Mortgage and Rental Costs

Naz Shah Excerpts

Tuesday 27th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Suzanne Webb (Stourbridge) (Con)]

I rise to oppose the motion in the name of the official Opposition and to support the Government amendment. The Labour motion is narrowly worded. Yet again, it tries to invoke hysteria and crisis and to undermine those we serve, and it completely misses the facts. We cannot allow the electorate, especially young people, to be indoctrinated by the sort of nonsense contained in the Opposition’s motion, which claims that it is all the Government’s fault.

These are the facts. First, on mortgage rates, the impact of the global financial crisis under Labour back in 2007 meant that the base interest rate fell to its lowest level for 300 years. Starting at 5.7% in July 2007, rates had fallen to 0.5% by March 2009, with a further fall to 0.25% in August 2016. There was a very slight rise back to 0.5% in November 2017, and then in 2021, as covid-19 loosened its hold on us all, globally we were met with persistent inflation caused by a worldwide supply chain crunch and, of course, Putin’s war. Those are the simple truths.

[Naz Shah (Bradford West) (Lab)]

Will the hon. Member give way?

[Suzanne Webb]

I am going to make progress, because the Minister was very generous in taking interventions, and I want to ensure that everybody gets to speak.

The Bank of England, not the Government, pushed the rate up to 0.25% in December 2021, to 0.5% in February 2022 and then to 0.75% in March 2022—the highest it had been since the summer of 2018. That has continued, and we are now at 5%. I must agree with the Chancellor that there were flaws in the Bank of England’s economic forecasting. As the Governor himself has said, the Bank’s forecasting has not been accurate. It was for the banks to assess the financial competence of those applying for mortgages in the first instance. Banks would have understood that interest rates were artificially low—the lowest in 300 years of history—and that at some point they would naturally go up again, and they did. It took the huge global fiscal shock of a pandemic and a war in Europe to push interest rates up to where they are now, but such interest rates were common under Labour before it crashed the economy in 2008. We should not forget that.

If we look at the rates before the economy crashed and before Labour bled our economy dry and left no money, it keeps the interest rates “crisis” that Labour likes to talk about in perspective—or, to put it more succinctly, as the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Liam Byrne) said in the note he left to his successor in 2010,

“Dear Chief Secretary, I’m afraid there is no money. Kind regards—and good luck!”

That about says it all, and I will never tire of repeating it to remind people what they could be voting for.

Now for more facts. The employment market is strong. I recently visited my local jobcentre in Stourbridge. Those who worked there told me that the local job market is buoyant and that young people in particular are finding jobs. According to the International Monetary Fund, the OECD and the Bank of England, the prospects for the UK economy are bright. Even on mortgages—the subject of this debate—defaults remain at pre-pandemic levels, and the proportion of disposable income spent is almost half what it was in the 1990s. Banks around the world are raising interest rates to fight rising inflation caused primarily by Putin and a global pandemic. This is a global problem. Interest rates are higher in the US, Canada and New Zealand.

I absolutely cannot allow the Labour party’s economic incompetence to go unchallenged. Black hole after black hole after supermassive black hole is unearthed by my colleagues and I, as Labour seeks to twist and turn into whatever position of opportunism it favours in any given week. My right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury has uncovered another casual £3 billion from the shadow Chancellor’s U-turn on the digital services tax. That is in addition to another black hole 10 times the size—£30 billion, simply gone—from Labour’s plans to scrap business rates without replacement. Naturally, I look forward to whatever reply my right hon. Friend receives, but I doubt it will be forthcoming.

Perhaps the Opposition could tell us how Labour’s £90 billion of unfunded spending commitments would lead to lower inflation and interest rates—I await that with interest—or how Labour’s plans for £28 billion of borrowing would lower inflation and interest rates. The Institute for Fiscal Studies certainly does not think it would, and neither do I. We should also be mindful of not dragging language to the extreme. In Labour’s language, everything is a “crisis” these days—cost of living crisis, energy crisis, mortgage crisis. It cheapens the term and undermines all we serve.

