Finance (No. 2) Bill

rose—

I have given way to the hon. Gentleman previously, so I am going to make some progress.

Thi...

Some 17% of taxpayers earn less than the minimum £10,500 that the Minister mentioned. What are th...

That is an important question. The measures to lift the personal allowance, from a little over £6...

On that point, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury has omitted to mention thus far that the Gover...

The way that universal credit is structured means not only that we have a much simpler system, bu...

rose—

I will give way one more time, and then I will make some progress.

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury says that he is proud that the idea of an increase in persona...

I am glad that the hon. Gentleman gives me an opportunity to repeat the fact that this policy cam...

rose—

I will not give way, because I want to make progress. The increase in the personal allowance will...

My right hon. Friend is being very liberal with his praise for various coalition colleagues. This...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her contribution on these matters and for those specific comm...

I welcome the simplification of the pension arrangements, which predates this Budget. As the Chie...

It is a long-established principle that there should be tax relief on pension contributions. This...

In any reform that my right hon. Friend proposes to make to the reliefs that are given on people ...

I certainly do bear that in mind. No party in this House—certainly not mine—is proposing any chan...

I am most grateful to my right hon. Friend for giving way a second time. He has not touched on th...

I had not intended to mention the regions, but I am glad that my hon. Friend has given me the opp...

I beg to move,

That this House declines to give the Finance (No. 2) Bill a Second Reading b...

The hon. Gentleman refers to the cost of living. Does he not understand that by next year, under ...

We are not opposed to the measure that the hon. Gentleman mentions, but he ought to be straight w...

rose—

Perhaps the hon. Gentleman would like to take the opportunity to tell the full story.

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way again. What is Labour’s policy on VAT? If Labo...

I love it when Liberal Democrats start talking about VAT. Of course, the hon. Gentleman promised ...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will give way to the hon. Gentleman in a moment, but I ask him to bear it in mind that it is im...

The hon. Gentleman says that his pledges will be fully funded come the manifesto, but does he not...

I shall have to send some details to the hon. Gentleman, because he is obviously not fully aware ...

The jobs going to young people will be particularly welcome in the black country, where long-term...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for addressing that point. Yes, such transparency would help a gr...

rose—

I forgot to give way to the hon. Gentleman. Long-term youth unemployment has gone up in Dover by ...

Long-term youth unemployment did go up in my constituency by 300%, and in the hon. Gentleman’s co...

If the hon. Gentleman wants to trade statistics, I am more than happy to do so. In my constituenc...

I asked the Chief Secretary to the Treasury whether he could remember any time when the Liberal D...

Trying to get inside the heads of the Liberal Democrats could take quite a long time. The Chief S...

May I return to the issue of the regions? Does the hon. Gentleman agree or disagree with the inte...

We should be cutting business rates for small and medium-sized enterprises. I am very surprised t...

I know it is the Opposition’s job to oppose, but does the hon. Gentleman wonder whether sometimes...

It is simple. It is easy to do a Budget in which the Chancellor gives a few little things back, s...

rose—

Before I give way, let us look at what is happening in the new tax year that is about to begin. I...

rose—

Before I give way to the hon. Gentleman, he can tell me this: I think about 2 million more people...

I will ask the questions rather than answer them, if the shadow Minister does not mind. He implor...

Briefly.

—in marked contrast to many other European nations, and the Government should be congratulated on...

I do not think it helps with social cohesion to move from the 50p to the 45p rate. That sends a v...

I am listening intently to what the hon. Gentleman says and I agree with the point he makes, but ...

We have said that a 50p rate needs to be the policy for the next Parliament. We make judgments in...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

How could I resist the hon. Member for North East Somerset (Jacob Rees-Mogg)?

I am extremely grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way to me on behalf of North East Somers...

I think it will raise a significant sum to help to alleviate the burden on lower and middle earne...

I want to probe the hon. Gentleman further on his answer to my hon. Friend the Member for North E...

I know that Government Members like to expunge history from their memory banks, but there was a g...

I agree with my hon. Friend on the compulsory jobs guarantee, and it is a great shame that we do ...

Conservative Members love to bash what is going on in Wales. They have an anti-Welsh attitude to ...

