The 2022-23 Scottish Budget should be supported by MSPs to help accelerate economic recovery, tackle the climate emergency and reduce entrenched inequalities, according to Finance Secretary Kate Forbes.
It is the Scottish Government’s first Budget in partnership with the Scottish Green Party.
Speaking ahead of the Stage One Budget Bill debate in Parliament today, Ms Forbes said: “Our bold and ambitious spending plans are focused on supporting our key priorities, ensuring no one and no region is left behind.
“It targets resources towards low income households, invests in initiatives to end Scotland’s contribution to climate change and fundamentally, provides much needed investment to bolster our economic recovery.
“Recognising the severe impacts of the pandemic, £18 billion will support health boards and accelerate the recovery of vital health and social care services. Significant funding is also being provided to support the next steps in the single greatest public health reform since the establishment of the NHS – the creation of a new National Care Service.
“This Budget also funds our key priority of tackling child poverty and inequality, by targeting over £4 billion in social security payments, including £197 million to double the game-changing Scottish Child Payment from April 2022.
“Green recovery and economic transformation are central to our spending plans and an investment of at least £2 billion in infrastructure initiatives will support green jobs and accelerate efforts to become a net-zero economy, in addition to £150 million to create an active travel nation.
“Despite increased financial pressures, we are also continuing to treat councils fairly and we are providing a real terms increase of over 5% to local authority budgets for the coming year – despite cuts to Scotland’s overall budget by the UK Government.
“It cannot go unsaid that despite the ambition of this Budget, it comes amidst an extremely challenging fiscal backdrop and difficult decisions have had to be made. With uncertainty surrounding the cost of living, sky high energy prices, the ongoing impacts of the pandemic and the fallout from Brexit,
“I urge MSPs across the chamber to support this Budget and help us secure the way forward to becoming a fairer, greener, more prosperous country.”
The SNP budget is certain to be passed with Green Party support.
UK Government will provide a record £41 billion per year to the Scottish Government.
Scotland will also benefit from UK-wide support for people and businesses, green jobs and investment to level up opportunities.
Targeted funding will support local projects across Scotland, including road and infrastructure improvements, investment in local communities and funding for businesses.
The Chancellor today announced Barnett-based funding for the Scottish Government of £41 billion per year – delivering the largest annual funding settlement, in real terms, since devolution over 20 years ago. This includes a £4.6 billion per year spending boost – as part of a Budget and Spending Review that delivers a stronger economy for the whole of the UK.
Rishi Sunak set out a plan to deliver the priorities of the British people by investing in stronger public services, levelling up opportunity, driving business growth and helping working families with the cost of living.
As part of the significant spending plans, Scotland will receive an average of £41 billion per year in Barnett-based funding representing a 2.4% rise in the Scottish Government’s budget each year. The Scottish Government will now receive around £126 per person for every £100 per person of equivalent UK Government spending in England.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak said: “This is a budget for the whole of the UK. We’re focused on what matters most to the British people – the health of their loved ones, access to world-class public services, jobs for the future and tackling climate change.
“By providing record funding, the Scottish Government can tackle backlogs in the NHS and ensure people in Scotland get the support they need as we recover from the pandemic.
“The UK Government continues to level up opportunities across all parts of the UK, with investments in green jobs and high-speed internet access for thousands more homes in Scotland through Project Gigabit.
Scottish Secretary, Alister Jack said: “The Budget delivers for people in Scotland, and right across the UK.
“The Scottish Government’s block grant, boosted by an additional £4.6 billion a year due to spending in England, means that the funding for the Scottish Government is the highest it has ever been.
“It demonstrates our commitment to level up right across the UK. The Budget ushers in an era of real devolution, ensuring money is spent on projects that matter most to people in Scotland.
“The UK Government made a clear commitment to maintain Scotland’s level of funding following the vote to leave the EU, and we have delivered on that promise. We are taking decisions in the UK rather than in Brussels and dealing directly with local authorities who know their communities best.
“From the Knoydart community pub, to Dumbarton town centre and the Granton Gasworks – all these projects will bring real, visible improvements for local communities. Special funding for Glasgow’s iconic Burrell Collection and Extreme E will help drive economic growth and jobs on the back of culture and tourism.
“The continuation of the freeze on spirit duty will be a boost to Scotland’s thriving whisky industry.
“Over the past 18 months the UK Government has been focused on protecting people’s livelihoods, their incomes, and their jobs. We now need to look to the future, to build a stronger economy for people in all parts of the UK.”
Targeted funding in Scotland
On top of the record funding for the Scottish Government, Scotland will benefit from the UK Government’s commitment to invest in people, jobs, communities and businesses. Targeted projects in Scotland include:
Over £200 million to be invested in Scotland to boost the post-pandemic recovery and enhance the Scottish economy, including:
£172 million of the Levelling Up Fund for 8 important projects including the redevelopment of Inverness Castle, the much-needed renovation of the Westfield Roundabout in Falkirk, and a new marketplace in Aberdeen City Centre.
Over £1.07 million of the Community Ownership Fund for five projects in Whithorn, Inverie, New Galloway, Kinloch Rannoch and Callander that are protecting valued community assets.
Providing £1.9 billion for farmers and land managers and £42.2 million to support fisheries.
Up to £1 million, to support the delivery of a ‘green’ formula E race showcasing Hebridean Green Hydrogen to a global audience.
Expanding the existing trade and investment hub in Edinburgh to grow trade for Scotland.
Up to £3 million to bring world-class art exhibitions to the Burrell Collection in the heart of Glasgow.
UK-Wide Support
As a result of our strong United Kingdom, Scotland will benefit from:
A 50% cut in domestic Air Passenger Duty for flights between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and an additional £22.5 million of new funding in anticipation of the Union Connectivity
Review recommendations where we will work with the devolved administrations on improving UK-wide connectivity.
New funding for the British Business Bank to establish a £150 million fund in Scotland, helping Scottish businesses to get the financing they need.
The new £1.4 billion Global Britain Investment Fund which will support investment directly into Scotland.
A record £20 billion by 2024-25 in Research and Development supporting innovation in Scotland.
Confirmation that total funding will at a minimum match the size of EU Funds in Scotland, each year through the over £2.6bn UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which will invest in skills, people, businesses, and communities, including through ‘Multiply’, a new adult numeracy programme that will provide people across Scotland with essential numeracy skills.
An increase to the National Minimum Wage of £9.50 an hour, with young people and apprentices also seeing increases.
Freezes to fuel duty for the twelfth consecutive year and a freeze on Vehicle Excise Duty for heavy goods vehicles.
A freeze on alcohol duty, which will mean that whisky benefits from the lowest real terms tax rate since 1918.
BUDGET REACTION
Rachel Reeves MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, responding to the Budget, said:Families struggling with the cost of living crisis, businesses hit by a supply chain crisis, those who rely on our schools and our hospitals and our police – they won’t recognise the world that the Chancellor is describing. They will think that he is living in a parallel universe.
The Chancellor in this budget, has decided to cut taxes for banks. So, Madame Deputy Speaker, at least the bankers on short haul flights sipping champagne will be cheering this budget today.
And the arrogance, after taking £6 billion out of the pockets of some of the poorest people in this country, expecting them to cheer today for £2 billion given to compensate.
In the long story of this Parliament, never has a Chancellor asked the British people to pay so much for so little.
Time and again today, the Chancellor compared the investments that he is making to the last decade. But who was in charge in this lost decade? They were.
So, let’s just reflect on the choices the Chancellor has made today – the highest sustained tax burden in peacetime.
And who is going to pay for it?
It’s not international giants like Amazon – the Chancellor has found a tax deduction for them. It’s not property speculators – they’ve already pocketed a stamp duty cut. And it’s clearly not the banks – even though bankers’ bonuses are set to hit a record high this year.
Instead, the Chancellor is loading the burden on working people. A National Insurance Tax rise – on working people. A Council Tax hike – on working people. And no support today for working people with VAT on their gas and electricity bills.
And what are working people getting in return? A record NHS waiting list, with no plan to clear it, no way to see a GP and still having to sell their home to pay for social care.
Community policing nowhere to be seen, a court backlog leaving victims without justice and almost every rape going unprosecuted.
A growing gap in results and opportunities between children at private and state schools. Soaring number of pupils in supersize classes and no serious plan to catch up on learning stolen by the virus. £2 million announced today – a pale imitation of the £15 billion catch up fund that the Prime Minister’s own education tsar said was needed. No wonder, Madame Deputy Speaker, that he resigned.
Now the Chancellor talks about world class public services. Tell that to a pensioner waiting for a hip operation. Tell that to a young woman waiting to go to court to get justice. Tell that to a mum and dad, waiting for their child the mental health support they need.
And the Chancellor says today that he has realised what a difference early years spending makes. I would just say to the Chancellor, has he ever heard of the Sure Start programme that this Tory government has cut?
And why are we in this position? Why are British businesses being stifled by debt while Amazon gets tax deductions?
Why are working people being asked to pay more tax and put up with worse services?
Why are billions of pounds in taxpayer money being funnelled to friends and donors of the Conservative party while millions of families are having £20 a week taken off them?
Madame Deputy Speaker, why can’t Britain do better than this?
The Government will always blame others. It’s business’ fault, it’s the EU’s fault, it’s the public’s fault.
The global problems, the same old excuses. But the blunt reality is this – working people are being asked to pay more for less for three simple reasons:
Economic mismanagement,
An unfair tax system,
And wasteful spending.
Each of these problems is down to 11 years of Conservative failure and they shake their heads but the cuts to our public services have cut them to the bone. And while the Chancellor and the Prime Minister like to pretend they are different, the Budget they’ve delivered today will only make things worse.
The solution starts with growth. The Government is caught in a bind of its own making. Low growth inexorably leads to less money for public services, unless taxes rise.
Under the Conservatives, Britain has become a low growth economy. Let’s look at the last decade – the Tories have grown the economy at just 1.8 percent a year.
If we had grown at the same rate as other advanced economies, we could have spent over £30bn to invest in public services without needing to raise taxes.
Let’s compare this to the last Labour Government. Even taking into account the global financial crisis, Labour grew the economy much faster – 2.3 percent a year.
If the Tories matched our record, we would have spent £30bn more on public services without needing to raise taxes.
It could not be clearer. The Conservatives are now the party of high taxation, because the Conservatives are the party of low growth.
The Office for Budget Responsibility confirmed this today – that we will be back to anaemic growth. The OBR said that by the end of this Parliament, the UK economy will be growing by just 1.3%. Which is hardly the plan for growth that the Chancellor boasted about today, hardly a ringing endorsement of his announcements.
Under the Tory decade we have had ow growth and there’s not much growth to look forward to.
