Spring Statement

Debate between Rachael Maskell and Rachel Reeves

Wednesday 26th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

The OBR has not taken into account any of the package of measures to get people back into work or looked at any behavioural effects of people making that switch into work. It said in that document that it will spend the summer looking at the entirety of the package, including the efforts we are making with a huge package to get people back into work. I am confident that that personalised, targeted support will get more people into work and lift them out of poverty, so that they can support their families and so that the economy can benefit from their contribution.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

Fiscal responsibility under this Government, unlike the previous Administration, ensures that people are paying less and keeps the cost of living down. However, as the Labour party, we have an additional social responsibility, so can we look at those DWP changes again? Of course we have to protect the most vulnerable, but we are really worried about the people just above that band who are set to lose out.

[Rachel Reeves]

I thank my hon. Friend for that question, and I share the deep concern felt by everyone on the Government Benches—in fact, everyone in this Chamber—about the most sick and disabled, who need support. That is why we have set out in the Green Paper that we are consulting on an additional premium payment to the most severely disabled. It is also why, instead of writing people off and not providing the support that they need to do a job that matches their abilities and needs, we are providing that personalised, targeted support. I was at a jobcentre last week in Pudsey, in my constituency, where I heard amazing stories of work coaches helping people into work who are far from the labour market. We want to see more of that. We want to lift people out of poverty and help them to achieve their potential.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rachael Maskell and Rachel Reeves

Tuesday 3rd September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

T4. In York, the average rent rise of 11.9% exceeded the state pension rise by £380 this year. With the loss of the cost of living payments and winter fuel payments, and the increase in the energy price cap and cost of living, pensioners are frightened about how they are going to keep warm this winter, as am I. In changing the eligibility for the winter fuel payment, how will my right hon. Friend protect pensioners above the pension credit threshold to prevent cold, ill health or worse this winter?

[Rachel Reeves]

The basic state pension is worth £900 more than it was a year ago, and will go up again in April next year because of the triple lock, which we have committed to for the duration of this Parliament. We have already written to York council and are working with local authorities across the country to boost take-up of pension credit, because this Government, unlike the last Government, are determined to ensure that 800,000 people entitled to pension credit actually receive it.

Public Spending: Inheritance

Debate between Rachael Maskell and Rachel Reeves

Monday 29th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and welcome to your place.

I thank my right hon. Friend for her forensic approach to the nation’s finances. As she digs deeper, she will see that York, the city I represent, is at the bottom of many of the matrices for the funding formulas. Will she look at the funding formulas before the Budget so that we can see the distribution of funding? The last Government handed out, for pet projects, much of the money that she is trying to get control of now, but will she look at how that is distributed across the country?

[Rachel Reeves]

I know, particularly around flood defences, that there are many great needs in the York constituency that my hon. Friend represents. These decisions will all be made at the time of the spending review.