Showing every spoken contribution, including 5,731 under 12 words. Hide short remarks

1. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Dr Luke Evans

   Seasonal Work

   The hon. Gentleman is right. As an MP, he will be an employer. No doubt, he is a good employer who offers the members of his team good terms and he cares deeply about the staff who he is looking after. However, we have taxpayer-funded jobs, but the private sector has to generate the funding to employ people, so those businesses have to take the risk and work out whether there will be a job in the first place. Worse still, because of the Government’s Budget choices, many cafés and pubs are looking to reduce the hours that they open, to reduce their staffing hours or even to close because they cannot make the numbers add up. We are seeing a cumulative effect, which is having an impact at a micro level on the likes of Twycross and at a macro level on the whole country, with every industry speaking out and saying that it is having problems. I had hoped that the Government might listen to those ideas. The Government’s mantra has always been that their No.1 mission is growth, but all the measures that they have put in place are anti-growth. We are seeing the results of that, with inflation being higher.

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2. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Dr Luke Evans

   Seasonal Work

   I will take an intervention on that point, if any Labour Member would like to make one. More importantly, my hon. Friend correctly makes the point that it is the Government’s job to set the framework. There is no such thing as Government money: it is taxpayers’ money, earned by those who create the wealth. It is businesses and the associated workforce that provide the public sector with the money it needs to do its job—it is that simple. In my trade as a doctor, we talk about A-B-C-D-E when it comes to a patient. There is no use dealing with the circulation—the heart—if the person does not have a clear airway. The same applies here: we need to have an economy that is growing and thriving to be able to give the foundation to the funding for the likes of the NHS or education. This is where the Government might be slightly wrong and where they have got the balance wrong, about which we heard from the hon. Member for Rugby (John Slinger). If the system is tilted too far and made too tight for people ever to take a risk, we are not going to have the tax inflow in the first place. Worse still, we have seen 16,000 millionaires and counting leave the country.

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3. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Dr Luke Evans

   Seasonal Work

   I very much welcome the hon. Gentleman’s intervention. There is a risk of doing that, but we have to remember that it does not need to be like that. There are many good employees and many good employers, far more than hon. Members like to talk about. Our job is to protect those margins. If we make the margins too tight, we hinder the very people who are doing a good job, which I think is his inference and what I hear in my constituency. That is why I am asking the Government to rethink this balance and to reconsider the toxic concoction of legislation, red tape and taxation all at once causing such a big problem. At the end of the day, we can have as many employment rights as we want, but if we do not have businesses driving growth and providing jobs, they will not apply—it is as simple as that. In conclusion, at the end of “Blackadder Goes Forth”, Blackadder resigns himself to going over the top, but Baldrick taps him on the shoulder and says, “Sir, I have a cunning plan.” I hope that the Chancellor has a cunning plan to deal with this situation, but I will not wait with bated breath.

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4. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Dr Luke Evans

   Seasonal Work

   When the Chancellor stood up and said that the Government would be changing business rates, there was some relief across the industry, but now businesses are realising that because the temporary relief that has been in place for five years since the pandemic is being stripped away, even though they are getting these new business rates, they are much worse than what they had before. It is the cumulative effect of both those things crossing over that is causing the problem—that is why bills will go up, rather than come down. Does my hon. Friend agree?

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5. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Dr Luke Evans

   Seasonal Work

   The Minister’s amendment to the motion refers to “a comprehensive vision for productivity and success” for small businesses. It is incredibly similar to the amendment that the Government tabled in the high streets debate, but interestingly, what has gone is a reference to a 25% cut in administrative burden. The Minister raised the issue, but did not comment on whether the Government are committed to that 25% cut. Where does that figure come from, and why has it disappeared from this amendment, when it was in a previous one?

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6. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Dr Luke Evans

   Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer

   One concern that I have is the repeated pattern seen with the Budget. At the time, the Government sat on an impact assessment that showed that 100,000 pensioners would be pushed into poverty and 50,000 into absolute poverty. That was the Government’s own assessment, but they did not release it to the House or the country before pushing through the policy, which we have now seen in the Budget. Does my right hon. Friend agree that this is a pattern of behaviour rather than a one-off mistake?

