Robert Jenrick
MP for Newark · Reform UK · United Kingdom
“Robert Steele was a beautiful four-year-old boy who died three weeks ago in Newark when he was thrown from an off-road bike that was being driven by a 24-year-old man. This is the culmination of a number of incidents in my town, and many others across the country, involving off-road bikes, e-bikes and e-scooters.”
“The Minister said that Governments are elected to lead. Most people would assume that means that Ministers are elected to lead, because they are accountable to Parliament and to the people.”
“There is an air of total unreality hanging over this debate. Successive Governments have run down our Royal Navy to its present enfeebled state, they have conspired to surrender other British sovereign territory and we have a Government who procrastinate about signing off a new oil field in the North sea—let alone about one in the south A…”
“I welcome the right hon. Gentleman to his position. I have known him for a long time—I wish him well. He has a huge task ahead of him. Earlier in the summer, the Prime Minister said that walking the streets of Makerfield lodged in his mind that so many working people want to see the personal allowance raised.”
“Imagine that you are a worker at JLR worried about your future, and you have the misfortune of watching the Chancellor’s speech, which contains searing economic insights like, “I want to see businesses make a profit.” There was nothing about scrapping electric vehicle mandates, bringing down energy costs by getting rid of net zero targets…”
“The sight of the Government escorting illegal migrants into Portsmouth harbour, the home of the Royal Navy, was a national humiliation. Sometimes I wonder whether Members of this House have no appreciation of the level of anger there is in the country at the rapes, the murders and the billions being wasted that should be being spent on th…”
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“When a charity is suspected of fraud, HMRC will share the information as soon as possible with the Charity Commission, which will consider further action, including removal from the charities register. Although we take that situation seriously, I do not want to overemphasise it because abuse of the scheme is not widespread. It is an important scheme that we should take forward into the years ahead. The hon. Member for Norwich South asked about increasing the £8,000 limit. We increased the limit substantially, from £5,000 to £8,000, as recently as 2016, so we think it logical to keep it at that level for the foreseeable future. The hon. Member for Glasgow North raised a legitimate concern about public awareness of the scheme. That is something that all right hon. and hon.”
“That built upon a previous case from the month before, in which three other individuals were jailed for a total of 11 years for submitting fraudulent gift aid claims totalling £340,000. Thankfully, the unscrupulous individuals who seek to exploit charitable status for criminal purposes are rare, and there is no evidence of systematic abuse. We designed the scheme in quite a complex manner— too complex, according to some charities—to make it difficult to conduct fraudulent activity. HMRC works closely with the charity regulator, the Charity Commission, with which I have been in regular contact over the last year on a number of matters, to ensure that charities are properly regulated and that any abuse of charities is dealt with robustly.”
“I attended the excitingly named charity tax conference a year ago, and this was one of their No. 1 asks to the Government. We have been pleased to oblige by laying the instrument. It will make a small difference to those charities and to all those individuals who put money on a collection plate in their local church or give to a small charity on the high street. I cannot see any reason why one would not wholeheartedly support that. We take fraud seriously, as the Committee would expect. There has not been any material evidence of fraud, although there have been a small number of cases. In May 2016, three individuals were jailed for a total of 22 years for defrauding HMRC of £5 million in fictitious gift aid claims.”
“I thank those colleagues who have spoken. I am grateful to the Scottish National party spokesman, the hon. Member for Glasgow North, and to my constituency neighbour, the hon. Member for Bassetlaw, for indicating either their support or their intention not to oppose this measure. Gift aid has enjoyed cross-party support ever since it was created 30 years ago. I hope that will continue, not only because it is an important measure in its own right, but because it is important to give certainty to charities that enjoy it across the length and breadth of the country. As the hon. Member for Bassetlaw set out, a multitude of smaller charities have already welcomed the measure. In fact, we were responding to the voices of charities, many of which wrote to me.”
“I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Social Security (Contributions) (Rates, Limits and Thresholds Amendments and National Insurance Funds Payments) Regulations 2019.”
