Chancellor Rachel Reeves is facing growing criticism over her inheritance tax changes for British farmers, as MPs warn the policy risks driving food prices even higher for families already struggling with rising costs. Reeves defended the measure during a tense exchange in Parliament, following backlash to last month’s tax-hiking Budget.
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NewsTranscript
00:00The approach in the budget provides significant support for low-income households, taking
00:15an average £150 of people's energy bills from April next year, freezing rail fares
00:20and prescription fees for a year, and expanding the free childcare offer. The steps I have
00:26taken as Chancellor, including the removal of the two-child limit and the expansion of
00:30free-school meals, will also lift around 550,000 children out of poverty.
00:35The House of Poverty Rates remain far too high in my constituency of Stoke-on-Tread North
00:43and Kidsgrove. Can the Chancellor please outline what assessment she has made about how the
00:49fair decisions taken in the budget will address poverty amongst low-income working families
00:54in my constituency and across the country?
00:56The Chancellor
00:58The Honourable Gentleman might know that around 4,000 children in his own constituency of Stoke-on-Tread
01:08North will benefit from the removal of the two-child benefit. That means 4,000 more children
01:15being able to go to bed in a house that is not cold and damp, and waking up in the morning
01:21and being able to have a breakfast and the parents being able to afford things that currently they
01:27cannot. This Government is also providing funding for free school meals in England, delivering free
01:33breakfast clubs in every state-funded primary school in England, and also extending the warm
01:38homes discount to 3 million more children. I am proud to be the Chancellor that has led to the
01:45largest expected reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since records began.
01:49The Honourable Gentleman
01:51The Honourable Gentleman
01:53The biggest issue for those on low incomes is losing their jobs. Does the Chancellor believe
02:00there is any link at all between her increase in employers' national insurance contributions,
02:07her job tax and employment levels slumping to a 14-year low?
02:14The Honourable Gentleman
02:16The Honourable Gentleman
02:17The Honourable Gentleman
02:19The number of jobs has increased by 329,000 this year. That is the record of this Government
02:27getting people back into work, and also through the Youth Guarantee, dealing with the fact that,
02:33when we took office last year, one in eight young people were not education, employment or training.
02:38That is your record. This Government are addressing it.
02:41The Honourable Gentleman
02:42The Honourable Gentleman
02:43The Honourable Gentleman
02:44I commend the steps that my right hon. Friend took to support those on low incomes in the Budget,
02:49and through the financial inclusion strategy that was recently published as well.
02:54But can I encourage her to go further on the issue of savings, given that a quarter of people in
02:59the UK have little by way of savings, and indeed one in seven have no savings at all?
03:04So will she encourage employers to work with local credit unions to help those who want to save
03:09automatically to save even small amounts from their pay packets to do so?
03:14The Honourable Gentleman
03:15The Honourable Gentleman
03:17Thank you, Mr Speaker. Through the financial inclusion strategy led by my Honourable Friend,
03:23the Economic Secretary to the Treasury. We are extending help to save within the universal credit
03:31system and also working with banks and building societies. I know that, as a Labour and cooperative
03:37MP, my Honourable Friend works closely with the co-op movement and building societies to ensure that
03:44more people from low-income backgrounds can save for the future.
03:47Thank you, Mr Speaker. Low-income families have been hit by being dragged into tax bans,
03:56which they weren't in before, facing energy costs. Now the Chief Executive, Aldi, has said that
04:03unless the Chancellor reviews her raid on farm inheritance tax, that there is going to be
04:11rising food prices hitting low-income families as well. If she doesn't listen to the farmers,
04:17will she at least show some concern for consumers and look again at this tax?
04:21The Honourable Gentleman
04:23Thank you, Mr Speaker. If you look at what has happened since the Budget,
04:27the co-op has cut or frozen the prices on 2,700 essential products at a cost of £1 billion,
04:37recognising the impact that the cost of living still poses to families, but also reflecting the
04:44Budget package which supports our high streets, including our supermarkets.
04:48Stephen Gethings
04:50The OBR have estimated that productivity will be 4% lower than it would have been had the UK not
05:08withdrawn from the EU. Alongside trade deals struck with the US and India, the Government is also
05:15resetting our relationship with the EU to get better deals, for example, on food and farming and also on
05:22electricity trading. The Honourable Members of the Party talks about how leaving the European Union has
05:29been costly and disruptive, but somehow thinks that Scotland leaving the UK and its internal market
05:35would be magically effortless and cost-free. I must say that the SNP are no better than those who
05:40promised the public an extra £350 million a week for the NHS. It is all talk, but no delivery.
05:47Stephen Gethings
05:48Thank you, Mr Speaker. Now, I am going to try and strike a note that is maybe a little bit better in
05:55terms of when we worked together with the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and others to ensure that
06:01we overcame Tory secrecy with their analysis of what it would be like to be outside the single market
06:07and the customs union. We worked together on that. If we could overcome Tory secrecy on analysis about
06:13what it is like to leave the EU, with it now costing an estimated £250 million a day, when will the Labour
06:21Party release their analysis? The Office of Budget Responsibility produced their independent analysis.
06:30They have confirmed that they believe that that 4 per cent number is the correct number,
06:36and it is the one that they continue to maintain in their forecasts.
06:39The Honourable Members of the Treasury
06:42Can I ask the Chancellor if the Treasurer has made any assessment of the SNP's plans to separate
06:47Scotland from its main market, the rest of the UK, which is 60 per cent of its trade?
06:52And while I am at it, can I thank the Chancellor for £820 million extra to the Scottish budget?