The economy has been weakened by the pandemic but also by the Government’s mishandling of it.
Responding to the virus has been a huge challenge. Governments around the world have taken on debt, but our situation is worse than other countries.
Worse, because our economy was already fragile going into the crisis. Too much inequality, too much insecure work, too little resilience in our public services.
And worse, because the Prime Minister dithered and delayed, against scientific advice – egged on by the Chancellor – we ended up facing harsher and longer restrictions than other countries.
So, as well as having the highest death toll in Europe, Britain suffered the worst economic hit of any major economy.
The Chancellor now boasts that we are growing faster than others, but that’s because we fell the furthest.
And whilst the US and others have already bounced back to pre-pandemic levels, the UK hasn’t. Our economy is set to be permanently weaker.
On top of all of that, the Government is now lurching from crisis to crisis. People avoiding journeys because they can’t fill up their petrol tank is not good for the economy. People spending less because the cost of the weekly shop has exploded is not good for the economy. And British exporters facing more barriers than their European competitors because of the deal that this government did is not good for the economy.
If this were a plan, it would be economic sabotage. When the Prime Minister isn’t blagging that this chaos is part of his cunning plan, he says he’s “not worried about inflation.”
Tell that to families struggling with rising gas and electricity bills, with rising prices of petrol at the pump and with rising food prices. He’s out of touch, he’s out of ideas and he’s left working people out of pocket.
Madame Deputy Speaker, Conservative mismanagement has made the fiscal situation tight. And when times are tight it’s even more important to ensure that taxes are fair, that taxpayers get value for money. But the Government fails on both fronts.
We have a grossly unfair tax system with the burden heaped on working people.
Successive budgets have raised council tax, income tax and now National Insurance. But taxes on those with the broadest shoulders, those who earn their income from stocks, shares, and property portfolios have been left largely untouched.
Businesses based on the high street are the lifeblood of our communities and often the first venture for entrepreneurs.
But despite what the Chancellor has said today, businesses will still be held back by punitive and unfair business rates. The Government has failed to tax online giants and watered-down global efforts to create a level playing field.
And just when we need every penny of public money to make a difference, we have a government that is the by-word for waste, cronyism and vanity projects.
We’ve had £37 billion for a test and trace system that the spending watchdog says, ‘treats taxpayers like an ATM cash machine’. A yacht for ministers, a fancy paint job for the Prime Minister’s plane and a TV studio for Conservative Party broadcasts, which seems to have morphed into the world’s most expensive home cinema.
£3.5bn of Government contracts awarded to friends and donors of the Conservative Party, a £190 million loan to a company employing the PMs former Chief of Staff, £30 million to the former Health Secretary’s pub landlord. And every single one of those cheques signed by the Chancellor.
And now he comes to ordinary working people and asks them to pay more. More than they have ever been asked to pay before and at the same time, to put up with worse public services. All because of his economic mismanagement, his unfair tax system and his wasteful spending.
There are of course some welcome measures in this budget today, as there are in any budget.
Labour welcomes the increase in the National Minimum Wage, though the Government needs to go further and faster. If they had backed Labour’s position of an immediate rise to at least £10 an hour then a full-time worker on the minimum wage would be in line for an extra £1,000 a year.
Ending the punitive public sector pay freeze is welcome, but we know how much this Chancellor likes his smoke and mirrors. So, we’ll be checking the books to make sure the money is there for a real terms pay rise.
Labour also welcomes the Government’s decision to reduce the Universal Credit taper rate, as we have consistently called for. But the system has got so far out of whack that even after this reduction, working people on universal credit still face a higher marginal tax rate than the Prime Minister. And those unable to work – through no fault of their own – still face losing over £1000 a year. And for families who go out to work everyday but don’t get government benefits, on an average wage, who have to fill up their car with petrol to get to work, who do that weekly shop and who see their gas and electricity prices go up – this budget today does absolutely nothing for them.
We have a cost-of-living crisis.
The Government has no coherent plan to help families to cope with rising energy prices. Whilst we welcome the action taken today on Universal Credit, millions will struggle to pay the bills this winter.
The Government has done nothing to help people with their gas and electricity bills with that cut in VAT receipts as Labour has called for. A cut that is possible because we are outside the European Union and can be funded by the extra VAT receipts that have been experienced in the last few months.
Working people are left out in the cold while the Government hammers them with tax rises.
National Insurance is a regressive tax on working people, it is a tax on jobs.
Under the Chancellor’s plans, a landlord renting out dozens of properties won’t pay a penny more. But their tenants, in work, will face tax rises of hundreds of pounds a year. And he is failing to tackle another huge issue of the day. Adapting to climate change.
Adapting to climate change presents opportunities – more Jobs, lower bills and cleaner air. But only if we act now and at scale. According to the OBR, failure to act will mean public sector debt explodes later, to nearly 300% of GDP.
The only way to be a prudent and responsible Chancellor is to be a Green Chancellor. To invest in the transition to a zero-carbon economy and give British businesses a head-start in the industries of the future.
But with no mention of climate in his conference speech and the most passing of references today, we are burdened with a Chancellor unwilling to meet the challenges we face.
Homeowners are left to face the costs of insulation on their own, industries like steel and hydrogen are in a global race without the support they need and the Chancellor is promoting domestic flights over high speed rail int he week before COP26.
It is because of this Chancellor that in the very week we try and persuade other countries to reduce emissions, this Government can’t even confirm it will meet its 2035 climate reduction target.
Madame Deputy Speaker, everywhere working people look at the moment they see prices going up and shortages on the shelves. But this Budget did nothing to address their fears.
Household budgets are being stretched thinner than ever but this Budget did nothing to deal with the spiralling cost of living. It is a shocking missed opportunity by a government that is completely out of touch.
There is an alternative. Labour would scrap the business rates and replace it with something much better by ensuring online giants pay their fair share. That’s what being pro-business looks like.
We wouldn’t put up National Insurance for working people, we would ensure those with the broadest shoulders pay their share. That’s what being on the side of working people looks like.
We’d end the £1.7 billion subsidy the Government gives private schools and put it straight into local state schools. That’s what being on the side of working families looks like.
We’d deliver a climate investment pledge – £28bn every year for the rest of the decade. That’s Giga-factories to build batteries for electric vehicles, a thriving hydrogen industry and retrofitting, so we keep homes warm and get energy bills down. That’s what real action on climate change looks like.
This country deserves better but they’ll never get it under this Chancellor who gives with one hand but takes so much more with the other.
The truth is this – what you get with these two is a classic con game. It’s like one of those pickpocketing operations you see in crowded places. The Prime Minister is the front man – distracting people with his wild promises. All the while, his Chancellor dips his hand in their pocket. It all seems like fun and games until you walk away and realise your purse has been lifted.
But people are getting wise to them. Every month they feel the pinch. They are tired of the smoke and mirrors, of the bluster, of the false dawns, of the promises of jam tomorrow.
Labour would put working people first. We’d use the power of government and the skill of business to ensure that the next generation of quality jobs are created right here, in Britain.
We’d tax fairly, spend wisely and after a decade of faltering growth, we’d get Britain’s economy firing on all cylinders.
That is what a Labour budget would have done today.
Edinburgh Pentlands SNP MSP Gordon MacDonald said that the Tory UK Government’s budget makes it clear that “independence is the only way to give Edinburgh a fair recovery from the pandemic.”
Gordon MacDonald said that the budget, described by the head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies as “actually awful” for living standards, is failing the people of Scotland by failing to tackle the cost of living crisis, the Brexit crisis and the climate crisis whilst the Tory Government prioritise cuts to the cost of champagne and giving tax breaks to bankers.
The Edinburgh Pentlands MSP said: “What the Tory UK Government has outlined today does not meet the ambition needed to build a fair and sustainable recovery and to tackle the cost of living crisis.
“It’s painfully clear that there will be no fair recovery from the pandemic under Westminster control.
“This Tory budget fails Scotland as a whole and doesn’t go anywhere near supporting people in Edinburgh, who are being hit by an energy crisis, a Brexit crisis, labour shortages and an inflation crisis under Westminster control.
“The UK Government budget is leaving families in Edinburgh hundreds of pounds worse off next year due to Tory cuts, tax hikes and the soaring cost of Brexit.
“It’s little wonder that, in May’s election, the people of Scotland voted overwhelmingly for a different future when they gave the SNP the highest share of the vote since the dawn of devolution and a clear mandate for an independence referendum – Independence is the only way to keep Scotland safe from Tory cuts.”
“The chancellor admitted that we will have zero pay growth across the economy next year. And he has no plan to get real wages rising for everyone after an eleven year pay squeeze, with average real pay growth over the next four years predicted to be just 0.3 per cent.
“He should have announced fair pay deals for whole industries, negotiated with unions, designed to get pay and productivity rising in every sector.
“Families face a triple whammy of a £1,000 universal credit cut, tax hikes and fast-rising energy and food bills. All the while wages across the economy stand still.”
On the universal credit taper cut, she added:
“Workers on universal credit should always have been able to keep more of their wages. This change does not make up for the £1,000 per year cut to universal credit, and does not help those on universal credit who cannot work.”
Centre for Cities’ Chief Executive Andrew Carter said:“Raising the National Living Wage is a quick win for the levelling up agenda and will have the biggest impact in the places that are crucial to the Prime Minister winning the next election. Four of the five places where the most people will benefit are in the North.
“While a pay increase is good news for people struggling with the cost of living crisis, it does not address the reasons why they live on low pay in the first place: a lack of well-paid jobs in their local area.
“We’ve seen today the beginnings of a plan focused on skills, innovation and infrastructure to address this, but turning it from rhetoric to reality will depend on ministers’ willingness to work with metro mayors and councils on delivering it.
“I am now looking to the delayed Levelling Up White Paper to set out how this will happen.”
Katie Schmuecker, Deputy Director of Policy & Partnerships at JRF said:“This is a tale of two Budgets for families on low incomes.
“For those in work, the change to the taper rate and work allowance, alongside the National Living Wage increase, are very positive steps, allowing low-paid workers to keep more of what they earn. Together these measures improve our social security system for working families and demonstrate a serious intent to turn the tide on the pre-pandemic trend of rising in-work poverty.
“But the reality is that millions of people who are unable to work or looking for work will not benefit from these changes. The Chancellor’s decision to ignore them today as the cost of living rises risks deepening poverty among this group, who now have the lowest main rate of out-of-work support in real terms since around 1990.
“Among the people in our society who cannot work are cancer patients, people with disabilities and those caring for young children or elderly parents.
“Their energy bills and weekly shop are going up like everyone else’s and they face immediate hardship, hunger and debt in the months ahead. The Chancellor had an opportunity to support families on the lowest incomes to weather the storm ahead, and he did not take it.”
