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Opposition day on Wednesday, 30 November 2011, in the House of Commons, led by Liam Byrne. The answering member was Iain Duncan Smith.

Living Standards

Unallotted opposition day debate. Closure motion. Agreed to on question. Main question negatived on division (226 to 293).

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
536 c978-1052 
Session
2010-12
Department
Department for Work and Pensions
Procedure
Closure motions
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
Speaker | 536 c1006 (Link to this contribution) Order. In order to fit in more Back-Bench contributions the time limit is being reduced to five minu...
Speaker | 536 c1027 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am going to reduce the time limit again. There are still 21 Members who wish to contribute ...
Show all contributions (254)
Speaker | 536 c996 (Link to this contribution) Order. I remind the House that there is a six-minute limit on speeches.
Teresa Pearce | 536 c1008-9 (Link to this contribution) What I am saying is that child poverty in my constituency will increase as a result of this Governme...
Stephen Williams | 536 c1005-6 (Link to this contribution) I have taken two interventions. There was pressure from certain quarters not to make that increase,...
Nia Griffith | 536 c1011 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Stephen Williams | 536 c1003 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c992 (Link to this contribution) I wish that we saw a little more realism from Labour Members in accepting that they were, in many se...
Nick de Bois | 536 c983 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman not recall that in his Government's 13 years in office between 1997 an...
Stephen Williams | 536 c1005 (Link to this contribution) I have taken two interventions. I will not take any more. The Secretary of State for Work and Pensi...
Anna Soubry | 536 c1026 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Liam Byrne | 536 c978 (Link to this contribution) I will give way in a moment. The Government are now set to put on the national credit card £158 bil...
Liam Byrne | 536 c985 (Link to this contribution) It takes some audacity for a Member on the Government Benches to stand up after a Budget that has ad...
Ian Mearns | 536 c997 (Link to this contribution) I could not agree more. If we want an economic race to the bottom, that is exactly the sort of polic...
Liam Byrne | 536 c985 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to the hon. Gentleman, as I have given way to the hon. Lady before.
Liam Byrne | 536 c983 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the hon. Gentleman would like to answer that question?
Lord Watts | 536 c980 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend not find it strange that Government Members talk only about deficit? They ...
Stephen Williams | 536 c1005 (Link to this contribution) As my hon. Friend the Pensions Minister says, they did not understand that their own Chancellor was ...
Sheila Gilmore | 536 c1005 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Liam Byrne | 536 c1004 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is kind in giving way, and I am following his argument closely. I am not certain ...
Stephen Williams | 536 c1004-5 (Link to this contribution) We can trade statistics, but the right hon. Gentleman cannot deny what everyone is seeing and what a...
Stephen Williams | 536 c1005 (Link to this contribution) I recommend that the hon. Gentleman looks at the High Pay Commission report, which is an excellent d...
Lilian Greenwood | 536 c1007 (Link to this contribution) Will not those very women that my hon. Friend is talking about—the dinner ladies and the classroom a...
Teresa Pearce | 536 c1006-7 (Link to this contribution) I spent this morning talking about living standards with mothers in my constituency, who are losing ...
Speaker | 536 c1009 (Link to this contribution) Order. Time is up. I call Guto Bebb.
Guto Bebb | 536 c1009 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to follow the hon. Member for Erith and Thamesmead (Teresa Pearce) because it is import...
Stephen Williams | 536 c1006 (Link to this contribution) He can shake his head and then he can deny that youth unemployment was 650,000 in 1997, and after on...
Guto Bebb | 536 c1010 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. The problem is that the Labour party believes that the Government should be responsible for ...
Guto Bebb | 536 c1010-1 (Link to this contribution) I have already taken two interventions. It is disingenuous of Labour Members to say that they are c...
Guto Bebb | 536 c1011 (Link to this contribution) I have already taken two interventions. More importantly, this Government know that the way out of ...
Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick | 536 c1011-2 (Link to this contribution) I support the motion before the House and I want to bring to the debate the perspective of a rural c...
Guto Bebb | 536 c1009-10 (Link to this contribution) There is not a single Member of this House who will not be concerned about the fact that there are p...
Liam Byrne | 536 c1010 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is making his argument with passion and force, as he always does. He will be worr...