06:56The Honourable Members of the Treasury
06:58The Honourable Members of the Treasury
07:00The Honourable Members of the Treasury
07:01The Honourable Members of the Treasury
07:02The Honourable Members of the Treasury
07:03The Honourable Members of the Treasury
07:05Right, let us move on to Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson
07:09The Honourable Members of the Treasury
07:11Thank you, Mr Speaker. The botched Brexit deal has wrapped up British businesses in red tape
07:16and has blown a hole in the public finances to the tune of £90 billion a year.
07:23The Chancellor insists that her number one mission remains to get economic growth.
07:28So if that is the case, could I ask the Chancellor whether she and her ministers
07:32will be voting with the Liberal Democrats this afternoon to make sure that we can get rid of that
07:36red tape and deliver on a new UK-EU customs union?
07:40The Honourable Members of the Treasury
07:42Thank you, Mr Speaker. Since we came into office last year, we have reset our relationship with
07:49the EU, which is why last May we agreed with the EU an expansive set of changes to our relationship,
07:58including on food and farming, on electricity and energy trading, and also on youth mobility and Erasmus.
08:08And we are taking all of that forward. But at the same time, we are also taking opportunities
08:12to trade more with fast-growing economies around the world, including India, and also by getting
08:19the first and the best trade deal that anybody has secured with the US. That is how we are going for
08:24growth, alongside the Planning and Infrastructure Bill that we passed last night in this place.
08:28John Lowe
08:29Thank you, Mr Speaker. Question number three.
08:31With permission, Mr Speaker, I should like to answer this question together with question number
08:3818. The Chancellor was clear at the Budget that we are taking the fair and necessary decisions on tax
08:44to do all we can to ensure that the contribution of working people is kept as low as possible.
08:49We have reduced the gap between taxes on income from assets and income from work. We have stopped the unfairness
08:54to ensure that a £10 million property can pay less council tax than a typical terrace house
08:58in much of England, and much more.
09:00John Lowe
09:02Mr Speaker, there seems to be only one word that the Chancellor understands.
09:06Tax. Her decision to continue the freeze on income tax thresholds is a hammer blow to working
09:11people. In fact, even one of the Chancellor's favourite unions, Unison, has said that freezing
09:17personal income tax thresholds disproportionately impacts lower and middle-income workers.
09:22Does the Chancellor agree with the Labour Party's union paymaster?
09:26Mr Speaker, I was a bit confused by that question. You have to forgive me, Mr Speaker,
09:32but the honourable member said that there was one word that was important. Let me give the member
09:38one figure, Mr Speaker, £150. That is the amount we are taking off energy bills next year to help
09:45people deal with the cost of living in the here and now, supporting people because of the mistakes
09:50the previous Governments made, not investing in our energy infrastructure and not investing in our
09:54future. We are picking up the pieces where they did not make the decisions necessary.
09:59Josh Lefford.
10:00Mr Speaker, extending the freeze on income tax thresholds
10:04will cost working families £900 a year. It will also drag many pensioners into paying income tax
10:12for the first time. Why is he hitting these low-income families to pay more for welfare?
10:19The Prime Minister
10:22The Prime Minister, I would suggest to the honourable member that he asks his front bench
10:28why 75 per cent of the impact of people paying more tax at the lower end is a result of the decisions
10:36made by the previous Government, who spent seven years freezing income tax thresholds. It is a bit
10:42rich to talk about this Government doing it for three when they did it for seven.
10:47Martin Rhodes.
10:48Martin Rhodes.
10:48Thank you, Mr Speaker. What assessment has the Minister made of the impact for working people
10:53from the historic increase in the living wage?
10:55Mr Speaker, I thank my honourable friend for his question. Yes, we have chosen to uplift the national
11:04living wage and the national minimum wage so that those on low incomes are properly rewarded for
11:09their hard work. This will benefit 2.7 million people, including many people in his constituency
11:15and across the whole country. I thank him and members, particularly on this side of the House,
11:19for their support for making sure we can make work pay up and down this country.
11:23Mr Speaker, pensioners in my constituency of Hartlepool who rely solely on the state pension
11:31have shared their concerns with me that freezing the tax threshold will draw them into tax.
11:36Can the Minister confirm what the Chancellor has already said publicly,
11:41that pensioners who rely solely on the state pension will not be taxed in this Parliament?
11:48Mr Speaker, yes.
11:50The Minister said fair. No, no, no. Perhaps breaking the election promise on tax thresholds
12:09may be the reason why, by 2 to 1, the public view the Budget as unfair. Just 3% think it will make
12:17them better off, and 2 out of 3 think things will get worse. So, does the Minister want to tell the
12:24public they are wrong, or will he explain to the House why this Budget has been received so badly
12:30by the British people? The shadow spokesperson talks about fairness. Let me just identify one element of
12:39unfairness that he left in the tax system that this Government is correcting, and that is a popular
12:43measure, when we look at the views of the public coming down the country. We do not think it is
12:49fair on this side of the House that someone in a £10 million property can pay less Council tax than
12:54someone in a typical terrace house in his constituency, in my constituency, and constituencies across
13:00the whole of England. We are making that change to make things fairer in this country.
13:05Jack Rankin. The forecast accompanying the Budget set out that the Office for Budget Responsibility
13:15expect employment levels to rise in every year of this Parliament. They also set out that employment
13:20is forecast to be higher in every year than previously expected back in March.
