House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Conservative MP Kevin Hollinrake says small businesses are at an unfair disadvantage, "with headwinds that many big businesses simply do not have to cope with".

He says digital business spends around 0.6% of turnover on business rates, compared to high street businesses who pay around 2.3% whilst also having to compete with the likes of Amazon, Apple and Google, who are able "to avoid paying their share of tax".

Therefore he welcomes the business rate reduction for small businesses, along with the digital services tax.

"Our job is to level the playing field, not to pick winners, and his actions in leveling the playing field do exactly that."

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Conservative MP Jack Brereton says it is "striking how forward looking Monday's Budget is".

He says private and public sectors working together in partnership have moved his Stoke-on-Trent constituency forward, and the Budget takes this further with a dedicated fund to develop town centers and the relief on business rates for small businesses.

Tory colleague Andrew Bowie says he's concerned that thanks to the SNP's failure to match the tax cut the Budget offers some south of the border, many people in Scotland will be "£1,000 worse off" than people in England, despite working just as hard.

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

The committee session closes with the Chair, Tom Tugendhat, welcoming Mr Hunt to his new role as foreign secretary. He says he looks forward to working with him.

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Labour's Chris Bryant asks what plans are in place to help British people elsewhere in the EU if flights cannot take place in a no-deal Brexit.

Mr Hunt says that posts are "absolutely ready for what might happen," and that the government has to be "honest" with the one million Brits who are in the EU, that there is no "one size fits all answer" to what might happen.

Mr Hunt adds that "everything we can do, we are doing".

Mr Bryant asks what passport queue British citizens will be using from April onwards.

This is a matter for EU countries, Mr Hunt replies.

Select Committee
Parliament

Chair, Tom Tugendhat, says that Saudi Arabia has moved away from a privy council to an autocracy. While originally the Saudi royal family listened to concerns, it does not seem to anymore. He asks if Saudi is under threat from "sudden shifts".

Mr Hunt says "democracies are inherently more stable" than autocratic regimes. He adds that it is unlikely that "outside pressure" would ever ultimately change the country. He says internal changes will only come from this royal family, in a country with such a "long" and "proud history".

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Labour's Chris Ruane says he's pleased to see £2bn put towards mental health services but asks whether it will be ring fenced.

Part of the £400m expected to be raised by the "digital tax on Facebook and Google" should be ring fenced for mental health, he argues.

"Facebook themslves admitted in July that the Facebook product is having a detrimental impact on the mental health of children and young people all around the world.

"I think that's a fair way of allocating that funding."

House of Lords
Parliament

Home Office Minister Baroness Williams now introduces the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Bill for the second day of its committee stage.

The bill aims to ensure that the punishment for counter-terrorism offences properly reflects the crime, that re-offending is better prevented and ensures that terrorist offending can be disrupted more rapidly.

It also aims to update and close gaps in existing counter-terrorism legislation to ensure that it is fit for the digital age and reflect contemporary patterns of radicalisation.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Conservative peer Lord Bridges of Headley says there is supposed to be 21 sitting days for Parliament to scrutinise the withdrawal agreement as well as the motion which needs to be passed.

Lord Bridges asks what the final date is that the government have penciled in that Parliament will receive the withdrawal agreement by "if we are to leave with it being ratified properly in March".

Lord Callanan says the government "have not penciled in a date".

Liberal Democrat peer Lord Newby says the draft of the agreement was published by the EU Commission and not the government as the minister said, and asks him to explain why Michel Barnier is able to give "week by week detailed descriptions of the negotiations from the EU's perspective without undermining their negotiation position when it's totally impossible for ministers to do the same here".

Lord Callanan says "we are committed to providing as much information as possible".

Conservative peer Lord Tebbit says "Michel Barnier has no intention of coming to any agreement with this country under the terms of the treaty and is mucking the place about when we're trying to do an honest job."

Labour peer Lord Liddle says the prime minister "has told MPs that 95% of the deal is done, but there has been no attempt to involve Parliament", and asks the government "to come clean".

Lord Callanan says he "disagrees strongly" and "the exact process that will be followed for extensive debate has been detailed".

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Brexit Minister Lord Callanan says "the government are fully committed to facilitating the work of the committees" and "the secretary of state has made 10 appearances in front of the committees in his nine sitting weeks since his appointment."

Labour peer Lord Soley asks why it is that "when the UK are supposed to be getting back control, we are getting less information on plans than the MEPs are".

Lord Callanan says the government "have published extensive detail of the withdrawal agreement in March", and "the MEPs don't have access to any more information" than peers and MPs have.

Conservative MP Lord Cormack suggests the Lords EU select committee "should be briefed behind closed doors" as "the Cabinet leaks like a sieve, but Lord Boswell's committee would not."

Labour peer Lord Tunnicliffe says the minister "does not understand the situation" and calls for the minister to promise that Lord Boswell and the EU select committee will be "fully briefed before we embark on this debate over the most important decision of our lifetime".

Brexit Minister Lord Callanan says: "Of course when a deal has been reached, economic analysis will be published and there will be sufficient time for scrutiny and debates."

Image source, PA

Robert Chote, chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility, is chewing over this week’s Budget at parliament's Treasury Select Committee.

Committee chair Nicky Morgan has asked him the big question – is this the end of austerity or not? She wants a yes or no answer.