New analysis by the independent Joseph Rowntree Foundation reveals that the rising cost of living wipes out much of the financial gain some families will receive from the Universal Credit changes announced today.
Weekly incomes and Costs for 2022/23
Family 1: single adult, no children, not working
Family 2: single parent, with one young child (assume age 5), part-time 16 hours per week
Family 3: couple with two young children (assume 7 and 5). One FT worker
Family 4: single parent, with one young child (assume age 5), full-time 35 hours per week
Family 5: Couple with two young children (assume 7 and 5). 1 FT worker (35 hours), 1 PT worker (16 hours)
Weekly income before new announcements
£77
£278
£433
£333
£489
Weekly gain from taper rate and work allowance
£0
£8
£19
£19
£31
Total loss from higher cost of living due to…
-£13
-£16
-£23
-£18
-£24
1) increase in energy prices
-£7
-£7
-£7
-£7
-£7
2) overall cost of living increase
-£6
-£8
-£13
-£8
-£13
3) increase in National Insurance and impact of inflation on earnings
£0
-£1
-£3
-£3
-£4
Overall weekly gain or loss after measures and cost of living
-£13
-£8
-£4
£1
£7
Note all five families lost £20-a-week in October 2021, due to the cut in the Universal Credit Standard Allowance, so all are worse-off than they would have been in September 2021. All workers are assumed to be paid at the National Living Wage rate, so benefit from its increase.
Peter Kelly,Director of the Poverty Alliance, said: “It is a shameful, unjust decision that makes the Chancellor’s rhetoric about ‘levelling up’ seem as empty as the pockets of the hundreds of thousands of people swept into poverty as a result.”
BUILDING BACK BETTER: Prime Minister Boris Johnson addressed the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester yesterday. This is what he told the party faithful:
Isn’t it amazing to be here in person
the first time we have met since you defied the sceptics by winning councils and communities that Conservatives have never won in before – such as Hartlepool
in fact it’s the first time since the general election of 2019 when we finally sent the corduroyed communist cosmonaut into orbit where he belongs
and why are we back today
for a traditional Tory cheek by jowler?
It is because for months we have had one of the most open economies and societies
and on July 19 we decided to open every single
theatre and every concert hall and night club in England
and
we knew that some people would still be anxious
so we sent top government representatives to our sweatiest boites de nuit to show that anyone could dance
perfectly safely
and wasn’t he brilliant my friends?
let’s hear it for Jon Bon Govi
living proof that we, you all
represent the most jiving hip happening and generally funkapolitan party in the world
and how have we managed to open up
ahead of so many of our friends?
You know the answer, its
because of the roll-out of that
vaccine
a UK phenomenon
the magic potion invented in oxford university
and bottled in wales
distributed at incredible speed to vaccination centres everywhere
I saw the army in action in Glasgow
firing staple guns like carbines as they set up a huge vaccination centre
and in Fermanagh I saw the needles go in like a collective sewing machine
and they vaccinated so rapidly that we were able to
do those crucial groups one to four
the oldest and most vulnerable faster than any other major economy in the world
and though the disease has sadly not gone away the impact on death rates has been astonishing
and I urge you all to get your jabs because every day our vaccine defences are getting stronger and stronger
and you, all of you, and everybody watching made this roll-out possible
you each made each other safe
so perhaps we should all thank each other
go on – try a cautious fist bump
because it’s ok now
and we in turn thank the
volunteers, the public health workers, the council workers
the pharmacists
but above all our untiring unbeatable unbelievable NHS
and as a responsible conservative government we must recognise the sheer scale of their achievement
but recognise also the scale of the challenge ahead
The NHS
When I was lying in St Thomas’s hospital last year l looked blearily out of my window at a hole in the ground between my ICU and another much older Victorian section and amid the rubble of brick they seemed to be digging a hole for something or indeed someone – possibly me
but the NHS saved me
and our wonderful nurses pulled my chestnuts out of Tartarean pit
and the other day I went back on a visit
and I saw that the hole had been filled in
with three or four gleaming storeys
of a new paediatrics unit
and there you have the metaphor my friends for how to build back better now
we have a huge hole
in the public finances
We spent £407 bn on covid support
and our debt now stands at over two trillion pounds
and waiting lists will almost certainly go up before they come down
covid pushed out a great bow wave of cases
people did not or could not seek help
and that wave is now coming back
a tide of anxiety washing into every A and E and every GP
your hip replacement
your mother’s surgery
and this is the priority of the British people
does anyone seriously imagine that we should not now be raising the funding to sort this out
is that really the view of responsible conservatives?
I can tell you something
Margaret Thatcher would not have ignored this meteorite that has just crashed through the public finances
she would have wagged her finger and said more borrowing now is just higher interest rates and even higher taxes later
when this country was sick our NHS was the nurse
frontline health care workers
battled against a new disease
selflessly
risking their lives sacrificing their lives
and it is right that this Party that has looked after the NHS for most of its history
should be the one to rise to the challenge
48 new hospitals
50,000 more nurses
50m more GP appointments
40 new diagnostic centres
and fixing those backlogs with real change
because the pandemic not only put colossal pressure on the NHS
it was a lightning flash illumination of a problem we have failed to address for decades
Fixing Social Care
In 1948 this country created the National Health Service but kept social care local
and though that made sense in many ways generations of older people have found themselves
lost in the gap
when covid broke there were 100,000 beds in the NHS
and 30,000 occupied by people who could have been cared for elsewhere
whether at home or in residential care
and we all know that this problem of delayed discharge is one of the major reasons why
it takes too long to get the hospital treatment that your family desperately need
and people worry that they will be the one in ten
to suffer from the potentially catastrophic cost of dementia
wiping out everything they have
and preventing them from passing on anything to their families
and we Conservatives stand by those who have shared our values
thrift and hard work
and who face total destitution in this brutal lottery
of old age
in which treatment for cancer is funded by the state
and care for alzheimers is not – or only partly
and to fix these twin problems of the NHS and social care
we aren’t just going to siphon billions of new taxes into crucial services
without improving performance
we will
use new technology so that there is a single set of electronic records as patients pass between health and social care
improving care
and ensuring that cash goes to the frontline
and not on needless bureaucracy
When I stood on the steps of Downing Street I promised to fix this crisis
and after decades of drift and dither
this reforming government
this can do government
this government that got brexit done
that is getting the vaccine rollout done
is going to get social care done
and we are dealing with the biggest underlying issues of our economy and society
the problems that no government has had the guts to tackle before
and I mean the long term structural weaknesses
in the UK economy
It is thanks to that vaccine roll-out that we now have the most open economy and the fastest growth in the G7
we have unemployment two million lower than forecast
We have demand surging
and I am pleased to say that after years of stagnation – more than a decade – wages are going up
faster than before the pandemic began
and that matters deeply
because we are embarking now on a change of direction that has been long overdue
in the UK economy
we are not going back to the same old broken model
with low wages
low growth
low skills
and low productivity
all of it enabled and assisted by uncontrolled immigration
and the answer to the present stresses and strains
which are mainly a function of growth and economic revival
is not to reach for that same old lever of uncontrolled immigration
to keep wages low
the answer is to control immigration
to allow people of talent to come to this country
but not to use immigration as an excuse for failure to invest
in people, in skills
and in the equipment the facilities the machinery they need to do their jobs
the truckstops – to pick an example entirely at random – with basic facilities where you don’t have to urinate in the bushes
and that is the direction in which this country is going now
towards a high wage
high skill
high productivity
and yes, thereby low tax economy
that is what the people of this country need and deserve
in which everyone can take pride in their work and in the quality of their work
and yes it will take time
and yes it will sometimes be difficult
but that was the change that people voted for in 2016
and that was the change they voted for again powerfully in 2019
and to deliver that change we will get on with our job
of uniting and levelling up across the UK
the greatest project that any government can embark on
We have one of the most imbalanced societies and lop-sided economies
of all the richer countries
it is not just that there is a gap between London and the South east and the rest of the country
there are aching gaps within the regions themselves
what monkey glands are they applying in Ribble Valley
what royal jelly are they eating
that they live seven years longer than the people of Blackpool
only 33 miles away
Why does half of York’s population boast a degree and only a quarter of Doncaster’s
This is not just a question of social justice
it is an appalling waste of potential
and it is holding this country back
because there is no reason why the inhabitants of one part of the country should be geographically fated to be poorer than others
or why people should feel they have to move away from their loved ones, or communities to reach their potential
When Thomas Gray stood in that country churchyard in 1750 and wrote his famous elegy
as the curfew tolled the knell of parting day
he lamented
the wasted talents of those buried around him
the flowers born to blush unseen
the mute inglorious miltons who never wrote a poem
because they never got to read
the simple folk who died illiterate and innumerate
and he knew that it was an injustice
let me ask you, maybe you know
where was he standing when he chewed his pensive quill ? Anybody know
Correct, thank you, he was standing in Stoke poges
my friends there may be underprivileged parts of this country but stoke poges is not now among them
in fact it was only recently determined by the Daily Telegraph
and if you can’t believe that, what can you believe my friends
to be the 8th richest village in England
since gray elegised, Buckinghamshire has levelled up to be among the most productive regions in the whole of Europe
Stoke Poges may still of course have its problems
but they are the overwhelmingly caused the sheer lust of other people to live in or near Stoke Poges
overcrowded trains
endless commutes
too little time with the kids
the constant anxiety that your immemorial view of chalk downland is going to be desecrated by ugly new homes
and that is why levelling up works for the whole country
and is the right and responsible policy, because it
helps to take the pressure off parts of the overheating South East
while simultaneously
offering hope and opportunity to those areas that have felt left behind
and let us be clear that there is a huge philosophical difference between us and labour
because in their souls they don’t like levelling up
they like levelling down they do
they like decapitating the tall poppies and taxing the rich till the pips squeak
they dislike academic competition latin I hear
and in Islington – I kid you not I have seen it with my own eyes – they like kids to run races where nobody actually wins
and I have to tell you I don’t believe that is a good preparation for life
let alone for the Olympic games
and if you insist on the economic theory behind levelling up
it is contained in the insight of Wilfredo Pareto
a 19th century Italian figre who floated from the cobwebbed attic of my memories
that there are all kinds of improvements
you can make to people’s lives he said
without diminishing anyone else
Rishi will I am sure confirm this
and we call these pareto improvements
and they are the means of levelling up
and the idea in a nutshell it is that you will find talent genius flair imagination enthusiasm everywhere in this country all of them evenly distributed
but opportunity is not
and it is our mission as conservatives to promote opportunity
with every tool we have
and it is still a grim fact that in this country
that some kids will grow up in neighbourhoods that are safer than others
and some will be, as Priti was saying, some will be sucked into gangs
and some will be at risk of stabbing and shooting
and some will get themselves caught in the one way ratchet of the criminal justice system
and many others will not
that’s why levelling up means fighting crime
putting more police out on the beat as we are
and toughening sentences
and rolling up the county lines drugs networks as we are
1100 gone already
and giving the police the powers they need
to fight these dealers in death and misery that’s what we want to do
– and what is Labour’s answer, by the way –
to decriminalise hard drugs apparently
to let the gangsters off with a caution
an answer that is straight from the powder rooms of the North London dinner parties
and nothing to do with the real needs of this country
crime has been falling
and not just by the way because we took the precaution of locking up the public for much of the last 18 months
but because you have a conservative government that understands the broken windows theory of crime
I read a learned article by some lawyer saying we should not bother about pet theft
Well I say to Cruella de Vil QC – if you can steal a dog or a cat
then there is frankly no limit to your depravity
and you know those people gluing themselves to roads
I don’t call them legitimate protestors
like some Labour councillors do I, some Labour councillors actually glue themselves to roads
I say they are a confounded nuisance who are blocking ambulances, stopping people go about their daily lives
and I am glad Priti is taking new powers to insulate them snugly in prison where they belong
what I found most incredible of all was the decision by Labour
now led by lefty Islington lawyers
to vote against tougher sentences for serious sexual and violent offenders
and on behalf of the entire government I tell you
we will not rest until we have increased the successful prosecutions for rape
because too many lying bullying cowardly men are using the law’s delay
to get away with violence against women
and we cannot and we will not stand for it
and I know that there are some who now tell us that we are ungenerous and unfeeling in our attempts to control our borders
and I say – don’t give me that
This is the government that stood up to China and announced that we would provide a haven for British overseas nationals in Hong Kong
30,000 have already applied
and I am really proud to be part of a Conservative government that will welcome 20,000 Afghans
people who risked their lives to guide us and translate for us
we are doing the right and responsible thing
and speaking as the great grandson of a Turk who fled in fear of his life I know that this country is a beacon of light and hope for people around the world
provided they come here legally
provided we understand who they are and what they want to contribute
and that is why we took back control of our borders
and will pass the borders bill
because we believe there must be a distinction between someone who comes here legally and someone who doesn’t
and though I have every sympathy with people genuinely in fear of their lives
I have no sympathy whatever
with the people traffickers who take thousands of pounds
to send children to sea in frail and dangerous craft
and we must end this lethal trade
we must break the gangsters’ business model
and is it not a sublime irony that even in French politics there is now a leading centre right politician calling for a referendum on the EU
Who is now calling for France to reprendre le controle??
