Rachel Reeves MP: speeches

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Speeches

3 Sept 2024 · Inward Investment: Fiscal Steps · Hansard source
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The rural economy plays an incredibly important role in our economic prosperity as a country, and boosting food security and biodiversity is obviously incredibly important to a whole range of this Government’s objectives. I will ensure that the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs hears loud and clear the message from the hon. Member, and I am sure he will include it as part of his submission to the spending review on 30 October.
3 Sept 2024 · Inward Investment: Fiscal Steps · Hansard source
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Investment is at the heart of this Government’s growth mission, alongside stability and reform. With robust fiscal rules and respect for economic institutions, the Government are building the confidence needed to deliver private sector investment. It is vital that the tax system also supports growth, and today I can confirm that the Government will outline a tax road map for business at the Budget to offer the certainty that encourages investment and gives business the confidence to grow, including our commitment to cap corporation tax at 25% for the duration of this Parliament and to retain full expensing.
3 Sept 2024 · Inward Investment: Fiscal Steps · Hansard source
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A huge amount of inward investment goes to Northern Ireland, as the hon. Gentleman knows, and it is important that young people are able to take advantage of those huge opportunities in our economy, whether in financial services, advanced manufacturing, shipbuilding or the many other sectors that are important to Northern Ireland. It is a travesty that something like one in five young people today are not in employment, education or training. The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions will be bringing forward a White Paper to ensure that everyone who can work does work and is given the support to succeed, both in Northern Ireland and across the United Kingdom.
3 Sept 2024 · Inward Investment: Fiscal Steps · Hansard source
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I thank my hon. Friend for his question, and I know that his experience as His Majesty’s trade commissioner in India means that he understands the importance of global trade and investment to the UK economy, including the Scottish economy. Last week, I had the opportunity to visit the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland and see at first hand the excellent work that is going on to promote innovation in a whole range of sectors, including aerospace and satellite technology. The UK already produces around half of the world’s large civil aircraft wings and engines, and the aerospace sector added £11 billion to the UK economy last year. The Government are putting investment at the heart of our growth strategy, including by supporting advanced manufacturing in Scotland, and I look forward to working with my hon. Friend on this endeavour.
3 Sept 2024 · Inward Investment: Fiscal Steps · Hansard source
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I thank my hon. Friend for her question and welcome her to her place. The regeneration of Stratford after the Olympic games is truly phenomenal, and I know that she will be a strong voice for her constituency and help to deliver the growth mission, which is the No. 1 priority of this new Government. The success of London’s economy will be integral to delivering that mission, and we will work with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and with our MPs to ensure that economic growth benefits people in the capital and across the country, ensuring that we narrow the gap between rich and poor and also showcase the huge opportunities that London has on the international stage. We will be hosting an international investment summit in London on 14 October, bringing together some of the biggest global investors in the world, to showcase everything our great country has to offer.
3 Sept 2024 · Inward Investment: Fiscal Steps · Hansard source
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My hon. Friend makes an important contribution on behalf of her constituents, based on her background of working in science and technology before entering this House. My hon. Friend is absolutely right to say that the north-east has huge potential to grow the economy through sectors including advanced manufacturing, health, technology and our creative industries, and this Government will work with our local mayors, including Kim McGuiness, to develop ambitious, long-term local growth plans that reflect the north-east’s strengths. We will look to address some of the barriers to growth and support delivery of our national industrial strategy, as well as narrowing some of the inequalities that have persisted for far too long.
3 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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The hon. Gentleman speaks powerfully about the huge opportunities at Immingham and on the whole east coast through renewable energy and carbon capture and storage. Part of the reason for the national wealth fund is to invest in industries such as CCS, but also in our crucial steel sector, which is important to so many of the other Government ambitions on growing our economy. We are determined to support the steel sector through that investment from the national wealth fund.
3 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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The Conservative party crashed the economy and then wrecked the public finances, leaving us with a £22 billion black hole. The shadow Chancellor is not willing to be straight about the damage he did, and is now trying to pass the buck to independent civil servants. I will always be honest about the public finances and take the tough decisions that we need to fix the foundations of our economy.
3 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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Yes, absolutely; pension credit can be backdated by up to three months, and we will ensure that that happens. We are also working closely with Liverpool city council to ensure that the constituents in Liverpool Wavertree, and indeed in all our constituencies, are getting the support that they entitled to. The poorest pensioners, who are entitled to pension credit, should get it. It is a travesty that 800,000 missed out under the last Conservative Government. We will ensure that pensioners entitled to support get it.
3 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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The right hon. Gentleman has a bit of a brass neck criticising this Government, after the appointments and the partying at Downing Street that we saw under the last Conservative Government, and the billions of pounds’ worth of contracts handed out to friends and donors of the Conservative party. That is why this Government are appointing a covid corruption commissioner to get that money back for taxpayers; because unlike the last Government, we are determined that taxpayers’ money is treated with respect, and not handed out to donors of the party.
3 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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Let me respond directly on the issue of Ukraine. In my first couple of weeks in this job, I had the pleasure of meeting Minister Marchenko from Ukraine, and made a commitment to him to go ahead with the extraordinary revenue acceleration programme. It is important that we work together across the House to support the Ukrainian people against the Russian invasion. In the previous Parliament, Labour always supported the Government when they took action to support the Ukrainian people, and I hope that that cross-party support can continue.
3 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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I thank my hon. Friend for the question and welcome him to his place. As a former local government leader he knows the huge opportunities there are to build the homes our country desperately needs. We have made a commitment to build 1.5 million homes during the duration of this Parliament. That will require making choices to call in planning decisions, as we have already done in our first week in office with regard to four specific housing developments.
