Budget Resolutions

Rachel Reeves Excerpts

Wednesday 11th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves (Leeds West) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Stockton South (Matt Vickers). Like him, I want to see a levelling up of investment in the north of England to benefit places such as Stockton, but also places such as Leeds. He mentioned Tetley tea, but I think he knows that the Chancellor prefers Yorkshire Tea. However, apart from that, I am sure they will work together to achieve what we all want to achieve for our country.

Let me start by talking about the measures the Government have taken today to tackle the pandemic of coronavirus. I very much welcome additional support for the national health service, which is much needed. I also support the investment and support for businesses, which will be welcomed by small businesses in all our constituencies. However, I want to say something about the support that has been offered to workers. At Prime Minister’s questions today, the Prime Minister said no one will be penalised for doing the right thing, and I think we can all agree in the House that that must absolutely be the case if we are to protect the health of not only individuals but all of us in wider society.

However, I am afraid that today’s announcements on statutory sick pay and access to benefits for people who have to self-isolate do not rise to meet the mission set out by the Prime Minister. At £94.25 a week, statutory sick pay is about 40% of what someone would take home if they were earning the minimum wage. We all know that living on the minimum wage is hard enough, but living on £94.25 a week is almost impossible. If people are to be penalised for self-isolating, I am afraid that the number of people who self-isolate will not be as high as we need to see. If people are given the choice between self-isolating—protecting themselves—and putting food on the table, paying their rent and paying their mortgage, we have to worry about the choices they will make as they are put in an impossible situation for themselves and their family. I urge the Government to think again about the level of statutory sick pay if we want people to take it.

We know that 16 million people in this country have savings of less than £100, and we know that 60% of people on low and middle incomes have no savings whatsoever. How people will survive on such a meagre amount of money, I just do now know, but many people will not even be eligible for statutory sick pay—those who are self-employed or who earn less than £118 a week. The Government are telling them to draw on ESA or universal credit, but there is a waiting period and conditionality involved. People with even meagre savings or a partner who works may not be eligible for that support, so I urge the Government to think again about the support we give to people who are doing the right thing and protecting all of us by self-isolating if they feel the need to do so.

The coronavirus pandemic has thrown into sharp relief what is happening in our labour market today. We have 4.7 million people in self-employment—many of them by choice, but many of them have no option but to take that route—and 1 million people on zero-hours contracts, many of them not earning enough to make ends meet. They will also be caught out by the coronavirus. Ahead of the employment Bill, this is an opportunity for the Government to reflect on what sort of economy we are creating and on the conditions in which many working people in all our constituencies find themselves.

Beyond that, despite support for the national health service, there is nothing in the Budget about support for local councils, which are often on the frontline of public health and social care. I am sure this is not the last time we will hear from the Chancellor as the pandemic grows, as many expect, in the weeks and months to come, so I urge the Government to look again at support for local government to support our communities.

The Chancellor also announced an increase in the immigration surcharge for the national health service, which will also apply to EU citizens. He says it will raise £1.5 billion, but at what cost? We need people to access our national health service. It is in all our interests that people access the national health service to get the support and treatment they need. If they do not and they take decisions that put all our health and safety at risk, the Government will have to ask why they have taken this decision today.

I urge the Government to think again about support for workers, about support for local councils and about the immigration surcharge, which seems incredibly misjudged at this time. I also urge them to make more multinational efforts, particularly to help the poorest countries in the world that do not have the health service we are lucky to have in our country, to ensure that they, too, can deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

On the economic outlook, we have now had 10 years of Conservative government, and what do we have to show for it? The Office for Budget Responsibility predicts growth to be 1.1% this year, which is before taking the impact of the coronavirus into account. By 2024, the end of the forecast period, the OBR expects growth of 1.4%. At the same time, the national debt is forecast to be £2 trillion by the end of this Parliament. That is double what the Conservatives inherited from the last Labour Government in 2010, and the truth is that stunting growth, by cutting Government spending, by discouraging businesses to invest and by allowing productivity to stagnate, chokes off the growth we need to raise living standards, reduce our budget deficit and pay back the national debt. Ten years of austerity has been a failed experiment and, frankly, we are all paying the price.

