Finance (No. 2) Bill

Does the Minister agree that in pursuing the policies he has just outlined in a strong and stable...

I thank my hon. Friend for that perceptive and helpful intervention. There is no question but tha...

Is the Minister satisfied that the banks have enough in reserve to cope with any emergency should...

As the hon. Gentleman will know, the Bank of England carries out stress tests on our banking syst...

After 2008, a bank levy was needed because there was not much profitability in the banks to enabl...

My hon. Friend is entirely right. The Government since 2015, and the coalition Government, oversa...

In 2010, tax receipts from the financial services sector amounted to about £53 billion; today the...

My hon. Friend is entirely right. The additional tax raised from the banks amounts to £9 billion ...

As circumstances change, it is right for us to move from a bank levy to taxing bank profits. I am...

That is a valid point. I am waiting with some interest to hear what Opposition Front Benchers hav...

Did the big banks not lobby for this change, and are they not likely to benefit from the surcharg...

When we consider who benefits and who does not, we must assume that overall, given that more tax ...

I, too, look forward with great interest to hearing from Opposition Front Benchers. Has not part ...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I think it would pay all Members dividends to consider the co...

It is important that we raise record sums from the banks to pay for vital public services, but is...

My hon. Friend is right, and this is all about striking the right balance. We recognise that bank...

My hon. Friend is making an important point. Rather than setting a tax rate for party political p...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, as we know from recent experience. For example, although corp...

A branch of Barclays bank in County Road in my constituency has closed, and I know that many othe...

Conservative Members believe that it is better for commercial organisations to be left to run the...

A constituent who came to my community surgery on Saturday made a simple suggestion that I though...

The hon. Gentleman raises an interesting idea, but I would argue that that is already effectively...

All of us who represent rural constituencies are concerned about the issue of access to bank bran...

My hon. Friend raises an important point about connectivity, particularly in rural areas, includi...

Will the Minister look into a situation that a number of us have had letters about? In the case o...

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on the ingenuity with which he has shoehorned in that question,...

Will the Minister re-emphasise the point he has just made: that the practical effect for our cons...

As is so often the case, my hon. Friend has hit an important nail on the head: in terms of improv...

Is it not right that these banks, some of which were bailed out by, and may well look in the futu...

I would maintain that the banks are indeed being treated rather differently from other sectors of...

I rise to speak to the amendment and new clauses in the name of my right hon. Friend the Leader o...

Will the hon. Gentleman be fair enough to confirm at the Dispatch Box that since the Conservative...

I will come to that in the course of my speech.

I was asking about the context for these me...

The hon. Gentleman mentioned ideology. The shadow Chancellor is on record from 2013 as being a se...

The hon. Gentleman is nothing if not persistent in asking that question. We are dealing with the ...

Does the hon. Gentleman regret the fact that his party opposed the bank levy when this Government...

I will come to that in due course as well, if I may. I am beginning to think that my staff have b...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for talking about civil war. By contrast, in the interest of ...

I know that the hon. Gentleman was disappointed when he was unable to ask that question last week...

On the topic of the shadow Chancellor, it was he who called for an independent assessment of the ...

Of course I am more than happy to support the shadow Chancellor, because that is the very point t...

The hon. Gentleman refers to red herrings, but surely the views and political ideology of his sha...

I think that the shadow Chancellor is more interested in Groucho Marx than Karl Marx, quite frank...

It is very kind of the hon. Gentleman to take so many interventions on the trot. [Laughter.] This...

Order. It may be in order in the hon. Gentleman’s terms, but it is not in order in my terms. I sh...

Thank you for bringing us back to the land of reality, Sir Roger. I very much appreciate it.

Let us get real and say to the Government that at the end of the day, when we are in government, ...

As ever, my hon. Friend makes a reasonable point. The Government are so lacking in confidence tha...

rose—

rose—

I will give way.

I am very grateful. I want to give the shadow Minister another opportunity to answer the question...

I will come to that in a moment. In future, if two hon. Members want to make an intervention at t...

rose—

I will take an intervention from the hon. Gentleman.

The hon. Gentleman mentioned tax. If we had a Labour Government, by how much would corporation ta...

We discussed this issue last week, but the bottom line is that we are here to talk about the tax ...

Given the hon. Gentleman’s love of punishingly high corporation tax, does he not regret supportin...

No matter how many times Government Members ask rather tangential questions, I will not be drawn ...

Will the shadow Minister give way?

No, I will push on for a moment.

It is worth pointing out that the bank levy was not the br...

It is probably right to look at the history, rather than listening to the made-up stuff coming fr...

My hon. Friend is right. Conservatives always try to take the credit. They take responsibility fo...