13:23Jack Rankin. One million young people not in work, education or training, and 2.8 million out of work
13:31on long-term sickness benefits is both a financial catastrophe and a moral failure. The Prime
13:37Minister has rightly said it is his moral mission to get young people into work, but how does he
13:42square this with two budgets that have hiked taxes on working people by £66 billion, whilst giving a
13:49pay rise to those on benefits? The Prime Minister. The Honourable Member is right to call those things
13:56a moral and economic disgrace. Do you know who created them? The party opposite. Who saw a 50%
14:03in neat numbers? The party opposite. Who created the benefit system that is failing today? The party
14:10opposite. Who failed to reform the benefit system? The party opposite.
14:14The Trina Murrow.
14:15This is number five, Mr Speaker.
14:17Mr Speaker, we published the financial inclusion strategy last month, outlining ambitious measures
14:24that will improve financial inclusion right across this country. I am very grateful to
14:28My Honourable Friend for her advocacy on this issue through the APPG for debt and financial inclusion.
14:33In line with the priorities outlined by that APPG, the strategy champions inclusive design to make
14:39products more accessible, increases debt advice capacity and supports financial independence for
14:44survivors of economic abuse.
14:46Katrina Murrow.
14:46Katrina Murrow.
14:48Thank you, Mr Speaker. I welcome the Minister's response. I am a long-standing member of the NHS
14:53Credit Union, which is one of the credit unions affected by the withdrawal of the Family Protection
14:58Plan by C Mutual on 30 November. Policyholders over the age of 70 who have paid premiums well in excess
15:06of what they would have expected to have paid out have been left in the lurch with no alternative provision
15:12given. I thank the Minister for what she has done so far in pursuing peace of mind for those who have
15:18tried to do the right thing and planned for their funerals. But in the interim, can I ask the Minister
15:24to bring all the stakeholders to the table to try and reach a solution that benefits particularly those
15:30policyholders?
15:31Mr Speaker, as my hon. Friend knows, I have been very sorry to hear of the difficulties of those
15:36affected by the withdrawal of this product, and I want to pay tribute to her for all of her efforts,
15:41and indeed those of her other colleagues as well, who are doing everything possible to assist
15:46constituents on this. My officials are monitoring this matter very closely, and we are encouraging
15:51anyone with information relevant to the FCA's investigation to go straight to the FCA. However,
15:55Mr Speaker, I would be more than happy to do as she suggests and get stakeholders together.
15:59Mr Speaker, access to banking is surely a key part of financial inclusion. The high street
16:07banks save £2 billion a year from having abandoned our high street and our town centres, and our post
16:13offices pick up the tab, and we are glad that they do, but they are not funded by the banks anywhere
16:19near enough to be able to maintain their presence. In Westmoreland, we have lost Hawkshead, Staveley
16:23and Grasmere post offices, and we are set to lose Shapp and Teabay, largely because the banks
16:28do not fund the post offices for doing their jobs properly. What is the Chancellor going to do to
16:32make them do that? Mr Speaker, I thank the honourable member for his question. We very much understand
16:39the importance of in-person banking, including to rural communities and indeed beautiful communities
16:44like that that he represents, but that is exactly why we are committed to rolling out 350 banking hubs
16:49right across the UK by the end of this Parliament. Over 240 hubs have been announced so far, and more
16:55than 190 are already open.
16:57Mr Speaker, I'll go on this, Sheldon Munster.
16:59Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. In the recently published financial inclusion strategy, the
17:05Government says, and I quote,
17:07Our aim is to create a culture in which everyone is supported to build a savings habit, building their
17:13financial resilience in the long term. Mr Speaker, what is not to like about that?
17:17But that makes the Chancellor's political decisions in the Budget even more confusing.
17:21And just look at what was announced. Reducing the cash ISA limit to £12,000,
17:26scrapping a lifetime ISA, capping salary sacrifice schemes at £2,000, increasing tax on dividends by
17:31two percentage points, increasing savings income tax by two percentage points, freezing the repayment
17:36thresholds for student loans, freezing income tax thresholds for working people, freezing personal
17:41allowance thresholds for pensioners. No, no, no, please. Just sit down. No, don't challenge me.
17:46It's not a good idea. I'm just going to say, we did do quite a few days on the Budget. I think we can
17:52all quite remember every point you're making. Is there anything you'd like to add? If you've carried on
17:56the list, forget it. Minister. The Shardé Spokesperson makes reference to a number of changes
18:07in the Budget, which were pragmatic, responsible and fair. And I contrast that with their approach,
18:13which would return us to austerity, which would be both irresponsible and unfair.
18:17Sir Julian Smith.
18:19Question number six, Mr Speaker.
18:22Minister.
18:25Thank you, Mr Speaker. With permission, I would like to answer this question together with question
18:29number 20. Small and medium-sized businesses are vital to our economy and our communities,
18:35and the government's small business strategy published in July this year sets out our approach
18:38to supporting them. As temporary pandemic business rates relief ends and the new revaluation comes
18:45into effect, we are supporting the high street with £4 billion worth of support through transitional
18:50relief and our supporting small business schemes, as well as our long-term reforms to permanently lower
18:56the multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties, and support them with a
19:03significant package that will cap most of the increases for those who have seen large increases
19:07since the pandemic this year.
19:11Last week, Skipton was voted the happiest town to live in Britain. One of the reasons for this,
19:17Mr Speaker, is its hospitality sector. That hospitality sector, through COVID,
19:28and then through energy cost rises, and then NI and other challenges, is facing massive challenges.
