Tuesday Volume 598 21 July 2015 No. 37 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Tuesday 21 July 2015 £5·00 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2015 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 1349 21 JULY 2015 1350 as the centrepiece. Does that not clearly demonstrate House of Commons that the Conservatives are the natural party for hard- working people and their families? Tuesday 21 July 2015 Mr Osborne: My right hon. right Friend is absolutely right. We are building the higher-wage, lower-tax, lower- The House met at half-past Eleven o’clock welfare economy that our country needs if it is to compete in the future and give real opportunities to working people. The new contract that we offer is this: PRAYERS businesses will pay higher wages and pay lower taxes and people will receive bigger pay cheques, but there [MR SPEAKER in the Chair] will be lower welfare. That, I think, is a contract that the British people support. BUSINESS BEFORE QUESTIONS Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op): The Chancellor’s plan will not look very well planned or QUEEN’S SPEECH (ANSWER TO ADDRESS) very long if it does not include some reference to THE VICE-CHAMBERLAIN OF THE HOUSEHOLD reported productivity, higher-quality management, and, indeed, to the House, That Her Majesty, having been attended manufacturing. What is he going to do about those key with its Address of 27 May, was pleased to receive the issues? same very graciously and give the following Answer: I have received with great satisfaction the dutiful and Mr Osborne: We entirely acknowledge that we need loyal expression of your thanks for the speech with which to improve the productivity of the British economy. I opened the present Session of Parliament. That is why, after the Budget, we published the productivity plan, which will introduce, for example, an apprenticeship levy to ensure that young people are given the skills and ROYAL ASSENT training that they need, and roads funds that will help to ensure that we have the right infrastructure for our Mr Speaker: I have to notify the House, in accordance country’s future. with the Royal Assent Act 1967, that the Queen has As the hon. Gentleman acknowledged this morning signified Her Royal Assent to the following Acts: in an interesting tweet, I think it was, the Labour party Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Act 2015 is going back to the 1980s. Those were his words. European Union (Finance) Act 2015. Unfortunately, the sensible voices of the old intake— Mr Speaker: Sit down! Oral Answers to Questions Mr Osborne:—are being drowned by those of the new intake. Mr Speaker: Chancellor, sit down, man! I told you to TREASURY sit down, so sit down! Mr Andrew Tyrie. The Chancellor of the Exchequer was asked— Mr Andrew Tyrie (Chichester) (Con): I am sorry Long-term Economic Plan about that, Mr Speaker. I thought that the Chancellor was just getting into gear. 1. Sir Simon Burns (Chelmsford) (Con): What progress Growth will, of course, depend partly on what the Bank he has made on his long-term economic plan. [901111] of England does. Over the past five years, the Chancellor and Parliament have granted the Bank huge new powers The First Secretary of State and Chancellor of the Exchequer over not only monetary but, in particular, financial (Mr George Osborne): The long-term economic plan is policy, which directly affect millions of people. Does working, but when it comes to building a Britain that that not make the reforms of the way in which the Bank lives within its means, we now need to finish the job. runs itself that the Chancellor will propose, along with Today I am launching the spending review, which will greater accountability for its new board—for which the support our priorities such as the national health service Treasury Committee, among others, has been pressing and national security. Savings will have to be made in for a long time—all the more essential? other areas, but we have shown that, with careful management of public money, we can get more for less, and give Mr Osborne: I pay tribute to the work that was done working people real control over the decisions that during the last Parliament by the Treasury Committee, affect them and their communities. The spending review some of whose members are still in their posts, and I will deliver better government and economic security, again congratulate my right hon. Friend on remaining and the results will be announced to the House on Chair of that Committee. Today we are publishing the 25 November. consultation document on the new Bank of England Bill, which will come before Parliament in due course. Sir Simon Burns: The summer Budget took clear The Bill follows the reforms announced by the Governor steps towards the delivery of a higher-wage, lower-tax, of the Bank, which built on the work done by the lower-benefits society, with the new national living wage Treasury Committee and others. It will ensure that a 1351 Oral Answers21 JULY 2015 Oral Answers 1352 modern Bank of England is able to exercise the leadership bedrock on which we can support the aspirations of that is required for the delivery of economic and financial working people. The apprenticeship levy addresses the stability. Moreover, for the first time—this is crucial, key problem of the lack of skills in the British economy and I think that Parliament will appreciate it—the Bank that has bedevilled us for decades. We are now going to will be open to the advice of the National Audit Office, introduce a system whereby companies that train their and the value for money that that can deliver. workforces get rewarded, and companies that do not have to make a contribution to the training that they Stewart Hosie (Dundee East) (SNP): The success of free-ride off. the economic plan, long-term or otherwise, and the potential to improve productivity must be driven in part Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op): Was it by sustained infrastructure capital investment, so can always part of the Chancellor’s long-term plan to scrap the Chancellor confirm that, instead of doing that, the the maintenance grants for students from lower-income plans he laid out in the summer Budget show total backgrounds? The Institute for Fiscal Studies said this capital expenditure down every single year between morning that this change 2015 and 2019-20 compared with the March Budget? “will raise debt for the poorest students, but do little to improve Mr Osborne: We made some in-year savings in this Government finances in the long run.” financial year in capital budgets that were not going to Can the Chancellor tell us why this was not in his be well spent. We want to deliver value for money for manifesto? Scottish taxpayers, as well as for taxpayers across the United Kingdom, but we will be spending more as a Mr Osborne: We put building a first-class university percentage of national income on capital investment system right at the heart of our manifesto, and I think in this decade than occurred under the last Labour the person who made the best observation about this is Government. the person the hon. Gentleman is backing for the leadership of the Labour party: the right hon. Member for Stewart Hosie: That is a fascinating answer, because Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper). of course the real answer is that in cash terms the spending This is what she said in the House of Commons in 1998 is down—from 2015-16 onwards down £1.2 billion, when the last—[HON.MEMBERS: “1988?”] There was a £0.8 billion, £0.9 billion, £0.7 billion, and £1.3 billion by Labour Government then, who abolished grants and the time we get to 2019-20. So we know the forecasts are introduced loans, and this is what she said: reduced, we know the Chancellor is cutting more than he needs in order to run a balanced budget, and we “I ask the House, having listened to the debate this evening, know he is undermining the potential for long-term not to vote for” growth, so why did he ignore all the advice, particularly maintenance grants which have from the OECD who told him two days before the “not helped my constituents, but to take the radical approach, to Budget that “gross investment is low” and go for the new, fair student loan system”.—[Official Report, “Transport infrastructure investment is poor? 8 June 1998; Vol. 313, c. 831.] Does he really expect us to believe every— There we have it: support from the right hon. Lady. The hon. Gentleman is old Labour. Mr Speaker: Order. Questions are too long. We have got the general drift of the argument; let’s hear the answer. Chris Leslie: Well, that fell a bit flat. I was asking about the Chancellor’s manifesto and what he promised. Mr Osborne: We are investing a record amount in our Taking away maintenance grants was always part of his transport system, and the new roads fund will help with plan wasn’t it, but he did not have the guts to tell transport investment in England, but there will be students and their families before an election? However consequentials and money for Scotland as well. I make much he spins it, he is hitting students with more fees, this general observation to the hon.