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7. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Dr Luke Evans

   Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer

   Nowhere is that more evident than in health, with the abolitions and redundancies in integrated care boards. Given that those redundancies cover 50% of ICB staff, we now understand that the funding is just being reprofiled into later spending in 2028-29. Is that not exactly the kind of example that my right hon. Friend is talking about? Labour will encounter real problems in the next couple of years as it tries to drive through its agenda.

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8. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Dr Ben Spencer

   AI Safety

   It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Butler. I am very grateful to the hon. Member for Dewsbury and Batley (Iqbal Mohamed) for bringing this important debate to the House today. He gave a very thoughtful speech, which reflected his clearly very strongly held beliefs about the risks that AI poses. It was quite a broad and wide-ranging debate, and a very interesting one. I will try to be quite brief because I am really keen to hear the hon. Member’s response, along with that of the Minister. We heard some great points about biased data, shadow banning, the impact on BSL, large language models producing, in effect, regulated advice, and the need for AI in the curriculum—and, of course, copyright came up. What happens when AI is used to mimic MPs’ output—something I suspect our AI Prime Minister also uses? As hon. Members have observed, the advent of artificial intelligence entails risks but is also a once-in-a-generation opportunity. The previous Government were acutely aware of putting the UK at the forefront of both intergovernmental and industry discussions regarding the development of AI. They convened the world’s first AI safety summit, which took place at Bletchley Park in late 2023 and which many Members have referenced, and established the AI Safety Institute—now renamed the AI Security Institute—in the same year. Reports about the risks to children’s safety posed by tools such as one-to-one and personal agent chatbots promoting suicide and self-harm content are of great concern. It is right that policymakers act quickly to address serious and specific threats when they emerge, and we welcome the Government’s recent action on measures to tackle AI-generated child sexual abuse images. Recently, other hon. Members and I have pressed the Government to clarify the application of the Online Safety Act to one-to-one and personal agent AI chatbots. The Minister has confirmed that the Government have commissioned work to look at whether there are any loopholes in the Act that would mean that some AI chatbot services are unregulated. The recent report of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee has also highlighted the risks to democratic integrity posed by cyber-bots pushing out AI-generated deepfake material purporting to represent authentic political content to distort public narratives, particularly during elections. We clearly need to go further to address those important and growing risks, so I would be grateful if the Minister could provide an update on those two points. Despite much rhetoric, the Government have been completely inconsistent regarding their intentions on AI legislation. Having stated in their manifesto that they would bring in “binding regulation” for the “most powerful AI models”, the can has been repeatedly kicked down the road, with the Secretary of State suggesting during a SIT Committee evidence session earlier this month that there would be no generally applicable AI legislation in this Parliament. The uncertainty caused by the Government’s failure to be clear about their plans for AI regulation damages public confidence in this developing technology. Crucially, it also undermines business confidence, with a chilling knock-on effect on investment and innovation. We appreciate that AI regulation is far from straightforward, given the rapidly evolving innovations, challenges and developments, and we caution against going down the route that the EU has taken for AI regulation. However, it is clear that we need a plan that ensures that our education system equips children with the skills necessary for the jobs of the future, and a strategy to prepare and, where necessary, retrain the parts of our workforce that stand to be the most affected by changes to the employment market brought about by AI. We need to be alert to the risks and changes that AI development brings—AI must always be the agent and never the principal—but we must not lose sight of the tremendous opportunities that it offers. The UK should be at the forefront of developing artificial intelligence and reap the benefits of a substantial home-grown AI industry. AI has the potential to revolutionise service delivery and improve productivity on an unprecedented scale, and those productivity gains can drive much-needed improvements in our overstretched public services, hospitals, local authorities, court services and prisons, to name but a few. The rapid processing of routine tasks will lead to better and quicker service provision across the board. Perhaps the most pressing issue is the role that AI will play in the defence of our country. Some hon. Members have spoken about the existential risk posed to humanity by the most powerful AI models, but in an era of regional conflict and intensifying global competition, the notion that hostile state actors will observe international protocols on AI development are naive at best and dangerous at worst. AI has become indispensable to our defence capacity and security. The ability of AI to detect and neutralise cyber and biosecurity threats will become increasingly vital. High-tech AI drone warfare has drastically changed the nature of conflict, as we see in Ukraine. Put simply, the UK, working wherever possible with its international allies and partners, must be in a position to counter the deployment of AI systems that disregard the norms and ethics that the UK seeks to uphold. We cannot afford to be left behind. We must develop our capabilities at speed, by tackling the barriers to the development of the UK AI industry, including the high costs of energy and the availability of investment. We must ensure that we are alive to, and safeguard against, the most serious emerging risks. With that in mind, will the Minister provide an update on the Government’s plans to support growth in the UK AI industry, including in relation to securing lawful access to reliable datasets for training?

