Tulip Siddiq MP: speeches

Speeches

• 13 May 2025 · Flooding: Planning and Developer Responsibilities · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for securing this important debate. As soon as I walked in, a colleague looked at me in astonishment and said, “Is there flooding in west Hampstead?”, and I said, “Actually, there is.” It takes only a heavy rainstorm to fill all the homes in my constituency with water and sewage. I intervene at this point in the debate because we, too, have a Mill Lane—not the same one—in west Hampstead that has been flooded. The risk of surface water flooding has not been taken seriously, which is strange, because properties in danger from surface water flooding outnumber those in danger from rivers and seas by two to one. I am proud that our friends in City Hall are actually publishing their surface water strategy tomorrow, but does the hon. Gentleman agree that developers also have a role to play in managing surface water flooding? I am sure he will address that, but I want him to know that there are others in this room who agree with him about the role of developers.

• 29 Apr 2025 · Energy Efficiency: Council Leaseholders and Social Homes · Hansard source

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  I am pleased to see the Government’s commitment to provide thousands of low-income households with energy-efficient upgrades. This could not have come too soon for my vulnerable constituents who are living on housing estates with outdated energy systems that sometimes leave them without hot water and heating for months on end. Camden Council, which I know the Minister knows well, has plans to upgrade the energy efficiency of those estates, but in many cases it just does not have the resources to replace the heating systems with heat pumps, which would lower bills and carbon emissions even further. What assurances can the Minister give me that local authorities will be given the support necessary to deliver the energy upgrades to the highest possible level?

• 29 Apr 2025 · Energy Efficiency: Council Leaseholders and Social Homes · Hansard source

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  15. What steps he is taking to ensure that local authorities have adequate resources for energy efficiency upgrades for council leaseholders and social homes.

• 2 Apr 2025 · Gaza: Israeli Military Operations · Hansard source

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  Last year, I raised the concerns of a constituent whose family member was stuck in Gaza without food and water. The situation has worsened since the aid blockade. I am particularly worried about the escalation of hostilities impacting most on women and girls. Supplies of female hygiene products are at critical lows, women are giving birth on hospital floors, and doctors are performing C-sections without adequate medical supplies. May I ask the Minister, on behalf of the hundreds of constituents who have written to me, what the UK Government are doing to end the aid blockade? Will he reassure me that the Government have communicated the sheer urgency on the ground to the Israeli Government?

• 27 Jan 2025 · Storm Éowyn · Hansard source

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  Whether our constituencies are rural or urban, the destruction that we saw last week should remind us of the need for urgent climate action. In the summer of 2021, my constituency experienced an extreme rainstorm, and homes in south Hampstead were invaded by water and raw sewage. One of my constituents, a recovering stroke victim, was left on the street with nothing but a small bag of belongings, and is now homeless. The same area was flooded in 2002 and in 1975, but no drainage improvements have been made. Can my right hon. Friend, who knows my constituency well, confirm that drainage infrastructure will be included in the Government’s resilience review?

