Fuel Duty
Richard Holden Excerpts(4 days, 7 hours ago)
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Mr Richard Holden (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)
I beg to move,
That this House believes that it is wrong to increase the main fuel duty rates on 1 September, then again on 1 December 2026, with a further increase on 1 March 2027, by a total of five pence per litre, as global oil prices are rising; notes that these increases will affect drivers, farmers, businesses and other hard-working people already struggling with higher taxes and higher cost of living as a result of the Government’s economic policies; and calls on the Government to maintain the five pence per litre cut to the main fuel duty rates introduced by the previous Government beyond September 2026.
Once again, this House has come together to hear of yet another egregious tax on transport, pushed out by this Labour Government at a time when people across the country are worried about the cost of getting around. On this occasion, in their infinite wisdom, the Government have decided that this is the opportune time to cancel the fuel duty freeze that the last Conservative Government kept for 13 years, which protected hard-working people from paying extra to get to work, attend appointments and visit friends and family. The Conservatives cut fuel duty by 5p per litre in 2022—the biggest ever cut in fuel duty—which really helped when the economy was facing headwinds from Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Under this Government, though, on top of the countless tax rises that they have already shafted us with, we cannot even get through two years before they decide that the British people need yet another tax rise. It is a tax rise that is being introduced in a sneaky and stealthy way. Labour is deploying its salami tactics—1p in September, the back to school tax; 2p in December, the Christmas shopper tax; and 2p in March, springtime for taxes. We should not forget that a 5p per litre increase in duty is actually a 6p per litre increase, because VAT is added on top of that tax.
In September last year in this Chamber, the Transport Secretary trumpeted that Labour had
“frozen fuel duty—that is what we have done”—[Official Report, 11 September 2025; Vol. 772, c. 1021.]
Yet we know that is simply not the case. It reminds me of my childhood, watching Chris Tarrant on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” saying, “But we don’t want to give you that.” The Transport Secretary has said that tax rises are now coming, not once or twice, but three times: in September, in December, and in March next year. With economic growth at a dismal 0%, the British people deserve better than underhand tactics swindling them out of the pounds in their pockets to pay for more welfare. It is a tax on every car, every van, every motorbike and every bus, and it is also a tax on hauliers, businesses and families—it is a tax on the country as a whole. Thanks to the Transport Secretary’s Government, those families will be forking out an extra £156 a year.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
I congratulate the shadow Secretary of State and the Opposition on securing this debate. It is important that we consider this matter, as we are fast approaching a crisis that cannot be circumnavigated. Does the shadow Secretary of State agree that the Government must consider reopening North sea production to produce enough for our needs, if they continue to refuse to play their part in securing fuel elsewhere? Does he not agree that fuel duty would benefit from self-reliance, rather than dependence on volatile nations, as we have at this very moment?
Mr Holden
I could not agree more with the hon. Member. We need to get back to drilling in the North sea. Norway is drilling on one side of the same basin and getting the benefit of those jobs and the tax revenue. It bemuses me why we are not doing that here. The shadow Energy Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Surrey (Claire Coutinho), has consistently said from these Benches that that is exactly what we should get on and do.
Graham Stuart (Beverley and Holderness) (Con)
My right hon. Friend makes a powerful point about North sea oil and gas extraction. The Labour party says that will not make any difference to the global price of oil and gas, but billions and billions of pounds in tax will be lost as a result of having no new licences in the North sea. Those billions could be used to replace the revenues generated by fuel duty. In fact, if the Government wished, they could convert those billions into cuts in price at the pump for every single family in the country, including those in rural Beverley and Holderness who are suffering today.
Mr Holden
My right hon. Friend makes an incredibly important point. The Government are forgoing tax revenue that is going into the coffers of other Treasuries right across Europe and across the world, but why? To what end? We will see whether Ministers will answer why they are willing to forgo hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of pounds every year. [Interruption.] They could spend that on anything they wanted to, and they are not even going to do it.
Mr Speaker
Order. Parliamentary Private Secretaries are not there to chirp all the way through and give solutions to a problem. I have great confidence in the Minister’s ability to answer when he comes to speak.
Dr Andrew Murrison (South West Wiltshire) (Con)
Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Government’s policy fails on its own terms, because they say they want to subscribe to net zero and make us much greener in how we approach our energy consumption, yet we know that importing liquefied natural gas from countries such as the US has a carbon cost that is a multiple of extracting the stuff in this country within our own territorial sea? If the Government are serious about net zero, they would therefore be pumping LNG from the North sea, not importing it from the US.
