Draft Social Security (Contributions) (Limits and Thresholds, National Insurance Funds Payments and Extension of Veterans Relief) Regulations 2024 Draft Tax Credits, Child Benefit and Guardian's Allowance Up-rating Regulations 2024

Natalie Elphicke Excerpts

Wednesday 7th February 2024 General Committees

[Nigel Huddleston]

As always, Sir Charles, it is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. The regulations will be of considerable benefit to our constituents who rely on tax credits, child benefit and guardian’s allowance, and to those who pay national insurance contributions. Regulations are made each year to set national insurance contributions thresholds and uprate tax credit, child benefit and guardian’s allowance.

First, the Social Security (Contributions) (Limits and Thresholds, National Insurance Funds Payments and Extension of Veterans Relief) Regulations 2024 set the national insurance contributions limits and thresholds of a number of national insurance contribution classes for the 2024-25 tax year, with all limits and thresholds remaining fixed at their existing level. The regulations also make provision for a Treasury grant to be paid, if required, into the national insurance fund for the same year—a transfer of wider Government funds to the national insurance fund—and for the veterans employer national insurance contributions relief to be extended for a year until April 2025. The scope of the regulations is limited to the 2024-25 tax year.

National insurance contributions are social security contributions. They allow people to make contributions when they are in work in order to receive contributory benefits when they are not working, such as after they have retired or if they become unemployed. NICs receipts fund contributory benefits, as well as supporting funding to the NHS.

On the details of the NICs for employed and self-employed people, the primary threshold and lower profit limits are the points at which employees and the self-employed start paying employee class 1 and self-employed class 4 national insurance contributions respectively. At the autumn statement 2022, the Government announced their intention to maintain the primary threshold’s alignment with the income tax personal allowance, with both rates being fixed at £12,570 until 2028.

Fixing the primary threshold at £12,570 does not affect an individual’s ability to build up entitlement towards contributory benefits such as the state pension. For employees, this is determined by the lower earnings limit—which will remain at £6,396 per annum, or £123 per week, in 2024-25—and for self-employed people by the small profits threshold, which will remain at £6,725 in 2024-25. Fixing the thresholds will mean that more lower-earning working people will gain entitlement to contributory benefits and build up qualifying years for their state pensions.

The upper earnings limit, which is the point at which the main rate of employee NICs drops to 2%, and the upper profits limit, which is the point at which the main rate of self-employed NICs drops to 2%, are aligned with the higher rate threshold for income tax, at £50,270 per annum. It was announced previously that those thresholds would be fixed until April 2028, as part of the Government’s commitment to supporting the public finances.

At the autumn statement 2023, the Government also announced that from 6 April 2024 self-employed people with profits above £12,570 will no longer be required to pay class 2 NICs, but will continue to accrue and receive access to contributory benefits, including the state pension. Those with profits between £6,725 and £12,570 will continue to get access to contributory benefits, including the state pension, through a national insurance credit, without paying NICs as they do currently. Those with profits under £6,725 who choose to pay class 2 NICs voluntarily to get access to contributory benefits, including the state pension, will continue to be able to do so.

I turn now to employers NICs. The secondary threshold is the point at which employers start paying employer national insurance contributions on their employees’ salaries. At the autumn statement 2022, the Chancellor announced that this threshold will remain at £9,100 in 2023-24 and will be fixed at this level until 2028. That supports the public finances while ensuring that the largest businesses pay the most. The employment allowance, which the Government raised from £4,000 to £5,000 in April 2022, means that the smallest 40% of businesses with employer national insurance contributions liability pay no employer NICs. The regulations also fix the thresholds for employers of employees eligible for NICs reliefs—the reliefs for employers of under-21s, under-25 apprentices, veterans, and new employees in freeports and investment zones—at their 2023-24 levels.

The majority of national insurance contributions are paid into the national insurance fund, which is used to pay the state pension and other contributory benefits. The Treasury has the ability to transfer funds from wider Government revenues into the national insurance fund. The regulations make provision for a transfer of this kind, known as a Treasury grant, so that up to 5% of forecasted annual benefit expenditure can be paid into the national insurance fund, if needed, in 2024-25. A similar provision will be made in respect of the Northern Ireland national insurance fund. The Government Actuary’s Department report laid alongside the regulations forecasts that a Treasury grant will not be required in 2024-25 but the Government consider it prudent, as a precautionary measure, to make a provision for a Treasury grant at this stage, which is consistent with previous years.

The regulations also make provision for the national insurance contributions relief for employers of veterans to be extended for a year until April 2025. This measure means that businesses pay no employer NICs—at a rate of 13.8%—on salaries up to the veterans upper secondary threshold of £50,270 for the first year of a qualifying veteran’s employment in a civilian role. The relief is part of the Government’s commitment to make the UK the best place in the world to be a veteran, and is intended to further incentivise employers to take advantage of the wide range of skills and experience that ex-military personnel offer. It supports those who have already given so much to this country, and helps to unleash the great skills and huge potential of our service leavers.

[Mrs Natalie Elphicke (Dover) (Con)]

The veterans relief that the Minister just mentioned is clearly very welcome, in addition to the other uprating of reliefs. Finding a route back into work for those who are rough sleeping or homeless is a particular issue for veterans. Will the Minister explain why the relief applies only to the first year of employment and whether any consideration has been given to assisting veterans on their return to work following their homelessness journey?

[Nigel Huddleston]

The Minister for Veterans’ Affairs has explained the wide variety of other measures that we have to support veterans. As I said, it is the Government’s ambition to make sure that we treat our veterans with incredible respect and that the UK is the best place in the world to be a veteran, so there are other measures in place. The relief measure was always intended to be temporary. It was announced as such, but we are now extending it. I cannot promise that further extensions will or will not be forthcoming—that would be for other decisions—but I think the whole Committee agrees with my hon. Friend’s wider point about respect for veterans.

I turn now to the draft Tax Credits, Child Benefit and Guardian’s Allowance Up-rating Regulations 2024. The Government are committed to delivering a welfare system that is fair for claimants and taxpayers while providing a strong safety net for those who need it the most. The regulations will ensure that the benefits for which His Majesty’s Treasury Ministers are responsible and that HM Revenue and Customs delivers are uprated by inflation in April 2024. Tax credits, child benefit and guardian’s allowance will increase in line with the consumer prices index, which had inflation at 6.7% in the year to September 2023. Uprating by the preceding September CPI is the Government’s typical approach.

