Amendment of the Law

Michael Fallon Excerpts

Thursday 22nd March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

rose—

[Michael Fallon (Sevenoaks) (Con)]

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

[Ed Balls]

I will in a moment.

Let me say to the Chancellor today: some of the electorate he really cares about—the selectorate in his own Conservative party—may be cheering, although after this morning’s headlines, I am not so sure.

--- Later in debate ---

[Ed Balls]

We will have to wait to see the details. There will be some winners and some losers, but the one thing that we can categorically confirm today is that thousands of pensioners in the hon. Lady’s constituency will lose up to £300 a year as a result of yesterday’s Budget. She did not say whether she supported that—hardly a clarion call of support for the Chancellor’s pensions tax grab.

[Michael Fallon]

Could the shadow Chancellor make it absolutely clear—yes or no—whether he would restore the age-related allowance if he came to power?

[Ed Balls]

I will make it absolutely clear: we will vote against the change in the Budget debates and I hope that he will join us in the Lobby. We will vote against it, but the Chancellor knows very well that I will not go through every tax rate, relief, allowance or spending commitment and make commitments for three years’ time. But if the election were called tomorrow, our manifesto would be clear—we would rescind the measure and the Government would go ahead with it. That is the difference.

--- Later in debate ---

[Michael Fallon (Sevenoaks) (Con)]

I remind the House of my interests on the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. One of the most remarkable things about the Opposition’s response to this Budget is that we have not heard a single pledge to reverse any of the changes being proposed. We have heard a lot of carping and that they are going to vote against some of the measures on Monday, but they are not actually going to change them should they ever come back to power. When they do carp, they seem to be carping on behalf of some rather strange interests. They want the top 10% of households to keep their child benefit. They want the better-off pensioners to keep their age-related allowances. Indeed, they want the super-rich to go on enjoying some £65 million-worth of evasion of stamp duty and abuse of tax reliefs. That seems to me an extraordinary position for the Opposition to get into.

[Mr Sam Gyimah (East Surrey) (Con)]

Is it possible that the opposition to these measures we are hearing, which my hon. Friend has outlined, is opportunistic politics dressed up as principle?

[Michael Fallon]

My hon. Friend is on to something. We note that the shadow Chancellor could not answer the questions on whether Labour would restore the age-related allowances, the changes to which its Members have been moaning about today.

Where I hope there is common ground across the House is that we all want a dynamic, high-growth economy. In my view, that can be built only on sound public finances, fully flexible labour markets and rising productivity in both the private and public sectors.

I shall begin with the public finances. I welcome confirmation in the Budget that we remain on track to eliminate the structural deficit, with the result that, even in difficult trading circumstances both in the eurozone and globally, the Chancellor was able to avoid big increases in taxation or further increases within this spending round. A broadly neutral Budget confirms that we are on course, but keeping our public finances on course will require continued firm control of public spending.

I note that in cash terms public spending continues to rise each successive year that is illustrated in the Red Book. It may be that we have to have a fresh look at some of the entrenched spending targets of the previous Government. We may well need to ask ourselves whether specific targets, for example on child poverty or climate change, are the best way of focusing our spending where it is most needed.

I welcome moves towards flexible labour markets and more local pay. The hon. Member for Foyle (Mark Durkan) is right—this is not a new announcement. If you look back at the spending review of 2002, Mr Deputy Speaker, you will see that the then Government were committed to more flexible local and regional pay. You will find it in the Budget documents of 2003. You will also see it in the previous Prime Minister’s last Mansion House speech as Chancellor in 2006. Of course, the Labour Government did nothing about it; their union paymasters would not allow it. But local pay has applied for the past 25 years at least across the private sector, and it would be wrong to continue to rope off the public sector from the real differences in the associated costs of labour up and down the United Kingdom.

It is unfair to local businesses to have to compete for labour with public bodies and offices that pay well above the market rate. It is certainly unfair to the jobless in those labour markets, who are priced out of jobs as a result. I hope that the Chancellor will go on to tackle some of the other inequalities, such as the big differences in sickness pay between the public and private sectors and the real difficulties that young people under 25 have in getting that first job. One third of the unemployed are under 25. That is the legacy of the Labour party, and we have to do everything possible to help those people to get their first job, not least when at the moment we control their wages and other conditions that create so many disincentives for small companies to take on a single extra member of staff. Why should the state make it so difficult for young people to get into employment?

The test of all the Budget measures in the end is whether they will improve our productivity, as so many Labour Budgets and so much Labour spending signally failed to do. The Office for National Statistics figures for 2010 say it all and are a good summary of 13 years of Labour government. In terms of GDP per hour, France is 18% more productive, Germany is 19% more productive and the United States is 24% more productive. That shows the importance of improving incentives at every level and it is why I welcome the new incentives for the lower paid and middle earners that will be created by the changes to the personal allowance. Taking 2 million people out of tax altogether in two years will improve those incentives. That is a coalition achievement in which both parties on this side of the House can take real pride.

Sound public finances, more flexible labour markets and higher productivity are the keys to the future and to the jobs that our children need. I welcome the progress being made in this Budget towards them.