Mr Holden
My right hon. Friend makes an incredibly important point, and he makes it clearly. He is in agreement with the Climate Change Committee, which says that we will have to be using oil and gas well in to the second half of this century. Why on earth should we not drill our own at lower cost and bring in those jobs and taxation, while getting the environmental benefits of doing it on our own doorstep under British regulations? It would not be extracted in other countries with lower regulations and lower environmental standards. The best environmental standards in the world exist in our North sea.
Mr Louie French (Old Bexley and Sidcup) (Con)
Part of this debate is about sustainability and net zero. Colleagues have already made a number of interventions on that, and I understand the shadow Secretary of State’s position. Does he agree that while we are focusing on the hike in fuel duty, the Government are also increasing the charges on electric vehicle drivers? Both sets of drivers are being hammered by this Government, who have not thought through the consequences of their policy.
Mr Holden
My hon. Friend makes an interesting point at this juncture. It is clear that the Government are trying to undo the damage they have done with their new tax. They are having to put more money into the electric car grant than they will get out from these pay per mile schemes, which they had previously said they would not introduce. The Government are costing themselves more money by imposing a tax. Whether it is the North sea or taxation policy, what they are up to is incredible. The TaxPayers’ Alliance has said that, after this tax hike, the average driver will pay almost £40,000 in fuel taxes over their lifetime, and it will be a higher proportion of someone’s income if they are in a lower paid job and need a car to get about.
Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)
The shadow Secretary of State is talking about how money may be spent from taxation. I highlight that local authority road maintenance budgets halved from £4 billion to £2 billion in the 13-year period from 2006 to 2019. If we look at inflation, Bank of England data shows that from 2006 to 2026, overall inflation ran at 74%, but fuel inflation was just 58%.
Mr Holden
Indeed. On the hon. Member’s second point, inflation would have been higher overall if fuel inflation had been higher overall. He makes an important point about potholes and road maintenance. It is interesting that he stood on a manifesto at the last general election that promised to fill an extra million potholes a year. We saw the figures just a few weeks ago showing that exactly the same number of potholes were filled last year as were filled in the last year of the previous Government. I look forward to seeing his Government starting to deliver on any of their pledges. Perhaps they could do so a bit more easily if they had that tax revenue coming in from the North sea, as those on the Opposition Benches would like to see.
This is Labour’s regressive tax raid. Do we expect those on the Government Benches to understand just how punitive this tax measure will be? Of course not. How could they understand, when it is rural communities that will be hit hardest, as it always is with transport? The truth is that the Department for Transport and the Treasury working together is more like watching an episode of “Hustle”. The con is on, and it is being perpetuated by this Labour Government.
David Mundell (Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale) (Con)
Does my right hon. Friend agree that in large rural constituencies such as mine, it is not just about constituents having to pay additional fuel duty at the pump, because they also pay it through everything they buy? Everything has to be transported into these rural areas, and there are services that they require. They therefore pay twice, which makes this tax rise doubly regressive.
Mr Holden
My right hon. Friend raises an incredibly important point. It is not just those who have a car who will be paying for this policy—although they will be paying the most—and it is not just those who rely on a van for their business or work to get around who will be paying; everyone will be paying, whether they use the bus or are just going to the shops. The truth is that everything has to be transported by road in this country. This tax rise will have huge inflationary pressures right across the board, not just for fuel, whether for heating or for road transport, but, as he is right to say, for so many other areas—areas that have not even been considered by the Treasury.
Dr Luke Evans (Hinckley and Bosworth) (Con)
All my right hon. Friend’s arguments stand, and that was true before the war in Iran. The Prime Minister stood there on Monday saying that the freeze is still in place, but the world has literally changed around us. Does my right hon. Friend share my concern that this Government are not being reactive and following the change? There will be a big impact and a knock-on effect, and the Prime Minister is touting this policy as though it is new, when it was in the Budget last year.
Mr Holden
My hon. Friend makes an important point. He will be aware that when the fuel price goes up, the Government’s VAT revenues from fuel go up at the same time. They are already seeing hundreds of millions of pounds a year extra in VAT, purely from the fact that the underlying price has gone up. My hon. Friend makes another important point, which is that this is a moment for the Government to reconsider. We on the Opposition Benches opposed this measure at the Budget, because we thought hitting working families was the wrong thing to do, but it is doubly the wrong thing to do when prices are also going up internationally.
