James Murray MP: speeches

Speeches

• 1 Jul 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend very much for her question. I can reassure her that, alongside the loan charge review, the Government have published a consultation on a comprehensive package of measures to close in on the promoters of marketed tax avoidance schemes. As we know, these contrived schemes both deprive public services of funding and leave their clients with unexpected tax bills.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend will have seen the Prime Minister’s work to reset relations with the EU. She mentions the single trade window, and it is the Government’s intention to deliver that. More widely, the Government are committed to minimising the administrative burdens and frictions experienced by businesses trading internationally.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question; he has engaged with me about the loan charge previously. As he knows, there is an independent review of the loan charge at the moment, and I think it is important that I as a Minister do not comment on that. Let the independent reviewer complete his work and report back to us as a Government.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  There is £200 million available, and the Government will look at all proposals for investing it.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Clean Energy: Funding · Hansard source

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  The spending review announced significant investment into clean energy to strengthen our energy security and our economy. That includes over £8.3 billion for Great British Energy and Great British Energy Nuclear and £14.2 billion for Sizewell C.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Clean Energy: Funding · Hansard source

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  The shadow Minister forgets to mention the fact that we have had £30 billion of investment in green energy since the general election. I am sure he has consulted the spending review documents closely—I know he is a diligent shadow Minister in that regard—and he will have seen the investment that we are putting into Great British Energy, Sizewell C, small modular reactors, fusion, nuclear R&D, the warm homes plan, and carbon capture and storage. All of this is to make sure we improve our energy security and bring down bills for good.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Clean Energy: Funding · Hansard source

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  Of course, our colleagues in the Department for Business and Trade are having conversations with those businesses and industries that may be affected. I hope the hon. Member welcomes the trade deal that we got with the US—an economic deal that is so important for our prosperity and will see us being the only country to avoid some of the tariffs that are affecting all other countries around the world.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Clean Energy: Funding · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is an excellent advocate for her constituents in Ealing Southall, and I am sure that many of them will benefit from our warm homes plan, which will see £13.2 billion invested across this Parliament. That investment will be allocated to schemes to support the roll-out of heat pumps, alongside energy-efficiency measures and other low-carbon technologies. This will help with environmental goals, but crucially, it will cut bills and tackle fuel poverty.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Betting and Gaming Duty: Horseracing · Hansard source

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  It is excellent to hear my hon. Friend speak so passionately about Doncaster racecourse and the wider sector, and I reassure her that we will absolutely continue close dialogue with the horseracing industry on these proposals. I and my officials are working closely with the horseracing sector to identify any unintended consequences and possible mitigations. We intend to continue those conversations with the industry, and we welcome further engagement.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Betting and Gaming Duty: Horseracing · Hansard source

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  We very much recognise the social and cultural value of horseracing, which is why on-course betting is exempt from duty, and horseracing is the only sport to receive a Government mandated levy. We are consulting on measures to simplify gambling duty and improve compliance. No decision will be made on rates before the Budget, and we are working with the horseracing sector to identify unintended consequences and mitigations.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Betting and Gaming Duty: Horseracing · Hansard source

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  One of the principles behind the reforms that we are looking to make to the gambling duty is to tackle issues of compliance by simplifying the system. The consultation is open at the moment, and I encourage the hon. Gentleman, and anyone else who is interested in contributing towards that, to make their views known.

• 1 Jul 2025 · High Net Worth Individuals · Hansard source

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  His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs uses a range of data sources to monitor the wealthy population. International exchanges of information, including the common reporting standard and US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act data, offer opportunities to develop deeper insight into the international financial affairs of some of the UK’s wealthiest taxpayers.

• 1 Jul 2025 · High Net Worth Individuals · Hansard source

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  When considering fiscal measures or financial changes, the figures that matter are those provided by the Office for Budget Responsibility. The OBR has certified that the non-dom reforms that the Government have implemented will raise £33.8 billion in total revenue, and that figure accounts for some non-doms who are ineligible for the new regime choosing to leave the UK.

• 1 Jul 2025 · High Net Worth Individuals · Hansard source

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  I am not really sure whether there was a policy suggestion in that comment or not. As the shadow Minister will know, the fiscal black hole that we had to address when we won the general election was the £22 billion black hole that the Conservatives left after their mismanagement of the economy. As I said, the Office for Budget Responsibility has confirmed that our reforms to the non-dom regime, with our removal of non-dom tax status, will raise £33.8 billion over the five years of the forecast. It is the OBR’s figures that we will trust in that regard.