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9. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Dr Andrew Murrison

   Seasonal Work

   Does my hon. Friend agree that this Budget and the previous one have been hammer blows to our already flagging high streets? Does he also recognise that the only retail premises that can currently be exempted from business rates are those that are listed and unoccupied? That introduces perverse consequences for the tone and texture of our high streets. By abolishing business rates, we will remove that perversity, and the look and feel and the vibrancy of our high streets should be improved.

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10. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Dr Andrew Murrison

    Seasonal Work

    Has the Minister compared and contrasted Pride in Place with the future high streets fund, which was a proven mechanism for uplifting the state of many of our high streets, including Trowbridge in my constituency? He is trotting out a load of things that he thinks will benefit retail and hospitality. The whole point of retail and hospitality businesses is that they must be welcoming places that are open to all, so what does he make of the dozens of pubs and restaurants up and down the country that are now feeling forced to put up signs in their windows that say “No Labour MPs”?

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11. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Dr Andrew Murrison

    Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer

    Will my right hon. Friend give way on that point?

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12. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Dr Andrew Murrison

    Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer

    My right hon. Friend is being very generous. The truth is that through dither, delay and changing their mind, the Labour Government in the run-up to the Budget had a real impact on people’s lives. Does he agree that pensioners in particular were encouraged to withdraw funds from their pension funds, which will have an impact on them for many years to come? What does he think of the remarks of Michael Summersgill, the chief executive officer of AJ Bell, who said that millions and billions of pounds were withdrawn from pension funds precisely because of the changing mind of the Chancellor of the Exchequer expressed before the Budget?

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13. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Dr Andrew Murrison

    Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer

    The Minister is a reasonable man, and I imagine that he would subscribe to the Government’s much-vaunted duty of candour that they are selling in their Public Office (Accountability) Bill, which is currently in Committee. The Bill is so important to the Government that the Prime Minister himself had to introduce it on Second Reading. Will the Minister examine what has happened over the past couple of months? Does he really believe that the Treasury, and in particular the Chancellor of the Exchequer, can truly be said to have discharged that duty of candour in their dealings?

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14. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Dame Harriett Baldwin

    Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer

    I am the former Chair of that Committee, Madam Deputy Speaker, but I appreciate the chance to make a couple of additional points. My right hon. Friend the Member for Central Devon (Sir Mel Stride) set out an extensive case. In the speech I made right after the Budget, I mentioned that shenanigans had happened with regard to the Budget. I think we are beginning to find out a bit more about what those shenanigans were. The OBR has published a full analysis of the error that led to it publishing the Budget before it was delivered by the Chancellor. On 1 December, the chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility rightly resigned for that technical breach. I think he showed real leadership, and I thank him for his service. However, it has distracted us from a much more serious breach that happened. The Chancellor clarified this morning in evidence to the Treasury Committee that there are, apparently, two categories of leaks from the Treasury: authorised leaks and unauthorised leaks. We are going to hear a report from the permanent secretary about the unauthorised leaks, but I think the authorised leaks also need focus. Let us face it: this all started in the run-up to the general election, when the Chancellor promised many, many times not to raise taxes. Then, in what was probably one of the greatest robberies since Ronnie Biggs and the great train robbery, she managed to increase taxes by £40 billion a year in her first Budget, before increasing them by a further £26 billion a year in this recent Budget.