19:37Can I urge the government to look again at the issue of reliefs and multipliers? Because over the
19:43weekend there have been so many pubs and hotels raising with me the fact that they are not going to
19:48invest. We need the growth, we need the jobs. Can they just look at how they make things easier for
19:53the pub and hospitality industry? Thank you, Mr Speaker. I think if I had such a charming
20:00Member of Parliament, I would also be as happy as his constituents in Skipton. I thank him for his
20:08question. We considered the support really carefully in advance of the budget decisions that were announced
20:17last month. There is a challenge that the revaluation that was instigated by the previous government,
20:23as carried out independently by the Valuation Office Agency, does mean that some businesses have
20:30seen their values increase significantly since the pandemic. That is why this government is putting in
20:35£4 billion of support over the coming years, with around half of that coming next year to support
20:41businesses. Many will see that increases capped at either £800 or 15 per cent. We do think that
20:48that support is going to provide significant help to those businesses, as well as the underlying reform
20:55that we are making to the system, to rebalance the system in favour of the high street.
20:59Will Harbaugh.
21:00Mr Speaker, can I give him another example where the numbers simply do not stack up? Mr B's independent
21:06bookshop in Bath will see that their business rates will rise by over 70 per cent after factoring
21:12in changes to rateable value. These changes where packages are moved away from short-term fixes,
21:18yet vital discounts have been scrapped and replaced with less generous support and an unclear
21:24transitional relief system. How can he justify such a stark increase in business rates and really
21:30challenge our cherished bookshops—we have got three of them in Bath—that we so like to have in Bath
21:38and want to support?
21:39Mr Speaker, I think it is really important for all of us to make sure that we are communicating to the
21:48small businesses in our constituency, as I was doing this weekend, that there is a difference between
21:52the increase in the rateable value. It may be that the business that she is referring to—and I,
21:58like all good small independent bookshops myself—has seen a large increase in its value since the
22:03pandemic. But precisely because that has happened in some cases, we are implementing a very significant
22:09support package this year. That will mean that no business that has a rateable value of less than
22:15£100,000 will see an increase in its bills of more than either 15 per cent or £800. There is a bit of
22:23a technical detail there, which I would be happy to go into with the member. But the important
22:27thing is that there are significant protections in place this year on bills, even if rateable values
22:33have increased significantly since the pandemic.
22:35Mr Speaker, in Norwich there is a saying that there is a church for every Sunday
22:40and a pub for every day of the week. After 14 years of austerity, that has reduced down a lot lower.
22:46I think that after this budget, I have many pub landlords, small and medium-sized businesses,
22:51who tell me that we are not going far enough, that actually many of them will go under.
22:56They need more support. They need it soon. And if these changes go through, I fear that
23:01Norwich will not have that saying at all. We will have hardly any pubs at all. And the point I will
23:07make is this. Can we not put more of the burden on the pub companies, the big corporations who should
23:11be paying their fair share, rather than the small and medium-sized businesses and the small pub landlords,
23:16pub landlords who cannot pay what is coming at them?
23:21Mr Speaker, one of the things that we have announced at the budget is a rebalancing in the
23:27system away from those properties that have large rateable values towards the small businesses on our
23:36high street. That is worth almost a billion pounds, that shift from the large to the smaller properties,
23:41supporting them within the business rate system, as part of our work to reform business rates,
23:45to support our high street.
23:46Ruth Gabry Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I also welcome the government's support for our
23:53high streets and also the consultation that the Treasury launched on 25 November around the business
23:59rate system. But it is not just high streets that are suffering until now. Under the current system,
24:06some major transport infrastructure owners face crippling bills. Eurotunnel face a tripling of
24:11their business rate valuation from 2017 to now. So they have cancelled investment in their international
24:21freight hubs. Under the current system, Heathrow Airport's business rates bill currently will increase
24:29by millions of pounds. So will the Treasury's consultation on 25 November give transparency and
24:37predictability— The Prime Minister Order, I think it is the hospitality sector that might be using the
24:43rail industry somewhere with the freighter. I am sure we can get something in there. Thank you.
24:46The Prime Minister Yes, Mr Speaker. I am sure that many of us do jump on the train to then go and
24:52support our hospitality businesses. The consultation that my hon. Friend mentions is actually a very
24:59important piece of work that we have published on the day of the Budget. Chapter 4 of our call for
25:03evidence on how we can reform business rates to support investment will be really important,
25:07because we do recognise that airports and large infrastructure are valued in a different way than
25:16the rest of the business properties. We do want to look at the changes that we can make to support
25:21those businesses who have seen very significant increases in their rateable values. They, of course,
25:26will be capped as well under the scheme that we have announced.
25:29James Wells, the Minister.
25:30James Wells Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. The Chancellor promised
25:35a new golden era of hospitality, but the reality of her business rates raid, as the British Beer
25:42and Pub Association has said, is sleepless nights, pay cuts and staff layoffs for publicans,
25:48who will be paying an extra £13,000 on average. Why did the Chancellor last week
25:54tell businesses that their taxes were going down when they were going up? Will she think again
25:59and change the multipliers? The Minister.
26:01Mr Speaker. The multipliers are a product of the change in the valuation. They did come down,
26:12and then we brought them down even further for our HL businesses. I would say to the honourable
26:19member that, without intervention this year, the bills paid by pubs would have increased by 45%
26:26as a result of the increase in value since the pandemic. Because of the significant intervention
26:31that this government is making this year, they were going up by 4%. That is the impact of the changes
26:37that this government has made. Daisy Cooper, Liberal Democrat, Spokesperson.
26:41Daisy Cooper, Liberal Democrat, Spokesperson.
26:42Daisy Cooper, Liberal Democrat, Spokesperson.
26:43High street hospitality businesses are on a knife edge, and this is a disaster in the making.
26:49The government says that it has rebalanced business rates, but that is not the case.
