Budget Resolutions — House of Commons, 2021-11-01
Topic: Macroeconomics
Anthony Joseph Lloyd (Labour, Centre-left): Nothing typifies the difference between the Pollyanna view of Conservative Members and the more realistic view of the Opposition than the conversation about the Chancellor’s brave decision, as he described it, to cut the universal credit taper from 63p to 55p. Had the Chancellor been brave enough to put a 55p tax rate on high earners, I would have applauded because it would have been legitimate to raise it from the 47p in the pound that high earners pay, compared with the 55p in the pound that the poorest people in our society have to pay. That is the difference between the values of this Government and those of my constituents and the overwhelming majority of people in this country The Budget did nothing about the environment. We saw a decrease in air passenger duty and fuel duty, and no investment in heat pumps, insulation for our homes and all the things that we know we have got to do. Where was that investment The Chancellor cut bankers’ tax, and he cut Amazon’s tax, I think by a total of £15 billion. I could have found better ways of spending £15 billion. I would have spent it on the things that matter to those on universal credit, for example, because they are our fellow citizens and they are in need. He should come to my constituency—to a constituency that is poor. It is not poor across the piece —there are people there who do well enough—but in the worst wards, 60% of children are living in poverty. That is a disgrace to this country of ours and it is a disgrace to this Government, because it has got worse consistently, year by year, since they came to power in 2010 Look at the pay of the public servants that even the Conservatives now say they value. Someone working as a medical secretary, for example, is 5% worse off today than they were in 2010. A paramedic is 7% worse off, and people in other industries are even worse off. The Chancellor’s lifting of the pay restraint on those in public sector services will not go a long way, frankly Let us look at the question of growth. We know that this country has a productivity crisis. We know that there are things that we have to invest in for the long term rather than engaging in short-term tinkering as the Chancellor did. That long-term change will require investment in health so that, for example, my constituents in the worst wards do not die 10 years younger than constituents in the City of Westminster. That is another disgrace in modern Britain We also need investment in education. Again, young people in my constituency see less spending and bigger cuts to education than those in other parts of the country. We have had 8% cuts over the last 10 years, compared with 4% nationally. Are we going to see that money put back with the new investment in education? I hope so, but I do not rely on this Government to do that. We have seen cuts in further education. We have seen cuts in our sixth-form colleges, which are so important to young people in towns such as Rochdale. When will we see that money back There is real anger in my constituency. This Budget is not disappointing; it is a waste of time. It was an opportunity to make real change—an opportunity that a tinkering Chancellor used to put himself forward to be leader of the Conservative party, not for the country.