I am grateful for the opportunity to make a brief contribution on the Budget, which sets out that we have a strong economy that is showing remarkable resilience. Of course, there are Labour Members who would talk Britain down. We expect Oppositions to oppose—that is what they do—but usually they set out what they would do instead and, crucially, the cost implications of their plans. Many Members are former councillors, and most councils are offered an alternative budget at the time their budgets are set. Where is Labour’s alternative? How much would Labour spend? Where would it spend the money? What taxes would it raise to pay for its proposals, and how much extra would it borrow? Those are all legitimate questions, to which the shadow Chancellor’s answer is that that is all on his iPad. That is what advisers are for.
The Opposition like to claim that they are a Government in waiting, but in reality the country is waiting for answers and for a credible alternative from the Opposition. The British people see an Opposition with no financial credibility who would, if they were in government, saddle our children and grandchildren with crippling debt, raise taxes, punish businesses and destroy jobs.
They then see a Conservative Government with a proven seven-year track record who have created 3 million more jobs, cut taxes, taken 4 million people out of tax altogether and made Britain a great place to do business once again. The shadow Chancellor may not do numbers, but we know it is the British people who would pay the price if Labour was ever allowed to implement its reckless plans.
This Budget and the ones before it have laid the foundations for our future. In terms of global Britain, we have always been a country that has taken the lead, and I believe it was on that basis that the Chancellor made his remarks about single-use plastic items, which are littering our planet and oceans. It is important to investigate how charges and the tax system can reduce waste. The measure is not intend to raise revenue or to contribute to funding our public services. As someone who spent 30 years in the plastic food service industry, I know that the industry will respond positively to the calls for evidence. Any intervention must be effective and evidence-based. It must maximise rates of recycling and minimise the amount of valuable and recyclable material that is lost to the environment. A key question will be: will this reduce plastic in the ocean? I fear that such measures will make little difference, because just 2% of plastic waste in our oceans originates in Europe and the US, and about 0.2% is litter that originated in the UK. This issue needs to be tackled globally, and we need to address the areas of greatest leakage.
In that context, I want to pick up the point that the Chancellor made about incentivising cleaner air through changes to vehicle excise duty to encourage people to switch to electric vehicles. That will be important in urban areas. In my constituency, we are building the new electric version of the traditional London taxi, following a new £350 million investment. I note the Chancellor’s proposal to exempt those vehicles from the VED supplement from April 2019, but there is a strong case for bringing that measure forward. It would save drivers £1,550 over five years and provide an important reward to those who adopt the new technology early.
We have a strong economy and world-class public services. The Budget builds on the successes of the past seven years.
8.14 pm