Today’s Budget should have been a green Budget. It should have been the greenest Budget ever because, in eight months’ time, we have the privilege and responsibility of hosting COP26 in Glasgow. This is an opportunity for Britain to show global leadership and to show our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren that have done all we can to tackle the climate emergency. Yet what have we had in the Budget today? We have had £27 billion to invest in 4,000 miles of roads, and the fuel duty freeze, which costs £2.7 billion, but just £6 billion for local transport and a mere £140 million for a one-year extension of the electric vehicle grants. Frankly, that does not speak of a Government who recognise the scale of the challenge we face, and I urge them to ensure that in the spending review and the national infrastructure plan we are much more ambitious in tackling the climate emergency.

The Government announced £800 million for carbon capture and storage today. Those of us who served on the Select Committee on Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in the last Parliament will very much welcome that, but there is a lot of fanfare when the Government make these announcements and not so much when they cancel them. Just four years ago, the Government cancelled £1 billion of investment in CCS, yet they expect us to stand up and cheer when they announce £800 million today. We could be well on the way in delivering CCS, but instead we are four years behind, allowing other countries to steal a lead on us and take advantage in the global market for these new technologies.

I welcome the investment in flood defences that the Chancellor announced today, and well I might, as my constituency was badly affected by Storm Eva and the floods in 2015. We are spending £5.2 billion on flood defences and I am sure that we will be spending much more than that in years to come, because as the climate emergency worsens, we are going to be at greater risk of extreme weather events and flooding. It would be much better to be spending more to tackle the climate emergency, in order to ensure that we do not have these extreme weather events and flooding. So, again, I urge the Government, ahead of COP26, to ensure that we are doing everything we can to tackle the climate emergency that we face.

I shall end by saying that we have waited a long time for this Budget, but I expect we will be hearing a lot more from the Chancellor in the weeks and months ahead, as he has to come back to this House with a range of projects on national infrastructure, on the spending review and, possibly, on tackling the coronavirus as well. When he gets it right, he will get support from our side of the House, as he does on flood defences and the investment in the national health service today, but it is the Opposition’s role to scrutinise the Government and push them to go further to support all of our constituents, be it on coronavirus or the climate emergency.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

Prime Minister's Update

Rachel Reeves Excerpts

Wednesday 25th September 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I think we will concentrate on winning that overall majority first, but I share my right hon. Friend’s sentiments entirely.

[Rachel Reeves (Leeds West) (Lab)]

This afternoon has been a horrendous spectacle. We have a Prime Minister who has broken the law and uses dangerous language of betrayal and surrender, which sows division and worse in the communities we all serve, and then we have his MPs clapping him for doing so. This afternoon has taught us how important it is that Parliament is sitting in these crucial weeks, because it is only with Parliament sitting that we can hold this Government to account. That is why it is so important that Parliament is not dissolved for a general election or prorogued again—so that we can continue to hold this Government to account. If the Prime Minister has broken the law once, why should we trust him not to do the same again?

[The Prime Minister]

I must respectfully disagree with the hon. Lady’s characterisation of the surrender Act—[Interruption.] It has done damage and was intended to damage this country’s negotiating position. It is also right in this context to work hard together to get a deal done and to deliver on the mandate of the people, because that is what her constituents would want.

G7 Summit

Rachel Reeves Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd September 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I think my hon. Friend can take it that what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

[Rachel Reeves (Leeds West) (Lab)]

Your argument seems to be that you have a plan but that you just cannot share it with the House, or indeed with Chancellor Merkel, and that we just have to trust you; and that Parliament, which has a mandate—unlike your Government, who no longer have a majority—should not legislate against a no deal because that would somehow scupper your plans, which nobody knows. Prime Minister, why should we trust that you have a plan and, indeed, that you can deliver it?

[The Prime Minister]

I will tell you why, Mr Speaker. It is because the alternative is more delay, more chaos, more confusion and uncertainty for British business, and the infinite protraction of UK membership of the EU at the behest of the EU itself. That is what the Leader of the Opposition is proposing.

European Council

Rachel Reeves Excerpts

Monday 25th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I think the Chancellor of the Exchequer made the point that this was one of the propositions. It is indeed one of the propositions that has been put forward. Members from across the House have referenced that already, but I assure my right hon. Friend that I have not changed my view about it. As I indicated earlier, I believe we should deliver on the result of the first referendum.

