Emma Reynolds MP: speeches

Speeches

• 30 Jan 2025 · Finance Bill (Fourth sitting) · Hansard source

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  I thank the shadow Minister for reiterating that there was indeed cross-party support in 2018 when the previous Government introduced the soft drinks industry levy. I say gently to him that if the previous Government had kept the levy in line with CPI, we would not be in this situation. The shadow Minister asked what considerations have been made about the impact of the measure. As I said in my opening speech about the clause, the catch-up reflects the 27% CPI change between 2018 and 2024. Because we have considered the impact on soft drinks manufacturers, it will be spread evenly over the five rate increases from 2025 to 2029. The shadow Minister should consider the fact that we are gradually spreading the increase. It is worth considering the views of those who have supported the Government’s change. For example, Barbara Crowther, the children’s food campaign manager at Sustain, has said: “It’s absolutely right that after six years, the government should now increase the penalties for all the companies who have not done enough to reduce the sugar levels in drinks, and we urge them to ensure all money raised by the levy is reinvested in children’s health.” The levy has been globally recognised as a transformative health tax intervention. Modelling studies have associated it with up to 5,000 fewer cases of obesity in girls aged 10 to 11 and a 28.6% reduction in hospital admissions for tooth extractions for children under the age of five. Our Government take children’s health very seriously, particularly given the worrying levels of obesity in our society and the issues with children’s dental health. That is why we are bringing forward the change.

• 30 Jan 2025 · Finance Bill (Fourth sitting) · Hansard source

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  I thank the shadow Minister for his comments. If he will bear with me, I will speak generally about clause 82 before I address his amendment. Clause 82 will make changes to ensure that HMRC can secure the resource it needs to implement the vaping products duty. The duty will be legislated for in this Bill and will come into force on 1 October 2026. It will be accompanied by a one-off increase in all tobacco duties to maintain the financial incentive to give up tobacco. The chief medical officer is clear that those who do not smoke should not vape. Introducing a vaping products duty is part of the wider Government strategy to tackle vaping among young people—as the shadow Minister stated, there are worrying developments in the number of young people taking up vaping—and indeed among those who do not smoke, including via the Tobacco and Vapes Bill and the ban on disposable vapes. The vaping products duty is forecast to raise £525 million in revenue a year by the end of the scorecard, to fund vital public services such as the NHS, defence, education and stop smoking initiatives supporting a smoke-free UK. In 2023, 12% of the UK’s adult population used e-cigarettes, the highest rate ever recorded. One million people in England now vape despite never having been regular smokers: a sevenfold increase in just three years, which is pretty shocking. As the shadow Minister said, vaping rates are highest among 16 to 24-year-olds, with 15.8% vaping daily or occasionally. Reducing affordability is part of the Government’s wider strategy to influence behaviour, especially given the addictive nature of these products. Several countries have already introduced a tax on vaping. Approximately 50 countries have a national tax on vaping products, with most targeting liquid as the tax base. The majority target both nicotine-free liquids and liquids containing nicotine. The changes made by clause 82 will enable HMRC to prepare for the introduction of the new excise duty before it is formally provided for in primary legislation next year. It will allow for spending on IT systems and staff recruitment. On the shadow Minister’s amendment 67, I thank him for his speech, and I agree that it is crucial to get the implementation of the Bill right. His amendment would require HMRC to “have regard to the desirability of requiring a digital tax stamp to be applied to e-cigarette liquids.” The Government deem the amendment unnecessary at this time, as HMRC is already giving due consideration to vaping duty stamps. The decision to introduce vaping duty stamps was supported by respondents to the vaping products duty consultation, who pointed to their use on vaping products in other jurisdictions. The shadow Minister asked about the illicit vaping market. HMRC intends to exploit modern technology and digitalisation to ensure that the vaping duty stamps scheme targets the specific risks of the illicit vaping market. A technical public consultation on the design of the scheme ran from 30 October 2024 to 11 December 2024, and respondents submitted their views on digital duty stamps, physical duty stamps or a combined approach. We are currently analysing the responses to that consultation; no policy decision has yet been made. We will communicate in due course a policy decision to balance enforcement decisions and business operations. We will take on board the views of the shadow Minister; I thank him again for his amendment. The Government remain committed to working with industry to ensure that the scheme only creates burdens that are essential to tackle non-compliance, avoidance and evasion. Let me try to answer the shadow Minister’s questions. He asked whether there is a risk that increasing tobacco duty and introducing a vaping duty will drive up illicit trade. The threat from illicit tobacco needs to be addressed by reducing its availability, rather than allowing it to dictate our public health and tax policies. We are consulting on additional robust compliance tools for tackling the illicit trade in vapes and will collaborate with Border Force to target the illicit trade when the duty goes live. HMRC and Border Force already have a strategy in place to tackle illicit tobacco. I hope that that reassures the shadow Minister. The shadow Minister also asked about digital versus physical vaping duty stamps. Vaping duty stamps will support both enforcement and industry by identifying products that are non-duty paid and therefore illicit. They will also help HMRC to manage the revenue risk from the initial sell-through period and to limit the duty avoidance practice known as forestalling, which is clearing large quantities of excise goods from duty suspense immediately prior to a rate increase to avoid paying the new tax. In regard to the shadow Minister’s amendment, the Government will not commit to fully digital stamps, as we are analysing consultation responses. A policy decision will be taken in due course, but I reassure him that we will take his views on board.

