Income Tax (Charge)

Peter Swallow Excerpts

Tuesday 5th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Helen Morgan]

Fair funding for rural authorities, and indeed all local authorities, is something I have talked about many times in this House, and I absolutely agree with the hon. Gentleman on that.

We saw £600 million allocated to social care in the Budget and an increase in the national living wage, both of which are obviously welcome, but the huge pressure on private providers as a result of the national insurance contributions increase will be really problematic, unless councils are funded to pay those additional costs. It is not clear that the funding announced in the Budget will even touch the sides of the crisis in local government funding or in social care. We all know that this is a thorny problem, and that funding social care is extremely expensive and difficult; that is why cross-party talks are so urgent. I urge the Secretary of State to instigate those as soon as possible, so that we can work towards a permanent fix for social care. Liberal Democrats believe that free personal care on the Scotland model would be the best way of achieving that, and the Institute for Public Policy Research says that we could save £3.3 billion by 2031 by implementing that model. That would be a good investment, because it would save taxpayer money and it would keep people in their homes—where they want to be—with dignity.

The debate today covers other public services, and I want to touch on a couple; education is an important one, and we welcome the investment in it, but I want to talk a bit about SEND budgets and local authorities. Schools are under enormous pressure to provide SEND measures for the children they look after, and local authorities are under huge pressure to provide transport and specialist places. The £1 billion for local government will be insufficient to deal with social care, the SEND crisis and SEND transport. As the hon. Member for South Shropshire (Stuart Anderson) mentioned, Shropshire council is spending about 80% of its budget on social care, so without adequate measures for social care, it seems unlikely that this Budget will address all the problems that local authorities need to deal with.

We are therefore concerned about the decision to put VAT on private school fees. Schools such as Oswestry school in my constituency take a relatively large number of pupils who have failed to thrive in a larger setting. They have special educational needs but no education, health and care plan, and they might even have refused school altogether. There is a risk that those children, whose parents are saving hard to put them into that alternative place, will end up back in the state sector, where their needs are not met. They might refuse to go to school, and the school would struggle to cope with those additional children. The capital expenditure is welcome, and I hope that the demountable buildings at the Corbet school in Baschurch will benefit from that announcement, but I urge the Government to reconsider some of those measures.

On transport, it was disappointing to see the bus fare cap increased, although in Shropshire it will not make any difference, because it is almost impossible to catch a bus anywhere. We would really like to see some of the detail behind the public transport plans announced by the Chancellor, particularly the bus service improvement plan that Shropshire council has put forward, and railway schemes such as the Oswestry to Berwyn line.

Finally—it may be stretching it to call this a point about public services—I believe that farmers provide an essential public service in feeding us, looking after the countryside and protecting the rural environment, and it is disappointing to see that there is confusion between the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Treasury about how many farms will be affected. My sense from talking to local farmers in Shropshire is that the DEFRA numbers are more accurate.

[Peter Swallow (Bracknell) (Lab)]

Does the hon. Lady not see that by opposing every measure in the Budget to raise money while supporting every measure to spend more money on our vital public services, she is creating a bigger problem than the one we inherited from the last Government?

[Helen Morgan]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. The point that we are trying to make is that some of the Budget measures will cost extra money. If we look at the detail on the national insurance contributions hike, for example, we see that changes in behaviour and exemptions for the NHS will reduce the amount of money raised to about £10 billion. We have absolutely put forward alternative measures to raise £10 billion. Whether by reversing the Tories’ cuts to the banking taxes or by putting taxes on online media giants, we would find alternative ways to raise those funds. The point about private school fees is the same. If we overburden the state sector with children who have special educational needs, difficulties and disabilities, those children will not have their needs met, and that will cost us more in the future. This is all about making sensible choices to save taxpayer money in the future and, most importantly, delivering public services to the people who need them most, whether they are trying to access NHS care or whether they need help to get through their school career in order to thrive and achieve their potential.

--- Later in debate ---

[Peter Swallow (Bracknell) (Lab)]

I start by declaring that my brother and his wife are both NHS doctors, and I am incredibly proud of them.

The Budget begins the work to undo a decade of recklessness and neglect by the Conservatives, who left our NHS uncared for, our schools crumbling and carers unsupported. It will fix the foundations of our economy, build the growth we need to invest in public services and end 14 years of Tory austerity. With this Budget, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor has put forward a bold, tough vision to deliver on our manifesto promise of change—£25.7 billion over two years for the NHS to slash waiting times, with an extra 40,000 elective appointments a week, and £2 billion committed to technology to begin a serious transformation towards digital healthcare.

Labour Members understand the need to fund our NHS properly, but we also understand that after 14 years of neglect, the NHS is badly in need of reform. We cannot cure 14 years of sickness in one Budget, but with this investment, we are finally taking the medicine we need.

I warmly welcome the £1 billion investment the Chancellor is making to address the crisis in special educational needs—a first step in fixing a broken system. During the Conservative leadership contest, the new Leader of the Opposition endorsed the view that getting an autism diagnosis brings

“economic advantages and protections”

and

“better treatment or equipment”.

That is a far cry from the experience of parents and children with SEND in my constituency. The Leader of the Opposition would do well to listen to the former Conservative Education Secretary, who described the SEND system under her party as “lose, lose, lose”. The Government’s commitment to increase SEND funding by £1 billion is a step towards addressing the crisis. It must be only the beginning of tackling this huge long-term problem. Ultimately, the system needs root and branch reform, but the money will start to make real, concrete differences and to break down the barriers to opportunity for many young people in Bracknell and across the country.

I will briefly mention the fantastic commitment to set up a £44 million investment to trial a new kinship carer’s allowance—again, that is a real contribution to solving a problem that has long been neglected.

This is a Budget that invests in our NHS, in education, and in families and working people. If the Opposition choose to oppose it, they need to be honest with their constituents and the British people about what that means. Opposing the Budget means less money for our NHS, less money for our struggling SEND system, and no additional support for the kinship carers who have felt invisible for too long. The Government have chosen to fix the foundations—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

Order. I call Dr Peter Prinsley.