Hugh Bayley | 536 c1026 (Link to this contribution) No; I will make my case, if I may. In opposition, the Government argued against the PFI, but their ...
Toby Perkins | 536 c1026-7 (Link to this contribution) What my hon. Friend says about the NHS is absolutely right, but there was also a pledge not to have ...
Hugh Bayley | 536 c1027 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The reason why, under a Labour Government, there was a 2% real-t...
Speaker | 536 c1025 (Link to this contribution) Order. I do not think we need any shouting across the Chamber, either from the Government or the Opp...
Jessica Lee | 536 c1025 (Link to this contribution) This is a Government who have shown from the outset, within the first few weeks of their formation, ...
Hugh Bayley | 536 c1025-6 (Link to this contribution) I am somewhat surprised by how few Members on the Government Benches seem to have realised that the ...
Glenda Jackson | 536 c1024-5 (Link to this contribution) No one would disagree with the hon. Lady's argument, but unfortunately the Government have made the ...
Jessica Lee | 536 c1025 (Link to this contribution) I disagree completely with the hon. Lady's comments. That sort of scaremongering about local childre...
Meg Hillier | 536 c1030 (Link to this contribution) It is easy for the Government to talk in figures, but many centres have been run down to the bare mi...
Claire O'Neill | 536 c1030-1 (Link to this contribution) May I start by saying that I completely agree with the hon. Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch ...
Meg Hillier | 536 c1029-30 (Link to this contribution) This Government are having a big impact on poorer people. We see that particularly clearly in my con...
Andrea Leadsom | 536 c1030 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Lady aware that an all-party group inquiry into Sure Start found that fewer than 10 chil...
Amber Rudd | 536 c1028 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that that situation was particularly highlighted by the fact that this cou...
Andrew Jones | 536 c1028-9 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a wise point, as ever. Protecting mortgage rates and the rates that businesses ...
Andrew Jones | 536 c1027-8 (Link to this contribution) Conscious of the time, I will scamper through what I had written down. I am grateful for the opportu...
Damian Hinds | 536 c1027 (Link to this contribution) At what point was the £20 billion shortfall in NHS financing spotted?
Hugh Bayley | 536 c1027 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman should simply look at the record of the 13 years when Labour was in power. The re...
Jonathan Ashworth | 536 c1031-3 (Link to this contribution) We have heard many Members on the Government Benches, including the Secretary of State, complain abo...
Amber Rudd | 536 c1034 (Link to this contribution) Has not the hon. Lady heard the comments from my colleagues and me about growth in the private secto...
Amber Rudd | 536 c1033 (Link to this contribution) There has been much talk this afternoon about real people. Thinking about the incredibly important s...
Heather Wheeler | 536 c1033 (Link to this contribution) Would my hon. Friend like to congratulate the great people of south Derbyshire on bringing forward 1...
Amber Rudd | 536 c1033-4 (Link to this contribution) It is great to hear about that marvellous triumph of the private sector. There is another example in...
Claire O'Neill | 536 c1034 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that, while we must not forget about the public sector, which is so very v...
Amber Rudd | 536 c1034 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention, and I would like to take the opportunity to say how mu...
Damian Hinds | 536 c1034 (Link to this contribution) With employers talking more than ever about work-readiness and employability skills among the young ...
Amber Rudd | 536 c1034 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend. The Government's initiative to bring in work experience is valuable and...
Sheila Gilmore | 536 c1034 (Link to this contribution) Last year we were told that squeezing down the public sector would cause more private sector jobs to...
Nia Griffith | 536 c1012 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady agree that not only will the cutting back on public sector jobs affect young peop...
Robert Syms | 536 c1012-3 (Link to this contribution) At the end of the Labour period in office, when the first financial storms hit us in 2007, it was cl...
Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick | 536 c1012 (Link to this contribution) I do agree. In fact, we were the only party in the Northern Ireland Executive that voted against the...
Robert Syms | 536 c1013-4 (Link to this contribution) Clearly, and another problem in the British economy is that there is a lot of private sector borrowi...
Charlie Elphicke | 536 c1018 (Link to this contribution) I absolutely agree. The saviour has been the low interest rates, which have meant that they are less...
Charlie Elphicke | 536 c1018 (Link to this contribution) No, because I have taken three interventions, which is more than generous. Finally, it is not the j...
