Autumn Statement

Debate between Stephen Doughty and George Osborne

Wednesday 3rd December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I think everyone in this House knows what an incredible job the hospice movement and hospice charities do. I am a patron of the East Cheshire hospice. From the conversations I have had with my hon. Friend and his colleagues, I know what a brilliant job the hospice in his area does. This measure is something that hospices have long asked for. They have been unfairly discriminated against, in comparison with the NHS, when it comes to VAT. We are going to refund that VAT and give the hospice movement the support it deserves in recognition of the brilliant job it does.

[Stephen Doughty (Cardiff South and Penarth) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Chancellor has made a number of statements today on infrastructure, but of course developing our infrastructure requires a thriving UK steel industry and supply chain. Will he explain why he and the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills have chosen not to bring forward the energy-intensive industries compensation package that he announced in the Budget earlier this year? Does he believe that the UK steel industry faces a level playing field, and if not, what is he going to do about it?

[Mr Osborne]

I have long thought that there is a challenge in ensuring that commitments to reduce carbon are consistent with having a vibrant and successful steel industry and other energy-intensive industries. What we hear when we go to Port Talbot and elsewhere is a real concern that UK energy prices could be higher than they are on the rest of the continent of Europe if we adopt measures such as a decarbonisation target. That is why the Conservative party is not in favour of a decarbonisation target. Unfortunately, the Labour party is in favour of it and the steel industry might be one of the industries that will bear the cost.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Stephen Doughty and George Osborne

Tuesday 24th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr George Osborne]

I am sorry, but when the hon. Gentleman was talking about an excellent Deputy Prime Minister I assumed he was talking about the leader of the Liberal Democrats rather than John Prescott—perhaps the hon. Gentleman was just being ironic about Lord Prescott. Lord Prescott was on the television yesterday boasting that he had set out a plan in 2004, and then someone pointed out that nothing had happened to his plan since. We are talking about improving the links from the Greater Merseyside region across Manchester and Leeds to Hull, and indeed across all parts of the north. High-speed rail is part of this, but it is only part of it: this is also about solving local bottlenecks, such as with the money we are putting into the M62, and about speeding up the commuter trains, which is what the northern hub is all about. This is a coherent plan to back a northern powerhouse.

[Stephen Doughty (Cardiff South and Penarth) (Lab/Co-op)]

T4. Despite the Chancellor’s boasts, the former Tory Chancellor admitted recently that people have “not yet felt any sense of recovery”.Does this Chancellor agree with him, yes or no?

[Mr Osborne]

I agree with the previous Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, who said that Labour gets “smashed on the economy”.

Autumn Statement

Debate between Stephen Doughty and George Osborne

Wednesday 5th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

My hon. Friend puts it extremely powerfully on behalf of his Cheshire constituents. We remember the income tax decisions of the previous Government—the abolition of the 10p tax rate that hit the poorest. For 13 years, as I said, the rich were paying less in income tax than they are paying in any one year of this Government.

[Stephen Doughty (Cardiff South and Penarth) (Lab/Co-op)]

May I take the Chancellor back to his statement in 2010, when he said that he wanted to see the richest paying most and the vulnerable protected? To press the point raised by many of my hon. Friends, why is he persisting with the tax cut for millionaires when thousands of people across Wales are increasingly relying on food banks, such as the one I visited this weekend?

[Mr Osborne]

We have had to take difficult decisions. We have asked the rich to pay more—new stamp duty rates. We have had to take difficult decisions today on pensions tax relief for the largest pension pots. We have done all those things. We have also had to take difficult decisions on welfare. If the hon. Gentleman objects to those things, perhaps he can tell us whether he will vote against the welfare uprating Bill.