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Chamber and committees

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 11 July 2025
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Displaying 2881 contributions

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Finance and Public Administration Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2023-24

Meeting date: 10 January 2023

John Mason

That clarifies the matter—thank you.

On income tax specifically, I know that Liz Smith and the Conservatives would like to have no tax, or very little tax, but you are proposing an increase of 1p; other people would say that you should put it up by 2p or 3p, which would give us just a little bit more money. Can you explain why you chose 1p rather than more or less?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2023-24

Meeting date: 10 January 2023

John Mason

Have you considered, or would you consider, a more radical change, so that instead of just a 1p or 2p increase, we look at having more bands—for example, 21 per cent, 31 per cent, 41 per cent and 51 per cent—instead of the current jump from 21 per cent to 41 per cent?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2023-24

Meeting date: 10 January 2023

John Mason

Finally, we mentioned investment zones in our report and, in your letter to us of 20 December 2022, you said that you were waiting to see what the UK Government was going to do, because it had indicated that the policy would be “refocused”. Can you say anything about that, or do we just not know what the UK Government is doing in relation to that?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2023-24

Meeting date: 10 January 2023

John Mason

Thanks very much.

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2023-24

Meeting date: 20 December 2022

John Mason

Undoubtedly, there will be another crisis somewhere along the line.

10:30  

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2023-24

Meeting date: 20 December 2022

John Mason

The committee heard from the expert panel earlier and the witnesses made the point that the UK has failed to address the accumulation of debt following all the different crises that we have had. If I remember correctly, when I was younger—I believe that I am the oldest member of the committee—interest rates had to rise because the pound was getting weak, and the UK debt was so great that interest rates had to be above inflation. Is there any risk of that happening again?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2023-24

Meeting date: 20 December 2022

John Mason

As I understand it, you are more concerned about what is going to happen in two years’ time than, perhaps, what is going to happen immediately. You say in your report:

“Adding future fiscal commitments or pressures at this time given the spending outlook is unwise and would require a larger subsequent adjustment.”

Do you think that such things are happening? Are “future fiscal commitments” being made that should not be made, or are you just giving a general warning that we should not be making any major new commitments at this time, given Professor Ruane’s comment that the whole country is becoming poorer?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2023-24

Meeting date: 20 December 2022

John Mason

There is no public pay policy for 2023-24, which is a point that has already been made. We all understand that that is because we do not know what the public pay policy for 2022-23 is. Was that a problem for you when you were forecasting? How did you take that into account?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2023-24

Meeting date: 20 December 2022

John Mason

We have mentioned capital expenditure. There is a borrowing limit of ÂŁ3 billion. Where are we with that? How close are we getting to the borrowing limit, and how scared should we be?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2023-24

Meeting date: 20 December 2022

John Mason

That is fair enough.

Your report quoted Andy Haldane saying that the situation around health is acting as a “brake on economic growth”. Will you expand on that? Do you think that Covid, long Covid and waiting times in hospitals are having an impact on the economy?