“The rate for class 3 will increase in line with inflation, from £14.65 a week to £15 a week. The regulations also make provision in the usual way for a Treasury grant of up to 5% of forecasted annual benefit expenditure, to be paid into the national insurance fund if needed during the period of 2019-20. There are similar provisions with respect to the national insurance fund for Northern Ireland. I trust that that is a useful overview of the changes that we are making to bring rates of support and contributions to the Exchequer in line with inflation. As I said at the beginning of my speech, the draft regulations are a routine annual exercise and do not depart from recent practice. I therefore commend them to the Committee.”
“On class 1 secondary NICs for employers, the secondary threshold will rise with inflation from £162 a week to £166 a week. The level at which employers of people under 21 and apprentices under 25 start paying employer NICs will rise from £892 a week to £962 a week. For the self-employed, who pay class 2 and class 4 NICs, the rate of class 2 NICs will rise in line with inflation from £2.95 a week to £3 a week. The small profits threshold will rise with inflation from £6,205 a year to £6,365 a year. On class 4 NICs, the lower profits limits will rise with inflation from £8,424 a year to £8,632 a year. The upper profits limit, which is aligned with the higher-rate threshold, will rise from £46,350 a year to £50,000 a year. Class 3 contributions will allow people voluntarily to top up their national insurance record.”
“The Social Security (Contributions) (Rates, Limits and Thresholds Amendments and National Insurance Funds Payments) Regulations will make changes to the rates, limits and thresholds for national insurance contributions and make provision for a Treasury grant to be paid into the national insurance fund, if required. The changes, if approved, will take effect from 6 April 2019. I will outline the changes to employee and employer NICs, which are commonly referred to as class 1 NICs. On class 1 primary NICs for employees, the lower earnings limit will rise in line with inflation, from £116 a week to £118 a week, and the primary threshold will increase with inflation, from £162 a week to £166 a week. The upper earnings limit is aligned with the UK’s income tax higher rate threshold, which will rise from £892 a week to £962 a week in 2019-20.”
“The guardian’s allowance was not affected either. In introducing the draft regulations, we are legislating, as in previous years, to ensure that the guardian’s allowance and the disability elements of the child tax credit and working tax credit increase in line with the consumer prices index, which put inflation at 2.4% in the year to September 2018. The draft regulations will mean in practice that we will maintain the level of support for families with disabled children in receipt of child tax credit and disabled workers in receipt of working tax credit. The regulations will also sustain the level of support that we offer for children for whom one parent or more is absent or deceased. Increases to those rates are part of the Government’s wider commitment to supporting the most vulnerable people in our society.”
“This version of the explanatory memorandum is only a draft; we will publish a corrected version. I am grateful for the opportunity to make that clarification. Turning to the Tax Credits and Guardian’s Allowance Up-rating Regulations, as hon. Members know, the Government are committed to a welfare system that works, ensures that work always pays, and is fair to the taxpayer while maintaining protection for the most vulnerable in our society. In the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016, we legislated to freeze the majority of working-age benefits—including child tax credit and working tax credit—for the four years up to 2020, which helped to put our welfare system on a sustainable long-term path. However, the disability elements of the child tax credit and the working tax credit were specifically exempted from the freeze.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Graham. I will now introduce the two sets of draft regulations and explain the changes that they will enforce. They both represent routine annual exercises necessary to ensure the collection of national insurance contributions and the resulting contribution to our public services. They will also increase certain benefits in line with inflation. May I pause for a moment to address the point of order raised by the hon. Member for Glasgow South West? As he set out, there is a minor typo in paragraph 3.2 of the draft explanatory memorandum: “The entire instrument applies to England, Wales and Northern Ireland only”. It should, of course, have mentioned Scotland. Paragraph 4.1 states: “The extent of this instrument is the United Kingdom”, which, of course, includes Scotland.”