Hugh Bayley | 536 c1018 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Anna Soubry | 536 c1020 (Link to this contribution) I would like to open my remarks by trying to find some consensus in this place. What do we, as paren...
Nick Raynsford | 536 c1018-20 (Link to this contribution) I draw attention to my registered interests. I was interested to hear the comments of the hon. Membe...
Anna Soubry | 536 c1020 (Link to this contribution) I am more than happy to give way in a moment to the hon. Lady whose constituency is next to mine in ...
Anna Soubry | 536 c1021 (Link to this contribution) There we have it: the finest example that we could have expected of an Opposition Member who simply ...
Toby Perkins | 536 c1020 (Link to this contribution) The first thing the hon. Lady seems to be suggesting is that the national debt is a brand new concep...
Lilian Greenwood | 536 c1021 (Link to this contribution) I do not know what planet the hon. Lady was on yesterday, but here we heard that as a result of the ...
Lilian Greenwood | 536 c1022 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the hon. Member for Broxtowe (Anna Soubry); I do welcome the work on the A453. However,...
Anna Soubry | 536 c1021-2 (Link to this contribution) Again we have another brilliant example of somebody who just does not get it. They do not understand...
Amber Rudd | 536 c1024 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the Government's commitment to provide 4,200 new health visitors will...
Jessica Lee | 536 c1023-4 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to be able to speak about this important subject. I believe that if the country is ev...
Lilian Greenwood | 536 c1022-3 (Link to this contribution) Obviously those who are home owners are paying low interest rates, but many who rent their home are ...
Andrea Leadsom | 536 c1022 (Link to this contribution) What has happened to their mortgage rates?
Jessica Lee | 536 c1024 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree. I know that my hon. Friend has spent some years examining the issue while running ...
Andrea Leadsom | 536 c1024 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend also agree that the Government will be able to save money at local council level...
Jessica Lee | 536 c1024 (Link to this contribution) I do agree. Other policies will also be helpful, although sadly I have not enough time to list them ...
Claire O'Neill | 536 c1002-3 (Link to this contribution) It is so refreshing to hear a grown-up make a speech from the Opposition Benches. Does the right hon...
David Miliband | 536 c1002 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has demonstrated that it is harder to make a short speech than a long one, but she ha...
David Miliband | 536 c1003-4 (Link to this contribution) No, let me make this point. It is also true, however, that between the start of the Labour Governme...
David Miliband | 536 c1003 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is right, in that the zero stock held by the Bank of England in 2007-08 meant that qua...
Sheila Gilmore | 536 c1001 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Brandon Lewis | 536 c1001 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not give way again. The fuel duty measures are important not only to commuters and consu...
Liam Byrne | 536 c978-9 (Link to this contribution) I will give way in a moment. There are not too many speakers on the Treasury Bench today, so there w...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c992 (Link to this contribution) I will give way in a minute. [Interruption.] Relax—I will give way. The point is that there is a cho...
Claire O'Neill | 536 c992 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that adopting the Opposition's proposals would just delay that pain ...
John Howell | 536 c991 (Link to this contribution) Is my right hon. Friend as surprised as I am that there has been little or no mention from the Oppos...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c991 (Link to this contribution) I was going to come on to that. Had interest rates gone up and had we been paying more for our borro...
Huw Irranca-Davies | 536 c990 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman's heart is in the right place, but his head is in the clouds. We can argue ...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c990 (Link to this contribution) It is not just the poorest who are paying. Everyone will have to bear a proportion, because everybod...
Kate Green | 536 c990 (Link to this contribution) I am well aware that the Secretary of State has great hopes for the universal credit to incentivise ...
Liam Byrne | 536 c988 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Secretary of State and I am following his argument closely. Further to the inte...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c988-9 (Link to this contribution) According to the findings of the IFS and of the Treasury, the top decile pays a huge amount more in ...
Liam Byrne | 536 c989 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Secretary of State. He is being most generous. The IFS was pretty clear this mo...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c988 (Link to this contribution) I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman. I am talking about choices. I remember a great deal of debat...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c988 (Link to this contribution) I will give way in a moment. I promised I would give way to the hon. Member for Sefton Central (Bill...
Bill Esterson | 536 c988 (Link to this contribution) I wonder whether the right hon. Gentleman believes in fairness. I expect he will say he does. If so,...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c988 (Link to this contribution) I want to make a little progress, but then I will give way. Whatever we say, in government or in op...
