James Murray
MP for Ealing North · Labour (Co-op) · United Kingdom
“I wonder whether any other Members might say that they have the most pubs in their constituency, or whether the hon. Lady has done her research. [Interruption.] I hear her saying that hers are the best pubs, a claim that even more Members may challenge in the Chamber. Although the hon.”
“The hon. Gentleman has some cheek, given the number of pubs that closed when his party was in government. The Labour party is making sure that the business rates system is set right for the future.”
“I think the hon. Gentleman’s point is that the price of fuel is linked to international events, which, as I said earlier, I very much agree with. That is why it is important that we de-escalate the situation in the strait of Hormuz, which is the best way to bring down the cost of fuel.”
“I know my hon. Friend is a great champion of pubs in her constituency. In fact, she has brought together people for her pub politics events, including at the Willy Wicket, the Beaufort Arms, the Baileys Court Inn—which I have been to—and the White Lion, where people come to talk about issues that matter to them.”
“I thank the hon. Gentleman for talking about the Station House in his constituency; I am sure we all have pubs in our own neighbourhoods that we feel are at the heart of the local communities that we represent. The 20% business rates cut that we announced was a down payment on further reform.”
“I agree with the hon. Lady about the importance of providing breathing space for families, which is a priority for us as a Government, and she mentioned her plans. I have set out what we have done since the general election to reduce fuel prices by 11p per litre compared with what they would have been otherwise.”
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“The Bank of England has cut interest rates five times, meaning that someone on a tracker mortgage of just over £200,000 is already around £100 a month better off. We have cut red tape and changed planning regulations so that we can deliver 1.5 million new homes over the course of this Parliament. We have acted to accelerate the construction of nearly 100,000 new homes, which were previously stuck. We were the fastest-growing G7 economy in the first half of this year. Most telling of all, since the general election real wages have risen by more than they did in the first 10 years of the Conservative Government. The Conservatives’ answer to the nation’s challenges is always the same: austerity. They want to cut spending, increase debt and accept decline.”
“I had definitely been born by that time, Mr Speaker. I was doing my maths very rapidly, but I can be confident in saying that. I seem to have quite lost my way after your intervention, Mr Speaker, but let me return to the main thrust of the argument that I was making a few moments ago. We are a serious Government who are a serious partner for the private sector, which is why we are investing in things that will get our country moving again. It is early days; the damage that the Tories did will take time to unpick and there will be more difficult decisions ahead, but since we came to power, this Government have announced £250 billion of new investment commitments, creating tens of thousands of jobs.”
“The motion before this House today simply is not serious. It is an admission from Conservative Members that after years in power and countless opportunities to reflect and learn from their mistakes, all they can come up with is the same failed solution: more unfunded tax cuts, more cuts to public services, more failure to invest, more austerity and more pain for the British people. That is what will keep them on the Opposition Benches for a very long time. We reject their recklessness, we reject their lack of ambition for our country and we reject this motion.”
“As the hon. Gentleman will know, the Chancellor’s fiscal rules say that day-to-day spending must be paid for through tax receipts. That is the definition of living within our means. Those fiscal rules were met at the first Budget last year and at the spring statement this year. They are an iron-clad commitment, and we will continue to meet those fiscal rules next month at the autumn Budget. Those fiscal rules underpin our approach to the economy and to stronger public finances. We know that fiscal responsibility, which the previous Government abandoned, underpins a stable economy, and we need to secure our country’s renewal through public and private investment. We want to secure rising wages, support for businesses, more jobs, more homes and more opportunities in every corner of our country.”
“Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. Through the spending review and the 10-year infrastructure strategy, the Government are funding at least £725 billion of infrastructure over the next decade. That includes investment in critical assets, such as £24 billion over the next four years to maintain and improve motorways and local roads and £7.9 billion over 10 years to maintain existing flood defences and invest in new ones. We have also committed to long-term maintenance budgets for public service infrastructure, with £10 billion of funding per year by 2034-35 to maintain and repair our hospitals, prisons, courts, schools and colleges so that providers can deliver cost savings by planning ahead.”
“As was set out in the 10-year infrastructure strategy, £24 billion of capital funding between 2026-27 and 2029-30 has been allocated to National Highways, which is the organisation responsible for maintaining the M48 Severn bridge. The funding includes £1 billion to enhance local road networks and create a new structures fund, which will be used to repair a range of key local structures, such as bridges, flyovers and tunnels.”
