Speeches by Grady.

“When we listen to the discussion we have had this morning, there are a number of concerns that have been expressed to this Committee. One is national security and resilience and whether cash is important for that, and that is something that is reflected internationally as well. The second concern is that there is a sig…”

“Was the modelling the second chapter?”

“That makes sense, as our point might be that you are not planning for this to happen. One final question is that the Equality Act forbids indirect discrimination. That is when an organisation has a way of working that has a worse impact on disabled people compared to other people. The other thing it requires is that on…”

“You obviously have the financials and strategy with committees and sub-committees. When will the committees complete their work, and when will the Government come to a decision as to next steps?”

“I should declare that before entering the House, I advised, as a competition lawyer, on various CMA matters, including investigations and panels. Some of the criticisms from Conservative Members seem half a world away, to channel Oasis, from both the topic in question and economic reality. Will the Minister confirm tha…”

“rose—”

“Value for money in public spending is important to my constituents, who work hard for their money. In Scotland, under the Scottish National party, we have higher rates of income tax for anyone earning more than £29,000. The Government in Edinburgh and the UK Government that we have just finished with have indulged in s…”

“That is very helpful, because you see, Minister, the NAO report also talks about the cohort of businesses. Once you get below £30,000, you are talking about genuinely small businesses that maybe will need additional support. At 3.31, the report said that HMRC expects there will be an increase in additional needs, but H…”

“Finally, in June 2023, paragraph 21 of the NAO report says, “Each announcement”—this is on MTD—“has set an ambitious timeframe for delivery, with several aspects of the MTD programme to be delivered in parallel”. It goes on to say “The repeated delays and rephasing of MTD has undermined its credibility and increased it…”

“I have a couple of crisp follow-ups from that. Another theme in the National Audit Office report is properly taking into account the burdens on businesses of introducing a digital requirement. In simple terms, the National Audit Office found that HMRC had not, in its cost‑benefit analysis, properly accounted for that a…”

“On that, I think that there are bands of businesses, are there not? This next stage does not apply to businesses with a turnover of under £30,000. Do I have that right?”

“On that, paragraph 2.17 of the same report notes that the initial new VAT registration service did not require people to prove their address, which of course, among other things, led to thousands of people getting letters to companies at their addresses that did not exist. I do not want to appear facetious, but, if I w…”

“I take from that that the focus is more on making it easy to report your tax and pay tax, and better tax records, so cutting out those mistakes you mentioned earlier on tax.”

“Coming back to Making Tax Digital and digital confidence, you will be aware that one of the things you have inherited is Making Tax Digital. The National Audit Office looked at it in 2023, reporting in June 2023. One aspect that is being canvassed as a benefit for Making Tax Digital is that it will enable customers bet…”

“I suppose what that legal assessment might engage, for example, is the fact that we have a change here and a Minister who is now chairing an NDPB, as I understand it. Self-evidently, you have someone wearing two hats in that role, which are quite different. That may—I do not know; I am speculating—engage a range of leg…”

“I have two brief questions, if I may, following that. Presumably any simplification of the tax code makes the implementation of Making Tax Digital easier. The simpler it is, the less work there is in devising the IT to support it.”

“The Chancellor may be able to learn a bit about emergency spending cuts from the Scottish Government in Holyrood, who have had three years of emergency spending cuts. Does the Chancellor agree that it is essential to engage with large economies like China so that we can export our brilliant financial services sector an…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Lewell-Buck, as you are from South Shields—I have some family there too and it is a wonderful place. I thank the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont) for securing today’s important debate; he spoke eloquently about transport in his constitu…”

“As my dear friends tussle, I want to make a minor point. The Conservative Government were in power for 14 years until July, and the SNP Government have been in power in Holyrood for about 18 years. It is quite remarkable for the hon. Member to criticise a Government who have been in power for just six months and have b…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Livingston (Gregor Poynton) for securing this debate, and for his excellent survey of the considerable benefits of the Budget for Scotland. On economic forecasts, I am a somewhat boring Member of Parliament—I like to read the …”