• 10 Dec 2024 · Finance Bill · Hansard source

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  Since 2010, the UK has experienced low productivity, rising debt levels and declining public services. Public sector net debt is at its highest since the early 1960s, at 98.5% of GDP. Per capita, GDP remains lower that before the covid-19 pandemic. In July this year, the Government uncovered a challenging fiscal and spending inheritance, with a £22 billion in-year pressure in the public finances. The Office for Budget Responsibility’s review into March’s spending forecasts concluded that had the information that has since been shared by the Treasury been made available to it at the time of the March Budget, there would have been a materially higher departmental expenditure limits forecast for 2024 to 2025. This was the result of the previous Government not factoring in the impact of a series of new, challenging pressures on the public finances, not taking the difficult decisions needed to address these pressures, and instead making a series of commitments that they could not fund. This Government are committed to fixing the foundations and delivering a decade of national renewal. To do so, we must turn the page and take a different approach. In the autumn Budget, the House will have heard the Chancellor set out the Government’s first steps to repair the public finances, by taking the tough decisions needed to address the £22 billion in-year pressures to avoid further damage to our public services, including securing £5.5 billion of savings. We are also putting in place significant reforms to strengthen our fiscal and spending framework that will improve certainty, transparency and accountability, and ensure that the situation can never happen again. This Government are taking the tough decisions on tax, spending and welfare that are necessary to repair the public finances and restore economic and fiscal stability. Those choices are not easy, but they are transparent, they are responsible and, with such a difficult position, they will ensure that the Government can deliver on our commitments not to increase taxes on working people. The changes to the main rates of capital gains tax in clauses 7 to 11 will help to address the gap in public finances while retaining the UK’s internationally competitive investment climate. The new rates are revenue-maximising in the current design of the tax system, generating an additional £8.9 billion over the forecast period. The UK’s headline CGT rates will remain lower than those of France, Germany and Italy, and the highest rate is still lower than it was between 2010 and 2016. The new rates will mostly affect people who earn income from selling financial assets. The Government are taking the difficult but responsible decision to ask that group to pay a little bit more tax in order to restore economic stability. Clause 12 represents the first step in a package of reforms to the taxation of carried interest by increasing the applicable rates of capital gains tax to 32% for carried interest arising on or after 6 April 2025. The reforms will put the tax treatment of carried interest on a fairer and more stable footing for the long term, while preserving the UK’s competitive position as a global asset management hub. I will begin with clauses 7 to 9, concerning the capital gains tax package. CGT is charged on individuals’ annual capital gains, net of losses and allowable costs. Less than 1% of adults pay CGT per year. There are lower rates available for reliefs, including business asset disposal relief and investors’ relief. CGT has an annual exempt amount of £3,000 for individuals, which keeps people with lower levels of capital gains out of the system. To repair the public finances and help raise the revenue required to increase funding for public services, the Government are increasing the main rates of CGT. The clauses will increase the lower main rate of CGT from 10% to 18% and increase the higher rate from 20% to 24%. Those changes affect disposables made on or after 30 October 2024. The clauses also increase the CGT rate at which business asset disposal relief and investors’ relief are charged in a phased way from 10% to 14%, effective from 6 April 2025, and from 14% to 18%, effective from 6 April 2026. Phasing in the rate increases for those CGT reliefs demonstrates the Government’s commitment to a predictable tax system. The Government accept that for some entrepreneurs, a lower CGT rate will be factored into their plans for exiting the business, which can be a once-in-a-lifetime event. Although it is right to increase CGT rates to raise revenue, it is also fair to give business owners some time to adjust. The changes will raise £2.5 billion per year by the end of the forecast period, while ensuring the UK’s headline CGT rates remain below those of France, Germany and Italy. Turning to clause 10, investors’ relief offers access to the lower rates of CGT on the disposal of qualifying unlisted shares. Its objective is to provide the financial incentive for individuals to invest in unlisted trading companies over the long term and help companies in accessing other forms of investment. The lifetime limit for investors’ relief was previously £10 million, compared with business asset disposable relief’s lifetime limit of £1 million. We feel that that disparity in lifetime limits is unfair towards entrepreneurs and could encourage harmful tax planning strategies. The changes made by clause 10 will reduce the lifetime limit for investors’ relief to match that of business asset disposal relief at £1 million of qualifying gains per person. Investors’ relief has received little take-up since its introduction in 2016, and so the Government expect that the measure will affect a very small number of individuals. Turning to clause 11 and schedule 2, which introduce transitional arrangements and anti-forestalling rules, the transitional arrangements are consistent with similar rules put in place when CGT rates were charged in-year in 2010. The anti-forestalling rules draw on the approach taken when changes were made to business asset disposal relief in 2020. Transitional arrangements are needed for a small group of taxpayers in some specific circumstances. Those taxpayers will have capital gains that are ascribed to the 2024-25 tax year in general and not to any particular point in the year, and because clause 7 makes in-year changes, the Government have a legal responsibility to clarify the capital gains tax liabilities of those taxpayers. To avoid taxing those individuals retrospectively, the legislation puts in place transitional arrangements. The relevant capital gains are treated as arising in the earlier part of the year and are therefore subject to the previous rate schedule. From April 2025, there will be no need for those arrangements to remain. I now turn to anti-forestalling rules. Some taxpayers will have tried to lock in the old rate by entering into various artificial arrangements and specific anti-forestalling rules are needed to prevent abuse. The anti-forestalling rules target disposals entered into before 30 October 2024 but completed after that date for the main rate change and the investors’ relief lifetime limit reduction. They also target disposals entered into on or after 30 October 2024 for the phased rate changes applying to business asset disposal relief and investors’ relief. The provisions ensure that such people can still access the previous rates and the previous investors’ relief lifetime limit, but only where the disposal has not been artificially structured for the purpose of securing a tax advantage. I now turn to clause 12, which concerns CGT on carried interest gains. Carried interest is a form of performance-related reward that is received by a small number of individuals who work as fund managers and, unlike other such rewards, carried interest can, where certain conditions are met, be subject to capital gains tax. Hon. Members will have heard the Chancellor announce at the Budget that the Government will reform the way carried interest is taxed, ensuring that that is fairer and in line with the economic characteristics of the reward. From 6 April 2026, a revised regime will tax all carried interest within the income tax framework with a 72.5% multiplier applied to the amount of qualifying carried interest that is brought into charge. The Government are also consulting on potential new conditions of access to the regime. Legislation to implement that revised regime will be included in a future finance Bill. In advance of the implementation of the revised regime, the Government are acting now to increase the rates of capital gains tax that apply to carried interest. Clause 12 therefore increases the rates of capital gains tax for carried interest arising on or after 6 April 2025 from 18% and 28% to 32%, and from that date, the single CGT rate will apply to all relevant carried interest, subject to the same conditions as currently. To conclude, the increases to the main rates of CGT to 18% and 24% represent a balanced and responsible approach to revenue raising, which will help the Government to improve the UK’s public finances and services while remaining competitive for investment. The clauses phase in the rate increase for business asset disposal relief over 18 months to mitigate impacts where the previous level of relief was factored into anyone’s plans to exit their business in the short term. That underlines the Government’s commitment to supporting entrepreneurs and recognising the vital role that small businesses play in our economy. In addition, the move to a single higher rate of CGT on carried interest at 32% demonstrates the Government’s commitment to decisive action now, while we rightly take the time to undertake technical consultation on the revised regime.