Does my hon. Friend also think that the Government should publish their modelling on the proposal...

It is vital that we have serious consultation on those measures. We support flexibility in princi...

rose—

It is a very significant sum of money, and I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will have something ...

I certainly do. The hon. Gentleman must also recognise the importance of banks lending into the r...

Of course the banking sector is very important. It has been dysfunctional for a prolonged period....

Following the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Mark ...

I disagree with the hon. Gentleman on that point, not least because the shortfall in the amount t...

indicated dissent.

rose—

No, nothing is forthcoming. Perhaps the hon. Member for Dover (Charlie Elphicke) can help us on t...

The hon. Gentleman referred to the article in The Daily Telegraph but did not explain it fully to...

That is a very interesting explanation. There is a shift in policy, which is to let certain banks...

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that in the north-east, the Help to Buy scheme is absolutely transfor...

We do not oppose the Help to Buy scheme unless it is not accompanied by a help to build scheme. T...

I am not sure what nirvana the hon. Member for Hexham (Guy Opperman) lives in if he thinks that t...

For all the Government’s talk of a balanced, sustainable recovery, we see no action. Most of our ...

The hon. Gentleman does not want to take this point from Government Front Benchers, but I have ju...

No, because the Bill could be significantly improved. I have given a number of ways in which it s...

It is usually a pleasure to joust with the hon. Member for Nottingham East (Chris Leslie), but hi...

I know that 2010 seems a long time ago, but does the hon. Gentleman remember that when this Gover...

The hon. Gentleman will be well aware that it is in the power of any Chancellor to orchestrate so...

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this debate. I want to begin by focusing my remarks...

My hon. Friend mentions the automobile industry. I am sure she would appreciate that the previous...

I agree entirely with my hon. Friend’s point. I was about to come on to look at the Labour Govern...

I agree with my hon. Friend about the long-term strategy that was put in place. Also, when help w...

My hon. Friend makes the point that I was just about to come to, about the car scrappage scheme. ...

I concur with my hon. Friend, but it is not just the automotive industry in the north-east that w...

That is absolutely the case. One of the ways in which Sunderland has diversified its economy has ...

I thank my hon. Friend for giving way again. On the point about companies investing in this count...

We should not underestimate the scale of the challenge that companies such as Nissan face. It is ...

Does my hon. Friend recall, like I do, that when the Government introduced their Work programme, ...

Like my hon. Friend, a lot of the correspondence I receive and what people who visit my surgery t...

Rather than try to compete with the shadow Chief Secretary’s negative attitude towards the Bill a...

My hon. Friend makes a very important point that is worth stressing. In the midst of more and mor...

I thank my hon. Friend, who characteristically makes a very good point. The problem is that to gi...

Are not people who set up businesses performing a public service in their own right? They are not...

My right hon. Friend makes a valid point. That is another benefit. That is another way in which s...

The hon. Gentleman is giving a slightly confusing impression of such schemes. I have met small bu...

I respect the hon. Gentleman’s view. I described my experience of the last scheme and he has spok...

I do not think that the hon. Gentleman has looked very closely at what we did in government. The ...

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. There is a consensus that it is not acceptable if people ...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

If the hon. Gentleman will bear with me, I will make a bit of progress first.

The system me...

Is the hon. Gentleman concerned that the number of unemployed people remains relentlessly high, d...

I agree with the hon. Lady, but in my constituency the number of those on jobseeker’s allowance h...

Over the past couple of years in particular the number of people on jobseeker’s allowance has dro...

I spend a lot of time at Jobcentre Plus—if the hon. Lady and her colleagues have their way, I am ...

rose—

If the hon. Lady will excuse me, I have taken enough of Madam Deputy Speaker’s time.

I conc...

I listened with care and interest to the hon. Member for Watford (Richard Harrington), and I chal...

This is a completely different Finance Bill from the one we have before us. The only decile of in...

The hon. Gentleman fails to note that the average worker has become £1,600 worse off since his Go...

Does my hon. Friend agree that there is the problem of insecurity, even for those who are in empl...

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. Indeed, I will come on to the value of high paid and wel...

Many people who are in work have to go to food banks as well, because they are receiving very poo...