• 1 Jul 2025 · High Net Worth Individuals · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely correct that our changes to the non-dom reporting regime are essential to raise billions of pounds to support the public finances and get our public services back on their feet. I contrast that with some of the proposals set out by opposition parties. Indeed, Reform UK’s plans are for a tax cut for foreign billionaires.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Tax Evasion: High Street Businesses · Hansard source

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  I am happy to hear from the hon. Gentleman about how he will support our home-building plans in his constituency and across the country. We know that the most important thing to tackle the housing crisis is to support the reforms that this Government are making to the planning system to make sure we can build 1.5 million new homes and invest £39 billion in our 10-year affordable homes programme—the biggest in a generation.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Tax Evasion: High Street Businesses · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is a powerful campaigner and advocate for tackling those who do not play by the rules. While I am unable to comment on individual taxpayer affairs because of my position, I very much recognise the issue. We are determined to tackle this problem, and HMRC is working across Government on enforcement action, including work with Companies House and the Insolvency Service to tackle phoenixism.

• 1 Jul 2025 · Tax Evasion: High Street Businesses · Hansard source

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  The year before we came to power, the tax gap stood at £47 billion. That is unacceptable, which is why we announced the most ambitious-ever package of tax gap measures in the Budget, and went even further in the spring statement. We are now forecast to raise £7.5 billion from the tax gap in 2029-30, including by recruiting 5,500 more compliance officers, investing in better technology and closing loopholes. We will bring forward further measures to close the tax gap in the autumn Budget.

• 24 Jun 2025 · VAT Registration Threshold: SMEs · Hansard source

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  I will turn to the questions that the hon. Gentleman and other hon. Members have raised about VAT reliefs in a moment, but I will first finish the point about where the VAT registration threshold is set, because that is an important part of the debate. It is worth reflecting on the fact that views on the threshold are divided. The case for change has been regularly reviewed over the years, because some businesses argue that a higher threshold would reduce their administrative and financial burdens. However, other businesses contend that a lower threshold would provide a fairer competitive environment, for instance in the hair and beauty sector. The Government’s approach to the VAT threshold and applicable rates aims to balance the potential impacts on small businesses, including their growth and financial sustainability, with the economy as a whole and, of course tax, revenues. Although the Government always welcome hearing businesses’ views about how the tax system operates, we are not currently planning to change the design of the VAT threshold. More broadly on VAT, the Government often receive calls from businesses, and indeed from hon. Members, to examine the rate of VAT for specific industries. VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption and the 20% standard rate applies to most goods and services. VAT is the UK’s third largest tax and is forecast to raise £180 billion in 2025-26. Of course, tax breaks have an impact on the public finances and they must represent value for money for the taxpayer, so exceptions to the standard rate have always been limited and balanced against affordability considerations. The assessment of any new VAT relief should consider whether the cost saving is likely to be passed on to consumers. Fundamentally, the best support that we can provide to small businesses is economic growth. Delivering secure, strong and sustainable growth to boost prosperity and living standards across the UK is the Government’s No. 1 mission, as set out in our plan for change. That is why, when we took office, we took the necessary decisions to provide the stability that is so important for investment and growth by tackling the £22 billion hole in the public finances that we inherited from the previous Government.

• 24 Jun 2025 · VAT Registration Threshold: SMEs · Hansard source

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  I would typically ask businesses’ permission before I named them in the House of Commons, but I can reassure hon. Members that in conversations with businesses in my constituency, or indeed across the country in my role as a Minister, they understand the difficult decisions we took to restore stability to the public finances and to the economy. That is not to pretend for a moment that those decisions were not difficult and do not come with consequences, but most businesses I speak to recognise our difficult inheritance from the previous Government, and the importance of restoring stability to the public finances as an essential prerequisite for investment and growth. What is most important is working hand in hand with businesses—whether they are small businesses in our constituencies or large businesses that operate across the country—and putting through the reforms that we know are needed. That includes making sure that the planning system is reformed, that the National Wealth Fund supports their investment, and that we are investing across the country to ensure there are jobs and growth in every part of the UK. That is what we are focused on, working in partnership with businesses, because we know how important that is.