it’s good old Michel Barnier
that’s what happens if you spend a year trying to argue with Lord Frost
the greatest frost since the great frost of 1709
and we will fight these gangs at home and abroad
because their victims are invariably the poorest and the neediest
and I will tell you what levelling up is
a few years ago they started a school not far from the Olympic park
a new school that anyone could send their kids to
in an area that has for decades been one of the most disadvantaged in London
that school is Brampton Manor academy and it now sends more kids to Oxbridge than Eton
and if you want proof of what I mean by unleashing potential
and by levelling up
look at Brampton Manor
and we can do it
There is absolutely no reason why the kids of this country should lag behind
or why so many should be unable to read and write or do basic mathematics at the age of 11
and to level up
– on top of the extra 14 bn we’re putting into education
and on top of the increase that means every teacher starts with a salary of £30k
we are announcing a levelling up premium of up to £3000 to send the best maths and science teachers to the places that need them most
and above all we are investing in our skills, skills folks
our universities are world beating, I owe everything to my tutors and they are one of the great glories of our economy
but we all know that some of the most brilliant and imaginative and creative people in Britain
and some of the best paid people in Britain
did not go to university
and to level up you need to give people the options
the skills
that are right for them
and to make the most of those skills and knowledge
and to level up you need urgently to
plug all the other the gaps in our infrastructure that are still holding people and communities back
As I’ve been saying over this wonderful conference to you
when I became leader of this party, there were only, can you remember, what percentage of households had gigabit broadband when you were so kind as to make me leader? 7 percent, only 7 percent
and by the new year that will be up to 68 per cent
thanks to Rishi’s superdeduction the pace is now accelerating massively
as companies thrust the fibre-optic vermicelli in the most hard to reach places
it’s wonderful, for years SNP leader Ian Blackford has been telling the Commons that he is nothing but a humble crofter on the isle of Skye
well now we have fibre optic broadband of very high quality that we can inspect the library or is it perhaps the billiard room of Ian Blackford’s croft
and that is levelling up in action
and my friends it is not good enough just to rely on zoom
after decades of ducked decisions
our national infrastructure is way behind some of our key competitors
It is a disgrace that you still can’t swiftly cross the pennines by rail
a disgrace that leeds is the largest city in Europe with no proper metro system
a waste of human potential that so many places are not served by decent bus routes
transport is one of the supreme leveller-uppers
and we are making the big generational changes shirked by previous governments
we will do Northern Powerhouse rail
we will link up the cities of the midlands and the north
we will restore those sinews of the union that have been allowed to atrophy
the A1 north of Berwick and on into Scotland
the A 75 in Scotland that is so vital for the links with northern Ireland and the rest of the country
the north wales corridor
and we will invest in our roads
unblocking those coagulated roundabouts and steering-wheel-bending traffic lights
putting on 4000 more clean green buses
made in this country
some of them running on hydrogen
and as we come out of covid
our towns and cities are again going to be buzzing with life
because
we know
that a productive workforce
needs that spur
that only comes with face to face meetings
and water cooler gossip
if young people are to learn on the job in the way that they always have and must
we will and must see people back in the office
and that is why we are building back better with a once in an a century £640bn pound programme
of investment
and by making neighbourhoods safer
by putting in the gigabit broadband
by putting in the roads and the schools and the healthcare
we will enable more and more young people everywhere
to share the dream of home ownership
the great ambition of the human race
that the left always privately share but publicly disparage
and we can do it
Look at this country from the air Go on google maps
you see how our landscape has been plotted and pieced and jigsawed together by centuries of bequests and litigation
a vast testament to security of title
trust in the law
a confidence that is responsible for so much international investment
you see how rich this country is growing
the billions of loving and incremental improvements to homes and gardens
you can see how beautiful it is
vast untouched moorland
and hills
broadleaf forests
we are going to re-wild parts of the country and consecrate a total of 30 per cent to nature
we are planting tens of millions of trees
otters are returning to rivers from which they have been absent for decades
beavers that have not been seen on some rivers since tudor times
massacred for their pelts
are now back
and if that isn’t conservatism, my friends I don’t know what is
build back beaver
and though the beavers may sometimes build without local authority permission
you can also see how much room there is
to build the homes that young families need in this country
not on green fields
not just jammed in the south east
but beautiful homes on brownfield sites
in places where homes make sense Home ownership And this government is helping young people to afford a home
It has been a scandal – a rebuke to all we stand for
that over the last 20 years the dream of home ownership
has receded
and yet under this government we are turning the tide
we have not only built more homes than at any time in the last 30 years
we are helping young people on to the property ladder
with our 95 per cent mortgages
and there is no happiness like taking a set of keys
and knowing that the place is yours
and you can paint the front door any colour you like
as it happens I am not allowed to paint my own front door, it has to be black
but I certainly don’t have far to go to work
and if you don’t have too far to go to work
and the commute is not too dreadful
and if
the job suits your skills
and your wifi is fast and reliable
then I tell you something else
that housing
in the right place
at an affordable price
will add massively not just to your general joie de vivre
but to your productivity
and that is how we solve the national productivity puzzle
by fixing the broken housing market
by plugging in the gigabit
by putting in decent safe bus routes and all other transport infrastructure
and by investing in skills skills skills
and that by the way is how we help to cut the cost of living for everyone
because housing, energy, transport
are now huge parts of our monthly bills
and it is by fixing our broken housing market
by sorting out our energy supply – more wind, more nuclear, becoming less dependent on hydrocarbons from abroad
by putting in those transport links
we will hold costs down and save you money
and we will make this country an even more attractive destination for foreign direct investment
We are already the number one
– look at the Nissan investment in Sunderland
or the Pfizer vaccine manufacturing centre that’s coming to Swindon
and with these productivity gains we will turbo charge that advantage
and help businesses to start and grow everywhere
so let me come now to the punchline of my sermon on the vaccine
It was not the government that made the wonder drug
it wasn’t brewed in the alembicks of the department of health
It was, of course it was Oxford University, but it was the private sector that made it possible
behind those vaccines are
companies and shareholders and, yes,
bankers
you need deep pools of liquidity that are to be found in the City of London
it was capitalism that ensured that we had a vaccine in less than a year
and the answer therefore is not to attack the wealth creators
it is to encourage them because they are responsible for the aggregate increase in the country’s wealth
that enables us to make those pareto improvements
and to level up everywhere
and to rub home my point
it is not just that vaccination has saved more than 120,000 lives
Vaccination has allowed us to meet like this
and blessed us with such rapid growth
with wages rising fastest for those on lowest incomes
and that levelling up in action
The vaccines have ensured that by a simple vowel mutation jabs jabs jabs
become jobs jobs jobs
the world’s most effective vaccines have saved our open society and free market economy
and it is our open society and free market economy that have produced the world’s most effective vaccines
and that is the symmetry in the lesson of the covid vaccines
– science, innovation, capitalism –
is vital now for the challenge we face
the challenge the whole humanity faces
is even more existential for our way of life
in just a few weeks time this country will host the summit of our generation in Glasgow
when the resolve of the world is put to the test
can we keep alive the ambition of Paris – to stop the planet heating by more than 1.5 degrees
government can’t do it alone
and taxpayers certainly can’t do it alone
the other day I took a boat out into the moray firth
to see an aquatic forest of white turbines towering over the water like the redwoods of california
and you have no idea of their size until you see them up close
the deceptive speed of their wings
twice the diameter of the London eye
their tips slicing the air at more than 100 miles per hour
and I met the young men and women
apprentices
who had moved straight across from the world of oil and gas
and they had the same excitement at working amid winds and wave
and being able to see whales and dolphins from the office window
but they had the extra satisfaction that goes with knowing you are doing something to save the planet
and get Britain to Net Zero by 2050
and that is the symmetry represented by these giant windmills
massive and innovative private sector investment
and a government taking the tough decisions to make it possible
that’s the difference between this radical and optimistic Conservatism
and a tired old Labour
did you see them last week, did you watch them last week in Brighton
hopelessly divided I thought they looked
their leader like a seriously rattled bus conductor
pushed this way and that by, not that they have bus conductors any more unfortunately, like a seriously rattled bus conductor pushed this way and that by a corbynista mob of sellotape-spectacled sans-culottes
or the skipper of a cruise liner that has been captured by Somali pirates
desperately trying to negotiate a change of course
and then changing his mind
and remember Labour’s performance during the pandemic
flapping with all the conviction of a damp tea towel
They refused to say that schools were safe
they would have kept us in the European medicines agency
and slammed the brakes on the vaccine roll out
the Labour leader attacked the vaccine task force for spending money on outreach to vaccine hesitant minority groups
when it is hard to think of any better use of public money
and let us try to forgive him on the basis that he probably didn’t know what he was talking about
in previous national crises labour leaders have opted to minimise public anxiety and confusion by not trying to score cheap party political points
one thinks of Attlee or even Michael foot in the falklands crisis
sadly that was not the approach taken by captain hindsight
attacking one week
then rowing in behind when it seemed to be working
the human weathervane
the starmer chameleon
and in his final act of absurd opportunism he decided to oppose step four of the roadmap in July
that’s right folks
if we had listened to captain hindsight we would still be in lockdown we wouldn’t have the fastest growth in the G7
if Columbus had listened to captain hindsight he’d be famous for having discovered Tenerife
and how utterly astonishing that in the last few weeks labour should actually have voted against new funding we’re putting frward for the NHS
and we need to remember why and how we have been able to back people through this pandemic at all
it was because we Conservatives fixed the economy
we repaired the damage Labour left behind
every labour government has left office with unemployment higher than when it came in
every single one – ever since the party was invented
and today we are going to fix this economy and build back better than ever before
and just as we used our new freedoms to accelerate the vaccine rollout
we are going to use our brexit freedoms to
to do things differently
we are doing the borders bill
we have seen off the European superleague and protected grassroots football
we are doing at least eight freeports
superfertilised loam in which
business will plant new jobs across the UK
and now we are going further
not only jettisoning the EU rules we don’t need any more
but using new freedoms to
improve the way we regulate in the great growth areas of the 21st century
as we fulfil our ambition of becoming a science superpower
gene editing
data management
AI
Cyber quantum we are going to be ever more global in our outlook
we have done 68 free trade deals including that great free trade deal with our friends in the EU that they all said was impossible
and after decades of bewildering refusal we have persuaded the Americans to import prime British beef
a market already worth £66 m
build back burger I say
and you ask yourself how have the americans been able to survive without British beef for so long?
