New Clause 6 — Rate of value added tax

Part of Bail (Amendment) – in the House of Commons at 12:30 am on 28 June 2011.

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Photo of Roberta Blackman-Woods Roberta Blackman-Woods Shadow Minister (Cabinet Office) 12:30, 28 June 2011

That is an interesting point, but as my right hon. Friend Mr Hanson said earlier from the Front Bench, we would like to see a time scale and an end point.

As I was saying, we need a full assessment about whether a reduction in VAT would really help to turn around areas such as the one I represent. I also want to know exactly what the impact is on growth, and I will come to that in a moment or two. I want to take up the point that my hon. Friend Mr Jones made point about retail, but my argument is that almost every single sector in Durham is being affected by the rise in VAT that was brought in by the parties in government. We are a constituency that has a large public sector not because it is crowding out the private sector, which is the mantra we always hear from the Government parties, but because it is an administrative centre and so has a large number of public sector jobs. However, the public sector is being hit by public expenditure cuts as well as by the rise in VAT.