Windfall Tax

Part of Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation – in the House of Commons at 9:38 pm on 2 July 1997.

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Photo of Joan Ryan Joan Ryan Labour, Enfield North 9:38, 2 July 1997

I am grateful for the opportunity to make my maiden speech in this important debate. I congratulate all hon. Members who have made their maiden speeches today, especially my hon. Friends the Members for Redditch (Jacqui Smith) and for Brentford and Isleworth (Mrs. Keen).

I congratulate the Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline, East (Mr. Brown) on his first Budget. It is, as he promised, a Budget to serve the many and not just the few. His welfare-to-work proposals are radical, far reaching and extremely welcome. They will be welcomed across Britain, and they are particularly welcome in Enfield, North.

I shall say a word about my predecessors. The House will know that my immediate predecessor was the right hon. Tim Eggar. He served Enfield, North from 1979 and served as a Government Minister continuously for 12 years. I am sure that we all wish him well in his chosen career change, working in industry and commerce.

From 1974 to 1979, Bryan Davies served as the Member for Enfield, North. He is remembered with affection as a man of integrity who worked hard for the people of Enfield, and I hope to follow his example. I have the honour to be the first woman Member to serve Enfield, North.

I shall spend a few moments, as is traditional, telling the House a little about my constituency, which is one of contrasts. It is London's most northerly constituency and is fortunate to have much designated green-belt land. The Countryside Commission has stated that the finest landscapes in the Greater London area are generally acknowledged to be those such as Enfield Chase. I readily agree with that view. I intend to work hard with local groups, notably the Enfield Preservation Society, which has done so much over the years to safeguard the nature and character of Enfield.

Enfield Chase and areas such as Forty Hill served as royal hunting grounds for over 400 years. Both Henry VIII and Elizabeth I often hunted in the area. No hunting takes place there now. Today, the unique characteristics of the area, and historic buildings such as Forty hall, are enjoyed by all members of the population and by many from further afield.

Enfield town is at heart a traditional English market town. Eastern Enfield, in contrast, is a much more urban scene. It is an area shaped by industry. It is the part of Enfield that gave the world such things as Belling cookers, Scrabble and the Lee Enfield rifle. The disappearance of much of east Enfield's old manufacturing industry has brought its problems and the area now has assisted area status. It is thanks to the efforts of our Labour Member of the European Parliament, Pauline Green, and the local authority, that regeneration is beginning to take place through the use of objective 2 funding and the single regeneration budget.

Ponders End may be known as the birthplace of Lord Norman Tebbit, or perhaps because Kenneth Horne and Kenneth Williams brought it to the nation's attention in their many references to it in the 1960s radio series entitled, "Round the Horne". Ponders End's chief landmark was the gasworks, and the area was perhaps thought graceless. That is no longer the case because these days it is a most salubrious place. Indeed, it is home to my constituency office. Like the rest of Enfield, North, it is populated with warm, welcoming and energetic people who have a strong sense of community. These are people and communities that I am privileged to represent.

Enfield, North has a diverse population. Diversity is evident in culture, ethnicity, language and religion. More than 30 languages are spoken by children attending schools in my constituency. Discrimination undoubtedly exists in employment opportunities, but the enterprise of Enfield residents has seen many new businesses come into being from the talents of people of all backgrounds.

I have spoken to many people in the Cypriot community, for example, who have made a significant contribution to the economy of Enfield and of north London generally.

Unemployment among some groups—notably youths and black and Bangladeshi groups—remains disproportionately high. The measures that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced today will bring real hope. There will be a new future of hope for all my constituents, either as the recipients of opportunities for training and employment or as parents or grandparents, whose aspirations for their children and grandchildren will be better served by the Budget.

Enfield, North is one of the major centres of industrial activity in London. It has particular strengths, including an advantageous location, excellent communications, a manufacturing base, a reliable and skilled work force and a resilient enterprise culture with a strong small business sector. Over the past decade, however, many locally established manufacturing companies have either closed or announced major redundancies—Belling, Royal Small Arms and Ferguson, to name but a few.

Annual employment data demonstrate that in my constituency there has been a shift away from manufacturing, transport and communications into service sector industries such as financial services. Although we value and encourage those new directions, the gradually disappearing manufacturing and production base has also meant the loss of skilled apprenticeship opportunities.

Young people in Enfield, North are keen to get on. Participation in full-time education among 16 and 17-year-olds in Enfield is slightly higher than the level for London as a whole, and significantly higher than for England as a whole. Yet some 47 per cent. of the long-term unemployed in Enfield are in the 18 to 24 category. When they complete their education, they do not have the training and employment opportunities that they deserve. We look to the Budget proposals to break that logjam.

Unemployment is one of the major sources of instability in our society. It has a very real impact on the health and welfare of individuals. It creates stress for them and their families and can lead to a wide range of problems, including debts, homelessness and family breakdown.

The new deal offered in the Budget will raise both the education and skills level of our young people and, in doing so, will not just fulfil a social need but play a key role in improving the competitiveness of the British economy and raising the long-term growth rate. The defining characteristic of this new deal is choice—choice for young people who will be offered four high-quality options—but, rightly, no fifth option of passive reliance on benefits.

Young people—indeed, the whole community—will welcome the opportunity that the welfare-to-work Budget opens up for them. Enfield, North is well placed to take advantage of those opportunities. Middlesex university and Enfield college can offer training and day release courses. Capel Manor, Greater London's only specialist college of agriculture, has an excellent record of working with the long-term unemployed and helping people back into worthwhile employment. Enfield, North contains the Lea Valley innovation centre. Its task is to tap the financial, physical and human resources of the Lea Valley to stimulate the creation and expansion of innovative technology-based small and medium enterprises.

In terms of large enterprises, it is significant that Ford announced on 12 June, after a meeting with my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, that it will invest £40 million in its plant in my constituency to provide new production facilities. I very much welcome that positive news. I also welcome Ford's commitment to back the Government's welfare-to-work programme and to seek further meetings with the Government to discuss what role it could play. Indeed, Ford already runs a scheme that takes on 100 young people each year. The welfare-to-work programme will succeed with such co-operation from the private sector.

Members of Parliament have a leadership role in their local areas to bring together the private sector, the Government and all other agencies to work towards the goal of getting long-term unemployed people off benefit and back to work. That is my primary objective in Enfield, North. Only through the partnership approach of welfare to work can a solution be found to the cycle of deprivation and welfare dependency that is so prevalent in Britain's towns and cities.

Other partners have an important contribution to make to the success of this new deal. In Enfield, they include the North London training and enterprise council and the very active and well-organised chamber of commerce.

The windfall levy is entirely fair. It is based on the fundamental principle of social justice. We have seen the size of the profits on which the tax will draw. Given how the tax will be used, it is wholly right and wholly justified. It is a tax which will pay for a future. It is what the British people so overwhelmingly endorsed on 1 May. It is the new Labour Government delivering on their promises.

I welcome the Budget; Enfield, North welcomes the Budget; and I commend it to the House.