Daisy Cooper MP: speeches

Speeches

• 3 Mar 2025 · Finance Bill · Hansard source

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  Does the hon. Gentleman agree that one thing that could be done very quickly is that the Government could legislate so that all Airbnb properties need planning permission? That would release a lot of short-term lets back into the market as longer-term lets for younger people.

• 3 Mar 2025 · Finance Bill · Hansard source

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  In new clause 8, which deals with alcohol pricing, we have made explicit that we are not just looking for an impact assessment of the tax that the Government intend to raise. It is about the estimate of administrative operational costs—that is, the red tape that is going to be put on the industry. Does the Minister agree that we need that impact assessment, and will he meet me to discuss how we can do it?

• 3 Mar 2025 · Building Safety Documentation · Hansard source

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  16. What steps she is taking to help people impacted by EWS1 fire safety certificates issued by Tri Fire.

• 3 Mar 2025 · Building Safety Documentation · Hansard source

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  I am grateful for that answer, but in an answer to a written parliamentary question last week the Minister suggested that if a leaseholder cannot use an EWS1 fire safety certificate to progress the sale and purchase of their home, they should use the fire risk assessment. However, in many cases, including in my constituency, both the EWS1 form and the fire risk assessment are most likely invalid, if not fraudulent. In those circumstances, what measures can be taken to prioritise fire risk assessments for those leaseholders? What can be done to protect leaseholders from the additional costs of conducting another fire safety assessment after the one that they conducted in good faith?

• 26 Feb 2025 · Family Businesses · Hansard source

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  I have been invited to make an intervention, so I will very quickly say that while the right hon. Gentleman was reasonably outspoken on the mini-Budget, the same cannot be said of his colleagues on the Front Bench.

• 26 Feb 2025 · Family Businesses · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the hon. Member for raising those points. Our high streets are the beating hearts of our communities all over the UK. There is real concern that when the national insurance contribution changes and the reduction in the business rates relief kick in, our high streets will be absolutely hammered and we may indeed see tumbleweed. That matters for two reasons: there will be an impact on our local economies and that could have a knock-on impact on people’s confidence. Many people with busy lives do not always get to follow headlines about growth, inflation, interest rates and all the rest, but they do look to their high streets as the primary signal of whether or not the economy is working for them and whether it is working in their local area. In hospitality, of course, it is not just the increase in the national insurance contribution rates that will have an impact. The changes will also mean that many part-time workers will not be recruited to work in those businesses. That will impact in particular women, people from ethnic minorities and young people. Young people often work in hospitality as their first job. Often hospitality can give them the chance to work after something adverse has happened in their life. I think all of us in this House can say that we support hospitality, and it is vital that we continue to support it.

• 26 Feb 2025 · Family Businesses · Hansard source

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  Does the hon. Member agree that it would be helpful if the Minister, in his closing remarks, gave assurances that the Government were willing to meet Family Business UK, which is conducting its own survey of the impact of APR and BPR changes on businesses?