[Rachel Reeves (Leeds West) (Lab)]

The Prime Minister speaks of the frustration felt by MPs. Does she accept that it is born out of her intransigence, which is the greatest barrier to getting a deal? Following on from the question of my right hon. Friend the Member for Leeds Central (Hilary Benn), if we do not get a deal through Parliament by this Friday, in 18 days—by 12 April—we will have to decide whether we want a longer extension or to crash out without a deal. Given that Parliament has voted twice already not to leave without a deal, will the Prime Minister confirm that, by 12 April, she will seek that longer extension and abide by Parliament’s wishes?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady is right about the result of the Council meeting that took place last week. If we can guarantee Brexit by agreeing a deal this week, we will leave on 22 May, and we have been clear about the commitment to facilitate seeing whether there is a majority in the House for anything. However, the Government cannot be expected simply to say that we will accept anything that comes through. We all stood on manifestos; we all have positions in relation to our duty to deliver on the referendum. I think that that is important and we should keep it in our minds.

Interserve

Rachel Reeves Excerpts

Monday 18th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Oliver Dowden]

As ever, my hon. Friend raises a very important point. He is absolutely right that, post-Carillion, we must ensure that we strengthen the supply chain. One of the ways in which we do that is through increased diversity, particularly by enabling small and medium-sized enterprises to bid and win Government contracts. That is why we have reduced complex pre-qualification questionnaires, why we have set a very demanding target of 33% of all contracts going to SMEs and why, in November, I announced proposals to ensure that strategic suppliers who did not pay their subcontractors on time would face exclusion from winning Government contracts.

[Rachel Reeves (Leeds West) (Lab)]

The Minister spoke as though just a couple of bad mistakes were made at Interserve, but the truth is that this company had gross borrowings of £850 million and an operating profit last year of just £93 million, owing to a whole series of bad mistakes. When my Select Committee did our inquiry into the collapse of Carillion, we warned that it was unlikely to be a one-off and that the whole model, the whole system, was broken. As with Carillion before, the vultures are circling this firm, earning tens of millions of pounds. A total of £90 million was paid out in the past 12 months to advisers—EY, now acting as the administrator; Rothschild, which is advising Interserve; and Grant Thornton, which is bringing in money as well. Why not let the hospitals, the schools, the local authorities and others take these contracts back in-house and manage them in-house in future rather than have this failed contracting-out model? Rather than paying out millions of pounds to advisers, this money should be invested instead in the crucial public services on which we all rely.

[Oliver Dowden]

I have a great deal of respect for the hon. Lady and I know that she has considerable expertise in this field. It is precisely for that reason that in reforming the process of outsourcing—the so-called playbook, the decisions that the Government go through in deciding how and whether to outsource—we now consider whether it is better to bring services in-house or to outsource them. There is a lot of evidence to show that outsourcing brings genuine efficiency savings and genuine innovation—the evidence shows that it can be between 20% and 30%. She castigates me for my description of the situation in respect of Interserve. It is very different from Carillion. There is one major problem for Interserve and that is in respect of the energy for waste contracts. I would much rather that Interserve had dealt with that itself and not been forced into a pre-pack administration. Unfortunately, the shareholders did not consent to that, but the net effect of all of this is that the company is strengthened. It has £100 million more in cash and has considerably reduced debt.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rachel Reeves Excerpts

Wednesday 13th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. In wishing the hon. Lady a very happy birthday and hoping that the House will join me in doing so, I call Rachel Reeves.

[Rachel Reeves (Leeds West) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker—21 again.

My constituent Harriet recently gave birth to her baby three months premature. When Harriet was due to return to work, her baby had only recently come out of hospital, and she had to choose between taking additional time off work but struggling to pay the bills or returning to work but missing crucial bonding time with her baby. The Government had committed to reviewing the issue by the end of January, but we are now halfway through February. Will the Prime Minister commit to taking action and to extending parental leave for the parents of children who end up in neonatal wards?

[The Prime Minister]

First, happy birthday to the hon. Lady. We are reviewing the situation, and we are also looking at what applies in other circumstances, such as miscarriage. I will ensure that she receives a written response.

Leaving the EU

Rachel Reeves Excerpts

Tuesday 12th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

As my right hon. Friend already knows, I want to see the future relationship in place by the beginning of 2021, which is well in advance of the next general election. The other point he made is absolutely the point I have been making to the European Union. One of the concerns of this House was that any assurances given on the temporary nature of the backstop in early January were not of the same legal form as the international treaty that forms the withdrawal agreement. That is why we are asking for the assurances to have a legally binding status. The obvious way to do that is within the withdrawal agreement.

[Rachel Reeves (Leeds West) (Lab)]

I say to the right hon. Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson) that the humiliation this country faces is losing jobs and investment. That is the issue we should be focusing on.