Carla Lockhart
Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that the £53 million is welcome, but that calculates to about £35 a household, which is nothing in the grand scheme of things? Does he agree that fuel duty should be cut, VAT should be removed and the North sea opened up? That should come alongside dealing with fertilisers and red diesel, which are heavily impacted too. We need support for people now.
Mr Holden
The hon. Lady raises an important point. As she suggests, the tax revenues from reopening the North sea for oil and gas could be spent in a number of ways, but we have to open the North sea—a cost-free and environmentally positive alternative—to obtain those revenues, and then we can consider all the different ways in which Members across the House would want to spend the money.
Since the Labour Government came to office, we have seen just how much they have hit transport across the country. The fuel duty rise of 5p a litre is just the latest example. First they abolished the much-loved £2 bus fare cap, which the Conservatives had pledged at the general election to continue for the entirety of this Parliament: they have put bus fares up by 50%. They have also jacked up airport business rates, by a staggering average of 295%. Who is benefiting from that? Certainly not passengers, certainly not the airlines, and certainly not British business. They have also raised air passenger duty, with passengers facing a 15% jump in one year alone, followed by permanent increases, year after year after year, of between 3% and 4%, just to get on to a plane.
In the last few weeks the Government have raised the price of railcards for the first time since—[Interruption.] Perhaps they would like to chunter about this one. Do you remember this one, guys? We hear nothing from them on this. They have raised those prices for the first time since 2013—the first time for more than 10 years. They have increased the price of senior railcards, veterans’ railcards, young people’s railcards. New taxes on people throughout the country are being raised by this Government. We are seeing a 16% rise for the first time since 2013, and they did not even know about it, because they do not care about young people, about old people, about those who are being affected by the tax rises that will be hitting people all over the country from September onwards.
Labour has also just introduced a new policy that will leave ferry passengers on the Isle of Wight facing bigger crossing charges: £30 more per crossing. That will hit family holidays in the UK, and it will hit people from the Isle of Wight who are just trying to go about their daily lives. Labour is stealthily—
Blake Stephenson (Mid Bedfordshire) (Con)
Is it worth emphasising that the Conservatives froze fuel duty for 14 years, which took £100 billion off the cost of driving? That is an example of taxes that we cut over those 14 years. In contrast, this Government have increased taxes by £66 billion in the past two years. Is it not outrageous?
Mr Holden
My hon. Friend is right, and some of those tax rises are hitting many of the companies that will also be hit by these fuel duty rises. I have spoken to hauliers, in my constituency and across the country, who already face increasing business rates and increasing national insurance costs and are now being hit with a fuel duty rise as well.
Harriet Cross (Gordon and Buchan) (Con)
My right hon. Friend is making a great speech, as we always expect from him. Does he remember that, for the 2024 Budget, the Chancellor stood there and said that increasing fuel duty would be the wrong choice for working people? She said then that that was because of uncertain global events, and that the cost of living remained high. Does my right hon. Friend remember anything changing between 2024 and now? I do not think that the position has got any better—does he?
Mr Holden
My hon. Friend is entirely right. She is also a real champion for the North sea oil and gas sector, which is largely based in her constituency.
What are we seeing on top of those taxes on railcards, ferries and airlines—through increased airline business rates—and, obviously, the 50% hike in bus fares? What else is Labour up to? Well, the Government have been talking quite a lot about something called “simpler fares.” What they are actually doing is cutting out the cheaper fares preferred by passengers and replacing them with more expensive ones. That has been confirmed, in a letter to me, by none other than the Secretary of State for Transport, who I note is not present today. She says:
“Some passengers may pay more under this new structure but will gain”
—perhaps—
“more flexibility for their return journey”.
Well, my constituent Mr Nottage, of Ramsden Bellhouse near Billericay, has been quite perturbed about having to pay an extra 10%, and he is having to pay an extra fiver a year for his senior railcard as well. That hardly suggests that rail prices have been frozen under Labour. In fact, rail prices are going up for working people across the country.
Mr French
My right hon. Friend is making a passionate speech about the increase in rail fares for his constituents in Billericay, but he will be aware that drivers in Billericay, like those on the south side in Bexley, have also faced increases in the Dartford bridge charge, which this Labour Government hiked by 40% last September. Sadiq Khan has introduced the Blackwall tunnel charge for those trying to travel from east to south and in the other direction, and the ultra low emission zone has been expanded for those who need to travel into London—again, against the wishes of people in outer London. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the problem is not just the Government’s increased taxes on drivers, but the increased taxes from the Mayor of London on everyone on the outskirts of London who needs to travel in and out?