The hon. Gentleman is talking about where the bank levy came from. I remind the Committee that it...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that history lesson.

If we are talking about the 1980s, let us remember that corporation tax spiked to over 50% in 198...

That is a fair comment.

The threshold was established despite Treasury officials considerin...

It is all well and good for the hon. Gentleman to say what he is saying, but he is neglecting a s...

Yes, because the sector returned to profitability after a Labour Government supported it througho...

I am enjoying the hon. Gentleman’s potted Marxist history of the past 10 years. There seems to be...

First, we did not regulate the banks in the United States, where it all started. I ask the hon. G...

They were not the Government.

“They were not the Government” is shouted across the Dispatch Box, but that brings me to the poin...

The hon. Gentleman is discussing the strictures and exhortations of my right hon. Friend the Memb...

If the hon. Lady wants to take back to the Conservative party the independence of the Bank of Eng...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend and constituency neighbour for giving way. There is a lot of disp...

I thank my hon. Friend for his advice, which I will take.

In 2017, we are still feeling the...

I am confused by the hon. Gentleman’s position on the bank levy. He says that he voted against it...

I suggest that the hon. Gentleman goes back and reads Hansard when it is printed to see exactly w...

Will the hon. Gentleman not acknowledge that, as we have reduced the rate of corporation tax, so ...

In short, no. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has made no link whatsoever between the rate of co...

Does the hon. Gentleman therefore think that France’s recent proposal to cut taxes for higher ear...

The only thing that is going to attract people over to France is the shambles that the Government...

France has a corporation tax rate of 33%, so I am not entirely sure the point the hon. and learne...

My hon. Friend is right on that. Other countries, including the United States, have a corporation...

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the Conservative party continues to cut corporation tax aggres...

There are many, many calls on the taxpayer, and that is one of them. The Government would do well...

rose—

I am more than happy to give way in relation to corporation tax, but it is important that I maint...

I am sure that, coming from where he does, the hon. Gentleman takes a close interest in the Repub...

Huge amounts of support from the European Union have revolutionised the Irish economy. My forebea...

It is my great privilege to follow the hon. Member for Bootle (Peter Dowd), whose speech was grea...

Does the hon. Gentleman recall the shadow Chancellor at that time, the then Member for Tatton, ca...

The important thing to remember is who was in government and whose hand was on the tiller at the ...

Does my hon. Friend remember the City Minister, Ed Balls, saying in 2006 that nothing could endan...

I thank my hon. Friend for that useful intervention because I absolutely do remember that. The re...

Now that the hon. Gentleman has demonstrated that his memory is fully functioning, will he answer...

It might be a function of my age, but I must confess that I have no recollection of anything to w...

Will the hon. Gentleman explain how we can know there is a level playing field and that such levi...

I was about to describe the level playing field as I see it. The Bill will remove any disincentiv...

I do not want to distract my hon. Friend from his excellent speech, but he referred earlier to th...

I have a very bright recollection of that. There is a famous document that shows the First Minist...

My hon. Friend reminds us that, what with Royal Bank of Scotland and Bank of Scotland, there is c...

My hon. Friend makes a first-class point. He provides me with an opportunity to remind the House ...

The hon. Gentleman is making a powerful argument about local banking. Does he therefore support t...

I am in favour of some fair competition in retail banking. We need to consider many important iss...

Given that the Government are the major shareholder in one of the banks to which the hon. Gentlem...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his comment. In fact, I have made representations to Ministers—as ...

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that using state money to keep banks open in local communities amou...

Well, I have mentioned what I did in my earlier years. In all those years, I was never accused of...

I just want to be clear: is the hon. Gentleman asking for a further Government subsidy from eithe...

I do not think that I have mentioned the word “subsidy”. I am talking about corporate social resp...

I am listening with interest to the hon. Gentleman. He is talking about social responsibility, bu...

I appreciate that reminder, Sir Roger. My comments about social responsibility are in the context...

My hon. Friend is talking about Scotland, but is he aware that, in the whole UK, while we reduced...

I am delighted to offer a comment on that, because that is exactly in line with the point that I ...

You will be delighted to know, Sir Roger, that I will be talking about the bank levy and the new ...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

No, I will not give way.

The other concern about the tone of this debate thus far is that i...

It is a pleasure, as always, to follow the hon. Member for Aberdeen North (Kirsty Blackman). Inte...

rose—

I give way to my Suffolk colleague.

In 2009-10, the banks were recovering from the worst position they had been in since the 1930s. I...

I consider the hon. Gentleman to be a friend because we work together in Suffolk as MPs; we are a...

Is my hon. Friend aware that the total tax take from banks now is 6% higher than it was in the ye...