I support the Government amendment, although I do not think we needed to use the word “charter”. I think this is just banks doing the right thing for their customers, nudged by a fiscally responsible Government. I will finish as I started, by saying that we cannot allow the electorate, especially young people, to be indoctrinated by the sort of nonsense contained in the Opposition’s motion, which tries to claim that it is all the Government’s fault. It is not. I will be supporting the Government amendment.

--- Later in debate ---

[Naz Shah (Bradford West) (Lab)]

The Tory mortgage bombshell is the latest Tory-created crisis to hit hard-working families, adding to the litany of errors over the last 13 years made by an economically arrogant, incompetent and ignorant Tory party. According to the financial data provider Moneyfacts, the average two-year fixed residential mortgage rate has risen to 6.23%, up from 6.19% just last Friday. This is the highest since last November, when the property market was thrown into utter chaos after the Tory mini-Budget, otherwise known as the Budget that broke Britain. Because of the mess they have created, banks are now withdrawing mortgage deals, and the average household is facing a hike of almost £240 a month more on their mortgages.

In my constituency, this latest hike in interest rates will impact nearly 7,500 households, with an average increase in payments of £1,300 a year. As Opposition Members have stated already, these increases come at a time when families are already living hand to mouth. The sad reality is that Conservative Members just simply do not get it. Mortgage payments are up—by £1,300, if not more—while energy prices are up by thousands of pounds per household, supermarket food prices are up by 15% this year, council tax is up by 5% and car insurance is up on average by 43%. Again, they just do not get it.

The Prime Minister probably does not understand much, but who can blame him when he is sitting in his private plane, wearing his £3,000 suit and sipping coffee out of his £180 mug, with his head stuck in the clouds. Meanwhile, back down here on earth, in places in the real world such as Bradford West, hard-working families are being forced to skimp on daily necessities such as three meals a day and are on the brink of collapse. The UK economy’s ever-worsening crisis is not a recent misfortune. It is the consequence of a total abdication of economic prudence by the Tories over the last 13 years. The poor state of the UK economy today cannot be solely pinned on a global crisis. We need to call it out loud and clear that our ailing economy has been orchestrated by a string of Tory self-inflicted policy errors.

Every country faced economic impacts due to the pandemic, but our economy bounced back at the slowest rate of any G7 nation, with our GDP at the beginning of 2023 0.5% lower than at the end of 2019. Every country faced the economic impact of the global financial crisis, but reckless Tory austerity since 2010 has resulted in more than £0.5 trillion of lost public spending and a weaker economy. All the G7 nations faced the effect of rising energy prices caused by the war in Ukraine, but the UK’s over-reliance on energy, coupled with the Tories depleting our ability to generate our own energy, has left us the most poorly equipped to deal with rising energy prices.

The Tories’ disastrous 13 years in charge will be remembered for crashing the economy, poor growth, sky-high inflation, worsening living standards and the disastrous management of Brexit. Each of those alone has battered hard-working families, who have been plunged into poverty, but the combined litany of self-inflicted, delinquent and scandalous errors has left the UK a whole lot worse than in 2010.

We must hold the Conservatives to account, and the worst thing is they were warned. Martin Lewis, the finance expert, has said he warned the Government about mortgage market issues last year. He said about the current mortgage shock:

“Yet now the time bomb has exploded and we're scrambling about what to do.”

That is what the Tories do: they sleep at the wheel, then try to deal with the wreckage after the crash, and then blame everyone else.

On action on mortgages, it was Labour’s announcement that forced the Government to take urgent steps. However, Labour has called for mandatory measures to be placed on banks so that no one is left without support; the Government measures are completely voluntary and do not cover all of the mortgage market, with some 15% of the market for main residences missing out and no buy-to-let coverage.

Recently, the former Prime Minister fell off his tightrope. Now the Tory party has got rid of the clown, it is time to get rid of the circus. Give us a general election.

Non-domicile Tax Status

Naz Shah Excerpts

Tuesday 31st January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Naz Shah (Bradford West) (Lab)]

Since 2010, Conservative Governments have demanded that working people pay yet more tax, but Conservative MPs and their friends are keen on avoiding paying tax themselves. Working people are picking up the tab again while the rich and powerful benefit from non-dom status and loopholes. Indeed, the Prime Minister himself was Chancellor of the Exchequer for two years before his wife gave up her non-dom status. He himself held a US green card.

