Economic Update

Debate between Rishi Sunak and Steve Baker

Thursday 3rd February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

If the hon. Gentleman looks at the remarks I made earlier, he will see that I was clear that there are 400,000 more people on payroll, and that is the right use of that statistic. It is obviously harder to track those in self-employment because we have real-time information numbers from HMRC for those on payroll. We are proud of our track record on jobs. Unemployment in this country was forecast to reach 12%, with millions of people unemployed, but unemployment has now fallen for almost 10 straight months. It is almost back to the record lows we saw pre-pandemic, and we have record job vacancies and record low redundancies. That is all evidence that our plan for jobs is working.

[Mr Steve Baker (Wycombe) (Con)]

As somebody who supported a VAT cut, may I invite my right hon. Friend to confirm that people in Wycombe will receive more help faster under his plan?

[Rishi Sunak]

I can give my hon. Friend the reassurance that the vast majority of people in his constituency will receive £350. Those in council tax bands A to D will get £150 in April. That is more than a VAT cut would have given them, and it will come faster. I am grateful to have his continued support.

Economic Update

Debate between Rishi Sunak and Steve Baker

Wednesday 8th July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

The hon. Gentleman talks about seasonal businesses and whether they have or have not had support; he may have missed the fact that we have just cut VAT for those sectors from 20% to 5% for the next six months, and we have just provided an “eat out to help out” discount for the country to enjoy discounted meals to protect those businesses and protect the employment in them. That is probably the best thing we can do for seasonal businesses.

[Mr Steve Baker (Wycombe) (Con)]

With his plan for jobs, my right hon. Friend has, like Roosevelt, given a masterclass in economic interventionism, but it is quite expensive. Can he reassure me that he has a contingency in case the independent Bank of England needs to change its stance on monetary policy because inflation begins to rise?

[Rishi Sunak]

As ever, my hon. Friend is right to remind us about the importance of monetary economics, and he is also right to focus on the long-term sustainability of our public finances. Although in the short term it is right to act in this way to prevent long-term damage and scarring to our economy that would create an ongoing, larger structural deficit, once we get through this crisis we must retain and sustain public finances. We will return them to a position of sustainability over the medium term, I assure my hon. Friend of that, but in the short term I am confident that this is the right thing to do to protect the long-term health of our economy.

The Economy

Debate between Rishi Sunak and Steve Baker

Monday 27th April 2020 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

The hon. Member is absolutely right. I am striving to make the process as seamless and as quick as possible. We made some improvements a couple of weeks ago—removing guarantees and changing some things on the back end—which have already made a difference. More than 20,000 CBILS loans have now been issued and there are 40,000 applications that the banks are working through. The acceptance rate remains high at over 80%, but there are further tweaks that we have been putting in place over the past week. Information on that will be outlined later. It is largely technical, administrative and regulatory, but I believe those changes will continue to accelerate the pace of CBILS loans and, like the hon. Member, I think we all share that aspiration.

[Mr Steve Baker (Wycombe) (Con)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on the wisdom and skill with which he is adopting policies that I am confident are not naturally his territory. Well done to the Government. Will he reassure me that he is conscious that we need to take early, safe opportunities to open up the economy if we are to get back to a path to sustainable prosperity? Can he reassure me that he knows how to unwind this major set of interventions, so that we can get back to sound economic principles?

[Rishi Sunak]

As ever, my hon. Friend makes excellent and informed points on economic policy. I thank him for his support as well. He is absolutely right. I share with him, as does the Prime Minister, a sense of urgency about wanting to reopen our economy so that we can start driving growth, providing people with employment and paying for our public services. He is right to acknowledge that that must be done safely. Although we have made progress, we are not there yet, but I can reassure him that extensive work is under way to plan for phase 2 of the crisis so that we can get back to the economy that he and I both want to see.