Frank Dobson | 536 c988 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c987 (Link to this contribution) The reality, as the OBR and the Institute for Fiscal Studies make very clear, is that you cannot bor...
Charlie Elphicke | 536 c987 (Link to this contribution) I was just looking at Labour's five points for growth, which would cost a lot, would require us to b...
Stella Creasy | 536 c987 (Link to this contribution) We all welcomed the establishment of the OBR because of the independence it gives. The full quotatio...
Lord Watts | 536 c986 (Link to this contribution) What credibility will the public attach to the forecasts of the right hon. Gentleman and his adviser...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c986 (Link to this contribution) I hope they will attach no credibility if they were our forecasts. We set up the OBR—an independent ...
Sheila Gilmore | 536 c986-7 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State quotes from the OBR, so he might like to add that it stated that we came out ...
Liam Byrne | 536 c985 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman should explain to his constituents how £6,500 for every household in his constitu...
Speaker | 536 c985 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Member for Devizes (Claire Perry) is pushing her luck today. She has already interve...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c986 (Link to this contribution) I am tempted to ask, ““Is that it?””, but perhaps I will not. Yesterday, the Office for Budget Resp...
Sajid Javid | 536 c985 (Link to this contribution) I thank the right hon. Gentleman for giving way. When he left office, why did he leave a note saying...
Brandon Lewis | 536 c998-9 (Link to this contribution) Given that I represent one of the most deprived wards in the country, I find it ironic that I should...
Ian Mearns | 536 c998 (Link to this contribution) That is exactly the case, and the impact will be felt more greatly in the regions outside the south-...
Baroness Bray of Coln | 536 c1000-1 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree also that the Government's creation of the national citizen service scheme...
Justin Tomlinson | 536 c1000 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the welcome expansion of apprenticeship schemes is giving young peopl...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c996 (Link to this contribution) No, the hon. Gentleman can sit down. It is no good. He is not going to play games over the differenc...
Ian Mearns | 536 c997 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her comments, which are absolutely true. Certainly, companies in...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c995 (Link to this contribution) The reality is that the OBR yesterday told us categorically that the position in which the Labour Go...
Liam Byrne | 536 c995 (Link to this contribution) The truth is that the plan laid out by my right hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South West (Mr ...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c995 (Link to this contribution) Borrowing, borrowing, borrowing. More borrowing—isn't it wonderful? Interestingly, the Opposition we...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c994 (Link to this contribution) With respect, that is not a policy; that is just a lot of waffle. In reality, what the right hon. Ge...
Liam Byrne | 536 c994 (Link to this contribution) Does the Secretary of State acknowledge that the benefits bill rising on his watch by £29 billion is...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c994 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend who, as ever, talks sense, and I agree with her. This is an Opposit...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c993 (Link to this contribution) Of course, the hon. Lady would be right if that were what I was saying. What I am saying is quite si...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c993 (Link to this contribution) Wait a minute—I am trying to answer the hon. Lady. She may not like the answer, but I want to finish...
Yvette Cooper | 536 c993-4 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State talks about protecting women but he will know that House of Commons Library f...
Sarah Newton | 536 c994 (Link to this contribution) Before we move from the topic of hard-working women such as those in my constituency, especially tho...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c994 (Link to this contribution) I can look at the Library's figures and decide whether they or our figures are correct. We will have...
Liam Byrne | 536 c983-4 (Link to this contribution) No, because what comes with that is the biggest raid ever on the benefits of children and families. ...
Claire O'Neill | 536 c985 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Liam Byrne | 536 c985 (Link to this contribution) The Pensions Minister should reflect on the following point. When we add together the cuts to childr...
Liam Byrne | 536 c983 (Link to this contribution) I will indeed come on to that topic in a moment, but I first want to talk about the impact on childr...
Liam Byrne | 536 c980 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the hon. Lady's memory of history is suddenly faltering, because she should surely remember ...
Liam Byrne | 536 c979-80 (Link to this contribution) I know that the hon. Gentleman takes these matters seriously, and that he will feel bad about the fa...
Liam Byrne | 536 c979 (Link to this contribution) I will give way in a moment. There have been announcements in the past few days, not, sadly, from t...