26:53UK Hospitality says that the average increase for hospitality will be 76% over the next three years,
26:59compared to warehouses, offices and large supermarkets, which will only go up by 16%, 7% and 4%.
27:06The reality is, Mr Speaker, that the government repeatedly said it was going to introduce
27:12permanently lower business rates, and businesses heard that and made decisions based on what they
27:18heard. Now their bills are going up. So can I please implore the minister, in the spirit of
27:24constructive opposition, please look again. Please use powers to reduce and multiply to minus 20p,
27:31and also look at emergency VAT cut too.
27:33Mr Speaker, we have set out our plans to reduce the multipliers for retail, hospitality and leisure
27:43properties. That is a rebalancing in the system. It does mean that they face the lowest tax rate,
27:49particularly the smallest RHR properties, in the system than since 1991. At the same time,
27:55the tax rate is the lowest it has been since 1991. At the same time, because of the unwinding of the
28:06reduction in values going into the pandemic, because we are seeing a recovery, because businesses are
28:12bouncing back and their properties are worth more, there has been an increase in the values, and we are
28:17spending £2 billion this year, capping those increases at either 5% or 15% for many of the
28:23businesses up and down the country.
28:25I would like to thank the Chancellor and the Transport Secretary for freezing it in 30 years.
28:34I would like to thank the Chancellor and the Transport Secretary for freezing it in 30 years.
28:38That is the first time in 30 years that that has happened.
28:50Mr Speaker, I would like to thank the Chancellor and the Transport Secretary for freezing rail
28:55fares next month, which will help ease commuting costs, especially for constituents in mind using
29:00Stephenage and Nebworth stations. However, affordability alone is only part of the railway
29:06jigsaw. Regeneration schemes like Stephenage Station Gateway, supported by the Government's
29:10Towns Fund, are part of a wider £1 billion regeneration programme for our town, and that is a real
29:16opportunity to modernise transport hubs and improve connectivity, helping commuters get to work
29:21more easily. So will my right honourable friend ensure that infrastructure investment for projects
29:26like these are prioritised, so that commuters can get to work and local economies can find.
29:31The Chancellor is even ready now. Your season tickets are all known. Come on, Chancellor.
29:37I just want to talk about Stephenage. The Government action is saving
29:42commuters in Stephenage £285 a year on the cost of a five-day season ticket. The Government is also
29:51committed, with the uplift of £120 billion in capital spending to the sorts of projects that
29:57my honourable friend, particularly around transport hubs, and I will arrange for my honourable friend
30:03to have a meeting with the relevant Transport Minister. Let's try another ticket. Tom Tugendart.
30:07Thank you, Mr Speaker. I very much welcome the statement that the Chancellor has just made. Do I take that as
30:11an assurance that she will speak to her right honourable friend, the Transport Secretary, and make sure
30:16that rail fares in Tunbridge do not increase when a second peak time service is introduced,
30:22when contactless is rolled out as far as Tunbridge? That, of course, would be a sleight of hand,
30:26and she would never want to do that.
30:29I thank the hon. Gentleman for that question. In Tunbridge, as well, regulated fares will be
30:37frozen for a year from March next year. I know that many of his constituents commute into central London
30:44every day, and that will mean that people in Tunbridge, and in all of our constituencies,
30:50if they commute, will have a bit more money in their pockets.
30:52Jack Cuppendart.
30:53Question number eight, Mr Speaker.
30:55Minister.
30:56With permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to answer questions eight and 13 together. The recent budget
31:01backs British innovation and aspiration by supporting businesses to start, scale and list in the UK.
31:08We have put in place a three-year listing tax relief for firms that list here, and we are expanding
31:13enterprise tax reliefs to incentivise investment in scaling firms. This means more jobs, more growth,
31:19and more British companies competing globally.
31:21Jack Cuppendart.
31:23Mr Speaker, over the last 18 months, I have been working hard to drive investment into my town,
31:27county and region, and was proud to unveil the East of England's £4 billion investment prospectus
31:32at UK Reef earlier this year. However, I am also keen to encourage our own homegrown entrepreneurs
31:38in Ipswich and Suffolk, so we can better support innovative and high-growth businesses.
31:42So could the minister outline how the three-year stamp duty exemption on shares,
31:46alongside other measures in the budget, will seek to do this?
31:51Mr Speaker. At the budget, we introduced the UK Listing Relief, which incentivises companies
31:55to list in the UK. The UK raised more equity capital in 2024 than the next three European
32:02exchanges combined. I look forward to seeing the brilliant entrepreneurs in my hon. Friend's
32:06constituency benefit from these deep pools of capital.
32:09Mr Speaker, in my constituency, I can combine rugby and gin. So I'm grateful to the Chancellor
32:16for the measures in her budget to help the hospitality trade and small businesses. But following my visit
32:21to family-owned rugby distillery, branded and flavoured around the game, could I ask what steps
32:25her department could try to level the playing field, such as extending small producer relief to
32:31above the 8.5 ABV limit? 8.5%. Because small-scale producers find it harder to compete fairly with
32:36big producers, and we must help them tackle their challenges and convert their entrepreneurial spirit
32:42into greater success.
32:43Mr Speaker. As someone who enjoys both rugby and gin, sometimes both at the same time,
32:53I pay tribute to my noble friend's support for the businesses in his constituency. To support
32:58spirits producers, the Government has put in place a range of measures. As a small producer relief,
33:04I know that the Exchequer Secretary is open to the evidence of the operation of the new system. I should
33:09add that the Government plans to evaluate the reforms in late 26, three years after they took effect.
