wages are now lower in real terms than they were in 2010, and people will be paying more tax—but who will not be paying more tax? Yes, the richest 1%, following those pension changes.

There was nothing for small businesses such as those in my constituency: they were given no hope. There was no new investment for London, with nothing provided for housing or transport infrastructure. When will the Government understand that when London does well, the country will also do well?

Ahead of the Budget, I wrote to the Chancellor about childcare reforms, urging him to fix the broken system. There were some announcements, but it is glaringly obvious that full implementation of all the policies will not happen until 2025, so those who will benefit have not yet even been born.

The Chancellor also placed a great deal of emphasis on getting people back to work, including the ill and disabled. We know that the changes proposed in the health and disability White Paper will have a significant impact on millions of disabled people. The Chancellor ramped up his rhetoric about conditionality and more sanctions, but all the evidence shows that sanctions do not work. It is important for the Government to heed that point and follow the ruling from the Information Commissioner, who said that they must publish the results of their research on sanctions. The ruling came last week, so when will the Government publish that report?

As I said in my urgent question last week, no one is going to argue with the scrapping of the work capability assessment—it was cruel, it was inhumane, and it caused harm to people’s lives. However, relying solely on the personal independence payment assessment—another assessment that is cruel and inhumane, but whose function and purpose are totally different from those applying to someone receiving an income replacement benefit—will not work, because PIP is intended to cover the extra costs of living with a disability. It is also flawed, as is truly evident from the success rate of the appeals, which is between 70 and 80%.

I believe that when it comes to getting more people back to work, the Government must focus on some of the barriers that those people face, such as an inaccessible transport network and discrimination in the workplace. They should invest more in the Access to Work programme, which I consider to be the best form of employment support. If they do that, they will finally begin to start reducing the disability employment gap, which has remained stubbornly at 30% for more than 10 years. Investment in Access to Work is vital, as is reducing the backlog, given that more than 10,000 people are waiting for their assessments and support.

Finally, let me point out that yet again the Government have failed to publish an equality impact assessment, thus failing in their responsibilities under the public sector equality duty. It is vital that they do so now.