Treasury and Work and Pensions

I have to disagree with my hon. Friend—I shall call him my hon. Friend because I know that his motives in this regard are good—because he is not correct. He must admit that Scotland is a much more attractive part of the United Kingdom to live in than most others. Although the south-east has a growing economy, there is congestion and young people working in professions such as teaching and social services and in the more minor professions, which do not pay the large wages that the City pays, cannot afford to buy a house. In Scotland, however, we have got the balance right and growth has been steady. There are people in my constituency who are in work, education or higher education and were not when the Conservatives were in power. That slow, steady growth has meant that we have not had the boom and bust in the housing market that England experienced. We should be proud of what has been achieved. I know that my hon. Friend thinks that independence for Scotland would mean a new start and that things would be completely different, but, as an economist, I disagree. The parameters of this growth are based on a United Kingdom economy, not on a small economy and country of 5 million people, most of whose large companies are located elsewhere. What could threaten our economic stability is the confusion generated by the Conservatives. They are sending out various messages—cuts of £20 million, £30 million, or £50 million; no cuts; get out of the European Union; stay in the European Union—that could create instability. Let them adopt a grown-up approach and take the issues on board. Let us have a serious debate, unlike what we heard earlier in response to the Chancellor’s speech; that way, we might make some progress. People can see, however, that the economy is on a stable trajectory, and that it is not threatened by the confusion that marks the Conservative party’s policy. I always remember an admonition that is credited to a much higher moral source than me. The Bible says, ““If you do this to these the littlest of my children, you do this unto me.”” I do not think that ““littlest”” means just children. People often say that that passage is about kids, but it is about those who are devoid of power, wealth or income. Correspondence that I have received shows that the Department for Work and Pensions is not willing to prevent housing departments from seizing people’s benefits to pay for housing arrears, thereby causing the downward spiral into poverty that occurs when people lose their jobs and cannot keep up their payments. Indeed, in some cases people cannot even make the relevant claim. We need to intervene and to do something about the problem. The blind, for example, cannot claim the higher rate mobility allowance. A personal assistant of mine who suffered from retinitis pigmentosa went blind. That he could be denied higher rate mobility allowance, which would have enabled him to get around, is a joke. We are not taking this issue sufficiently seriously. It is a question of redistribution, and in that regard I want to raise a number of issues: the national minimum wage and tips, the working time directive, the temporary workers directive, and the treatment of UK pensioners living overseas. If I have time, I shall also discuss Farepak. As Members know, I tabled a ten-minute Bill on the national minimum wage. All those whom I spoke to said that they did not know that when we add a service charge in a restaurant when paying by credit card or cheque, it does not go to the person who served us. By law, it belongs to the proprietor. The reality is that regulation 31(1)(e) of the National Minimum Wage Regulations 1999, which were passed by this Labour Government, says that any money paid through the payroll—be it a gratuity, a service charge or a cover charge—counts toward the minimum wage. I have asked the Prime Minister about this issue and spoken to the DTI and the Low Pay Commission, but they will not amend the regulation. What really offends me is that the Inland Revenue has yet again sent out form E24 (2006)—in fact, it was incorrectly sent out as form E24 (2005)—which effectively tells employers to put such tips through the payroll, so that they can be charged to the minimum wage. It also says that if a tronc—in other words, a kitty—is paid through the payroll, that counts toward the minimum wage too. I have been to restaurants in Glasgow and in London with very expensive charges. Their menus state that there is a voluntary 12.5 per cent. charge, which goes to the workers. When I quietly asked those workers about that, they said, ““Yes, it does—and it is part of, not on top of, our minimum wage.”” I want this Labour Government to do something for labour—for the least well paid in this economy, who are living on the minimum wage and who often work very long hours. Their proprietors are paying their wages with their tips. It is up to this Government to show that they are a Labour Government and that they do care for ““the littlest”” in our society. They must change regulation 31(1)(e) and close that loophole. Once again, we have failed to get an agreement on the working time directive at European level. The UK was told by other countries that we have to name the day when 48 hours means 48 hours. The Minister with responsibility for such issues tried to do a deal on 60 or 65 hours. It is time that our Government accepted that we are the black sheep of the family in Europe on this issue; it is we who are holding back agreement on the working time directive. It is time that they gave a date—