Speeches by Cooper.

“I have explained all those measures in this Chamber before, but I am happy to spell them out again, including the remarks I made a few minutes ago. The very first thing we called for was for the Government to use the powers they gave themselves in the Budget last year. I would love to know the costings for that measure…”

“I am incredibly grateful to the right hon. Member for making that point. I am the MP for St Albans, which is a small city, but I am a Suffolk girl born and bred. I know how valuable rural pubs are. They provide all sorts of services: they look after older people and single people; they are a fantastic community hub; an…”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Pubs are irreplaceable, and when a pub goes a community falls apart. Pubs are vital as part of the social fabric: they are the glue that holds our communities together, and we must protect them. We tabled new clause 9 because we want the Government to look at and “report on the cumul…”

“I will speak to clauses 1 to 8 and schedules 1 and 2. Overall, the tax changes increase complexity, raise the tax burden on small businesses and savers, and raise the risk of serious unintended consequences on the property market. They all have the hallmarks of a Treasury tax grab without proper the consideration of th…”

“The Minister will have heard a number of colleagues asking for more detail about how the pension provisions will affect pensioners. The Minister has just said that further information is to come. Will he please give us an indication of the date when we can expect that guidance to be published, so that he can then come …”

“These stealth taxes were started by the Conservatives and are being continued by Labour. When the Liberal Democrats were in government, we made sure to raise the income tax thresholds, taking people out of paying tax, but it is clear that the two biggest parties continue to drag more people into paying tax. According t…”

“President Trump’s actions are not about drugs; they are about oil. They are not about regional stability; they are about regional dominance. They are not about upholding the law; they are about breaking it. The Foreign Secretary has said that the Government have been clear, but she has not been clear on any of those th…”

“Happy new year to you, Mr Speaker, and to House staff and all Members in the Chamber. This policy was a disaster from the get-go. It came with no warning, no consultation and no clue. The Liberal Democrats were the first party to point out the damage it would do to family farms. We have repeatedly and clearly highlight…”

“On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. Can you advise me on how I might elicit satisfactory responses to a series of written questions I have tabled to the Treasury on the impact of business rates on retail, hospitality and leisure businesses? I asked for very specific figures relating to the number of businesses t…”

“I could not agree more. My right hon. Friend chairs the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee—a Labour-majority Select Committee—and he has navigated that issue so well over the last year. I say on the parliamentary record: all credit to him for his sterling efforts to draw attention to the issue. If there had …”

“I am incredibly grateful to my hon. Friend for making that point, because our pubs in particular, but hospitality more widely, are at the heart of our community. They provide so much more than just somewhere to have a pint and a pie. They provide community and social cohesion. They are the antidote to the epidemic of i…”

“I am grateful to my hon. Friend for making that point. This will have unintended consequences, and we can see what those will be. We have spent a year warning the Government; they can no longer say that they have not been warned. I hope so much that, at this late stage, they make changes to the Bill.”

“I wholeheartedly agree. It is so frustrating; in last year’s Budget and in this year’s Budget, the Government continue to say that they are pro-growth, and that growth remains their No. 1 mission, but measure after measure in those two Budgets is anti-growth. Many of us have heard from family businesses in our constitu…”

“My hon. Friend is spot on with that comment. We have all seen the statistics; while offices and warehouses face marginal percentage increases in tax, the increases faced by our pubs and hospitality businesses are massive. Analysis that I know has been shared with Ministers this morning suggests that the bill for Harrod…”

“Will the hon. Gentleman give way on that point?”

“If this Finance Bill represents anything, I am sorry to say that it represents the fact that the Government know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. We Liberal Democrats have tabled a reasoned amendment against this Bill, setting out all the reasons why we are against it. Ultimately, this Bill is a series …”

“I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention, and I wholeheartedly agree that the Prime Minister should change direction. It is deeply disappointing that, having been grilled at the Liaison Committee yesterday, he clearly has no intention of doing so. The changes to the agricultural property relief and the business pro…”

“I am grateful to my hon. Friend for making that point. I agree with him: transparency is critical. On transparency, we Liberal Democrats think that it is time to overhaul this entire process. Colleagues will know that when Sweden faced a similar crisis in its Budget process in the 1990s, it overhauled the process, and …”

“I agree with the right hon. Gentleman that the jobs tax has been damaging. I say to Treasury Ministers that the combination of the jobs tax and higher business rates bills will have a profound impact on the very small businesses on our high streets, and our high streets are critical to our communities. Most ordinary fo…”