“The benefit freeze, although undoubtedly difficult for many in our society, was an important part of a package of welfare reforms designed to incentivise work, which we know is the best route out of poverty. Since 2010, there have been record levels of individuals finding employment and near-record low levels of people who are unemployed. Those reforms have worked, and we will look to the next financial year, and the spending review that will precede it, to make decisions on how we will choose to proceed thereafter. I commend the regulations to the Committee, and I hope that all Members will support them. Question put and agreed to. Draft Tax Credits and Guardian’s Allowance Up-rating Regulations 2019 Resolved, That the Committee has considered the draft Tax Credits and Guardian’s Allowance Up-rating Regulations 2019.— (Robert Jenrick.)”
“That will then lapse and, subject to any further decision being approved by the House, the assumption, as we have made clear, is that we will revert to the pre-existing statutory obligations, which in most cases was a CPI uprating each year. The hon. Gentleman raised a wider point about why we chose to adopt the policy at the beginning of the coalition Government. The reforms that we have pursued since 2010, including those legislated for in the 2016 Act, were necessary to put the public finances back on track and to protect the taxpayer following decades of unsustainable increases in welfare spending. Welfare spending rose by 65% in real terms—an increase of £84 billion—under the last Labour Government.”
“I am grateful to the hon. Member for Bootle for indicating that he will not oppose the regulations. That is important for two reasons. First, they enable us to ensure that the disability element of tax credits and the rate of guardian’s allowance rise with inflation, providing the support that those individuals and families require. Secondly, they will enable us to continue to collect national insurance contributions for public services across the country. In answer to the question on what the uprating mechanism will be when the current freeze comes to an end at the end of this financial year, the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016 provided for a four-year freeze.”
“From the heart-warming and uplifting bravery of Finn and his fellow service dogs, to VAT—such is the unique ability of the Treasury to change the mood in the Chamber. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope) for promoting this Bill and raising these issues, and all hon. Members across the House who have had the chance to contribute today. In my experience, my hon. Friend’s rather dim view of the bean-counting accountants at the Treasury is unfair to the excellent civil servants who work there. My office has a portrait of Nigel Lawson on the wall. He was one of the great Chancellors who understood the dynamic effect of simpler and lower taxes.”
“Numerous businesses wanted the threshold to be increased, and numerous wanted it to be decreased. The Chancellor therefore announced that the Government would maintain the threshold at its current level of £85,000 until March 2022, taking a balanced approach, with the UK continuing to lead the EU and the OECD in support for small businesses in this manner.”
“The bunching effect is significant, and raising the threshold somewhat, for example to £100,000, would not eliminate it; it would just move the problem further up the chain. As a result of that report, the Chancellor committed to explore whether the design of the threshold could better incentivise growth. He launched a call for evidence in March last year, to understand the effects of the threshold on small businesses and ways of easing the burden once they become VAT-registered. During the call for evidence, businesses raised concerns, not dissimilar to those we have heard today, about the administrative and financial implications of registration, but there was no clear consensus on reform. That was not obfuscation of the kind alluded to by my hon. Friend; there was simply no clear answer on how to proceed.”
“Two years ago, the Chancellor asked the Office of Tax Simplification to examine the impact of making the threshold higher or lower. We did not prejudice that research; we asked the OTS to come forward with its views. Its report, published in November 2017—colleagues have quoted it today—found that the relatively high level of the threshold in the UK has a distortionary effect on business growth. One reason for that, as we have already heard, is the “bunching” phenomenon, whereby small businesses limit their turnover to remain below the threshold. In the same way that welfare reform improves the ability of individuals to work extra hours or take a promotion, we do not want to discourage entrepreneurs from taking on an extra client, expanding their business or growing their sales.”
“The German threshold is only £15,600, and ours is £85,000. We compare extremely favourably with our competitors around the world. That benefits 3.5 million UK businesses that are not required to account for or pay VAT—not half of all small businesses, but 60%. It is also worth noting the large and growing number of enterprises in the sharing economy, such as individuals taking up Airbnb businesses, generally below the VAT threshold, providing the kinds of services that might, in an era before the technology was available, be provided by VAT-registered businesses such as hotels and B&Bs. Views on the right level at which to set the threshold are divided, despite the fact that it is, by international comparisons, very generous.”
