Dan Tomlinson MP: speeches 2026

Speeches

• 19 Jan 2026 · Business Rates: Retail, Hospitality and Leisure · Hansard source

  More

  It is worth pausing to note that while some businesses will see increases in their bills, more than half of rate payers’ bills will either remain flat or will fall in the next year. That, in part, is because of the support the Government have provided to businesses, as set out at the Budget.

• 19 Jan 2026 · Business Rates: Retail, Hospitality and Leisure · Hansard source

  More

  We want to provide stability in our taxation system, and one of the things that the Government are seeking to do in the coming years is to continue to have economic stability—something that was lacking for so long under the previous Government. That is why we are focusing on getting Government borrowing down in every year of the forecast, and it will fall faster in this country than in any other G7 economy. When it comes to business rates, the reforms that we set out in the Budget will rebalance the system to provide a permanently lower tax rate—the multiplier for those small businesses on the high street.

• 19 Jan 2026 · Business Rates: Retail, Hospitality and Leisure · Hansard source

  More

  It was the word “dragged” that I had some objection to. I did not mean to comment on your decision to grant the urgent question, Mr Speaker. Let me answer some of the questions asked by the shadow Chancellor. The key thing is that we are implementing the revaluations that his Government set in train. Treasury Ministers holding a similar role to mine a good few years ago undertook the process for the revaluations that will be in place from April 2026. Those are set on property values from 2024. Yes, there is an unwind from the pandemic, in terms of increases in businesses’ property values as a result of businesses recovering from the pandemic. We were aware of the impact of the valuation, and of the fact that the previous Government did not have any plans whatsoever to extend the temporary pandemic support. We extended it for one year, and over the course of the next three years we are phasing it out, with the support of Government decisions worth £4.3 billion, and our transitional relief scheme. I will not comment on speculation, but the shadow Chancellor referred to borrowing. Over the course of this Parliament, we will see the fastest reduction in borrowing of any G7 economy. Borrowing is set to fall in every single year of the forecast because of the decisions that the Chancellor took at the Budget. We have doubled our headroom against our fiscal rules, and we are seeing a warm response from private sector investors and the markets as a result of the decisions that the Government have taken.

• 19 Jan 2026 · Business Rates: Retail, Hospitality and Leisure · Hansard source

  More

  I am glad that the hon. Member was able to ask the exact same question as the shadow Chancellor, the right hon. Member for Central Devon (Sir Mel Stride). I am not going to comment on the policymaking process in the run-up to the Budget.

• 19 Jan 2026 · Business Rates: Retail, Hospitality and Leisure · Hansard source

  More

  When I am up at the Labour party conference, I like to enjoy the pubs and hospitality available in Liverpool. It is a fantastic and vibrant city, and I know that the constituencies and areas in the middle of the city have some of the highest numbers of pubs and hospitality businesses in the country. Like me, my hon. Friend really values those businesses, the work that business owners do and, of course, the work that their employees do—they can be quite tough and demanding jobs. We want to support hospitality, which is why the Government redesigned the transitional relief scheme at the Budget so that it applies a 40% reduction as the baseline, rather than unwinding the support in full, as the previous Government would have done overnight. We also said at the Budget that we will appoint a retail, hospitality and leisure envoy, and I look forward to that announcement in due course.

• 19 Jan 2026 · Business Rates: Retail, Hospitality and Leisure · Hansard source

  More

  I am grateful to my hon. Friend for making the important point that the last Government had no plans to continue to extend the pandemic support. As for his other question, I will not comment today on the speculation. He and others can see the words that the Prime Minister and the Chancellor have said about this matter at the Dispatch Box and during various media interviews, and I have no more to say about it.

• 19 Jan 2026 · Business Rates: Retail, Hospitality and Leisure · Hansard source

  More

  We are seeking to give even more support to those businesses than to the very largest ones. Under previous Governments, there would have been the same tax rate for those businesses, but, because of the changes we put forward at the Budget, the business rates multiplier for the smallest businesses on high streets in Durham and across the country is 25% lower than the tax rate paid by the largest businesses. This is the first significant, fundamental reform to the underlying tax rates in the business rates system in a very long time.

• 19 Jan 2026 · Business Rates: Retail, Hospitality and Leisure · Hansard source

  More

  On the point about 20p versus 5p, we legislated for a reduction in the multiplier of up to 20p for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, but that did not set an expectation that we would go that far; it set the bounds within which the Government could choose to operate. As the first step in our significant reform to the business rates system, we chose to reduce the multiplier by 5p, which reduces the total taxes paid by RHL businesses by almost £1 billion and increases the tax take from the largest businesses by an equivalent amount. The answers to many of the questions that hon. Members ask are very easy to find in the data published by the VOA. Detailed breakdowns of the change in the value of properties between the different revaluation periods are published on the Government’s website. I will not take—I will not say “lectures”—suggestions from Liberal Democrat Members on VAT, given that when they were in power, they and the Conservatives chose to whack up VAT, a decision that pushed up inflation and added to the cost of living for people up and down the country.