• 29 Oct 2024 · Cost of Living: Support for Pensioners · Hansard source

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  More than 12 million pensioners will be protected by this Government’s commitment to the triple lock, with the new full state pension expected to increase by around £1,700 over the course of this Parliament. Pensioners also benefit from free eye test, free NHS prescriptions and free bus passes.

• 10 Sept 2024 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  I am afraid I cannot give way at this point, because I only have a few seconds left, but I thank my hon. Friend once more for providing the opportunity for this debate. Unfortunately, given the fiscal inheritance, we have had to make some very difficult decisions. We made other decisions in July as well, such as pausing the hospitals programme to review what we will do with it. There are other decisions to come. However, it is right that we take the difficult decisions to protect our economic stability, and to drive growth in our economy, higher tax receipts and improvements in our public services. We are absolutely determined as a Government to deliver a better NHS, with waiting times down, and better public services, which will benefit pensioners and people across our economy and our country. Question put and agreed to.

• 10 Sept 2024 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  Dr Huq, I am sure Members will soon get used to the bizarre ways of this House. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bicester and Woodstock (Calum Miller) for his question. As I set out, the Chancellor was not expecting to do this but had to do it urgently because of the £22 billion black hole in our public finances. The black hole is in-year. What if we did not tackle it? Look at what happened under the previous Government, with Liz Truss’s mini-Budget: they put forward unfunded tax cuts and sent the markets into turmoil. Interest rates increased, putting mortgage rates and rents up, and that led to higher inflation. People on fixed incomes, such as pensioners, would really suffer were we not to secure economic stability. Economic stability is the foundation of all that we want to do in Government. I say to pensioners and others across the country: this is a necessary step to make the improvements that we want in our NHS, bringing down waiting times, and in our schools, ensuring that we have the highest standards.

• 10 Sept 2024 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  I honestly think that Conservative Members have some brass neck. During their time in power, we lost an average of 3 million working days a year to strikes because of their failure to deal with industrial action, and we lost 1.4 million NHS appointments which were cancelled, which meant that pensioners and others were in pain for longer than they needed to be. We will not take lectures from the Conservatives. We have had to take this difficult decision to means-test the winter fuel payment because of the £22 billion black hole in year, this year. [Interruption.] They may not want to hear it, but they should apologise for leaving that black hole. It was created by repeated and reckless unfunded spending—

• 10 Sept 2024 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  Again and again, the Conservatives are dividing working people and pensioners, and that is disgraceful. In conclusion, means-testing the winter fuel payment is a difficult decision. [Interruption.] I receive no funding from ASLEF, so the right hon. Gentleman can withdraw his comment. We are targeting support at the poorest pensioners, boosting the uptake of pension credit, maintaining the triple lock for pensioners, extending the household support fund and the warm homes discount and, in the longer term, introducing a warm homes plan to insulate people’s homes. These are the right decisions to take. This Government are determined the fix the foundations of our economy so that we can deliver the change on which we were elected, and which this country and our pensioners so desperately need. Bringing down NHS waiting times—