Drew Hendry: This is absolute chaos. The proposal to permanently close the self-assessment helpline for half the year was truly half-baked and irresponsible, as were the planned restrictions to the VAT helpline. The reversal is welcome, but the fact that the announcement was made at all highlights the disconnect at the heart of HMRC’s customer operations. As the Federation of Small Businesses has...
Drew Hendry: Consequentials have consequences. The Chancellor announced in his Budget £20 billion of cuts for the public sector, including cuts of 13% in some Departments, and that defies logic. The public sector is crying out for funding, but his choices, if implemented, will lay waste to it. Does the Minister agree with the IFS, which said that it would be genuinely surprising if the Chancellor’s...
Drew Hendry: It is no wonder that the Institute for Fiscal Studies says that there is a “conspiracy of silence” from both the Government and the Labour party over the scale of these cuts. As a percentage of UK spending, the Scottish block grant is set to fall to its lowest ever level under devolution, dwarfing its other plans. For Scotland, House of Commons Library figures show capital funding falling...
Drew Hendry: The Minister has used the word “responsible” a number of times. As has been pointed out by many organisations, not least the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the OBR, there will be substantial cuts to public services. With many English councils already in special measures—effective bankruptcy—where does the Minister see those cuts falling? How will they filter through to the public,...
Drew Hendry: I have to follow the comments made by the hon. Member for Aberconwy (Robin Millar). I was listening carefully and trying to pick out something useful from his speech, and I did find a line: someone is going to have to pay. SNP Members know that public services are going to have to pay for this measure, which is why we tabled our reasoned amendment; there is going to be a crushing effect on...
Drew Hendry: Go on. The hon. Gentleman has had 20 minutes, but I will give him another go.
Drew Hendry: I thought the hon. Gentleman had got through all that stuff in his speech. I will let him know just now that, because of this measure, anybody earning up to £19,000 per annum will still be worse off, or at least no better off, because of frozen thresholds under the control of his Government. The biggest gainers are those earning over £50,000 per annum. As a result of the changes and frozen...
Drew Hendry: My hon. Friend makes a good point. That was underlined the other day when the Labour leader was interviewed by Sophy Ridge, and he was not willing to say what Labour would do differently. It was also underlined by the campaign co-ordinator, the right hon. Member for Wolverhampton South East (Mr McFadden), who would not disagree with any part of the Tories’ horrible Budget. What is the...
Drew Hendry: Traditionally, at this point I would thank the Chancellor for advance sight of his redacted statement, but having seen the statement, I realise that I was given an entirely different redacted document. Not to worry, as we have seen all the details in the press over the past day or so. Seeing the unredacted words would be nice, but it is not essential for this response. I thank the Chancellor...
Drew Hendry: They are bored by the just transition! They are bored by the cost of energy that people have to pay. They are bored by all these things.
Drew Hendry: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I can make more progress if I am not interrupted, so I do appreciate your advice on that. Talking about advice, I want to return to Citizens Advice Scotland. It revealed that, in the past four years, it has seen the number of people requesting advice and support on energy bills increase by 14 times. That is a shocking increase. Proper investment in green...
Drew Hendry: I thank Members who have taken part in the debate. We have had a clear exposition of the issue this morning. I thank the hon. Member for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy) on the Labour Front Bench and the Minister for being so open to looking at discussions and understanding the issue. Nobody in this room has disagreed that an injustice is happening to the people of the highlands and islands or...
Drew Hendry: The Minister is always very thoughtful and considerate about these issues, and she wants feedback, but people in the highlands and islands need action. I think I am hearing from her that she agrees with the principle that it is fundamentally wrong that people in the highlands and islands are paying more in this way. Is that indeed what she is saying? Is she determined to address that...
Drew Hendry: The Minister knows what I am going to say: with the bills that we are talking about, the £60 that she is talking about does not touch the sides for the people affected. I know she knows that, because I have said it to her before. What we need is an overhaul. We need a rebate that actually makes sense to people and has an impact on their bills. That is exactly what this debate is about:...
Drew Hendry: I am grateful to the hon. Member for underlining that there are big impacts on health, as well as the point that where there is a rebate and some funding to help people, it has a measurable impact. The whole point of the proposal on the highland energy rebate is to put that in place. It is an excellent point to underline and I am grateful that she has brought it to the table.
Drew Hendry: Will the hon. Lady give way?
Drew Hendry: I apologise if I got it wrong, but I thought that the hon. Member was inviting an intervention on that subject.
Drew Hendry: Yes, of course. The point—I think I have to underline it again and again in this debate, and I think that the hon. Lady understands this—is that there is already a windfall tax, and other taxes coming from the highlands and islands through renewable energy, and we are getting nothing back. We are already seeing the effect of money being taken out, and it is not going back into the pockets...
Drew Hendry: The hon. Lady did actually raise the issue of windfall tax, so to say that she does not want to debate it is rather perverse. Let me try to help her a bit: over the past two years, oil prices rose to extraordinary levels and, as a result, many oil production companies made excess profits and have engaged in large-scale share buybacks. It is pretty simple and straightforward: in effect, it is...
Drew Hendry: My right hon. Friend is making a clear point about the fact that, as generation is happening, the people of the highlands and islands are losing out. As I underlined in my speech, it is a direct slap in the face when we look at what they have to endure. There is also the matter of the electricity generator levy, which is deducted from those generating electricity in the highlands and goes...