Growing the UK Economy

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Wednesday 29th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Darren Jones]

I am sure that the Transport Secretary has heard the hon. Member’s request. As he will know from our announcements today and at the Budget, the investment that we seek to unlock in his region is a crucial part of our industrial plans, not least the investment in sustainable aviation fuel that I set out. If the transport project that he mentions will unlock investment, housing and opportunities in the region, I am sure that we will look at it closely.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

I have consistently called for new investment in the eastern region, and nothing is more exciting than the proposal to build a Universal Studios theme park—the first of its kind in Europe—in Bedford. The project has huge potential to transform the region. Will the Chief Secretary provide an update and reassure me that progress is being made on turning that plan into reality?

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

Hopefully the Minister can meet that enthusiasm.

Economy, Welfare and Public Services

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Monday 22nd July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to speak in support of the King’s Speech under a Government committed to putting country before party to improve lives in this country. That is what I pledged to the people of Bedford and Kempston, whom I thank for putting their faith in me again to work hard for them and to restore their faith in politics as a force for positive change.

The last Government reduced our public services to a shadow of their former selves. In 2019 a study jointly funded by Bedford borough council and the NHS found that Bedford borough was 40% under-provided for in the primary care estate, despite a rapid growth in population since 2011. HMP Bedford has been in and out of special measures, so I am pleased that the Government have already taken action to improve the crisis in prisons.

I am also pleased to see early priority given to strengthening community policing by increase numbers of officers and giving them greater power to deal with the antisocial behaviour that blights our communities. I hope this Government succeed where the last Government failed in implementing a fairer funding formula for Bedfordshire police. Wrongly funded as a rural force, it is one of the lowest-funded forces in the UK despite a £10 million year-on-year increase to £156 million for 2024-25.

The housing crisis is causing untold misery to many of my constituents, so I am pleased that building houses will be a priority for our Government. It is indefensible that I know of parents who are beginning the summer holidays living in hotel rooms without access even to a fridge or a microwave to prepare food for their children because no suitable social housing properties are available. Even food bank vouchers are not helping when basic staples such as UHT milk cannot be kept fresh once opened.

More than 15,000 children and 17,000 adults are on waiting lists for mental health treatment in the area covered by the NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes integrated care board. For years the NHS provider has had the capital funds to bring in desperately needed in-patient mental health facilities, but the previous Government consistently refused to provide the capital expenditure cover so that we could have those facilities in Bedford. I hope the new Government’s plan to get the NHS back on its feet includes an overhaul of how new projects are funded, because the existing capital departmental expenditure limits are not working.

Many of my constituents will be very happy to see planned legislation to bring rail back into public ownership and to reform bus services and franchises, including by allowing local control and supporting public ownership, but one of the most significant transport issues in my constituency is East West Rail. Bedford is uniquely adversely impacted by the East West Rail project, because the preferred six-track route requires the demolition and blighting of homes. Residents have been in limbo for more than five years in unsellable homes. The proposed planning and infrastructure Bill will speed up planning decisions for major infrastructure and house building and seek to reform compulsory purchase compensation rules to ensure that the compensation paid to landowners is fair. The statutory consultation stage is imminent, and I hope the Government will listen to the concerns expressed by my constituents and will not leave people in limbo while decisions are made without their knowledge, as has happened before. If we want to restore faith in politics, we have to ensure that our communities come with us on plans to affect their lives.

The Universal Studios plan to build a park near Kempston is exciting, and I look forward to working with the Government to make sure we get this potentially huge investment opportunity for Bedford and Britain over the line.

Budget Resolutions

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Tuesday 12th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

Is that it? That was my first thought on hearing the Budget last week. Is that it for my constituents, many of whom are struggling to make their wages, which have not risen in years, stretch to cover the ever increasing costs of their food, bills, rent, mortgages, transport and council tax? They are paying more for less. The ongoing austerity years have brought nothing but pain. UK GDP growth has been revised down, and Government debt and interest spending has reached the highest level since the 1960s. Even higher earners are on track for the biggest fall in their disposable income on record. People are working harder just to keep their heads above water. Treats that were once affordable, such as going out for meals and annual holidays, are out of the question these days for many of my constituents.

