National Minimum Wage

Debate between Seema Malhotra and Rachel Reeves

Wednesday 15th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

I suggest that Government Members look at what we are debating: the national minimum wage. I know they do not want to talk about it, because they did not support it in the first place, but it would be nice if they could talk about its impact on their constituencies. However, I think we may have to wait for another occasion.

We have a Government who opposed the national minimum wage when it was introduced and who are not enforcing the legislation properly today. Thanks to an investigation by the independent Centre for London, we know that as many as 300,000 workers are being paid less than the minimum wage. We have reports of workers having the costs of uniforms, accommodation, transport or training illegally deducted from their pay packets. We have shocking accounts of working conditions for some people in sectors such as elderly care which hurt not only employees but vulnerable people who need a reliable and good-quality service from people who are paid a decent wage. There are stories of legal loopholes being used to bring in migrant workers who are, as my hon. Friend the Member for Stockton North (Alex Cunningham) said, forced to work at exploitative rates of pay that also undercut and undermine the pay and conditions of all workers.

Despite that, the number of enforcement cases opened or registered has fallen in every year of this Tory-led Government, and it is now at less than half the level it was in the last year of the Labour Government. Since this Government came into office, just two prosecutions have been brought for non-payment of the minimum wage. They have repeatedly said that they will name and shame firms that are flouting the legislation, but they have not named a single one.

[Seema Malhotra (Feltham and Heston) (Lab/Co-op)]

My hon. Friend is making a very powerful speech. Does she agree that perhaps one of the reasons the national minimum wage has not been enforced is that Government Members are not 100% committed to it? For example, the hon. Member for South Northamptonshire (Andrea Leadsom) has called for businesses with three employees or fewer to be exempt from the national minimum wage, as well as from regulations on maternity and paternity rights.

[Rachel Reeves]

Not only are Government Members not 100% behind the national minimum wage; they cannot even bring themselves to say “national minimum wage”.

Living Standards

Debate between Seema Malhotra and Rachel Reeves

Wednesday 4th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

We have said that we would abolish Ofgem and create a new energy watchdog with real teeth to force energy companies to pass on price cuts when the cost of wholesale energy falls. Meanwhile, under this Prime Minister’s watch, energy giants are enjoying a £3.3 billion windfall. That shows the warped priorities of this out-of-touch Government. Rail fares are another example, increasing by up to 9% a year. We would apply strict caps. We have said that we would introduce a new legal right for passengers to be entitled to the cheapest ticket for their journey; this Government are giving powers back to train operating companies to increase some fares by up to another 5% beyond the cap. Again, that shows the warped priorities of this out-of-touch Government.

On housing, there are now 3.8 million households in the private rented sector, including more than 1 million with children. Research shows that many are being ripped off through hidden fees and charges costing tenants £76 million a year.

[Seema Malhotra (Feltham and Heston) (Lab/Co-op)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that the atrocious slowdown in house building led by this Government has contributed to rising rents, making life incredibly difficult for families and meaning that they cannot do the extras such as getting broadband in their homes, which is vital for their children’s education and their own social inclusion?

[Rachel Reeves]

We have said of the private rented sector that we would require a new national register of landlords.

This Government are presiding over the lowest level of house building since the 1920s. We have said that we would build new affordable homes, and the IMF has said that the Government should bring forward investment in infrastructure. Perhaps we should listen to the IMF.

The Prime Minister and the Chancellor now claim that their economic plan has worked after all, but two quarters of positive growth do not begin to repair the damage from three years of flatlining. Three wasted years have left permanent damage as businesses have lost vital investment opportunities, and almost 1 million young people are out of work. That is why families are suffering; that is why deficit reduction is so far off track. Yet we have a complacent Government. They have no idea of what they have put families through, no idea of the damage they are still doing, and no plan to put things right. Three years in government and still no British investment bank; three years in government and banking reform is being watered down; three years in government and one in five apprentices say they have received no training; three years in government and the number of 16 to 18-year-old apprentices is down by 13% this year; three years in government and major infrastructure projects are stalled; three years in government and life is getting tougher for ordinary families.

