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Orders of the Day
Debate on the Address
[Sixth Day]
Order read for resuming adjourned debate on Question [17 November],
That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, as follows:
Question again proposed.
Most Gracious Sovereign,
We, Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, in Parliament assembled, beg leave to offer our humble thanks to Your Majesty for the Gracious Speech which Your Majesty has addressed to both Houses of Parliament.--[Dr. Jack Cunningham.]
The Economy
Madam Speaker: There will be a 15-minute limit on the speeches of Back Benchers who are called to speak in the debate. I have selected the amendment in the name of the Leader of the Opposition and, for the purpose of Division at 10 o'clock, that in the name of the leader of the Liberal Democrat party.
3.31 pm
Mr. Francis Maude (Horsham): I beg to move, as an amendment to the Address, at the end of the Question to add:
- "But humbly regret that the Gracious Speech contains no proposals to reverse the policies that have given Britain a spiralling burden of taxation and a huge rise in burdens on business, that it contains no proposals to reverse the decline in Britain's productivity growth or the recent fall in Britain's international competitiveness, and that it does nothing to ensure that the public accounts are honest and open, nor to prevent the Government from saying one thing and doing another; and call on the Government instead to adopt policies which will engineer a return to the golden economic legacy of enterprise, dynamism and flexibility left by the previous Government."
Madam Speaker: Order. Will hon. Members leaving the Chamber do so quietly, please? We are starting a most important debate.
Mr. Maude: To win the previous general election, Labour Members had to put to rest the distrust that people felt for them and that had kept them out of office for 18 years. They conducted a cynical and concerted campaign to allay the mistrust of taxpayers, business, savers and pensioners. They offered clear assurances on tax and regulation, but those assurances have been cynically broken. This Queen's Speech continues the betrayal.
Before the general election, the Prime Minister made a crucial pledge on tax. Labour knew that soliciting the British public's trust on tax was perhaps the single most important thing that it had to do. Therefore, the Prime Minister declared, hand on heart, that Labour had
Mr. Lindsay Hoyle (Chorley)
rose--
Mr. Barry Jones (Alyn and Deeside):
Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr. Maude:
I shall give way in a moment.
There have been no dips and no blips, just a sustained rise in tax throughout the Government's term of office. The ONS, the Library and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development--how many more independent authorities have to spell out the truth before the great Labour lie on tax will admit defeat?
Mr. Jones:
To facilitate the debate, will the right hon. Gentleman say whether he supports the minimum wage and the working families tax credit? He has never said yes or no, but it is about time that he stopped whingeing and gave us answers.
Mr. Maude:
Three days before the previous general election, Labour refused to say what half its policies were. I shall not announce everything today.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Gordon Brown):
Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr. Maude:
I shall give way to the Chancellor if he will deal with the issues that I am raising on the tax burden. Will he admit that the tax burden is rising? Is he able to cite any independent authority that supports the contention just made by the Prime Minister that the tax burden is falling? If he is able to cite one, he did not share the information with the Prime Minister.
Mr. Brown:
The tax burden is falling, from 37.4 to 36.8 per cent. Will the right hon. Gentleman now answer our question? Will he support the minimum wage and the working families tax credit? The Conservatives have had 30 months to look at the issue. Can they give us an answer--yes or no?
Mr. Maude:
I shall tell the right hon. Gentleman clearly. On the working families tax credit, we would not have abolished family credit and we think that it is wrong to extend means-tested benefits to people paying higher rate tax. The Prime Minister was right when he said at the election that social security bills should be cut, but they have increased by as much as health and education spending put together. As for the minimum wage, we shall want to see the employment effects.
I invited the Chancellor to say what independent authorities supported his contention, which he merely reasserted today, that taxes are falling. Significantly, he could produce no independent verification, so we shall take that as an admission that what we are saying, together with the OECD, the ONS and the House of Commons Library, is right--taxes are rising.
Mr. Brown:
I said that the tax burden is falling, from 37.4 to 36.8 per cent. Is it not time that we had an answer
Mr. Maude:
The Chancellor failed to answer the point. He merely reasserted what the Prime Minister said. He cannot cite any independent authority to support his view. The ONS figures show the position quarter by quarter. The tax burden has risen from 35.6 per cent. when Labour inherited responsibility for the economy from the Conservatives to 37.7 per cent. in the second quarter of 1999. The right hon. Gentleman knows that perfectly well. The Prime Minister admitted today that the only way in which the Government can massage the tax burden numbers down--still way above what they inherited--is by taking out the figures for the working families tax credit, which the Chancellor knows is in contradiction to accepted international accounting standards.
Mr. John Bercow (Buckingham):
Given his deserved reputation for generosity, will my right hon. Friend award at least one Brownie point to the hon. Member for Brent, East (Mr. Livingstone), who said in an interview on "On the Record", of which Labour Members should be constantly reminded, that, although the Government had not increased the top or standard rate of income tax, they had increased a lot of other taxes and that it would have been better to have told people honestly beforehand?
Mr. Maude:
We know now why the Government are so desperate to keep the hon. Member for Brent, East (Mr. Livingstone) at bay. He refuses to go along with the great Labour lie and insists on telling the truth.
When the OECD first showed that Britain had the fastest rising tax burden in Europe, the Chancellor described it as totally untrue. He then said that it was not the report that was untrue, but the media's reporting of it. The report says that taxes were higher in 1998 than in 1997. It says that they went up during Labour's first full year. Is the Chancellor still saying that that is totally untrue--yes or no?
Mr. Brown:
The right hon. Gentleman asked mewhat reports I can quote on taxation. I have a report commissioned by the Leader of the Opposition--the Nott report on the European Union. The shadow Chancellor has asked about the comparison of the British economy with others in Europe. The report says that Britain has a great deal to lose if statutory business tax rates are subject to extensive harmonisation, as our rates are relatively low:
Mr. Maude:
The fact that the Chancellor relies on a report to show something else illustrates how barren his cupboard is. He cannot dispute the central, crucial point that the tax burden has risen, and will continue to rise. The only way he can massage the figures is by fiddling them.
"no plans to increase tax at all".
The declaration was not even tucked away--there it was, front-page news, in a newspaper of record. It was no accident or slip of tongue. It was never retracted and never
rebutted, but it was not true. It was the first example of the great Labour lie, and still the Government do it; still they say that tax has fallen when it is rising. We know that tax is up by £40 billion. Now, the Office for National Statistics itself shows that tax has risen in each and every quarter since the Government came to power.
"Taxes are significantly higher in most EU countries than in the UK".
Now that I have answered the shadow Chancellor's question, will he answer mine? Will the Conservatives admit that the minimum wage, the working families tax credit and the new deal are good for Britain? If they do not, the Conservative party is more extreme than ever.
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