My hon. Friend is exactly right. I have met many such individuals in my constituency. Two of the ...

Since devolution and the advent of a Labour Government in Wales, there has been more public spend...

I am interested that the former Secretary of State for Wales should want to make comparisons betw...

Such as the right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr Redwood)?

Indeed, indeed.

As my right hon. Friend the shadow Chancellor pointed out today, it was Lab...

This Finance Bill represents another step in clearing up the mess left by the previous Government...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Just a moment; I have only managed a couple of sentences. The Opposition are trying to con the pu...

I put this question to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury earlier. Can the hon. Gentleman tell u...

Unfortunately, I was not here during the last Parliament, but I have read a great deal of what my...

Would the hon. Gentleman like to mention the 24 tax rises that his Government have introduced, in...

I will come on to some of those tax rises in a moment. I am just saying that working people are n...

Would the hon. Gentleman admit that, for many low-paid workers, the increase in the tax threshold...

Everyone is in a different situation, but it is certainly not true to say that, for more people, ...

What about Lamborghinis?

It was the same for Lamborghinis.

The hon. Gentleman said that he was not here when the previous Government were in office and inde...

I do remember that, but I would make some comments about it. First, at that time we had not seen ...

Mr Deputy Speaker, I find these financial debates deeply frustrating and often very bad for my bl...

We do not want you to collapse—the hon. Lady does not have to speak if it has such a great effect...

I assure you, Mr Deputy Speaker, that I will not collapse. I might just get a little excited.

Was not a record structural deficit a major contributing factor as well? The hon. Lady seems to a...

The hon. Gentleman should continue to listen to what I have to say, because before the crash we d...

The hon. Gentleman just referred to a “record structural deficit”, but according to the OBR in 20...

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. I will come on to some of the details in just a mom...

It is highly questionable that Northern Rock needed to fail if the Bank of England had been willi...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. At that time our Government needed to act to bai...

The Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Bill was recently passed in the Welsh Parliament and m...

With the greatest respect to the hon. Gentleman, I am not a Welsh Member and I am not a Member of...

It is a real pleasure, as always, to follow the hon. Member for Bolton West (Julie Hilling). List...

The hon. Gentleman, who was not a Member in the House at that time, belongs to a party that throu...

The hon. Gentleman knows perfectly well that his Government ran a budget deficit for a very long ...

I am sorry, but the hon. Gentleman must look at history. The previous Conservative Government ran...

Let us talk about those good times. Before the downturn in the ’90s, the national debt was at lea...

Surely the hon. Member for North Durham (Mr Jones) is forgetting that the success of the Labour p...

Indeed.

There was Labour’s crash. We hit the wall in 2008 and were left overexposed in a ba...

rose—

I have given way quite a lot. I think we have heard enough from the hon. Gentleman for a minute. ...

Was not the real crime of the previous Government that they became completely absorbed in what Lo...

The Labour Government were delusional. I recall them saying for a long time that they had abolish...

Where is he?

Since he was bundled out of Downing street, he has been in the attic of Portcullis House but has ...

This is the sort of speech that raises my blood pressure. Where does the hon. Gentleman believe t...

I apologise to the hon. Lady if I raised her blood pressure. In England, the NHS will look after ...

Is it not true that we have not only a plan but a long-term plan that is credible and believable ...

I completely agree. It is a major problem for Labour Members that they are unable to welcome any ...

It is always a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Dover (Charlie Elphicke), who offers such i...

It is appropriate to remember the anniversary of the minimum wage today of all days, because let ...

We remember the tooth-and-nail opposition of the Conservative party to the minimum wage and the l...

I agree that the minimum wage was one of the great achievements of the previous Government and I ...

I hope the hon. Gentleman will use his undoubted influence to speak to the Business Secretary, wh...

The hon. Gentleman is making a point about inequality, but does he not welcome the fact that the ...

I hope that when the hon. Gentleman speaks to his constituents in Redcar, he will remind them of ...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I cannot resist giving way to the hon. Gentleman.

In fact, in the previous Parliament the relative figures for child poverty rose and the gap betwe...

