Emma Reynolds MP: speeches 2025

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Speeches

8 Apr 2025 · Economic Growth: North-East · Hansard source
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The Government are committed to improving roads. We agreed a £4.8 billion settlement for National Highways and funded a £500 million uplift for local roads in this financial year. Funding for the RIS3 programme, which my hon. Friend mentioned, will be considered in phase 2 of the spending review, and I encourage her to continue to engage with the Minister for roads on this issue.
8 Apr 2025 · Economic Growth: North-East · Hansard source
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Nice try. In terms of north-east growth, I have already said that we are working very closely with the Mayor of the North East combined authority. I suggest that the hon. Gentleman asks questions about roads relevant to his part of the country at Transport questions.
8 Apr 2025 · Economic Growth: North-East · Hansard source
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Securing economic growth across the country is the Government’s No. 1 mission. We are working in partnership with the Mayor of the North East, providing the North East combined authority with an integrated funding settlement from ’26-27, and working with it on its local growth plan.
8 Apr 2025 · Banking Services · Hansard source
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The Government understand the importance of in-person banking to communities and are working closely with the industry to roll out 350 banking hubs across the UK. More than 220 hubs have already been announced, of which more than 135 are already open.
8 Apr 2025 · Banking Services · Hansard source
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I would be very happy to meet the right hon. Gentleman if he wanted to discuss a specific banking hub that is being considered. We work very closely with Link. As he will know, his Government passed the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023, under which the Financial Conduct Authority, Link and the financial services sector ultimately have power over the criteria, which is not something we are planning to change.
8 Apr 2025 · Banking Services · Hansard source
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I am always happy to meet colleagues and will be happy to meet the hon. Gentleman.
8 Apr 2025 · Banking Services · Hansard source
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As I said in my previous answer, we do not have any plans to change the Link criteria; those are a matter for Link. However, there are some flexibilities in the way that it applies the criteria, depending on the local population, travel times to nearby bank branches and, indeed, the number of small businesses in an area. I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend if that is of concern to him.
8 Apr 2025 · Investment: Regulatory Policies · Hansard source
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We have heard from UK businesses that our regulatory system often holds back growth and investment. We recently published a regulation action plan, and committed to cutting the administrative costs of regulation for businesses by 25% by the end of this Parliament. We are going further, faster than ever before to streamline regulation and make Britain the best place in the world to do business.
8 Apr 2025 · Investment: Regulatory Policies · Hansard source
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I work closely with the mutuals and other financial services firms, and I think the hon. Member is slightly jumping the gun, if he does not mind my saying so. We are considering options to reform ISAs, but we need to get the balance right between cash and equities. We know that many people have investments in cash ISAs who could think about investing in our capital markets, which would be a win for them through higher returns, and also for the economy. However, we absolutely understand the role that cash savings play in people having money for a rainy day.
8 Apr 2025 · Investment: Regulatory Policies · Hansard source
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The Chancellor delivered the biggest ever settlement for Scotland in October 2024, and I think the answer is “thank you”.
8 Apr 2025 · Investment: Regulatory Policies · Hansard source
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This is a whole-of-Government approach, and we have secured 60 commitments from key regulators to improving the business environment. The Government are streamlining regulation and stripping back its duplication, to ultimately deliver a regulatory system that encourages new investment, innovation and growth.
4 Mar 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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Harlow is home to one of the UK’s largest supercomputers. We are taking forward the AI action plan and we also have the tech adoption review, which will look at how we can unlock the potential of AI in our high-growth sectors.
4 Mar 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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My hon. Friend is a fantastic campaigner for the breweries in his constituency. We want the drinks sector to go from strength to strength. We are reviewing the responses to the consultation on the threshold that my hon. Friend mentioned.
4 Mar 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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I am happy to meet the hon. Lady and look at the case she mentions, because I need to get more detail.
4 Mar 2025 · Saving · Hansard source
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The Government are committed to supporting people to save and invest, and we want to build a better investment culture. Currently, 85% of people with savings income do not pay tax on it. As we announced at the Budget from next month, we will expand the help to save scheme to all universal credit claimants in work.
4 Mar 2025 · Saving · Hansard source
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That sounds like a criticism of the previous Government. I can reassure the hon. Gentleman that we are committed to innovation and to DIGIT.
4 Mar 2025 · Saving · Hansard source
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Cash savings provide a vital source of savings for a rainy day, and we recognise that. Equally, we want to build a better investment culture in our society, so that it is not just the 8% of people who can afford financial advice who can have the opportunity of better rewards by investing in British companies and others in our economy.
4 Mar 2025 · Saving · Hansard source
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I think that premium bonds do provide excitement, not least in my parents’ household, where they are very popular. They are already well promoted and popular, and we have seen annual investments in premium bonds increase by more than 50% since March 2019. The funds raised through them go towards supporting vital public services.
4 Mar 2025 · Saving · Hansard source