To reject the regulations would mean that HMRC-administered benefits do not rise at all next year, making our constituents worse off. As usual, the Department for Work and Pensions led a separate debate in this place on the regulations for uprating other benefits and the state pension, for which the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is responsible, on 31 January 2024. The DWP’s working-age benefits will also rise in line with the 6.7% CPI rate this year.

In summary, the proposed legislation fixes all the limits and thresholds for national insurance contributions at their 2023-24 levels for the 2024-25 tax year; makes provision for a Treasury grant; extends the NICs relief for employers of veterans; and increases the rates of tax credits, child benefit and guardian’s allowance in line with prices. The legislation enacts announcements from the autumn statement and previous fiscal events. Without it, HMRC will be unable to collect NICs receipts, and tax credits, child benefit and guardian’s allowance will be frozen at 2023-24 levels. I therefore hope that colleagues will join me in supporting the regulations.

Building Societies Act 1986 (Amendment) Bill

Natalie Elphicke Excerpts

Committee stage
Wednesday 7th February 2024 Public Bill Committees

[Bim Afolami]

Exactly—an auspicious year for me.

The Bill amends section 7(3) of the 1986 Act to exclude three specified sources of funding from the 50% wholesale funding limit for building societies. By excluding these sources of funding from the wholesale funding limit, building societies will be able to raise additional wholesale capital, which strengthens their arms to compete with retail banks while promoting competition within the financial services sector.

[Mrs Natalie Elphicke (Dover) (Con)]

My hon. Friend the Member for Mid Norfolk mentioned Northern Rock, which was a bank, not a building society, when it failed. Does the Minister agree that the provisions being brought in will allow greater access to capital so that building societies can flourish, while keeping in place the checks and balances that have made building societies so much better at being able to respond to the financial crisis than we saw with some of the banks?

[Bim Afolami]

It is worth explaining the dynamic, because it is not straightforward. In essence, the point of the Bill is to level the playing field between building societies and retail banks in this key area. Resilience, in terms of capital, will not be lower for building societies than for any of the retail banks with which we are all very familiar. That is the first point. The controls that are applied to retail banks by sophisticated people with sophisticated mechanisms will have the same capital requirements as building societies—so I agree with my hon. Friend.

Building societies will still be required to hold specified sources of funding for regulatory purposes. That is the key point. The reason we have the capital limits is that, if a shock happens—however rare or unusual that might be—we need to make sure that there is enough of a buffer of capital so that the building society or, indeed, the retail bank does not go bust. Over the last 15 years, we have been through a huge programme of reform to broadly increase the levels of capital by many multiples of what was required in the 2000s, so that that does not happen. Building societies will adhere to that in the same way as our retail banks. Moreover, building societies will still be required to ensure that at least 50% of their funding comes from their members—again, that is a critical way in which buildings societies are different from a typical retail bank—which ensures that the Bill has no impact on building societies’ important and unique ownership model.

Secondly, the Bill amends the 1986 Act to allow the option of real-time virtual member participation at building societies’ meetings, which, as everybody can appreciate, now happens across the corporate sector—it does not happen in Parliament, but that is for another day. This amendment can help to modernise the day-to-day practices of building societies, promoting wider membership engagement by making such meetings more accessible to a greater number of members. That matters particularly for building societies, because they have a membership model; the point is that members find them accessible and know what is going on.

Given that members can do things digitally and more flexibly in other areas of their lives, this small measure can have quite a big and positive impact on participation, but it is worth stressing that the decision on whether to hold hybrid meetings will be up to the members of each individual building society; the Government are not imposing the requirement for endless Zoom calls. If that is what people want, they can have them—they just have to vote in favour of making the relevant changes to the society’s rules by special resolution, which, if I recall my company law properly, requires passing a 75% threshold.

Thirdly and finally, the Bill will provide the Treasury with the powers to further align the constitutional provisions in part 2 of the 1986 Act that concern common seals and the execution of documents with modifications to company law. I do not need to explain to the Committee that common seals have sort of fallen out of general usage—although I have often fancied having one, because I think it would be rather fun to stamp various documents, rather than sign them. But that is now the past and we are bringing building societies into the modern day, which is positive.

Overall, the Bill will help to deliver important amendments to the Building Societies Act 1986 by modernising the legislation so that building societies can compete with retail banks, better serve their members and, to be perfectly frank, better serve the communities they are set up to support. The Government are fully committed to ensuring that all subsequent secondary legislation, which will be subject to parliamentary timetabling, is enacted as soon as possible. I commend the Bill to the Committee.

Living Standards

Natalie Elphicke Excerpts

Thursday 1st February 2024 Westminster Hall

[Mrs Natalie Elphicke (Dover) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell.

I am grateful to the hon. Member for Glasgow South (Stewart Malcolm McDonald) for securing this debate. Indeed, I was pleased to support his application for it, because the issue of living standards is of great importance to my constituents in Dover and Deal, and to people across the country.

Over the last 15 years, a series of major events have had a direct impact on our economy and on living standards. It started with the credit crunch and the global financial crash. More recently, we have had the covid pandemic, which has had a significant and lasting impact on our country and its finances. Even more recently, the disgraceful invasion of Ukraine by Russia has had severe negative effects on global prices and created major challenges for both global and local economies.

These big events have led many commentators to liken the current economic situation to that in the 1970s, because of the inflationary element that the Government have been grappling with recently. However, each recession or economic crisis is unique. If any historical comparison is to be made, perhaps the challenges we face today echo more closely the political and economic period after the second world war than that of the 1970s. The extreme costs incurred and the public debt overhang created in battling covid, the shortages of materials and supplies caused by global supply chain disruptions, and the simultaneous energy and food price spikes need particular and considered responses.



Following the second world war, problems with food, energy and housing plagued the economy for years. The rationing of goods, materials and even housing lasted long after VE Day, and the political consequences for Labour and the Conservative party were brutal. It was not just Churchill who faced a possibly ungrateful public when he was booted out of office after winning the war; Labour’s Nye Bevan truly transformed the country in his approach to health and housing, only to see Labour unceremoniously dumped for not delivering quickly enough. The lessons of history are that the Government need to be muscular and act single-mindedly to deliver at pace for the people.

The seriousness of the current situation requires the Government to have a laser-like focus on overall household costs, yet the machinery of government does not allow that to happen, because in the division of the Departments, no single Department has overall sight of housing and household costs. The responsibility for and regulatory oversight of the key household utilities—gas, electricity, water, telephone, broadband, TV licensing or council tax, as well as mortgages and rent—that are responsible for so much pressure on individual households is split between multiple Government Departments, each with differing priorities. No one is responsible or accountable for total household costs, yet that is what every household, up and down the land, is thinking about—“How much do all my bills cost? How much do I have, to pay for them? How am I going to make ends meet?”

