Finance (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2021-04-19
Topic: Macroeconomics
Felicia Jane Beatrix Drummond (Conservative, Centre-right): Like all Conservative Governments, this is one who believe that people should be encouraged to create wealth and invest it wisely without undue interference from the state, bureaucracy or taxation for taxation’s sake. The fundamentals of our economy were strong nationally and in the Meon Valley as we headed into the coronavirus pandemic, and I am confident enough that we are well set to emerge from it and carry on with good growth. Although it is not the topic of this segment of the debate, I must welcome the announcement in the Budget of the Solent freeport, which will bring jobs and investment to the whole region, which includes my constituency I want to speak to clauses 5 and 28. The pandemic has created a major challenge for state finances, and I recognise that the Treasury must cover the cost of the measures it has taken to support jobs and society. The two long-running strands of policy covered in these clauses are the reform of personal income tax allowances and the lifetime allowance in pension fund accrual. The commitment to a £12,500 personal allowance featured in the Conservative party’s 2015 election manifesto, and I am pleased that we are achieving it a year early. Since 2010, the personal allowance has grown more quickly than average earnings, and a huge number of workers have benefited. In announcing a freeze between now and 2026, we will see some of that eroded—around £8 billion of income flowing back into the Treasury by 2025-26—and I hope that Ministers will ensure that we direct the benefits of recovery at the groups on the lowest incomes, whom we have done so much to help in government already. Needless to say, I will not be supporting the Opposition amendment to clause 5 Another area where I hope Ministers can keep an open mind is simplification of our pensions system in the future, but today I would like to concentrate on the lifetime allowance in clause 28. As many other Members will have seen in their postbag, this has been affecting doctors in the NHS, senior teachers and others in the public sector who have taken or considered early retirement to avoid breaching the cap. As well as creating a situation where the Treasury does not see some of its forecast tax take coming in, it means that in some cases, people have gone back to work as contractors or locums, sometimes filling gaps that have been created by this policy on pensions The intention behind the lifetime allowance when it was introduced in 2006 was to simplify a large number of regimes. However, freezing it at just over £1 million without the tie to the consumer prices index means that we are seeing some complex reworkings of remuneration schemes, and we will see more unintended consequences as growing numbers of people look to find ways to avoid the cap. The British Medical Association’s survey of GPs indicated that almost half of doctors would consider early retirement to protect their earnings after retirement. While the Budget forecast states that by 2025-26 there will be an additional £300 million of revenue, it does not account for other costs that the policy could contribute to Pension policy generally encourages people to forego current consumption, so that they can enjoy a higher standard of living later in life. However, the trade-off here is different, and we risk public services having to cope without staff or pay for them because they are contractors or locums if we carry on eroding the value of the lifetime allowance. I hope the Treasury will look creatively at how we can balance ensuring that people on higher incomes pay their rightful share of tax with the need to ensure that skilled and experienced workers continue to contribute to the wider public good throughout their working lives.