• 19 Jan 2026 · Business Rates: Retail, Hospitality and Leisure · Hansard source

  More

  I thank the hon. Member for giving me a chance to talk about the Prince of Wales in my constituency, a fantastic pub that I am glad I and colleagues in Barnet council were able to save. I was there just a couple of weeks back, after a canvassing session out on the doorsteps. He is right to point out that some pubs are seeing increases in their rateable values as a result of the unwind from the pandemic. That is precisely why we have come forward with support, capping the increases in business rates bills this year and in subsequent years. In general, the point about pubs being at the heart of our communities is totally true. From the Prince of Wales in East Barnet to the Griffin in Whetstone—I could go on—there are some fantastic pubs in Chipping Barnet, as I am sure there are in his constituency too.

• 19 Jan 2026 · Business Rates: Retail, Hospitality and Leisure · Hansard source

  More

  I hope that when the hon. Member was conversing with businesses in his constituency, he explained that this year, if a pub has a rateable value of less than £100,000, the policy as set out in the Budget will have capped those increases at 15%. I think it important for Members to do all that they can to help business owners pick through the complexities of the business rates system. It is a complicated system: there are many different reliefs, and there is a difference between the tax rates that are paid, the relief that is applied and the rateable value of the property. Of course some businesses are seeing their rateable values increase as we unwind from the pandemic, but that is precisely why the Government included that package of support in the Budget.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Finance (No. 2) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  I will happily give way.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Finance (No. 2) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  It is so wonderful to see so many Members on the Opposition Benches wishing to intervene. They were much less forthcoming in my previous closing remarks. I have given way to one Conservative, so I will give way to a Liberal Democrat.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Finance (No. 2) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  I agree with the right hon. Gentleman on one point: the welfare system that we inherited was failing. Our Government need to correct the mistakes that meant welfare spending was running out of control, as it was when the shadow Chancellor, the right hon. Member for Central Devon (Sir Mel Stride), was Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. We must carefully consider the welfare system and make reforms that support people into work and ensure that the forecast budget increases are sustainable for the public finances. I agree with the right hon. Member for Gainsborough on that point. I have not heard the £12,000 statistic before, but I would caution against such statistics, which often appear in the press. Many welfare claimants up and down the country are pensioners who receive the state pension. I do not know whether that figure includes the state pension—Members of all parties, with the exception of the shadow Chancellor, support the triple lock—or the many welfare payments for families with someone in work. We are trying to reduce the need to support working families with welfare payments, through increases to the national living wage and steps to boost productivity. I would say that that figure is a misrepresentation—not that I would accuse the right hon. Member for Gainsborough of misrepresenting the facts—because it uses the word “welfare” as a catch-all, when many people who receive support from the state need that support and benefit from it in a reasonable way, including those who lose their jobs, whom we support through jobseeker’s allowance, for example.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Finance (No. 2) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  The main drivers of rental prices in the UK are supply and demand. The Government are seeking to do all we can to reform and improve our planning system to increase the number of homes being built. If Liberal Democrat Members are keen on making sure that we support households with the cost of living, I hope they will change their approach to their votes in this place on our planning reforms, which are vital for supporting families with the cost of living and for lowering the cost of renting and owning their own home. As I was saying, this change will narrow the gap between the tax paid on work and the tax paid on income from assets.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Finance (No. 2) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  It is a pleasure to open this first day of Committee debate on the Finance (No. 2) Bill. This was set to be the biggest economic moment of the day, but my moment in the limelight has sadly been blown off course by the riveting news that the former Member for Stratford-on-Avon has defected to Reform UK. This star signing is clearly a great loss to the Conservative party. Conservative Members may hope that it will allow them to start to expunge the history of the Truss mini-Budget from the nation’s collective memory, although I cannot help but feel that it is a case of shutting the heated stable door after the horse has bolted. He said he wanted to join Reform UK to fix a broken system, but as with the Conservative party, no one will believe that he can do it. In fact, he ran the system, broke the system and left us all sorting out with the taxman how to pay for the mess he left behind. I return to the topic at hand. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor delivered her second Budget at the Dispatch Box a few weeks ago. It was a Budget to build strong foundations and a secure future for our country. Reflecting historical underperformance, the Office for Budget Responsibility has revised down its productivity forecast. In isolation, this reduces the amount of revenue that the OBR expects the Government to collect by around £16 billion in 2029-30. The Government are determined to outperform this forecast by continuing our plans to grow the economy, protecting public services and cutting borrowing, but it is right to plan on the independent forecaster’s judgments, meaning that despite Britain’s progress, the Government need to strengthen the public finances. The choice at the Budget was austerity and decline or investment and renewal, and this Labour Government have rejected austerity and repeating the mistakes of the Conservative party. All those who are quick to promise that they will cut taxes must set out where they would credibly raise that money, what they would cut or by how much they would increase borrowing, as they enjoyed doing so much in recent years. The Budget made fair and necessary choices that deliver on the public’s priorities and bring about the change that this Government promised. We have chosen to cut the cost of living by delivering £150 off energy bills and freezing train fares and prescription charges. The Government have chosen to focus on cutting waiting lists by delivering 5.2 million more appointments and opening 250 new neighbourhood health centres. All this would be threatened by the Conservatives, who do not support the taxes—including those we will debate in these clauses—that are needed to fund decent public services.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Finance (No. 2) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  Go on, but then I really should make progress.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Finance (No. 2) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  The Government do support the farming sector and the farming industry. We will continue to do so through the funds that we will make available via DEFRA—funds that were not fully spent under the previous Government. We have listened to farming communities and business representatives, and raised the threshold from £1 million to £2.5 million as a result of that listening and engagement. The Government do not think it would be right to abolish the policy in full, because then we would forgo £300 million of revenue from the very largest estates. [ Interruption. ] The hon. Member for North Dorset (Simon Hoare) may say that £300 million is a rounding error, but it is important to raise revenue from a broad range of taxes, and from those with the largest-value estates in the country. As I said earlier, hundreds of millions of pounds in tax is relieved from the very largest estates in the country. If Opposition Members want that to continue to be the case, that is of course their right, but we Government Members think that our reforms are fair, and raise proportionate revenue from the very largest estates.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Finance (No. 2) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  I will make a little progress, if I may. I have already taken two interventions on this exact point. We know that there will be a broad-based effect, but as I have said, we are making other changes so that we ask as little as possible of those who will be affected by the change. We are making lots of changes to ensure that those with the broadest shoulders pay their fair share. I think that that is a fair and necessary decision to raise tax revenue in order to fund public services and restore economic stability.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Finance (No. 2) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention, which gives me a chance to repeat clearly that these changes are a 2 percentage point increase. The tax rates will increase from 20% to 22%, from 40% to 42% and from 45% to 47%. That does not add a significant—or any real—complication to the tax system. We are changing the rates in a way that is fair, closing the difference in taxation treatment between those who receive their income from employment and those who receive their income from assets. My hon. Friend’s speech was really helpful in bringing comparative evidence to the debate. I hope he will send that my way for review. Opposition Members who asked about changes made in other countries may be interested in reading that evidence, too. He also provided a helpful exposition on the economic theory sitting behind some of these changes and the need to ensure that our taxation system incentivises people to make investments and good decisions for the long-term health of our economy. He touched on the crucial point—it is worth making this clearly—repeatedly pointed out by many tax experts and tax commentators that one challenge in the UK’s taxation system is that we treat income received from different sources very differently, which can lead to distortions. It is better to ensure that we do what we can to reduce the gaps between the tax treatment of different sorts of income. [ Interruption. ] I am happy to refer to Opposition Members’ utterances —they have been shouting out the word “risk.” I make the point that there is still an incentive in the system as taxation levels have not closed completely. [ Interruption. ] Yes, it is smaller—hon. Members gesture as such, and they are correct that the gap has closed—but there are still significant incentives for people to set up their businesses and income streams in certain ways to increase their income. Let me now turn to the contribution from the hon. Member for St Albans (Daisy Cooper), who helpfully mentioned the performance of HMRC, the Department for which I am the Minister with responsibility. She is right to say that we need to have a laser focus on customer service. The performance in terms of missed calls—that is, calls that are not picked up because someone hangs up before they are answered—is improving under this Government. I think that is progress— [ Interruption. ] The hon. Member for St Albans specifically raised the performance of HMRC in her remarks, and it is only right and proper for me to mention that. The hon. Member also raised the impact of these changes on rents; of course the Government will continue to monitor the impact of taxation changes on the rental market. One crucial thing we can do to support private renters is to increase the supply of housing to push down the price of rents in the long term. To begin to conclude—[Hon. Members: “Hear, hear!”] To begin to conclude— [ Interruption. ] Did someone say they wanted to intervene? No? In that case, I hope I have been able to—