• 27 Nov 2024 · Finance Bill · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend the Exchequer Secretary says that he will write to the hon. Lady about this, but we note the points that she has made, and we are looking into them. The hon. Member for Gordon and Buchan (Harriet Cross) asked about oil and gas investment. We recognise that oil and gas will continue to have a role in the energy mix during the transition, but we need to drive public and private investment towards cleaner energy. The money raised by these changes will contribute to public investment while the sector continues to benefit from £84.25 in relief for every £100 of private investment. To reflect our commitment to facilitating cleaner home-grown energy, the Government have confirmed that the sector will continue to benefit from a decarbonisation investment allowance with a value similar to the relief that it received prior to the November energy profits levy rate increases. I end by saying that the Bill delivers on key manifesto commitments from this Labour Government. It provides stability, it supports businesses, and it moves us to a fairer, more sustainable tax system. For those reasons, I commend it to the House. Question put, That the amendment be made.

• 27 Nov 2024 · Finance Bill · Hansard source

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  We will set out plans in due course. The Bill does, however, extend the scope of agricultural property relief from 6 April 2025 to land managed under certain environmental agreements. That supports the UK Government’s wider environmental objective of supporting farmers and land managers so that they can deliver, alongside food production, significant and important outcomes for the climate and environment. The measure is intended to prevent the loss of APR being a barrier to the involvement of agricultural landowners and farmers in land use change under environmental agreements including, but not limited to, the environmental land management schemes in England and equivalent schemes elsewhere in the UK. I want to address something the hon. Member for St Albans (Daisy Cooper) talked about: family farms. This is not in the Finance Bill, but I will still refer to it. Individuals can pass on a sum of up to £325,000 inheritance tax-free; £500,000 if that includes a residence being passed to a direct descendent; and £1 million when a tax-free allowance is passed to a surviving spouse or civil partner. There is also a full exemption from inheritance tax when passing assets to a spouse or civil partner.