“My hon. Friend is absolutely right to highlight the critical importance of investment in our railway infrastructure. We know that under the previous Government, we had chronic under-investment in the infrastructure across our country, and the railways bore the brunt of much of that neglect. We are determined to turn that around to ensure that we are investing in railway infrastructure to improve the quality of life for people and drive economic growth right across this country.”
“In my former role as the Minister with responsibility for the UK tax system, and on the Chancellor’s behalf, I have met farming representatives and farmers. Those discussions have included the National Farmers Union, the Tenant Farmers Association, the Country Land and Business Association, the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers, the Ulster Farmers Union, NFU Cymru, NFU Scotland and the Farmers Union of Wales. After listening, however, the Government continue to believe that the approach we have set out is the right one.”
“The hon. Gentleman talks about good causes. I assume he would agree that the NHS is a good cause, that public services are a good cause, and that a stable economy that encourages investment in our country is a good cause to pursue. As hon. Members have said many times already, the Opposition parties, including the hon. Gentleman’s, are very happy to reap the rewards of spending and investment, but are totally incapable of taking any of the difficult decisions to raise the revenue necessary to support them.”
“I have been involved in many debates in this House that the right hon. Gentleman has been a part of as well, and we have set out how the decisions we have taken mean the system coming in from April next year will maintain generous tax reliefs within the agricultural property relief and business property relief system, while also raising revenue in a fair way to support the public finances. That money for the public finances, as I and my right hon. and hon. Friends have said many times today, is crucial to have economic stability and to get our public services back on their feet.”
“The hon. Gentleman is wrong. The CenTax report he refers to is independent analysis demonstrating that, in its opinion, the reforms improve on the current position and are expected largely to meet the Government’s objective. In fact, the report validates the Government’s position.”
“As is the normal process in developing any policy, we consider a range of options, but we have decided that this gets the balance right: raising revenue in a fair way while offering generous reliefs within the agricultural property relief and business property relief system. Let me just say that, when I heard the hon. Lady stand up and begin a sentence with, “We Liberal Democrats oppose”, I was hardly surprised.”
“In July, the Chancellor announced the better futures fund—the largest social outcomes partnership fund in the world—to break down barriers to opportunity for up to 200,000 vulnerable children and young people. The fund will boost pupil achievement, and could fund programmes to reduce reoffending or provide specialist workers for children struggling with exclusion, mental health or crime. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is responsible for the design and implementation of the fund, and it is engaging extensively with other Government Departments, the impact economy, civil society sectors and local government partners over the coming months.”
“I thank my hon. Friend for his support of what we are seeking to achieve through the better futures fund. He is absolutely right that the fund will be designed to ensure that the money goes where it is most needed and where it will have the biggest impact—principles I think we can all agree on. As I mentioned earlier, DCMS will be working extensively with other Departments, local partners and others to design the scheme and as it gets established.”
“I was pleased to meet Kim McGuinness just last week and to hear about the excellent work she is doing to champion the north-east. On the better futures fund more broadly, we know that the design must truly be a joint endeavour—it must be built up through an open dialogue with a range of different partners who will be involved in the delivery. I reassure my hon. Friend that DCMS’s stakeholder engagement includes mayoral strategic authorities, as they will be part of that process.”
“The hon. Member asks about an important matter. As a constituency MP, I have met families who have an interest in the fund and who are in the process of adoption themselves, so I know on a personal level from my constituency work how important it is. What the Department for Education was able to announce last week was important in confirming the extension of the fund, which will offer some certainty to the affected families. I will continue to work with colleagues in the DFE to ensure that we are doing all we can to support those families, who are playing such an important role for their children and for society.”
“We want to ensure that the better futures fund is targeted where it is most needed and that the investment is spent in a way that really improves life chances, in particular for young people and children who face some of the biggest challenges ahead. I note what the hon. Gentleman says about the area he represents and the part of the UK he comes from; it is something we will consider as we develop the details of the fund.”
“The Government are investing £100 million to improve hospice facilities and a further £26 million of revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices this year. That is the biggest investment in hospices in a generation. Details about the funding arrangements for 2026-27 will be set out by the Department of Health and Social Care in due course.”
“As set out at the last Budget, we will introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with rateable values below £500,000. The relief that we inherited from the previous Government was due to end entirely in April of this year. We extended it for one year to give us time to legislate for permanently lower tax cuts for pubs across this country.”
“This matter was looked at by the previous Government several times, and I understand that there was pressure for their Ministers to look at it again. They did so, and they came to the same conclusion, which was not to proceed with reintroducing it.”
“I agree with my hon. Friend that it is critical that the Scottish Government use the funding they have received to invest in vital infrastructure projects that support growth and put more money in people’s pockets.”
