Budget Resolutions

Tobias Ellwood Excerpts

Wednesday 27th October 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth East) (Con)]

I join my hon. Friend the Member for Thirsk and Malton (Kevin Hollinrake) in appreciating the enthusiasm and constructive effort that have been put into this Budget. It is thanks to the wisdom of the stewardship during covid that the Chancellor has been able to provide such a positive Budget today. The Red Book is just out, as is the OBR publication, and the Chancellor sat down only a couple of hours ago, so there is much to digest.

From the perspective of Bournemouth, which very much values tourism and hospitality, the cuts to air passenger duty, alcohol duty and fuel duty are not just welcome, but appreciated. The cuts to business rates are particularly appreciated by the hospitality industry; they will make such a difference to the impact on the sector, which has been hit so hard by covid.

I was also pleased to see that effort had been put into the net zero strategy. I wish COP26 well, but we can only expect other nations to agree to reductions in CO₂ emissions if we lead by example. We have done well to cut our emissions to date, and I welcome other initiatives such as investment in electric vehicle technology, efforts to insulate homes better, and the carbon capture and storage programmes, but in my view this is not enough if we really want to move the scale. I strongly urge the Government—and I am pleased to see the Chief Secretary in his place—to advance the modular nuclear reactor programme, which is something in which we excel across the world: this is what Rolls-Royce does. The reactors cost about £2 billion per unit, and one can be made in a factory every six months. We can not only reduce the CO₂ emissions in this country but help other countries around the world, including our Commonwealth friends, who may find it very difficult to reduce their CO₂ emissions.

Let me turn to the wider picture. I welcome the increase in aid spending to 0.7% of gross national income, and I am pleased to have been part of the noise that was made to try to encourage the return to 0.7%. The Chancellor’s domestic focus on energising the post-covid economy is understandable and has of course been welcomed, but while we have been distracted by covid, the world has become increasingly dangerous, and the difficulties that we have been facing in the wider security context of today are due to a global security issue. It is because of covid that the Budget has been affected, but nowhere does the Budget, the Red Book or indeed the OBR deal with security and its impact on the Budget itself.

As I have said in the past, there is a 1930s feel to the world, with rising authoritarianism, western institutions unable to cope with errant nations, the absence of western leadership, and—as Afghanistan illustrated—a lack of strategic patience and ambition to hold the international peace. I remind the House of the 10-year rule, adopted in 1919: the assumption that there would be a decade in which to identify and prepare for future threats. Today, demands on our armed forces are increasing and the storm clouds are beginning to gather overseas, yet we currently remain on a peacetime defence budget. I hope that, if global security continues to deteriorate, the Chancellor will return to the House to announce an increase in defence spending. It falls to me to report to the House that the defence budget is the only budget that I can identify that is being cut today, in comparison with those of all other Departments.

A key part of the Chancellor’s speech was his comment that we want to live in a country where the response to every question is not, “What are your Government going to do about it?” I entirely agree with his premise. There are limits on what the Government can and should do, but I strongly believe that security is the Government’s responsibility, and I am sad to see that, in real terms, the defence budget has been cut—ever so slightly, but it has definitely been diminished.

Defence spending is overstretched. It includes space and cyber-security, which is having an impact on the three conventional services. The Army is being forced to cut the number of tanks, armoured fighting vehicles and troops. The Royal Air Force is cutting the number of heavy lift aircraft and the number of F-35s—our new fighter aircraft; we were supposed to buy 138, and we are buying only 48—and the Navy is cutting the number of frigates. Cutting the defence budget at this point is a grave mistake, which our competitors will note, and it sends the wrong message, post Afghanistan, about our commitment and appetite to play a more influential role on the international stage.

Page 7 of the Red Book states:

“The Budget…builds on the government’s vision of Global Britain as a problem-solving and burden-sharing nation, globally competitive and firmly committed to an open and resilient international order.”

It goes on to say:

“In the coming years, the UK will continue to catalyse action from the international community to address the most pressing global issues”.

Perhaps it was just a printing error, but it seems that the Government are not interested in doing that now.

We need to address this. We face continued unparalleled economic uncertainty, but we also face growing global instability. From where I sit, I see the world becoming more siloed and countries becoming more protectionist. As nations retreat from global exposure, our world is absolutely getting more dangerous, not less. I ask that as we grow in economic confidence, we address the real security concerns that are in front of us. For me, that is what global Britain needs to be about.