Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mary Glindon and George Osborne

Tuesday 27th October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

My hon. Friend makes a powerful point: we have created a welfare system that subsidises low pay, and surely it is better to increase that pay. That is why we are introducing the national living wage and I know that will help many of the people my hon. Friend represents in Plymouth.

[Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)]

T10. Under the devolution deal, the Chancellor has committed £30 million a year to create a new investment fund for the north-east. Will this be wholly new money or will existing grants be cut? Where is the guarantee that he will not be robbing Peter to pay Paul?

[Mr Osborne]

It is additional new money and it is a long-term commitment to the north-east of England. Of course, we could not have reached this agreement without the support of the local Labour council leaders who have come together through the combined authority to strike what I think is an historic deal. There has been lots of conversation over many years about devolving power to the north-east; now we are going to have the elected mayor with powers that are currently exercised in London being exercised in the north-east. That is proper devolution.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mary Glindon and George Osborne

Tuesday 5th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

This is a case of teamwork, because my hon. Friend has led a brilliant campaign involving many Members of Parliament in support of the local pub industry in their constituencies and the brewing industry, which is so important in Burton. The work that he has done has been fantastic. It was thanks to his campaign, which drew the evidence to my attention, that we were able to take the action that he has welcomed.

[Mrs Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)]

T10. Will the Chancellor make a statement on why the decision has been taken to extend HMRC’s pilot of the new customer service model in the north-east by two months until the end of December?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mary Glindon and George Osborne

Tuesday 29th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

Of course I withdraw it and would simply say that the hon. Lady has been very creative in the use of the numbers that she has put before the House. The number she is using is the amount of money that Labour was spending on capital before the general election, but it set out plans to cut capital after the general election. We have exceeded those plans, and it is completely hypocritical for the Labour party to claim that it would have spent more on capital when it clearly would not have.

[Mrs Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)]

13. How many working households will be affected by the changes to the uprating of tax credits and other payments announced in the autumn statement.

Autumn Statement

Debate between Mary Glindon and George Osborne

Tuesday 29th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)]

Will the Chancellor acknowledge that public sector workers are themselves taxpayers who make a massive contribution to the good of the country, and will he stop treating them like leeches on the public purse?

[Mr Osborne]

Of course people who work in the public sector pay taxes and make an enormous contribution to the British economy, but the hon. Lady should recognise that public sector pay restraint and pension reform at a time such as this is one of the ways in which we can reduce the impact of the very large deficit that her Government ran up on the public sector work force.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mary Glindon and George Osborne

Tuesday 16th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr George Osborne)]

The purpose of the Treasury is to ensure economic stability, restore sanity to the public finances, ensure employment growth, make sure our banking system is properly regulated and get this country back on its feet.

[Mrs Glindon]

During the past five years, North Tyneside council has made year-on-year transformation savings without affecting front-line posts, but I fear that because of the comprehensive spending review, front-line jobs will now be lost. What message, other than fictitiously blaming the previous Labour Government for what has been a global recession, does the Chancellor have for North Tyneside?

[Mr Osborne]

First, the Government have given all councils, including North Tyneside, greater freedom about how to spend their resources by removing a lot of ring-fencing. Secondly, of course, as I said in the spending statement, this was a difficult local government settlement—I completely accept that. But even the Labour party was signed up to £44 billion of spending cuts. If Labour Members are telling us that those would not have included local government, that is not really credible. We have had to take difficult decisions and we should be supported for that.