Topical Questions

Sorry, Mr Speaker, bear with me. [Laughter.] This Government are committed to growing the economy, and we were the fastest-growing economy in the G7 in the first half of this year. We have done three trade deals and cut interest rates five times—and I did not even need my notes to remember all that.

New polling by the Trades Union Congress shows that the public overwhelmingly support packages of taxes on wealth, on banks and on gambling companies. It also found that 74% of 2024 Labour voters who are now leaning towards Reform back those measures. Will the Chancellor commit to protecting working people from higher taxes on their income by ensuring that wealth pays its fair share, rather than imposing cuts and regressive measures?

In the Budget last year, we got rid of the non-dom tax status, we put up capital gains tax, we started treating carried interest as income—not as capital gains—we introduced new taxes on private jets, we put VAT and business rates on private school fees and, of course, we changed the rules around agricultural property relief so that people who have farms worth more than £3 million will pay inheritance tax, although at half the rate that everybody else does. We took a number of measures last year to ensure that the wealthy pay their fair share.

Some countries around the world do have a wealth tax, but countries like Switzerland, for example, do not have inheritance tax. I think it would be a mistake to get rid of inheritance tax and replace it with an unproven tax without knowing what revenue it would bring in.

I call the shadow Minister.

May I welcome the new members of the Treasury team, with their courage in joining it? I also do so for the shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Central Devon (Sir Mel Stride), who cannot be with us today. May I particularly welcome the new Chief Secretary, who replaces the old Chief Secretary, the right hon. Member for Bristol North West (Darren Jones), who is now another new Chief Secretary?

Earlier this year, Labour made a mess of its welfare reform proposals because they were rushed out to help plug a £5 billion gap in public finances. The result was chaos and a humiliating reversal for the Chancellor. Welfare spending is too high—it does need reform—and today the Leader of the Opposition has pledged Conservative support to help the Government to develop a thoughtful plan on welfare reform. Will the Chancellor take up this offer of support?

Order. I remind the shadow Minister that it is topicals for everybody.

While the Leader of the Opposition is talking down the British economy, we are setting our sights on growing the economy and making working people better off. No, we will not be taking any advice from the Leader of the Opposition, who was part of a Government who crashed the economy, sending mortgage rates spiralling and putting pensions in peril.

I fear that the Chancellor’s dismissive response fails to acknowledge either the serious state of public finances or the serious difficulties of her own position. Having extended economic uncertainty until just before Christmas, will the Chancellor at least confirm that the November Budget will include savings from welfare reform?

In the Universal Credit Act 2025, which passed before the summer recess, we reformed the universal credit system to reduce the gap between what people on the health element and those on the standard element got. That reform will help more people into work, as well as the £1 billion package of measures to help people—particularly those who have been long-term unemployed—get back to work. [Interruption.] The hon. Member for North West Norfolk (James Wild) says that that is spending. Actually, getting people into work and paying taxes, as well as paying less on benefits, is good for the economy and good for those people who get back into work.

The Government are investing £100 million to improve hospice facilities and a further £26 million of revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices this year. That is the biggest investment in hospices in a generation. Details about the funding arrangements for 2026-27 will be set out by the Department of Health and Social Care in due course.

As set out at the last Budget, we will introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with rateable values below £500,000. The relief that we inherited from the previous Government was due to end entirely in April of this year. We extended it for one year to give us time to legislate for permanently lower tax cuts for pubs across this country.

I thank my hon. Friend for the work that she is doing to help grow the economy in all parts of the country, including Kent and Sussex. The Government have made significant commitments on the expansion of international rail services, and we are working closely with the German and Swiss Governments on direct links between our countries. Work is under way to understand the prospects for expansion of the number of services on the channel tunnel rail link. I absolutely agree that new opportunities at Ashford and Ebbsfleet have huge potential to help grow the economy, giving more opportunities for people in those communities to access good jobs and other leisure opportunities.

I absolutely recognise that businesses face challenges, but they also have lower borrowing costs because of the five cuts in interest rates, which the Bank of England was able to make because of the stability that we have returned to the economy. It would be good to have a bit more honesty from political parties. If they oppose the national insurance increase, then they oppose the extra money for the national health service. If they stood up and said that, they might get a little more respect and credibility.

My hon. Friend is a proud advocate for his constituents in Macclesfield and is doing great work to bring more investment into the local area. Life sciences is one of the eight sectors that this Government, as part of our modern industrial strategy, are championing. That is why we put record investment into research and development in the spending review earlier this year, and why we are supporting our universities to help create more spinouts to ensure that we can have more home-grown British businesses, as well as backing the big businesses, such as AstraZeneca, that operate in his constituency.

There is a consultation going on and I welcome the hon. Gentleman and others feeding into that. However, if he is serious about backing the builders and not the blockers, why do the Liberal Democrats fail to support the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, both here and in the other House?

As the sixth richest economy in the world, we should not have 4.5 million children living in poverty. The former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has proposed raising £3 billion by looking at reforming gambling taxation. Will the Chancellor consider undertaking those reforms so that we can end the epidemic of child poverty?

The issue of child poverty is incredibly important to this Government, and the child poverty taskforce will report later this year. I would like to add that this is an important personal issue for me: I grew up in family with very little money and I received free school meals as a child. For those children across the country who are living in poverty right now, I hope that they and their parents know that this Government are on their side and that we will do all we can to invest in our welfare system, in our economy and in ensuring that more people can get into work so that we can get poverty down, rather than have it rising as it did under the previous Government.

Hiking excise duty by 14% over the past two years was expected to raise £600 million for the Treasury in duty on spirits, but it has actually cost £600 million. With 70% of spirits produced in Scotland, this is nothing short of a tax on Scotland. The Chancellor has 77 days to back Scotch, support Scotland and sustain growth in this iconic and entrepreneurial sector. Will she therefore commit to reversing the Government’s attacks on a great Scottish success story by bringing down whisky duty in the Budget?

Over 90% of Scotch is exported and is therefore not affected by the measures that the hon. Member has just mentioned, but it will be affected by being the biggest beneficiary of the trade deal with India, which is set to reduce tariffs from 150% to 75% initially, and then to 40% over time. This is what a Government getting on with backing the Scotch industry looks like.

I have been campaigning for a long time on the reinstatement of tax-free shopping for foreign visitors, particularly those from Europe. Recent evidence from business suggests that we are losing £6 billion of income from this potential change, and £500 million in extra VAT generated from those tourists. Will the Chancellor undertake to look at this matter again? The potential exists for those high-spending tourists to benefit our hard-pressed hospitality industry, and that could be a quick win-win for this country.

This matter was looked at by the previous Government several times, and I understand that there was pressure for their Ministers to look at it again. They did so, and they came to the same conclusion, which was not to proceed with reintroducing it.

The Bellfield interchange is situated on the A77. Its location has significant strategic importance in the south-west trunk road network, connecting to the A71, the A75 and the A76, making it critical for transport and economic connectivity across the Ayrshire region and beyond. East Ayrshire council had previously submitted a bid to the levelling-up fund under the previous Tory Government to upgrade the interchange, but it was rejected. Given the Chancellor’s recent announcement of £66 million of UK Government investment in Scottish transport infrastructure, will my hon. Friend join me in calling on the Scottish Government to invest in and agree to vital infrastructure projects such as upgrading the Belfield interchange, to support the Ayrshire growth deal, to unlock growth, and to deliver jobs and prosperity across the region?

I agree with my hon. Friend that it is critical that the Scottish Government use the funding they have received to invest in vital infrastructure projects that support growth and put more money in people’s pockets.

I am sorry, but we have to move on to the urgent question.