This is not carelessness. The Conservative party has deliberately failed to clean up the sleaze and get rid of the loopholes to generate income to strengthen our economy. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has estimated that abolishing non-dom status alone would generate £3 billion a year for the economy. That is how much the current Chancellor has pledged for the NHS over the next two years, so if he is trying to find the money, now he knows how.

While the Tories keep telling us that we are all in this together, the UK is not even in this together with other G7 countries. According to the International Monetary Fund, we are the only country in the G7 that is moving into a recession—we are all alone. Over the past few years, while those with non-dom status have seen tax breaks and benefits, hard-working people in Bradford West and around the country have been let down by austerity and economic failure and are experiencing a big tax burden.

In the last financial year, Government spending per head was significantly lower in the Yorkshire and Humber region than in any other area of the UK. So was Government spending on transport and infrastructure, despite the Government’s commitment to level up the north of England. As for Government spending on education, Bradford West has seen a reduction of 10.2% in real-terms spending since 2015, whereas the national average is 3.9%. The Tories’ failure to properly invest in Bradford district and Bradford West has created devastating outcomes for the area, where child poverty is at 51.2%, the highest rate in the north of England. In Bradford West, 22.3% of households are in fuel poverty, compared with 13.2% in the country as a whole.

It is clear that abolishing this unjust, unfair tax perk would create a fairer and stronger economy that works for everyone, not just the richest in society. Conservative Members argue that abolishing non-dom status would be bad for business, would not be competitive and—as the right hon. and learned Member for Northampton North (Michael Ellis) suggested—would deter business and investment in the UK, but that is simply not true.

I can see why the Tories have an issue with abolishing non-dom status. After all, the chairman of the party resigned for failing to declare his taxes, the party treasurer took part in a tax avoidance scheme, and the party has a CEO whose firm is allegedly involved in a tax avoidance scheme. But while abolishing non-dom status might be bad for the Conservatives, let us not pretend that it is bad for business. Other countries that attract business, investment and entrepreneurship, such as the USA, Canada and Germany, require people to pay tax after six months or even immediately.

Despite the UK’s non-dom status, it is the only country in the G7 that faces negative growth, as predicted by the IMF. Not Germany, not Canada, not the United States—the UK. Honestly, the Conservatives have had 13 years, five Prime Ministers and seven Chancellors and the only thing they have been consistent on is low growth. They talk as if they know what is best for business and the economy, but the only thing they have succeeded in doing is crashing the economy into the ground. If the Government were truly serious about strengthening and growing the economy, if they were serious about levelling up the north, if they were serious about lifting people out of poverty, if they were serious about accountability and ethics or if they were even remotely serious about the NHS and other vital infrastructure, they would have gone further than sacking individual Ministers. They would have abolished non-dom status and closed the loopholes. We need a change to the system, not just the faces.

Autumn Statement

Naz Shah Excerpts

Thursday 17th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Hunt]

My hon. Friend knows these issues extremely well, having been a Transport Minister. We need better transport infrastructure, and what we have said today makes that possible, but he is absolutely right that we also need to improve the skills in our economy. We have had a lot of change in our ambitions for skills, with I think a lot of very positive things such as the Augar review, but we need to make sure we deliver them, and that is why I have asked Sir Michael Barber to advise me and the Education Secretary as to what we need to do.

[Naz Shah (Bradford West) (Lab)]

Today, the Chancellor had an opportunity, which he has missed, like his predecessor—the one before the last one, mind—to enact recommendations from the Transport Committee and to give Bradford a station. Instead, the Government have engaged in an exercise in rebranding, while short-changing the people of Bradford. Why does the Chancellor not just be honest with the people of Bradford, and call this what it actually is? This is not Northern Powerhouse Rail; this is the greatest ever train robbery of the north.

[Jeremy Hunt]

What I would say to the hon. Lady is that she should think about what we have done for her constituents in Bradford. When it comes to transport, we have protected the capital budgets that in the end will solve the problems she is talking about. We have also found £500 of support for the average household for their fuel bill next year. We have found more money for schools, hospitals and GP surgeries in Bradford. That will make a difference, and she should welcome that.

