HMRC Self-Assessment Helpline

Debate between Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi and Nigel Huddleston

Wednesday 20th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Huddleston]

My hon. Friend makes the really important point that there are still people in this country, including in her constituency, who are not digitally aware or who are digitally excluded for a variety of reasons. That is why an important part of our strategy is to ensure that those who are digitally excluded, and those who are vulnerable or have particularly complex affairs, can always reach a human being.

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

This is another chaotic Government U-turn, with the Chancellor taking the decision this morning to scrap plans to close HMRC phone lines less than 24 hours after the measures were announced. A Treasury source admitted this morning that closing HMRC’s helplines would be to

“the detriment of the general public and the vulnerable who need access to the helplines to support them with tax matters. ”

This is part of a wider malaise within Tory broken Britain where many of my Slough constituents cannot speak to a doctor when they want to, cannot register for an NHS dentist and much worse besides. So why was this decision taken in the first place?

[Nigel Huddleston]

I mentioned in my opening comments—I will stress it again because it is important that nobody scaremongers about this—that it was never intended, and never would have been the case, that the vulnerable, the digitally excluded or those with complex affairs would be unable to access these services, even with the proposals set out yesterday. On that particular point, the hon. Gentleman is just wrong.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi and Nigel Huddleston

Tuesday 14th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

I welcome the Minister to his place. The Government have the opportunity next week to right an historical wrong by abolishing non-dom tax status. The Chancellor could use that money to get our NHS back on its feet and to provide free breakfast clubs for all primary-age children, just as Labour has called for. Is the abolition of non-dom tax status under consideration, or has the Prime Minister ruled it out again, for personal reasons?

[Nigel Huddleston]

The hon. Gentleman is well aware that there are real dangers that what he is proposing would make the UK a less attractive destination—that is a very important issue. The City pays for a huge amount of our NHS, for example, and non-dom taxpayers were liable to pay £8.5 billion in UK income tax in 2021-22 and invested more than £7 billion in the UK.

Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership

Debate between Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi and Nigel Huddleston

Tuesday 18th July 2023 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Huddleston]

My hon. Friend makes an important point about the role that small and medium-sized enterprises can play. We are working to encourage even more SMEs to export through export support services and the trade advisers network given the opportunities that this and other deals will present to them. He will be aware that the US is not entering into free trade agreements with anybody at the moment. I have spoken to congressmen and women in the US, and there are mixed views, but many have great enthusiasm for the CPTPP.

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

Despite all the Government fanfare, the CPTPP trade deal will contribute merely 0.08% to our country’s GDP over the next decade. Laughably, the Secretary of State is now disputing her own Department’s modelling. As part of the spring Budget, the OBR forecast said that in 2023, due to Government incompetence, the hard Brexit and failure to sign other free-trade deals, UK exports are set to fall by 6.6%. That is a staggering £51 billion hit to our economy. How exactly will the Minister compensate for that loss with respect to the signing of the new CPTPP deal?

[Nigel Huddleston]

Again, I am so disappointed to hear Opposition Members never missing an opportunity to talk Britain down. CPTPP will benefit every nation and region of the UK, to the tune of billions and billions of pounds—[Interruption.] The hon. Member says that is tiny, but if we put it in his bank account tomorrow, he would probably be quite happy. We are talking about huge amounts of money and lots of jobs right across the United Kingdom. It would be great to see the Opposition support one of these deals, which will benefit their own constituents, at some point.

Events Research Programme

Debate between Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi and Nigel Huddleston

Tuesday 22nd June 2021 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Huddleston]

I thank my right hon. Friend for his initial comments. I very much enjoyed meeting his constituents and visiting his constituency. I am afraid that I would not buy into some of his conspiracy theories around this. We have said already that, if there were major concerns, we would have made sure that that information was in the public arena. That would be the responsible thing to do. Some of the initial data points were already announced by the Secretary of State back in May. The report needs to be comprehensive and it needs to be reviewed by a large number of stakeholders in Government. We will be releasing it very soon.

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

The live events sector, musicians and the creative industries have been severely hit during this pandemic, with many excluded from Government support schemes. They deserve clarity, but instead of transparency, the Government have been busy trying to hide information, including the findings from the events research programme, which should have been published last month as initially promised. Can the Minister confirm whether the Prime Minister had access to the events research programme and used the findings to inform his decisions about extending lockdown restrictions? If seeing that information was important enough for him, why is it not good enough for this Parliament and for people who are desperately trying to plan to reopen their businesses?

[Nigel Huddleston]

Again, I am afraid that I do not buy into some of the conspiracy theories circulating around here. Clearly, the goal of the Government—the goal of the whole House—is to open up sectors as soon as we can in a responsible way. The events research programme is providing vital and pivotal information to enable us to do so. We will be providing additional guidance to the events sector, and we have been providing further support for these vital sectors—[Interruption.] I agreed with the hon. Gentleman’s first comment. These are pivotal sectors for the economy and for our livelihood and we want to provide them with support.

Professional and Amateur Sport: Government Support

Debate between Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi and Nigel Huddleston

Wednesday 30th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Huddleston]

My hon. Friend makes some valid points about being practical and sensible as we reopen again. Those are exactly the kinds of conversations that we will be having, and I am sure he will be having, with the Sports Grounds Safety Authority and others when it comes to opening up. I thank him for his ideas.

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

The Government’s chaotic handling of the pandemic has had major consequences for sports clubs, with some already having been wound up. Clubs such as Slough, which has been in existence for more than 100 years, are much more than a football club; they are a community—a family—providing entertainment, social interaction and community cohesion and supporting people’s mental and physical wellbeing. Despite some last-minute support announced last night, there is still no clear Government plan to enable fans to return, to some extent, to sporting events. That will no doubt bring even more to the brink of collapse. What is the Government plan?

[Nigel Huddleston]

The hon. Gentleman has articulated the pivotal role of sport in our community and its importance in both physical and mental wellbeing. As I said earlier, we hope to get back to the plan that we already have: we did not get to stage 5, although we went through so many other stages. This is a pause; we want to open as soon as it is safe to do so, but not before. We are working on other initiatives—I have mentioned the STIG initiative and others—to see whether other innovations can help to open up sport.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi and Nigel Huddleston

Thursday 24th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Huddleston]

I thank my hon. Friend for his comments and very much appreciate the work that he and the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee have done. I would be more than happy to discuss his proposals further and thank him for his involvement so far. I wish that I could stand here and give definitive timescales for what we will be able to do, but, as we live in such uncertain times, I am unable to do so. I can assure him that we will endeavour to give as much guidance and notice as possible, and I look forward to working with him further.

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

What steps his Department is taking to support local, independent newspapers during the covid-19 outbreak.