• 24 Jun 2025 · VAT Registration Threshold: SMEs · Hansard source

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  I think the hon. Gentleman must be forgetting the recent history of this country’s economy when his party was in charge, because the many small businesses that I have met are not clamouring for a return to the economic chaos that we saw under Liz Truss or the 14 years of economic stagnation that his party presided over. The stability that we restored to the public finances and to the economy is an essential prerequisite for investment and growth; indeed, it is the foundation on which economic growth can succeed.

• 24 Jun 2025 · VAT Registration Threshold: SMEs · Hansard source

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  I do not recall the hon. Gentleman ever opposing extra investment in the national health service during his interventions in the main Chamber, because, of course, the decisions that we took around employer’s national insurance contributions were taken to stabilise the public finances and put our public services back on their feet. We acknowledged at the Budget last year, when we took those difficult decisions, that they would have consequences. However, we also acknowledged that no responsible Government could have let things continue as they were, or taken what we inherited from the previous Government without putting public finances back on a firm footing. That is exactly what we have done from our first day in office. Alongside that essential work to steady the public finances, we have been removing barriers to growth by overhauling the planning system, launching a new National Wealth Fund and reforming our pension system to unlock billions of pounds. At the spending review earlier this month, we saw the Chancellor marking a key step in our growth mission by allocating substantial new capital investment to ensure that growth is felt across the country. That investment will be further bolstered in the coming months by other reforms, including the industrial strategy published yesterday, and the 10-year infrastructure strategy published last week. A rising economic tide lifts all boats, big and small, and this Government believe that that should be the most important priority for supporting small businesses.

• 24 Jun 2025 · VAT Registration Threshold: SMEs · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to speak with you as Chair, Mr Vickers. I congratulate the hon. Member for Mid Leicestershire for securing this debate. I feel that I am letting the side down by not having a quote from Napoleon to open my remarks, but I listened carefully to the hon. Member’s contribution to the debate, and to the contributions of all hon. Members, including the shadow Minister—the hon. Member for Grantham and Bourne (Gareth Davies) —and the Liberal Democrat spokesperson, the hon. Member for St Albans (Daisy Cooper). I hope that my remarks will address most of the points that they raised. It is clear from all hon. Members’ contributions to this debate that, across the House, we agree on how valuable small businesses and entrepreneurs are to the local economies and communities in the areas we represent. As a Government, we recognise that contribution. Before I turn to the VAT threshold, the focus of this debate, I will briefly set out the wider support that the Government are providing to the small businesses that are so important in our constituencies across the country. That support includes measures set out only yesterday in the industrial strategy. A new business growth service will streamline small businesses’ access to Government support, advice and funding, providing the access that the Liberal Democrat spokesperson asked about. Reforms to public procurement will help small businesses to secure Government contracts. We will help small businesses to adopt new technologies. We will continue to tackle the challenge of late payments to SMEs. The Government are also planning to publish an SME strategy later this year, giving more detail on the Government’s wider offer for small businesses. Hon. Members will also be aware that the Chancellor recently announced the 2025 spending review, which contained measures to support small businesses. In particular, the Chancellor increased the financial capacity of the British Business Bank to £25.6 billion, which will enable a two-thirds increase in support for small businesses across the UK. That support in the spending review sits alongside the Government’s support for small businesses through the tax system. We have more than doubled the employment allowance to £10,500 and expanded it to all eligible employers. We have frozen the small business rates multiplier to protect small properties from inflationary bill increases to business rates. We are introducing permanently lower business rates for smaller retail hospitality and leisure businesses from 2026, and we have committed in the corporate tax road map to maintaining the small profits rate and marginal relief at their current rates and thresholds, as well as maintaining the £1 million annual investment allowance. I will now turn to the VAT threshold, which is the focus of this debate. As several hon. Members have said, a number of businesses have raised concerns about that threshold. In particular, they are concerned that the cliff edge of the £90,000 threshold, as it is, may disincentivise businesses that are close to the threshold from growing and surpassing it, and they have connected concerns about the level at which the threshold is set. Let me first address the argument that the threshold disincentivises small businesses from growth as they approach it. I acknowledge that some businesses will take legitimate action to avoid reaching the VAT threshold, and will bunch just below that threshold. However, those businesses are a minority, accounting for around 0.5% of all businesses that are not VAT-registered. Some businesses, and indeed some hon. Members in this debate, have suggested that the Government should introduce a taper mechanism, in which the amount of VAT that businesses must charge is phased in. However, there is little evidence to suggest that a taper would tackle the bunching of businesses just below the threshold, although it would add additional complexity to the tax system. At £90,000, the UK has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU member, and the joint highest in the OECD. That threshold keeps most UK businesses out of VAT altogether.