This matters because we do not just pay for the utilities we use; our living standards are directly affected by the bills, which include commitments such as the costs of net zero and of building new physical infrastructure to meet future population growth. All those costs need to be tightly managed, like any other tax or national spending commitment. In my view, all household regulation should be under one roof, overseen by Ministers who can look at total household costs and the impact of regulatory decisions.

There is a real opportunity for Government to refocus regulators on getting the best deal for householders, rather than the best deal for the people they regulate. That means breaking down the existing silos of Government and regulatory structures to create a new, household-centred approach to allow better decisions to be made about how much households can pay at any time and when extra investment can best be afforded. That is one important way in which we could start to address living standards for the nation.

Back in 2009, as the impact of the financial crisis hit, I wrote about the likely impact of that massive event on household costs and repossessions, and the range of interventions that were available to the Government of the day. Things looked grim and hundreds of thousands of repossessions were forecast, in line with previous housing crashes. There were interventions that I could recommend, and recommendations were taken forward that helped people stay in their homes and weather the crisis. Judicial and financial regulatory policies were changed accordingly.

Given the immediate challenges facing our country, it is just as important today that the Government respond to support householders and households, because the distribution of housing today is very different from in those earlier recessionary events. The majority of rented housing is now owned by private sector landlords—about 20% of all housing stock. That is neither equitable nor feasible for renters, who need to pay high rents to fully shield landlords from challenging times. Rent needs to be affordable; otherwise we end up with inter-generational unfairness, but that is where we are today: unfairness not just for so-called generation rent but for people under 40 who have been unable to get a home of their own and find themselves having to pay more. We need to take a fresh look at how to deal with that, and at how renting is managed within the welfare bill. Too many people find themselves in overpriced, sub-standard rented accommodation with a housing allowance that does not meet the cost of the rent, so they are expected to make up the difference.

The situation is exacerbated by what I call the invisible money and invisible tax position. I recently asked a group of people to say how much energy support the Government had given during the energy spike. There was a silence. Not a single person in the room could give a figure. The Office for Budget Responsibility says that the energy support policies in 2022-23 cost more than £50 billion—2% of GDP—and yet not a single person could say how much money the Government had given. That money is very different from the £300 direct payments under the cost of living programme, which went directly into people’s bank accounts. Invisible money contributes to the sense, but not the reality, that the Government are not helping, so I hope the Minister reflects on how the Government can better explain and make clear the money and support they are giving, and ensure it is done in such a way as to help people appreciate and understand what is happening.

It is the same for what I call invisible tax—the regulatory charges through utility companies. Again, they are not directly visible and do not form part of household assessment when the Government Budget is considered.

Living standards are crucial to all Members of Parliament and the Government of the day. It is right that we look at people’s ability to meet their daily costs, but we must have a firm eye on the fairness of where costs and obligations lie. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this debate, which is of great importance to us all. I hope the Minister will consider the ways in which the Government may better support the 22.6 million people on welfare—a third of the population. That should not just be through direct spending, or support of the type that households received during the pandemic, which protected lives and livelihoods. I recognise the Government’s commitment to upgrading infrastructure, but I should be grateful if the Minister would reflect on my comments.

--- Later in debate ---

[Bim Afolami]

I thank the hon. Member for that point. I have not seen the report, but, to take what he has said as read, the reason why, since the financial crisis in 2008-09, economic growth—trend growth—in all the western world, particularly in Europe, is down on where it was before the financial crisis, is due to the financial crisis. Indeed, it was this Government who had to spend years from 2010 clearing up the mess left by the Labour party when they were in office. That is the core explanation for the difference that the hon. Member describes.

Thanks to the efforts of the Bank of England, supported by the Chancellor, inflation is less than half of its peak, falling to 3.9% in November 2023—the lowest rate in more than two years.

But I do not deny that the outlook remains challenging. Nor do the Government. That is why we announced further action in the autumn statement in November to support the most vulnerable. In April, we will raise local housing allowance rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents. That will make 1.6 million low-income households better off, with an average gain of £800 in the 2024-25 financial year.

We will also uprate all working-age benefits in full for 2024-25 by the September 2023 consumer prices index figure of 6.7%. Now, why am I being so precise about that? Because that is three percentage points higher than forecast earnings for ’24-25. This will help to support the most vulnerable while inflation continues to fall; 5.5 million households on universal credit will gain an average of £470—almost £500—in the ’24-25 financial year.

We are maintaining the triple lock, too, to support our pensioners, whose hard work helped to build this country. They are on fixed incomes and need to be looked after. The basic state pension, new state pension and pension credit standard minimum guarantee—we need to find a better description of that because it is very wordy—will be uprated in April 2024 in line with wage growth of 8.5% in the usual reference period. Let me give a sense of what that means in cash terms: in the coming financial year of ’24-25, the full yearly amount of the basic state pension will be £3,750 higher than in 2010. To put it more simply, that is about £1,000 more than if it had been uprated in line with prices alone. For individuals needing further support, local authorities in England continue to provide it through the household support fund, which is backed by £1 billion of funding. That means that, from 2022 until 2025, total support to help households with the cost of living will be over £100 billion, which is roughly an average of £3,700 per household.

What is the principle here, because I know that I have just given the House a blizzard of figures? The principle is that this Government believe that the people of this country deserve to keep more of their hard-earned money and that, where we can, we should reduce their burdens, as long as it is fiscally responsible to do so and as long as we are supporting public services as we need to. This is not ideological; it is because it will reduce the cost of living and help to grow our economy. That is why, from the end of January 2024—it is 1 February—millions of employees across the country will see their main national insurance contribution rate cut from 12% to 10%. That means that the average worker on £35,400 will receive an annual tax cut of over £450 a year, and we are also cutting national insurance rates for the self-employed. This tax cut is worth over £9 billion a year, which is the largest ever national insurance cut to employees and the self-employed. I repeat: this helps with the cost of living and helps to grow the economy.

We are also delivering on our commitment to end low hourly pay. Although they may not have agreed with everything I have said, I am sure that Members across the House will support that. From 1 April, the national living wage will increase by almost 10% to £11.44, with the age threshold also lowered from 23 to 21 years old. That represents an increase of over £1,800 to the annual earnings of a full-time worker on the national living wage, and is expected to benefit more than 2.7 million low-paid workers.