• 26 Feb 2025 · Family Businesses · Hansard source

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  I am delighted to speak on behalf of the Liberal Democrats about family businesses, because they are so important and make a distinct contribution to our economy and to their local communities. Family businesses are synonymous with quality, trust and reliability. Family businesses have a strong sense of stewardship of their craft, their capital and their customer base. By their very nature, family businesses have the goal of nurturing their business to pass through to the next generation and, as a result, have a vested interest in long-term decisions, the stability of the economy and building a resilient community. Where family businesses are located on high streets, they are often the anchor stores, bringing back loyal customers time and again. Family businesses are present in every part of the UK. Indeed, they are often the largest employer in a region and the largest philanthropic organisation in those communities, too. But in tabling the motion, the official Opposition do not seek to acknowledge or accept the damage that they have done to family businesses over the years. [ Interruption. ] If the official Opposition are patient, they will realise that I will not pull my punches when addressing the Government, but it is an Opposition day debate, so let me continue to outline the litany of mistakes that have occurred over the years. The Conservatives scrapped the industrial strategy, which was the bedrock of long-term planning. They failed to reform the broken business rates system, which has hammered family businesses on the high street. They starved family businesses of seasonal workforces, which many of them need. Their botched Brexit deal has deprived many family businesses of access to European markets, raising trade barriers for imports and exports, and wrapped them up in reams of red tape. They wreaked havoc with their mini-Budget, making access to finance too expensive for many, and they failed to address the soaring energy costs and broken energy market that has resulted in many small family businesses suffering from extortionate energy contracts and being frozen out of the best deals. That is why it is disappointing to see that the Labour Government are making some of the same mistakes. The national insurance contributions rise is unnecessary. The Government could have raised that £10 billion through other, fairer means such as taxes on big corporations that have raised billions, using that money to put public services back on their feet. The business rates proposals will be incredibly damaging for small businesses on our high streets. On a number of occasions in the House, I have invited Ministers to look at House of Commons Library research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats that shows that chains will continue to be subsidised by small independents. Of course, there are also the changes to APR and BPR, which will raise a relatively small amount of money for the Treasury but could be devastating to many small family businesses across the UK. Family Business UK, which I met this morning, is urging the Government to run an impact assessment. It is conducting its own impact assessment in partnership with the National Farmers Union, where it intends to speak to more than 3,000 family businesses about the potential impact of these measures. May I invite the Minister either to intervene on me now or to say in responding to the debate whether the Government will meet Family Business UK to discuss the findings of its survey once it is complete? We should not just think of family businesses as units for tax revenue. Family businesses are different. Family farms rightly grab the public’s imagination, but there is more than that. In my constituency of St Albans, I can think of many. Hedges Farm Shop is a much loved, family run, award winning farm shop, and its delicious meat is often on the menu of our award winning restaurants. Waterers tailors is run by two generations of the Masi family, providing bespoke, high quality tailoring and some especially fancy men’s jackets. Burston Garden Centre is a long-established family business with a lovely restaurant and is a fantastic place for a day out. We have beauty companies, building merchants and electric vehicle charger stores, all of which are family businesses. And one of my favourite pubs, too: The Boot, handed down from Will to his son Sean. On the subject of pubs, what on earth is this absurd idea in the Opposition day motion that the Product Regulation and Metrology Bill will somehow put the British pint at threat? The pint is well and truly safe. [ Interruption. ] The pint is well and truly safe, something I am sure the entire House wants to hear. The pint is enshrined in law in the Weights and Measures Act 1985, so this scaremongering is just total nonsense. I am tempted to call it a load of old Codswallop, but I would not want to insult the makers of that very fine pale ale. I could instead accuse the Conservatives of scraping the barrel. Let us just say that the Conservatives’ claim that the pint will be abolished is as fanciful as Labour’s claim that punters will see a penny taken off the price of their pint. They won’t. Frankly, if the Opposition think they are standing up for pubs they need to think again. I say this not only as the MP for St Albans, where we have more pubs per square mile than anywhere else in Britain, but also, I am proud to say, as the MP crowned last year as pub parliamentarian of the year. [ Interruption. ] I was, yes. The last Conservative Government proved, unfortunately, that they did not know their firkin from their pin. They could not tell a kilderkin from a craft keg. Their defective attempt to introduce a draught beer relief ended up excluding the very small craft brewers they were claiming to help. When a former Conservative Prime Minister had the audacity to have a photo op with the casks that he had mistakenly left out of the draft duty relief support scheme, it was the Liberal Democrats who worked with publicans and small brewers to force that correction. If the official Opposition want to pretend to stand up for the great British pub, they will need to do their homework. They should get out and speak to the struggling pubs and hospitality businesses that they have ignored. If the Conservatives want to continue with their pint-sized politics, it will be the Liberal Democrats who will continue to have the official Opposition well and truly over a barrel. Jokes aside, there are changes in the Labour Budget that are no laughing matter: the national insurance contribution changes and the reduction in business rates relief will deliver a hammer blow to our pubs. They will have no choice but to put up prices for punters and many more may be pushed to the brink.

• 26 Feb 2025 · Family Businesses · Hansard source

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  The shadow Minister was in the Chamber when I spoke earlier. Does he not agree that it is the Weights and Measures Act 1985 that protects our pint and that we should not be scaremongering that our pint is in anyway at risk?