Baroness Bray of Coln | 536 c980 (Link to this contribution) As I have found before, the right hon. Gentleman does not like history. The fact is that a note was ...
Karen Buck | 536 c980-1 (Link to this contribution) Can we turn from history to current affairs? One of the key messages from the Government was that th...
Sammy Wilson | 536 c981 (Link to this contribution) Does the shadow Minister not find it strange that the Government argue that if we were to borrow to ...
Andrew Percy | 536 c981 (Link to this contribution) May I take the shadow Secretary of State back to the subject of youth unemployment? Doubtless the pr...
Speaker | 536 c981 (Link to this contribution) Order. Interventions are getting longer, and a lot of Members wish to speak. Please let us not use u...
Liam Byrne | 536 c981 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman is simply wrong. Youth unemployment was coming down before the e...
Andrew Griffiths | 536 c1039 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Frank Dobson | 536 c1039-40 (Link to this contribution) I certainly shall not. Over the past few years people in the private sector have seen their bosses ...
Huw Irranca-Davies | 536 c1040-1 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to be called to speak in this important debate to which there have been so many good co...
Speaker | 536 c1042 (Link to this contribution) Order. The Front-Bench winding-up speeches will begin at 6.40 pm. I call Pat Glass.
Julie Hilling | 536 c1041-2 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to have been called to speak in this debate. I declare an interest as a proud trade un...
Yvette Cooper | 536 c1043-5 (Link to this contribution) Today's debate has been an extremely good one, with many Members contributing. It has been a very se...
Pat Glass | 536 c1042-3 (Link to this contribution) Is it worth it? I will have to rely on bullet points. I want to speak about the impact of the Gover...
Steve Webb | 536 c1046 (Link to this contribution) I am not giving way. That could not go on, and it meant that our children will have to pick up the ...
Steve Webb | 536 c1045-6 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the right hon. Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper) on one t...
Frank Dobson | 536 c1047 (Link to this contribution) The Minister and the Secretary of State refer to creating jobs in the private sector to compensate f...
Lisa Nandy | 536 c1034-5 (Link to this contribution) I want to talk about the living standards of women in my constituency who work in the public sector,...
Nick de Bois | 536 c1036-7 (Link to this contribution) I welcome my hon. Friend's comments on the complex issues that he raised. We have to consider the co...
Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 536 c1036 (Link to this contribution) Has my hon. Friend, like me, noted the lack of contrition from the Labour party in its failure to ap...
Nick de Bois | 536 c1036 (Link to this contribution) Given the constraints on time and the number of people who wish to speak, which shows how seriously ...
Lisa Nandy | 536 c1035-6 (Link to this contribution) We have heard enough from Government Members—it is time they listened. People are willing to make s...
Frank Dobson | 536 c1039 (Link to this contribution) I think that it will be generally accepted that people's long-term living standards depend on decent...
Bob Stewart | 536 c1038-9 (Link to this contribution) I am very sad that people have seen fit to go on strike today, and I regret it a great deal. I am ve...
Glenda Jackson | 536 c1037-8 (Link to this contribution) Yesterday, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, as for the last 18 months and assiduously supported by h...
Steve Webb | 536 c1047 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for intervening, because I asked him the question when he ...
Liam Byrne | 536 c1047 (Link to this contribution) I am following the Pensions Minister's argument closely. The Budget also set out about £30 billion o...
Steve Webb | 536 c1047 (Link to this contribution) I can understand why the right hon. Gentleman did not want to deal with the issue that I raised. I c...
Steve Webb | 536 c1048 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend the Member for Bristol West (Stephen Williams) made a characteristically thoughtful c...
Speaker | 536 c1048 (Link to this contribution) Order. The House must come to order. It seems clear on observation that the Minister is not giving w...
Steve Webb | 536 c1047-8 (Link to this contribution) I have four minutes to respond to more than 30 speeches. Out of deference to Labour Members, I will ...
Hugh Bayley | 536 c1005 (Link to this contribution) What would be the hon. Gentleman's policy to reduce the incomes of those on high income, to reduce i...
Teresa Pearce | 536 c1007-8 (Link to this contribution) I totally agree with my hon. Friend. There is wage stagnation at the bottom of the income ladder. Pe...
Anna Soubry | 536 c1008 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Lady really saying that child poverty has only existed in her constituency for the past ...