These actions must be underpinned by a robust and growing economy. Only a healthy economy can spread jobs and opportunities through the country. Only a healthy economy allows the Government to make the long-term decisions needed to strengthen it. Growth is generated by providing individuals with the freedom to learn, the freedom to innovate and the freedom to succeed. That is why it matters so much to create the right environment for the private sector to thrive. That means prioritising the strengths of the UK and focusing on the biggest opportunities for growth.

How have we done that? We did that in the autumn statement, in which the Government set out plans to drive growth and productivity that the independent OBR has estimated will have increased business investment by £20 billion a year in a decade’s time. The OBR also estimated that the autumn statement would increase real GDP by 0.3%. That is one fiscal event! Key elements of the package include a new £2.5 billion “Back To Work Plan”. In combination with measures from the spring Budget last year, the OBR thinks that will add around 200,000 people to the labour market.

The hon. Member for Glasgow South made an interesting point about immigration and numbers and people and population. What I would say to him is that although one can always have a debate about the right level of migration—to some degree, it depends on the nature of an economy and what gaps need filling in the workforce—I think we can all agree that the primary aim of any Government should be to improve the prosperity of the people in the country by strengthening the economy. However, what we should not do is adopt the ideological position that it is inherently good to have high levels of migration, because we need to make sure that we have the right level for what our economy actually needs. Indeed, that should be the focus of our debate.

Making full expensing permanent represents a tax cut of over £10 billion a year for companies, meaning that they can invest for less—something that more than 200 businesses and trade bodies have called transformational for business investment. That is another example of the Government taking a long-term approach. The hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West playfully suggested that there are only weeks left of this Parliament, but we still have almost a year to go. I would not pre-judge the timing of any election, but I do think his suggestion may be a little premature. What I will say is that politicians often get accused of doing things for the short term—indeed, sometimes they do—but nobody can accuse this Chancellor and this Government of acting in that way.

Full expensing, a tax cut for businesses to improve their productivity over the long term, is worth about £10 billion a year. This is one of the most transformational long-term measures that will improve our country’s potential growth rate. That is a very good example of the measures I have been talking about. It underpins a strong, growing, robust economy, which allows us to provide the support for the vulnerable that I described at the start of my speech. Indeed, we have provided over £4.5 billion in funding for the UK’s strategic manufacturing sectors.

It is important to note that we are talking about the entire United Kingdom, not just London and the south-east. That is why we used a combination of local growth policy and national economic policy, taking into account the inequalities that exist at all levels of decision making—I do not deny that—to underpin our approach to tackling them. According to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the UK Government provided a package of cost of living measures worth £7 billion in Scotland, more than £3.5 billion in Wales and more than £2 billion in Northern Ireland to help households and businesses weather the impact of soaring energy prices between 2022 and 2024.

I am reminded of the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Dover that a single Government Department should be responsible for housing and household costs. I do not think that we will do another reorganisation of government, but Ministers and my officials in the Treasury work very closely with DLUHC. I am happy to hear any ideas from her about how we can do that more effectively, but it is important that we do not spend too much time working out how to reorganise Departments, and that we focus on the issues at hand.

[Mrs Elphicke]

I am grateful to the Minister for addressing that issue directly, but does he acknowledge that the timeframes for the investment and spending settlements are not within the control of the Treasury, but within the control of the regulatory frameworks that are in place? The ability for either DLUHC or, indeed, the Treasury to bring them all together in a meaningful way is currently limited. It was in that spirit that I hoped he would reflect on the impact of all these things on households, and on how they build up for the individual household purse.

[Bim Afolami]

I thank my hon. Friend for that remark. I am very happy to think about and consider more deeply how we make sure that—whether it is a regulatory impact, is at national policy level or is legislation made in this House—we focus on achieving the right outcomes for the right people at the right time. I can give her that commitment today.

All households in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England were provided with support, but the poorest households gained the most. The average level of support was most generous in the devolved nations, compared with the UK average. Alongside that, we have announced a comprehensive levelling-up strategy that not only addresses the immediate challenges but lays the groundwork for sustained prosperity. As part of that, we are continuing to support local growth through funds such as the £2.6 billion UK shared prosperity fund and the £3.2 billion towns fund. The shared prosperity fund empowers local leaders who know their areas best to take the action that best meets the needs of their local labour markets. In addition, the refocused investment zones programme will catalyse high-potential knowledge-intensive growth clusters across the UK in our key future sectors, bringing investment into areas that have traditionally underperformed economically.

The three watchwords of the hon. Member for Glasgow South were prosperity, fairness and resilience. He expressed uncharacteristic pessimism about the idea that they would be addressed by this Government or in the coming weeks and months of this Parliament, but I want to make the case for why we are doing that. On prosperity, I mentioned full expensing, tax cuts in national insurance and various other measures that support all regions of the UK. They are designed to build long-term prosperity in our economy. They deal with our economic weaknesses and build on our strengths.

On fairness, I think I have comprehensively set out today the support that is being given to the most vulnerable —indeed, to a majority of households. That is done in order to be fair.

I should not stray out of scope and go into other policy areas, but the fundamentals for resilience are having a robust, sustainable economic growth strategy that, over time, increases the growth rate of our economy. Upon that foundation everything else is based.

In conclusion, these measures are a clear demonstration of the Government’s unwavering commitment to promote living standards and support households up and down the country. We firmly believe that the key to a prosperous future lies in creating opportunities for everybody. The boost to the national living wage and the historic reduction in national insurance are powerful tools in driving employment and improving living standards. By putting more money into the pockets of hard-working people, we are not just bolstering their financial wellbeing but fuelling economic growth.

As always, we need to balance support for households with fiscal sustainability. As I have said, the economic position remains challenging. Inflation has more than halved, but it remains too high: it is not at our 2% target. We are not complacent about that, which is why the Government remain steadfast in our support for the Bank of England as it acts to reduce inflation.

Our long-term objectives are crystal clear—increasing prosperity, improving the long-term growth rate of our country, improving our resilience, levelling up every corner of this country and fostering sustained economic growth. It is through these robust economic policies that we lift communities, create opportunities and enhance the quality of life of all our citizens.

Our commitment to growth is not about numbers in a spreadsheet. It is not for the short term; it is for the long-term, tangible improvements in living standards that result from a thriving economy. We continue to keep all options under review as we take tough decisions to drive down debt and inflation and increase our prosperity. These complex issues affect all our constituents, wherever we call home. I thank all Members for their constructive contributions.

Building Societies Act 1986 (Amendment) Bill

Natalie Elphicke Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 19th January 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Natalie Elphicke (Dover) (Con)]

I am pleased to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Jo Gideon), who made an excellent case for the importance of both the local aspect of building societies and the way in which they help people in her community, and other people in deprived communities who need to get on to the housing ladder.

