Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Rushanara Ali Excerpts

Wednesday 15th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow) (Lab)]

Britain could be so much better. We have world-class universities, some of the best firms in the world, an amazing tech and life sciences sector, great start-ups and SMEs, a fantastic banking sector and people who are desperate to rebuild our economy after the damage done to our country by the Government. The Chancellor could have come up with a Budget that was about fixing the future, investment and growth. What we have is him trying to fix the damage done by his party in government. Last year, we saw the spectre of the International Monetary Fund pointing out that the UK had the weakest growth compared to our competitors. UK growth is flatlining, and the economy will shrink by 0.2% this year. The OBR forecasts that the next two years will see the biggest fall in household incomes since records began in the 1950s, with real incomes to fall by 5.7% in the next two years.

We also saw the spectre of people’s mortgages going up. Because of the former Prime Minister and the former Chancellor crashing the economy, the average mortgage will go up by £2,000 a year. The previous Prime Minister crashed the economy in her 49 days in office, costing the country more than £1 billion for every day that she was in office, making it the most expensive work experience placement in history.

This Chancellor delivered his autumn statement and promised a shallow downturn, but he served up £55 billion of spending cuts and tax rises to patch up the Conservative chaos caused by multiple Prime Ministers and about four Chancellors—I have lost count. What he should have done today was begin with an apology to the British people for the economic misery and hardship that they have seen and experienced at the hands of the former Prime Minister and the former Chancellor.

We need rapid investment and a genuine plan for growth. In the US, President Biden has introduced the Inflation Reduction Act, whereby $370 billion will be invested in business and focused on greening the economy. We need to ensure that our economy is fit for the future and that there is a genuine plan for growth. We have not seen that. Investment is down—we have the lowest business investment in the G7—and mortgages are going up. Wages are at their lowest in real terms in the last 13 years and the tax burden is among the highest since the second world war. The Chancellor has done nothing to improve the plight of the British people; he has tried to pretend that this mess was not made by his party in government.

Labour will deliver green growth and support 400,000 jobs in green businesses. We will retain workers with skills in a green economy in every corner of the UK. There will be genuine levelling up. We will rebuild business with a national investment bank that will support the drive for a net zero economy. I could say much more, but I am limited in time. We have a plan for growth and for a high-skilled, high-wage economy. The Conservatives have had 13 years in government—13 years of austerity, the destruction of vital public services and the destruction of our economy. Added to that, the previous Prime Minister but one negotiated a poor Brexit deal that has led to reduced GDP. That is costing £100 billion in lost output and £40 million less in revenue to the Treasury every year.

The last Prime Minister cost £55 billion when she tanked the economy with the then Chancellor. Britain could do much better, but not until we have a change of Government. It is time for a Labour Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rushanara Ali Excerpts

Wednesday 9th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is an excellent champion for his area, and if he can just contain his impatience a little bit, he may hear something to his advantage and to the advantage of his constituency from his right hon. Friend and mine, the Communities Secretary.

[Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow) (Lab)]

The £150 million spent on faulty masks, the £120 million spent on contracts awarded to a Tory council and the staggering £1 billion-worth of contracts awarded without proper due diligence—where has the money gone, Prime Minister?

[The Prime Minister]

All I can tell the hon. Lady is that there has been a massive investment in PPE throughout this pandemic, and billions of items have been supplied. If she has a particular anxiety about some particular contract, I am more than happy to address that if she will take the trouble to write to me.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rushanara Ali Excerpts

Wednesday 25th February 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend is correct, because this plan for London is about being incredibly ambitious and trying to outpace the growth of New York, adding £6.4 billion to the London economy by 2030. That is what we are trying to do to see a higher growth rate. We have created something like half a million extra jobs in London since the election, and we need to keep on with that progress. As the OECD said yesterday:

“The UK is an actual textbook case, or is fast becoming, of best practice of how good labour market and of how good product market reform can support growth and job creation…my main message to you today is well done. Well done so far…But finish the job.”

It said, “You have a long-term economic plan, but you need to stick with it.” That is the view of the OECD, and that, I believe, should be backed by everyone in our country.

[Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow) (Lab)]

Last week, three young women from my constituency left their homes, travelled to Turkey—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I think we will start this question again. The hon. Lady has an extremely serious question to ask, and it must be heard by Members on both sides of the House with courtesy.

[Rushanara Ali]

Last week, three young women from my constituency left their homes, travelled to Turkey and are now thought to have been smuggled into Syria. Their families are devastated. I know that the Prime Minister is making every effort to find them and encourage their return. Will he set up an urgent inquiry into these events to ensure that families, schools, mosques, youth clubs, internet companies and all agencies are guided on how they can better protect our young people?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right to raise this heartbreaking case, which we also discussed in the House on Monday. Clearly, anyone who saw the parents on the television talking about their children could not help but be moved by their plight.

What I have done is asked the Home Secretary to look urgently, with the Transport Secretary, at all the protocols we have in place about young people and travelling, and at what airlines do and what we can do. My understanding is that the police did respond relatively quickly in informing the Turkish authorities, and that what the Turkish Deputy Prime Minister has said about a three-day delay is not accurate, but there are always lessons to learn. On this occasion, I suspect the lessons will be not just that we can tighten arrangements on aeroplanes and at our borders, but that we all have a responsibility—schools, parents, families, communities, universities, colleges—to fight this poisonous radicalisation of young people’s minds.