The Business Secretary told our Select Committee last week that Friday 15 February is the deadline for getting a deal for businesses that export to the far east, as shipments take six weeks to arrive. Does the Prime Minister agree with the Business Secretary? Will she guarantee that those free trade agreements that we enjoy today will still exist when those goods arrive on 29 March?

[The Prime Minister]

We are well aware of the timetables that businesses are working to. That is why we have been pressing and working hard to get the deal agreed by the House and the European Union. It is also the case that we are working on those trade agreements. A number of continuity agreements have been signed with trading nations around the world to ensure that we can continue to trade on the current arrangements.

European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018

Rachel Reeves Excerpts

Tuesday 29th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves (Leeds West) (Lab)]

I rise to speak to amendment (j), which is in my name and the name of other right hon. and hon. Members, and to express support for the amendments tabled by the Leader of the Opposition, by my right hon. Friends the Members for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper) and for Leeds Central (Hilary Benn), by the right hon. Member for Meriden (Dame Caroline Spelman) and by the right hon. and learned Member for Beaconsfield (Mr Grieve).

I am motivated to move amendment (j) because I want so much to rule out leaving without a deal on 29 March. If there is just a month before we are due to leave the European Union and we do not have a deal, extending article 50 is the way to achieve ruling that out. I come to this debate with the evidence we have taken on the Select Committee on Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy ringing in my ears. Businesses have many views about where, and with what sort of deal, they want to end up, but what unites them is a determination not to crash out of the European Union without any deal at all, because of the impact that would have on free and frictionless trade, which businesses have grown to rely on through our membership of the European Union over the past decades.

We heard evidence from Honda, which warned our Select Committee that every 15 minutes of delay at the border cost £850,000; from the Food and Drink Federation, which talked about how European businesses could

“hoover up the markets that have previously been well served by UK companies”;

from pharmaceutical companies; and most recently from the British Retail Consortium.

[Emma Reynolds]

Does my hon. Friend agree that the threat of no deal is already having a material effect? Businesses in the west midlands tell me that they are already putting orders on hold and withdrawing or postponing investment decisions because of the threat of no deal.

[Rachel Reeves]

I absolutely agree. Passing my amendment would give the certainty to businesses that we will not crash out and that they do not have to look to offshore more work and potentially lay off more workers to build up their inventory supply. It will give workers certainty. Trade unions are also saying that the very worst thing for our economy and for people working in our economy is to crash out without a deal. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford said, it will also provide assurance to families and pensioners, particularly those on fixed incomes who are incredibly worried about the rising costs of essentials in the shops when they are already struggling with the cost of living.

[Mark Pawsey]

The hon. Lady is a very effective Chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee. She heard, as I did, businesses argue for no deal, but in the main businesses say they recognise that the Prime Minister’s deal, while having many faults, is better than the continued uncertainty. Why is the hon. Lady not able to accept that contention from the businesses we have heard? Why does she think that her method of continuing the process is better than accepting what we heard businesses say?

[Rachel Reeves]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. He and the hon. Member for Eddisbury (Antoinette Sandbach) are fantastic members of my Select Committee—as are all the members. The deal has been rejected; all my amendment says is that, if we get to 26 February and we still have agreed not agreed a deal just 31 days before we are due to leave the European Union, we need at that point to have in place a mechanism to give us more time. That is simply what my amendment would do. It does not propose that we extend article 50 today and it does not come to a conclusion about the final deal, but it does say that we need time to get this right, to secure a deal so that we do not crash out without a deal. For business and, as other Members have said, for policing and security, we must avoid the chaos that we all know will occur if we crash out without a deal. I believe that the Prime Minister knows that, too. The amendment would give her and the Government the space to get the right deal.

The most obvious way to ensure that we do not leave without a deal is to take no deal on 29 March off the table. The way to do that is to put in its place this mechanism to extend article 50 if we get to 26 February without having secured a deal. It will give us the time we desperately need to get this right. It is exactly the opposite of the dangerous tactic of running down the clock and putting pressure on Members to agree a deal that many of us think and believe very strongly is a bad deal for our country.

[Mr Betts]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Rachel Reeves]

I will not give way, because of the time, if that is okay.

My amendment is very simple. It calls on the Government to extend article 50 in the event that we do not have a deal by 26 February. The Prime Minister could still come back to the House on 13 or 14 February and if she can get her deal through Parliament, the amendment will become irrelevant. The Prime Minister still has another month to secure agreement, but the amendment would give us further time if that is necessary. My amendment does not specify an amount of time for which we should extend article 50. It would be up to the Government to agree that with our counterparts in the European Union.

