Autumn Statement Resolutions

Stephen Crabb Excerpts

Monday 27th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mel Stride]

My right hon. Friend is attempting to tempt me into matters that I know are under discussion at the highest levels of Government at the moment around the policy that we should adopt on immigration, but I will not be drawn immediately in that direction.

[Stephen Crabb (Preseli Pembrokeshire) (Con)]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for giving way. Let me return to the record of the past 13 years. At various points in that time, there has been no shortage of people in this House and outside who have been very quick to predict an explosion in unemployment—whether that was when we were introducing the public spending restraint under the coalition Government or when we were coming out of the covid pandemic. Does not the fact that those predictions were wrong demonstrate two things? The first is the underlying resilience of the British economy and labour market, and the second is the success of the measures taken by numerous Ministers in his Department over the years always to make work pay and to make sure that our welfare system is reformed to encourage work incentives?

[Mel Stride]

As usual, my right hon. Friend makes characteristically insightful remarks about the UK economy, not least about unemployment, where he is right: the expectation during covid was that unemployment would rocket up to the kind of levels that we last saw in the 1980s. The fact that no such thing happened is a testament to many of the Ministers, as my right hon. Friend suggests, and not least to our current Prime Minister, who as Chancellor came forward with the furlough scheme and the support for business.

Our commitment to supporting the most vulnerable is clear, including in the substantial the Government have provided to help families with the cost of living. That includes the millions of cost of living payments, landing directly into the bank accounts of those on the lowest incomes, as well as to millions of pensioners and disabled people. Of course, one of the most important actions that we have taken to help families is to deliver on the Prime Minister’s pledge to halve inflation. A compassionate Government recognise that, for the poorest families, cost of living pressures remain, which is why we are increasing universal credit and other benefits by 6.7% from next April in line with September’s inflation figure.

A compassionate Government recognise that rising rents are affecting private renters on the lowest incomes, which is why we are increasing the local housing allowance to the 30th percentile of local market rents from April next year. A compassionate Government back their pensioners, which is why we are honouring the triple lock, with an increase to the full state pension of 8.5 %. That is the second biggest ever increase, following last year’s increase of 10.1%.

--- Later in debate ---

[Stephen Crabb (Preseli Pembrokeshire) (Con)]

I rise to make a few remarks in support of the Chancellor’s autumn statement, emphasising two themes that came out strongly from it. They have been consistent themes for the Government over the past 13 years we have been in office: boosting incomes, particularly for those in the lowest income brackets, and improving our benefits system to ensure that we have a dynamic labour market and individuals can fulfil their maximum potential.

Before I go into those points, it is worth underlining again where we were 13 years ago when we took office. The minimum wage was less than £6 an hour, the state pension was less than £100 an hour—no pensioner will forget the derisory 75p increase that they got from Gordon Brown—and we had a welfare system where more than 1 million people had been languishing out of work for almost 10 years, out of the reach of any meaningful engagement from local job centres. We should not forget either that, while the Labour party might this afternoon present itself as a party of welfare reform, spending restraint and sensible economics, for most of the past 13 years it set its face against every step that we took to try to improve our benefits system. What we have now is not perfect—no benefits system ever is—but it is so much better than what was in place under the previous Labour Government. We know that because Labour Ministers who served in the Department for Work and Pensions before 2010 were themselves highly dissatisfied with the benefits system. Those with particular reforming instincts were doing their best, fighting an uphill battle to see improvements. We should not trust the Labour party as a party of benefit reform.

Briefly on boosting incomes, a national living wage of £11.44 an hour is transformational for constituencies such as mine in Pembrokeshire, where for decades there has been a culture of low pay, as there has been right across Wales. Thousands of people in my constituency will benefit from that increase to the living wage. Increasing the state pension by the full triple lock boost will ensure that pensioners continue to see the full value of their pension increase. That comes at a cost. All of us who defend the triple lock need to bear in mind that it has significant long-term costs, and we need to speak to how they will be met in the future, but the triple lock that this Conservative Government introduced in 2010 has been transformational in lifting pensioners out of poverty in my constituency, and all across the United Kingdom.

[Jim Shannon]

One of the reasons the triple lock is in place is the confidence and supply agreement between the Democratic Unionist party and the Conservative party. It was one of the things that we insisted upon. When it comes to giving credit for things, I want to keep the record straight.

[Stephen Crabb]

The hon. Member makes a strong point on behalf of his party. Lots of people claim credit for the triple lock. Again, all of us who defend the triple lock need to bear in mind the long-term costs and be ready to speak to how the country will afford them. The answer that successive Governments have found of just pushing the state pension further out of reach by increasing the state pension age is not a long-term sustainable plan.

On benefit reform, I strongly support what the Government are trying to do in linking together more closely the work of local jobcentres with that of health authorities, health boards and the Department of Health and Social Care overall. Successive Ministers have found huge institutional resistance to the NHS and the DWP working together—two massive spending Departments that have levers to do something really positive in getting people with long-term sickness and disabilities back into work. It is really encouraging to see much greater levels of co-operation than at any time in the past 20 or 30 years.

The point that has been made several times this afternoon about obligations is really important. There was speculation that the Chancellor would not uprate working-age benefits by the higher level of autumn inflation rates, but he did so. That was entirely consistent with what the Conservative Government have done consistently through the pandemic and the cost of living challenges, which is to help people on the lowest incomes. The Government doing the right thing and choosing to be consistent in that underlines the point about obligations, and the social compact that needs to be at the heart of our welfare system. Government Members have talked about that, as have those on the Labour Front Bench. An adequate benefits system supports people on the lowest incomes and provides a strong and secure safety net. There needs to be a sense of obligation around that as well.

As I said, there were Labour welfare Ministers who struggled with how to engage people who had been long-term sick and had long-term health needs to get more meaningful interaction, so that they could perhaps begin a journey back to work if that was appropriate. It is one of the biggest public policy challenges that we as a Government have faced. If the Labour party forms the next Government, it will wrestle with that, too. Governments of countries around the world that share a similar demographic to ours, with an ageing population and increasing numbers of elderly and sick people, are wrestling with these challenges. There are no easy solutions.

[Mr Jayawardena]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that fundamentally this is just a question of fairness? It is about supporting those who genuinely need our help, but when people choose welfare because they choose not to look for work, hard-working taxpayers should not pay the bill.

[Stephen Crabb]

I agree with my right hon. Friend to a point. There is always an issue of fairness, and perceived fairness, when it comes to the distribution of taxpayers’ money to people.

I question whether there are large numbers of people out there who want to live their lives not working or contributing to our society. If I really press them, the people I meet in my constituency who are struggling with long-term illnesses and have been out of work for a long time, say they would love to be working. They would love to visualise themselves in a job and playing a full part in the economy. The truth is that many of them need support. Some of them need a bit more than just warm words of encouragement, and that is why I have always defended the appropriate use of sanctions and conditionality in our benefits system.

This time of assistive technology, flexible working and homeworking should be a new golden age for people who sadly live with long-term health conditions to be able to get back into the workplace. I am really pleased that Government Ministers are grappling with that and thinking about the long-term steps that could be taken to help people back into work. As I say, that is one of the great public policy challenges of our time.