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15. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Dame Harriett Baldwin

    Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer

    I would love to, but I am going to try to really race through what I have to say. There is a track record here of saying one thing and then doing another. What we see is a revealed preference from our Chancellor for tax hikes. She was unable to deliver the welfare reforms she sought, and she has been unable to deliver much in the way of savings from any Department, so she is always going to go for tax hikes. We have seen that in her behaviour, despite her assurances to the contrary. I just want to point out how damaging all this speculation has been to decision makers in the British economy. These authorised leaks have led to changes in behaviour across the UK economy; people have made real-world, real-life decisions. Now we know that at every fiscal event during this Parliament the Chancellor will have a default position to tax more: to tax homes more; to tax cars more; to tax pensions more; to tax savings more; to tax jobs; to tax the farm that farmers want to pass on to their children; to tax anything she can justify. That is the lasting legacy of this period of shenanigans, selective leaking and manipulating behaviour. I believe it has done lasting damage to our Chancellor, and we are right to condemn her conduct today.

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16. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Dame Caroline Dinenage

    Seasonal Work

    That is exactly the issue: the Minister was in this place back when the Government were coming up with their plans and policies; meanwhile, I was starting and running a business and employing people. That is the difference. A minimum wage cannot be given to someone who does not have a wage at all because they do not have a job. His party is putting people out of work. There are now 31% more young people not in employment in my constituency than there were this time last year. That is a disgrace, isn’t it?

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17. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Dame Caroline Dinenage

    Seasonal Work

    As I mentioned to the Minister when he was in his place earlier, I started my first business at the age of 19. That is what I did for 20 years, before I became an MP—I ran businesses. That is why I am so upset at some of the ways in which this Government have behaved: I understand viscerally how taking that leap takes everything somebody has. It takes their time, money, energy and social life, and it is all a risk. For so many months—and years, in some cases—people work almost without pay, but the reward is fantastic, because they can employ people, create jobs, offer opportunities, change lives and futures, and generate their own supply chain for other small businesses to do the same. They can play a really valuable part in their local community. That is what small businesses across our communities do every single day. They are brave, resilient and dedicated, and they need to be valued, but over recent years so many of them have been suffering. The pandemic took a huge toll on them, and that was followed by the energy crisis. Now, worst of all, we have a Government who pledged to see their contribution and to help them deliver growth, but this Government are letting them down. I feel viscerally that enterprise and entrepreneurship should be rewarded, which is why I run local schemes in my constituency. I have a competition for the best independent shop running at the moment, in line with Small Business Saturday last weekend. It is the sixth year that I have run this competition, and we get the results on Saturday—it is very hard-fought on my Facebook site. Thousands of residents are voting, and they love doing it, because they like to show how much these independent traders and little shops mean to local jobs, to our communities and to keeping our high streets vibrant and compelling. Last year, I held a best pub competition. After another very fierce public vote, the winner was the Windsor Castle in Hardway. When I visited the pub to give its team their certificate, I saw the time, effort and pride that they put into everything they do—the programme of events, the decorations, and the hospitality they offer—just like all the other pubs that were on the longlist. I saw how much local people value their local, but the message from these pubs is stark: they are suffering. Despite the Chancellor’s spin, the average hospitality business will see business rates rise by almost £20,000 over the next three years. The statistics have already been mentioned very effectively today by the shadow Minister, but these numbers are real lives, real jobs and real futures, and that £20,000 represents an existential threat to the margins of these businesses; it will drive them to extinction. Combined with rising energy costs, after the Government promised to tackle overheads, and last year’s rise in national insurance, this is a perfect storm. It is having a direct impact on jobs in my Gosport constituency, particularly jobs for young people. It is also closing off traditional routes into work. As a parent, I know that a part-time Saturday seasonal job is valuable—we probably all did one. My first job was at Olivers shoe shop on Waterlooville high street. I got £10 a day, and I spent most of it on shoes, but it taught me a lot. It taught me employability skills and how to save money—actually, it did not, as I spent most of it on shoes—and it also taught me the very valuable lesson that I did not want a career in retail or selling shoes. These are all fantastic life lessons and experiences that prepare people for their future careers. Some of those jobs are on contracts that the Labour party has such a visceral problem with, yet they offer flexibility and convenience, particularly during exam time, when young people do not necessarily want to do all those hours. There are sectors that need that flexibility, such as hospitality, leisure and events. In the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, we heard this week from people at major events, such as the London marathon, that the number of staff they need grows enormously as they get towards the event, then obviously tails off afterwards. These are the sectors that offer the most chances for young people, and they are right in the crosshairs of the Government’s punishment. The evidence is clear, and in Gosport it could not be more tangible. The number of young people on out-of-work benefits has gone up by 31% in the last year alone. A recent article in The Daily Telegraph painted a bleak picture of the prospects for young people in my Gosport constituency; it makes for very tough reading.