Mr Holden
That is an extremely important point. This is not just about the Labour Government; it is also about Labour mayors and Labour councils and their war on motorists up and down the country, whether it is the Dart charge or the ULEZ charge. We have even seen Zipcar having to cease operations in the UK because of the Mayor of London’s extension of that congestion charge to electric vehicles every day. We are actually seeing a reduction in shared transport options under this Labour Government and this Labour Mayor, here in our capital city, and it is an absolute disgrace.
Mr Holden
I am sorry, but I need to make a little more progress, but I will happily come back to my hon. Friend later.
However we travel, Labour is after us. Is it a boat? Is it a train? Is it a plane? No, it is Labour’s taxman coming for us. And where will this money be spent—all the extra money from Labour’s taxes on the public? It will not be spent on hard-working families or to create jobs and boost opportunities; it will be frittered away on more welfare, because this Prime Minister and this Government Front Bench are too weak to stand up to their own Back Benchers and ensure that welfare is kept under control. They are picking the pockets of hard-working people to pay for those who choose not to work.
When it comes to paying at the pump, Rachel Reeves has been happy to try to lay the blame at the feet of the petrol stations, but what makes up most of the cost of a litre of petrol? Her fuel duty is by far the biggest chunk. In fact, taxes make up 55% of the cost of fuel, and it is going up under Labour. When the Energy Secretary was presented with these sickening statistics, he claimed:
“That’s why we’ve frozen fuel duty.”
Why on earth do the Government not do what we did by freezing it all the way through? They could do it today, but they are not going to do it because they are too afraid of their own Back Benchers when it comes to welfare. I am surprised that Members are aligning themselves with the spluttering spinelessness of Mr Miliband—I am sorry; I mean the right hon. Member for Doncaster North. We know that for her and Ed, when the facts change, when countries all around the world change, Labour just digs in.
Mr Speaker
Order. You have referred to “Rachel Reeves”, but she is the Chancellor of the Exchequer. I do not think that “Ed” is quite the right title either, and I know that you would not want to get that wrong.
Mr Holden
Of course not, Mr Speaker. The right hon. Member for Doncaster North (Ed Miliband) should always be given his proper title.
This is very similar to the Government’s pathetic intransigence when it comes to the zero emission vehicle mandate. They remain entirely aloof, soldiering on, whatever the cost is to British companies, British workers and British taxpayers. This is just like the electric car mandate, with its impact on industry. The unions—Labour’s own paymasters, for crying out loud—the Financial Times, and even the renewables sector: everyone knows that we must have a change in the electric vehicle mandate. Everyone on the Opposition side of the House also backs driving ahead with North sea oil and gas exploration, but what do the Labour Government do? They just bury their heads in the sand and turn to taxation instead in order to pay for their policies.
Mr Speaker
Order. Mr Stuart, can you make a better effort than just waving your hand? You are not at a taxi rank. Is the shadow Secretary of State giving way to Mr Stuart? There you are, Mr Stuart: he is giving way to you. If you get off the seat, it might help.
Graham Stuart
I do not know whether I am being picked on or specially singled out, but in any case, Mr Speaker, thank you for selecting me.
One aspect that my right hon. Friend has not mentioned today is the Clean Power 2030 action plan. Bringing it forward from 2035 means that we are overpaying for the renewables, and locking in those overpayments for 20 years. Does my right hon. Friend agree that, along with the immediate negative impacts on our economy and, most importantly, on our constituents, locking in long-term contracts for overpriced renewables will increase the cost of living even further?
Mr Holden
That is another important point, which has also been raised with me by companies such as electric vehicle charge point manufacturers here in the UK. Some of them are on the verge of collapse because of that high cost of electricity. Although the Government say that they are pursuing a green agenda, what they are actually doing is making electricity so expensive that no one can operate a business in this country without paying such high energy prices that it becomes uneconomical to do so.
Dave Doogan
The shadow Secretary of State mentioned his perception of the intransigence of this Labour Government, to which I would add their brittle hubris in their pursuit of not achieving any form of economic growth. Does he agree that the Chancellor would not have to keep dipping into the pockets of hard-working people in the midst of a cost of living crisis if she had a clue about how to achieve economic growth?
Mr Holden
It is not often that I agree with an SNP spokesperson, but I very much do so today. The hon. Member makes an incredibly important point. The Labour party came to office talking about how growth was its No. 1 priority. Has anybody heard Ministers, or heard the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury, the hon. Member for Swansea West (Torsten Bell), say that on the telly recently? I certainly have not. Their talking point has, sadly, been put to one side, and we can all see why. On their watch, growth has totally collapsed, inflation has gone up and unemployment has gone up. Growth has collapsed on his watch. For all of his high-falutin’ ideas, he is a member of a Government who have collapsed growth in this country, and he cannot even accept it.
