National Infrastructure Plan
Debate between Richard Burden and Danny Alexander(10 years, 8 months ago)
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Danny Alexander
My hon. Friend makes the case incredibly powerfully. We are investing in infrastructure up and down this country. We are delivering massive investment. He gave a list and I could give an even longer list from the north, the south, the midlands and across the whole of the United Kingdom. The Labour party has called for consensus on infrastructure. That consensus could best be achieved by Labour setting out its support for the best long-term plan for infrastructure this country has ever had.
Richard Burden (Birmingham, Northfield) (Lab)
If the Government’s record in delivering infrastructure projects is as the Chief Secretary claims, rather than as my hon. Friend the shadow Chief Secretary claims, why did the Financial Times this week quote John Cridland, director general of the CBI, accusing the Government of “talking the talk” rather than delivering on projects, and why did Richard Laudy, head of infrastructure at the construction law firm Pinsent Masons, echo the view of much of the industry when he said he expected more “smoke and mirrors” from the Government?
Danny Alexander
Some things are beyond the ken of most of us in this world and the editorial decisions of the Financial Times are one such matter. There has been a very strong welcome from industry for this plan and its previous iterations, including, as we have heard, from constituencies where projects are being taken forward. That is precisely because this Government are the first to have a long-term plan for infrastructure with a clear pipeline of projects that are being delivered up and down the country. The hon. Gentleman should welcome that.
Comprehensive Spending Review
Debate between Richard Burden and Danny Alexander(13 years, 10 months ago)
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Danny Alexander
I am going to press on and answer this point. I shall give way in a moment.
The right hon. Gentleman talked about our analyses counting measures proposed but not yet introduced by the previous Government. I have to tell him that the measures are as much a part of our plan as any others we have introduced. We took the decision to proceed with them. However, I am glad to say that some of the measures proposed by the previous Government did not make it into our final analysis. We rejected the jobs tax—[Interruption.] They do not like it! We rejected cuts to the overall NHS budget and we rejected the idea of burdening future generations with debt. They were wrong and they were stopped.
Our progressive approach also places responsibility on the banks to make their fair contribution. We will continue to press banks to do more and to bring forward reforms to improve our financial system. That is why we introduced the bank levy. The previous Government stalled on that, saying that we would need international agreement first, but we went ahead with it. As the banks need to follow the spirit and not just the letter of the law, we have engaged in a concerted effort to get the leading banks to sign up to the code of practice on taxation by the end of November. We must ensure that everyone, no matter how rich, pays the taxes they owe. That is why we have agreed a new £900 million package for HMRC. That investment will fund a clampdown, bringing in £7 billion a year by the end of the Parliament.
Richard Burden (Birmingham, Northfield) (Lab)
On banks and fairness, will the Minister confirm that families with children are being asked to contribute twice as much to deficit reduction as the banks? How is that fair?
Danny Alexander
No, I will not confirm that. We have made many spending choices to invest additional resources in families with children—a pupil premium in the schools system and an entitlement to 15 hours of free nursery care for two-year-olds in addition to the 15-hour entitlement for three and four-year-olds that we introduced.
Our clampdown on tax avoidance will bring in £7 billion a year by the end of the Parliament, because there is no place for tax cheats in our society—neither is there a place for people who cheat the benefit system. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has introduced new plans to tackle benefit fraud.