Guto Bebb | 536 c1011 (Link to this contribution) The VAT rise is a fair point. That is possibly 2p, but we have seen duty frozen—11p, in effect, off ...
Liam Byrne | 536 c1009 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman as concerned as I am about the Institute for Fiscal Studies estimate that a fu...
Robert Syms | 536 c1014 (Link to this contribution) We have been in office for only 18 months. It will take six, seven or eight years to stabilise the d...
Toby Perkins | 536 c1014 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman said at the beginning that this would have happened under any Government. I congr...
Robert Flello | 536 c1014-5 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Poole (Mr Syms) almost had me agreeing with some of his speech, certainly in its...
Robert Syms | 536 c1013 (Link to this contribution) Yes, partly because of that. Traditionally in Britain it has been about 40%, so that gave the Govern...
Richard Fuller | 536 c1013 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is talking about debt levels. Was not one of the issues under the Labour Government t...
Robert Flello | 536 c1016 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a sound point, to which I was just coming. Because of the large number of band ...
Sheila Gilmore | 536 c1015 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend know that in Scotland we have had five years of the council tax freeze? For some...
Robert Flello | 536 c1015 (Link to this contribution) The Minister shakes his head, but I am afraid that the figures do not support his position. The Opp...
Andrew Jones | 536 c1017-8 (Link to this contribution) When the Labour party left government, it left huge debts, and the cost of paying just the interest ...
Charlie Elphicke | 536 c1017 (Link to this contribution) I could not agree more. If we had pursued such a plan, we would now be in recession, and the fact th...
Caroline Nokes | 536 c1017 (Link to this contribution) On my hon. Friend's point about the real difficulties that we would face if our interest rates were ...
Charlie Elphicke | 536 c1017 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that powerful intervention, and she is absolutely right. The point has be...
Baroness Burt of Solihull | 536 c1017 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend paints a picture of the difficulties that families throughout the country face, and I...
Charlie Elphicke | 536 c1016-7 (Link to this contribution) I want to talk particularly about the importance of getting the country going in order to raise livi...
Baroness Chapman of Darlington | 536 c1002 (Link to this contribution) I am no expert, but is my right hon. Friend saying that the Chancellor's economic plan is a catastro...
David Miliband | 536 c1001-2 (Link to this contribution) This is a time of some gravity for our economy and our society. I shall address two aspects of today...
Stephen Williams | 536 c1004 (Link to this contribution) Yesterday, I think we all agreed when listening to the Chancellor's statement that much of what he h...
Claire O'Neill | 536 c979 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman think that the words, ““There is no money,”” were sufficient excuse, o...
Liam Byrne | 536 c978 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House believes that the Government is out of touch and does not understand ...
Catherine McKinnell | 536 c992 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State and the hon. Member for Devizes (Claire Perry) talk about the children of the...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c992 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend, not for the first time, hits the nail firmly on the head. The reality is—
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c992 (Link to this contribution) The children of today are also, more than likely, the children of the future, so we do not want to s...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c990-1 (Link to this contribution) Seen over the whole period of this Parliament, and taking into account things such as lifting the ta...
Neil Carmichael | 536 c991 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend has mentioned the 900,000 people who are being lifted out of income tax altoget...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c991 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend. The reality is that we are raising people out of tax, while what the La...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c989 (Link to this contribution) I am going to move on. The commitments made by the Chancellor in the previous Budget have to be tak...
Lord Redwood | 536 c990 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend confirm that it is his strong intention always to make sure that it is wor...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c990 (Link to this contribution) I will indeed. The point I was making was that, as the universal credit comes forward in the next tw...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c989 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, those are not the figures that I have. The figures on the chart that I am looking at sho...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c987 (Link to this contribution) The answer, very simply, is that, yes, it would be. Yesterday, there was much jeering about the iss...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c987 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the intervention, as it allows me to remind the hon. Lady that in looking back at ...
Liam Byrne | 536 c985-6 (Link to this contribution) Finally, I want to talk about the impact on women of these Budget changes. The shadow Home Secretary...
Amber Rudd | 536 c999 (Link to this contribution) Did my hon. Friend experience what I did, in the similar coastal community of Hastings? During those...
Jim Shannon | 536 c997 (Link to this contribution) Clearly, the changes in working tax credit and child tax credit will also affect people, and those w...