Mr Holden
No, I have already given way to the hon. Member.
We in the Opposition are all praying for a U-turn on the fuel duty policy, which would be very welcome. We would rather that they had never come up with the policy in the first place because, just as with the previous 16 U-turns, we argued against each policy before the Government did it, and they then had to U-turn on them. Just as on the family farms tax, on which they have partially U-turned, the grooming gangs, on which they have U-turned, and winter fuel, on which they have had to U-turn, after sticking the boot in, we really hope they will think again about this, but I am not holding much store by that.
What is really worrying me and families and up and down the country, as well as Opposition Members as they go back to their constituents, is that people are facing cost of living pressures right across the board. Those running businesses are really having to make decisions about whether they hire another person or in many cases, sadly, let people go because of the taxes already imposed by this Government. This is just another tax—another tax on businesses, pensioners and families up and down the country.
Dame Caroline Dinenage (Gosport) (Con)
Gosport is not a rural area, but it is reportedly the largest town in the UK without a railway, so people rely on their cars to get around. We all know that the Chancellor cannot control events in the middle east, but being in government is about making choices. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the choice is whether we are going to keep punishing traders who have already had so much punishment from this Government, and keep punishing people who do not have a choice about using their cars?
Mr Holden
My hon. Friend makes the really important point that this is about choices. She is also right that many people do not have such a choice about their cars, and nobody has a choice about going to a shop to buy food, which will be delivered by some form of road transport at some point. So everybody will be paying for Labour’s road tax or fuel duty increases, and that is what we are opposing today.
My hon. Friend the Member for Gosport (Dame Caroline Dinenage) makes a broader point on the choices that this Government are making about on whose backs they are balancing the books. They are choosing to balance the books on the backs of working Britain. Businesses up and down the country are facing tax after tax and new bill after new bill, in the Government’s relentless pursuit to do our country down and throttle anything that seems to give a half chance of delivering growth, all to pay for a ballooning welfare bill. They would put Dumbo to shame, because they do not have the guts to reduce welfare—heaven forbid—and they do not even have the guts to try to slow the pace of the increase in welfare.
We voted against tax hikes in the Budget because they are the wrong thing to do for growth in our country and for families in our country. We are voting against a tax hike today because of the circumstances now. Especially with an international environment of soaring prices, to saddle motorists with an extra hike in the cost of getting around is the wrong thing to do. That is why the Leader of the Opposition tabled our motion, and why we are urging right hon. and hon. Members across this House to say no to Labour’s hikes on fuel duty.
Oral Answers to Questions
Richard Holden Excerpts(8 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Alison McGovern
I thank my hon. Friend for bringing that important case to the House. Universal credit has no fixed hours requirement, but the connection between housing costs and universal credit, as she mentioned, is still a problem. I would be keen to look at the detail of her constituent’s case. Universal credit was introduced with the promise that it would move people off benefits and into work, but that clearly has not happened as we need it to happen, so considerable work is under way to deal with the inadequacies of the mess that the Conservative Government left us.
Mr Richard Holden (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)
There are 300 more people on out-of-work benefits in Basildon and Billericay than there were 12 months ago. Local businesses tell me that that is because business rates have gone up under the Labour Government, national insurance tax has gone up under the Labour Government and taxes on investment for the long term have gone up under the Labour Government. Does the Minister agree, or has she got another explanation for the fact that 300 more of my constituents are unemployed than there were 12 months ago?
Alison McGovern
Our Department is determined to serve businesses well. If the right hon. Member would like to help his local jobcentre do that and get good jobs into the jobcentre so that we can help his constituents, I am sure that I can facilitate that. However, he should be aware that employment is up and inactivity is down. We are moving towards an 80% employment rate, and the Chancellor’s investment plans, as she set out in the spending review, will help us move towards that.
Oral Answers to Questions
Richard Holden Excerpts(1 year ago)
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Andrew Western
The right hon. Gentleman is correct to raise the issue of jobcentres reaching out to local employers. We know that we have a significant issue with whether the jobcentre is the vehicle of choice to advertise local job opportunities. That is a long-standing issue that we are keen to address. I am delighted to congratulate his local jobcentre on the work it is doing to promote the jobs fair.