I congratulate the hon. Member for Sunderland Central (Julie Elliott) on her good fortune in securing the top slot in the ballot, which is like winning the lottery for us parliamentarians on the Back Benches. Her choice of Bill is a tribute to the seriousness with which she has taken that good fortune and that responsibility. The Bill is important to my constituents in Dover and Deal and the local villages, and it will have an impact on the whole country, which really matters.

I strongly welcome the Bill’s aims: to begin to level the playing field between banks and building societies by updating the funding rules for building societies—which will enable them, as we have heard, to raise additional capital, and will open up competition for the benefit of customers in the mortgage and savings markets while retaining that critical mutual model, and without reducing financial stability—and also to modernise arrangements for meetings and the execution of deeds.

I am a proud member of Principality building society. I served for six years as a main board director and chaired the group risk committee. I have a passion for the importance of mutuals in general and building societies in particular. We have heard of other mutuals and other not-for-profit organisations such as housing associations, and I agree with what was said by my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Norfolk (George Freeman), but building societies are vital in having purpose as well as, for instance, providing funds.

During my time at Principality I faced an annual re-election to the board at the annual general meeting, as did every other board director, including the chief executive. Every year now, as a member of the building society, if I am unable to attend the AGM in person I can vote electronically. That annual act of receiving and responding to the AGM papers connects me directly and personally to my building society. I enjoy looking at the papers and considering the performance and the objectives of the society, and reading about the current board members.

Let me turn first to the Bill’s proposal to allow members to attend and speak at AGMs remotely, as well as to vote. Hybrid and, indeed, virtual-only meetings have become more common since covid. It will be important to consider how a decision to use hybrid arrangements will be made, and who will make it. For example, will members be consulted? Will it be the sole decision of the chief executive, or will it be a decision for the whole board?

It will be important to ensure that a decision to proceed with virtual arrangements does not diminish effective participation, and that the decision is not made for other reasons, such as to cut costs or to hold an AGM somewhere more difficult for members to get to, on the basis that they can participate virtually. This particularly matters because, as the House has recognised, physical attendance has a special value.

It should be noted that, in this Chamber, it is perfectly possible to have virtual debates, virtual questioning of Ministers and even virtual voting, all of which happened during the covid pandemic, but we now meet in person, debate in person, question Ministers in person and, over many hours and often late into the evening, vote in person. Although often considered, further modernisation of this place has been rejected. Many Members may share the view that more could be done to modernise Parliament further, but it must be noted that being together in one place has particular benefits that carry much weight.

On Lords amendment 22B to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill, we recently voted not to allow council meetings to be held with virtual participation. The basis of the Government’s position, set out by Earl Howe in their lordships’ House, included the need for councillors to interact with citizens and to be held accountable.

When I was a board member at Principality, I was subject to the scrutiny of the members who attended the AGM and the interaction and engagement that comes with that. I enjoyed and looked forward to those AGMs, which were well organised and well attended. Year after year, members would come to chat and have a cup of tea with the board of directors, which was really important.

I remember one of my regulars, Mrs Jones, who would come along with Mr Jones, who said rather less. Mrs Jones would invariably take me to task on the rate of interest on savings, asking why it could not be higher. Members would comment on financial performance and the savings rate, and many took huge interest and pride in the building society’s purpose and passion, be that the commitment to first-time buyers or the commitment to building homes.

Principality became the first building society in recent times to put “build” back into “building society.” Building societies are rooted in building homes for home ownership. I championed this renaissance at Principality, with the Ely Mill development creating quality, affordable homes and hundreds of new jobs on a brownfield industrial site in Cardiff. The first-of-its-kind project was led by Principality Commercial and the Welsh Government, leading the way for other building societies to consider how they could reconnect with their house building roots. The project was an exemplar in how to remediate brownfield land in a way that captures value and improves viability for development, and it showed again how the community purpose, focus and interest brought forward by being a building society rooted, embedded and committed to its community can make a difference.

I know at first hand that the discussions and feedback at an AGM are every bit as important for an effective board as the discussions and feedback we might have at meetings with our constituents, or in the Lobbies and corridors of Parliament, are for us. Although the provision to allow hybrid AGMs is a welcome step forward, we should not ignore the caution or concern to ensure that such changes improve, and do not detract from, engagement, all the more so because, while companies are already doing this, a building society is not just another company. It is something very special and very different. That difference means engagement, connection and participation with members. That is at the heart—in the very DNA—of what it means to be a building society.

The experience of companies has not always been to the benefit of shareholder participation. Indeed, in 2022 the Financial Reporting Council issued guidance for best practice in remote corporate meetings, with a particular focus on annual general meetings. The guidance provides helpful insights into the sorts of issues that may be beneficial for securing effective hybrid participation, including ensuring that virtual moderation is transparent, that any character limit for text questions is reasonable, and that there is fair representation between questions asked virtually and in person. If building societies choose to exercise that virtual opportunity, it will be important that they do so in line with similar best practice and their core values. They must never miss the wisdom and accountability that come from building society members such as Mrs Jones.

Clause 3 is a long-overdue amendment to align the execution of documents for building societies with that of companies. It will be heartily welcomed by company secretaries and lawyers alike. I must say, as a former transactional lawyer in banking and finance, that ensuring that the right authorities are in place, that the right people under those authorities sign the documents, and that the documents are completed in the right way, could not be more important. They are not legal unless that happens. As we consign those heavy seals to legal history, I look forward to them re-emerging in their new life as doorstops and bookends.

Let me turn to clause 1 on the funding structures of building societies. Building societies support a great number of our constituents, as we have heard. There are around 26 million customers of the 42 building societies, ably represented by the Building Societies Association. Some of those building societies are large and very familiar household names, such as Nationwide, while some are less well known nationally. Many have geographical names, such as Leeds Building Society, Coventry Building Society, the Principality, the West Brom and many others. That local aspect is key to understanding what makes building societies so special. They are not just mutual; they are rooted firmly in and for communities.

The funding structure with which building societies began, which has evolved—and the further evolution of which we are debating today—was not that of a bank. The description of their history has been set out fully and ably by the hon. Member for Sunderland Central. The clue, of course, is in the name: the building society. They were clubs of ordinary people who came together for a purpose: to get a home of their own. What an extraordinary and wonderful purpose. How very relevant that is today, as it ever was. The whole House knows that we are not building enough homes, and that the rental market is in dire need of urgent reform and, indeed, of reduction in favour of home ownership and affordable rented housing. Surely we must be due a revival of co-operative, mutual housing delivery that promotes and enables the funding and building of homes just like those early building societies. That may be something to consider further in Committee.

