Speeches by Reeves.

“It is absolutely crucial. Achieving strong economic growth is not just about lines on a graph; it is about the money that people have in their pockets. We want to see economic growth and the benefits it brings felt in all parts of the country. That is why at the Budget last year we put significant investment, for examp…”

“No, I do not feel that. The OBR incorporated the latest economic news from financial markets and we updated our plans on that basis. We could have chosen to say that we would address issues of headroom at the Budget, but I did think it was important to show how importantly we take fiscal sustainability and fiscal stabi…”

“It is really important that we have just one major fiscal event a year, because families and businesses do crave stability. In the last Parliament, there were a huge number of fiscal events, mini and otherwise, and that constant chopping and changing of tax rates and thresholds contributed to the economic uncertainty a…”

“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.]”

“I think it is a huge opportunity to secure more good jobs, paying good wages and—going back to our discussion earlier—in all parts of the country. These jobs are geographically spread, from Rosyth to Derby to Wrexham to Bristol. There are so many fantastic firms, big and small, in the defence sector. This is an opportu…”

“We appointed Tom Hayhoe earlier this year, but he has only been in post for a couple of months. He is working to see what money can be clawed back, and working with different counterparties across Government in the fraud area. We are determined to do everything we can to get that money back. We will be setting out more…”

“It is not in these documents.”

“We will soon publish more information on his work. It is important work. He has only been in post for a couple of months.”

“I am not going to pluck numbers out—”

“That is why we were really keen to bring in someone with experience and a very clear remit of doing everything we can to get that money back.”

“It is the whole covid period.”

“He is looking across the whole of the covid outlays and where fraud has occurred, but we will be publishing more information shortly.”

“I can give you the exact dates. I have met and spoken to Martin Lewis since I have been in the job—”