Amendment of the Law

Debate between Stuart Bell and Danny Alexander

Monday 26th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

I can certainly confirm that, as a result of the measures in this Budget and the measures that we announced in earlier Budgets, we will have not only the lowest corporation tax rate in the G7, but one of the lowest rates of tax in the G20. That will make a fundamental difference to this country’s attractiveness to investment from overseas.

[Sir Stuart Bell]

rose—

[Danny Alexander]

I will give way to the hon. Gentleman in a moment, but first I wish to mention some of the other contributions. My hon. Friend the Member for Montgomeryshire (Glyn Davies) talked about the benefits of the Budget for rural areas. A number of Labour Members representing Scottish constituencies rightly referred to the absence of a contribution from the Scottish National party and to the damaging policies of the SNP Government in Scotland for the economy. [Interruption.] The hon. Member for Dundee East (Stewart Hosie) has just come in now, for the very closing speeches. The hon. Member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr (Jonathan Edwards), who represents Plaid Cymru, did make a speech, and I will refer to some of the points he raised.

[Sir Stuart Bell]

Does the right hon. Gentleman believe the corporation tax reduction will lead to growth or to shareholder dividends? Will he confirm that we actually get to that rate in 2014?

[Danny Alexander]

We have confirmed that we will get to that rate by 2014. The hon. Gentleman should know, as I am sure he has closely studied the Office for Budget Responsibility’s report published alongside the Budget, that the OBR assesses that the cut in corporation tax announced in this Budget will, in fact, lead to an increase in business investment in this country—that is something the OBR has confirmed.

This debate has mainly been significant for the astonishing omissions in speeches from Labour Members. There were no references, except in a few cases, to this country’s fiscal position, to the huge deficit that Labour left us or to the huge debts that this country has accumulated thanks to Labour’s profligacy in office. There was no reference at all to the scale of the mess that the Labour party left this country, far less an apology from any Labour Member to the people of this country for the mess they left this country in. The right hon. Member for South Shields (David Miliband), in an otherwise interesting speech, used the phrase “dangerously complacent”. I think that refers to the opinions of the Labour party in relation to this party’s fiscal position.