• 18 Nov 2024 · Financial Services: Mansion House Speech · Hansard source

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  I know that my hon. Friend takes a keen interest in this area—she been talking about it for the 25 years that I have known her. We agree that it is important. The FCA and the PRA are required to have regard to the UK’s net zero emissions target, as set out in the Climate Change Act 2008. The Mansion House speech set out the Government’s next steps to deliver a world-leading sustainable finance framework. That will be a huge part of our financial services strategy, as part of the industrial strategy, next spring. I urge her to consult and feed in on that.

• 12 Nov 2024 · Draft European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (Further Payments to Capital Stock) Order 2024 · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (Further Payments to Capital Stock) Order 2024. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger. Allow me briefly to take the Committee through the background and purpose of the draft order. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is a multilateral development bank headquartered in London. It provides high-quality project financing to support economic and private sector development in 40 different countries. The UK is the bank’s joint second-largest shareholder and hosts the EBRD’s headquarters in Canary Wharf, London. The UK engages with the EBRD on several UK foreign, development and economic policy priorities across its countries of operation, including assistance for Ukraine, supporting the transition to a green, low-carbon economy, and promoting equality of opportunity for women, young people and other underserved communities. The EBRD has been a long-standing partner to Ukraine. Over the past 30 years, it has been the largest institutional investor in Ukraine, with more than €20 billion invested in almost 600 projects. The bank provides technical assistance, lending, guarantees and grants to support policy reform and financial assistance in key sectors including energy, infrastructure and agribusiness. The UK welcomes the EBRD’s distinctive contribution to supporting Ukraine’s resilience and recovery in the face of Russia’s illegal invasion. The EBRD’s support since 2022 has amounted to over €4.5 billion for essential priorities, including supporting Ukraine’s critical national infrastructure against deliberate and repeated attacks by Russian forces. The UK and other shareholders have agreed that the EBRD should continue its operations to support Ukraine, and that this support should be long-term and predictable. Given the exceptional circumstances in Ukraine and the EBRD’s commitment to sound banking principles, continued financial support was not possible without additional shareholder support. Last year, shareholders concluded that a paid-in capital increase is the most effective, efficient and broad-based means of enabling the EBRD to continue to finance Ukraine. Accordingly, in December 2023, the UK and other shareholders agreed to increase the EBRD’s paid-in capital by €4 billion. The draft order is being made to enable the Government to participate in the capital increase in proportion to its current shareholding, with a contribution of €343.6 million paid in five equal annual instalments between 30 April next year and 30 April 2029. As determined by the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee, 71% of that contribution will be classified as official development assistance. The capital increase enables the EBRD to continue to support Ukraine’s resilience and recovery during wartime and in reconstruction through the provision of high-quality project financing, while securing the EBRD’s financial standing and its ability to maintain support to its other countries of operation. With the additional capital, the EBRD plans to provide a sustained level of annual investment to Ukraine of about €1.5 billion during wartime, increasing to €3 billion annually once reconstruction begins. Over the course of a decade, that will result in tens of billions of euros of financing for Ukraine as the EBRD leverages the paid-in capital on the financial markets. I hope the Committee will agree that this complements the UK’s military and fiscal support for Ukraine and enables the EBRD to continue providing financing in support of the sustainable development goals across its countries of operation. This is a topic that all parts of the House have been united on in support of Ukraine. I therefore recommend the draft order to the Committee.

• 12 Nov 2024 · Draft European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (Further Payments to Capital Stock) Order 2024 · Hansard source

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  It is always a pleasure to see the hon. Member for Grantham and Bourne in his place. I thank him for his support for the measure, and he is right to ask those questions. The other shareholders of the bank have confirmed their intention to participate in the capital increases. That includes other members of the G7. I am happy to write to the hon. Member with specifics if that would be helpful. The capital increase will ensure that the EBRD can increase lending to support Ukraine’s resilience, while maintaining activity in all its countries of operation; it is not dependent on other factors. In 2023, the EBRD’s total investment in Ukraine was €2.1 billion, compared with a total investment of €13.1 billion across all countries of operation. The hon. Member also asked about climate change. The EBRD’s aim is for more than 50% of its total investment in 2025 to be towards green projects, reducing net annual greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25 million tonnes. Since 2006, the EBRD has invested €49 billion in more than 2,600 green projects, which are expected to reduce carbon emissions by 124 million tonnes yearly. I thank the hon. Member for his constructive comments and his questions. The draft order will enable the UK to participate in a capital increase for the EBRD, which will improve the bank’s financial capacity to increase lending to support Ukraine’s resilience while maintaining activity in all countries of operation. I am happy to write to the hon. Member on the point about the G7 countries. I hope the Committee will join me in supporting the draft order. Question put and agreed to.