• 26 Feb 2025 · Family Businesses · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that contribution. Automation can have some value many sectors and industries, alongside employing and training up the next generation, but it would be devastating to other sectors if automation replaces the next generation. That is particularly important in farming, but also hospitality. The very nature of hospitality is that it is hospitable. Going to the pub and being served by a vending machine is not really someone’s idea of a good night out. I agree with my hon. Friend that automation, when put alongside investing in the next generation and staff, can be a good thing, but as a replacement it can have devastating impacts on the future of sectors and on people’s opportunities. We have rehearsed on a number of occasions the impact of the Government’s Budget on small businesses and family businesses across the land. The Liberal Democrats are incredibly concerned about the impacts on family businesses and on the future of our high streets. We will not be supporting the official Opposition’s motion today, which I am sure they will be astonished to hear. [ Interruption. ] They are astonished, as you can tell, Madam Deputy Speaker, from the chuntering from the Conservative Benches. Notwithstanding, we urge the Government in the strongest possible terms to conduct an impact assessment and to look again at the amendments the Liberal Democrats tabled to exclude key organisations from their hike to national insurance contributions.

• 26 Feb 2025 · Family Businesses · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that contribution and I absolutely agree. The House has debated many times the impact of the national insurance contribution rise. Colleagues may remember that the Liberal Democrats tabled a number of amendments to exclude particular groups. We are opposed to the NIC rise full stop, and we put forward alternative ways in which the Government could raise the revenue, but we said that if the Government were intent on pursuing that particular measure, then some organisations should be exempted. We pointed in particular to health and care providers, including social care providers, but we also talked about early years providers, universities, charities and hospices. We have debated such things many times, and we urge the Government once again to look very closely at the impact of the NIC rise and to do the impact assessment that we all so desperately want.

• 26 Feb 2025 · Grenfell Tower Inquiry: Phase 2 Report · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Deputy Prime Minister’s statement. I particularly welcome the Government’s acceptance of the recommendation on professionalising and regulating fire engineers and assessors, not least because five years ago, in the Committee on the Fire Safety Act 2021, I tabled new clause 2, which would have created a public register of fire risk assessors. Had my new clause been accepted, we might have been able to avoid the developing scandal of the issuance of potentially fraudulent EWS1 certificates by Tri Fire, which could have a devastating impact on thousands of leaseholders, including some in my constituency. In the light of those concerns, which have been raised both in the media and in the Chamber today by Members from all sides of the House, can I urge the Deputy Prime Minister to convene a meeting for all MPs whose constituents are affected, and does she agree that it is time that the police investigated those reports?

• 10 Feb 2025 · Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill · Hansard source

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  On that point, will the hon. Gentleman give way?

• 6 Feb 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  The Government’s expressed political support for Heathrow airport expansion has sparked concerns that they might be getting ready to expand Luton airport too, despite the fact that the Government’s own climate advisers say that no net expansion of airports should go ahead until there is a climate emissions framework in place. Have any Ministers indicated that they intend to publish a climate emissions framework, and if so, when? Will the Leader of the House use every lever in her power to ensure that, in due course, this House has a debate on that emissions framework before any new airport expansion is given the green light?

• 4 Feb 2025 · Accessibility of Radiotherapy · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way so early in his speech. He mentioned travel times. Travel times to radiotherapy for my constituents in St Albans and Hertfordshire would certainly be much reduced if the relocation of the Mount Vernon cancer centre to Watford General could proceed, and the only way for that to happen is if the new hospital programme goes ahead sooner than is currently planned. Would he agree with me that shortening the travel time would provide a much better service for local residents?

• 29 Jan 2025 · Welfare Cap · Hansard source

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  When I visited the jobcentre in St Albans last year I, too, was struck by the fantastic support given by some of the work coaches. However, I was also struck by what some of the jobseekers had to say. One said that she had been in full employment, but had to give up her job to look after her two children because they could not get the special educational needs and disabilities support that they needed in school. Another said that they were struggling with addiction and could not hold down a job because they could not get the support needed from the NHS. Does the Minister agree that, while our work coaches are doing a really good job, ultimately, we need to get our public services, particularly the NHS, back on their feet?