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18. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Dame Caroline Dinenage

    Seasonal Work

    That may be the case, but the hon. Gentleman needs to read his data a little more accurately, because the number of young people on unemployment benefit has also gone up. I will repeat the figure: it has gone up 31% over the past year in the Gosport constituency alone. It is all very well swapping numbers across the Chamber, but these are lives, futures, and opportunities to get on a career ladder. The hon. Gentleman should be ashamed of his party for what it is doing to young people in my constituency. The law of unintended consequences is at work. If local businesses are not giving opportunities to young people, that impacts the fabric of a town, including its social fabric. I recently received an email from one of the pubs in Gosport, which said: “I can guarantee we will not be open this time next year if things continue. The Labour government is doing nothing to help the industry, the knock-on effect to the customers, staff, us, jobless, homeless…Sadly there will be no British culture left, and that is the very sad truth of it. It’s only the Government at the moment, who are gaining and laughing all the way to the bank. The place and the building and the customers—the whole aspect of the ‘local’ pub—will be no more.” Then there is the hair and beauty salon—another fantastic industry, worth £5 billion and as much again in social value. According to the National Hair and Beauty Federation, the Government’s tax policies are forcing businesses to make very tough decisions, such as taking on fewer staff and fewer apprentices, and incentivising staff to become self-employed, without all the protections that the Government say they want to promote. The British Hair Consortium has warned of an existential drop-off in the number of apprentices entering the sector, while a beauty parlour in Gosport recently told me that it was not optimistic at all about the health of the sector over the next year, and that it does not think the Government are supportive of such businesses.

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19. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Dame Caroline Dinenage

    Seasonal Work

    It is all very well supporting the status of workers if there are jobs to offer people. If you have the status, but no job to attach it to, you feel like a bit of a lemon—as I am sure the hon. Lady might do after that question. She should listen to businesses in her constituency, because what businesses are saying is that they do not feel the Government are supporting them. Given her track record in her previous life, she should understand that the hair and beauty industry is one that disproportionately employs young people and women, and the businesses in that industry are very often women-owned. This Government are not friendly to women-owned businesses, either. Retail, hospitality, and hair and beauty—taken together, the failure of those sectors will prove to be the death knell for our high street. The hon. Member for Harlow (Chris Vince) spoke about how important it is to see his high street regenerated. If we are going to regenerate our high streets and see them as living, breathing, vibrant things, we need to reimagine them as places where we not only shop, but live, work, socialise and engage in leisure activity. The only way that is going to be delivered is if our high streets are filled with small independent traders, but since the Budget, over 1,000 pubs and restaurants have closed—the equivalent of two every day. We on the Culture, Media and Sport Committee are seeing a similar trend in our work on grassroots music venues, which are still closing at the rate of two a week. Like my hon. Friend the Member for Hinckley and Bosworth (Dr Evans) said, those venues say that the outcome of the small business rates review is nothing short of a disaster for them. A cap of 15% this year is going up to a 40% cap in 2028-29—that is what they are getting after transitional relief, and that still will not be the end of it.

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20. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Dame Caroline Dinenage

    Seasonal Work

    I agree 100%—my hon. Friend has hit the nail on the head. The grassroots Music Venue Trust says that despite multiple Ministers saying on the record that business rates would go down for the live music sector, it cannot find a single venue in the country whose bills will be lower.

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21. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Dame Caroline Dinenage

    Seasonal Work

    My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The Government may be fooling their Back Benchers, but they are not fooling our constituents. This goes back to the wider question, and it is not only Members on the Conservative Benches who are asking it; our constituents are asking it, too. What is the strategy, and whose side is this Labour Government on? Are they on the side of business? They are not on the side of working people, since 80,000 working people have lost their jobs in the hospitality sector alone. They are not on the side of my constituents, either; the Minister may not have been in the room when I mentioned this, but 31% more young people are on unemployment benefit in the Gosport constituency over the past year alone. National insurance contribution rises have hit my constituents disproportionately, due to the very high proportion of people in my constituency—three times more than the national average—who work in care, leisure or other service occupations. This year’s Budget confirmed that Labour is not on the side of our small businesses or our high streets. That is why I welcome the shadow Chancellor’s plans to introduce 100% business rates relief for the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors, which I think the Minister should look at. The Minister opened with analogies to “A Christmas Carol” and likened the shadow Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Droitwich and Evesham (Nigel Huddleston), to Ebenezer Scrooge. That is a travesty—he is nothing like Ebenezer Scrooge. However, “A Christmas Carol” can offer a cautionary tale to us all; let us talk about Jacob Marley, the ghost whose heavy chains are a metaphor for the burdens he created through his actions in life, and who said: “I wear the chain I forged in life”. I hope the Minister’s chains do not prove to be the misery that he and his Government are delivering for businesses and our communities.

