Finance (No. 2) Bill

Peter Dowd Excerpts

2nd reading
Tuesday 13th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Peter Dowd (Bootle) (Lab) [V]]

I support the reasoned amendment in the names of my hon. and right hon. Friends. I hope to make a brief contribution, given the scope of the debate—I do not want to fall foul of your legendary patience and tolerance levels, Madam Deputy Speaker—but it goes to the heart of the concerns on the Opposition Benches that the Government are failing to address the many challenges faced by a whole variety of sectors across the country, especially in the light of covid.

I want to use one example in due course of the lacuna—not addressed substantively in the Bill—that may affect the finances of families and the broader health of the economy, which in turn impact on revenue raising. It is a proxy for the wider malaise that the Bill does not address.

I appreciate that the Bill is about raising revenue and not necessarily the spending of that revenue. In this regard, my call for spending on palliative care—the care that enables people to live life as fully as possible and enjoy precious time with loved ones before the end of life—is vital, but is not necessarily about revenue raising. However, I recognise that the Government have to some degree recognised how important the independent hospice sector is to our health and social care and the benefit it brings to the economy. The Government have recently used revenue from previous Finance Bills or borrowing to support the sector and enabled it to survive. Crucially, that eases the financial pressures on the families of those affected who need palliative care, but that is a proxy for the Government in this Bill not addressing the real needs of the economy.

The economy has been under stress and will continue to be so for a considerable period of time. We all have our experiences of families who are affected in one fashion or another, and palliative care and the support of people in that situation are part of that. It is time for the Government to recognise that they have to look after those in most need and use the benefit of the Finance Bill to raise revenue to support them.

The hon. Member for Hitchin and Harpenden (Bim Afolami) talked about productivity. Yes, we are one of the worst nations in the G7 for productivity. We are about 30% less productive than the Germans, about 20% less productive than the French, about 9% less productive than the Italians, and similarly 30% less productive than the Americans. There is nothing at all in this Bill in substance that deals with productivity issues. As much as the hon. Gentleman likes to say it, the Bill does not deal with that. It does not deal with job insecurity, low pay and low skills. It does not deal with inequality in education, social care and health. It talks about levelling up, but when, where and how? They are just phrases. There is absolutely no action and no route for the action that the Government wish to take over the years.

My example in relation to the health sector, and in particular the palliative care sector, is a proxy to say, “We should be investing our resources in supporting people in need, whether that is on job security or the hospice sector, because if we do not, it impacts on the economy in one fashion or another.”

I do not want to go on too much, so I will finish on this point. I would like to put on record my disappointment that the Government are continuing with the no amendment of the law provision. As the Hansard Society notes, if there is no amendment of the law resolution, then

“no amendment”—

to the Finance Bill—

“may be moved unless the relief proposed is covered by one of the Ways and Means resolutions…Nor may an amendment…exceed any figure prescribed in the relevant resolution.”

In doing this year after year since about 2017, outwith elections, the Government are breaking a 90-year-old protocol. They are freezing Parliament out. Regrettably, this is yet again more chipping away at the powers of the House by the Executive’s sequestration programme, supported by obtuse Members on the Benches opposite. That is all I have to say on that matter.