Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am sure that I will be able to remain within the time you have allocated, as my voice today is a limiting factor.
I am delighted to contribute to today’s debate, and I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Chancellor on his autumn statement. After what has been a testing year steadying the ship, this afternoon he laid the foundations for long-term growth, and demonstrated that Britain is again on the right track to prosperity. By taking the tough decisions when he did—decisions that in just over year have seen inflation halved, recession avoided, borrowing down and unemployment remaining low—my constituents can look ahead to 2024 with renewed confidence.
My right hon. Friend’s plan for the economy balances sensible and proportionate tax cuts against the continuous threat posed by inflation. The engine of the economy—its workforce—must always be our main focus, so I particularly welcome the Government’s new back to work plan, which will help those who are long-term sick, disabled or unemployed to look for, and crucially to stay in, work. We know that not everybody is able to work, and that is obviously taken into consideration, but the new plan will provide opportunities and boost self-esteem at the same time.
Translated, the Latin motto of Ilkeston—one of the towns that I am so proud to represent—means “work conquers all”. By applying Ilkeston’s principle, this Conservative Government are building on the reforms introduced by my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) a number of years ago when he served as the Work and Pensions Secretary, and unlocking the potential of up to 1.1 million people, supporting them to improve their lives away from the benefits system and achieve whatever they want to achieve in paid employment.
In a similar vein, it is estimated that the private sector alone loses over 100 million work days each year to sickness absences, greatly impacting productivity and hindering wealth creation. With targeted public health measures aimed at prevention, there is a clear opportunity to make a significant reduction in the number of days lost to the UK economy through sickness absences, as well as a financial saving for businesses and the taxpayer in terms of associated costs such as long-term sick payments and benefits. I am pleased to see the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (Maria Caulfield), on the Front Bench. I am sure that she will take those messages back to her Department, and work with the Treasury to ensure that we get the right funding and use the right fiscal measures to move public health forward in a combined way.
Using the right fiscal measures is important. Ahead of today’s statement, I raised with the Chancellor removing VAT from high-factor sunscreen as one such public health measure that could make a significant and immediate difference. This is an issue close to my heart, as I had a melanoma removed in 2019. As a former Public Health Minister, I believe that tackling preventable diseases must be a priority if we are to relieve the ever-increasing pressures on our NHS. With 90% of skin cancers estimated to be preventable by the use of high-factor sunscreens, this really is a fiscal measure that would work.
Skin cancers are estimated to cost the NHS £465 million every year. That does not take into account other associated costs, such as long-term benefits and the loss to the economy, which far outweigh the revenue from VAT on high-factor sunscreen. Removing VAT on high-factor sunscreen would also put out the message to the public that the Government are doing everything possible to help to prevent cancer, and make it easier for individuals to protect themselves from this serious killer. I therefore urge my right hon. Friend the Chancellor to look seriously again at the cross-party proposals and to work towards removing VAT on high-factor sunscreen in the Budget next spring.
In the autumn statement my right hon. Friend has already used fiscal measures to help protect the public, and I welcome the increase in duty on hand-rolling tobacco. This should act as a disincentive to smoking and help the UK realise its ambition to become smokefree by 2030, as well as, more importantly, saving lives.
Turning to the levelling-up agenda, the Government can never claim to have truly succeeded in their mission to level up the midlands and the north if they fail to invest in places such as Erewash. It is therefore deeply disappointing that once again my constituency was overlooked in Monday’s announcement relating to round three of the levelling-up fund and I want to use this opportunity to make an early bid to my right hon. Friend the Chancellor for the inclusion of new funding to support major infrastructure projects in next year’s Budget, to help develop schemes such as my campaign to secure an additional motorway junction to support the multimillion-pound development at New Stanton Park and relieve the already congested local roads around my constituency.
On the wider measures announced for the east midlands, it would be remiss of me not to put in another early bid for a fair share of the benefits that will come from the east midlands investment zone. Erewash has a proud tradition of manufacturing and adapting to changes in markets and technology over time. I am sure we can accommodate advanced manufacturing and green industries, which will help regenerate our brownfield sites and contribute to the levelling-up agenda.
Whether of a Government’s own making such as the economic crash which exposed the “no money left” mantra of new Labour or caused by unprecedented global events such as the covid pandemic followed by war in Europe, during times of great economic uncertainty sound Conservative economics have always triumphed over the reckless tax-and-spend policies of the Labour party. It is in that spirit that today’s statement has been delivered, and the British people will prosper because of it.
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