“To conclude, the statutory instruments are a necessary step to complete reforms to our banking and wholesale markets regulation and to ensure that our regulatory framework remains coherent, effective and tailored to the needs of the UK’s financial sector. I welcome any questions and commend the regulations to the Committee.”
“By delegating responsibility for setting the regulatory requirements to the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority, the regulators will be able to use their day-to-day experience of supervising financial services firms to ensure the rules are tailored to the UK and proportionate for UK firms. The MiFID organisational regulation also includes key definitions that investment firms rely on to interpret the regulatory perimeter. As such, it is essential to maintain those definitions in legislation. That is what the draft regulations do: they ensure that key definitions from the MiFID organisational regulation are maintained in legislation. That ensures that there will be no gaps in regulation when the MiFID organisational regulation is revoked and the regulators replace firm-facing provisions in their rules.”
“The markets in financial instruments directive, also known as MiFID, is an EU-inherited framework that governs the regulation of financial markets and the trading that happens on them. One part of the framework is the MiFID organisational regulation, which specifies how investment firms must organise themselves and operate their business. At Mansion House 2024, the Chancellor committed to revoke the firm-facing regulatory requirements in the MiFID organisational regulation for the financial services regulators to replace in their rules.”
“Secondly, it gives the PRA additional flexibility in setting the Basel-derived capital conservation buffer and the global systemically important institutions, or G-SII, buffer. Those buffers will now be set through PRA rule making rather than legislation, keeping to international standards while allowing flexibility. Thirdly, it keeps in statute the frameworks for the Financial Policy Committee’s countercyclical and other systemically important institutions, or O-SII, buffers, which will ensure that the FPC has a clear statutory basis on which to deploy these tools. It also tweaks the framework to improve its overall effectiveness. For example, the FPC may now adjust the countercyclical buffer off-cycle in an emergency. I will now turn to the Markets in Financial Instruments (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2025.”
“Members will be aware that banks must hold capital buffers over and above minimum requirements to ensure that they can absorb losses yet keep lending, even in times of stress. This technical statutory instrument merely updates cross-references now that the buffer regulations have been restated under powers in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023. The process of bringing the buffers regulations in line with the FSMA model does three things. First, it revokes the 2014 capital buffers regulations, replacing necessary provisions with rules designed and maintained by the Prudential Regulation Authority and restating only limited elements that must stay in legislation, with minor operational tweaks.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. These two technical statutory instruments make practical changes that allow the Government to complete reforms to banking and wholesale markets regulation. Collectively, they ensure that our legislation for financial services remains effective and bring those areas of regulation in line with the model set by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. They do not introduce new burdens for firms and the changes have been widely supported by industry. I will first address the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 (Capital Buffers and Macro-prudential Measures) (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2025. Hon.”
“I think we all agree that the regulations support the UK’s transition to a modern, proportionate regulatory regime that upholds high standards while supporting the competitiveness of our financial services sector, which the shadow Minister spoke about. I thank him and other hon. Members for attending the Committee tonight. Question put and agreed to. Draft Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 (Capital Buffers and Macro-prudential Measures) (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2025 Resolved , That the Committee has considered the draft Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 (Capital Buffers and Macro-prudential Measures) (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2025. — (James Murray.)”
“I thank the shadow Minister for his speech, for his broad support for what we are seeking to achieve and for the brevity of his contribution this evening. I welcome his support and note the points that he raised. He asked what the Government are prioritising in considering which parts of MiFID to reform. The Leeds reforms announced that the Government are committed to continuing to review and reform the MiFID framework in partnership with the FCA and I can reassure him that, obviously, the Government will make changes where there are clear opportunities to remove burdensome requirements and cut costs for investment firms.”
“Conservative Members will appreciate that today’s motion, as tabled, simply cannot form the basis of a specific debate on individual tax measures. Members from across the House will know that the Government do not respond to speculation in advance of a Budget, which the Chancellor has today announced will take place on 26 November. This has long been the case: the shadow Chancellor knows it well and he knows that it would be irresponsible to engage in that speculation. Whatever political rhetoric he and his colleagues will use in today’s debate, and no matter how many variants of the same question they ask, I know that he will understand that I cannot engage with speculation about individual tax measures ahead of the Budget.”
“I thank the right hon. Member for Central Devon (Sir Mel Stride) for opening the debate. I can tell that he spent his summer polishing some of his rhetorical flourishes, which he has shared with us today, but I suggest that he could have spent his time rather better. Thank you for your words of congratulation, Mr Speaker. It is a real honour to be here as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. May I put on record my tribute to my predecessor, now the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Bristol North West (Darren Jones), for all his fantastic work, notably delivering the spending review? I welcome the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, my hon. Friend the Member for Chipping Barnet (Dan Tomlinson), to his new role. I thoroughly enjoyed the role myself, and I am sure that he will be excellent in it.”