Economy Update

Naz Shah Excerpts

Thursday 26th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. On the last count, we have had, I think, £100 billion of spending commitments or tax reductions from the Labour party. Less than a tenth of that has been funded, despite the shadow Chancellor saying that she is committed to fiscal responsibility. It is the same old story with Labour. Ultimately, they always run out of other people’s money.

[Naz Shah (Bradford West) (Lab)]

I congratulate the Chancellor on pinching some of our ideas. I really encourage him to look at the 17.5% VAT as well. One of my constituents sent me a copy of bills: January 2021, electricity £10,731.70; January 2022, £48,694.56. That is a 353.745% increase. How will the Chancellor’s statement today and his intervention help the businesses in my constituency because he seems to have left them out?

[Rishi Sunak]

With regard to businesses, we have the energy-intensive industries support scheme, which the Business Secretary is consulting on extending and improving the generosity of, to help the most energy-intensive industries in the country.

Economic Update

Naz Shah Excerpts

Thursday 3rd February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. Those of us in government make responsible decisions and we are honest with people. I think people respect that honesty and it is the right thing for us to do. He is right that there is a global surge in gas prices and it would be wrong to pretend that we do not have to adjust to that, but what we can do is take the sting out of that adjustment, spread its impact over time and limit its immediate impact. That is the right and responsible approach and I am grateful for his support on that plan.

[Naz Shah (Bradford West) (Lab)]

The Chancellor comes here and says he is proud of his record. Let me tell him what my constituents think of his record. The Conservative party cut £20 a week from universal credit and was dragged here kicking and screaming for U-turn after U-turn just to feed poor and hungry children. This £350 does not cut it when the Chancellor has wasted billions. More than £6 billion went on wasted personal protective equipment and more than £4.7 billion has been lost to fraud in respect of covid funds. The Chancellor brings £9 billion here when he has lost £12 billion. It does not quite cut it for my constituents, who do not trust this Government because they are not helping my constituents. Those at the bottom end are the ones being hit the most. This does not even come near the £700, let alone the cost of living.

[Rishi Sunak]

The hon. Lady talks about universal credit; this Government provided the extra support for people when they needed it during the crisis. All the data and evidence show that throughout the worst of the depths of this pandemic the Government’s actions helped those on the lowest incomes the most. That is a record of which I am enormously proud.

Household Energy Bills: VAT

Naz Shah Excerpts

Tuesday 11th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Naz Shah (Bradford West) (Lab)]

People are having to make difficult choices in their shopping lists to keep food on their family table. People are having to decide between staying warm or facing the chill this winter because of rising energy bills. People are literally emptying out their savings to cover everyday costs because of the rising level of inflation.

The Prime Minister and his Government have lost their grip across the board and are tearing down our economy and our country with poor planning and incompetence time and time again. They had years to plan for Brexit and boost skills and jobs for workers in Britain, yet all five flagship policies in their “plan for jobs” are failing. Last September the British population felt the brunt of their poor planning when they had to queue for hours just to get fuel for their cars, due to a shortage of HGV drivers. The energy price rises set to take place in April will be catastrophic, with bills set to rise on 1 April by another 50% to as much as £2,000 a year for an average household paying by direct debit.

The Prime Minister and his Government are in complete denial and empty of any solution to this crisis, probably because the cost of living crisis does not affect him. When the going gets tough and the Prime Minister has to slum it out, he texts his Downing Street chum and he can simply drop a message to his rich mate the Lord, who will cough up from the coffers to fund the designer Lulu Lytle-inspired £840 a roll wallpaper, or a Baby Bear sofa for just under 10 grand, or a three grand Lily Drum table. What is an extra 15 quid on the Christmas shopping list for him this year compared with last? How will the rise in inflation, the 24% increase in petrol prices, rents at the highest level in 13 years, or the price to heat our homes going up by 50% this April bother this Prime Minister, or anyone on the Government Benches? The Government are totally out of touch with what it is like for real families in Britain—working-class people, people in Bradford West and across this country.