Brandon Lewis | 536 c1000 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right, and directs me perfectly to the point I was about to make, which is that ap...
Brandon Lewis | 536 c999-1000 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a very good point, and I shall give another example. The UK average of gross we...
Brandon Lewis | 536 c1001 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely, and I would add that we also need to look at how to get businesses growing faster and qu...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c996 (Link to this contribution) It is well worth reflecting on the fact that the previous Government's debt cannot be detached from ...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c996 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not give way. The previous Government then went on a spending spree, ratcheting up the de...
Fiona O'Donnell | 536 c997 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that one area where we are missing an opportunity for growth is green grow...
Ian Mearns | 536 c996-7 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to be called to speak in the debate. The Government's failure in economic policy is ha...
Jessica Morden | 536 c997 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the spectre of regional pay, which the Government raised yesterday, w...
Liam Byrne | 536 c994 (Link to this contribution) We think that we could get more people into jobs if we had a temporary cut in VAT to get shoppers ba...
Hugh Bayley | 536 c996 (Link to this contribution) Does the Secretary of State not recall that at the time of the general election Britain's national d...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c996 (Link to this contribution) Let me lay out the facts to make things simple for the Opposition before I give way. A 1% rise in ou...
Hugh Bayley | 536 c995 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way?
Glenda Jackson | 536 c992-3 (Link to this contribution) I find it absolutely incomprehensible that the Secretary of State is able to discard the real pain t...
Lord Watts | 536 c993 (Link to this contribution) Part of the help package that has been set out is the money that will go to London families to keep ...
Rob Wilson | 536 c992 (Link to this contribution) May I remind my right hon. Friend of the record of the previous Government, which included imposing ...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c993 (Link to this contribution) It is all rail fares, but I do not want to split hairs with the hon. Gentleman about whether he thin...
Steve Webb | 536 c984 (Link to this contribution) I am trying to follow the right hon. Gentleman's reasoning. I think he has argued so far that people...
Liam Byrne | 536 c984 (Link to this contribution) The Pensions Minister—[Interruption.] Government Front-Bench Members might think cuts to working fam...
Sajid Javid | 536 c985 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Liam Byrne | 536 c982 (Link to this contribution) Youth unemployment came down to record lows under the Labour Government. It was coming down before t...
Liam Byrne | 536 c982-3 (Link to this contribution) We do think that Government should be doing more in the energy market to help to bring down prices. ...
Bill Esterson | 536 c983 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is making the case extremely well about the unfairness of what the Government a...
Liam Byrne | 536 c982 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way in a moment. The weakness in the jobs market is not abstract; it shows up in peopl...
Lord Redwood | 536 c982 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is making a very important point—that a big squeeze on living standards sta...
Liam Byrne | 536 c979 (Link to this contribution) The Chancellor said yesterday that he is putting £158 billion more on the national credit card—£8 bi...
Iain Duncan Smith | 536 c980 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is being generous, as ever, in giving way. May I remind him, however, that ...
Charlie Elphicke | 536 c979 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman's premise is that the Opposition would not have borrowed more money, but th...
Liam Byrne | 536 c980 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right—and that is why unemployment is set to spiral over the course of ...
Liam Byrne | 536 c980 (Link to this contribution) We do happen to believe that further action is needed to get people back to work, because we are now...
Liam Byrne | 536 c981 (Link to this contribution) That underlines an extremely important point, and I hope that in the Secretary of State's response h...
Liam Byrne | 536 c981 (Link to this contribution) And this is a Government, of course, who have brought forward plans to borrow another £158 billion —...
Liam Byrne | 536 c981 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the hon. Gentleman, and then I will make a bit more progress.
George Freeman | 536 c982 (Link to this contribution) Does the Opposition spokesman agree that his authority to talk about this subject would be heightene...
Steve Webb | 536 c1048 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful, Mr Speaker. The hon. Member for Dover (Charlie Elphicke) spoke about how low interes...
Baroness Winterton of Doncaster | 536 c1048 (Link to this contribution) claimed to move the closure (Standing Order No. 36). Question put forthwith, That the Question be n...
Subjects
Children Disadvantaged Benefits rules Women Families Economic situation Personal income Low incomes Poverty Public expenditure Low pay Public finance Welfare tax credits Taxation Unemployment Standard of living Cuts
Link
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