• 12 Jan 2026 · Finance (No. 2) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  It is right to be precise, and I was being precise about the rates themselves, which are not changing. The right hon. Member raises the effective tax rate, which is a point I understand. On the specifics of what I said, I was talking about borrowing rather than debt, and borrowing is falling significantly over the course of the forecast. It is the fastest reduction in the G7, as far as I am aware, on the latest data. He is right that debt is broadly stable, but is falling, in the year that the fiscal rules are relevant, as a share of GDP, which is the traditional and I think more economically relevant way of assessing the stock of Government debt as a share of the economy. One of the ways our country was able to reduce the debt we took on after the second world war was through growing our economy and the debt becoming a smaller share of GDP, and that is something this Government will seek to do through continuing to beat the forecast when it comes to economic growth. Clauses 4 to 8 will raise the tax rates for property, savings and dividend income to ensure that income from assets is taxed more fairly. Those with property, savings or dividend income currently pay lower rates of tax than those whose income comes from employment as they do not pay national insurance contributions. It is not fair that the tax system treats these types of income so differently. For example, it is not fair that a renter pays a higher rate of tax on their income than the landlord from whom they are renting their property.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Finance (No. 2) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  Go on, then. I will give way, but I was trying to make progress so that other Members could speak.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Finance (No. 2) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  In opening debate on this second group of clauses, I want to reflect on why we are making changes to the tax system. I am looking forward to no interventions at all on this speech from Opposition Members—their interventions seemed to dry up in my last speech, so maybe they have now finished with them. Of course, we make these changes to modernise the tax system, to make it fair and fit for purpose and to adapt to a changing world, but we also make these changes so that we can raise the revenue to fund our public services. Yes, the Bill holds thresholds constant till the end of the decade, but in doing so contributes to our being able to renew our public services while maintaining the highest levels of public investment in four decades to stimulate economic growth and ensure that those with the broadest shoulders pay their fair share.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Finance (No. 2) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  The Chancellor was clear about that very soon after the Budget, in her interview with Martin Lewis, which I am sure my hon. Friend saw. Those whose only income is the basic state pension will not pay tax on it during this Parliament. The changes to the personal allowance will apply to the whole of the UK. The changes to the basic rate limit and the higher rate threshold will apply to non-property, non-savings and non-dividend income in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Scottish Parliament sets income tax rates and limits for Scottish taxpayers. Alongside maintaining the national insurance contribution thresholds for the same period, that will raise £7.8 billion in 2029-30, helping to fund public services and restore economic stability. Clause 69 provides that the inheritance tax nil rate bands will continue at current levels in 2030-31. There are two nil rate bands for inheritance tax. The nil rate band has been £325,000, as Opposition Members will know, since 2009-10. The residence nil rate band has been £175,000 since 2021. Subject to reliefs and exceptions, inheritance tax is payable if the net value of an estate exceeds those thresholds. The previous Government froze those thresholds until April 2028. We fixed them at those levels for a further two years at the autumn Budget in 2024. We have fixed the nil rate threshold for a further year, until 2031, consistent with the decisions to maintain other personal tax thresholds until April 2031. The clauses are fair, necessary and fiscally responsible, and will raise the revenue needed to fix the public finances and fund public services such as our NHS, schools and police force. They will fund vital changes to bring half a million children out of poverty.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Finance (No. 2) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  I am just going to respond to this point. For siblings, and for co-owners who are not spouses but who jointly own a farm—the example raised and that set out on the Government website—it is still the case that each individual has a £2.5 million allowance that they can use. That means that a farm that is jointly owned, even if not by spouses, cannot be transferred between spouses but can still be passed on, on an individual basis, up to £2.5 million. A range of Opposition Members raised the question of whether the Government should set different thresholds for different parts of the country. I say gently, particularly to Conservative Members, that there are very different property prices across the country, yet in the 14 years they were in power, they did not set different inheritance thresholds for different parts of the country. I look forward to further contributions on this topic during the passage of the Bill. Overall, the Bill, including the clauses debated today, is an essential part of the Government’s broader economic plan to manage our public finances well, to bring down borrowing in every year, to fund our public services, and to provide the underpinnings for higher growth and living standards across the country. We have the right plan for the country, and this Bill helps us to deliver it. I therefore urge the Committee to reject amendments 3 to 23, 31 to 36, 40 to 48, and new clauses 1, 6, 7 and 17, and I urge it to support clause 62, schedule 12 and Government amendments 24 to 29. Question put, That the clause stand part of the Bill.

• 12 Jan 2026 · Finance (No. 2) Bill · Hansard source

  More

  As the Chancellor has set out—more detail will follow later this year—those whose only income is the basic or new state pension, without any increments, will not have to pay income tax over this Parliament. I am aware that Members would like to see more detail, but it would be premature for us to set out the impacts of the policy at this stage, because the details will be forthcoming later this year. I therefore say that new clause 15 should be rejected.