Commons
Committee Stage
3 February 2026
4 contributions
Finance (No. 2) Bill (Fifth sitting)
The shadow Exchequer Secretary invited the Economic Secretary to his constituency. Last week, he invited me to come on Valentine’s day to enjoy the bumper cars. I know the Economic Secretary is glad for the invite, but I am particularly glad for the one I received.
Turning to the matter at hand, cl…
Thank you. Burnley is a fantastic place to visit, and I hope to come before too long.
These clauses create the charge to CBAM, define the goods and emissions in scope, identify who is liable, and set out how the tax rate is calculated and how the relief operates. Together they form the substantive …
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Committee Stage
29 January 2026
50 contributions
Finance (No. 2) Bill (Fourth sitting)
It is a pleasure to speak under your chairship, Mrs Harris. I am very glad to see you in the Chair. Rather than running through these changes in detail, let me respond to some of the points that have been raised, because they are important and, in some cases, valid.
As a tax Minister, I am not goin…
We are confident that the exclusion drafted in the Bill is carefully targeted and will not have unintended implications by limiting the activities of legitimate tour operators. It is right to make this change, which will raise £700 million of tax revenue that the Government believe should already be…
+48 more contributions in this session
Commons
Committee Stage
29 January 2026
23 contributions
Finance (No. 2) Bill (Third sitting)
Clause 55 and schedule 10 will provide a mechanism to recover the winter fuel payment from those who are not eligible, to balance support for vulnerable pensioners with responsible use of taxpayer money. Historically, the winter fuel payment has been near universal for pensioners over state pension …
I thank the hon. Members for North West Norfolk and for Maidenhead for their remarks and my hon. Friend the Member for Burnley for his enjoyable intervention.
In response to the point made by the hon. Member for North West Norfolk, we believe that total income is a reasonable way of assessing incom…
+21 more contributions in this session
Commons
Proceedings
19 January 2026
46 contributions
Business Rates: Retail, Hospitality and Leisure
Colleagues will have heard what the Prime Minister and the Chancellor have said on this matter in recent days. I will not add further comments on the specifics in responding to this urgent question. When there are further comments to be made, I am sure they will be made in the usual way.
At the Bud…
The shadow Chancellor said that I was dragged to the House, but that is very much not the case; I am very happy to take questions from him and from Conservative and Government Members.
+44 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
12 January 2026
45 contributions
Finance (No. 2) Bill
It is a pleasure to open this first day of Committee debate on the Finance (No. 2) Bill. This was set to be the biggest economic moment of the day, but my moment in the limelight has sadly been blown off course by the riveting news that the former Member for Stratford-on-Avon has defected to Reform …
I thank the right hon. Member for giving me time to top up my glass of water—and for his intervention. The Government have been very clear in our approach since we took office. We needed to raise revenue to fund public services, and we have been consistent in our objectives in that regard. We also n…
+43 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
7 January 2026
6 contributions
Rural Fuel Duty Relief
It is a pleasure to speak under your chairship, Ms Furniss. I am grateful to the hon. Member for North Devon (Ian Roome) for securing this debate and speaking so passionately in support of rural communities and the people in his constituency, who I know he has much honour in representing. I thank hi…
I note, as I am sure others in the Chamber will, just how forensic is the hon. Member’s understanding of some of the small businesses in his constituency. That is to be very much commended. If he would like to write to me on that point, I would certainly like to raise it with HMRC. Of course, it is …
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Statutory Instrument
6 January 2026
4 contributions
The Corporation Tax Act 2010 (Part 8C) (Amendment) Regulations 2025
I beg to move,
That the Committee has considered the Corporation Tax Act 2010 (Part 8C) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 (S.I. 2025, No. 1253).
It is a pleasure to serve with you as Chair, Ms Lewell. The regulations before the Committee today amend part 8C of the Corporation Tax Act 2010. These change…
I thank the right hon. Member for North West Hampshire for his contribution, and for sharing his knowledge and expertise on this matter and many other matters relating to tax and economic policy.