33:14I presume you mean rugby league as well. Sir Roger again.
33:17Thank you, Mr Speaker. In East Kent, there is an entrepreneurial chain of coffee bars, 25 coffee bars,
33:24employing young people who otherwise would probably be unemployed. The profit margin on those 25 coffee
33:32bars for the last year was £12. The hospitality industry is on its knees.
33:39Will the Chancellor recognise the need to cut VAT on hospitality to 10 per cent?
33:44Hear, hear, hear.
33:45Minister.
33:47Mr Speaker. We are putting in place a support package, as has been already covered by my colleagues,
33:52a £4 billion worth of support package, and we are continuing to engage with the hospitality sector.
33:58I should also add, Mr Speaker, that we are easing licensing to help venues offer
34:02pavement drinks and one-off events as well.
34:04Thank you, Mr Speaker. I welcome the changes to the listing review, but would the Minister
34:11look at what is happening with R&D tax credits and the efficiency of the delivery of those tax
34:16credits? Because before businesses can get to listing, they are struggling when that does not work well
34:21enough.
34:26Mr Speaker. I am grateful to the honourable member for his question, as I always am. I think we are
34:31doing an awful lot, including many measures announced at budget to support R&D in this country,
34:38including an additional £7 billion into specific areas within the industrial strategy.
34:42Do you understand that?
34:43Mr Speaker. As my honourable friend will know, last year the Government signed a £100 million
34:52Falkirk and Grangemouth growth deal with the Scottish Government. At the Budget this year,
34:55we further recognise Grangemouth's centuries of history as a key UK industrial site by announcing
35:00an additional investment of up to £14.5 million to support industrial projects that can create jobs.
35:07Alongside this, the National Wealth Fund is ready to invest £200 million alongside the private sector
35:11to help unlock Grangemouth's full potential and secure our clean energy future.
35:17The additional £14 million to get new industry delivered quicker in Grangemouth and the £25
35:21million to finalise the free port in the Budget two weeks ago is welcome. Forth Valley College is
35:26vital to giving local working-class kids the skills they need to grasp the new opportunities that must come
35:31to Grangemouth, but it has been failed by the SNP. The Scottish Government's staggering 20%
35:36cut to colleges since 2021, and Alwa campus now faces closure. Will the Minister consider
35:42stepping in with direct skills support for this vital college?
35:46Mr Speaker, education and skills policy, including the funding and operation of colleges,
35:54is fully devolved to the Scottish Government. That means it is for Scottish Ministers to decide
35:58how to support Forth Valley College with the overall settlement. As my honourable friend will know,
36:03the spending review provided the Scottish Government with their largest settlement in real terms since
36:08devolution in 1998, and the Budget provided an additional £820 million for Scotland through
36:14the Barment formula. We will be campaigning in the months ahead to make sure decisions about
36:19how to invest that funding in Scotland's future are taken by Anna Sawa and a Scottish Labour Government.
36:24Thank you, Mr Speaker. The challenges that they experience in the businesses of Forth Valley
36:31is the highest industrial energy prices in the G7. It is Labour's farm tax, Labour's family business tax,
36:37Labour's £26 billion raid on the cost of employing people, and Labour's fiscal drag on everybody
36:44earning. The Potemkin support for Grangemouth, the ambivalence to Moss Moran, and the unfunding of the
36:50Acorn project. How long does the Chancellor think Scotland should put up with this chaos from
36:55Westminster? Mr Speaker, he is very happy to criticise tax decisions taken by this Government,
37:03but where does he think the largest spending review settlement since devolution began came from?
37:08Where does he think the £820 million announced at the autumn Budget came from? He needs to support
37:14tax decisions that we take if he wants the investment to go into Scotland.
37:17The Spending Review 2025 provided record investment in the NHS, including the largest
37:35ever health capital budget. That investment has enabled a reduction in waiting list of £230,000,
37:40with an extra £5.2 million NHS appointments. At autumn Budget 2025, the Chancellor protected
37:46NHS investment by allowing it to retain and reinvest efficiency savings in 28-29,
37:51as well as making available upfront funding to abolish NHS England, a move that will unlock
37:55£1 billion in savings by the end of the Parliament, which can instead be used to support frontline care.
38:03When I was in sixth form, at the end of the last Labour Government, I became one of the youngest
38:08people in Britain to have a hip replacement, and I will always be grateful to the incredible NHS
38:13staff who cared for me. But between 2011 and 2024, because of savage Tory cuts, the waiting list for
38:21hip replacements at King's College Hospital Trust, which serves my constituency at Beckenham and Penge,
38:26more than doubled. The Tories left thousands of people waiting months on end. With thanks to record
38:32investment from this Labour Government, those waiting lists started to fall. Will the Minister commit to
38:36continue this investment in the NHS?
38:39Well, Mr Speaker, I thank my honourable friend for his question. Like him, I will always be grateful
38:46to the incredible NHS staff who got me back fighting strong after I was diagnosed with a neuromuscular
38:51condition in my twenties. Mr Speaker, people across the country have stories like ours, and that is
38:57because we all depend on the NHS. That is why it is such a priority for us as a Government to invest in
39:03our health service to get it back on its feet and to build an NHS that is fit for the future.
39:07Mr Speaker, I thank the Chancellor for investing in our community care. In Stroud, the two beating
39:18hearts of our community are GP surgeries and our village pubs, which actually provide and reduce
39:24social isolation. Today, the publicans are meeting in Stroud Brewery, discussing the impacts of
39:30business rates. Could I invite the Minister to perhaps discuss with a pint, over a pint,
39:36how we can help our pub landlords?
