Speeches by Reeves.

“The key thing we need to do is build the homes our country desperately needs. That is why I put £600 million of investment into creating 60,000 additional places for people to learn the construction skills we need, and into good jobs, paying decent wages and building the homes we need. That is also why we are reforming…”

“I would be very happy to arrange a meeting for the hon. Lady with the relevant Minister to discuss some of those specific issues around retirement properties. She makes a really important point. We need to make it easier for people to downsize to free up those properties, including in the private sector, so that more h…”

“The national wealth fund has had constructive meetings with all our mayors, and we have given a mandate to the national wealth fund to work with mayors on tailored offers for their communities. I am meeting Mayor Andy Burnham later today to take forward that shared objective to ensure that growth is generated everywher…”

“I visited Stockport with my hon. Friend and the Mayor of Greater Manchester last year to see the regeneration work happening there, linking new investment in housing with transport infrastructure. I thank my hon. Friend for his leadership. Last month, alongside the increase in defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, we also s…”

“My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has set out new reforms for procurement rules to enable just that. We want more British businesses to win contracts. We want more small businesses in Britain to win contracts—businesses in all parts of the economy, including in food and farming. In farming, …”

“The Chief Secretary is working closely with mayors, including Oliver Coppard, to understand their priorities for the places that they represent for the purpose of the spending review in June, and will continue that work. At the same time, as the hon. Member for Grantham and Bourne (Gareth Davies) pointed out, we are ba…”

“The Office for Budget Responsibility has revised growth upwards from next year, and expects the economy to be bigger at the end of the forecast period than it thought at the time of the Budget last year. We are using the national wealth fund, the British Business Bank and UK Export Finance to support businesses through…”

“The first duty of any Government is to keep the nation safe. That is why we are increasing defence spending as a share of GDP to 2.5%—the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the cold war. Derby has a vital role to play within the UK’s defence sector, particularly in nuclear engineering and a…”

“The support that we announced yesterday on the phase-out of internal combustion engine cars was very much welcomed by the automotive sector. It will give much more flexibility around the allowances and around plug-in hybrid vehicles. All of that is welcome, but we are keeping a watching brief as well as trying to ensur…”

“My hon. Friend is doing great work supporting local businesses in Burnley, including the digital marketing start-up Door4, which I know he has been championing.”

“Hear, hear. I had better declare an interest as a proud Member of Parliament for Leeds West and Pudsey. West Yorkshire combined authority is receiving £830 million for transport spending through round 1 of the city region sustainable transport settlement. That includes £200 million for the development of a mass transpo…”

“Doing it through legislation means that Parliament has a say on these changes. Some of the changes could be introduced without legislation, but it is important that Parliament has a say.”

“Right. That has not been raised with me or—I don’t think—the permanent secretary. There is often speculation ahead of a spring statement or a Budget. I do not know which information you are referring to, but the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the week before the spring statement, set out the details to the H…”

“Another measure you can look at is GDP per capita. That fell in the last Parliament, and the OBR forecast that it will increase by, I think, 5.5% during the course of this Parliament. Obviously there are different measures, but whether you are measuring RHDI or GDP per capita, both are forecast to rise. That is after t…”

“As I said in the previous answer, it is the average, so some years it is more than £500 and some years it is less. That £500 is the average additional RHDI for the spring statement that I delivered last week compared with the last Budget the Conservatives delivered. In that time, the OBR forecasts that, on average, RHD…”

“The Office for Budget Responsibility say that three quarters of the deterioration in the fiscal position since the Budget last year was to do with movements in Government bond yields. You will know that our bond yields have moved in line with our European peers—”

“I guess that is more of a question for the Work and Pensions Secretary, but Liz Kendall has always been very clear, including when she was the Opposition spokesperson, that everybody who can work, should work, and that we need to do more to support people into work.”

“We wanted to make sure that we got the package of measures right. The Department for Work and Pensions has been working on them, and it slipped them out ahead of the spring statement. From our time in opposition, we have focused on how we can support more people into work. The current system is clearly not doing that—”

“Various aspects are being consulted on through the Green Paper. We think we have the balance right between the legislation and the things that are being consulted on. It will have scrutiny through the parliamentary process, in Committee and debate in the House.”

“The legislation will face scrutiny in both Houses of Parliament, and rightly so. We have been very clear about the precise elements of the package. [Interruption.]”