3 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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Before I became a Member of Parliament I was an economist at the Bank of England and I respect the independence of the Bank of England. The previous Government undermined that independence. That contributed to the economic chaos that we saw under the last Conservative Government. This Government will never go down that route.
3 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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As the hon. Gentleman knows, Government borrowing is running at £4.7 billion higher than the OBR forecast because the previous Government made unfunded commitments without any idea of how they were going to be paid for. The previous Government set the mandate for the independent pay review bodies, and we have honoured the recommendations of those bodies to ensure that our armed forces, our police officers, our nurses and our teachers got a pay rise. I think that is the right thing to do. If he does not, I wonder how he justifies that to public sector workers in his constituency.
3 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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The basic state pension is worth £900 more than it was a year ago, and will go up again in April next year because of the triple lock, which we have committed to for the duration of this Parliament. We have already written to York council and are working with local authorities across the country to boost take-up of pension credit, because this Government, unlike the last Government, are determined to ensure that 800,000 people entitled to pension credit actually receive it.
3 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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The increases in the basic state pension mean those constituents are £900 better off than they were a year ago, and of course energy bills are lower this year than they were last year. But it is important that we ensure that the 800,000 people who missed out on pension credit under the previous Conservative Government now get access to that support, because they are the poorest pensioners and at the moment they are living in poverty because the previous Government failed to sign them up to pension credit.
3 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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I thank my hon. Friend for that question and welcome her to her place. She speaks powerfully on behalf of the people of Cornwall. The spending review will be the appropriate time to look at the shared prosperity funds and what resource we can give to the people of Cornwall, and I am sure my hon. Friend will work with the relevant Secretaries of State to ensure those representations are heard.
3 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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All Governments appoint people to the civil service. The donation from Ian Corfield was declared over a year ago in the proper way, and we answered all the questions in the right way that the civil service asked when we made that appointment. Ian Corfield is supporting this Government in hosting the international investment summit, which will bring hundreds of global investors to the UK next month.
3 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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I would just note that the Scottish Government have decided to mirror what the wider UK Government are doing rather than using the tax powers that they have. That is a decision the Scottish Government have made given the fiscal situation they face; we face a similar issue with a £22 billion black hole in the public finances.
3 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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The black hole we inherited was £22 billion. We announced in the statement on 29 July £5.5 billion of savings to reduce the size of that black hole, but the hon. Gentleman can see there is still work to be done and we will be setting out further measures in the Budget on 30 October to get a grip of the public finances.
3 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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This Government have inherited a £22 billion black hole in the public finances, and rectifying the situation requires tough choices. We will also clamp down on egregious spending and halve Government spending on consultancy, which will save £500 million next year. Increasing consultancy spend has been rife across Government for the past four years. It is up 55% at the Department for Transport, 137% at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and a staggering 416% at the Home Office. It is no wonder taxes are so high and public services are so poor when the last Government frittered away taxpayers’ money with no concern. I will treat taxpayers’ money with respect, and we will fix the foundations of our economy so that we can rebuild Britain and make working people better off.
3 Sept 2024 · Occupational Pensions: Tax Relief · Hansard source
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I am not going to speculate about what will be in the Budget, but I am absolutely determined to ensure that working people are better off. Under the last Government the tax burden reached its highest level for 70 years, and ordinary working people paid the price for that. This will be a Budget to fix the foundations of the economy after the mess left by the last Government, to rebuild Britain, and to make working people better off.
3 Sept 2024 · Occupational Pensions: Tax Relief · Hansard source
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I recognise that for many people who work hard and save for retirement, that money is not enough. I believe that every penny saved in a pension should produce a decent return. Billions of pounds of investment could be unlocked in the UK economy and could work better for those saving for retirement, and we believe that the reforms we seek to introduce through the pensions review could increase their pension pots by £11,000. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is leading the review that I mentioned to ensure that pensioners receive a good deal in retirement, and that people who sacrifice and work hard to save for their retirement have a decent return on their investment.
3 Sept 2024 · Occupational Pensions: Tax Relief · Hansard source
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I welcome the hon. Member to his place. The Government encourage savings to ensure that people have decent incomes in their retirement, for instance through pension tax relief. I welcome the strong cross-party support for automatic enrolment that has been received since 2005, and the fact that 11 million more people are now saving as a result. The Government have also launched a pensions review which will ensure that money set aside for retirement is working both for pensioners and for the UK economy. I appreciate that Members on both sides of the House will have questions for me about the tax system today. I remind them that tax announcements will be made in the Budget on 30 October, alongside an independent forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility. This will be a Budget to fix the foundations, to rebuild Britain, and to ensure that working people are better off.
3 Sept 2024 · Economic Growth · Hansard source
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My hon. Friend is absolutely right to make that point. The Government are committed to delivering longer-term certainty for local authorities, as part of our wider commitment to a more empowered, accountable and sustainable local government system that will support strong public services in all our communities. The Government will set out further details on our plans for local government funding in the upcoming Budget and spending review on 30 October.

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