Speeches by Murray.

“I thank the Chair of the Select Committee for her questions. If she did not succeed in tempting me at the Select Committee, I doubt she will succeed today, but I can reassure her that the decisions we have set out about introducing the permanently lower business rate for RHL—retail, hospitality and leisure—properties b…”

“We have been clear since the Budget that the decision to raise employer national insurance contributions was one of the toughest we have taken as a Government, and we recognise that it has consequences for businesses. However, we think all businesses will benefit in future from the economic stability that this decision…”

“The No. 1 thing for industry and households is to bring down the cost of energy. That is why we are investing in renewable home-grown energy for the future, to make sure we have energy independence, energy security and, crucially, lower bills for those households and businesses.”

“The Government announced a range of measures at the autumn Budget to support SMEs, including in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors. They include more than doubling the employment allowance, freezing the small business rates multiplier, extending RHL relief to 40%, maintaining the small profits rate and reducin…”

“I think that retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, which are the backbone of our high street, might object to the idea of permanently lower tax rates as “tinkering around the edges”. That is a fundamental change that we want to bring in from April 2026 to make sure they have stability, certainty and permanently l…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for his question and for referencing Wonderful Palate, the business in his constituency. I do not know the details of the rateable value of that property, but I point the owner to the fact that we are retaining small business rate relief, freezing the small business multiplier next year and exten…”

“I am glad to know that the shadow Minister’s morning was well spent cooking up that line about the Davos ski slopes. What he will know, and what sectors across the economy will know, is that having a stable economy is a prerequisite for the investment we need to get the economy growing. That is why we had to take diffi…”

“What we accept is that the difficult decisions we took at the Budget enabled extra funding to be put into the NHS. GP surgeries have had a funding settlement that considers all the pressures on them in the round.”

“As I have set out, the UK CBAM will mitigate the risk of carbon leakage by placing a carbon price on some of the most emissions-intensive industrial goods imported into the UK, including in the iron and steel sector. The UK CBAM is designed for the UK context, and in some areas, its emissions scope is wider than the EU…”

“We set out the details of our decision to increase the rate of national insurance contributions from employers and to reduce the threshold, and we have added the different benefit we will give, particularly to small businesses and charities, by more than doubling the employment allowance. The employer national insuranc…”

“I would hope that I can show, by what I do as chair of the board, the value that it adds by having a Minister who is not only engaged with the ministerial hat on but also directly through the board.”

“That is a conversation we are going to have to have with HMRC. I can definitely discuss it and write to you about that.”

“There is an efficiency gain we have made already.”

“I do not know, because I have only been there with both hats on.”

“It was not with my chair of the board hat on. It was a ministerial consultation, but when that decision went public and everyone around this table knew about it my involvement was in the past. As soon as it is public, it is all signed off by everyone including the PM.”

“He has been appointed.”

“Yes, but there was a different person in one of them. I would feed back my thoughts on the candidates and maybe any areas I thought would be worth focusing on in the interviews. That was the end of my involvement at that stage. Then it went over into the formal process, and they came back with recommendations and so on…”

“The process for recruiting a new Permanent Secretary involves a thing called a fireside chat. There is no fireside as far as I can tell; it is just a chat where I as Minister will chat to potential applicants. There is a commissioner watching as well to make sure it is all recorded and done in a very fair, recorded way…”

“To take the decision that we took, we had the information that we needed.”

“Just to be really clear in terms of the very specific question around inheritance tax, what is relevant there is HMRC data on claims. All the other features of the farm or the business that sits behind the inheritance tax claim do not tell you the ultimate question, which is around the value of the claim, because that …”