Over the entire period of the Labour Government, pensioner and child poverty were lower than they...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I simply cannot resist giving way to the hon. Gentleman, whose constituency shares part of its na...

There is a union between those of us who have “North East” in the title of our constituencies, an...

There is a degree of wisdom in what the hon. Gentleman says. I encourage him to look at the work ...

Before my hon. Friend moves on from statistics, does he agree that one of the cunning ploys of th...

My hon. Friend is entirely correct. It is shameful that the Secretary of State for Work and Pensi...

It is an honour to follow the speech of the hon. Member for Glasgow North East (Mr Bain). I antic...

I do go and talk to businesses, but I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman talks to his ordinary con...

That is a good question and I thank the hon. Lady for giving me the opportunity to respond. Of co...

It’s a great place.

My hon. Friend says, from a sedentary position, that it is a great place.

These are, of cou...

The neo-cons of the Conservative party think that public service jobs—nurses or cleaners in hospi...

I think that public sector jobs are vital, but I am talking about the need to get the balance rig...

The Chancellor was.

That is true, and so were the Prime Minister and others, but I was not. I was working in the worl...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Of course, if the hon. Gentleman will agree that it is a good thing that we have been able to red...

If the hon. Gentleman reads the OBR report published in, I think, March 2012, he will see that th...

I think that the hon. Member for North Durham (Mr Jones)—

Order. The hon. Member for Macclesfield (David Rutley) should answer the first intervention befor...

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, but I hear a noise coming from North East Somerset, so I will give ...

Order. The problem is this. I think that the hon. Member for Macclesfield rather than his hon. Fr...

I will gladly do that. Throughout the debate, the hon. Member for North Durham has persistently m...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way, and grateful, as always, for your splendid ruling...

I thank my hon. Friend for that clarification.

You said “the deficit”.

I did: absolutely. In fact, as Hansard will record, I referred to “the extraordinary deficit” tha...

I think my hon. Friend will agree with me that the Bill will also be remembered because, apparent...

Certainly, very important steps are being taken, such as raising personal allowances, which will ...

The hon. Gentleman is making a very good speech. As somebody who represents the north-east corner...

Absolutely. Real growth and true wealth creation have to come from the private sector: that is ho...

The hon. Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Mark Field), who is unfortunately no longer...

The hon. Gentleman will recall that “Happy Days Are Here Again” is traditionally a Democrat theme...

I would not put anything past the new Conservative party, although I know that the hon. Gentleman...

rose—

I will give way to the “Conservative” Member for Redcar (Ian Swales).

I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way. The North East chamber of commerce said recently that ...

I have great respect for the North East chamber of commerce, but it represents only a certain sec...

Is my hon. Friend aware that in Northern Ireland we have a particular problem with VAT and our la...

I agree. Some particular issues that appertain to Northern Ireland need to reflect the common lan...

The hon. Gentleman must bear it in mind that nobody gains more than the £700 and that in the earl...

I was referring to some of the hon. Gentleman’s colleagues and I do not know whether he is includ...

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I hope the hon. Gentleman will accept my apology for interruptin...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that point of order. His courtesy in the House is well kn...

The hon. Gentleman has not broken my flow, but I thank him for the little breather to give my lar...

The record will show that I did not say that public servants do not do a useful job, because I th...

The hon. Gentleman’s naive and simplistic approach is that the only way to grow the country’s eco...

Whose money is it? It is not the state’s or the council’s. It is the taxpayer’s money, and there ...

I totally agree. The hon. Gentleman should look at my record on Newcastle city council, because I...

The point that the hon. Gentleman is missing is that the money that is taken out of the taxpayer’...

I disagree. Were we to build a new motorway or railway line, such as HS2—I am sure that the hon. ...

In Gateshead.

In Gateshead. This 17-year-old on a zero-hours contract, who lives in Stanley, told me that he tu...

It is an enormous pleasure to follow the hon. Member for North Durham (Mr Jones), who always ente...

Did the hon. Gentleman feel that the predictions that the Chancellor gave to this House and the p...

The hon. Lady is aiming at the wrong target. The Chancellor, in his considerable wisdom, decided ...

If those were the forecasts of the OBR, based on the position as it saw it in 2010, does the hon....