and if you want a supreme example of global Britain in action
of something daring and brilliant that would simply not have happened if we had remained in the EU
I give you AUKUS – an idea so transparently right that Labour conference voted overwhelmingly against it
and I know that there has been a certain raucus squaukus from the anti-aukus caucus
But Aukus is simply a recognition of the reality that
the world is tilting on its economic axis
and our trade and relations with the Indo pacfific region are becoming ever more vital than ever before
and that is why we have
sent the amazing carrier strike group
to the far east
been performing manoeuvres with 40 friendly countries
HMS Queen Elizabeth
as long as the entire palace of Westminster
and rather more compelling as an argument
than many speeches made in the house of commons
it has dozens of F35s on board
and 66 thousand sausages aboard
not because want to threaten or be adversarial to anyone
either with the F35s or indeed the sausages
but because we want to stick up for the rule of law that is so vital for freedom of navigation and free trade
and that is what brings AUKUS together
Australia, UK, US
shared values
a shared belief in democracy and human rights
and a shared belief in the equal dignity and worth of every human being
very few countries could have pulled off the Kabul airlift – an astonishing feat by our brave armed forces
even fewer have the same moral priorities
No other government brokered a deal such as this government did with Astra Zeneca
so that the Oxford vaccine has been distributed at cost around the world
more than a billion low cost vaccines
invented in Britain
saving millions of lives
we are led by our values
by the things we stand for
and we should never forget that people around the world admire this country for its history and its traditions
they love the groovy new architecture and the fashion and the music and the chance of meeting Michael in the disco
but they like the way it emerges organically from a vast inherited conglomerate of culture and tradition
and we conservatives understand the need for both and
how each nourishes the other
and we attack and deny our history at our peril
and when they began to attack Churchill as a racist I was minded to ignore them
it is only 20 years ago since BBC audiences overwhelmingly voted him the greatest Briton of all time
because he helped defeat a regime after all that was defined by one of the most vicious racisms
the world has ever seen
but as time has gone by it has become clear to me that
this isn’t just a joke
they really do want to re-write our national story
starting with hereward the woke
we really are at risk of a kind of know nothing cancel culture know nothing iconoclasm
and so we Conservatives will defend our history and cultural inheritance
not because we are proud of everything
but because trying to edit it now is as dishonest as a celebrity trying furtively to change his entry in Wikipedia
and its a betrayal of our children’s education
churchill’s last words to his cabinet, actually his whole ministers but his cabinet were there
were
Never be separated from the americans
pretty good advice I’m sure you’ll agree –
–
and ended with the observation
man is spirit
He was right there.
I believe that through history and accident this country has a unique spirit
the spirit of the NHS nurses AND the entrepreneurs
whose innovative flair means that there are three countries in the world that have produced more than 100 unicorns not a mythical beast
tech companies worth more than a billion dollars each
They are the US and China and the UK and those unicorns they are now dispersed around the United Kingdom in a way that is new to our country, that is the spirit of levelling up
and we need the spirit of the NHS nurses and the entrepreneurs because each enables the other
I mean
the spirit of the footballers who took England into the final of a major knock out tournament for the first time in the lives of the vast majority of the people of this country
probably, looking around at all you young thrusters, the majority of you in this room
the indomitable spirit of Emma Raducanu
her grace and her mental resilience when the game was going against her
because that is what counts
the spirit of our Olympians
it is an incredible thing to come yet again in the top four
a formidable effort for a country that has only 0.8 per cent of the world’s population
in spite of the best efforts of some us jacob
but when we come second in the Paralympics as well –
that shows our values
not only the achievement of those elite athletes
but a country that is proud to be a trailblazer
to judge people not by where they come from
but by their spirit
and by what is inside them
That is the spirit that is the same across this country
in every town and village and city that can be found
that can be found in the hearts and minds of kids growing up everywhere
and that is the spirit we are going to unleash.
While the conference hall lapped it up, others were less generous:
The SNP said: Boris Johnson’s shameless attempt to shift the blame will do nothing to fix the crisis he has caused.
Tory Universal Credit cuts and regressive tax hikes will push families into poverty.
Yet, just like Thatcher, the Prime Minister fails to show an ounce of regret.
Commenting on the Prime Minister’s speech at Conservative Party conference, in which he claimed previous goverments ‘haven’t had the guts’ to tackle big issues in our economy and society, Katie Schmuecker, Deputy Director of Policy & Partnerships at JRF said:“The Prime Minister has not had the guts to look the millions of people whose incomes are being cut today in the eye and tell them how they are expected to get through the year ahead.
“The Prime Minister’s attempt to strike an upbeat tone is completely at odds with the despair people are feeling and the cost-of-living crisis we are now facing. He has chosen to cut £20 a week from the incomes of millions including many who are in work as well as those who cannot work due to sickness, disability or caring responsibilities.
“Promises of a ‘high wage, high skill economy’ that will take years to reach will offer no comfort to families whose incomes have been cut, and the Government knows this.
“It is a sign of profound disrespect that he did not even acknowledge the struggle people across the country on low incomes are facing on the very day that the biggest ever cut to social security comes into force.”
Anneliese Dodds MP, Labour’s Party Chair, responding to the Prime Minister’s speech at the Conservative Party conference, said: “Boris Johnson’s vacuous speech summed up this whole Conservative conference. The PM talked more about beavers than he did about action to tackle the multiple crises facing working people up and down the country.
“Far from getting a grip on the spiralling costs of energy, fuel and food, the Tories are actively making things worse – cutting incomes today for six million families by over £1,000 a year.
“Britain deserves a fairer, greener and more secure future. Last week Labour set out how we can get there. This week it’s clear that after over a decade in power the Conservatives don’t have a clue.”
Responding to Boris Johnson’s speech to the Conservative Party Conference, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “If Boris Johnson was serious about levelling up Britain, he wouldn’t be slashing universal credit in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.
“The PM is in no position to lecture people on wages when he is holding down the pay of millions of key workers in the public sector.
“And when he is doing nothing to fix the gaping hole in local authority budgets that has resulted in most social care workers being paid less than the real living wage.
“As the country’s biggest employer, the government should be setting an example on paying staff properly – not skimping on wages.
“My advice to the PM is simple. The best way to level up pay and conditions across the country is to give workers and their unions more bargaining power at work.
“11 years into a Conservative government we hope that he can finally learn this lesson.”
Commenting on the PM’s claims that wages are rising, Frances added: “Wages are barely rising above inflation, and millions of key workers – who got us through this crisis – are facing a real-terms pay cut this autumn.”
Scottish Ministers will enter structured talks with the Scottish Green Party, supported by the civil service, with a view to reaching a formal Co-operation Agreement.
The initiative is part of a refreshed pledge to change politics in Scotland for the better by working with opposition parties to find the best solutions to the toughest of problems, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said.
In the weeks leading up to the next Parliamentary Recess talks will be ongoing and focus on agreeing policy areas which the government and the Scottish Green Party will co-operate on.
During a statement to Parliament this afternoon the First Minister told the Chamber that she is committed to compromise and constructive conversations as she extended an open offer to collaborate with all of the elected parties.
A cross-party steering group on Covid Recovery has already been established by the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Covid Recovery to welcome all contributions to secure a strong recovery from the pandemic.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “In Scotland and across the world we have massive challenges to confront and overcome: a global pandemic, the climate emergency, and the need to build an economic recovery that is strong, sustainable and fair.
“In the face of all of that, people across Scotland expect – indeed, demand – a grown-up and co-operative approach to politics that puts the interests of the country first.
“We want to reach out and find the best solutions to the toughest of problems. Our duty is to co-operate and not to find the lowest common denominator, but as a way of raising the bar higher.
“I can confirm that the Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party will enter structured talks, supported by the civil service, with a view to reaching, if we can, a formal Co-operation Agreement.
“Exactly what the content, extent and scope of any Agreement will be is what the talks will focus on but what we hope to achieve is potentially groundbreaking.
“The key point for today is that we are both agreeing to come out of our comfort zones to find new ways of working for the common good to change the dynamic of our politics for the better, and give meaning to the founding principles of our Parliament.
“What we are embarking on will require compromise on both sides but it will also require us to be bold and given the challenges we face, that is a good thing, in fact it is the whole point. By working together we can help build a better future for Scotland.”