That is why we, the Labour party, are providing a solution to protect families, especially in places such as Bradford West, to protect lower and middle-income earners—and pensioners—who have already been squeezed by years of underfunding and under-investment, and face the choice between food and heating. We have the highest rates of child poverty in Yorkshire. This is not something that we did not know was going to happen; we knew it was going to happen. The Prime Minister stood there and said that inflation was all made up; yet two months later it is the highest that it has been in decades. The Government are in complete denial and they fail every child and every person in Bradford West by not supporting our motion.

Downing Street Garden Event

Naz Shah Excerpts

Tuesday 11th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Michael Ellis]

I offer my condolences to the hon. Lady’s friend and constituent and her friend’s father for their loss. When I speak from this Dispatch Box, I do so as an individual who understands the loss that others have suffered. We all know that; everyone in this House knows that. We all are equal under the law in this country, and as a Law Officer I recognise that first and foremost. She will no doubt also recognise that in the interests of fairness, when the inquiry or investigation is under way it should be allowed to come to its natural conclusion.

[Naz Shah (Bradford West) (Lab)]

It pains me that Muslims could not celebrate Eid with their families, but what pains me more is the fact that on 20 May one of my constituents was being buried at Nab Wood cemetery. Her daughter, Maxine Elliot, told ITV today that, when Barbara Elliot was being laid to rest, she and her family were behind barricades as the coffin went past. Only 10 members of the family were allowed to attend, and they were not allowed to kiss the coffin or put a flower on it. All this was happening while 40 people, including the Prime Minister and his wife, were at a party in the garden of No. 10 Downing Street which people could attend as long as they brought their own booze. What has the Minister to say to Maxine Elliot, and will he ask the Prime Minister to apologise personally to her and her family?

[Michael Ellis]

I cannot begin to imagine the personal tragedy and loss of the family, friends and relatives the hon. Member described, and there is no attempt to do so on my part. All I can say is that my heart goes out to them for their loss. We have had to suffer considerable impositions in this country as a consequence of the pandemic, but those impositions have been placed on society with good reason, to protect the wider public interest.

Contingencies Fund (No. 2) Bill

Naz Shah Excerpts

Committee of the whole House & Committee stage
Thursday 11th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Ruth Jones (Newport West) (Lab) [V]]

This is a technical Bill, but it is important and so is parliamentary authorisation of public expenditure. That authorisation is an absolutely crucial part of our democracy and of the principle of parliamentary control over the decisions taken by Ministers in this Government.

Of course, I accept that the Government need to be able to act swiftly and decisively, and that financial control provisions may need to be relaxed proportionate to the need for the Government to take unforeseen and unforeseeable actions to reduce, resolve and mitigate the threats we face. As such, I fully accept the approach taken by the shadow Minister and support the fact that Labour is not opposing the Bill. However, while it is vital that the Government have the space and ability to respond to the crisis, it is vital that Ministers do not take the people of this country for fools. Contracts for cronies, pals from the pub and family members cannot be the order of the day and must be rooted out fast.

The Tories, as we have already heard, have wasted hundreds of millions of pounds across Government during the pandemic, from failed tracing apps to useless PPE to insufficient provision for disadvantaged children. The analysis by my party and other independent organisations shows that the Government have made the wrong decisions throughout the crisis. I hope they will listen and learn. Every penny of public money must be accounted for and the people who pay their taxes must be able to see that these monies are spent wisely and properly.

I support the Bill. I hope Ministers will accept Labour’s new clause and will look to spend the people’s money wisely, sensibly and properly.

[Naz Shah (Bradford West) (Lab) [V]]

We recognise that in the circumstances of a global pandemic the Government need to be able to act swiftly and decisively, and that financial control provisions may need to be relaxed proportionate to the need for the Government to take bold actions to reduce, resolve and mitigate the threats we face. However, we know full well that the Government’s record on proper and transparent procurement processes, and on securing value for money on public spending for emergency purposes, has been shameful.

The Times estimates that during the crisis £1.5 billion of taxpayers’ cash has been given to companies linked to the Conservative party with no prior experience of supplying the Government, from failed tracing apps to useless PPE to insufficient provision for disadvantaged children. Analysis by Labour shows that the Government have made the wrong decisions time and time again throughout the crisis.

