Topical Questions

Answer from Rachel Reeves

The major banks have committed to work with Shelter to make it easier for people without standard ID to access a bank account. This will particularly help people who are homeless and support them to rebuild their lives.

Answer from Rachel Reeves

The plans inherited from the previous government would have seen fuel duty increase in April. We reversed these plans, introduced a cheaper fuel finder, and will begin to unwind the 5p cut from the pandemic in a staggered approach. We are meeting petrol retailers to address price gouging.

Answer from Rachel Reeves

The price of oil and gas is volatile due to the conflict in the Middle East. The North Sea will play an important part in the energy mix for years to come, and I met North Sea oil and gas companies to discuss how we can help.

Answer from Dan Tomlinson

The rural fuel duty relief scheme does provide a 5p discount and will benefit constituents on the islands and in communities. We will keep all taxes under review and I am happy to meet the MP to discuss this.

Answer from Torsten Bell

The Chancellor and Ministers have been clear with the CMA that companies should not take advantage of customers, whether for domestic heating oil or hospitality businesses.

Answer from Rachel Reeves

I am proud to be the Labour Chancellor who has overseen the biggest uplift in defence spending since the end of the cold war. Just last week we announced a £1 billion helicopter deal with Leonardo, based in Yeovil, just down the road from my hon. Friend. Yesterday I confirmed to the House that the Ministry of Defence has access to the special reserve. That means that the added costs of deploying additional capabilities in the middle east will be funded entirely by the Treasury special reserve.

Answer from Rachel Reeves

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for raising the important issues with heating oil that his constituents are facing. I very much hope that he will be able to attend the meeting tomorrow. There are two key issues: making sure that vessels can again flow through the strait of Hormuz, which requires a de-escalation of the crisis; and stopping the price gouging that some businesses are engaged in at the moment. That is why I have asked the CMA to look at that too.

Answer from Lucy Rigby

I thank my hon. Friend for highlighting the important work of Co-operative Care Colne Valley, which is an excellent example of how co-operatives can deliver high-quality community-owned care for elderly and disabled people. His constituency is home to a number of other fantastic co-operatives, including the Green Valley Grocer and the Handmade Bakery. The Government are committed to doubling the size of the co-ops and mutuals sector, exactly because we recognise the very positive role that it plays.

Answer from James Murray

Businesses in the hon. Lady's constituency, and indeed across the country, can know that, whatever instability we face in the world in the months and weeks ahead, the Government have done the right thing for the economy by bringing down inflation, interest rates, borrowing, debt and debt costs. All that puts us in the strongest possible position to be resilient going into the future.

Answer from Lucy Rigby

I know how passionate my hon. Friend is about the Government's priority to get more first-time buyers on to the housing ladder. As he and I have discussed before, people looking to buy a home can build their credit history through rent payments by using third-party services that report these things to credit reference agencies. I think that he and I would agree that better awareness of such services and the mortgages available that take account of tenants' rental payments would be a good thing.

Answer from Rachel Reeves

While only 4% of people in Great Britain use heating oil, I recognise that this is a particular issue for many constituents, and in Northern Ireland the figure is more than 60%. I am keen for the hon. Gentleman to take these issues to the meeting with the Financial Secretary to the Treasury tomorrow. We are working closely with the Competition and Markets Authority to stop price gouging. There is no reason why a company should be charging twice as much as it was for heating oil; we need to put a stop to those practices.

Answer from James Murray

As my hon. Friend makes clear, we need to ensure that our extra funding for local roads maintenance is spent effectively, and that local residents can hold councils like Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole to account. The Liberal Democrats have typically not been shy about mentioning potholes in their leaflets; now is their time to deliver.

Answer from Rachel Reeves

Alongside the Budget last year, we published the new North sea oil and gas strategy, which, for example, allows tie-backs, so that more use can be made of existing fields. The previous Government brought in the energy profits levy when energy companies' profits went through the roof after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. That is still in place, so that when prices are high, we can bring money in to help people with their bills.

Answer from Rachel Reeves

I thank my hon. Friend for what he said about the Leonardo contract at Yeovil, which supports many thousands of jobs in Somerset, and indeed Dorset. I am proud to be the Chancellor who has overseen the biggest uplift in defence spending since the end of the cold war; that has enabled us to support this investment and many others.

Answer from Torsten Bell

I thank the hon. Member for his second question, and his enthusiastic volume of questions today. The Government balance the needs of public services with tax revenues. I gently point out that Liberal Democrat Members come to the House day in, day out, and call for more spending—we have heard that happen today—but then oppose every single tax rise or tax change required to make that happen. That is not what serious politics looks like. We need to take tax seriously, and it is time for some serious politics from the Liberal Democrats.

