Wednesday Volume 680 16 September 2020 No. 102 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Wednesday 16 September 2020 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2020 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 293 16 SEPTEMBER 2020 294 reason, are not getting it do get it. If the hon. Gentleman House of Commons wishes to raise any individual cases, which we have all had, I am happy to look at them. Wednesday 16 September 2020 Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab): My thoughts are with those caught up in the awful crash in the Rhondda. The House met at half-past Eleven o’clock Many self-employed people in Wales who have already been hard hit by lockdown now fear the impact on PRAYERS their customer base of the looming spectre of mass unemployment that is hanging over their communities— [MR SPEAKER in the Chair] industrial communities that still bear the scars of the Virtual participation in proceedings commenced (Order, damage wreaked by the Tories in the ’80s. When will 4 June). this Government grasp the urgency of the situation and [NB: [V] denotes a Member participating virtually.] bring forward specific measures for sectors such as aviation that need longer to recover, in order to support the thousands of Welsh workers who depend on them? Oral Answers to Questions Simon Hart: The hon. Lady makes an unnecessary political point. The Government, along with the Welsh Government, have done everything they can to ensure WALES that the smallest possible number of people in Wales have gone without important assistance during this The Secretary of State was asked— pandemic. If she is hinting that the extension of furlough is the only answer, I can tell her that it is not. The Support for Self-employed: Covid-19 Treasury has said that that is one option, but there are numerous other options that ought to help people and Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab): How many self-employed are already helping people make their way out of covid people in Wales have not received support from the and back into a properly functioning economy. Of Government’s covid-19 support schemes. [905954] course, the best way to save jobs across the whole of The Secretary of State for Wales (Simon Hart): There Wales is to get people safely back to work. are 205,000 self-employed in Wales, 110,000 of whom are receiving direct cash grants, totalling over £295 million, Nia Griffith: Indeed, but there is now barely a month through the Government’sself-employment income support to go until the Government’s job protection schemes scheme. The scheme is one of a range of Government end, leaving thousands of self-employed people and initiatives supporting the self-employed during the others at risk of unemployment. It is not just Labour coronavirus outbreak. saying that. Businesses, trade unions and the Treasury Committee have all sounded the alarm. Will the Chris Bryant: If you will indulge me, Mr Speaker, I Government accept that a one-size-fits-all approach to want to pass on my commiserations to everyone involved this jobs crisis is simply not working, and will they come in the horrific car crash in Trebanog in the Rhondda forward with concrete proposals and a real plan to earlier today. I thank the police and the fire brigade, safeguard jobs for people across Wales? who have been helping. The Secretary of State is right that lots of people Simon Hart: A third of the workforce in Wales has have received help, but an awful lot of people in the been supported by the UK Government during the Rhondda have not had a single penny. There are people pandemic. We have gone further and deeper than pretty who set up a company just two years ago and have now well any Government in the world, with VAT deferrals, lost their business, their home and their livelihood. mortgage holidays, rental support, increases in universal There are people who have gone from having £3,000 a credit, relaxation of the minimum income floor and month in the bank to £300 a month. When we come to VAT reductions. This is not a one-size-fits-all arrangement. the next round of decisions by the Government and the This is a whole package of measures that are designed Treasury, we have to do something for the 3 million to help as many people as possible to stay in work and people who have been excluded from every single scheme. get back to work as soon as it is safe to do so. I am They feel that this has been massively unfair, and we surprised that the hon. Lady does not welcome that. have hundreds of tradespeople in the Rhondda who have not had a single penny off the Government. Jessica Morden (Newport East) (Lab): On the issue of the 3 million excluded, my hon. Friend the Member Simon Hart: I know the whole House will join me in for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) is right. At a time when expressing our sympathy for those involved in the accident more local areas are facing lockdowns, I urge Ministers in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency this morning. I to do far more to help those who have fallen through know what a blow it is for him and everybody involved, the gaps, at the very least by addressing the five-week and our thoughts are with them. wait for universal credit—it should be a grant, not an In relation to the schemes, I suspect that we all, as advance. constituency MPs, have examples of people who have fallen through the net. I can only reiterate what the Simon Hart: I assure the hon. Lady that there will Chancellor has said on numerous occasions, which is never be a moment when the Government or the Wales that we will always try to look at every possible way to Office sit back and think we have done enough as far as ensure that those who qualify for help but, for some this is concerned. We are always striving and will always 295 Oral Answers 16 SEPTEMBER 2020 Oral Answers 296 strive to ensure that we improve every one of our Simon Hart: My hon. Friend raises an interesting schemes. Where there are gaps, which we have identified point. There have been numerous engagements in person before—Government Members have also been helpful with the Business Secretary and others, and online in that respect—we will do everything we can to ensure engagements, and I can safely assure the House that that they are plugged. those who have responded have not expressed any great concerns about UKIM. In fact, they see it as a perfectly UK Internal Market natural successor to the existing status quo. They want Jonathan Edwards (Carmarthen East and Dinefwr) us to proceed with it, they consider it to be fair, and (Ind): What discussions he has had with the Welsh more importantly they think that jobs depend on it. Government on legislative proposals for a UK internal market. [905955] Tommy Sheppard: Ministers seem to be in a state of denial about what this internal market Bill actually says. Jo Gideon (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Con): What recent It is quite clear that it will give the power to the UK assessment he has made of Wales’s role in the proposed Government to make spending decisions in Wales on UK internal market. [905956] matters that are devolved to the Welsh Parliament. Can the Secretary of State tell the House how on earth that Tommy Sheppard (Edinburgh East) (SNP): What recent respects the devolution settlement? discussions he has had with the First Minister of Wales on legislative proposals for a UK internal market. Simon Hart: The hon. Gentleman illustrates my point. [905957] It seems that in certain nationalist quarters this is all Ben Everitt (Milton Keynes North) (Con): What recent about politics and power, whereas in fact it is all about assessment he has made of Wales’s role in the proposed jobs and the economy and people grafting their way UK internal market. [905961] into a post-covid world. The Welsh Government will not lose a single power—not one—after the Bill is Craig Williams (Montgomeryshire) (Con): What recent passed; in fact they will have 70 new ones. The fact that assessment he has made of Wales’s role in the proposed the UK Government will be there as well to contribute UK internal market. [905964] to the economy of Wales in a way they have not been able to for 45 years should be welcomed by him and his The Secretary of State for Wales (Simon Hart): The colleagues in Wales as a major step forward. Government’s response to the UK internal market consultation published last week highlighted the broad Ben Everitt: Next spring, Milton Keynes theatre will support for the proposals from businesses and job creators host the Welsh National Opera—a great, historic institution in Wales. The Bill gives businesses the continued certainty in Milton Keynes hosting a great Welsh institution. of seamless trade across the UK as the transition period Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is not just the ends. free movement of goods, but the free movement of Jonathan Edwards: Much of the rhetoric around the people, culture, ideas and values between our four nations United Kingdom Internal Market Bill is that it is a that makes our Union so strong? shared asset, yet what is missing are any shared intergovernmental structures.