39:37Mr Speaker, I thank my honourable friend for his question. He is right to point to the role that
39:44pubs play in the heart of local communities, so I assume the pub and Jeep are separate in the
39:49example that he gave there. Mr Speaker, as my honourable friend, the Exchequer Secretary,
39:54sat out earlier, we are in a situation where temporary pandemic business rates relief is coming to an
39:59end and the new revaluation, which is post-pandemic, comes into effect. In that context, we are supporting the
40:04high street, including pubs, with permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and
40:09leisure, as well as a support package that means most properties seeing increases will see them
40:14capped at 15 per cent or less next year, or £800 for the smallest.
40:19One of the challenges the NHS faces is dealing with people that are street homeless and then have to
40:25go into hospital, obviously, for treatment. They are then discharged and it is almost like a rotating
40:31sort, unfortunately. What is needed now is targeted funding to make sure that the NHS discharges people
40:38into somewhere where they have a safe place to live. Will the minister take that challenge up,
40:43particularly at this time of year?
40:45Mr Speaker, I thank the honourable member for his question. He is absolutely right to point to the fact that
40:51people showing up in hospital can often reflect other social issues, whether that be homelessness,
40:57child poverty or other challenges that people face. As a government, we take tackling homelessness,
41:02by which I mean temporary accommodation and rough sleeping, incredibly seriously, and we will be
41:07publishing a homelessness strategy shortly. Ashford and St Peter's Hospital, which serves my Woking
41:13constituency, has an £80 million repair backlog. When will the government allocate sufficient funding to
41:20fix our crumbling hospitals, including Ashford and St Peter's?
41:24Mr Speaker, as the honourable gentleman will know, the coalition government, which his party was
41:31part of, slashed capital investment in our health service. We have restored capital investment in our
41:36health service, which is critical to getting it back on its feet. I hope that, if he is making the
41:40request for greater investment in the NHS, he will change his mind and correct the record and support
41:45the tax changes we made to make that possible. John Milne.
41:50Mr Speaker, growth is the number one mission of this government, and we are committed to unlocking
41:59growth in every corner of this country. We have committed £2.7 billion per year to support sustainable
42:04farming, £2.3 billion of transport funding for places beyond city regions through the local
42:09transport grant, and more than £1.9 billion for gigabit broadband and 4G connectivity. This funding will
42:15help tackle key blockers to growth in rural areas, helping to unlock the opportunities and benefits of
42:20growth for people right across the UK. John Milne.
42:23Thank you, Mr Speaker. Later today, I will be chairing a meeting of the APPG for Rural Business,
42:28which has a focus on generating rural growth. If we could push rural productivity closer to Western
42:34European averages, it would fix the government's budgetary black hole all by itself. So will the
42:39minister agree to set a measurable target for increasing rural productivity so we can hold
42:45the government to account on progress? Mr Speaker, I welcome the honourable gentleman for drawing
42:51attention to the importance of productivity in the UK economy and our prospects for growth,
42:56because, as we know, the Office of Budget Responsibility reviewed the productivity
43:01impacts of the previous government's record and office, and they found that the decisions the
43:05previous government had taken over their 14 years meant we had a £16 billion revenue hit at the
43:10public finances in the target year of the scorecard. Now, Mr Speaker, we know that that means
43:16productivity has been downgraded as a result of decisions taken by the previous government,
43:20but that gives us an opportunity. It gives us an opportunity not to be held back by the failures
43:25of the previous government and to exceed those forecasts in the future.
43:28Thank you, Mr Speaker. Cornish communities and SMEs in the supply chains of Cornwall's most promising
43:35industries alike will have been delighted at the Chancellor's announcement of the Curnow Industrial
43:40Growth Fund in the recent budget, but does the Chief Secretary agree with me that these funds should
43:46be invested prudently, sustainably, and the proceeds recouped to the Cornish public's coffers so that they can be
43:55invested again in future projects? I thank my hon. Friend for his question. He and many of his
44:03neighbouring MPs are excellent advocates for Cornwall and for the benefits that Cornwall can bring to
44:09growth both in the region where they represent and right across the country. I know that in the budget
44:15the Chancellor is very keen to support investment in future industries in Cornwall. It is for the local
44:20Council to deliver that. We will be working closely with them to make sure that money is well spent.
44:26But the key thing for us, Mr Speaker, is to ensure that we are enabling people in Cornwall to be
44:30part of the economic growth mission of this government. Richard Fulcher, the Minister.
44:35Thank you, Mr Speaker. As this is my last question before Christmas, I want to ask my counterpart
44:40a nice and constructive question. As he will know,
44:46rural residents and businesses already pay more on fuel than their urban counterparts, and there are
44:52fewer public transport options. So can he advise what were the results of his assessment of the
45:00relative impact on rural compared to urban areas of the Budget's introduction of road pricing?
45:05Mr Speaker, I think the Honourable Gentleman was referring to the changes we announced in Budget
45:15around electric vehicles and their contribution towards public finances. If people drive electric
45:22vehicles wherever in the country they drive them, they benefit from investment in roads and maintenance
45:27alongside those of us who drive petrol cars. So it is important to make sure that we make the tax
45:32system fit for the future. Mr Speaker, this is a decision which people have talked about for many
45:37years. His party ducked that alongside many other difficult decisions. We are taking them head
45:42on to make sure we are fit and stable for the future.
45:45Thank you, Mr Speaker.
45:46Thank you, Mr Speaker.
45:50Covid fraud and error under the previous government's mismanagement cost the taxpayer £10.9 billion.