Answer from Dan Tomlinson

I thank my hon. Friend for the question, and for the representation she has provided for her constituents and, through her work on the loan charge and taxpayer fairness all-party parliamentary group, for many across the country who have been affected by the loan charge. At the Budget, we made the decision to write off £5,000 from the liabilities of everyone who has been affected by the loan charge, so about a third of those affected will have their liabilities written off entirely. I look forward to continuing to engage with her and Members across the House on this important issue.

Answer from Dan Tomlinson

The letters that were sent will receive a reply very shortly. A decision was made that in the run-up to the announcement of the independent loan charge review, it would not be appropriate for the Government to set out in detail their views on a live issue that an independent reviewer was looking at. That review was published alongside the Budget. I apologise for the fact that the response has not come in the weeks since; it will be with the hon. Member and the APPG very shortly.

Answer from James Murray

My hon. Friend is right to point to the crisis and resilience fund as an important lifeline for families across this country. We work with local authorities to make sure that the funding gets to the frontline, because local councils best understand where the most acute pressures are in their areas. I am, however, happy to discuss this with him later.

Answer from Dan Tomlinson

The Government regularly assess whether to add energy-saving materials, including heat batteries, to the list of items covered by the current VAT relief, which is set to continue until March 2027. Any decisions would have to be announced by the Chancellor at a fiscal event, but I am happy to discuss the matter.

Answer from Rachel Reeves

My hon. Friend is a powerful advocate for the energy-intensive industries, and for manufacturing more widely. The supercharger is being extended from April this year. That will help 500 of the most energy-intensive businesses, and increase their discount from 60% to 90%—and next year, the BIC scheme comes in. Given what is happening in the middle east, we will continue to look closely at what we can do to help our energy-intensive industries.

Answer from Rachel Reeves

I agree with the hon. Gentleman. We are trying to de-escalate the conflict in the middle east, because if we can get vessels moving again through the strait of Hormuz, we will deal with a lot of these problems. I am working closely with both Lloyd's of London—I met its representatives yesterday—and my G7 colleagues to ensure that those vessels can get moving again. At the same time, I think that everybody has heard the stories in this Chamber and from our constituents about the problems of price gouging. We have to address that, and I have asked the CMA to look at it. Members across the House will have a chance tomorrow to set out their case to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury in more detail, so that we have all the information needed to make the case.

Answer from James Murray

My hon. Friend is right that we need councils across the country to use the extra funding that the Government have made available for local road maintenance to fill those potholes. Councils will have to publish their data online, so that local people can monitor, through a traffic light system available on gov.uk, how their council is performing.

Answer from Dan Tomlinson

I am always happy to show leadership, and this Government—and, I may say, previous Governments—have worked hard with international partners, both in the OECD and the UN, to do all we can to reduce tax avoidance and evasion by multinational companies. We continue to work with our partners in the UK and abroad to clamp down on tax dodging.

Answer from Rachel Reeves

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. The price gouging that we see is totally unacceptable, which is why we have already asked the Competition and Markets Authority to look at this. Whether we are talking about petrol at the pumps or heating oil, there is no excuse for any business to use this as an opportunity to rip off customers.

Answer from Rachel Reeves

Debt is lower in every year of the forecast that I published last week than it was in the plans that I set out in the Budget just back in November. The fiscal rules that I introduced in the October after I became Chancellor said, first of all, that we had to balance day-to-day spending with tax receipts, and that is important. They also stated that, subject to getting debt down as a share of GDP, we could invest in the things that can actually grow the economy. The right hon. Gentleman and I both know that growth is the best way to ensure that our public finances are sustainable, and that we improve living standards for working people.

Answer from Rachel Reeves

In the Budget last year, we introduced the Kernow growth fund to support the Cornish economy because of its specific strengths around critical minerals, defence and clean energy. The National Wealth Fund and the wider Government will do everything we can to unlock the huge opportunities that we know exist in Cornwall.

Answer from Rachel Reeves

I totally reject the premise of that question. The fiscal rules that I introduced as Chancellor have unlocked £120 billion for capital investment. We will be spending £50 billion more on day-to-day spending by the end of this Parliament, but at the same time, we are bringing debt down, bringing the deficit down, bringing inflation down, and bringing interest rates down for all our constituents. Economic stability is the way to grow our economy and make working people in all our constituencies better off, and if we forget that, it is ordinary working people who pay the price.