There are two separate changes. The first, as he points out, is more a clarification to ensure that thi…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
5 January 2026
71 contributions
Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief
I thank the shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for asking this question. I wish a happy new year to her and to all Members of the House.
The reforms announced in December go further to protect more farms and businesses while maintaining the core principle that more va…
The Government announced the change in December because we had continued to listen to the representatives of family businesses and the farming community. I note that the National Farmers’ Union and others have welcomed the change, which will increase the threshold from £1 million to £2.5 million.
I…
+69 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
17 December 2025
4 contributions
National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for bringing the Front Benchers on both sides to heel at just the right time, before I make the closing remarks. It is a pleasure to close this Second Reading debate, and I thank all Members on both sides of the House for their contributions. I thank my hon. Friend t…
I happily give way to my hon. Friend.
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
16 December 2025
19 contributions
Finance (No. 2) Bill
I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.
On 26 November, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor delivered her second Budget at this Dispatch Box. This was a Budget to build strong foundations and a secure future for our country, with no cuts to capital spending—which I am sure would hav…
I am sure that the right hon. Gentleman will have read the Office for Budget Responsibility’s report—we had a bit of extra time to read it this year. He will know that according to that report, investment—both overall, whole-economy investment and private sector investment—has outpaced the OBR’s for…
+17 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
10 December 2025
8 contributions
Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer
I thank the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, my right hon. Friend the Member for Ealing North (James Murray), for his earlier remarks, which framed today’s debate rather well. As he set out, we have here an Opposition day debate, a chance for Members to really interrogate Government policy, to chall…
I am going to make some progress, if that is okay, because my hon. Friend will know that many other Members have not yet spoken and I might give way to them later.
It is worth recounting just how many times Conservative Members have chosen in the last few days to major on process rather than policy…
+6 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
9 December 2025
6 contributions
Topical Questions
Let us be clear: nobody’s business rate bills are trebling. If businesses come to talk to us about increases in their rateable values because of the unwinding of the effect of the pandemic, it is important that all of us, on both sides of the House, are clear that the Government have put in support …
At the Budget, we came forward with a revision to the policy to support people whose spouses have already passed away, and we made the allowance transferable between the spouses. That change will reduce the number of farms affected by the agricultural property relief changes from about 500—as was es…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
9 December 2025
7 contributions
Hospitality Sector and SMEs
Small and medium-sized businesses are vital to our economy and our communities, and the Government’s small business strategy, published in July this year, sets out our approach to supporting them. As temporary pandemic business rates relief ends and the new revaluation comes into effect, we are supp…
If I had a such a charming Member of Parliament, I would also be as happy as his constituents in Skipton. I thank him for his question. We considered the support really carefully in advance of the Budget decisions announced last month. There is a challenge in that the revaluation, which was instigat…
+5 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
9 December 2025
6 contributions
Income Tax and National Insurance Threshold Freeze
The Chancellor was clear at the Budget that we are taking the fair and necessary decisions on tax to do all we can to ensure that the contribution of working people is kept as low as possible. We have reduced the gap between taxes on income from assets and on income from work, stopped the unfairness…
I am a bit confused by that question. The hon. Member said there was one word that was important. Let me give him one figure: £150. That is the amount we are taking off energy bills next year to help people to deal with the cost of living in the here and now. We are supporting people because of the …
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
12 November 2025
13 contributions
Taxes
I thank all right hon. and hon. Members for their contributions today, as well as my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury for his opening remarks, and the hon. Member for Grantham and Bourne (Gareth Davies) for summing up for the Opposition. He was Exchequer Secretary to the Treasur…
We already have an intervention, so here we go.