“Under UK VAT rules, UK businesses must register for VAT once their total taxable turnover crosses the threshold, which is currently set at £85,000. Businesses can de-register if their turnover falls below £83,000. The Government recognise that accounting for VAT can be burdensome on small businesses, but it should not be over-estimated—our research shows that the cost to a small business of meeting its VAT responsibilities is generally around £300 a year. That is not inconsiderable, but it is perhaps not as much as some might suggest. We want to maintain a VAT threshold that supports small businesses, and we do. As we heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Erewash, the United Kingdom’s VAT threshold is the highest in the European Union and the OECD. To put that in context, the EU average is €33,000, and $44,000 in the OECD.”
“Friend the Member for Harborough (Neil O’Brien) set out the twin pillars that any Conservative Chancellor must balance: sound money and respect for the public finances so that we do not leave the next generation worse off than we found it, and the liberating dynamic effect of lower taxes. Every Chancellor has the opportunity to balance the two responsibly and drive the economy forward, and that is very much the context for this debate. The Government champion small business people and entrepreneurs, who are the backbone of our economy. A simple tax system helps those individuals and the businesses they create to operate in a productive and profitable manner, as we heard from numerous colleagues across the House. We want to find opportunities wherever we can to help them move their businesses forward.”
“Part of the time. I am grateful to my hon. Friends the Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Anne-Marie Trevelyan), and for Erewash (Maggie Throup)—not “ear wash” as it was pronounced in the previous debate by my hon. Friend the Member for South Suffolk (James Cartlidge), who is the voice of small c conservatism in this place. The hon. Member for Ealing North (Stephen Pound) made a fleeting cameo appearance in the debate to recommend Barbara Castle, who I agree was one of the great politicians of the 20th century. Modern politics might have been different if she had been able to take forward the reforms that she set about in the late 1960s. Briefly—he is no longer in his place—my hon.”
“That suggestion, which my hon. Friend set out so eloquently in her speech, has been discussed on many occasions. It is an interesting proposal, but it would have significant fiscal implications, and it would mean that any business would be able to take advantage of that; large multinational corporations would benefit, not just small and medium-sized businesses. However, it is something we might consider in future.”
“It is worth saying that since the referendum on leaving the EU, the Government have received in excess of £40 billion of requests for reliefs from VAT using the additional flexibilities that we may have when we leave the EU. In addition, numerous other requests have been made to us, whether on excise duties or air passenger duty. In aggregate, these produce a substantial cost to the Exchequer, which would harm our ability to fund public services. We have to be realistic about our ability to act and to reform these taxes once we leave the EU.”
“While we support the desire to improve business growth, concerns remain that increasing the threshold would simply shift the problem higher up the level. I want to mention some of the issues that my hon. Friend and others spoke about. I know that many right hon. and hon. Members care strongly about VAT on women’s sanitary products, as do I, and wish to see change as soon as possible. The Government have taken action to address the issue, but we have been unable to succeed as a result of our continued membership of the EU. There will be opportunities for reform in the future, but not until the UK leaves the EU or after the end of the implementation period, should there be a deal, which we hope there will be. At that point, we will have the opportunity to address some of the issues.”
“We have been trying to tackle that issue in a number of ways that I do not have time to discuss today. The measure is expensive, as we have heard. Its estimated cost to the Exchequer would be about £2.1 billion per year. I take my hon. Friend’s point that it might have a dynamic effect and that we need to take such things into consideration. It can be a criticism of the Treasury and the OBR that the processes that we have created in the past 15 years make it much harder to take the kind of attitude that a Chancellor such as Nigel Lawson would have taken in the 1980s. None the less, there is a substantial fiscal cost to the measure. The loss in revenue has to be balanced by reduced public spending, increased borrowing or increased taxation elsewhere, all of which we want to avoid.”
