Oral Answers to Questions

John Bercow Excerpts

Tuesday 11th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Baron]

The Labour Government more than doubled the national debt. This Government have done well to reduce the deficit by 25%, but this still means that we are adding to our debt, albeit at three quarters the pace. Financial repression and quantitative easing will ease the debt somewhat through higher inflation, but may I encourage the Chancellor, despite some positive measures in the autumn statement, to be bolder in encouraging economic growth, including by cutting small business corporation tax, which is the only credible way—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We have got the gist of it; it was simply too long.

[Mr Osborne]

My hon. Friend is right that the deficit is how much we add to the debt each year. That is why we have to bring the deficit down—it has come down by 25%—but he is also right that we have to have a competitive private sector. We have to have a private sector-led recovery, which is why we have increased the annual investment allowance, for example. He recommends a cut in the small company corporation tax rate. [Interruption.] The shadow Chancellor from a sedentary position said, “That’d be a good idea,” but he was going to put the rate up when we came into office. We have cut the rate to 20% and increased the annual investment allowance.

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[Mr Osborne]

It is welcome that more than 1 million jobs have been created in the private sector. We now have record female employment, which is also welcome, while the number of those on out-of-work benefits has fallen by 190,000, which is something I hope everyone would welcome.

[Mr Speaker]

I call Richard Graham. Not here.

[Mr Pat McFadden (Wolverhampton South East) (Lab)]

May I congratulate the Chancellor on his U-turn on capital allowances for manufacturing industry? When did he realise that his previous stance of dismissing them as complex reliefs was wrong and at total variance with the Government’s stated aim of supporting manufacturing? When did his conversion to supporting these allowances take place, as long called for by Labour Members and the Engineering Employers Federation?

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[Sajid Javid]

I am not going to take any lectures on child poverty from the right hon. Gentleman—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The Minister must be heard.

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[Graham Evans]

I welcome the announcements in the autumn statement, particularly the announcement of an increase in the personal allowance, which will take 2.6 million people in the north-west of England out of income tax altogether. Will my right hon. Friend reassure us that he will continue to raise the allowance to ensure that it always pays to work?

[Mr Speaker]

In relation to the cost of living?

[Graham Evans]

Indeed, Mr. Speaker.

[Geraint Davies (Swansea West) (Lab/Co-op)]

The—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Labour Members are shouting their heads off, and the hon. Gentleman cannot be heard. Let us hear from Mr Davies.

[Geraint Davies]

The incomes of the top 10% in Britain have risen by 11% in the last two years, but we heard in the autumn statement that they would be cut by only 0.5%. Does Chief Secretary not agree that those people are in a fantastic position to take on increases in the cost of living, unlike the poorest 40%, who are being unnecessarily smashed by this Government?

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[Mr Osborne]

It is good to see the shadow Chancellor back. Of course tax credits go to some people in work, but we are also helping those people with a personal allowance increase, and working households will be £125 better off. Perhaps he can answer a question, if that is allowed, Mr Speaker: how will Labour vote on the Bill?

[Mr Speaker]

It is very important that the public are not misled, however inadvertently, by a member of the Government. This is not an occasion for shadow Ministers to answer questions. In our system, they ask questions and Ministers are expected to answer them. That is the situation.

[Ed Balls]

I will answer, though, Mr Speaker, but before I do it is important that Members on both sides of the House know the answers to the questions I asked the Chancellor. First, 60% of families hit by his tax and benefit changes are in work. Secondly, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, as a result of the autumn statement measures a working family—the average one-earner couple—will be £534 a year worse off by 2015. Those are the very families who pull up the blinds and go to work. Every Tory constituency has, on average, over 6,000 of those families who will lose out. In answer to his question, we will look at the legislation, but if he intends—[Interruption.] He asked me a question and I am going to answer it. If he intends to go ahead with such an unfair hit on middle and low-income working families while giving a £3 billion top-rate tax cut, we will oppose it. Why is he making striving working families pay the price for his economic failure?

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[Mr Brooks Newmark (Braintree) (Con)]

The Treasury has today made a written statement alerting Parliament to a newly discovered error made by Northern Rock—an error made, I hasten to add, under the previous Government, starting in 2008—that could cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of pounds. Does my right hon. Friend agree that this is yet another example of the previous Government’s total failure to regulate the banking system properly costing this country dearly? Could he—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. May I gently explain to the hon. Gentleman two things? First, topical questions are supposed to be brief, and secondly, they are supposed to relate to the policy of the current Government, not that of the previous one. A short one-sentence reply will, I am sure, suffice—no?

[Mr Osborne]

Will you allow me, Mr Speaker, to spend a little time on this? We put down a written statement at half-past 11 today because of an error originating in 2008, when Northern Rock was in public ownership. Some customers with certain types of mainly unsecured loans were not given all the mandatory information in their statements to which they were entitled by law. As a result, interest payments on these loans are not legally enforceable. UK Asset Resolution, which manages Northern Rock—[Interruption.] Can I just make this point? One hundred and fifty—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order.

[Geraint Davies (Swansea West) (Lab/Co-op)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I do not require any help from the hon. Gentleman; he should concentrate on the pursuit of his own duties to the best of his ability. I would say to the Chancellor that if the written ministerial statement has been made it is not entirely obvious to me why we need its terms to be repeated before the Chamber. [Interruption.] Order. I will use my discretion. The right hon. Gentleman can have a few seconds more, but then I really must proceed with topical questions, for which allowance will have to be made.

[Mr Osborne]

Mr Speaker, 152,000 customers have been affected. These are people with loans of less than £25,000. The cost to UK Asset Resolution is estimated at £270 million. UK Asset Resolution has ordered a full inquiry into what happened in 2008, and we will come to the House with more information when we have it. I wanted to bring this news to the House at the very first opportunity, and I find it pretty extraordinary that the Opposition do not want the public to hear it.

[Teresa Pearce (Erith and Thamesmead) (Lab)]

T7. New research from Which?—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Whatever discontent there may be on either side of the House about this matter, it would be a courtesy to hear Teresa Pearce.

[Teresa Pearce]

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

New research from Which? reveals that nearly half of front-line bank staff believe that pressure selling still dominates the culture of banking. Will the Minister join me in calling for banking remuneration and incentive structures to be changed to reward ethics and service, rather than aggressive selling targets, in order to help to change the culture of banking?

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[Mr Osborne]

We are dealing with the economic mess that the previous Government left behind, when unemployment rose, the economy shrank by 6% and people were put into poverty. That is the cause of these problems and Government Members are dealing with them and clearing up the mess that that man—the right hon. Member for Morley and Outwood (Ed Balls)—left behind.

[Mr Speaker]

Last but not least, Mr Bob Blackman.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

The Government moved swiftly to compensate the victims of the Equitable Life scandal, who were ignored by the Labour Government. The one set of people who were excluded from the legislation were the pre-1992 trapped annuitants. I know that the Minister has been considering this issue. Will he update the House on what consideration will be given to those weak and vulnerable people who just want some safety for the rest of their lives?

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am sorry to disappoint colleagues.