Mr Richard Holden (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)
The Minister for Employment (Alison McGovern)
Official unemployment currently sits at 4.4%, which is clearly much lower than the historic high of 11.9% in June 1984. However, today’s official unemployment level masks the legacy of the Conservatives’ recent period in office, which saw the number of people off sick rise to nearly 3 million, concentrated in places with employment rates well below the national average, creating a vicious circle where people are forced to leave the place they love for the chance of a career, and where those who are left do worse and worse. That is why, as part of our “Get Britain Working” reforms, we are building a new jobs and careers service that will be locally tailored and will help everyone find access to support to get a good, meaningful job and to progress in work.
Mr Holden
Compared with this time last year, almost 500 more people are on the claimant count in Basildon and Billericay. Almost 100 of those are under 25. How many more will have to be made unemployed before Labour Ministers listen to charities, GPs, supermarkets, manufacturers and care providers? They visited me in my constituency and said that Labour needs to think again about its catastrophic national insurance rise which, before it even hits in April, is already costing the jobs of my constituents.
Alison McGovern
We have a significant reform plan to make sure that we tailor jobcentre support towards the needs of employers, because there is still a significant number of vacancies out there that young people should be making the most of to start their career and progress in life. That is why we have a new employer strategy, so that the Department for Work and Pensions can serve businesses properly.
Oral Answers to Questions
Richard Holden Excerpts(1 year, 3 months ago)
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Liz Kendall
The Government share my hon. Friend’s determination to boost the living standards of his constituents, so the “Get Britain Working” White Paper will ensure that every local area—including in his constituency—produces its own get Britain working plan. Alongside our industrial strategy, our plan to make work pay, the national wealth fund and Skills England, that will help people to get work and progress in their careers, with good opportunities for employment right across the country.
Mr Richard Holden (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Emma Reynolds)
Under the last Conservative Government, an estimated 880,000 of the poorest pensioners eligible for pension credit were not claiming it. We have launched the biggest ever pension credit awareness campaign and written to 120,000 pensioners on housing benefit, urging them to apply. As a result, claims for pension credit have more than doubled, and those who receive pension credit will also receive winter fuel payments and other related benefits.
Mr Holden
Before the last general election, the Labour party suggested that removal of the winter fuel payment would mean an extra 4,000 pensioners a year dying, freezing in poverty. How many will die under the Government’s policy this year?
Emma Reynolds
The Government remain absolutely committed to supporting low-income pensioners. We are supporting them through the household support fund, which local authorities can use to help people on the lowest incomes with their bills. The Minister for Energy Consumers, my hon. Friend the Member for Peckham (Miatta Fahnbulleh), has also raised £500 million from energy suppliers to help those most vulnerable consumers in debt. We also have the warm home discount and the warm homes plan to help those on low incomes to heat their homes.
“Get Britain Working” White Paper
Richard Holden Excerpts(1 year, 3 months ago)
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Liz Kendall
I am absolutely determined to get more people into better-paid jobs in every part of the country. That is the key to improving people’s living standards and to getting the economy growing again. Our new jobs and careers service will look different in Scotland because the Scottish Government are responsible for running the careers service there, but we are already in discussions about how to make sure that our plans meet the specific needs of people in Scotland, including in my hon. Friend’s constituency. I look forward to receiving her ideas and suggestions, which I know she will always provide.
Mr Richard Holden (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)
I want the Secretary of State to succeed, and I want her to be part of the first Labour majority Government ever to leave office with employment higher than when they started. I had hoped to hear a little more about reform, rather than just about a review, but this is a welcome step in the right direction. Businesses in Basildon and Billericay have been telling me that although they welcome some of the schemes—I am sure that some of them will do good things—they are absolutely terrified by both the taxes coming through national insurance and the hit on them through business rates. The Office for Budget Responsibility says that at least 50,000 jobs a year will go because of those changes, so where will the people who she is hoping to get off benefits and into work find that employment?
Liz Kendall
As I have said to other hon. Members, I am keen to talk to businesses right across the country, including in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency, about the challenges that they face. We took a decision when we got into office that we could not continue with the fantasy economics. We cannot spend more than we earn. We have to invest in the long-term physical infrastructure of the country, but also in our people, who are our best assets. We must get the NHS back on its feet. I know the issues that businesses face, but they are also thinking about the longer term—the vacancies, and how on earth they get the skills that their business needs. I would be very happy to talk to the hon. Gentleman about that, if he likes.
Oral Answers to Questions
Richard Holden Excerpts(1 year, 4 months ago)
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Liz Kendall
The “Get Britain Working” White Paper will be published imminently, backed by £240 million of investment announced by the Chancellor in the Budget. I look forward very much to talking to my hon. Friend and the organisations that are working so hard locally, because I believe that the man, or even woman, in Whitehall can never know what is best in Peterborough, Leicester or Leeds.