Responding, Scottish Greens Co-Leader Lorna Slater MSP said: “Scotland desperately needs a green recovery from the pandemic that leaves no-one behind, while time is running out for meaningful action on the climate emergency.
“The Scottish Greens have always worked constructively with other parties, delivering meaningful change like free bus travel for young people, and earlier this month the public returned the largest ever Green group to parliament to take that work further and faster. We hope that through these talks we can deliver real change.”
The Greens have drawn from the experience of their colleagues in Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, and have held discussions between the two-parties’ Co-Leaders in recent weeks.
Patrick Harvie MSP said: “Politics does not have to be about point-scoring and short-termism. Green parties across Europe and in countries like New Zealand have in recent years rolled up their sleeves and worked with other parties to deliver a better future.
“But they have also shown that there is more than one way for government and opposition parties to work together, without losing the ability to challenge one another. We believe the people of Scotland want to see grown-up politics like this, and will approach the forthcoming talks in this spirit”
Talks between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party are expected to conclude before the next Parliamentary Recess.
The Alba Party is looking for voters in May’s Holyrood elections to cast their votes for them on the regional list. They say this will deliver a ‘supermajority’ for independence. How would this work?
‘The more success a party has on the constituency vote, the less well it does on the regional list vote. That’s why in 2016 #BothVotesSNP led to 1 million wasted pro-independence list votes.
‘Voting Alba Party on May 6th will make sure no pro-independence vote goes to waste by securing a #Supermajority for independence.
‘Let’s tip the balance in Scotland’s favour.
‘The Westminster Government has already said it will not allow another independence referendum in Scotland.
‘The #Supermajority will be the only mandate needed to begin negotiating Scotland’s independence as a parliament, rather than just a party.
‘On May 6th you have two votes. On your constituency ballot paper, #voteSNP for your local SNP candidate. On your regional ballot paper, #voteAlba Party to ensure an independence #Supermajority.
‘The weight of these two votes combined, will tip the balance in Scotland’s favour and guarantee a #Supermajority for independence in the Scottish Parliament this year.‘
However The Scottish National Party says that if you want independence, you must vote SNP:
‘The 2011 Scottish election produced a result that was never meant to happen.A majority pro-independence government, against all odds.So how did voters in Scotland do it?
‘At the elections, the SNP won 53 constituency seats on the first vote. But it was the 16 seats won on the regional list, with voters second vote, that got the SNP over the line.
‘It was with people voting Both Votes SNP that secured the first majority government.
‘Other parties say that you don’t have to vote Both Votes SNP in order to vote for independence. They say people should vote for them instead. But they said the same in 2016 – and the SNP lost its majority.
‘Holyrood got less pro-independence MSPs, and Westminster used it as an excuse to question Scotland’s pro-independence mandate.
‘Their tactical voting gamble has failed.
‘This election really comes down to one question. Do you want to put Scotland’s future in Scotland’s hands, or those of Boris Johnson?
‘If you want to help build a better, more progressive future for Scotland, then make it #BothVotesSNP on 6 May.
‘This will be the most important election in Scottish history. Every single vote will count.Scotland’s future is in your hands.‘
While their political priority remains the climate change and the environment, the Scottish Greens also support Scottish independence.
The Conservatives, Scottish Labour and the Lib Dems all oppose independence and say recovery from the pandemic must take priority over constitutional issues.
More than 200,000 additional children to receive free school meals
More than 200,000 additional primary school children will receive free school meals, including over 17,300 in City of Edinburgh, over 4,900 in East Lothian, over 4,400 in Midlothian and over 8,800 in West Lothian thanks to a budget deal struck between the SNP and the Scottish Greens.
The deal will see free school meals provision expanded to all primary children by next summer, phased in on a timetable agreed with local councils, and ensure that those currently eligible get free meals throughout the school holidays.
The agreement will ensure passage of the Scottish Government’s budget through parliament.
Finance Secretary Kate Forbes has struck a deal which guarantees the Budget Bill can clear its final stages.
It will see the phased introduction of free school meals for all primary pupils, an enhanced public sector pay deal, new Pandemic Support Payments and additional funding to support environmental, active travel and energy efficiency initiatives.
Talks are continuing ahead of tomorrow’s Stage 3 debate with the Scottish Liberal Democrats, who voted for the budget at Stage 1 in exchange for increased spending on mental health, business support and education recovery.
The new commitments build on the budget’s existing measures to address the challenges of the ongoing pandemic and lay the foundations for recovery. These include meeting the main ask of business by extending 100% rates relief for the retail, hospitality, leisure, aviation and newspaper sectors for a further 12 months – considerably exceeding the relief offered in England – supporting families by allocating money for a council tax freeze and providing record £16 billion to the NHS.
The new initiatives will be funded mainly from the unallocated balance of funding from last week’s UK budget.
They include:
Pandemic Support Payments of £130 to households receiving Council Tax Reduction and two payments of £100 to families of children qualifying for free school meals
the phased introduction of free school meals to all primary school children by August 2022
an £800 pay rise for public sector workers earning up to £25,000, and a 2% increase for those earning over £25,000 up to £40,000.
extending free bus travel to under 22s
£40 million to support the green recovery, including a further £15 million for active travel, £10 million for energy efficiency, £10 million for biodiversity and £5 million for agri-environmental measures
Ms Forbes said: “We continue to face unprecedented challenges and I have sought to engage constructively to deliver a budget that meets the needs of the nation.
“I would like to thank all parties for the positive way they have participated in this process. The budget addresses key issues raised by every party and I hope all MSPs feel able to support it. We have reached an agreement with the Scottish Greens and I am hopeful about the outcome of my continuing talks with the Liberal Democrats.
“Today I can announce that we are able to go further in offering a fair and affordable pay settlement to the public sector workers to whom we owe so much through the pandemic, particularly the lowest paid.
“The budget already contains measures to help struggling families, but in this deal we are also announcing details of a £100 million programme of one-off Pandemic Support Payments. And we commit to providing free school meals to every primary school pupil by August 2022, with expansion for P4s starting after this year’s summer holidays.
“A green recovery lies at the heart of the Scottish Government’s policies and today we are delivering significant new investments in energy efficiency and active travel, while providing additional funding to support biodiversity and make our agriculture more environmentally-friendly.
“And, as we rebuild from Covid, we will support our young people by extending our original commitment to concessionary travel for all under 19s to include everyone up to age 22, giving all 18-21 year olds free bus travel.
“Every penny made available to us to tackle the pandemic has been allocated. These remain difficult times, but this budget puts us on the path to a fairer, greener and more prosperous Scotland.”
Scottish Greens Lothian MSP Alison Johnstone said: “I am absolutely delighted that our budget deal ensures that all primary school children will receive free school meals from the summer of 2022, with p4 pupils getting them from this summer and p5 from January.”
“I know this news will be welcomed by the families who will benefit from this forward-thinking policy. Knowing that every primary school child will benefit from a healthy meal every day will make a huge difference to families’ finances and wellbeing.”
All P1-P3 pupils currently get free school meals. The Green deal will expand this to P4 in August 2021, P5 in January 2022, and P6 and P7 children in August 2022.
£49.5m has been allocated to fund this this year, and £112m next year.
Scottish Government ‘no longer clapping for carers’
Responding to the Finance Secretary’s comments to the Finance and Constitution Committee meeting this morning on social care pay, Rhea Wolfson of the GMB Scotland Women’s Campaign Unit said: “On International Women’s Day Kate Forbes has cut a budget deal with the Greens that sells short tens of thousands of women across the social care sector – and what’s worse is the Finance Secretary used our NHS nurses as a reason for not delivering a £15 an hour minimum.
“The fight for a £15 social care minimum hasn’t been “plucked out of a hat”. What our members are asking politicians to do is support the objective of bringing social care pay into line with the average hourly rate of pay, to help tackle the recruitment crisis in care and to ensure a chronically exploited workforce are properly valued for the work they do.
“The Scottish Government claimed it wanted to put social care on an equal footing with the NHS and the Feeley Review has shown that a significant investment in social care and its workers could have a transformative effect on our economy and society.
“After the tragic events of the last year, a golden opportunity was there to do the right thing by our care workers but instead the Finance Secretary has chosen to pit key worker against key worker to keep one group mired in low-pay.
“It’s clear the Scottish Government is no longer clapping for our carers.”
Responding to the amended Scottish Budget with improvements in public sector pay policy, expanded access to free school meals and additional payments to less well-off households, STUC General Secretary Roz Foyer said:“We have strongly pressed the Scottish Government to reject the real terms pay cuts approach of the Tories at Westminster and we recognise the different course that the Finance Secretary has taken on Public Sector Pay Policy in Scotland.
“We welcome the Scottish Greens’ intervention to press for a better deal for public sector workers, the expansion of free school meal to all primary children and additional payments to poorer households.
“But revising public sector pay policy is less than half of the story. We remain deeply concerned that pay commitments must be funded across the public sector. Local councils continue to be starved of funding despite delivering so many of our essential public services and with so many workers who deliver those services being underpaid and undervalued.
“Nowhere is this more the case than for our social care workers in the public, third and private sectors. The Cabinet Secretary indicated that this will not be the final budget revision of the year and that she will respect the outcome of a collectively bargained pay deal for the care sector.
“To make this commitment meaningful and to address the scandal of low pay, the Government must commit to fund that deal and we intend to campaign hard to hold them to this.”
“The proposed extension of free schools meals to all primary aged children is an important step towards our campaign goal of achieving universal provision for all secondary school, primary school and nursery children. We intend to continue that campaign.”
Former First Minister Alex Salmond will give evidence to the Committee on the Scottish Government’s Handling of Harassment Complaints at Holyrood this afternoon.
The Committee’s remit is to consider and report on the actions of the First Minister, Scottish Government officials and special advisers in dealing with complaints about Alex Salmond, former First Minister, considered under the Scottish Government’s “Handling of harassment complaints involving current or former ministers” procedure and actions in relation to the Scottish Ministerial Code.
In a formal submission to the committee, Mr Salmond maintains that senior members of the SNP colluded with civil servants in an orchestrated campaign to damage his reputation.
He also accuses First Minister Nicola Sturgeon of both misleading parliament and breaking the Ministerial Code. If this is proven, Ms Sturgeon would be expected to resign.
Ms Sturgeon yesterday dismissed Salmond’s claims as ‘a litany of nonsence’.
This is much more serious than a ‘he said, she said’ internal SNP stooshie: the allegations go right to the heart of Scotland’s democratic structures.
So the stakes couldn’t be higher. It remains to be seen whether today’s session will see us inch any closer to the truth …
INDEPENDENCE ‘THE ONLY WAY’ TO SECURE SCOTLAND’S PLACE IN THE EU
The SNP has challenged Willie Rennie to say whether he backs his London bosses, after UK Lib Dem leader Ed Davey confirmed that his party would abandon any attempts to rejoin the EU, joining Labour and the Tories in becoming a pro-Brexit party.