“I am not going to engage in speculation about tax measures or any of the mechanics around them. The hon. Member and his hon. Friends will simply have to wait until 26 November to hear the specifics of the Budget. At that point, I am sure that he and his colleagues will have plenty to say.”
“I thank the right hon. Member for his kind words. As he will know, welfare measures are already going through Parliament and being investigated by my right hon. Friend the Minister for Social Security and Disability through the review that he is undertaking. This Government are determined to ensure that the safety net is there for the people who need it, and that the people who can work have the support they need to get and maintain a job.”
“The hon. Gentleman is right to remind everyone of the record under the short-lived Prime Minister, Liz Truss. I notice that Conservative Members do not refer to that themselves when evaluating the economic situation, but the British people will not forget it. On his wider point about housing across the country, we want to ensure that we are building affordable homes in every part of the country. One of this Government’s priorities has been to reform the planning system, to enable the building of 1.5 million homes and ensure that every community has those homes, so people have homes that they can afford to live in, in the area where they grew up, where they want to live or go to work. That is a central mission of this Government.”
“I gently remind the hon. Member that council tax—a tax on property—exists in this country, so the principle of applying some taxes to property is well established in the UK, and has been for some time. She is trying to tempt me to engage in more speculation, but as I said to the shadow Chancellor, I am not going to engage in speculation about what may or may not be in the Budget.”
“Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker—the hint is taken. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Chris Vince) for his intervention, and I thank his mother for her service to HMRC in the past. People at HMRC do an absolutely critical job in collecting the tax that is important in funding our public services and ensuring that our economy functions effectively. One of our priorities as a Government has been to close the tax gap that existed under the previous Government. At the Budget last year and in the spring statement earlier this year, we set out plans to raise an additional £7.5 billion in tax revenue as a result of hiring people to do those really important jobs, as well as investing in new technology and modernising the service to ensure that people pay the tax they owe.”
“It is home to hard-working people, brilliant businesses, world-leading universities and research institutions, cultural giants and the promise that if people work hard and contribute to the country, it will be a place where they can succeed. Yet undeniably, after 14 years of Tory mismanagement, far too many working people feel that the economy is stuck.”
“We had stalled housing, unfinished infrastructure and public services brought to their knees by under-investment and disinterest. The Conservatives do not want to talk about those things because that is the legacy of the last Government. We found out just today that the right hon. Gentleman does not even want to talk about things happening in Conservative councils, as my hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke (Luke Murphy) raised so importantly in his contribution earlier. Now that the Conservatives are in opposition, the right hon. Gentleman’s party and Reform Members are talking Britain down. They want to claim that Britain is broken, but I believe that Britain is unbreakable. Our country is full of potential.”
“I am going to make some progress, because a few moments ago I said I would do so. I have been gently reminded by Madam Deputy Speaker that I really must live up to my promise on that front. The right hon. Member for Central Devon asked me questions in his opening remarks—indeed, his colleagues have their sheets from the Whips, and they have been dutifully following up in their comments—but they are on matters that we cannot talk about today. There are of course other important facts that the right hon. Gentleman does not want to talk about, but the British people have not forgotten them. There is the £22 billion black hole in our public finances, which the previous Government hid from the light. There is the disastrous mini-Budget, which caused damage to households across the country and to our reputation around the world.”
“I have been asked by Madam Deputy Speaker to make some progress, so I will return to the hon. Gentleman a little later. I hear from my constituents, as I am sure many other Members in the Chamber hear from theirs. They tell us that no matter how much effort they put in at work, their careful management of household finances and their diligent efforts to save for a brighter future, they do not yet feel that they are getting enough in return, and it has become harder to get ahead. At the same time, our roads and railways seem slow and less reliable and our classrooms seem fuller, while the NHS has a massive backlog. The root cause of all that is the chronic under-investment by the previous Government. That under-investment over many years has slowed our productivity growth to a rate not seen since the Napoleonic wars.”
“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is only thanks to the fiscal rules that the Chancellor introduced at last year’s Budget and our decisions—the right decisions—to ensure that those fiscal rules are non-negotiable and that we keep to them at every stage that we have been able to boost investment by £120 billion over the course of this Parliament in many projects, including those that he mentioned and those in constituencies right across the country. That is the right thing for our country. We were just talking about chronic under-investment. We are tackling that through ensuring that the Government invest across the country and by encouraging private-sector investments to get businesses across Britain growing.”
