Speeches by Reeves.

“As I have already confirmed, we are looking at all eventualities, but the root cause of this is the challenge in getting oil and gas out of the middle east, so the best way to deal with this is to address that at the root.”

“If you look at the OBR forecast and the things the OBR have taken into account, they have taken into account, for example, our increase in capital spending. As I say, that will have a positive impact on the size of the economy. The OBR have also taken into account some of our planning reforms and are saying that they h…”

“With respect, Mr Glen, we saw the number of people not in education, employment or training under the last Conservative Government increase by more than 100,000. That was not because of greater protections at work and increases in people’s wages; in fact, living standards went backwards in the last Parliament. I just d…”

“I know that is not an option for some people, if they are out of heating oil. That is why we are working very rapidly with the Competition and Markets Authority on a range of issues. My colleague the Financial Secretary to the Treasury has already had a number of meetings in the last couple of days, and is meeting MPs.…”

“Let me give you a couple of examples. Some companies are saying that you can only buy a larger quantity; they won’t sell in small quantities, whereas at the moment many people want to top up a little bit at the higher price, but not to fill up their whole tank. So we are looking at some of those market practices, which…”

“There are more people in employment now than there were when Labour came into office. Partly, that reflects a reduction in the inactivity rate. I think there have only been three years in the last 50 years where the employment rate has been higher than it is today. It is, of course, welcome that people are putting them…”

“Mr Glen was in the Department when Russia invaded Ukraine and a lot of this work started then. But as you rightly suggest, Dame Meg, it did not progress and it was not far enough in advance to be able to have more targeted support, but I know that was something that was looked at by the previous Government. To be hones…”

“And I would say to businesses providing heating oil that it is not right to say that you will only sell in large quantities at the moment. That is not fair on customers, and I would encourage consumers to push back and to shop around in circumstances where they are being told they can only buy a large quantity at a ver…”

“Yes, they are more obvious places.”

“On businesses, it is also worth noting that the supercharger extension comes in at the beginning of April. That increases the discount for the most energy-intensive industries from 60% to 90%. That was planned anyway, and it will come in. We are also working with the Department for Business and Trade on the British ind…”

“What I would say is that we are much too early, less than two weeks into the conflict, to have any certainty about what things would look like when the next energy price cap is determined at the end of May, for July, and we will work flat out to try and de-escalate this conflict and crucially, from an economic perspect…”

“We always keep all taxes under review, but it is much too early, when those changes are not due to come into effect until September, to guess where petrol prices will be then. I am very loath to spend Government money on something that the market should be doing itself. That is why greater competition and greater trans…”

“That is what we have said: we keep all taxes under review.”

“It is much too soon to start speculating.”

“As agreed with the MOD in the spending review last year, which was the biggest uplift in defence spending since the end of the cold war.”

“Are you referring particularly to non-doms?”

“First of all, thank you very much, Dame Meg, for inviting me back after the spring forecast to give evidence. Yes, even when I delivered my spring forecast last Tuesday, it was obvious that there were disruptions to markets and prices. But I would say, as I think the Office for Budget Responsibility said to your Commit…”

“It’s certainly not good for the British economy to have trade disrupted, especially when so much oil and gas comes from that part of the world. The best thing we can do as a Government is seek to de-escalate this conflict.”

“Yes—they set this out to your Committee yesterday. We have to be mindful of not only the public finances but family finances because, everything else being equal, if the Government spend more, there will be more demand pressure in the economy that pushes up inflation higher. I am really proud to be the Chancellor that …”

“We work on these things together.”