• 6 Nov 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  The right hon. Gentleman has intervened 18 times. I shall not give him another chance. Let me continue. That is the only way that we can really fix the foundations. Of course, that involves taking tough decisions, particularly on spending and taxation, but I will take no lectures from those who were content to levy a £22 billion pound tax on this country’s future, and, through their unfunded spending commitments, attempt to undemocratically bind the hands of a future Government. Well, guess what? This Government will do things differently. While the previous Government allowed investment in our country to fall to its lowest level on record, this Government will put investment at the heart of everything that we do. That is why we held the international investment summit in October—to show firms at home and abroad that Britain is open for business once more. That is why we have introduced a new fiscal rule—the investment rule—which, alongside appropriate guardrails provided by the OBR and our new stability rule, means that this Government can meaningfully invest in our country’s future. Of course, investment means taking a long-term view. As anyone who has bought a property, built a business or raised a family will know, the early days are always the hardest. But if they take the hard calls now, in time they will get back far more than they put in. I pick those examples deliberately, but with regret. The sad truth is that, for working people—particularly young people—up and down the country, home ownership, entrepreneurship and starting a family have never been more distant. This Budget will start to change that. Our manifesto made a clear commitment to get Britain building again. This Budget puts the first shovels in the ground, with a commitment to spend an average of 2.6% of GDP on public sector net investment over the course of this Parliament. This will include an additional £500 million in new funding for social and affordable homes, which brings total investment in housing supply to more than £5 billion and supports the delivery of tens of thousands of new homes. We will build more than just homes; we need to build communities. Infrastructure is key to tying those communities together while ensuring that they plug into the wider economy. [Interruption.] The shadow Foreign Secretary asks how. If she listens, she will learn, so she should pay attention. Getting our country moving again will be key to growing the economy. [Interruption.] She should not chunter from the Front Bench. She needs to listen, because our commitment to infrastructure investment will help us to do so—by, for instance, increasing local roads investment by £500 million in 2024-25. These are the things that the previous Government failed to do, but we will deliver for our country. For working families, that means less time wasted dodging potholes and more time for the things that actually matter. Of course, infrastructure helps not just families but firms. In an increasingly volatile world, Government should play an important role in securing our energy supply so that firms can price that into their business plan. We heard powerful and authentic maiden speeches today from my hon. Friends the Members for North Ayrshire and Arran (Irene Campbell), for Stoke-on-Trent North (David Williams) and for Sherwood Forest (Michelle Welsh). We will see them as huge assets to Parliament. Some of them mentioned that their families did not think that they would get here; I am really pleased that their families were wrong. I will finish by echoing something that the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for North Bedfordshire (Richard Fuller), said. It is not often that I agree with him, but he said that we had choices. The truth is that we did have choices, and guess what? We chose to act. In 10 years’ time, the country will look back on this Budget as the moment when we got Britain’s future back. In the future, the economy will have grown because at this moment we chose to prioritise a healthy workforce; we will have record levels of investment because we prioritised fiscal and economic responsibility; and people will have more money in their pockets because we prioritised protecting hard-working people’s payslips. The merry-go-round of austerity and economic irresponsibility is over. We made a choice—a choice to rebuild Britain. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That income tax is charged for the tax year 2025-26. And it is declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution should have statutory effect under the provisions of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act 1968.

• 3 Sept 2024 · Economic Stability · Hansard source

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  I should have welcomed my hon. Friend to his place. It was the previous Government’s decision to maintain tax thresholds at their current levels until 2028. We have inherited an extremely difficult fiscal situation, meaning that we cannot undo everything they did, but the Prime Minister has been clear that those with the broadest shoulders should bear the heavier burden. The Government are providing £0.5 billion, including the estimated Barnett consequential, to extend the household support fund in England for another six months, to 31 March 2025. It continues to be our aim to support those who are most in need. The household support fund is specifically used by local authorities to help the most vulnerable households cover the cost of essentials such as food, energy and water.