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22. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Dame Caroline Dinenage

    Seasonal Work

    The hon. Lady is being incredibly generous in giving way. Given the focus on cutting waiting lists and tackling NHS challenges, how does the hon. Lady feel about the employer national insurance contribution changes, which also fell on GP surgeries, care homes and children’s hospices? Those changes are proving to be an enormous burden on the NHS and are sucking up a lot of the extra money that the Government purport to be putting into it.

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23. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Claire Coutinho

    Topical Questions

    Jennifer Melle, a black nurse with a faultless record, was racially abused by a convicted paedophile for correctly referring to his biological sex in a medical context. She was called the N-word multiple times in her workplace, yet she was the one who was punished by her NHS trust and the Nursing and Midwifery Council. She is still suspended from the job she loves, 18 months later. Does the Secretary of State agree that the dedicated nurses who are being punished for asserting that biological sex is real are facing a gross injustice, and will she meet Jennifer to hear her story?

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24. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Claire Coutinho

    Topical Questions

    I appreciate the Secretary of State’s willingness to meet Jennifer. Does the Secretary of State believe that an eight-year-old child with autism can consent to a medical pathway that will leave them infertile and without sexual function for the rest of their life? If not, will she personally tell the Health Secretary to stop this puberty blocker experiment, which will biologically castrate children?

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25. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Caroline Nokes

    Seasonal Work

    Order. The hon. Member knows better than to refer to Members by name.

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26. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Caroline Nokes

    Seasonal Work

    I call the shadow Secretary of State.

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27. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Caroline Nokes

    Seasonal Work

    I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving notice of his point of order. While the Chair is not responsible for the content of contributions made by Ministers, I am sure that those on the Treasury Bench have heard his comments this afternoon and, if an error has been made, I am sure it will be corrected as soon as possible.

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28. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Caroline Nokes

    Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer

    Before I call the shadow Chancellor to move the motion, I remind Members that, as “Erskine May” says: “Good temper and moderation are the characteristics of parliamentary language. Parliamentary language is never more desirable than when a Member is canvassing the opinions and conduct of their opponents in debate.” The reason that matters in this particular debate, and does not really occur in other debates, is that this debate is on a substantive motion directly relating to the conduct of the right hon. Member for Leeds West and Pudsey (Rachel Reeves). In this debate, because it is on a substantive motion of this kind, arguments intended to criticise or defend the Chancellor’s conduct relating to public finances are in order. Therefore, things may be said that the Chair would not normally permit in other proceedings. Those speaking on the motion should set out their arguments clearly. Intemperate abuse is out of order on this motion as much as on any other. I inform the House that the Speaker has not selected the amendment. I call the shadow Chancellor to move the motion.

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29. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Caroline Nokes

    Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer

    Order. We do not refer to Members by name.

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30. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Caroline Nokes

    Conduct of the Chancellor of the Exchequer

    Order. May I respectfully remind the hon. Member that comments need to be about what is in the substantive motion and not wider matters?

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31. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Bradley Thomas

    Seasonal Work

    Is my hon. Friend as concerned as I am that a typical pub in my constituency is paying around £2,500 per month more than it was 12 months ago? Let me briefly put that into context. Assuming that couples go in and spend £100, pubs have to clear 25 additional sittings, just to clear their costs. How are they going to survive?

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32. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Bradley Thomas

    Seasonal Work

    Does my hon. Friend agree that it is not just the tax rises and the additional cost burden that is causing a lack of confidence? That lack of confidence is in itself probably the most corrosive aspect of all, because once that is entrenched it is very hard to unpick, particularly when businesses repeatedly face a Government who are doing the exact opposite of what they pledged in their manifesto.