The Bill has secured cross-party support. In that spirit, I echo the words of the first Labour Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, who said that no movement of co-operative self-help is more worthy of support than that of the building societies. He said:

“A house should be an expression of a personality, and wherever it is possible it ought to be owned, not merely rented. Would that every workman could own his own house, just as he owns his clothes.”

Those words resonate through the decades.

As we have heard, it is on the Conservative Benches that there has been a long-standing commitment to mutuality. The Conservative Prime Minister Mr Stanley Baldwin wrote of the expansion of the building societies movement that councils should use the powers of co-operation enabled by the Chamberlain Act to work with building societies: imagine—local authorities working closely with building societies to deliver homes for local people. He wrote:

“They afford abundant evidence of the growing popularity of the Building Society as a medium for the investment of savings, and of the success which has been achieved in the encouragement of thrift and independence, which was one of the main objectives of the founders of the movement. These figures indicate also a steady increase of the number of those who are becoming owners of their own homes… The work and aims of the Building Societies will commend themselves to all thinking people.”

How right he was.

As we look at this Bill, we should have firmly in the front of our minds those purposive elements of access to home ownership for working people to have a home of their own, and the public and private benefits of savings, thrift and independence; they are as relevant today as they ever were, and solutions to such issues for ordinary working people are needed as much as ever. Linking savings and home ownership is so important. Indeed, during my time at Principality I was pleased to have the support of the Treasury Committee Chair, my hon. Friend the Member for West Worcestershire (Harriett Baldwin), in my work to promote a building society ISA, which became the help to buy ISA, to make that link through a Government-backed housing deposit savings scheme.

Although building societies strive to maintain a distinct and clear purpose and function, the current regulatory and legal framework puts them at a disadvantage to the dominantly financial purposes of banks. Today we are looking at what the Bill will do to address that disadvantage and level the playing field, but I encourage Members to consider how they too might lead the way. In Dover and Deal, we have a proud tradition of MPs and mayors being directly involved in the building society movement. It was a mayor of Dover, William Clarke, who set up the Dover Investment and Mutual Building Society—one of the early terminating societies that we heard about earlier—and it was a Member of Parliament, Sir Brook Bridges, who headed the Dover Cottage Building and Improvement Society, based in Buckland in Dover. Local people and businesses have been involved throughout the history of the movement in Dover and east Kent.

In 1846, the Dover and East Kent Building Society and the Dover Investment and Mutual Building Society felt in competition with each another—at one point, there was much rivalry between different organisations. As the movement developed, there was also the establishment in 1850 of the Dover Permanent Benefit Society, which took in the Dover Cottage Building and Improvement Society that had been set up by Sir Brook Bridges MP some years before. The list goes on, with examples of people’s active engagement, active leadership, and active participation in creating, leading and delivering mutual models based and embedded in the communities they represent. All Members of Parliament and those in local governance roles have that opportunity to lead, establish and show the way. I very much commend the excellent history of those building societies in The Dover Historian—produced by local historian Lorraine Sencicle—as an excellent insight into the development and role of people and places for the benefit of providing housing.

Let me turn to today’s changes and the matter of levelling the playing field. The banking market dominates the mortgage markets but that was not always the case. As recently as the early 1980s, building societies held the dominant position in the mortgage market. Liberalisation of the banking market during the 1980s created a massive change in participation in the mortgage market by the banks and increased mortgage fund availability. But now a small number of players dominate the market. Lloyds Banking Group is the biggest mortgage lender by outstanding balances in 2022; it has a 19% market share of mortgages, which is nearly one in five mortgages across the country. The net effect of the changes was a near-reversal of the position of dominance of the building societies and that was a result of the financial market liberalisations and changes in legislation and regulation. That is to the detriment of competition, price and availability for customers.

The Bill will go some way to levelling the playing field between building societies and banks but there is more to do. Let us consider a responsibly run financial entity like Principality with its approval for running its own internal risk ratings basis. That means it is able to use its internal models to determine the risk rate assets and can decide, on the basis of these highly technical professional models, how much capital it needs to cover its risk. It can do that; it does not need to follow the standard one-size-fits-all for other organisations. This is a tough regulatory hurdle requiring detailed and extensive engagement with the PRA and the Bank of England, and I can say at first hand that it is a tough threshold requiring forensic and detailed work because I made it one of my key priorities to help secure that approval when I chaired the group risk committee at Principality. It is taken very seriously and only responsibly run financial entities with very good technical and risk management are allowed to do that.

We should compare that with other banks such as Metro Bank, which has been a failing bank due to poor financial controls and inadequate systems, including a serious accounting scandal. Time and again Metro has been on the financial brink so no wonder it has been rejected for its AIRB—advanced internal rating-based—approval. For too long successive Governments have not backed our established responsible building sector movement and instead have favoured failing or second-rate challenger banks. I hope this matter will be explored further in Committee, but I also hope the Minister will reflect further on it.

Turning to deposit funding, the context of clause 1 is that building societies must fund 50% of their funds from customer deposits—in other words, from customer savings accounts. As we have heard, the Bill does not change the percentage but does propose to change the calculation for three funding types. This will enable building societies to go further towards the 50% threshold than currently; it will give them greater flexibility and allow them to better manage their funding streams and the price and availability of products in the interests of both the customer and competition.

However, the current dominant deposit funding approach to customer savings that applies to building societies still puts building societies at a disadvantage to banks in other ways that are not fully taken into account. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme operates on the basis of size of deposits rather than size of the risk. That disadvantages building societies because they are financed largely by their deposits while the banks are financed largely by their wholesale markets. Building societies will have more deposits and therefore will have a larger amount of deposits with regard to their overall liabilities under the scheme.

Alongside today’s amendments, I hope the Bill Committee will consider the operation of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme to level the playing field for building societies, including increasing the deposit protection amount from £85,000 to £100,000 to capture more accounts, given the role of building societies in having savers; to provide better and separate protection for small and medium-sized businesses, which should be funded by those who provide SME banking services; and to provide faster access for customers in getting hold of their compensation when there is a failure, by funding it from the Bank of England, with recovery to follow either from the failed entity or, if necessary, the FSCS levies.

Finally, I will comment on the three proposed exceptions to the funding limit that we are addressing today. These will enable building societies to raise additional capital and open up competition for the benefit of customers in the mortgage and savings market, while retaining their mutual model and without reducing financial stability. The first change is to exclude the Bank of England’s support funds from the funding limits. Those funds are made available precisely for the purpose of managing financial stress events. They should not artificially dilute the calculation of savings ratios that are held by the building society. The amendment in the Bill will address that issue.

