Speeches by West.

“The Hornsey and Friern Barnet constituency has a long tradition as boroughs of sanctuary, and just today I had an excellent briefing from the Jewish voice for refugees, HIAS+JCORE. Does the Home Secretary agree that there is a real problem with the cliff edge for failed asylum seekers who end up street homeless or roug…”

“Can I return to council tax and the general other taxes question? Professor Leunig, I think you mentioned the single person concession, and how that encourages people to stay in a big house on their own. Could you explain a little more the concept of a residence tax? I am thinking about other places where rates are pay…”

“What is the wider impact of even minor changes to CGT? I am referring to the look and feel, and the sense of confidence in the property market.”

“Finally, one last question, which is about big houses. We probably have enough bedrooms in the country, when we talk about supply. In terms of the taxation that homeowners are charged when they rent out a room to lodgers, it is to keep the price low for the lodger, which is good, but more people could be taking the sch…”

“Thank you for allowing me that digression, Chair.”

“Your former colleague from Surrey Heath, Mr Gove, said publicly that his biggest regret was cutting the Building Schools for the Future programme. What would yours be, on reflection?”

“Boris Johnson introduced a hard Brexit but left a legacy of a 1-million-person newly-arrived community, in migration terms, per annum. Would your advice to the current Labour Government be to seek entry into the European Union again?”

“I have two quick questions: one about national insurance, and one about the national living wage, the London living wage and regional living wages. On national insurance, there was quite a controversial change by the Chancellor last year, which some employers were very unhappy about, but which, over time, might end up …”

“On 6 December, Small Business Saturday will have us all out in our constituencies supporting small businesses. Following the announcement this morning about the need to enhance productivity, what measures will the Treasury be introducing to assist small businesses in the current tough climate?”

“Having been through so many shocks since 2008, that does shine a light on why there has been a tilting of the market towards the cash ISA, just because of the unpredicted nature of 2008, covid and so on. As a newish Minister, what is your assessment of the impact of the Chancellor’s speech this morning on your function…”

“I was going to ask about the agglomeration effect of London and the north-west, but you have actually answered it. I will quickly ask about a benefit that used to be called educational maintenance allowance. You mentioned older children, and that did have an effect on larger families where there were two or three teena…”

“Thank you very much, Chair. We understand from the previous panel that the average effective betting levy is 22% in the UK, and 53% was cited as the effective levy in the US. That is quite a big gap for a society and economy that is quite similar to the UK. Were the Chancellor to be looking to gain revenue from somewhe…”

“I will alter that to Thursday—that might be clearer. Thank you, Chair. Since I last made representations to your Committee, I have been elected to the Treasury Committee, which meets on a Tuesday morning.”

“Who paid for the Frontier Economics research?”

“The motion for the debate would be that this House has considered the potential of onshoring in the fashion and textiles industry for jobs, skills and prosperity. The answering Department would likely be the Department for Business and Trade. The rapid rise of fast fashion has encouraged outsourcing and offshoring, but…”

“Yes. A Tuesday afternoon, if possible, Chair.”

“Thank you, Chair. When I submitted the application, I had 18 Members of Parliament interested in this debate. Since then, the number has risen to 24 Members from all the parties across the House, except maybe one or two of the smaller ones. I have asked for a three-hour debate in the Chamber, given that it is quite top…”

“Yes, if that is better for the Committee, but obviously it would be fab to have it in the main Chamber.”

“I can update that for you.”

“I understand.”