Graham Stuart MP: speeches 2025

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Speeches

10 Dec 2025 · Seasonal Work · Hansard source
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Will the Minister give way?
10 Dec 2025 · Seasonal Work · Hansard source
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Would the Minister like to apologise to the more than 280,000 people who are not in work now, compared with the level of unemployment last year, and could she spell out how a business that, for example, provides catering at summer festivals and then ceases to have any festivals to service can guarantee hours to a workforce it does not need any more?
10 Dec 2025 · Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer · Hansard source
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I think it is the dishonesty that is catching at everybody’s throat. A year ago at the Budget, the Chancellor said that she was not going to freeze income tax thresholds because—I think I quote—it would be an additional tax on working people, and therefore in breach of the Labour manifesto. A year later, she did exactly that, and then claimed that it was not a breach of the Labour manifesto. That is rank dishonesty. That is why Madam Deputy Speaker is allowing language that would not normally be used in this Chamber: because this motion and this Government mean we have to address issues that normally do not occur.
10 Dec 2025 · Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer · Hansard source
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I wonder how best this behaviour can be described—as a falsehood, an untruth, a fib, a lie or a whopper, or are there other synonyms that better describe the repeated failure to do what one promises?
10 Dec 2025 · Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer · Hansard source
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Will the Minister give way?
10 Dec 2025 · Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer · Hansard source
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My right hon. Friend is right to put his finger on the issue of trust. It is not the 280,000 people who are not employed now compared with last year; it is not the lost opportunities for so many young people in hospitality or, indeed, the so many other areas of failure, such as the reduction in numbers of teachers. The issue that is most corrosive for this Government is a loss of trust, because we can see their mendacity from Mars.
10 Dec 2025 · Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer · Hansard source
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Let me make a point before the hon. Lady makes it herself: the jobs tax is a peculiarly misconceived tax. It is a £25 billion or £26 billion hit on the real economy, with all the lost jobs that we have seen as a result, and it does not even raise much money. Looking at all the negative impacts in the round, it may actually raise even less than £10 billion. There is a £25 billion or £26 billion hit, and the measure potentially raises less than £10 billion. It is economic madness, and it shows why the Government need to think more deeply.
10 Dec 2025 · Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer · Hansard source
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I think it was Gladstone who said that the first duty of a statesman is to be honest. Is the hon. Gentleman, who I think would be recognised across the House as someone for whom honesty is a natural state, entirely comfortable with the Chancellor cherry-picking the confidential briefing from the OBR in that 4 November speech and not setting out the full circumstances that she was then aware of?
10 Dec 2025 · Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer · Hansard source
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On the issue of the manifesto, will the Minister confirm that it does not say that it would not raise the income tax rates? It just says that it would not raise those taxes. The word “rates” is not in there. It is that that is misleading. It is that that makes everyone outside throw things at their television, because they are disgusted by a Government who cannot face up to simple truths!
10 Dec 2025 · Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer · Hansard source
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I have very limited time, so forgive me but I will not. It matters because the Chancellor has a nearly £3 trillion debt to service, and because trust is everything. Because the policies that are being implemented and the promises that were made by the Chancellor are at such variance, the markets—unlike in any other western nation, I believe —have put a higher and higher cost on borrowing for this country. That has very real-world impacts. Investors from Beverley to Berlin need to believe what the Chancellor says. After all, “credit” comes from the Latin “credo”, meaning “I believe”. If that belief falters, borrowing costs rise and more of our taxes go to paying lenders instead of funding the priorities of the British people. When trust goes, growth goes. Investors hesitate, businesses hold back and families feel the pinch. The Chancellor appears to have learnt nothing from last year’s Budget of broken promises. It was a Budget that brought higher unemployment, fewer businesses and lower growth. She did not learn from that first exercise. As the hon. Member for St Albans (Daisy Cooper) pointed out, the weakness of the jobs tax is not just that it will hurt growth; it does not even raise much money. It was peculiarly poorly thought through. This year’s Budget repeated more of the same. The British people know that the way to tackle the cost of living is by getting people into work, not increasing the number of people