In an interview with the BBC’s Andrew Marr, he said that the Lib Dems are “not a rejoin party” – despite promising to voters in their 2019 General Election manifesto that every vote for the party was a “vote to stop Brexit and stay in the European Union”.
The move confirms the SNP as the only major party committed to reversing Brexit and securing Scotland’s membership of the EU.
SNP candidate for Edinburgh Western, Sarah Masson, said: “The Lib Dems have firmly joined the Tories and Labour in becoming pro-Brexit parties, making it crystal clear that the only way to protect Scotland’s interests and secure our place in the EU is to become an independent country.
“With the Lib Dems delivering another trademark U-turn, Willie Rennie must end the silence and clarify whether he stands by his previous pledge to ‘pursue re-entry’ to the EU – and if so, how he squares that with his UK colleagues’ policy – or if it was all hollow rhetoric and he will simply now fall into line and accept the devastating impact Brexit is having on Scottish businesses, including our vital fishing communities.
“The SNP is now the only major pro-EU party committed to rejoining the EU. With the main Westminster parties all signed up to Brexit and the damaging consequences it brings – even in the event of a change in government – there is no route back to the EU through Westminster.
“Scotland can do so much better than a Westminster system acting against our interests. Only by becoming an independent country will we be able to work to rejoin the EU, protect our vital industries and economy, and be part of the world’s largest single market.”
“PROGRESSIVE VISION TO TACKLE POVERTY IN THE FACE OF TORY CUTS”
SNP MSP Gordon MacDonald has welcomed the announcement that every primary school pupil in Edinburgh will be eligible for free school meals, all year around, if the SNP is re-elected in May.
Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, set out this latest step in the drive to tackle child poverty and make Scotland the first nation in the UK to offer universal free primary school meals at the SNP annual conference at the weekend.
The SNP previously extended eligibility for a free school lunch to all P1 to P3 pupils while P4 to P7 pupils are eligible based on a range of income and benefits criteria.
Now, in the face of predictions that Westminster cuts will drive child poverty rates even higher, the expansion – estimated to cost around £230 million per year in additional expenditure – will introduce a free year-round breakfast and lunch for all primary school pupils from August 2022.
SNP MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Gordon MacDonald, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has put real financial pressure on families, and it’s right that the Scottish Government ensured that children in Edinburgh would continue to receive free school meals over the holidays.
“But I am happy that we are not stopping there. If the SNP is re-elected in May, every single primary school pupil in Edinburghwill be eligible for free breakfast and lunch, all year round.
“And unlike the Tories, we didn’t have to be publicly shamed and condemned into choosing to feed hungry children – that is the basic duty of any government.
“This ambitious expansion of the free school meals scheme is the next step in our battle to stop the Tories forcing more and more kids into poverty, support families, and make Scotland the best place to grow up.
“That progressive vision, underpinned by human rights, equality and wellbeing, is exactly why people in Scotland continue to put their faith in the SNP.”
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak’s Summer Statement speech to the House of Commons this afternoon:
Mr Speaker,
I stood here in March saying I knew people were worried. And I know they’re worried still.
We have taken decisive action to protect our economy.
But people are anxious about losing their job, about unemployment rising. We’re not just going to accept this.
People need to know we will do all we can to give everyone the opportunity of good and secure work.
People need to know that although hardship lies ahead, no one will be left without hope.
So, today, we act, with a Plan for Jobs.
Our plan has a clear goal: to protect, support and create jobs.
It will give businesses the confidence to retain and hire.
To create jobs in every part of our country.
To give young people a better start.
To give people everywhere the opportunity of a fresh start.
Where problems emerge, we will confront them.
Where support is justified, we will provide it.
Where challenges arise, we will overcome them.
We entered this crisis unencumbered by dogma and we continue in this spirit, driven always by the simple desire to do what is right.
Mr Speaker,
Before I turn to our Plan for Jobs, let me first outline the nature of the challenge.
Our economic response to coronavirus is moving through three phases.
In the first phase, beginning in March, the government announced social distancing measures and ordered businesses to close, halting the spread of the disease.
We put in place one of the largest and most comprehensive economic responses in the world.
Our £160 billion plan protects people’s jobs, incomes and businesses:
we supported more than 11 million people and jobs through the job retention and self-employment schemes, alongside billions of pounds for the most vulnerable
we supported over a million businesses to protect jobs, through tax cuts, tax deferrals, direct cash grants, and over a million government-backed loans
and we supported public services, with new funding for the NHS, schools, public transport, and local authorities
In total, we have now provided £49 billion to support public services since this crisis began.
Analysis I’m publishing today shows our interventions significantly protected people’s incomes, with the least well off in society supported the most.
And this crisis has highlighted the special bond which holds our country together.
Millions of people in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have been protected by the UK government’s economic interventions – and they will be supported by today’s Plan for Jobs.
No nationalist can ignore the undeniable truth: this help has only been possible because we are a United Kingdom.
Mr Speaker,
Four months on, as we carefully reopen our economy, we are entering the second phase of our economic response.
Despite the extraordinary support we’ve already provided, we face profound economic challenges:
world economic activity has slowed, with the IMF expecting the deepest global recession since records began
household consumption – the biggest component of our economy – has fallen steeply
businesses have stopped trading and stopped hiring
taken together, in just two months our economy contracted by 25% – the same amount it grew in the previous eighteen years.
And the independent Office for Budget Responsibility and Bank of England are both projecting significant job losses – the most urgent challenge we now face.
I want every person in this House and in the country to know that I will never accept unemployment as an unavoidable outcome.
We haven’t done everything we have so far just to step back now and say, ‘job done’. In truth, the job has only just begun.
Mr Speaker,
If the first phase of our economic response was about protection…
…and the second phase – the phase we are addressing today – is about jobs…
…there will come a third phase, where we will rebuild.
My Right Honourable Friend the Prime Minister has set out our vision to level up, unite the country, spread opportunity, and repair and heal the wounds exposed through this crisis.
I can tell the House we will produce a Budget and Spending Review in the autumn.
And, we will deal too, with the challenges facing our public finances.
Over the medium-term, we must, and we will, put our public finances back on a sustainable footing.
In other words, our Plan for Jobs will not be the last action – it is merely the next – in our fight to recover and rebuild after coronavirus.
Mr Speaker, Let me now turn to the detail of our plan for jobs.
Central to our economic response has been the Jobs Retention Scheme.
Furlough has been a lifeline for millions, supporting people and businesses to protect jobs. But it cannot and should not go on forever.
I know that when furlough ends it will be a difficult moment. I’m also sure that if I say the scheme must end in October, critics will say it should end in November. If I say it should end in November, critics will just say December.
But the truth is: calling for endless extensions to the furlough is just as irresponsible as it would have been, back in June, to end the scheme overnight.
We have to be honest.
Leaving the furlough scheme open forever gives people false hope that it will always be possible to return to the jobs they had before.
And the longer people are on furlough, the more likely it is their skills could fade, and they will find it harder to get new opportunities.
It is in no-one’s long term interests for the scheme to continue forever … least of all those trapped in a job that can only exist because of a government subsidy.
So the furlough will wind down, flexibly and gradually, supporting businesses and people through to October.
But while we can’t protect every job, one of the most important things we can do to prevent unemployment is to get as many people as possible from furlough back to their jobs.
So, today, we’re introducing a new policy to reward and incentivise employers who successfully bring furloughed staff back – a new Jobs Retention Bonus.
If you’re an employer and you bring someone back who was furloughed – and you continuously employ them through to January – we will pay you a £1,000 bonus per employee.
It is vital people aren’t just returning for the sake of it – they need to be doing decent work.
So for businesses to get this bonus, the employee must be paid at least £520 on average, in each month from November to January the equivalent of the lower earnings limit in National Insurance.
The House should understand the significance of this policy. We will pay the bonus for all furloughed employees.
So if employers bring back all nine million people who have been furloughed, this would be a £9 billion policy to retain people in work.
Our message to business is clear: if you stand by your workers, we will stand by you.
Mr Speaker, The furlough was the right policy to support people through the first phase of this crisis.
But now, in this new phase, we need to evolve our approach.
Today, I want to set out for the House a new three-point plan for jobs.
We need to:
first – support people to find jobs
second – create jobs
and third – protect jobs
Mr Speaker,
Let me start with supporting jobs, and in particular the help we want to provide for those who will be hardest hit by this crisis: younger people.
Over 700,000 people are leaving education this year.
Many more are just starting out in their careers.
Coronavirus has hit them hard – under 25s are two and a half times as likely to work in a sector that has been closed.
We cannot lose this generation, so today, I am announcing the Kickstart Scheme:
A new programme to give hundreds of thousands of young people, in every region and nation of Britain, the best possible chance of getting on and getting a job.
The Kickstart Scheme will directly pay employers to create new jobs for any 16 to 24-year-old at risk of long-term unemployment.
These will be new jobs – with the funding conditional on the firm proving these jobs are additional.
These will be decent jobs – with a minimum of 25 hours per week paid at least the National Minimum Wage.
And they will be good quality jobs – with employers providing Kickstarters with training and support to find a permanent job.
If employers meet these conditions, we will pay young people’s wages for six months, plus an amount to cover overheads.
That means, for a 24-year-old, the grant will be around £6,500.
Employers can apply to be part of the scheme from next month, with the first Kickstarters in their new jobs this autumn.
And I urge every employer, big or small, national or local, to hire as many Kickstarters as possible.
Today, I’m making available an initial £2 billion; enough to fund hundreds of thousands of jobs.
And I commit today: there will be no cap on the number of places available.
We can do more for young people:
traineeships are a proven scheme to get young people ready for work. We know they work, so for the first time ever we will pay employers £1,000 to take on new trainees, with triple the number of places
to support 18-19-year olds leaving school or college to find work in high-demand sectors like engineering, construction and social care, we’ll provide £100 million to create more places on Level 2 and 3 courses
and the evidence says careers advice works, so we will fund it, with enough new careers advisers to support over a quarter of a million more people.
We will also expand our universal skills offer:
Sector-Based Work Academies provide training, work placements, and a guaranteed job interview in high-demand sectors.
The evidence shows they work, so we will expand them – tripling the number of places.
And we know apprenticeships work, too – 91% of apprentices stay in work or do further training afterwards.
So for the next six months, we’re going to pay employers to create new apprenticeships.
We will pay businesses to hire young apprentices, with a new payment of £2,000 per apprentice.
And we will introduce a brand-new bonus for businesses to hire apprentices aged 25 and over, with a payment of £1,500.
