Speeches by Murray.

“I think the hon. Gentleman must be forgetting the recent history of this country’s economy when his party was in charge, because the many small businesses that I have met are not clamouring for a return to the economic chaos that we saw under Liz Truss or the 14 years of economic stagnation that his party presided over…”

“I will turn to the questions that the hon. Gentleman and other hon. Members have raised about VAT reliefs in a moment, but I will first finish the point about where the VAT registration threshold is set, because that is an important part of the debate. It is worth reflecting on the fact that views on the threshold are …”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. He referred to the impact of the Windsor framework, which as he correctly pointed out, imposes an upper limit of just over £90,000 on the threshold in Northern Ireland. The Windsor framework is therefore relevant to the threshold in Northern Ireland and, by extension, to the…”

“It is a pleasure to speak in this debate with you in the Chair, Ms Jardine. I thank hon. Members for their warm welcome. I want to extend my thanks, as many others have, to the right hon. Member for Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge (Sir Gavin Williamson) for securing this debate—and, indeed, for his kind words about h…”

“The permanently lower tax rates will come in in April 2026, so the intervening year is the year that we are currently in. That rate has been set by the Chancellor. The Chancellor makes announcements about rates at fiscal events. The autumn Budget is where she sets out those rates, in the same way that she agreed, at th…”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising the issue of the VOA. Its performance is very important for businesses across the country. I am sure that he will have seen our recent announcement that, this year, we are bringing the VOA into His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, rather than it being an arm’s length body. Part of t…”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. As I set out, the new lower multipliers of RHL properties will apply to all RHL properties with rateable values below £500,000. There will be a standard RHL multiplier and a small RHL multiplier for properties with rateable values of £51,000 and below. The definition of an R…”

“I would challenge the right hon. and learned Lady’s use of language, but that issue is rather outside the scope of a debate on business rates. As I was saying, we published a discussion paper at the Budget last year, which invited the industry to help us to design a fairer business rates system that supports investment…”

“I reassure my hon. Friend that I, and the wider team of officials, have had a number of meetings with representatives of family businesses and the agricultural and farming sector. We have listened to ideas raised by a number of people we have met, as well as ideas raised in debates in the Commons and in meetings in the…”

“I believe that the hon. Lady is asking about the taxation of large multinational firms operating in the digital space. I am sure that she is aware of the digital services tax, which is currently in operation. The Government are committed to maintaining that until the pillar 1 international solution is implemented, and …”

“Got it. To conclude my remarks on the wider support that we are giving to businesses, I also draw hon. Members’ attention to the fact that we committed in the “Corporate Tax Roadmap”, which was published at the autumn Budget, to maintain the small profits rates and marginal relief at their current rates and thresholds,…”

“My hon. Friend is a great champion of businesses and farmers in her constituency. When we were deciding how to reform agricultural property relief and business property relief, we made sure that generous tax reliefs still existed in the tax system precisely because we want to continue to support small and family-owned …”

“It is a pleasure, Sir John, to speak in this debate with you as Chair, and I congratulate the hon. Member for Mid Dunbartonshire (Susan Murray) on securing it—I notice that the debate is being opened and closed by a Murray. I know that some Members are very concerned about the impact of forthcoming reforms to inheritan…”

“As my hon. Friend will know, spending decisions are for the Chief Secretary of the Treasury to discuss with Departments. I make the general point that investment in mental health, for instance, which she mentioned, is possible only because of the decisions we have taken on taxation to ensure that we can support public …”

“We are determined to go further and faster to reform business rates, which is why we will publish an update paper in the summer. I am also glad that we can work with councils such as Ipswich to ensure that we can turn around town centres after years of Conservative decline.”

“I very much recognise, both as a constituency MP and as a Minister, the importance of making sure that adoptive parents can build a strong family unit with their adoptive children. If I may make a broader point, the only reason we can invest in public services is because of difficult decisions we have taken around taxa…”

“The Government are committed to keeping taxes for working people as low as possible. The personal allowance means those earning below £12,570 pay no tax. At our first Budget, we decided not to extend the freeze on personal tax thresholds, which was implemented by the previous Government.”

“I am sorry to hear about the experience of the hon. Lady’s constituent. To reassure her and her constituent, one of my priorities as chair of the HMRC board is to improve HMRC’s day-to-day performance. We have seen the percentage of telephony adviser attempts handled go from 59% last March to 80% this March. It will re…”

“Many employers recognise that having a productive, secure workforce who can take pride in their jobs and contribute to their fullest ability at work is important not just for the employees themselves but for the productivity of the businesses. That is why we want to see workers with employment rights that will be upgra…”

“Of course, having a well-functioning welfare state is, in many ways, precisely about protecting people when they have unexpected shocks to their lives. I am not sure that the tax system is the best way to address that, but I think the hon. Gentleman’s broader point about ensuring that the state provides a safety net or…”