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33. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Bradley Thomas

    Seasonal Work

    What would the hon. Gentleman say to the 89,000 people who have lost their hospitality jobs over the last 12 months?

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34. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Bradley Thomas

    Seasonal Work

    Would the hon. Gentleman give way?

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35. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Bradley Thomas

    Seasonal Work

    Will the hon. Gentleman give way a second time?

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36. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Bradley Thomas

    Seasonal Work

    I thank the hon. Member for giving way to me a second time. Some 89,000 hospitality jobs have been lost during the past 12 months. Youth unemployment is up, with 12% of 16 to 24-year-olds currently unemployed. There are an estimated 40% fewer seasonal jobs this year—the biggest decline in 15 years. Energy costs are up. Business rates are up. Confidence is down. Regulation is up. Does he acknowledge that it is not a coincidence that all that is happening at the same time, and that it must, at least in part, be related to the really poor choices made by this Government?

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37. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Bob Blackman

    Points of Order

    On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I have looked through the agenda up until Christmas, and it appears that there is no opportunity for Members to question either the police settlement or the local government settlement. Normally there is a debate held about both of these matters, or at least a statement given on the Floor of the House, so that Members are able to ask questions on the settlements. I understand it seems to be the Government’s intention to put out a written ministerial statement on the last day of Parliament and not to give us an opportunity to challenge. Local authorities are at the moment finalising their budgets for next year, so they need to know how much funding they are going to get from the Government. Could you use your good offices to encourage the Government to come forward with at least a statement?

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38. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Blake Stephenson

    Engagements

    Q12.   Digital ID is intrusive and fundamentally un-British. The Government have no mandate for it, and no sensible person believes that it will tackle illegal immigration or illegal working. It is an attack on our open society and a staggering waste of taxpayers’ money, isn’t it?

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39. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Aphra Brandreth

    Seasonal Work

    Just last week, I visited one of the many fantastic cafés in my constituency. The hard-working owner told me that she had chosen not to take on a young Saturday worker as a direct result of the increase in business rates. Does my hon. Friend agree with me that this Government’s policies are directly affecting employment for young people in Chester South and Eddisbury, and across the country?

    Hansard source
40. 10 Dec 2025·Parliament·Andrew Griffith

    Seasonal Work

    Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is always a pleasure to see you in the Chair. We have heard from Members from across the House who understand a fundamental truth: that the hospitality sector is the cornerstone not only of our economy but of our society. It is a great strength of our parliamentary system that we all represent unique districts that are all, in one way or another, replete with high streets and hospitality businesses—pubs, restaurants and hotels—which we all wish to support. Members on both sides of the House have observed the importance of binding our communities together, giving people a warm place to stay—a refuge from loneliness—and keeping our high streets vibrant. Those are places where life happens. As we have also heard, hospitality performs a vital and arguably unique role in providing the next generation with that vital first step on the career ladder. I imagine that many of us had our very first experience of the world of work—that priceless exposure that helps us become world-ready—in retail or hospitality. I certainly did, and we have heard many other such examples. The sector does that precisely because it is a feature, not a bug, that it provides flexible seasonal work that allows young people to earn their first wage, combined with other responsibilities or opportunities, and, in so doing, to learn the important dignity of labour. As we have heard from my right hon. and hon. Friends, pubs, hotels and restaurants in particular are hurting as a direct result of the Chancellor’s choices, not just in last year’s Budget but once again in this year’s Budget, which was delivered from the Dispatch Box just a few weeks ago. More than a dozen venues from my South Downs constituency have contacted me in the last 24 hours alone, having heard about this debate. Ruth and Martin at the Cricketers in Duncton described to me how their rates are going up by £4,500 to £5,000 a year—that is money that they do not have. The Fox Goes Free in Charlton has been a public house, continuously serving the community, for over 400 years. Like every pub, it makes a huge contribution. Its business rates bill will increase by more than £13,000 next year. The House should bear that in mind when Labour Members talk about how they have introduced permanently lower business rates. That is a laughable idea. I have heard similar stories—and worse—from the Murrell Arms in Eastergate, the Half Moon Inn in Northchapel, the Labouring Man in Coldwaltham and the Onslow Arms in Loxwood.

    Hansard source