on welfare; and by creating opportunity, not dependency. But Britain has a Chancellor who talks about helping working people while making it harder to work, to save and to succeed—and throwing the OBR under the bus while she is at it. That is not a vision for the future, and it is certainly not leadership; it is fantasy dressed up as policy, and the people of Beverley and Holderness can see right through it. Labour came to power promising change. Unfortunately, change has been delivered, but it is not what we were promised. We have 280,000 more people on the unemployment register, more than 200,000 businesses have closed, and 5,000 people are signing off sick every single day, because of the decisions made by this Labour Government. People are angry about the impact of Labour policy, but my constituents tell me that they are particularly angry about feeling misled. I hope I have shown my own candour in addressing my earlier error, for which I apologise again. Can we Members of this House try to speak honestly and accurately, and not gaslight or mislead?
10 Dec 2025 · Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer · Hansard source
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Britain is hurting: families are cutting back, bills are soaring, and inflation is twice the Bank’s target. Just last month, the Chancellor claimed that she had no choice but to raise taxes on working people, and in true Harry Enfield style she blamed the Tories, the Tories, the Tories—and, of course, the OBR. On the subject of honesty—the thread that runs through today’s debate—it is worth me returning to my earlier exchange with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, in which I said that the Labour manifesto did not specify that it was the rates of the taxes that would rise. I was quite wrong, and the Minister was correct. I would like to apologise to him and the House for getting that incorrect. The OBR told the Chancellor in October that tax receipts were £16 billion higher than expected. She knew that but suggested otherwise. That is not spin or sophisticated political communications; it is deceit, and it does matter.
10 Dec 2025 · Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer · Hansard source
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Will my right hon. Friend give way?
10 Dec 2025 · Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer · Hansard source
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On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. Last time I checked, this debate was supposed to be about the conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. I know the Minister is relatively new to the Dispatch Box; perhaps he may need a little guidance.
9 Dec 2025 · Creative Education · Hansard source
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I remind hon. Members that they may only make a speech with prior permission from the Member in charge of the debate and the Minister. There will not be an opportunity for the Member in charge to wind up, as is the convention for 30-minute debates.
9 Dec 2025 · Railways Bill · Hansard source
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I wonder whether my hon. Friend is concerned, as I am, about how Ministers will square their responsibility to the trade unions—who, of course, fund the Labour party —with the producer interest, and whether she has any reflections on their past failure to get that balance right.
9 Dec 2025 · Railways Bill · Hansard source
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The Minister responding to this debate represents Selby. One of the great successes of the open system has been Hull Trains, which provides a fantastic service from Hull, through Selby, down to London, and then back again. Does my hon. Friend worry, as I do, that open services such as Hull Trains will be crushed by Great British Railways and the Minister, despite whatever he may say?
9 Dec 2025 · Railways Bill · Hansard source
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I am sure that Hull Trains will be grateful for the passionate way in which the Minister made its case. Would he be open to amendments to the Bill that would look again at that balance? As the Bill is currently drafted, it looks as if GBR can just squeeze out the open operators—it has all the power and they have none.
9 Dec 2025 · Network Rail Timetable Changes: Rural Communities · Hansard source
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I call the Liberal Democrat spokesman.
9 Dec 2025 · Network Rail Timetable Changes: Rural Communities · Hansard source
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Order. I think the hon. Gentleman is drawing to a close—and focusing on timetable changes, which are the subject of this debate.
9 Dec 2025 · Network Rail Timetable Changes: Rural Communities · Hansard source
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Order. I remind Members that they should bob if they wish to be called to speak in the debate.
9 Dec 2025 · Network Rail Timetable Changes: Rural Communities · Hansard source
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And on timetable changes?
9 Dec 2025 · Water Scarcity · Hansard source
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The debate may continue until 4.11 pm.
9 Dec 2025 · Water Scarcity · Hansard source
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If everybody speaks as scheduled, it should be about seven minutes each.
9 Dec 2025 · Water Scarcity · Hansard source
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Order. Please speak through me, Minister.
9 Dec 2025 · Water Scarcity · Hansard source
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Order. Interventions should be short.

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