That does not follow. It is like looking at the weather forecast on the BBC and saying that it is...

In Scandinavia, tax receipts in previous years have been much higher than 37%.

Indeed they are in France as well, but in our economy there seems to be a resistance at about tha...

Does the hon. Gentleman know how much of that situation is due to the abolition of exchange contr...

The calculation from the removal of exchange controls is not one that I know or would be able to ...

The hon. Gentleman is making a characteristically fascinating speech. Does he agree that the diff...

Without being too hard on that specific case, I am clear that some of the cases reported as tax a...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way yet again. The big losses from tax avoidance and evasio...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. The thing about corporation tax is tha...

Buy British.

None of them is British, unless people buy Aston Martins. We could say, “Let us all buy Aston Mar...

I cannot help but feel that the speech by the hon. Member for North East Somerset (Jacob Rees-Mog...

Growth up, unemployment down, inflation down and, certainly in my region and constituency, a very...

The hon. Gentleman is looking at claims rather than unemployment, which is the important thing. T...

Let us try to be nuanced about this. We all accept that there are isolated examples of genuine di...

I am sure that they are pleased in Hexham.

The claimant counts in Newcastle are down as well, as are the claimant counts in virtually every ...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Not at this stage. I want to make some progress. I had the great pleasure of listening to the hon...

Good!

—and, sadly, I shall not be burdening him with 42 minutes myself.

Hear, hear.

It is great to be applauded by one’s own Whip.

Let us look at the bottom line. Corporation ...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

One last time, just to give the hon. Gentleman an extra minute or so.

I am sorry that the hon. Gentleman spends so much time in Newcastle, rather than Hexham, which I ...

Surely the hon. Gentleman must acknowledge that it was because of all the difficulties created by...

It is a pleasure to follow my near neighbour, the hon. Member for Hexham (Guy Opperman). There ha...

Does my hon. Friend agree that this is about not just cuts in local authorities, but cuts in welf...

I could not agree more.

Again, on employment, we have to wonder whether the Prime Minister ...

I accept that there is a difference between the two types of job measurement, but let me give the...

Those figures are interesting. It has to be said that economies such as the north-east of England...

Like me, was my hon. Friend shocked when the “Conservative” Member for Redcar (Ian Swales) said t...

Given the statements that I have just read out, which are attributed to the current Prime Ministe...

I am pleased to be called to make a small contribution to the debate, Madam Deputy Speaker. I wis...

We have had an interesting debate today, which has made stark the difference between the Oppositi...

Is there anything the hon. Lady welcomes in the Budget, whether the raising of the income tax thr...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I very much welcome the Government’s U-...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

I will not for the moment. I will make some more progress—[Interruption.]

Order. Too many conversations are going on around the Chamber that have nothing to do with the sp...

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am not surprised that Government Members do not want to hear a...

rose—

I will not give way for now.

Instead, the Government’s priority has been the married couple...

rose—

I will give way to the hon. Gentleman if he will confirm that a 10p starting rate of tax 46% of w...

It is worth reminding the House that the Labour party abolished the 10p rate and that this Govern...

Yet after all that action, this Chancellor and this Government have given with one hand and taken...

I wonder whether my hon. Friend has had the same experience when talking to small businesses in h...

My hon. Friend makes a powerful point. His experience as a constituency MP is exactly the same as...

Order. The House is too noisy. If hon. Members listen quietly, perhaps the hon. Lady will be able...

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I will bring my remarks to a conclusion, but I want to give the ...

It is a great pleasure finally to be able to wind up this debate, Madam Deputy Speaker. We have h...

Will the Exchequer Secretary take the opportunity to do what none of his colleagues in the Treasu...

The Labour party presided over the greatest recession that this country has seen for more than a ...

Order. Surely the House wants to listen to the Minister. A little quieter.

After the mess we inherited, how do we ensure that we build up the economy and get the sustainabl...

Order. I am not going to ask any more polite questions. The House must listen to the Minister. St...

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.

Labour Members will oppose the R and D tax credit. There a...

Does my hon. Friend agree that raising the personal allowance to £10,500 will take 3.2 million pe...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. If the Labour party succeeds tonight, those 26 million people...