“Friend the Member for South Suffolk said, taken together the proposals in the Bill carry a significant fiscal cost of several billion pounds, which I will mention briefly later. The Bill proposes a threshold of £104,000. We already have the highest in the EU and OECD, so we lead the international business community in that respect. There is no evidence to suggest that the policies that the Government have adopted are leading to a diminution in the number of small businesses created in this country. There is a new start-up every 75 seconds. We are the start-up capital of Europe. We are the most dynamic and supportive economy in the world for entrepreneurs. If the UK economy has any challenge in this respect, it is how to help a business to scale up into a much more substantial business, far beyond the VAT threshold.”
“As one might expect, many people wanted it to be increased, but a very large number of those who took part in the survey came to the conclusion that the bunching effect that my hon. Friend described, which is the fundamental issue here, would simply be kicked further down the road if we increased the threshold to £100,000. Of course, if one increased it to a very large figure such as £500,000 or £1 million, that might be of less concern because it would take out a swathe of small and medium-sized businesses, but the fiscal cost would be even higher. While I am the first person to seek a dynamic approach to taxation and lower taxes, we have to balance those two considerations and ensure that we do not live beyond our means as a country. As my hon.”
“In summary, I thank my hon. Friend for raising these issues and for the good debate we have had today. I would not always say this, but he is ahead of his time in raising these issues. The flexibilities he wants are not available today but might be in the years ahead. This prompts an important national debate about how we can continue to champion small businesses and have a tax system that supports enterprise and entrepreneurship long into the future. Unfortunately, at the present time, under EU law, we cannot act on many, if not all the measures, he has set out and so cannot support the Bill.”
“The Government agree that women’s sanitary products should not be subject to VAT and, in the Finance Act 2016, introduced measures to enable the zero rating of VAT for women’s sanitary products to take effect as soon as legally possible. In the meantime, at 5%, the UK applies the lowest VAT rate currently possible under EU law. Until we are legally able to remove this tax, the Government will continue to award £15 million a year to women’s charities—equivalent to the amount of VAT raised for the Exchequer from the sale of women’s sanitary products. To date, over 70 charities have received grants from the tampon tax fund and £62 million has been allocated since autumn statement 2015. This is a ridiculous and unfair tax that we want to remove as soon as we have ability. Rest assured, this Chancellor and this Government will do so.”
“It is not a secret. These matters are frequently discussed in the House. If my hon. Friend comes to Treasury questions, he will hear debates from colleagues who have regional airports, who would like us to reduce air passenger duty. He will hear colleagues from Northern Ireland asking us to reduce the aggregates tax so that they can increase their competitive position with the Republic of Ireland. There are numerous requests for us to use the freedoms that we will have when we leave the EU. We may be able to meet some of them, but we will have to do so judiciously. If we did all of them, as I think he might wish, we would end up with tens, if not hundreds, of billions of pounds less revenue with which to fund our public services, but he is absolutely right to want a good public debate in the years ahead about how we do this.”
“Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst raised, we are pursuing a comprehensive relationship with the European Union, but we will be able to deliver that only if we can secure a deal and get on to those negotiations in due course. I hope that I have answered many of the questions that have been raised today. There were many others, and I will write to the hon. Members who raised them. We are committed to financial services sector, which is a foundation stone of the United Kingdom’s economy and is of benefit to people across the country. The critical step in the days ahead is to secure a deal that gives the sector the assurance that it needs to move forward.”
“We need to ensure that that continues. In March, we will be launching the start-up visa, which was announced last June by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary. That will answer the question my hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin and Harpenden asked about how talented entrepreneurs in a sector such as FinTech can come to the UK. There will be no limit on the number of individuals who can benefit from that and it should be a major step forward. We have also accepted the Migration Advisory Committee’s recommendations with respect to students. Those changes will be made in due course, which will make it easier for individuals to stay on in the UK after studying, to make a life here and to join businesses in financial services and elsewhere. With respect to data sharing, which my hon.”
“We are working with Lloyds of London and other parts of that industry to ensure that the same principles of open data that were taken forward by the Financial Conduct Authority can help to drive a revolution in products in the insurance industry. That is of interest both globally and to consumers in the UK, to ensure that they are protected. We have heard about the importance of access to capital, on which the industry is reliant. We have taken a number of steps, from the patient capital review to increasing the amount of money available to the venture capital sector in the UK. There is more that we can and will do, such as working with pension funds in the UK so that they back these sorts of investments. As we have heard, this is an industry that relies on attracting the best and brightest talent to the United Kingdom.”