Infrastructure

Debate between Seema Malhotra and Rachel Reeves

Tuesday 12th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

That is why we urged the Government, before the autumn statement, to use the money from the 4G auction to start building 100,000 new affordable homes and why we urged the Chancellor to use a tax on bank bonuses for a programme for jobs and growth, with further house building and a job guarantee for young people. But the Chancellor did not listen—[Interruption.] Clearly, the Liberal Democrats do not want to listen either. With every project delay, every investor put off and every job lost in the construction sector, we lose ground to our global competitors. With the economy flatlining and no growth over the past year, the case for action is irrefutable. We need to bring forward public investment, create hundreds of thousands of jobs, kick-start the flatlining economy and get the construction industry moving again.

[Seema Malhotra (Feltham and Heston) (Lab/Co-op)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that the flatlining of our economy and our failure to invest is having a major impact on young people? In my constituency, there are more people out of work than there were six months ago, and long-term youth unemployment is rising.

[Rachel Reeves]

Close to 1 million young people are out of work, and one third of them are now long-term unemployed—a waste of their potential and a waste to our economy, as we are losing out on their skills. We so desperately need that economic recovery.

There is still no sign of the Government sharing the country’s sense of urgency. Only 14% of the 576 projects listed in the Government’s infrastructure pipeline have started and just 1% of those are said to be operational. The Government’s record on infrastructure is a complete and utter shambles. Wherever we look, the strategy is failing to deliver—a perfect storm of uncertainty, incompetence and delay.

Finance (No. 4) Bill

Debate between Seema Malhotra and Rachel Reeves

Monday 16th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

My understanding is that the Government parties matched us on spending and often called for additional spending, but the Liberal Democrats have changed their mind so often that it is sometimes difficult to keep up.

The fiscal challenges that this country faces are real, and we need to deal with the deficit and get our debt on a downward path, but the choice before us is how to do that and on whose backs. The Opposition’s priorities are to get unemployment down, to get our economy growing and businesses investing so that we can reduce the welfare bill and bring in more tax revenue, and to ensure that the biggest burdens of deficit reduction are borne by those with the broadest shoulders.

[Seema Malhotra (Feltham and Heston) (Lab/Co-op)]

I thank my hon. Friend for referring to Labour’s idea of increasing jobs for the young through a tax on bankers’ bonuses. Does she agree that that would make a huge difference to young people such as those in my constituency, where long-term youth unemployment has risen by more than 200% in the past year, and send a message to all young people that Westminster and politicians across the country were on their side in these tough times?

[Rachel Reeves]

My hon. Friend speaks on behalf of the thousands of young people in Feltham and Heston who have been hit hard by the Government’s policies. The Opposition think it would be much fairer to tax bank bonuses at 50% and use that money to create jobs and opportunities for young people, but the priority of the Chancellor and his friend the Chief Secretary is a tax cut for the richest 1%, paid for by ordinary families, hard-pressed pensioners, struggling small businesses, charities and young people. All that pain is not even getting the deficit down. The Government are borrowing £150 billion more than planned—the cost of their failed economic experiment.

Members of all parties have an opportunity tonight to dissociate themselves from this disgrace of a Finance Bill. We have given the Government a chance, and we have also given them a choice. If the Bill goes through unamended, it will go down as one of the most flawed and unfair Finance Bills in history—one that makes millions pay more so that millionaires can pay less, based on a Budget that gives a £40,000 tax cut to 14,000 millionaires while ordinary households fall further into debt and our economy falls further behind. It was not the Budget that Britain needed, and this Finance Bill should be sent back to the drawing board. The Opposition will vote against it, and I urge those with a proper sense of our country’s priorities to join us in the Lobby tonight and vote down the Bill.