• 29 Jan 2025 · Welfare Cap · Hansard source

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  Years of mismanagement by the previous Conservative Government damaged our economy, hit people’s living standards and left our public services on their knees—especially our NHS and care—so it is no wonder that we have seen the welfare bill go up. The Conservatives left GP and hospital waiting times soaring. They also saw staff vacancies spiralling, and local public health funding was slashed. The cancer treatment target has been missed every year since 2015. They promised 6,000 GPs and left government with fewer of them. Of course, the 40 new hospitals fell apart—literally in some cases—leading to inefficiencies in our health service as staff and patients battle cramped and crumbling buildings. I remember a former Conservative Prime Minister standing on the steps of No. 10 and promising to fix social care once and for all, but, as we know, millions of people around the UK are left to pick up the pieces of a broken social care system. That disgraceful legacy and the blatant mismanagement of our economy has left millions of people unable to work due to long-term illness and having to rely on support instead, impacting growth and productivity. Under the last Conservative Government, the number of people not looking for work, especially due to ill health, reached record levels, and Government spending on welfare went up drastically as a result. Their mismanagement has left so many people unable to seek work and reliant instead on Government support. We Liberal Democrats have always understood that a healthy economy requires healthy people. As I have said a number of times in the House, health and wealth are two sides of the same coin. The best way to bring down welfare spending is for the Government to act with urgency and ambition to end the crisis in our NHS and care, empowering people to join the workforce and reducing the need for welfare support in the first place. The Conservatives’ mismanagement of the economy has had a direct impact on decisions being made today. At informal assessments in 2020, 2021 and 2023, the OBR clearly said that the welfare cap was on track to be breached this year, but the new Labour Government must do far more to fix our health and care services so that fewer people require Government support in the first place. I have to say that the Conservative party has lost every right to criticise the current situation when its fingerprints of failure are all over it. We have previously discussed the impact of the Government’s national insurance contributions rise and other changes. The Government have said repeatedly that these changes are inevitable as a way to fund the NHS, but they know, and we know, that some of this is really not needed. The national insurance contributions rise will impact our GPs, dentists, public health providers, primary care providers, pharmacists, social care providers and hospices—the list goes on. Those people and businesses are propping up our NHS. I use this opportunity once again to encourage the Government to reverse the national insurance contributions rise and look to other means of raising those funds. Fundamentally, the best way to bring down welfare spending is for the Government to act with urgency and ambition to end the crisis in our NHS and social care. We Liberal Democrats made that our No. 1 priority during the general election, and with 72 MPs, it remains our No. 1 priority in this House.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Charter for Budget Responsibility · Hansard source

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  The shadow Minister talks fondly about the importance of family farms. Where were his comments on that topic when his party was negotiating trade deals with Australia and New Zealand that have sorely impacted farms around the country?

• 29 Jan 2025 · Charter for Budget Responsibility · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is right to point to the fact that many people were impacted by the mini-Budget in different ways. [ Interruption. ] I hear chuntering from a sedentary position from the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for North Bedfordshire (Richard Fuller). Those on the Conservative Benches may want to forget the impact of the mini-Budget, but many of our constituents across the country continue to live with the consequences. In the run-up to the Labour Government’s Budget, we Liberal Democrats welcomed one of the Government’s new fiscal rules—namely, the switch to public sector net financial liabilities as the targeted measure of debt. We are pleased that the Chancellor made a change that will create more room for productive public investment, while also making a commitment that debt as a share of GDP should keep falling. We Liberal Democrats have long recognised the need to boost public investment in a responsible way, and we are glad that the Government have moved in that direction. However, as we debate the new charter, it is also worth reflecting on how fiscal rules are treated in our politics more broadly. Although they are absolutely necessary for economic stability, there is too often a sense that fiscal targets can be arbitrary and that they are chosen based on what is convenient for each Government; previous Conservative Chancellors changed the fiscal rules five times in seven years between 2015 and 2022. What often seems to be lacking throughout the process is a sober, pragmatic dialogue about what the best fiscal rules are for our economy, for everything from growth and investment to jobs and net zero—a discussion perhaps ideally not affected by politics, but focused on what is right for our economy. Notwithstanding that, and although I hope we will all agree to these changes in the borrowing rules, the costs of borrowing clearly rely on good economic management, which, in turn, as the Chief Secretary said, relies on stability. Borrowing costs have gone up in part due to events abroad, but they have also risen because of the Government’s jobs tax, the uncertainty over their business rates reform and the impact that that will have on small businesses. It is therefore clearly important that we recognise that any changes to productive borrowing must go hand in hand with the responsible management of day-to-day spending and tax changes. A second point, which I made in an earlier debate around the time of the Budget, is that although the Liberal Democrats welcome productive borrowing for investment, we recognise that the Government’s headroom is quite slim. Will the Minister be able to offer a word or two about which measures the Government are taking to ensure that we have a resilient economy that can withstand any external shocks? We live in a very uncertain world. There are rumours of trade wars and tariffs, and God forbid we have another pandemic. It is only by having a resilient economy that we can withstand unpredictable external shocks. There are several elements in the charter that we support, and we do not want to stand in its way, but I express the hope that, from here on in, we may be able to adopt an approach to fiscal rules that is more pragmatic, open and grounded in what is best for our British economy.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Charter for Budget Responsibility · Hansard source

