Neighbourhood Planning Bill

Debate between Rob Marris and Philip Davies

3rd reading: House of Commons & Legislative Grand Committee: House of Commons & Report stage: House of Commons
Tuesday 13th December 2016 Commons Chamber

[Philip Davies]

I am very grateful to my hon. Friend.

If people are not allowed to bet on a fixed odds betting terminal, the idea that they will all of a sudden not bet at all is for the birds. What will they do? I will tell the House. They will go from the roulette machine in a betting shop, where staff are keeping an eye on them and intervening when they show concerning behaviours and referring them to problem-gambling charities for help, but they will not just stop gambling. They will go on to the internet, and play exactly the same roulette game, but for unlimited stakes and unlimited prizes. Why on earth do people in this House want people to go from a product that has a stake limit and a prize limit, in a place where there are people keeping an eye on them, on to the internet, where there are unlimited stakes and prizes? That is complete nonsense.

[Rob Marris]

I caution the hon. Gentleman on that point. I do not know what he did, but I remember that when I voted for the ban on smoking in workplaces, one argument put forward by opponents was that people would still continue to consume tobacco, and just do so in a different venue. That is manifestly not the case. The number of people giving up smoking or smoking less has increased very considerably because of that legislation. I am not saying that it is entirely due to the legislation, but the consensus among medical experts is that the legislation has been a major contributory factor in people’s abandoning or lessening personally harmful behaviour.

[Philip Davies]

The problem with the hon. Gentleman’s argument is that smoking has gone down in this country every single year, without fail, since 1975—every single year, without fail, whether before or after the smoking ban. It was therefore inevitable that after a ban on smoking it would go down, because it would have gone down if there had been no ban. That cause and effect argument does not wash with me, I am afraid. People who bet will go on to the internet.

To give another argument, The Times had an article based on information from the Gambling Commission showing that 16% of under-16s were gambling every week. What were they gambling on? It was not fixed odds betting terminals—they were not going into betting shops. They were gambling on fruit machines, and largely on national lottery scratchcards. People can purchase those scratchcards at 16. They can gamble at 16 on the national lottery.

Who argues against that in this House—who argues against young people getting into gambling at the age of 16 like that? I do. I think it is an absolute outrage that people can play the national lottery at 16. If we believe that gambling should be allowed only at 18, that should be the case for all gambling. But who is arguing against playing the lottery at 16? No one. Even though young people are getting into gambling on scratchcards, people do not complain. That is not because they care about the people losing money; it is because they are concerned about the people winning the money. The money from the lottery goes to good causes, so people think it is fine for others to get an addiction to scratchcards. Although they do not like to say so, and so dress it up by saying they are concerned about problem gamblers, the fact is that what lies behind measures such as the new clause is that people do not like the people who are winning the money. They do not give a stuff about the people who are losing the money. That is the sad thing.

How much did Derek Webb give to problem-gambling charities when he was accumulating his hundreds of millions of pounds? Perhaps he did give some money, but I am not aware of anything. The bookmakers give millions and millions—about £6 million a year—to problem-gambling charities to help people with their treatment, and that would be under threat if we did away with these betting shops.

Finance Bill

Debate between Rob Marris and Philip Davies

Monday 26th October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Rob Marris]

This is a mixed Finance Bill. It contains some measures with which the Opposition agree: the changes to personal allowances; the welcome increase in the annual investment allowance; the surcharge on banks; the provisions to encourage more to be spent on research and development; the provisions on carried interest—though they do not go far enough; and the anti-avoidance provisions for enterprise investment schemes, venture capital trusts and controlled foreign companies.

But the Bill also discloses some wrong priorities, which I shall list in no particular order. The changes to inheritance tax—it will not surprise Members to hear me mention this, in the light of our debate earlier—are a giveaway to the most well off in our society. The cut to corporation tax is a beggar-my-neighbour, downward, low-tax regime competition measure aimed at covering up the failures on productivity. We disagree with lowering the bank levy rate. The provisions on vehicle excise duty take us backwards by favouring gas guzzlers and penalising drivers of less dirty vehicles. Some 16 or 17 years ago, journalists would have called the marked increase to insurance premium tax a stealth tax.

The changes to the climate change levy are a step backwards that indicates the Government have lessened their commitment to the environment and can no longer make the laughable claim to be the greenest Government ever—it is one of a host of changes indicating that they are not serious about our environment. We disagree with the provisions on the direct recovery of debt that allow HMRC to take money out of someone’s bank account without a court order. They are doing this because they find, as so many people do, that the court system is costly and slow, but rather than change the court system, for which they are responsible, they are simply introducing a different rule for themselves. They have done the same in clause 48 with interest on judgment debts. It is one rule for them and another rule for the rest of us.

I warn the Government: they are straining our constitution. Late last week, they tabled about 75 amendments for Report stretching to 40 pages and dealing with highly technical matters, which suggests that they are not entirely sure what they are doing. Last week, we also saw the longest Standing Order in living memory detailing the changes to English votes. This is not a great way to treat our constitution.

Then we see the potential constitutional tussle with the House of Lords over tax credits, brought about by this Government’s decision to proceed with a fundamental change to tax credits, which will cost working families thousands of pounds, by using a statutory instrument rather than putting the provisions in this Finance Bill. Clearly, this Finance Bill, like all Finance Bills, would never have gone near the House of Lords. This Government tried to box clever by putting the tax credit changes in a statutory instrument and they have been caught swimming without trunks when the tide went out. It is a constitutional tussle that we did not need and it would not have happened if they had put those provisions in the Finance Bill.

We need to see this Finance Bill in the context of the economy. It is great news that employment is up, albeit that too many of the jobs are low paid and insecure. It is great that, at last, we have some economic growth that extends outside London and the south-east. Before Conservative Members start cheering too much, there are ill winds blowing domestically. The deficit on the balance of payments, at 6.5% of gross domestic product, is the highest in peacetime. Inflation targets have been missed, and productivity stalled, which the Government try to mask with a change in the corporation tax rate. GDP per capita, after six years of the Conservatives leading a Government in this country, is still in recovery. Living standards are, at last, starting to rise, which is welcome, but this is happening in the private sector, not in the public sector, where the Government continue their wage freezes. Living standards have stalled for five years because of the—

[Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. The hon. Member for Wolverhampton South West (Rob Marris) is droning on about all sorts of stuff. My understanding is that Third Readings are supposed to be about what is in the Bill, not just a general drone about the economy. Will you rule on that, Mr Speaker? [Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I was listening closely, and allowing the hon. Member for Wolverhampton South West (Rob Marris) some latitude, but the thrust of the point of order is correct. I should emphasise that this is not a portmanteau debate for the airing of a miscellany of grievances. This is a relatively narrow Third Reading about what is in the Bill, upon which I know the hon. Gentleman will now dilate for the remaining two and a half minutes.