• 24 Jun 2025 · VAT Registration Threshold: SMEs · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. He referred to the impact of the Windsor framework, which as he correctly pointed out, imposes an upper limit of just over £90,000 on the threshold in Northern Ireland. The Windsor framework is therefore relevant to the threshold in Northern Ireland and, by extension, to the Government’s decisions in Great Britain as well. The debate is becoming slightly wider than the question about the VAT threshold, but I can understand why that is the case. The VAT threshold—in fact, VAT as a whole—is only one of the factors in the landscape that businesses face. Although we recognise that we have taken some difficult decisions on employer’s national insurance contributions, as I said earlier, the important point to focus on is the stability that those decisions have brought to the public finances and that they have put our public services back on their feet. Many businesses that I speak to recognise that they need their workforce to be healthy and to be able to get on a train and get to work. Businesses need people who are coming out of school to be trained and to have the right skills to access the jobs of the future. They need the Government to create the right environment for growth, because private sector businesses will drive growth and create wealth and prosperity across the country. Businesses want a partner in Government who will provide the infrastructure, reforms and investment to enable them and everyone across our country to flourish. That is the wider context in which this debate takes place. This debate has mostly been about the VAT threshold. It has taken a wide definition of the VAT threshold and its connected policies, but I understand why: the threshold sits within a wider context that affects small businesses. We all agree that small businesses are at the heart of all our local communities and economies, and we all want them to thrive. That is why the Government have taken steps to ensure that the tax system supports them. We have doubled the employment allowance, increased the small employers’ compensation rate, frozen the small business multiplier, introduced permanently lower business rates for smaller retail, hospitality and leisure businesses from next year, and committed to maintain the small profits rate and £1 million annual investment allowance. The industrial strategy, published yesterday, goes even further to support small businesses, including by announcing the creation of a new business growth service that will streamline access to Government support, advice and funding for small businesses. The VAT threshold strikes a balance between keeping the majority of businesses out of VAT altogether while ensuring that we can support public services and maintain fiscal responsibility. I thank you again for your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. I thank all hon. Members who have contributed to the debate and, in particular, I thank the hon. Member for Mid Leicestershire for securing the debate.

• 4 Jun 2025 · Business Rates Relief: High-street Businesses · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising the issue of the VOA. Its performance is very important for businesses across the country. I am sure that he will have seen our recent announcement that, this year, we are bringing the VOA into His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, rather than it being an arm’s length body. Part of that is to save on administration costs—to protect the public finances—but it is also to ensure that we can work with it to improve its service as much as possible, to give the best and quickest possible service to businesses involved. I reassure the hon. Gentleman that VOA performance is very high on our agenda. Hon. Members raised the impact of RHL relief on pubs, which is understandable, given the particular importance of pubs in all our local communities. Indeed, we had a competition for who has the best pub in their constituency. I will just about resist the temptation to list the pubs in my constituency, as I am here as a Minister rather than with my constituency hat on, but hon. Members should pop into the Duke of Kent if they are ever in Ealing North. To put this in context, the extension of RHL relief for this year under this Government is saving the average pub with a rateable value of £16,800 more than £3,300. That is a real, meaningful difference to pubs across the country. The Government have, of course, frozen the small business multiplier for this year as well. Taken together with small business rates relief, more than 1 million properties have been protected from inflationary increases in their bills this year. Some hon. Members, including the right hon. Member for Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge, have argued that the RHL relief in this year should be higher. However, given the Government’s fiscal inheritance, it was not fiscally sustainable to continue the 75% relief, which cost £2.4 billion a year. Crucially, to repeat remarks I have made several times now, our approach from April 2026 will mean no more use of an indefinite stopgap measure. Our approach will instead offer permanently lower tax rates and the stability that those bring for businesses. The Budget announcements and the changes I have just described reflect the Government’s first steps to support the high street. We want to go further, and modernise the business rates system. At the autumn Budget last year, the Chancellor therefore announced the publication of a discussion paper that sets out priority areas for reform.