Mr Richard Holden (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)
A small business in my constituency to which I have spoken over the last few weeks has raised concerns about the impact of the national insurance rises in the Budget on, in particular, those in lower-paid work, who in many cases are young people starting their jobs. What impact do the Government think that those rises will have on young people and youth unemployment?
Liz Kendall
Just last week I visited a very large employer in my constituency, Tesco, and saw the fantastic work that it is doing with the King’s Trust to ensure that more people get into work and stay in work. It is determined to work with us and our local schools, and employment and other providers, because they know that rather than writing off nearly a million young people, which led to the situation that we inherited, this new Government have a plan to get people into work, enable them to get on in work, and ensure that every young person has the chance in life that he or she deserves.
Social Security (Additional Payments) Bill
Richard Holden ExcerptsWednesday 22nd June 2022
(3 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Social Security (Additional Payments) Act 2022 View all Social Security (Additional Payments) Act 2022 Debates Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts Amendment Paper: Committee of the whole House Amendments as at 22 June 2022 - (22 Jun 2022)
Dr Coffey
The right hon. Gentleman may not be aware that I cannot make any declaration about the rises in benefits; I can only point to our policy in terms of, for example, the triple lock for pensioners. That is because I am required by law to undertake a review of the benefits once a year and I have not yet done so. I am sure that he will judge us on past performance, especially in following the regular legislation.
The unemployment rate is now below the low level we saw before the pandemic—close to the lowest since 1974—and we have more people on payrolls than ever before, but we are not resting on our laurels, particularly with a record number of vacancies in the labour market. We want people to get into work and to boost their incomes, which is why we launched the Way to Work scheme, quickly connecting claimants with employers looking to fill vacancies. Having turbo-charged jobcentres into super, almost dating, agencies in the way that they match people looking for work to people offering work, I am confident that we will achieve our target to move half a million people into jobs by the end of the month. There are hundreds of thousands more people benefiting from a pay packet, along with the prospect of a better job tomorrow and a future career.
Mr Richard Holden (North West Durham) (Con)
Will the Secretary of State confirm that the payments in this Bill, to almost 25,000 of my constituents, are on top of the support that has already been put in place, with the £1,000 that families will benefit from through the taper rate, the living wage rise and the £330 that most of those in work will get through raising the national insurance threshold, meaning that tens of thousands of people in North West Durham will be better off as a result of these changes and showing that we are providing support now, just like we did during the pandemic, during the cost of living issues due to international factors such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?
Dr Coffey
My hon. Friend is right to point out the additional measures. I do not know exactly how many people in his constituency will be affected, but I rely on his excellent local knowledge as a great constituency MP. Absolutely—I am setting out additional measures to those that he has outlined.
The Bill will deliver one-off additional payments responding to the challenges faced by people in every part of our country over the coming months. I thank the usual channels and the House more broadly for agreeing that it can make its necessary progress today. Its provisions are intentionally straightforward and will enable a straightforward approach for claimants, with no complicated forms, no bureaucracy and nobody having to make an additional claim, as payments will automatically go into people’s bank accounts.
The actions in the Bill will boost the budgets of millions of stretched families in every part of the United Kingdom, helping them through the cost of living challenge. I commend it to the House.
Oral Answers to Questions
Richard Holden Excerpts(3 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Guy Opperman
You got there first, Mr Speaker, but I also congratulate the former Pensions Minister, the Chair of the Select Committee, on his knighthood, which is genuinely deserved. The whole House wishes him well when he goes to meet the Queen for his investiture.
The right hon. Gentleman is a former Pensions Minister and will recall that the present uprating policy started in April 1987 and has continued under successive Governments, including the 13 years of Labour Government. I will, of course, come to the Select Committee to listen to its suggestions, but the same process has been in place for the best part of 35 years. The level is set between September and November, and the uprating takes place thereafter.
Mr Richard Holden (North West Durham) (Con)
Pension credit is important, and I have been pushing take-up in my North West Durham constituency. The Minister will understand that ensuring better pension savings is the most important thing in the long term. I backed the 2019 manifesto, and I back the Prime Minister who delivered it. Will my hon. Friend the Minister implement the auto-enrolment review, and will he back my private Member’s Bill to deliver it as soon as possible?
