Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2021-11-01
Topic: Macroeconomics
Richard John Holden (Conservative, Centre-right): I want to reflect on what I think was a great speech from the Chancellor last week, and another fantastic tour de force from the levelling-up Secretary today. It is important for us to see everything that the Government are doing in context—the context of the hundreds of billions of pounds that they are putting into supporting the economy during the pandemic. We have had the furlough scheme and grants for business, support that has only been possible because of a decade of sensible financial management by the Conservative party. That is something on which Opposition Members should reflect, and it is something that they could not do after the financial crisis of 2008-09. However, as the Chancellor said in his statement, we should look more broadly at value for money in public spending, and that is certainly something that I shall be doing on the Public Accounts Committee along with the hon. Member for Glenrothes (Peter Grant) I disagreed with the hon. Member when he said that the House was only about party politics. I have worked closely with the hon. Member for Swansea East (Carolyn Harris) on policies of hers. I have worked with her on, for example, the Menopause (Support and Services) Bill, supported by the Government last week, and the all-party parliamentary group on gambling-related harm. There is more to this House than just party politics, and we can work together on certain important matters. I hope that the hon. Member will reflect a little on his earlier comments Some Members, in particular my hon. Friend the Member for Wimbledon (Stephen Hammond) and my right hon. Friend the Member for North Somerset (Dr Fox), spoke of what extra borrowing at this time would mean. That was all I could really hear from the Opposition, who seemed to be saying, "We want this extra spending, but we do not want the taxes to pay for it." Those on the Government side of the House are prepared to be honest with the British people; those on the Opposition Benches clearly are not. We should bear in mind that a 1% increase in interest rates that the Government have to pay would be the equivalent of a huge chunk of the defence budget being wiped out in interest alone. We need to think about that in a wider context, and about the sound management that the Government are delivering As for levelling up itself, one element in the Budget that has really hit home is the taper rate. Labour Members have said that it is not enough, but they talked about wanting to get rid of universal credit, which was introduced to stop taper rates of over 100% for working people. Now the rate is down to 55%, about half what it was for some workers before. Ours is the party that is delivering for working Britain, and we are also delivering more vacancies and more full-time jobs than ever before: even now, there are more full-time jobs than ever before in the UK. This is the party of work. Whenever Labour has been in government, it has left unemployment higher. I am delighted to support what the Government are doing More broadly, we are being honest with people. We are saying, "If you are to have good public services, you must be able to pay for them." That is why I support what the Government are doing. Opposition Members all say that they want more money and more investment, but none of them can say where they would raise that money. These are the two wins of levelling up: good jobs, better paid, with people being taken out of unemployment and into work, and the delivery of great public services funded by that. In my own constituency, I welcome the excellent news about the Weardale railway line, which I will say more about in the Adjournment debate—the House is safe for the time being—and the money for Shotley Bridge Hospital, as well as the feasibility study on reconnecting Consett and the Tyne. I thank, in particular, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury for the draught beer relief, and the 107 Conservative Members who supported it. However, as we are seeking to level up, I ask her to look a little at a campaign that I will be pressing on pensions. I want to see our pensions system levelled up across the country. However, I will leave that for another day, and simply thank the Government for everything that they have done so far to help level up our country.