For the first time in modern history, most people will be worse off than they were before the Government were elected. Yet there was nothing in the Budget to help lift out of poverty the 3.8 million people, including 1 million children, who are now so poor they are considered destitute. Pensioners have been ignored and will be largely worse off. There was nothing in the Budget for young people who see no prospect whatsoever of having a secure and affordable home. The housing crisis is so bad it is now also a public health crisis. There was nothing in the Budget for defence spending, despite the increasing threats we face.

We have record waiting lists in the NHS. Is it any surprise that long-term illness is both the most common and fastest growing reason for people being outside the workforce? There have been some very difficult factors that have contributed to the weakness of our economy, such as the invasion of Ukraine and the pandemic, but far too many unforced errors have been made: the Liz Truss Budget catastrophe, which my constituents are still paying for; the £140 billion that Brexit is costing our economy—Brexit cost my constituents, on average, £2,000 each last year.

The last time taxes were as high was in 1948. Despite the fact that the country was recovering from the second world war, the Labour Government of the day delivered the national health service: world-beating healthcare, free at the point of use for everybody. In this Budget, there is no public services spending planned for the next five years. The 40 new hospitals promised in the manifesto, on which the Prime Minister and the Chancellor were elected, are nowhere to be seen. Departmental expenditure limits have been left largely unchanged. That means my constituents will not see built under this Government the new in-patient mental health bed facility that is so desperately needed. The economy is about political choices, and Labour will always choose to look after the NHS and education.

The Tories stole Labour’s idea to abolish the non-dom tax status, but instead of investing in the NHS as Labour planned, they have used it to pay for a national insurance cut. Even that unfunded promise is

“not worth the paper it is written on”,

according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and it cannot be paid for without Government borrowing, stealth tax rises and/or a further squeeze on public spending.

The Budget was a damp squib, with no plan on how to get us out of the economic mess the Tories have got us into. I am pleased to see the changes to the child benefit thresholds, but why did it take the Government so long to help struggling families? Tinkering around the edges is not going to kick-start the economy or bring the growth and productivity we desperately need to improve our public services and put money back into people’s pockets.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

IMF Economic Outlook

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Tuesday 31st January 2023 Commons Chamber

[James Cartlidge]

It would be a pleasure, as ever, to write to my hon. Friend. He mentions countries dependent on gas, but we should be very proud that last year more than 40% of our electricity was generated from renewables and just 1.5% from coal. We have had the fastest-falling emissions in the G7, and a recent report in The Times confirmed that we can get those lower emissions with higher growth. The report said that jobs in net zero sectors pay £10,000 more than the national average, and that south Yorkshire, north Derbyshire, Tyneside and Teesside are all hotspots for net zero jobs. That shows we can deliver on net zero and economic growth.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

Does the Minister think that Tory austerity, Tory Brexit or the Tory Truss Budget is responsible for the unique mess our economy is in? Or is it all of the above?

[James Cartlidge]

It is very far from a unique mess when 14 European Union countries have a higher rate of inflation than we do. That is why we are focused on reducing inflation, which, to be clear, will take some difficult decisions. It would help in that regard if Labour Members, instead of living in a parallel universe where their leadership and their shadow Chancellor talk about sound money but not a single one of them even ventures to understand it, started showing what difficult decisions they would actually take. That is how you run the country.

Energy (oil and gas) profits levy

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

Although the autumn statement was rooted in economic reality after the last Budget tanked the economy, the £30 billion of spending cuts and £25 billion of tax rises means my constituents are now paying for the mistakes of 12 years of Tory economic mismanagement. The Chancellor was at pains to blame our terrible financial situation on global factors, but he refused to acknowledge the permanent damage that the Government’s mismanagement of the economy has caused through a decade of anaemic growth, September’s disastrous Budget and their disastrous Brexit. Why else is the UK the only country in the G7 whose economy has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels and is not forecast to do so until around 2025?

Very difficult times now lie ahead, particularly for mortgage payers. The OBR said that rising interest rates will mean that mortgage rates are going to jump, and house prices will fall by 9% by October 2024. We were told that we would have a high wage, lower tax economy, but what we have is the highest tax burden since we finished paying for world war two and a tax package that will cost around £4,000 a year extra per family.