Inevitably, she gets a “it depends what you mean by austerity” from Mr Chote.

It’s not a benchmark the OBR is asked to test things against, he points out.

There’s been ”a large discretionary loosening”. But that was already true when health spending was announced in June, says Mr Chote.

The elements added in this week are relatively small, he says. “The health spending dominates by a considerable margin”

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Labour MP Albert Owen says "this Budget was a political Budget and it's main target audience was the different factions of the Conservative party". To suggest that austerity would be ending was "cruel", he says.

He says subsidies for green energy sources need to be ring fenced - "as we did with wind" - adding that "we need to concentrate on marine technology, we have the resource, we have the research development and we have the skills".

He "cautiously welcomes" the North Wales growth bid announcement, but suggests the "magic money tree for the DUP in Belfast" doesn't fit, "under half the population for over double the money".

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Chairman of the EU Select Committee Lord Boswell asks a private notice question on the steps the government is taking to ensure that select committees are able to consider and report on the final text of any UK-EU withdrawal agreement in time to inform the parliamentary debates required.

Minister for Exiting the EU Lord Callanan says both houses of Parliament will need time to scrutinize the content of the agreement.

"Select committees in both houses will play a key role in that process, and the government is committed to facilitating that scrutiny," he says.

Lord Boswell says the EU Select Committee "has a duty to scrutinize the withdrawal agreement in good time", and calls for the government "to support our work and not frustrate it".

He calls for the government "to engage constructively with the committees, not refuse to give evidence as Mr Raab has done".

"It is extraordinary situation when Michel Barnier is informing MEPs almost daily on plans and sharing draft texts when select committees in Westminster are kept in the dark," Lord Boswell says.

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Labour's Chris Bryant says that it is "factually wrong" to suggest that the full extent of sanctions and anti-money laundering rules cannot be introduced while the UK is in the EU. He points out that the UK has previously introduced sweeping sanctions against Iran, while still a member of the EU.

Mr Hunt says that he will "take this away" and look at it "in more detail," but it is his understanding that the UK cannot do its own sanctions, as per EU rules. He adds that he will be "delighted" if it turns out these new powers on sanctions can be introduced earlier.

Mr Bryant asks how the UK will secure the same policy outcomes from the EU that the country currently wants when it is no longer a member.

The UK wants to continue close agreements with the EU where it can, Mr Hunt says. He adds it would always be "more powerful" to impose sanctions "in concert with the EU".

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative MP Richard Drax says "to say austerity is over is slightly misleading", as it suggests "that we can turn on the taps" to fund everything that is needed, which is not the case.

He says it is "reform, reform, reform, not cash that the NHS desparately needs", whilst a simplified and lower taxation can address welfare concerns.

"I would accept...that more money is needed for education," he adds, whilst "£1bn for defence is welcome, but it is not enough."

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Crossbench peer Lord Bird asks if when tenants share payment of rent, their individual payment histories will be taken into account by credit service providers.

Minister for International Development Lord Bates says: "The government believes it is right that paying rent should be recognised as part of their credit scores, including when sharing the payment of rent."

Lord Bird says "the problem is getting the credit service lenders to use the information" and asks for the government to "make sure this information ensures people are not given a lower credit rating just because they're paying rent".

Lord Bates says last week the credit reference agency Experian said it would now taking account of the payment habits of 1.2 million tenants, with renters who pay on time getting better credit scores, which is "a huge step forwards".

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Labour's Ian Austin asks why powers on Unexplained Wealth Orders have not been used as instantly and strongly as the United States uses them.

Mr Hunt says that there is still more to do in this area.

Chair, Tom Tugendhat, says that checks by Companies House on businesses are "laughable" and allow money laundering in the UK. He asks how the Foreign Office can help in rooting out corruption.

Mr Hunt says he wouldn't want the committee to think that "nothing is happening" in this area, and he says "there is a general feeling" that the government doesn't want to let people "get away with this".

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Liberal Democrat peer Lord Fox asks what progress the government has made in establishing the governance of their Industrial Strategy.

Minister for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Lord Henley says there is "a significant plan for the UK's industrial strategy" and "an industry council are being created".

Labour peer Lord Stevenson says: "The industrial strategy must be for the whole country and should have representatives from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and businesses in all these areas."

Lord Henley says the council will have 20 members and will represent all areas.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Green party peer Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb asks about the safety implications for consumers of the retail sale of weed killers such as Roundup.

Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Lord Gardiner of Kimble says there is robust EU and UK law in relation to the use of weed killers, and "the government will always base their safety guidance on the scientific information available".

"Users of weed killer products should always read instructions and use the products responsibly," he says.

Baroness Jones draws attention to the landmark case in California where chemical giant Monsanto was ordered to pay $289m (£226m) damages to a man who claimed herbicides containing glyphosate in Roundup weed killer had caused his cancer.

She asks how this product is allowed to be stocked in stores.

Lord Gardiner says "the court case was a civil court case with a non-expert jury and no new scientific evidence and so it does not raise doubts."

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Conservative MP Scott Mann praises the business rate cut on public toilets, as this is something he had campaigned on for some time, "in terms of tourism in North Cornwall, this is a really big deal".

"It might be a bit of a joke for some people...but it's not a joke if a public toilet is two or three miles away."

"Bladders aren't seasonal," he explains, "you can't just tell a two year old they can't use the toilet just because they're on the beach."