PARLIAMENTARY REPORT
UNITED KINGDOM
Above: The Acting Leader of the Opposition, Rt Hon. Harriet Harman MP,
to two children per household, reducing the “benefits cap” from £26,000 to £23,000 in London and £20,000 in the rest of the country, reducing the income threshold for tax credits from £6,420 to £3,850 a year and removing universal credit work allowances from non-disabled claimants without children. Concluding his statement, the Chancellor said: “This is the first Conservative Budget for 18 years. It was the Conservatives who first protected working people in the mills. It was the Conservatives who took great steps towards state education. It was the Conservatives who introduced equal votes for women. It was the Conservatives who gave working people the right to buy. So, of course, it is now the Conservatives who are transforming welfare and introducing the national living wage. This is the party for the working people of Britain.”
Responding for the
Opposition the acting Leader of the Labour Party, Rt Hon. Harriet Harman MP, argued that the Chancellor’s package of tax credit changes and living wage would actually leave “low- paid working people” worse off. She criticised the Government for “ducking” decisions on infrastructure – such as whether there should be a third runway at Heathrow, for postponing planned railway enhancements and for taking other measures that she argued could improve UK productivity. She concluded: “Before the Chancellor makes more promises, he has to deliver on those he has already made. He says that he stands up for working people; what he does is make them worse off. He says he has a long-term economic plan; what he does is duck the big infrastructure projects. He talks one nation, but many of the measures announced today will make this country more divided. The hopes of millions of working people are more important than his hopes of being the future Tory leader.”
234 | The Parliamentarian | 2015: Issue Three
Speaking as Chair of the Treasury Committee Rt Hon. Andrew Tyrie MP (Con) drew attention to four economic risks that he felt could threaten growth – the potential for the crisis in Greece to have an impact on the UK economy, the possible of impact of a Chinese stock market crash, the impact of domestic interest rate rises and the high level of personal debt in the economy. He also addressed the need to “unwind” the Bank of England’s quantitative easing programme and pressed for Parliament to have a role in scrutinising whether that programme made a loss or profit. Approaching his conclusion, he criticised the Government for “tying its hands” through pre- election pledges on taxes and spending. He said: “Almost half of public expenditure is now ring-fenced by pledges to protect or increase spending on health, schools, foreign aid, pensions and child benefit, and that, of course, excludes the defence announcement [that the Government would spend 2% of national GDP on defence each year] that we have just heard. While it is understandable on political grounds, it could make economic management considerably more difficult in the years ahead.”
Speaking for the Scottish National Party, Stewart Hosie MP, also focused on the UK’s poor productivity record. He observed: “I hope the [Chancellor’s] plans to tackle productivity are rather more successful than the plans to tackle the deficit and the debt and borrowing, where he failed to meet every single one of the targets he set for himself.” The focus on welfare and wages in the Budget debate set the tone for the early weeks of the Parliament, with an internal Labour Party debate about whether to vote against the
Government’s Welfare Reform and Work Bill becoming a key issue in their leadership contest. In the end, all four candidates voted for a “reasoned amendment” that would have prevented the Bill having its second reading, with Jeremy Corbyn also voting against the second reading itself once the amendment had been defeated.
English Votes for English Laws (EVEL) The “West Lothian question” has been a running debate in British politics since the 1970s. The question, posed by the then Member for West Lothian, Tam Dalyell MP (Lab), asks why should Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish MPs be able to vote on matters that only effect England when English MPs cannot vote on the same issues when they relate to Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland because they have been devolved.
Making a statement to the House on 2 July 2015, the Leader of the House, Rt Hon. Chris Grayling MP (Con), said he intended to “make a real start in addressing these concerns”. His proposals were intended to ensure that a Bill, provision in a Bill or piece of secondary legislation relating only to England could only be approved if it were supported by a majority of English MPs. The proposal would, in effect, require a “double majority” to support such measures – a majority of all Members and a majority of English Members. Concluding, the Leader of the House said: “Today we are answering the West Lothian question and recognising the voice of England in our great union of nations. This change is only a part of the wider devolution package, but it is a vital next step in ensuring that our constitutional settlement is fair and fit for the future.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104