Guy Opperman
Answer that one! The truth is that, in respect of the 2017 auto-enrolment review and the changes that my hon. Friend sought in his outstanding ten-minute rule Bill and the private Member’s Bill we did not get to debate before the close of the last parliamentary Session, he knows he has my full support. The matter will be brought before the House as soon as possible.
Pension Schemes (Conversion of Guaranteed Minimum Pensions) Bill
Richard Holden ExcerptsFriday 25th February 2022
(4 years ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Pension Schemes (Conversion of Guaranteed Minimum Pensions) Act 2022 View all Pension Schemes (Conversion of Guaranteed Minimum Pensions) Act 2022 Debates Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Guy Opperman)
The Government propose to transform United Kingdom pensions. We are making them safer, better and greener and the Bill is a further way forward. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Margaret Ferrier) for introducing the Bill and for the support of the official Opposition and other political parties.
Let me briefly address the three points raised by the hon. Member for Westminster North (Ms Buck) on behalf of Her Majesty’s Opposition. I assure her that there will be full consultation on the legislation. There will also be broad communication, but I will write to her on that point and place a copy of the letter in the Commons Library and the House of Lords Library so that all peers and Members can see it.
In respect of gender inequality, the hon. Lady will be aware that successive Governments have concluded that the way ahead on that is automatic enrolment—that is the greatest change. There is no doubt that automatic enrolment has transformed saving in this country. For example, in terms of workplace pensions, women were at less than 40% in 2012 and are now at more than 80%, and young people aged between 22 and 29 were at less than 40% and are now at 80%.
Mr Richard Holden (North West Durham) (Con)
I agree with the Minister and welcome the Bill from the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Margaret Ferrier). It is a great Bill and part of the reforms to pensions that the Government are making. As the Minister mentioned auto-enrolment, can he enlighten me on the Government’s position on my Bill, which is scheduled for later today, on expanding auto-enrolment to under-22s and part-time workers, particularly women as he just mentioned?
Guy Opperman
I will deal with that point, because it is relevant to this Bill and to the consideration of the House later. As my hon. Friend will understand, we are in the latter part of this parliamentary Session. It is the end of February and the Queen’s Speech will come, in all probability—obviously I cannot commit, but it is usually—on the second Wednesday in May, so the House has a relatively limited period of time.
The hon. Lady’s Bill had its Second Reading in November. It required a Committee stage in the House of Commons, then it had to come back for Report and Third Reading. It has not even gone to the other place for consideration. It will only just get under the line, although I am sure that the other place will be keen to accept it. The reality is that there is no real way for my hon. Friend’s Bill to get through this House and the House of Lords in the time allowed, and that is the requirement of private Members’ Bills of the nature of his and all others, to be fair.
I can confirm, however, that the Government remain committed to the 2017 automatic enrolment review. It remains the case that we will, in the fullness of time, bring forward or support legislation to take the matter forward. My hon. Friend will have to bear with me. He and I have had ample conversations. I am so pleased that he is my neighbour—a great improvement on the previous one. He is a doughty campaigner for his constituents and he is right to make this particular case.
I thank my hon. Friends the Members for East Surrey (Claire Coutinho), for Broxtowe (Darren Henry), for Hastings and Rye (Sally-Ann Hart), for Darlington (Peter Gibson) and for Meriden (Saqib Bhatti) who all supported the Bill and spoke extremely well and eloquently about these matters. I will not repeat my entire Second Reading speech, which lasted for, I think, nearly an hour, and of which I know all hon. Members enjoyed every word.
The greatest hits of pensions are often underrated in my experience, but the points that I made then should be repeated as if I were to speak for the next hour. We are correcting a simplification that was brought in by the last days of Mr Callaghan’s Labour Government in 1978. It is an utterly vital piece of legislation that addresses everything from survivor benefits to reforms in relation to HMRC and the need to get proper equalisation. To be utterly clear, all parties will benefit from this and there is no loser by reason of the Bill.
It is absolutely to the credit of the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West that she has successfully brought the Bill forward on a cross-party basis and navigated its passage. She should be very proud of her work. I am delighted to restate that the Government support the Bill. We continue to support it in this House and will support it in the House of Lords. I wish it every success as it travels on to another place.
Oral Answers to Questions
Richard Holden Excerpts(4 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Richard Holden (North West Durham) (Con)
Guy Opperman
I congratulate my hon. Friend, who is also my constituency neighbour and a massive improvement on his predecessor. Auto-enrolment is a massive success as you know, Mr Speaker. I promise my hon. Friend that we will build on that work with the automatic enrolment review. I look forward to reading his Bill in great detail.