[Jonathan Gullis]

I have tried to ask this question of a few other Opposition MPs, so I will try again with the hon. Gentleman, who I know is a very good man. Obviously, he is saying that the tax burden is the highest that it has been in a long time, and I am certainly uncomfortable with that. Can he assure me and promise this House and people across our country that, if Labour were in government, there would be no further increase in the tax burden for those, not in the wealthiest bracket, but in the 20p bracket?

[Mohammad Yasin]

I thank the hon. Member for his contribution. As my hon. Friend the Member for Bradford East (Imran Hussain) said to him, he should go back to his constituents in Stoke-on-Trent and they will answer his question. I shall carry on.

As I was saying, we could not be any further away from the promised sunlit uplands. I am pleased that the Government have finally listened to Labour on the windfall tax and that the new Prime Minister and Chancellor also agreed with Labour on protecting the triple lock on pensions. But where is the wage increase for public sector workers? Those workers are the key to fixing the crisis in the NHS and in our public services and to growing the economy with a healthy workforce, which is desperately needed to get the country back on its feet. The Government are asking for wage restraint while the lifting of the cap on bankers’ bonuses and the non-dom status remain.

Where is the plan for social care? Three years ago, the then Prime Minister, the right hon. Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson), pledged to

“fix the crisis in social care once and for all.”

I asked the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities yesterday whether he agreed with the former Prime Minister when he said that he had fixed the social care crisis. I did not see him agreeing with the former Prime Minister.

The Chancellor has kicked the can down the road for at least another two years, and, while the extra £3.3 billion funding for the NHS is an important recognition that the health service is struggling to meet demand and keep patients safe, the Health Foundation charity has found that funding will increase only by 1.2% in real terms over the next two years.

I have been asking for clarity on the future of East-West Rail for well over a year now. The Government’s shambolic handling of the project is causing a lot of distress to my constituents in Bedford whose lives have been in limbo since their homes came under threat of demolition in 2020. We urgently need to see the massively delayed consultation response and route announcement. I urge the Government to publish the business case before they proceed with full consideration of the environmental impacts. No new rail infrastructure should be built if it is not compatible with our net zero targets.

In the end, this was a Budget to calm the financial markets after the Government blew a credibility hole in the economy. While the most vulnerable may have been given some support to get through the next few years, the vast majority of us have very little protection. Few have savings to get them through the crisis. Many low-to-middle income earners cannot afford to pay for the Government’s mess. Austerity is a political choice. It was the wrong choice before, and it is the wrong choice now.

Economic Update

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Monday 17th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Hunt]

The Tory Government the hon. Member so hates have shown ourselves in the last few days to be willing to take tough and difficult decisions if they are right for the country, so here is a tough and difficult decision for her. Independence will make Scotland poorer in every single way, so why does she not abandon it?

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

The Chancellor has reversed most of his Prime Minister’s Budget, yet he is still talking about spending cuts to pay for the fine mess his Government have got this country into. Tory austerity broke our precious NHS, which he had a hand in. Now he is in charge of the purse strings, will he put his money where his mouth is, invest in the NHS and implement the workforce plan he knows is desperately needed?

[Jeremy Hunt]

Before I was Chancellor, with great respect to the hon. Gentleman, I think I did put my money where my mouth was. When I became Health Secretary we were funding the NHS at the OECD average and now it is the fifth highest in the OECD, so I have started to fix years of disastrous Labour underfunding.

Economic Situation

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Wednesday 12th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Chris Philp]

The Government are keen to help everyone, including the hon. Lady’s constituent, to get on to the housing ladder: that is something we strongly support. I have already explained about the global interest rate increase cycle that countries around the world are experiencing, but we are doing everything we can to help, and I believe that the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities will be laying out some plans relating to house building in the coming weeks. We have already reduced stamp duty for first-time buyers—stamp duty is a particularly challenging element of buying a first home, because it cannot be funded by a mortgage—and the Government will continue to do everything they can to support people who are trying to get on to the housing ladder.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

This is the question that my constituents want me to ask the Government: why is the Chancellor experimenting with their lives, putting their homes and pensions at risk, to test out his fancy economics? The Chancellor and the Prime Minister have no mandate to take the gamble that they are taking, so will the Chief Secretary urge his colleagues to ditch their disastrous Budget and put their new plans to the people in a general election?

[Chris Philp]

If the hon. Gentleman thinks it was all so disastrous, perhaps he could explain why he voted for it last night. The real gamble is having taxes that are too high. The real gamble is not having a plan for growth. This Government have a plan for growth; the Labour party has no plan.