46:05They played fast and loose with the public purse and left the front doors wide open to fraud.
46:10That is why I have appointed a Covid corruption commissioner to carry out the independent review.
46:15This government is doing everything to recover taxpayers' money. We have already got back
46:20around £400 million with more to come. That money belongs to the British people in our communities
46:26and in our NHS. We welcome the publication of the commissioner's independent report and we will
46:32respond fully in the new year. The British people are paying the bill for criminal Covid fraud.
46:41Under the Conservatives, waste and corruption exploded and taxpayers' money was stolen.
46:50Will the Chancellor make sure that the Labour government continues to go after those who stole
46:57from the British taxpayer and make sure we get every penny back?
47:01I cannot agree more with my hon. Friend. The previous government failed to protect public money,
47:09while this government has generated around £400 million in getting money back. We all know what
47:17happened. The Tories dished out contracts to their friends and their donors, money that never belonged
47:23to them. This government will leave no stone unturned because that money belongs to taxpayers,
47:28not with cronies or crooks.
47:30Mr Speaker, the process surrounding the budget was utterly chaotic. We had months of damaging speculation,
47:42fuelled by briefings and leaks from the Treasury itself. That included briefings on the 14th of November,
47:49which moved markets and gave the appearance, at least, of being deliberately inaccurate, which is why we
47:54need the FCA to investigate. But can I ask the Chancellor a simple question? Did she at any point
48:01authorise or allow confidential details of the budget or the forecasts to be briefed to the press? Yes or no?
48:10The OBR's own guidance says,
48:18and I quote, the interim rounds are transmitted to the Chancellor in confidence. Yet the Chancellor
48:25repeatedly stated before the budget that the OBR had downgraded their productivity forecasts.
48:32In her statement in Downing Street on the 4th of November, she said in relation to the OBR's forecast,
48:38and I quote, it is already clear that the productivity performance is weaker than previously thought.
48:44Why did the Chancellor breach the confidentiality of the OBR?
48:49Mr Speaker, in the spring statement, the OBR were clear that productivity was coming in lower
48:59than forecast, and they were clear that they were reviewing that over the summer. The numbers that
49:05the OBR have since published showed that in the final pre-measures forecast, the fiscal headroom was
49:12just over £4 billion. I was clear in my speech on the 4th of November. I did not want to reduce
49:18the headroom. I wanted to increase it. I increased it to bring back the stability that is much needed
49:24in our economy after 14 years of Conservative government.
49:27Mr Speaker, having worked on for a decade, I have seen first-handed damage to health, education
49:34prospects and life chances that poverty can cause, put up £40 billion a year by Child Poverty Action
49:41Group. Can the Chancellor assure me that the Child Poverty Strategy will build on the historic
49:45budget announcement on the two-child cap, and do more to reverse the appalling rise in poverty that
49:50we saw from the bench as opposite? The Minister. The Child Poverty Strategy published last week
49:56sets out the steps we are taking to support families now, as well as the building blocks we
50:00are putting in place for the long term. We will lift 550,000 children out of poverty,
50:04both by removing the two-child limit and through other measures, including the expansion of free
50:08school meals. Unemployment is higher today than on the day the Chancellor took office.
50:17Would she tell the House why that is the case?
50:22Employment is up since we took office, and part of the reason for the disparity between those numbers
50:29is that people who were economically inactive are now seeking work. That is exactly what we want,
50:34for people to be seeking work and to get back into work. But there are more jobs in the economy
50:39today than when we took office. As a former deputy headteacher, I and other school leaders knew of
50:47the pressures faced by having to turn libraries into classrooms due to underfunding by the Tories,
50:55disproportionately affecting children in our deprived areas. Does the Chancellor agree
51:01her £5 million commitment for libraries and Vox for secondary schools is an example of how
51:07increasing opportunity for all children is good for our future economy?
51:12The Chancellor.
51:13The Chancellor.
51:14Thank you, Mr Speaker. Well, my hon. Friend will know that when I was at secondary school,
51:19my school library was turned into a classroom because there were more students than there was
51:24space. We have put £10 million into primary schools to get a library at every single primary school
51:31in this parliament. Next year, to celebrate the national year of reading, we are putting £5 million
51:38into having more books at secondary schools, and I am really proud to be doing that.
51:41The Chancellor has made it worse. The Chancellor at the Devonport has told me that his business
51:55rates are set to treble. Does the Chancellor realise that her budget will cost people their jobs,
52:01landlords their businesses and communities their pubs?
52:04The Chancellor. Let us be clear. Nobody's business rate bills are tripling. It is important,
52:15as members of parliament, if we have businesses coming to us to talk about the increases in their
52:20rateable values because of the unwinding of the effect of the pandemic, that we are clear on all
52:25sides of this House that the government has put in support to make sure that pubs and those who have
52:30seen their values go up will not increase next year. If the pubs' rateable value is more than £100,000,
52:36they will be capped at a 30 per cent increase. If it is less, they will be capped at 15 per cent or
52:40800. That is £4 billion of support, Mr Speaker, that this government is providing.
52:44Tom Pays.
52:45Thank you, Mr Speaker. An independent and effective OBR is critical for our country,
52:50but it needs to do better. Why can't the European
53:00LinkedIn is critical for our country to help Americans get more than £100,000?
53:08So thank you for joining us.
53:10Thank you for joining us.
53:12Thank you, Mr Speaker.
53:15One, two, three.
53:16Thank you, Mr Speaker.
53:18Thank you, Mr Speaker.
53:20Thank you for joining us.
53:25Thanks.
53:26Thanks, everybody.
53:28Thanks a James, for joining us.
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