My hon. Friend makes an excellent intervention and provides the rebuttal for me. The key point is...

I am very interested to hear the hon. Gentleman give us his rhetoric about history. What, at the ...

I would say three things. First, the hon. Gentleman talked earlier about the shadow Chancellor, b...

If we are going to trade quotes across the Chamber, the then Member for Witney, who was the leade...

I am happy to have that debate. I will tell the hon. Gentleman what I said. I started a mortgage ...

May I tell the hon. Gentleman how prescient he was in 2004? He was clearly right. Does he have th...

The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point, and I will come back to that once I have set out the ...

Will the hon. Gentleman be reasonable or fair enough to acknowledge that while it is entirely pos...

I entirely disagree. The absolute root cause of it all was not saving enough and having a bad cul...

The hon. Gentleman is making the case that people borrowed too much because they were somehow fec...

I never talked about fecklessness or being immoral. I was talking about the economic fact that th...

Will the hon. Gentleman simply acknowledge that in August 2007 the Conservatives had a policy of ...

I do not accept that. Those mortgages were being advanced. The FSA knew about them and the Govern...

My hon. Friend is making a very strong case. However, he is relatively new to this place. May I r...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The types of borrowing that I have talked about were the real...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

The hon. Lady did not give way to me, but because I believe in inclusive growth and equality, I w...

The hon. Gentleman is making a very sensible case about the issues there were with mortgages befo...

I did say that I would come to the current position on credit. I want to finish on the analysis o...

We have talked about the rewriting of history. The Shadow Cabinet at the time—we are talking abou...

All the financial plans of that shadow Government would have been about fiscal prudence, and the ...

We have had an interesting, if not very factually correct, history lesson this evening. I want to...

It is a great honour to speak in the debate on this very important matter, and particularly to fo...

I am not quite sure that the hon. Gentleman is correct about that, because the Institute for Fisc...

I simply do not accept that point, with the greatest of respect to the hon. Gentleman. It is quit...

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. We have seen the boost in spending generated by the propo...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for those excellent points, which reinforce the point I am making.

My hon. Friend is making a very important point about tax fairness. Whether corporations or indiv...

It is exactly the same principle with personal taxation. My hon. Friend makes an absolutely outst...

Given those sensible taxation levels and rates, will the hon. Gentleman explain why productivity ...

I am grateful, as ever, to the hon. Gentleman for making his points. He makes a number of them an...

The Chancellor, in his Budget speech, offered nothing at all for our vital children’s services, w...

My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. Given the comments that we heard earlier about rece...

Absolutely—

Order. As the hon. Lady continues, rather than concentrating on recent history, will she get back...

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Wirral South (Alison McGovern) for her intervention, but in...

My hon. Friend is setting out in her excellent speech exactly the same point as that made by my h...

Absolutely. We have heard a lot about Marxism and some filibustering speeches, but the real peopl...

I wish to support Labour’s new clauses 1 to 3, which call for a review of the change in the scope...

Sir Mr Owen.

You have been promoted, Mr Owen.

I want quickly to draw the House’s attention to the fundin...

Is that not simply incomprehensible at a time when productivity is such a major issue for our eco...

I completely agree. The Education Committee has been looking into fostering. We know that in some...

We have had a very wide-ranging debate. On occasion, we even touched on the matter at hand—the ba...

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

That schedule 11 be the Eleventh ...

The Budget set out an ambitious plan to tackle the housing challenge—a plan that will raise housi...

Does the right hon. Gentleman not accept that the only solution to the housing crisis is to build...

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. We announced plans in the Budget along the exact lin...

Does the Minister accept that, although it is important to increase the supply of houses, this me...

My hon. Friend is entirely right. The point about up-front costs—alongside the costs of conveyanc...

Average wages in Stoke-on-Trent are £100 a week lower than the national average, and the average ...

There is not an area or region of the country that will not see benefits for first-time buyers. [...

Can the Minister give us any indication of his Department’s estimate of the cost of this measure ...

In addition to what I just said about every region seeing benefits, I can tell the right hon. Gen...

Does the Minister disagree then with the Office for Budget Responsibility, which says that the me...

As the hon. Gentleman may know, the figure of 0.3% takes a static view of this policy and its eff...

Will the Minister give way?

Will the Minister give way?

I will make a little progress, if I may.

The Budget announced an ambitious package of new p...

I thank the Minister for taking a second intervention from me. To my earlier point, though, there...

The figures the hon. Gentleman chose to use were, I think, a range between £250,000 and £300,000,...

I thank the Minister for giving way, but he simply did not answer the question from my right hon....

As I say, the average across the piece will be £1,700 per average first-time buyer. I also stated...