And let me thank my Right Honourable Friend the Education Secretary for his support and commitment in developing these measures.
Mr Speaker,
We know the longer someone is out of work, the harder it is to return. Millions of people are moving onto Universal Credit – they need urgent support to get back to work.
So, we are:
doubling the number of Work Coaches in Job Centres
increasing the Flexible Support Fund
extending the Rapid Response Service
expanding the Work and Health Programme
and developing a new scheme to support the long-term unemployed
The academic and economic evidence tells us these are among the most effective things we can do.
So I’m investing an extra billion pounds in DWP, to support millions of people back to work.
And I’m grateful for everything my Right Honourable Friend the Work and Pensions secretary, and her incredible team, have done.
£1 billion of support for the unemployed; more money for skills, traineeships, and apprenticeships; and a new, good quality job for hundreds of thousands of new Kickstarters – the first part of our plan for jobs.
Mr Speaker,
The second part of our plan is to support job creation.
That begins with historic investment in infrastructure – creating jobs in every region and nation of the UK.
At Budget, I announced £88 billion of capital funding this year; and last week the Prime Minister announced our plans to accelerate £5 billion of additional investment projects.
We are doubling down on our ambition to level up…
…with better roads, better schools, better hospitals, better high streets, creating jobs in all four corners of our country.
Mr Speaker, As well as investing in infrastructure, we want to create green jobs.
This is going to be a green recovery with concern for our environment at its heart.
As part of that, I’m announcing today a new, £2 billion Green Homes Grant.
From September, homeowners and landlords will be able to apply for vouchers to make their homes more energy efficient and create local jobs.
The grants will cover at least two thirds of the cost, up to £5,000 per household.
And for low income households, we’ll go even further with vouchers covering the full cost – up to £10,000.
On top of the £2 billion voucher scheme, I am releasing £1 billion of funding to improve the energy efficiency of public sector buildings…
…alongside a £50 million fund to pilot the right approach to decarbonise social housing.
Taken together, we expect these measures to:
make over 650,000 homes more energy efficient
save households up to £300 a year on their bills
cut carbon by more than half a mega tonne per year, equivalent to taking 270,000 cars off the road
and, most importantly right now, support around 140,000 green jobs
A £3 billion green jobs plan to save money; cut carbon; and create jobs.
Mr Speaker, One of the most important sectors for job creation is housing.
The construction sector adds £39 billion a year to the UK economy;
House building alone supports nearly three quarter of a million jobs;
With millions more relying on the availability of housing to find work.
But property transactions fell by 50% in May.
House prices have fallen for the first time in eight years.
And uncertainty abounds in the market – a market we need to be thriving.
We need people feeling confident – confident to buy, sell, renovate, move and improve.
That will drive growth. That will create jobs.
So to catalyse the housing market and boost confidence, I have decided today to cut stamp duty.
Right now, there is no stamp duty on transactions below £125,000.
Today, I am increasing the threshold to half a million pounds.
This will be a temporary cut running until 31st March next year.
And, as is always the case, these changes to stamp duty will take effect immediately.
The average stamp duty bill will fall by £4,500.
And nearly nine out of ten people buying a main home this year, will pay no stamp duty at all.
Stamp duty cuts; A £5,000 Green Homes Grant; And tens of billions of pounds of new capital projects.
We are creating jobs, the second part of our Plan for Jobs.
Mr Speaker, The final part of our plan will protect jobs that already exist by helping some of our highest-employing but hardest-hit sectors: hospitality and tourism.
Our economy relies on consumption, especially social consumption:
The pubs, cafes, restaurants, hotels and B&Bs that bring life to our villages, towns and cities.
Taken together these sectors employ over 2 million people disproportionately younger, women and people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.
And many rural and coastal communities rely on these industries.
80% of hospitality firms temporarily stopped trading in April and 1.4 million workers have been furloughed, the highest proportions of any sector.
So the best jobs programme we can do is to restart these sectors and get our pubs, restaurants, cafés and B&Bs bustling again.
I know people are cautious about going out.
But we wouldn’t have lifted the restrictions if we didn’t think we could do so safely.
And I’ve seen in the last few weeks how hard businesses are working to make their premises safe.
And if we follow the guidance, and respect what they ask us to do, we can all enjoy summer safely.
In turn, we need to give these businesses the confidence to know that if they open up, invest in making their premises safe, and protect jobs, demand will be there, and be there quickly.
So today, I’m announcing two new measures to get these sectors moving and protect jobs.
First, at the moment, VAT on hospitality and tourism is charged at 20%.
So I’ve decided, for the next six months, to cut VAT on food, accommodation and attractions.
Eat-in or hot takeaway food from restaurants, cafes and pubs;
Accommodation in hotels, B&Bs, campsites and caravan sites;
Attractions like cinemas, theme parks and zoos;
All these and more will see VAT reduced from next Wednesday until January 12th, from 20% to 5%.
This is a £4 billion catalyst for the hospitality and tourism sectors, benefiting over 150,000 businesses, and consumers everywhere – all helping to protect 2.4 million jobs.
But, Mr Speaker, we will go further. The final measure I’m announcing today has never been tried in the UK before. This moment is unique. We need to be creative.
So, to get customers back into restaurants, cafes and pubs, and protect the 1.8 million people who work in them, I can announce today that, for the month of August, we will give everyone in the country an Eat Out to Help Out discount.
Meals eaten at any participating business, Monday to Wednesday, will be 50% off, up to a maximum discount of £10 per head for everyone, including children.
Businesses will need to register, and can do so through a simple website, open next Monday.
Each week in August, businesses can then claim the money back, with the funds in their bank account within 5 working days.
1.8 million people work in this industry. They need our support and with this measure we can all eat out to help out.
A VAT cut to 5%;
And a first-of-its-kind government-backed discount for all;
That’s the third part of our Plan for Jobs.
So, Mr Speaker,
A £1,000 Jobs Retention Bonus.
New, high quality jobs for hundreds of thousands of young Kickstarters.
£1bn to double the number of work coaches and support the unemployed.
More apprenticeships; more traineeships; more skills funding.
Billions of pounds for new, job creation projects around the country.
A £3 billion plan to support 140,000 green jobs.
And in this vital period, as we get going again:
VAT cut.
Stamp duty cut.
Meals out cut.
Mr Speaker, all part of our Plan for Jobs worth up to £30 billion.
Mr Speaker,
Governments, much less people, rarely get to choose the moments that define them. What choice there is comes in how we respond.
For me, this has never just been a question of economics, but of values:
I believe in the nobility of work.
I believe in the inspiring power of opportunity.
I believe in the British people’s fortitude and endurance.
And it is that value, endurance, more than any other, we need to embody now.
A patience to live with the uncertainty of the moment…
…to find that new balance between safety and normality.
We will not be defined by this crisis, but by our response to it.
It is an unambiguous choice to make this moment meaningful for our country in a way that transcends the frustration and loss of recent months.
It is a plan to turn our national recovery into millions of stories of personal renewal.
Mr Speaker, it is our Plan for Jobs and I commend it to this House.
Anneliese Dodds MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, responding to the Government’s ‘Plan for Jobs’, said:“Labour has repeatedly called on the government to match the ambitions of Labour’s Future Jobs Fund, to rise to the youth unemployment challenge.
“To the extent that the ‘Kickstart’ programme is based on the Future Jobs Fund model, it should help many young people to access work.
“However, the Government are yet to rise to the scale of the unemployment crisis. The urgent priority right now is to prevent additional unnecessary unemployment in the first place by abandoning the Government’s ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to the removal of the Job Retention and Self-Employed schemes.
“In addition, older people who become unemployed, and those living in particularly hard-hit areas, will also need tailored support.
“Government also urgently needs to get test, track and isolate right, as ultimately the biggest drag on our economy has been the slow public health response, which threatens additional localised lockdowns and which has reduced consumer confidence.”
Responding the UK Chancellor’s Summer Statement today, Finance Secretary Kate Forbes said: “We called for an £80bn stimulus package to build a strong, green and inclusive economic recovery and while there are elements in this announcement to be welcomed, in particular the measures on VAT for tourism and hospitality, overall this package is a huge opportunity missed. It falls well short of delivering what is needed to boost the economy and protect jobs.
“There is no new capital spend, no extension to the furlough scheme for hard-hit sectors and no further support for households in financial difficulty. A half price meal out does not help those struggling to put food on the table.
“Many of the initiatives are short-lived and do not provide long term certainty for business or households. Instead they will simply push the problems back to the end of the year when we will also have to deal with the end of the transition period with the EU.
“Despite announcing new funding measures worth up to £30bn today, most of it bypasses devolution and does not provide the Scottish Government with the funding we need to enable us to tailor an economic response that meets Scotland’s needs.
“Like all governments, we are facing huge spending pressures but we do not have the tools that others have to meet them. Along with the Governments of Wales and Northern Ireland, we set out a reasonable, proportionate set of new financial powers that would enable the Scottish Government to respond effectively. Regrettably, the UK Government has turned a deaf ear to those needs.”
Also responding to measures announced today by the chancellor in his summer statement, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Mass unemployment is now the biggest threat facing the UK, as shown by the thousands of job losses at British Airways, Airbus and elsewhere.
“The government must do far more to stem the rising tide of redundancies. We can’t afford to lose any more good skilled jobs.
“The chancellor should have announced targeted support for the hardest-hit sectors like manufacturing and aviation. Struggling businesses will need more than a one-off job retention bonus to survive and save jobs in the long-term.
“Unions campaigned for a job guarantee scheme. Kickstart is a good first step. But if the government allows vital industries to go the wall, unemployment will surge and the recession will last far longer.
“The more people we have in decent work, the faster we can work our way out of recession. We must create jobs through more new public investment in new homes, childcare, faster broadband, better transport and green tech.
“The government should have announced extra investment in jobs across all public services – starting with filling the 200,000 vacancies in the NHS and social care. And if the chancellor wants people to have the confidence to eat out, he should have announced a pay rise for hard-pressed key workers rather than dining out discounts for the well-off.”
On sick pay, Frances added: “The government missed an opportunity to strengthen their faltering Test and Trace programme.
“Statutory sick pay is too low for anyone to live on. It’s not viable to ask people to self-isolate if they will be pushed into financial hardship.
“We had hoped ministers would listen, raise the rate and change the rules so low-paid people could afford to do the right thing and comply with self-isolation. Once again, this government fails to understand the real lives of low-paid workers. It is clear that poverty wages and insecure contracts are a public health hazard.”
Boris Johnson’s shameless attempt to shift the blame will do nothing to fix the crisis he has caused.
Tory Universal Credit cuts and regressive tax hikes will push families into poverty.
Yet, just like Thatcher, the Prime Minister fails to show an ounce of regret.
