Income tax (charge)

Ruth Jones Excerpts

Tuesday 17th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Ruth Jones (Newport West) (Lab)]

I start by paying tribute to all the staff of our national health and social care services, who are working around the clock at the moment in difficult and unpredictable circumstances. They are doing an amazing job. They are resilient and hard-working, and I want to thank them all. I also thank all the staff in both Houses and on this estate for persevering and coming into work at this worrying time.

My message to the people of Newport West, and people right across our country, is that they must follow the medical advice published by the devolved Governments and the Government here in Westminster, to stay as safe as possible. I pay tribute to the well-established and enduring community spirit of the many people in Newport West who have got organised and are looking out for their neighbours and ensuring that all those in need get the support they deserve. They are a credit to their communities and I thank them for their public-spirited nature.

I welcome the measures in the Budget that will be directed to efforts to combat covid-19. I agree that this is a time for calm heads and wise decisions. We meet today in unique and uncharted territory. I recognise that this is a time for respectful and sensible co-operation among the parties in this House. I know that we, the Opposition, will play our part, but one specific request I must make on behalf of small businesses, including the pubs, clubs and bars of Newport West, is for the Minister to please ask the Chancellor to bring to the House special measures to help people who are so worried for the future of their businesses and their staff.

The background to this Budget is a climate emergency, a global pandemic and a Tory Government who have finally found the magic money tree after a long 10-year love affair with austerity. Four Chancellors, three Prime Ministers and a decade of under-investment have forced the Government to launch a levelling up agenda. I think it is less about levelling up and more about making up for lost time and the wrong decisions. From my weekly surgeries and talking to people right across Newport West, I know that our social security system has lost its way. We need to rebuild it from the principles on which it was founded: supporting people rather than policing them, and alleviating poverty rather than forcing people into it. The first missed opportunity of this Budget was to scrap universal credit once and for all. It has caused severe hardship for many people because of the major flaws in its design and the way it has been rolled out.

The second missed opportunity in the Budget was keeping our communities safe. Since 2010, the Tories and their allies—the Lib Dems and the Democratic Unionist party—have cut the police, police community support officers and police civilian staff, and that has been made far worse by the fact that the prosecution rates for all crimes has hit a new low. The other side of this important issue is the fact that the prison system in England and Wales has been pushed to breaking point through under-resourcing, with widespread violence and evidence of radicalisation in prison. That has been made worse by the fact that legal aid and the courts have been decimated by cuts, undermining access to justice. That proves that the Tories cannot be trusted to keep our country safe.

Another issue I am increasingly concerned about is the fact that free access to cash is reducing at an alarming rate. That is hugely impacting on the most vulnerable people and communities in all parts of the UK. The Government must take the strongest and most effective action to maintain free access to cash in our communities, and I particularly welcome the campaigning work done by the magazine Which? on that important issue.

In the recent debate on the Queen’s Speech, I noted that in my constituency of Newport West the average household wage in Marshfield is double the average household wage in Pillgwenlly. Those two communities are separated by just a few short miles. I hope the Government will focus on levelling up wages and creating a more equal society by deeds and not just words. I am pleased that the Government have listened to Members on all sides of the House and abandoned their plans to hike tax on motorhomes by 705%. That is a welcome step for those who own a motorhome, and it shows that campaigning by MPs of all colours can work.

Lastly, I want to say a word about our country. This United Kingdom is meant to be a Union of equals, but the lack of investment in and respect for Wales is nothing short of disgraceful. I caution the new Tory MPs in north Wales to not think that the Chancellor is their friend if this Budget is anything to go by. Just weeks ago, the Welsh Government were forced to return £200 million to the UK Treasury. That was just a couple of weeks before the people and communities of Wales saw millions of pounds-worth of damage caused by the recent flooding, which hit Wales and its communities very hard indeed. The Government allocated funds for flood resilience, but they need a fully funded and long- term plan, and they need it now. The Government talk about levelling up, but they now need to start thinking up and talking up our communities, too, in deeds as well as words.

I am proud to serve the people of Newport West, the people of Wales and the people of our United Kingdom, so I will keep working to scrutinise the Government and hold them to account to ensure that we can all be part of the building up—whenever it happens—and not just the favoured few.