I thank the Minister for giving way, but surely his Department must have done an analysis, first,...

What I am able to tell the right hon. Gentleman is that, as I have said, the average benefit will...

It is important to put on the record that Northern Ireland probably benefits disproportionately a...

I thank my hon. Friend for those comments, which illustrate the point that there are benefits acc...

Will the Minister give way?

I am going to make further progress.

I will now move on to other changes relating to stamp ...

This country is in the grip of a severe housing crisis that the Conservatives have allowed to spi...

Can the hon. Gentleman confirm whether Labour built houses when it was in office or house buildin...

Labour’s record in office is 2 million more homes, 1 million more homeowners, and—something that ...

In St Albans, we are very grateful for the Chancellor’s abolition of stamp duty. Is the hon. Gent...

I have just explained that the policy was our idea to begin with, but it is effective only if it ...

The hon. Gentleman says that he will support the policy if it is accompanied by measures to incre...

No, we are not, as I have just explained, but there have to be measures that genuinely increase s...

The Budget states that 300,000 houses will be built every year. That is a measure to increase hou...

Members have become accustomed to the fact that the number of homes that the Government claim to ...

Does my hon. Friend think it is a bit ironic that when a similar measure was proposed in 2015, it...

My hon. Friend is entirely correct. As we know, sometimes the situation in the Government means t...

Does the hon. Gentleman accept that the additional capital that is being put into housing, the at...

We will get on to whether those measures will be effective, based on the assessments that have be...

My hon. Friend is talking about land banking by the big house builders. Is not the evidence of th...

My right hon. Friend identifies another feature of a dysfunctional market. That will be corrected...

Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the mistakes that former Chancellor Osborne made was the ca...

Absolutely. A combination of policy measures—not just the failure on new housing completions, but...

The hon. Gentleman has mentioned that Andy Burnham is the Mayor of the area he represents. Does h...

I commend the hon. and learned Lady for googling that so fast. I do not think that Andy Burnham’s...

The shadow Minister is making an excellent contribution. I want to point out, as he has in relati...

I agree with the point my hon. Friend has made. The fact is that we know the impact that a series...

Does my hon. Friend agree that some of the wider measures, such as forcing through universal cred...

Absolutely. There have been 13 consecutive cuts to housing association budgets, the cumulative im...

Having tried to get out of the Annington Homes contract when I was responsible for armed forces h...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for sharing his expertise with the Committee. It truly is an appa...

It is a great pleasure to speak in this debate. I only wish to make some very brief comments beca...

The people who serve in our armed forces today—I have some experience of this—are looking for a d...

I am very grateful to my right hon. Friend for making that point. His constituency is very simila...

I am concerned about the lack of impact that financial incentives for first-time buyers appear to...

I want to talk about the cut to stamp duty for first-time buyers, but before I do so I would like...

I am listening carefully to the hon. Lady, because obviously I have a constituency in one of the ...

I thank the hon. Lady for that intervention, but I have already answered her question. I said tha...

Does the hon. Lady not accept that, for a variety of reasons—planning permissions, procurement, o...

The hon. Gentleman seems to be arguing that it takes a little bit of time for capital expenditure...

I agree with the hon. Member for Witney (Robert Courts) and the right hon. Member for Hemel Hemps...

May I correct my hon. Friend? In the last few months of the Major Government, Michael Portillo, i...

My right hon. Friend is right: the taxpayer got about £1 billion and it has been a shoddy deal, b...

The hon. Gentleman—my friend—and I agree on most things, but no one is going to force people into...

I do not disagree with the right hon. Gentleman, but unless we do some work on where we are going...

I am doing the armed forces parliamentary scheme, which gives me the opportunity to speak to Army...

I do agree with the hon. Gentleman. Anyone with a close involvement with the armed forces, as he ...

Does my hon. Friend agree that the underlying problem is that the private sector supply side is b...

They are indeed. My hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich (Sandy Martin) mentioned the example of Pe...

Where private developers are developing houses, they are all too often quick to run to the distri...

My hon. Friend makes a good point. Added to that is the fact that the definition of “affordable” ...

I start by welcoming the service accommodation proposals. I echo the comments of my hon. Friend t...

I can inform my right hon. Friend that it was actually worse than that, because the Government ha...

I do not get involved in those arguments.

In essence, we are seeing major transfers of weal...

I will try to be brief, because we all want to get to the vote and then move on, but I will say t...

I echo my hon. Friend the Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (Jonathan Reynolds) in saying that I am...

I hope my hon. Friend will forgive me for interrupting her flow. She is making a precise and pert...

Absolutely. I hope that Members on both sides of the House will give their encouragement to that ...

We have been debating important measures. Clause 8 introduces an income tax allowance for members...