That is exactly the story of Tory waste, negligence and cronyism, but the Tories want a pat on the back for spending over £700 million on coveralls, despite NHS records showing only 500,000 out of 13 million were actually used. In April, £16 million-worth of antibody tests were sourced from two Chinese firms. Two million units were purchased, but the test did not work. A PPE contract worth £108 million was handed to a pest control company, PestFix, which has just 16 members of staff. Some of the masks failed checks by the Health and Safety Executive and emails obtained by the BBC suggest that the HSE came under political pressure to ensure that PestFix’s PPE passed necessary quality assurance tests.

Covid-19: Economy Update

Naz Shah Excerpts

Thursday 22nd October 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Let us head to Ludlow and Philip Dunne. There is no sound, so I call Naz Shah.

[Naz Shah (Bradford West) (Lab)]

I do not need to tell the Chancellor about the way we are going, with the economy plunging further into a crisis. The biggest thing that businesses in my constituency tell me is that uncertainty is their biggest enemy. We have now been under extra restrictions for more than 150 days. If we go into tier 3, and given that the Chancellor does not want a planned circuit breaker, what support will he give to businesses in my constituency of Bradford West? Importantly, how long should they be prepared for uncertainty?

[Rishi Sunak]

I am pleased to tell the hon. Lady that the tier 2 grants that I announced today will be backdated, so that her businesses and local authority will receive funding that is backdated to when they entered tier 2 restrictions. I think those grants worth up to £2,000 over a month will be of enormous support to businesses in her constituency, at what I appreciate is a difficult time.

Covid-19: Disparate Impact

Naz Shah Excerpts

Thursday 22nd October 2020 Commons Chamber

[Kemi Badenoch]

I agree with my hon. Friend and, as I said to the hon. Member for West Ham (Ms Brown), this is not something that should be a cause for division in the House. We should be working together on this. I did not write the letter just to Conservative colleagues; I wrote it to all colleagues, and I hope that people will take up the notices in it and share them across their communities.

[Naz Shah (Bradford West) (Lab)]

I am glad that the Minister referred to her letter, because I have just had a check and I certainly have not received a letter from her; she referred to the matter in her answer to our shadow Minister.

On 19 April, I wrote to the Secretary of State for Health and asked about languages specifically, offering my help and support in reaching ethnic minorities. I have a large minority. I come from Bradford—a diverse city—and Bradford West is one of the most diverse constituencies in the country. Again, I asked about languages commissioned in September, in a written question, as have others. While I appreciate that today the Minister has said we have spent £4 million, the truth is that, while this debate has been going on, I have spoken to commissioners for Geo News, Dunya News, ARY and Channel 44, and £4,000 has been commissioned for the 12 channels that I know of that communicate in the language of Urdu, and that is without speaking to all the BAME media, while this statement has been going on. Sunrise Radio, the largest Asian radio station outside London, has had one campaign, from 2 to 7 May, in Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu, but it had nothing from 7 May right until 19 October. So how can she stand here and tell this House that the Government have been reaching out to BAME communities? Jang newspaper had to go to Downing Street and negotiate for written—not for radio communication and not for TV—adverts. So when will the Conservative party get real about communicating honestly with black and minority ethnic communities in their languages?

[Kemi Badenoch]

We have published public health messages in over 600 publications. If the hon. Lady would like to write to me with places that have not received communications, that is something I can take up with the Cabinet Office, but I myself have done quite a bit of media—BBC Asian Network, BBC Radio Manchester and other local media outlets—and I have done lots of social media activity. We have had ethnic minority influences reaching 5 million people. I am sorry to say that if the hon. Lady is not seeing these things, then perhaps she is not watching, but the money that we have spent is a testament to how hard we are working to reach people. There are still some hard-to-reach communities, and that is why we are having the community champions, because at the end of the day it cannot just be TV and it cannot just be social media. We need local authorities and people who know their local areas to be able to go out and find those people who still are not hearing the message. I hope that is something that she will do. I will find out from the House why she has not received the letter. It should have been sent to all colleagues, and I know many across the House have received it.