The third exception is to end the current double counting of sale and purchase agreements that support greater liquidity in challenging markets. That means that building societies will be able to better test and manage liquidity in a situation where there is a market event to which they will apply those sale and purchase of asset agreements. The second exception is to exclude financial instruments that are structured to act as a form of equity for regulated capital purposes, including—under the latest capital rules—core capital deferred shares, which are a form of common equity tier 1. Put simply, it is a form of capital raising that is entirely consistent with the mutual ethos and strengthens, rather than dilutes, the regulatory core equity limits required for financial stability. It brings in more capital to the building society, enabling it to do more for customers.

There is undoubtedly more scope for permanent mutual shares and bonds to bring significant long-term investment into building societies, housing and other assets. That has happened in some other countries, such as Australia. I understand that the Treasury has assessed that the overall effect of those three changes in relation to capital raising may be modest—but they should not be. There is an opportunity for a significant expansion of mutual funding structures. I hope that that will be considered further in Committee, including further steps to level the playing field and introduce effective competition from well-run and well-capitalised building societies.

I am grateful to the hon. Member for Sunderland Central for introducing this Bill, which I strongly support. As she has said, it has the support of Government, the Building Societies Association, and the sector and its members—it will be helpful. I would be very pleased to support the hon. Lady’s work in Committee if that would be helpful to her.

Economy Update

Natalie Elphicke Excerpts

Thursday 26th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

I am sure my right hon. Friend the Work and Pensions Secretary is the best person to talk about the implementation of benefits, but the right hon. Gentleman will know that next year, benefits will most likely be uprated by September’s consumer prices index, subject to review. That will mean a very significant increase in benefits next year, in excess of the rate of inflation, which will be very positive for those in receipt of them.

[Mrs Natalie Elphicke (Dover) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that, in addition to the vital, significant and welcome help with the cost of living, it is also important to continue to invest and create jobs in the economy? Will he join me in welcoming the £80 million investment made by the Treasury and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs in the White Cliffs HMRC border facility, which will bring 400 jobs to Dover and Deal and help to secure customs and tax revenue, border control standards and the UK tax base?

[Rishi Sunak]

I know that is something my hon. Friend rightly cares passionately about for her community. She is right that the best way of helping people with the cost of living—indeed, the best way to help them to provide a better life for their families—is through well-paid work. That is why we are so focused on helping people into work and providing jobs. It is worth bearing in mind that someone moving off universal credit and into work is £6,000 a year better off. That is why we are wholeheartedly focused on moving people into work, and my right hon. Friend the Work and Pensions Secretary deserves enormous credit for that.

Health and Social Care Levy

Natalie Elphicke Excerpts

1st reading
Wednesday 8th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Natalie Elphicke (Dover) (Con)]

I welcome the Government’s commitment to this investment to speed through the backlog that we have had since the pandemic and to invest in social care. For too long, social care has been left in the “too difficult to solve” box. Well, we come here to do the hard things as well as the easier, and that is what this Government are doing.

In spite of the warm words that have been spoken by Opposition Members, it is absolutely clear to anyone listening today or yesterday that, whatever is proposed, they will oppose it to the extent of even voting against people getting urgent NHS treatment or care.

The proposal of additional money comes on top of unprecedented investment in the NHS, approaching £40 billion by 2023-24, but today’s welcome further boost for the backlog and social care does need paying for. No one on the Conservative Benches likes tax rises, and I certainly do not. It is essential to look at the burden of taxes overall and to commit to reducing that over time. None the less, I recognise and accept that, if we fail to take the tough decisions now, the longer-term economic consequences will be even greater in the future.

Along with these changes, I hope that my right hon. Friends on the Front Bench will consider how we can move away from the burden on council tax with a social care precept and make sure that we continue to modernise and make every pound and penny count on the frontline.

I would like to take a moment to reflect on what that NHS investment through successive Conservative Governments has meant for the people of Dover and Deal. It has meant that we have: a brand new state of the art hospital, the Buckland Hospital; a groundbreaking Harmonia dementia village, the first of its type in the entire country, which has been delayed by the pandemic but is now expected to be open in the spring next year; a pilot centre for a new approach to wounds at the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital at Deal; a new training centre for GPs and nurses in east Kent, serving our entire area; and even a new dentist provision. The market is also responding to this investment and commitment to healthcare and to the people of our country, with older people’s housing being built by McCarthy Stone in the centre of Dover at this very time. However, the pandemic backlog is causing real distress, as is the failure to grasp the nettle of social care. I see that in my inbox, as we all do. I therefore strongly welcome this funding, this new approach and this commitment to tackle the issue.

The hon. Member for Leeds West (Rachel Reeves) asked about election leaflets. Well, in mine I committed to better healthcare, and I know that it is this Government who are funding and delivering that for the people of Dover and Deal.

Exiting the European Union (Excise)

Natalie Elphicke Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Natalie Elphicke (Dover) (Con) [V]]

I make no apology for being delighted about the return of duty-free and the opportunities it brings to channel crossings. I welcome the jobs and investment that are maintained and boosted by the regulations. As a newly elected MP, I wrote to the Chancellor to ask for the return of duty-free and the Brexit boost it could bring to ports, ferry companies and cruise ships in areas like mine in Dover.

Like my hon. Friend the Member for South Ribble (Katherine Fletcher), as a young woman there was perhaps nothing more exciting than putting on my dotted, spotted ra-ra dress and dancing across the sea on the ferry disco. As an introduction to exotic foreign climes, nothing could quite beat sashaying up and ordering one’s frites et mayonnaise at the chip van in France and Belgium. Shopping at Costco is but nothing compared to the delights of a Calais supermarché. From fancy liqueurs to the rather disgusting but vibrantly coloured sweets, it was a proper day out. It was, I am sorry to say, very many years before I realised that the more common word for the delightfully named “smorgasbord” on the now-defunct Sally Line was nothing more and nothing less than an all-you-can-eat buffet. Never have there been such delights as those rolled herrings! And forget Leonardo DiCaprio: so many friendships and relationships were rekindled and revitalised on the famous evening “Dance to France” between Dover and Calais and back again.

Like so much of the travelling years, while we have gained we have also lost; so focused on our destination, we have lost the pleasure of the journey, for a ferry trip is nothing less than a mini cruise. From ball pits and play areas for the little ones to video games, one-armed bandits and bars for the grown-ups, there is something for everyone to enjoy. And enjoyment is what it is all about—it is fun on the ferries. The regulations we are debating today will do so much to restore those simple and accessible pleasures. They will help to reboot our beleaguered hospitality and travel industries.