“It is critical for all of us to work together in the weeks ahead to secure a deal that we can support. Of course, it must not be just any deal, but a good deal that we can support for this sector. Ultimately, that is the only way we can give the sector the assurances it needs to continue to invest and protect jobs. My hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin and Harpenden spoke about FinTech, to which I have alluded. There are now 80,000 people working in the FinTech sector in the United Kingdom. None of those jobs existed 10 years ago. We are a world leader. We have published a FinTech strategy. Of course, there is more that we might be able to do in the future. The next great opportunity is in SureTech.”
“It would be problematic for a range of reasons, which we have discussed. First, if we can secure a deal, it will provide an implementation period, which, as my hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst said, would smooth out those cliff edges and enable firms to prepare as we transition to the future relationship. There is no escaping the fact that while we can take a generous approach to the European Union, there is no obligation on it to reciprocate, and we cannot prepare for that in advance. Secondly, if we leave with a deal, it will ensure that we have the political declaration and, within it, the enhanced equivalence regime that we want, to ensure that we have a continued close relationship with the European financial system.”
“Friend the Member for Hitchin and Harpenden and any other hon. Members who are interested about the measures that we have taken and are interested in taking to ensure that credit unions become more widely available, including, of course, by increasing their scope from 2 million to 3 million members and their geographical reach, which helps them to have a larger presence in big cities and different regions of the country. Brexit has clearly been a major factor in this debate. Like my hon. Friend the Member for North East Derbyshire (Lee Rowley), I do not believe it would be responsible to rule out a no-deal scenario, as it is important to maintain that leverage in the negotiations, but we have to accept that this is a sector of the economy that would be significantly harmed by a no-deal exit.”
“Most recently, we commissioned Alison Rose to report on how we can improve the level of finance that is available to female entrepreneurs across the country, building on the charter alluded to by the hon. Lady. The Government are also committed to credit unions. The number of individuals who are members of credit unions is rising—it is now over 2 million. There has been some consolidation in the number of credit unions, but the number of members benefiting from them is increasing. I think that they now have assets of £3.3 billion. We are making a number of interventions in that respect, including a FinTech challenge fund to see how FinTech can help with some of the social problems that we have discussed in terms of access to capital. Given that there is little time available, I am happy to write to my hon.”
“Having strong capital markets in the UK is important for our venture capital industry, which is the European leader and is maturing, but there is more that it needs to do to create thriving sectors such as FinTech, the technology sector more generally and life sciences, for example in Oxford. There is also more to do in infrastructure investment, which the hon. Lady also referred to. We will shortly publish a review of how we can continue to be a strong player in financing major infrastructure projects. That will include the proposition of a national infrastructure investment bank, which has been suggested by a number of individuals, as well as by the Labour party. It is important that the UK’s financial services sector is inclusive. The hon. Lady made an important point about diversity.”
“Friend the Member for Hitchin and Harpenden spoke about, such as the seed investment enterprise scheme, the enterprise investment scheme and entrepreneurs’ relief, as well as the continued reduction in corporation tax, which we have just legislated for in the Finance Bill, to 17%. Together, those measures are critical to the future success of the UK in paying our way in the world and attracting investors here as an important place to live, work and form businesses. The hon. Member for Oxford East also alluded to the importance of the financial services sector to the wider economy.”
“We also heard about banking in Birmingham, back office processes in Bournemouth, the insurance industry in cities such as Cardiff and Norwich, and many other examples that we must preserve and give due consideration to in the debates we are having in Parliament at the moment. I agree with hon. Members that this House and the Government need to give more consideration to the fact that our economy is 80% services-based, and that there need to be more debates about professional services and the contribution they make to the whole economy. It is important that the UK remains a tax-competitive jurisdiction in many respects, but particularly for financial services. We are committed to the reliefs that my hon.”