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  The Chief Secretary has given a fantastic example of how improving capital infrastructure in the NHS can improve productivity, but one of the big frustrations in the NHS is the fact that staff cannot be productive because the buildings around them are falling apart. I have seen that in Watford General hospital, where A&E staff cannot be as productive as they might be because they are in a crumbling, cramped hospital. Has the Treasury considered conducting any assessment of the productivity gains that could be produced by the new hospital programme, and by potentially speeding up the delivery of those hospitals?

• 29 Jan 2025 · Charter for Budget Responsibility · Hansard source

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  The charter for budget responsibility is at the heart of the OBR’s function, setting the Government’s fiscal rules, as well as the OBR’s broader remit and how it is to perform its duties. It is important to stress just how vital the OBR is for the sound management of our public finances and for the UK’s economic stability. I am very proud that the OBR was set up during my party’s time in office, and the Liberal Democrats have backed it at every turn since. In our most recent general election manifesto we said that every fiscal event should be accompanied by an OBR report, and we are pleased that this Government are taking the same approach. We also called on the Government at the time to establish the OBR to assess general election manifestos independently. Unfortunately, commitment to the OBR as an institution cannot be taken for granted, as we have seen over the past few years. We saw Liz Truss’s Conservative Government sideline the independent watchdog at the mini-Budget and cast doubt on its forecasts at every turn. Equally unfortunately, we all witnessed the consequences: soaring interest rates, sky-high mortgage bills and a spike in the cost of servicing our national debt. We Liberal Democrats are crystal clear that we can never have a repeat of that debacle.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

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  The Government are absolutely right to focus on economic growth, but their blinkered approach on Europe is holding back British businesses and stifling the very growth that we need to fund our public services. By ruling out negotiations with the EU on a bespoke customs union and a youth mobility scheme, the Chancellor’s dash for growth will be more like a slow crawl in a car with the handbrake on. In order to turbocharge economic growth, will the Government start negotiating those initiatives now? To unleash growth through our small businesses, the Chancellor should scrap her national insurance contributions rise, and instead seek to raise the same amount of money through the measures that we Liberal Democrats have suggested: reversing the tax cuts on the big banks, increasing taxes on the big tech and gaming companies, and reforming capital gains tax in a way that would be fairer and raise more money. Will the Government look again at those alternative revenue raisers and lift the burden that the Government have placed on small business? On airports, the Chancellor has voiced her support for Heathrow expansion and has suggested that expansion will be forthcoming for other airports. We Liberal Democrats oppose this, because it will deliver minimal growth at a huge cost to the climate. Can the Government confirm whether they intend to abide by the advice of their own climate change advisers that no airport expansion should proceed until a UK-wide capacity management framework is in place? In the midst of a climate emergency, can the Government give a cast-iron guarantee that the so-called refreshed carbon budget that the Chancellor referred to will not water down climate targets, and what do they have to say to those experts who say that sustainable aviation fuel is not realistic or scalable? Turning to the Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor, we really welcome plans that further boost the UK’s position as a European and global science leader. Can the Government confirm that there will be enough money for the whole of the route to be constructed on the East West Rail route, and that they will work hand in glove with local authorities to minimise the environmental impacts, introduce infrastructure before or alongside housing, and maximise local community benefits?

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

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  East West Rail.

• 24 Jan 2025 · Climate and Nature Bill · Hansard source

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  I agree with the hon. Member’s point about the kind of growth we want. Does he agree that if the Government were to proceed with expanding Luton airport, as rumours suggest, that would fly in the face of advice from the Government’s own climate experts and economists, who say that it would not deliver the kind of growth that airport expansion used to deliver?

• 24 Jan 2025 · Climate and Nature Bill · Hansard source

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  I rarely need much encouragement. The hon. Member is making an impassioned speech about the fact that this country has led, and it can continue to lead in this area. He talked about hard power. Does he agree with me and my Liberal Democrat colleagues that if our country is to be better than just assembling parts, we need urgently to rip up the red tape that is stopping so many of our home-grown manufacturers building the climate technology of the future because of the trade barriers that exist with our EU neighbours?