My amendment differs from amendment (b) tabled by my right hon. Friend the Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford. My right hon. Friend, rightly, is trying to secure through legislation an extension to article 50 if needed, because so many of us have lost trust and lost faith in this Government. They have let us down on too many occasions. My amendment does not seek to go as far, although I very much support her amendment and will be voting for it this evening.

There are many alternatives, so let us explore them with the time that we have left. Let us try to find consensus and compromise. Let us not box ourselves in, get this wrong and have to live with the consequences either of a bad deal or of crashing out without a deal. We are all under conflicting pressures. We have duties to our constituents and obligations to our parties, and we must also listen to our consciences. I believe that, on such issues, we must put those interests aside and act in the national interest. We must rise to that challenge when we vote this evening.

My message to right hon. and hon. Members about the merits of my amendment, and why I hope they will support it, is straightforward. If they voted to leave and want to see Brexit resolved but are worried about the danger of a no-deal Brexit, it would remove that risk. If they are pushing for a Norway-plus solution, it would keep open that possibility. If they are looking to protect environmental standards, consumer and workers’ rights, the customs union and a strong single market deal, it would allow them to continue making that argument and win it. If they want a people’s vote, but accept that the immediate priority must be to take no deal off the table, it is a key part of that process.

With the countdown clock ticking down by the day, we must all work together and agree a way forward by joining forces to end any prospect of a no-deal Brexit. We must have time to come up with a workable solution. We must not let down our country and crash out of the European Union without a deal, so I urge hon. Members to support my amendment.

[Mr Speaker]

A five-minute limit now applies.

Leaving the European Union

Rachel Reeves Excerpts

Monday 21st January 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We continue to talk to the Irish Government about their position in relation to the back- stop. The formal position, of course, is that the issue of customs across the border—dealing with the border—is an EU competence and therefore not an individual member state competence. But of course the position that the Irish Government take will be an important element of any consideration that the EU gives to any proposals that we put forward. We will continue to talk to them.

[Rachel Reeves (Leeds West) (Lab)]

The Prime Minister says that she wants to find a way forward but without allowing Parliament to vote on the different options, it is unclear how we can discover where consensus lies. Is it not the truth that any alternative to the Prime Minister’s deal—whether a Norway-type model, a Canada-type model, a customs union or a people’s vote—requires more time to negotiate or to go back to the country?

The Prime Minister says that extending article 50 is just putting off the decision, but the truth is that, by failing to build a consensus, the only way we can leave without a deal—now that her deal has been so roundly rejected by the House—is to extend article 50. Even at this late stage, will the Prime Minister now agree to do that?

[The Prime Minister]

We are continuing to work to see what deal would secure the support of the House such that we can leave the European Union with a deal. I also say to the hon. Lady that extending article 50 is not the great hope that she has—that somehow it solves everything. It defers the point at which the decision needs to be taken. There are limitations to what will be possible. This is not a decision for the United Kingdom alone and the EU would be highly unlikely to agree an extension to article 50 unless it had the prospect that an agreement, a deal, would be delivered. Talks to ensure that we can identify what deal can be delivered is what we are engaging in.

Leaving the EU

Rachel Reeves Excerpts

Monday 14th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We have the outline of that free trade deal with the EU; we have set that out in the political declaration. We have the opportunity and commitment to ensure that that can be put in place by December 2020 by agreeing the withdrawal agreement and the package with the political declaration, and I believe that is the right thing to do.

[Rachel Reeves (Leeds West) (Lab)]

Last week Parliament voted in favour of two amendments tabled from the Back Benches, by my right hon. Friend the Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper) and by the right hon. and learned Member for Beaconsfield (Mr Grieve). The support for those amendments against the wishes of the Government makes it clear that Parliament does not support leaving the EU without a deal. The Prime Minister said in her statement just now that no deal would mean no implementation period, no security arrangements in place and no certainty for businesses and workers, and would put the future of Northern Ireland at risk. Given how catastrophic the Prime Minister accepts a no-deal Brexit would be, will she now rule it out and instead look to extend article 50 if and when Parliament rejects her deal tomorrow?

[The Prime Minister]

It is very simple; either we have no deal or we have a deal. The deal on the table is a good deal for the UK and the EU has made clear that it is the deal.