The Economy

Debate between Richard Drax and Chris Loder

Wednesday 8th July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Richard Drax (South Dorset) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to take part in the debate. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for North East Bedfordshire (Richard Fuller), who spoke with such common sense. In the short time I have, I will concentrate on the self-employed, the financial world and all the businessmen and women who risk everything to create the wealth and prosperity that we need.

I repeat from Dorset business to the Front Benchers and the Treasury: thank you very much indeed for all the furlough scheme and the announcements made today. The thanks I receive is unanimous—despite what we may hear in other quarters, not least the media. People are extremely grateful for the thousands of jobs in South Dorset that are being saved and for the millions of jobs that are being saved around the country.

Today’s announcement is especially good news for the young, who face threats from this covid in getting into work—my own children included, of course, who are facing the same problem. I welcome that announcement, and the announcement for the hospitality sector, which in South Dorset in particular has been hit hard, because we rely so much on tourism and hospitality to make the economy go around. I will also touch briefly on taxation and the private sector, our armed forces if I have time, and Dorset Council and police if I have a little more time.

Never, in my view, has there been a better opportunity radically to overhaul the taxation system in this country. It is outdated, punitive and bureaucratic. I welcome the announcements made today on VAT and stamp duty. That is a start, but let us get rid of them altogether. Let us go much further—capital gains tax, inheritance tax. Look where our poll rating went when, if I recall correctly, George Osborne raised the threshold to £1 million. It is people’s money, and we have no right to take money off people unfairly.

The economy will only work if we allow the entrepreneurs, the businessmen and women, the financial sector, the self-employed and everyone else that my hon. Friend the Member for North East Bedfordshire mentioned to generate the wealth that we need. From the Opposition Benches, it is the classic old, “Let’s tax them and tax them.” They simply do not understand, and never ever will, that all those risking their homes, their livelihoods and their families generate the wealth that this country needs to generate the wealth, prosperity and jobs that pay for public services.

[Chris Loder (West Dorset) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that in constituencies such as mine, where 97% of businesses are micro and small-sized, such businesses should absolutely be at the forefront of what we do?

[Richard Drax]

I entirely concur with my hon. Friend and neighbour in West Dorset—I welcome him to his place.

I have time quickly to mention the armed services. The covid crisis has shown how professional, dedicated and truly treasured the armed services are—in addition, of course, to all those who work in the NHS, to whom I pay equal tribute. We must never forget that the armed services need to be funded properly, and in my view 2% of GDP is not enough; we need 3% or 4%. I urge the Treasury to keep fighting on behalf of those whose serve us with such distinction.

On Dorset Council and police, both face huge extra costs because of covid and the hundreds of thousands who descended on our beaches and coves over recent weekends. Dorset Council estimates that it is spending about £50 million a month on covid provision. It has done an outstanding job, and I pay tribute to Dorset Council and to Dorset police for the selfless way in which people have worked over many hours and many weekends for no extra pay. I thank them all.

I will end by saying, we locked the country down once; I recommend to the Treasury that we never, ever do it again.

Policing (England and Wales)

Debate between Richard Drax and Chris Loder

Monday 24th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[Richard Drax]

No, I will not give way, because others wish to speak. There are maiden speeches to be given, and I very much look forward to hearing them.

May I first pay tribute to Dorset police—the chief constable and all the officers who serve under Dorset police?

[Chris Loder (West Dorset) (Con)]

Hear, hear!

[Richard Drax]

Ah, there is another Dorset MP in his place. The Dorset police do a fantastic job, as I am sure my hon. Friend would agree.

The aim of the police, in my view, is to prevent crime and to catch criminals—that is it. I welcome my hon. Friend the Minister to his place. He is doing a wonderful job, as he always has, and will be an extremely able Minister. I am sure he would agree that the police have more and more pressures piled on them, from looking after people with mental health issues to picking up wandering dogs. That is not their job. Their job is to catch criminals and to prevent crime. A lot of their time is taken up with doing other tasks. I am most grateful to my hon. Friend for this increase in our funding, but I must remind him, as I have done in the past, that Dorset is near the bottom of the pile. We welcome the levelling up, but more levelling up is needed, and the funding formula, which Opposition Members have mentioned, definitely needs to be looked at.

Before I get on to the three points that the police and crime commissioner has asked me to raise, I would like to touch on minor crime. I will not speak for very long. We hear time and again about the effects of minor crime. As a journalist for 17 years, I covered those sorts of things, and I saw the damage that they did. One old lady, for example, lost all her belongings when a burglar stole her husband’s war medals. She died a year later from a broken heart. That is not a minor crime. It is burglary, which is very serious, and the effects of it are devastating. That is why we need more police officers on the beat. I understand that the nature of crime has changed and that more officers are now behind the scenes dealing with online crime and all those things. I get that, but that does not negate the need for men and women in uniform—not in yellow jackets. Can we get them back in their blue uniforms with the proper hats, please, so that we know what a policeman looks like? They stand for law and order. They are not a whole bunch of children on a sort of trail with yellow jackets all over the place. We need more officers on the beat, so that people can actually see them and the criminals who are about to commit a crime can see them. That means foot patrols in our cities, our towns and our villages. There is nothing that beats a foot patrol. I know that because I am an ex-soldier who served in Northern Ireland. That was our job—to deter the terrorist and, in the event, to catch them in the act.