The Growth Plan

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Friday 23rd September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

The issue has been raised, and it is a question of not just the annual limit but the lifetime allowance: anecdotally I hear that the fact that it has been reduced successively over time is a big driver of people leaving the profession. I would be happy to have a discussion with my hon. Friend about that.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

While millions struggle with the cost of living, the Chancellor’s first priority is to lift the cap on bankers’ bonuses and tighten the rules on benefits for those who have the least. The Government have already forgotten that the bonus culture led to the banking crash. To lower the regulations that were put in place to protect ordinary people and their pensions is dangerous. This is Tory austerity all over again: making the rich richer and the poorest poorer. At a time when key workers are being denied a decent pay rise, why has the Chancellor chosen to help his wealthy chums?

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

The focus of the growth plan is on growth—on getting our economy moving and getting to 2.5%. That is the lens through which I am looking at this problem. I am also happy to remind the hon. Gentleman that we are protecting the most vulnerable, through the energy intervention and other forms of support.

Household Energy Bills: VAT

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Tuesday 11th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

January is the toughest month for most people, but this year, people’s financial worries are at a whole new level. In December, emails started coming in from my constituents telling me that they are having to choose between heating and eating.

It is not just pensioners, those unable to work or workers on low incomes who are worried about spiralling food, fuel and energy costs, but the majority of people—many millions of workers—who are not entitled to Government help. They include the self-employed hammered by IR35 and those excluded from help during the pandemic. Most of them can normally withstand the odd unexpected bill, but they cannot now budget for the spiralling costs, income tax hikes, council tax rises and the cost of inflation heading towards 7%, alongside real-terms pay cuts and stagnant growth.

In 2016, the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities promised us, as they outlined their plans to cut VAT on household energy payments, that gas bills would be lower for everyone and wages would be boosted if voters backed Brexit. A year after Brexit, the opposite is true. Ministers should make good on their promise to ease the burden on families by cutting VAT on energy bills, but instead of action, all we are left with is a tissue of false promises.

The Government cannot keep hiding behind the cost of the pandemic as an excuse to do nothing, when other Governments have faced the same difficulties. The Labour party has a plan that I hope the Government will listen to today. UK households are already under pressure from inflation and face a sharp rise in costs in April when the cap on energy prices will be raised. The poorest 10% of households will see their spending on energy increase from 8.5% of their total budget to 12% according to the Resolution Foundation. Again, the people who can least afford it are footing the bill while the millionaires and billionaires are untouched.

We must act now to prevent the devastating consequences of sky high bills that many people simply cannot afford. The need to reform our broken energy and regulatory system has never been clearer. We must unleash the vast potential of British renewable and nuclear energy and we must insulate our homes. To deliver the green transition, we need energy security and affordable bills.

Oral Answers to Questions

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Pennycook (Greenwich and Woolwich) (Lab)]

8. What fiscal steps he is taking to contribute towards achieving the Government’s net zero emissions target.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

10. What fiscal steps he is taking to contribute towards achieving the Government’s net zero emissions target.

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Lucy Frazer)]

As 120 world leaders gather in Glasgow today, the hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich (Matthew Pennycook) asks a very pertinent question. Our net zero strategy outlines measures to enable us to make the transition to a green and sustainable future. As for fiscal measures, the Budget and spending review commit us to £30 billion of public investment towards net zero.

[Lucy Frazer]

The hon. Member will know that in our Budget we set out a number of measures to enable us to make the transition to a net zero world. We have made announcements relating to transport and warmer, greener buildings as well as energy and industry, and of course the Treasury always considers the impact in relation to net zero targets.

[Mohammad Yasin]

The Chancellor claims to want to tackle climate change and improve air quality through measures including the decarbonising of transport. If he is serious, this week of COP26 presents him with a great opportunity to commit himself to the electrification of the East West Rail line from day one to avoid the need for diesel locomotives and the future costs of retrofitting. Will he make that commitment today?

[Lucy Frazer]

The hon. Gentleman has raised the important issues of electrification and the importance of making our transport green. As he will have seen, the Budget provided research and development funding to commercialise low and zero emissions technologies. I would be happy to talk to him about the local issue he raised.