Since the virus hit, all of us have learned again the closeness of our family members and the nearness of that neighbourhood walk. When the borders open and the pandemic retreats, let us not forget the wonder and beauty of all that is around us and with us. At that time, I hope that my hon. Friend will join me to see one of the true wonders and beauties of our land: the white cliffs hoving into view from the duty-free ferry.

Covid-19: Economic Package

Natalie Elphicke Excerpts

Tuesday 12th May 2020 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

I know that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has engaged extensively with that sector as part of planning for a future where people can get back to work and sectors can reopen in a responsible and safe way. That work is already ongoing. Of course, many people in that sector are benefiting already from our self-employment income support scheme, which opens this week for applications. People will start receiving their lump sum payment as early as next week, and I know that will make an enormous difference to the many tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people who work in that sector and will benefit from that scheme.

[Mrs Natalie Elphicke (Dover) (Con) [V]]

May I too welcome the Chancellor’s announcement today on furlough? P&O and many ferry operators are benefiting from millions of pounds of support that the Chancellor has provided for furlough and freight. However, P&O, which is headquartered here in Dover, last night announced redundancy plans for more than a thousand jobs after its Dubai owners failed to provide the support that the company needs. Does the Chancellor agree with me that companies and their investors, such as Dubai, cannot simply rely on taxpayer handouts, but need to play their full part, investing and supporting British businesses and British jobs at this time?

[Rishi Sunak]

My hon. Friend is an excellent advocate for the freight industry and the importance of the port in her town, which does so much to help fuel the growth of our country. That is why I was pleased to extend support to the sector, to maintain our vital freight links.

My hon. Friend is absolutely right: as I said at the outset of this crisis, we are in this together—everyone has to play their role, and that means employers and companies as well doing their bit to support and protect their staff to the best of their ability and pitch in to help get through this crisis. I would be happy to talk to her further if there is more that she thinks we can do.

Economic Update

Natalie Elphicke Excerpts

Tuesday 17th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

I have already committed to that urgent piece of work that we are undertaking. We have already improved the financial security available to people who find themselves either ill or off work, as a result of the £1 billion invested last week in these measures.

[Mrs Natalie Elphicke (Dover) (Con)]

At a time of national emergency and national need, Dover once again stands ready to do its duty. The Port of Dover, the hauliers and the ferry companies will be moving the goods, medicines and resources that are needed to keep our country safe and fed. Will my right hon. Friend assure the House that the port, transport, ferry companies, Border Force and all the hard-working local workers in my constituency will be given the necessary financial and practical assistance so that they can do their duty for our country?

[Rishi Sunak]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to highlight the vital importance of our ports, particularly Dover. They are conduits for trade and everything else that our country needs at this critical time, and, of course, we stand ready to listen and hear what they need.

Economy and Jobs

Natalie Elphicke Excerpts

Monday 20th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Natalie Elphicke (Dover) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Gordon (Richard Thomson), and I congratulate him on his maiden speech. I am delivering mine in this debate on the economy and jobs, given my constituency’s important contribution to the nation’s trade and tourism, and given its thriving local economy.

It is a tremendous honour and responsibility to represent the historic, economically important and great constituency of Dover and Deal. My constituency contains Dover Castle, one of the greatest castles in the land; the Port of Dover, the busiest port in Europe and one of the most successful in the world; and, of course, the greatest people, in a set of wonderful communities across coastal and countryside villages and towns.

For centuries, Dover has stood at the frontline, as the guardian, gateway and custodian. At this historic time, as we leave the European Union and reclaim our independent place in the world, Dover remains as important as it has ever been in the past to the present and future of our great nation.

As the incoming Member of Parliament for Dover and Deal, I will be building on an extraordinary legacy of hard work and delivery by my predecessor, Charlie Elphicke, the Member of Parliament for Dover and Deal from 2010 to 2019. As some Members of the House will know, I have known Charlie for a very long time—more than 25 years. His election success in 2010 was one of the stand-out results of that election. Few expected him to win, but he turned a 5,000 majority against to a 5,000 majority for the Conservatives in a remarkable victory against the odds. That is his trademark in politics: time and again winning against the odds and delivering for those he represented. Early on, he engaged in hand-to-hand political combat to see off the planned sale of the Port of Dover to the French or whoever. With the support of Dame Vera Lynn, the sell-off was ditched and a groundbreaking people’s port was delivered at the docks.

Since 2010, more than £500 million of investment—half a billion pounds—has swept into Dover and Deal, including in a brand new hospital in Dover and the fast train to Deal. Some people said those would never happen, but Charlie delivered, against the odds. He also took up more than 23,000 cases for local residents. Charlie Elphicke is the Gallery today, as is our son, Thomas, and I hope you will join me in thanking Charlie for his tremendous record of public service.

That is some record to build upon and it is a high hurdle for any new MP, yet build on it I will. Much has been done, but there is more to do. As such, I welcome the Chancellor’s commitment to investment in every corner of our land—he should look no further and invest in Dover and Deal. At the Dover frontline, as we get Brexit done, the next five years will be critical for my constituency. That is why I will be fighting for strong borders and free-flowing trade, greater investment in roads and rail, new lorry parks, better healthcare, more jobs and money.

But this is not just about what we can do; it is also about who we are. And in the land of the white cliffs we represent so many of our nation’s values. My predecessor’s maiden speech made the case for the importance of liberty, freedom and justice when defending decorated Army major, Bill Shaw, who had been the subject of false allegations relating to his time in Iraq. In Dover and Deal, we have fought, and always will fight, for those values of liberty, freedom and justice; due process and innocent until proven otherwise; faith and friendship; community; country; compassion; and caring for others.

I have always been committed to decent housing and improving life chances. I am one of a growing number of MPs on these Benches who started life in the safety and security afforded by a council house, and my education at a Catholic faith primary and a grammar school transformed my life chances and indeed my life. Growing up in the 1980s, I was one of a generation who benefited from a time of national ambition, shared prosperity and opportunity for all, where hard work could bring rewards. I am committed to providing for others the tools for social mobility and opportunity that were given to me: good-quality and affordable housing; help for those in need; faith; grammar schools; economic growth; and shared prosperity.

This is an historic time for our nation. As the representative of Dover and Deal, on the Brexit frontline, I am looking forward to the independent, successful, prosperous and strong country that we can build together in the decades to come.