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I could not agree with one of my predecessors more. The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely correct. It is a great scheme and now that we are expanding it, we will take that opportunity to promote it better.
4 Mar 2025 · Saving · Hansard source
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We are committed to promoting savings and investment, as I said in an earlier answer. One measure we are looking at is the Financial Conduct Authority’s review of the advice guidance boundary. As I said in a previous answer, I do not want it just to be the 8% of people who can afford financial advice who reap the rewards of investing in our economy. We keep all taxes under review.
11 Feb 2025 · Bank Resolution (Recapitalisation) Bill [ Lords ] (First sitting) · Hansard source
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I thought that was what the shadow Minister was saying, but it is good to get some clarification. I think I am not the only one who was a little confused. As I said in my opening remarks, we do not support the amendment that the hon. Member for Wokingham tabled, but I understand the intent behind it and the concern that the hon. Member for Dorking and Horley raised. A couple of other issues were raised; they go slightly beyond the bounds of the Bill, but I will respond to them anyway. As the hon. Member for Dorking and Horley knows, there is a consultation by the Bank of England on the MREL thresholds. That consultation closed recently and, as he would expect, the Treasury is working very closely with the Bank as it looks through the feedback to that consultation. That is not in the substance of this Bill, but it is a relevant consideration and I hope that reassures the hon. Gentleman that we are working closely with the Bank on this issue. I hope that I have addressed the concerns raised by Opposition Members, but I am sure that they will tell me if I have not done so.
11 Feb 2025 · Bank Resolution (Recapitalisation) Bill [ Lords ] (First sitting) · Hansard source
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I will briefly speak to clauses 6, 7 and 8, which cover the more technical aspects of the Bill. Clause 6 makes amendments to the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. It ensures that, where the FSCS makes a recapitalisation payment to the Bank of England, its ability to levy the banking sector is extended to cover such a payment. This is key to recouping the FSCS’s funds, and thus achieving the Bill’s aim of reducing potential risk to public funds in a resolution. The clause also stipulates that credit unions are exempt from levies for this purpose, which I am sure Members will agree is a sensible and proportionate approach, given that credit unions are out of scope of the resolution regime. The rest of clause 6 makes minor amendments to existing legislation. It clarifies that a recapitalisation payment is not classed as a management expense of the FSCS, and it clarifies that payments that are made in error, in connection with the recapitalisation funds provided to the Bank of England, can be levied for, which is consistent with the approach for the other statutory functions of the FSCS. Clause 7 makes amendments to the Banking Act 2009. It makes it explicit that funds provided by the FSCS, in resolution in connection with the new mechanism, would not count as extraordinary public financial assistance, reflecting that the new mechanism is intended to reduce risk to the kind of public funds described within this definition. The clause allows the Bank of England to take into account the funds provided by the FSCS when calculating the extent to which certain liabilities are bailed in, when the Bank of England exercises its bail-in tool alongside executing a transfer. Without this, the Bank of England would not be able to consider the funds provided by the FSCS in instances where it exercises its bail-in tool. That might mean that the Bank of England would have to continue to write down certain liabilities, potentially including uncovered deposits, where doing so could negatively impact and destabilise the continued operation of the failed firm. Clause 7 also gives the Bank of England the express ability to require the failing firm to issue new shares, allowing FSCS funds to then be used to pay for those shares, thereby injecting the funds into the firm. This will ensure that the Bank of England can move swiftly to recapitalise the failing firm. The clause also ensures that funds provided by the FSCS can be taken into account appropriately when deciding whether sale proceeds or compensation are due to those who owned the firm before it was transferred. This would avoid including value that was contributed by the banking sector in any assessment of the compensation payable to former shareholders and creditors, which would clearly be inappropriate and increase the cost of compensation to taxpayers. Finally, clause 7 disapplies a requirement for the Bank of England to notify the Treasury as to whether a certain condition for providing financial assistance to a failing firm has been met, otherwise known as the 8% rule. The 8% rule states that resolution financing arrangements may be used only where the shareholders and creditors of the bailing institution have made a contribution equal in value to at least 8% of the institution’s liabilities. The Government have disapplied that requirement in their updates to the code of practice, as it is unlikely that the condition could be met by small banks since they will not hold sufficient loss-absorbing resources to reach the threshold. As such, the statutory notification requirement is redundant. Finally, clause 8 sets out the procedural matters of the Bill, which I trust will cause no concern to hon. Members. At this point, I should note the Government’s second amendment, which removes the financial privilege amendment inserted in the other place. That is standard procedure and I trust that hon. Members will raise no objections. I hope hon. Members agree that the clauses are sensible provisions to ensure that the Bill works as intended and, as such, I commend them to the Committee.
11 Feb 2025 · Bank Resolution (Recapitalisation) Bill [ Lords ] (First sitting) · Hansard source
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Growth and competitiveness—
11 Feb 2025 · Bank Resolution (Recapitalisation) Bill [ Lords ] (First sitting) · Hansard source
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I commend the Bill to the Committee.
11 Feb 2025 · Bank Resolution (Recapitalisation) Bill [ Lords ] (First sitting) · Hansard source
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I beg to move amendment 1, in clause 1, page 1, line 21, leave out subsection (3). This amendment would remove subsection (3), which prevents recapitalisation payments from being required where the Bank has directed a financial institution to maintain an end-state minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities exceeding minimum capital requirements.

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