debates/debates2025-03-19c conversation_9
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-19)

UK Parliament Hansard data: debates/debates2025-03-19c conversation_9

Andrew Pakes:Like many people in Peterborough, I am passionate about tackling low pay and insecure work, especially for young people. Next month many of my constituents will receive a welcome boost in their pay packets owing to the increase in the national minimum wage that is being delivered by this Labour Government. May I thank the Prime Minister for ignoring the voices of those on the Opposition Benches who continue to oppose our plans to make work pay, and may I urge him to go further and faster in delivering our plan for change for working people? \p Keir Starmer: I thank my hon. Friend, who does a superb job for Peterborough. We are proud of the fact that our Employment Rights Bill is tackling the cost of insecure work, and that we are delivering that pay rise for 3 million of the lowest-paid. We know that the Leader of the Opposition opposes all that. She thinks that the minimum wage is a burden, and that maternity pay is excessive. It is the same old Tories. They opposed the minimum wage in the first place; they have learnt absolutely nothing. \p Lindsay Hoyle: I call the Leader of the Opposition. \p Kemi Badenoch: The Chancellor claimed that her Budget was “a once-in-a-Parliament reset”, so why are we having an emergency Budget next week? \p Keir Starmer: We have delivered record investment into this country, we have had three interest rate cuts in a row and wages are going up faster than prices, which is a massive cost of living boost. That is in only eight   months, after 14 years of absolute failure. What did the Conservatives leave? Interest rates were at 11% and there was a massive £22 billion black hole in the economy. They crashed the economy; we are rebuilding Britain. \p Kemi Badenoch: The Prime Minister knows why we are having an emergency Budget. It is because since the last one—since the Chancellor delivered her Budget in October—growth is down, borrowing is up and she has destroyed business confidence. Does the Prime Minister now regret raising taxes on business? \p Keir Starmer: The Office for Budget Responsibility will present its numbers and there will be a spring statement next week. We have record investment into this country and interest rates have been cut. The Leader of the Opposition talks about national insurance. We had to fill the £22 billion black hole that the Conservatives left. We have invested in the NHS, schools and public services. We are pressing on with planning, with infrastructure and regulation.

I understand the Leader of the Opposition is straight-talking, so perhaps she can help us with this. Is she going to reverse the national insurance contributions increase? If not, what is the point? If so, what other taxes is she raising to fill the hole—one way or another? \p Kemi Badenoch: The only black hole is the one that the Prime Minister is digging. He has shown absolutely no regret, but everybody knows that the Chancellor has made a mistake. That is why they are having an emergency Budget. Later today, Conservatives will vote to exempt hospices, pharmacies and care providers from her national insurance rise. Will he at the very least support exempting those vulnerable services from his jobs tax? \p Keir Starmer: I notice the Leader of the Opposition did not say that the Conservatives would reverse the national insurance rises. That is exactly it: she wants all the benefits, but they cannot say how they are going to pay for them. She carps from the sidelines, but cannot make her mind up whether she supports or does not support national insurance rises. We have made provision for hospices and we have made provisions for charities, but we had to secure the economy. We had to fill the £22 billion black hole that they disgracefully left. \p Kemi Badenoch: The Prime Minister has not made these provisions. He keeps talking about Budget benefits. Unemployment is not a benefit; businesses closing are not benefits. I asked him whether he would exempt hospices—even children’s hospices—from the jobs tax. He did not answer that question. His MPs know that this could affect end of life care, so I will ask the same question again: will he exempt hospices from paying his jobs tax? \p Keir Starmer: We have already invested £100 million for adult and children’s hospices, with an additional £26 million in funding through the children’s hospice grant, but we cannot get away from the root cause of what we were doing in that Budget, which was fixing the economy the Conservatives left so badly damaged—a £22 billion black hole. Perhaps the Leader of the Opposition will start the next question with an apology. \p Kemi Badenoch: I remember when the Prime Minister made—[Interruption.] If Labour Members want me to answer questions, we can swap sides.

I remember when the Prime Minister made that announcement. He has forgotten, because the money he is referring to for hospices is for buildings. It is not for the salaries hit by the jobs tax. As St Helena hospice in Colchester said:

“We cannot use this funding for salaries which is where we need urgent help.”

Why is the Prime Minister not listening to hospices? \p Keir Starmer: I have already set out the position in relation to hospices. The Leader of the Opposition says that she wants to swap sides—heaven forbid! After 14 years of breaking everything, we are getting on with the job of fixing it, and all she can do is carp from the sidelines with absolutely no policy. \p Kemi Badenoch: Winter fuel payments have been snatched. The jobs tax is hammering everyone from business to charities. The Chancellor promised a once-in-a-Parliament Budget; that she would not come back for more. In that Budget, she said:

“there will be no extension of the freeze in income tax…thresholds”.—[Official Report, 30 October 2024; Vol. 755, c. 821.]

Ahead of the emergency Budget, will the right hon. and learned Gentleman repeat the commitment that she made? \p Keir Starmer: The right hon. Lady has such pre-scripted questions she cannot adapt them to the answers I am giving. I think she now calls herself a Conservative realist. Well, I am realistic about the Conservatives. The reality is that they left open borders and she was the cheerleader, they crashed the economy, mortgages went through the roof, the NHS was left on its knees and they hollowed out the armed forces. This Government have already delivered 2 million extra NHS appointments, 750 breakfast clubs, record returns of people who should not be here, and a fully funded increase in our defence spending. That is the difference a Labour Government make.