Speeches by Tomlinson.

“I look forward to working with my hon. Friend, and other Members who are interested in this topic, to make sure that we move as quickly as we possibly can. Let me thank all Members for their contributions during this this debate. Question put and agreed to. New clause 5 accordingly read a Second time, and added to the …”

“If the Conservatives had credible plans and a credible history of reining in welfare spending, then I would, of course, be interested in taking them seriously. However, it was the shadow Chancellor, the right hon. Member for Central Devon (Sir Mel Stride), who was the Work and Pensions Secretary when the welfare budget…”

“If the right hon. Member will forgive me, I will make progress, having spoken for eight minutes already. Amendments 102 to 107 would mean that unlimited 100% agricultural property relief would be available on agricultural land rented out for at least 10 years. The Government’s position is that the House should reject t…”

“The president of the National Farmers Union mentioned in his speech to the farmers’ conference just a few weeks ago that he was glad of my engagement with farmers—he personally called out that engagement. I took a trip to the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Hexham (Joe Morris), after being invited there b…”

“I will not get into specific worked examples. The general point is that the Government have made changes both to business property relief and to agricultural property relief, in order to raise additional revenue from the very wealthiest estates. We have sought to do that because we want to put fairness into our tax sys…”

“Okay.”

“I am sure this issue was considered before the policy was announced, and I have considered it too since I have been in post. It is worth pointing out that HMRC already offers several payment options to help personal representatives pay inheritance tax. That allows banks, building societies or investment providers to pa…”

“This Government are fully committed to resetting our relationship with the European Union. As the hon. Gentleman highlighted, the previous Government did as much as they could to damage that relationship, damage our productivity and damage our working relationship with our nearest partners. We are seeking to change tha…”

“We will be working across Government on the high streets strategy. Treasury Ministers will be working with colleagues in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Business and Trade. We will make progress on that in the coming weeks, with the strategy to report by the end of the y…”

“Business rates are a devolved matter. The changes that we have announced and the support that we have put in will have consequentials for funding for the Scottish Government. VAT is a broad-based tax that raises a significant amount of revenue for the Treasury. That is important in ensuring that we can manage our publi…”

“The Government recognise the important contribution that hospitality businesses make to communities across the UK, including in Northern Ireland. Reducing VAT rates, or applying different VAT rates within the UK, would add complexity and come at a significant cost to the Exchequer.”

“This is a complex change to implement, but the Government’s position is that it is right to have the same rate of VAT across our country. During the pandemic, there was a cut—a temporary cut—to the rate of VAT and that came at the significant cost of £8 billion. We have to make sure that we can raise revenue from acros…”

“When we bring forward the high streets strategy, it will look in the round at what more we can do on regulation, licensing and the decisions that are made in the Treasury to continue to support small businesses and those on our high streets. That is incredibly important, and we will continue to look at that closely.”

“One reason we have a challenge with youth participation in the labour market is the broken welfare system and the broken support system that we inherited from the previous Government. The proportion of young adults who are not in education, employment or training is broadly unchanged since the general election. It is t…”

“I am always happy to show leadership, and this Government—and, I may say, previous Governments—have worked hard with international partners, both in the OECD and the UN, to do all we can to reduce tax avoidance and evasion by multinational companies. We continue to work with our partners in the UK and abroad to clamp d…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for his representations on this matter here today and over many months, and in Westminster Hall just a few weeks ago. The rural fuel duty relief scheme does provide that 5p discount and it will benefit his constituents on the islands and in the communities he represents. We will of course keep al…”

“We have made sure to freeze fuel duty since we have been in office. That has saved the average driver 8p per litre at the pump, and it will rise to 11p when the increase does not go ahead in a few weeks’ time. If heating oil is an issue that affects the hon. Lady’s constituents, I hope she will be able to attend tomorr…”

“I thank the hon. Member for her representation of her constituents. The Chancellor has already said today, as she said yesterday, that we understand that there are particular pressures facing households that use heating oil for their heating. A meeting has been arranged for tomorrow with the Financial Secretary to the …”

“Around one in three businesses continue to benefit from the small business rates relief and do not pay any business rates at all, with an additional 85,000 benefiting from reduced relief as that is tapered away. At the Budget, we also announced changes to small business rates relief so that we can provide an additional…”

“The Government regularly assess whether to add energy-saving materials, including heat batteries, to the list of items covered by the current VAT relief, which is set to continue until March 2027. Any decisions would have to be announced by the Chancellor at a fiscal event, but I am happy to discuss the matter.”