+11 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
11 November 2025
4 contributions
Alcohol Duty: UK Wine Sector
I am glad to be serving under your chairmanship, Mr Turner. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Farnham and Bordon (Gregory Stafford) for securing this important debate, and for speaking so eloquently in support of the UK wine sector. It is fantastic to hear him speak about the sector’s growth, as …
The hon. Gentleman might think that some of the OBR’s assumptions are wrong. I encourage Members, if they have evidence, facts or figures that they want to put to the OBR on the elasticities—as I believe it is called when a tax rate is changed and has an impact on consumption—to send them in. The Go…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
4 November 2025
11 contributions
Topical Questions
The House will be aware that the 5p cut to fuel duty is set to expire in March 2026, and as with other tax policies, the Chancellor will make a final decision on fuel duty rates at the Budget in the context of the public finances.
Under the last Government, time and again, council tax went up and up and the funding for local councils went down and down. We have left councils on their knees, struggling when it comes to special educational needs, temporary accommodation and funding for homelessness and adult social care. This G…
+9 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
4 November 2025
3 contributions
Remote Betting and Gaming Duty: Horseracing
We consulted on measures to simplify gambling duty and improve compliance. The responses from the consultation have now been analysed, and a response will be set out at the autumn Budget. We recognise the social and cultural value of horseracing, which is why we are listening to the horseracing sect…
My hon. Friend is a strong advocate for the horseracing industry and the jobs and economic activity in her constituency. I was glad to meet her just last week to discuss the topic she raises. As part of the consultation, there has been engagement with the horseracing industry to identify any potenti…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
4 November 2025
3 contributions
Scotch Whisky Industry
The Government value our world-leading distilling industry and recognise that the spirits sector has found recent economic conditions challenging because of both tariff uncertainty and high energy costs. The Scotch industry is set to be among the biggest beneficiaries from the landmark trade deal th…
My hon. Friend is a strong advocate for the businesses and industry in her constituency and in the areas nearby. As she is aware, the vast majority of Scotch is exported, so it is not subject to UK excise taxes. Nevertheless, the Government appreciate the importance of the domestic market to Scotch …
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
4 November 2025
5 contributions
HMRC Customer Service
HMRC is committed to improving day-to-day performance and the customer experience. Call waiting times in the first quarter of this year were half as long as in the same period last year, which is good news for customers. At the 2025 spending review, the Government allocated £500 million to make HMRC…
My hon. Friend is a very strong advocate for Telford, both for jobs in the private sector and for those in the public sector that we are able to support in his community. I am glad to hear that he, like me, is proud of HMRC’s Telford campus and wants to see it play a key role in improving customer e…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
4 November 2025
7 contributions
Agricultural and Business Property Relief: Impact on Farmers
Ministers from Government Departments have met organisations including the National Farmers’ Union, the Tenant Farmers Association, the Country Land and Business Association, the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers, the Ulster Farmers’ Union, and the NFU in Scotland and Wales. I also met far…
I thank my hon. Friend for his question—he is a strong advocate in this place for his constituency and for farming communities. Just last week, he made the point to me that our farmers and farming communities are crucial to economic and social and cultural life. Along with other Labour colleagues fr…
+5 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
28 October 2025
6 contributions
Family Farming in Northern Ireland
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford, for my first time speaking from this position in this fantastic Westminster Hall. I congratulate the hon. Member for Upper Bann (Carla Lockhart) on securing the debate, and she spoke with passion and with personal insight from her own fam…
I will happily look at any report any Member recommends I read, so I encourage the hon. Gentleman to send it my way.
Since we took office, the Government have taken a range of decisions to seek to restore economic stability and raise revenue to help support our public services, because it was vital…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
14 October 2025
8 contributions
Energy Profits Levy: North-east Scotland
Let me first congratulate the hon. Member for Gordon and Buchan (Harriet Cross) on securing this debate. I thank Members from all parts of the House for their contributions so far; I am sure there will be more interventions in the coming 15 minutes. I say to the hon. Member that it is clear how stro…
If the hon. Member would have preferred energy prices to stay at their pandemic levels, and money to continue to flow in from the EPL rather than more people throughout the country receiving lower energy bills, that is, of course, a view that she is welcome to hold.
As I was saying, the levy has ra…
+6 more contributions in this session