“My hon. Friend is absolutely right; economic growth is of course critical to our plans. She points to the trade deals that we secured. She and other hon. Members will know that the UK was the fastest-growing G7 economy in the first half of this year. There is much more for us to do, but we are showing that because of the right decisions that we have taken we are starting to move in the right direction.”
“Of course, it will also undergo proper scrutiny by the OBR. I was going briefly to address the taxes mentioned in the motion, but I suspect that I should skip over that part of my speech. [ Interruption. ] I am getting a gentle indication from you, Madam Deputy Speaker, that I have come to the right conclusion. If we are to get this country moving again, investment from both businesses and Government is essential. We must therefore strike the right balance in our tax system, so that we can put more money in the pockets of working people while supporting the private sector to invest and grow and funding our public services. Members on both sides of the House will have their own views on what the right balance is, and I look forward to hearing those views today. I thank all hon. and right hon. Members in advance for their contributions.”
“The choice at the next Budget is clear. Over 14 years, the last Government made wrong choices time and again. They, their many Prime Ministers and many Chancellors all embraced the cycle of austerity, debt and decline, and we will never repeat that. We will continue to invest in Britain’s renewal, using every power at our disposal to drive forward an economy that works for working people. As I said, the Government do not respond to speculation, especially ahead of a Budget, and in any case we are not writing a Budget this far out. The Budget that the Chancellor delivers in November will be carefully considered and designed to get the balance right between making working people better off and raising enough money to fund our public services and getting the country moving once again through investment and growth.”
“Since taking office, this Government have welcomed around £100 billion in investment into the UK, with 384,000 jobs being created over the same period. We have cut red tape and changed planning regulations to deliver 1.5 million new homes over the course of this Parliament. We already have nearly 100,000 new homes on large developments that were previously stuck in the planning system or simply not progressing as fast as they should be; they are now being given the support that they need to make that progress quickly. In just over a year, the Bank of England has cut interest rates five times, which means that someone on a tracker mortgage of just over £200,000 will be better off by around £100 a month. Crucially, real wages have risen more in the time since the last election than they did in the first 10 years of the previous Government.”
“It may be that they think that if they do not talk about it, the British people may forget the last Government’s responsibility for getting us into the current situation, but the British people know that the Conservatives did this to our country. That is why the British people put their faith in us at the last election. While there is clearly more to do to bring down inflation and the cost of borrowing, it is clear that we have turned a corner by taking the right decisions for our country. We have taken the decisions to address the black hole in the public finances, fix our foundations and clear up the mess that we inherited from the previous Government. As a consequence, as I mentioned a moment ago, in the first half of this year we were the fastest-growing economy in the G7; we outpaced France, Germany, Japan and the United States.”
“I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on an inventive way of encouraging me to speculate on tax measures. I am aware of the issue that he points to, and I thank him for raising it in this context, but I am not able to make any decisions on taxation at the Dispatch Box today. Let me go back briefly to the broader context. It is absolutely crystal clear from the opening remarks of the right hon. Member for Central Devon, and from what all his colleagues have said so far, that Conservative Members are still in total denial about any responsibility they have for the situation that the country finds itself in. They act as if being behind the wheel for 14 years is irrelevant to where we find ourselves now.”
“The British people want security, stability, public services that work again, and more money in their pocket, and only Labour Members and this Labour Government are prepared to take the decisions that are necessary to make that happen. Question put.”
“We have taken the tough but fair and necessary choices to repair our public finances, so that we can rebuild our schools, our hospitals and our frontline services across the country. As many right hon. and hon. Members have said today, if Conservative Members disagree with our approach, maybe they can tell us whether they would cut spending on schools, hospitals or defence, or perhaps they can tell us which taxes they would raise instead. Rather than do that, the Conservatives and Reform are competing with each other to inherit the mantle of Liz Truss. They both blindly make unfunded promises on tax—promises that we all know would force up interest payments for families across Britain and cause economic chaos, which would hit working people hardest.”
“Thanks to the Chancellor’s fiscal rules—the stability rule and the investment rule—we have been able to boost capital investment by £120 billion, compared with the previous Government’s plans. That investment will improve transport infrastructure, deliver more social and affordable housing, bring down bills through energy security, unlock further private sector investment and, most importantly, improve the lives of working people across Britain by making people better off. Without our plans to balance the books and get debt falling, our £120 billion of extra investment would not be possible, and taxpayers would see ever more of their money being spent on debt interest payments.”