“I am married to a New Yorker who moved to London and would never leave the UK now, because she thinks that it is such a special country and that London is the world’s greatest capital city. None of those factors should be underplayed and we should not be complacent about how we can keep them going in the future. We have had a good debate about the importance of financial services in other parts of the country. My own city of Nottingham has a significant financial services presence. For example, it is home to Experian, the credit rating company, which employs thousands of people. The hon. Member for Aberdeen North (Kirsty Blackman) mentioned the importance of Edinburgh, for example for asset management firms.”
“Member for Oxford East (Anneliese Dodds) and others. London has long been the global capital of finance. We want that to continue. Its strengths are multifaceted. They come from the depth and breadth of experience and talent in the ecosystem here. That stretches, as we have heard, beyond pure financial services to the law, where a number of us worked, and to accountancy, shipping and insurance, which my hon. Friend the Member for North Warwickshire (Craig Tracey) mentioned. We have to view that ecosystem as something special that needs to be preserved. London is also an attractive destination culturally, socially and in terms of diversity, all of which need to be preserved.”
“We are operating in an unprecedentedly competitive global market and we have to ensure the future of the financial services sector. That will require a successful outcome in the EU negotiations. It will also require us to look to the future by embracing new technology and the opportunities that brings, and by embracing new markets. The incredible contribution of the financial services sector to the economy has been mentioned. It contributed £131 billion in 2017, including £77 billion in exports, and there is room for more on that front. A number of colleagues have made the point well that the tax take was £75 billion last year, which helped fund public services. The sector employs more than 1 million people in all parts of the United Kingdom, two-thirds of whom are outside London—a point made strongly by the hon.”
“Friend said—there has been wide agreement on this across the Chamber today—the UK’s financial services sector is an engine for the economy: it brings prosperity and creates jobs and growth for citizens across the country. My hon. Friend said that it is a national asset. Actually, the argument that we have been making in our negotiations with our EU partners is that it is a European and international asset, which we all want to succeed. In the European context, a loss for London and the UK—with jobs and investment going to the United States, Singapore, Hong Kong or some of the emerging markets that hon. Members have mentioned—is as likely to be a loss for Europe as it is to be a loss merely for the UK. We do not believe that our strength is ours by right, as my hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill) made clear.”
“I thank all hon. Friends who have spoken in the debate and my hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin and Harpenden (Bim Afolami) for raising this important issue. We both enjoyed careers in the City before coming to this place, and it sounds as though those late nights were worth it after all—he has been able to use his experience in this place. I have always thought that there are some similarities between working as a City lawyer and coming here: late nights, with difficult people, spent negotiating the finer details of agreements. We did usually get them over the line, so I hope that that turns out to be true here. As my hon.”
“There are 200,000 more people in employment in Yorkshire and the Humber today than in 2010. Unemployment has fallen by over 45%, and it is currently the second fastest growing jobs market in the UK. Since 2010, nearly 70,000 more businesses have been created, and the region has seen growth of 21%.”
“My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government is reviewing the proposals of the One Yorkshire consortium. It is our priority—I think it is a reasonable one—that the Sheffield city region and its mayor is taken forward and that the mayor is able to fully perform his functions on behalf of the people who elected him a year ago. We have said that the purpose of devolution is to create a mayoralty around a functioning economic geography. It is not clear that that case has yet been made by an historic county of the scale of Yorkshire, but we will continue to consider the proposals.”
“My hon. Friend and I have discussed the Shipley eastern bypass on several occasions. We have put a record amount of money into our strategic roads network. By hypothecating vehicle excise duty, the amount of money available for road spend in the second road investment strategy period will be almost 175% of the previous period, which is a substantial increase in investment in our roads.”
“Through our productivity plan, we are investing more in the skills base in all parts of the country, whether that be through apprenticeships, the national retraining scheme or raising standards in our schools. We are also investing more in our infrastructure. Over the last four years, there has been a 50% increase in public investment in infrastructure in Yorkshire and the Humber compared with the last four years of the Labour Government. The hon. Lady and I met recently to discuss her plans in York for the high street and improving the city centre, which we wish to support.”