Kwasi Kwarteng: I am not sure there was a question. We have to focus on growth. Through growth we get more tax revenue to pay for public services. That is a fundamental notion and that is what we are focused on.
Kwasi Kwarteng: I will absolutely be focused on that. I will be very interested to hear more detail in a conversation with my hon. Friend and to discuss what more we can do to free up the property market.
Kwasi Kwarteng: If bankers are working in London, they are taxed in London; if they move out of the UK, they are taxed elsewhere, and we do not see a penny of tax revenue. Financial services are not just about the City of London; they are also provided in Edinburgh and a whole range of other towns. We have to be at the apex of the global financial system. We have to attract the talent, then we can tax it and...
Kwasi Kwarteng: We openly repudiate a socialist vision of society. We do not believe that the state should take more and more of people’s income. We think that people should keep more and more of their earnings.
Kwasi Kwarteng: The Governor of the Bank of England is entirely independent. We actually have very good relations. We speak regularly, which I think is a good thing. The hon. Gentleman might think it is man-marking; I think it is very cordial. We exchange ideas, and we intend to continue doing so.
Kwasi Kwarteng: I would be very happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss the opportunities presented by investment zones and our other policies.
Kwasi Kwarteng: That is not true at all. We have intervened in a way that no other Government have to protect people from gas price spikes. We have also focused on expanding supply. I ask Opposition Members their views on North sea oil and gas. We are expanding it; we are proud to expand capacity in order to reduce prices.
Kwasi Kwarteng: I made an announcement on IR35 this morning. I would be very interested to hear my hon. Friend’s ideas on business rates, because that is an ongoing conversation. I used to hear that the whole time when I was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chancellor five years ago, and I have as Chancellor for, as she says, two and a half weeks.
Kwasi Kwarteng: We are always looking at ways in which we can encourage people who are helping the most vulnerable in society to do what is a critically important job. We are always looking at how we can improve that.
Kwasi Kwarteng: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We have a dynamic population of highly skilled people. Our job in Government is to empower people to grow, to achieve and to thrive in the ways he suggests.
Kwasi Kwarteng: I am not going to make any statement about a budget this morning.
Kwasi Kwarteng: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. By accelerating infrastructure projects, we can generate economic growth, generate achievement, enthuse the supply chain and get Britain moving again.
Kwasi Kwarteng: It is not ideology; it is a practical focus on growing the economy, so we have a more prosperous country. That is what Governments should be doing. The socialism of the Opposition parties—I do not know whether the hon. Lady represents that—is not going to work.
Kwasi Kwarteng: As I have said to other colleagues, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is very much engaging with local councils on where investment zones can be located, but I am very happy to speak to my hon. Friend about the possibilities for locating investment zones in the region he suggests.
Kwasi Kwarteng: I know that it is fashionable for Opposition Members to talk down Britain, and they are showing an extraordinary interest in the gyrations of markets, but what will improve market sentiment is strong growth and a Britain that is open for business. That is exactly what we are trying to achieve.
Kwasi Kwarteng: I would be very interested in having a conversation with my hon. Friend about that, and I refer him to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, who is engaged in these conversations as we speak.
Kwasi Kwarteng: As I said, the core principle of the investment zones is consent; they will not be imposed on people. Actually, there have been successes with the enterprise zones—I look at places such as Canary Wharf—and I think that the investment zones will also be successful and we will look back fondly.
Kwasi Kwarteng: They will be hundreds of pounds better off. The 1p rate provides a £330 benefit. The energy intervention provides roughly £1,200 a household. People all across our society will benefit from the approach that we are adopting. As my hon. Friend reminded the House, and as the socialists have never understood, we cannot tax our way to prosperity.
Kwasi Kwarteng: The stamp duty nil band doubling is helping people buy a home. In the hon. Lady’s constituency and mine, there is an increase in the threshold, as there is around the country, and that will help lots of people who are buying a home. The energy intervention will help her constituents and mine, and the reduction in the basic rate will also help many of her constituents.
Kwasi Kwarteng: Absolutely. We fully intend—while I am in the Treasury, certainly—to talk to Departments to deliver the vision that I know my hon. Friend is driving in his constituency.