Rishi Sunak MP: speeches

Speeches

• 30 Oct 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  I am sure that those on the Government Front Bench were wanting to explain to the young couple in their constituencies saving to buy their first home that their taxes are going up, and to the family wanting to pass on their farm or their business to their children that their taxes are going up. The parents sacrificing to give their kids the best start in life: your taxes are going up. They are taxing your job, they are taxing your business, they are taxing your home, they are taxing your savings. I said during the election campaign: “You name it, Labour will tax it”, And that is exactly what the Government have done, with broken promise after broken promise and working people paying the price. For the final time from this Dispatch Box, let me deliver some basic truths. A Government can foster growth, but they cannot magically conjure it up. We need businesses, workers, investors and entrepreneurs to all back this country and build our economy. It does not matter whether your income comes in a pay packet, from investments, in dividends or in profits. It is a poor politics that is so focused on what people receive that it fails to see that what matters is what people put in. The only way to grow the economy and to create wealth is for people to put in more, so when you create a negative environment for business, when you undermine confidence in our country, when you vilify and penalise people for doing exactly what we need them to do, which is to invest, take risks and work hard, you do not create growth; you hold back growth—and more than that, the promise of growth tomorrow does not pay the bills today. This is not the first Government to peddle the “borrow to grow” myth, but time and again we have seen the same ending: not higher growth, but higher debt, higher inflation, and higher taxes. But, Madam Deputy Speaker, whatever you think about the economic arguments surrounding today’s Budget, there is a more fundamental point with which I want to conclude. The Prime Minister has talked relentlessly about trust, yet today’s Budget reveals above all that those in the Labour party did not tell the truth. They said they would not fiddle the figures; they have. They said they would not increase borrowing; they have. They said they would not raise taxes on working people; they have. There has been broken promise after broken promise, and it is the working people of this country who will pay the price.

• 30 Oct 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  Labour Members do not like it, but this is the truth: they have fiddled the figures and raised tax to record levels. They have broken their promises, and it is the working people of this country who will pay the price. The Chancellor and Prime Minister have tried to say that they had no choice, but let us be in no doubt: their misleading claims about the state of the economy are nothing but a cynical political device. Today’s situation is a world away from the genuinely bleak legacy that we Conservatives inherited from the last Labour Government. The Chancellor forgot to point out that borrowing was £1 in every £4 that they spent, with debt rising every year and unemployment at 8%. I understand the Chancellor’s shameless political motivations and why it suits her to cook up a false justification for her agenda, but today, the OBR has declined to back up her claims of a fictional £22 billion black hole. It appears nowhere in its report. It is deeply disappointing that she has sought to politicise the independent OBR, which should be above party politics. As the Chancellor now knows, her playing politics has done real damage to our economy. She talked about being a Bank of England economist, but the Bank of England’s former chief economist has said that Labour’s approach has generated fear, foreboding and uncertainty among consumers, businesses and investors. The rhetoric of this Chancellor and this Prime Minister is damaging the British economy for political purposes. We need only to look at the facts to see that the Chancellor’s claims about her economic inheritance are nonsense. Labour inherited an economy with inflation back at its 2% target, mortgage rates cut and unemployment low. When we left office, the United Kingdom was the fastest growing advanced economy in the world. When it comes to the public finances, not once has the Chancellor acknowledged that we took the right decision to spend half a trillion pounds to protect the British people from the impact of covid and Putin’s war. Let me remind the House that not only did the Labour party support all those interventions, it wanted us to go even further. When I made the tough choices to fix the public finances afterwards, the Prime Minister and Chancellor opportunistically opposed me every step of the way, so I will take no lectures from those two about difficult decisions. But because of the decisions we made, the Chancellor inherited lower borrowing than France, America, Italy and Japan, and the second-lowest debt in the entire G7. Any which way you look at it, Labour’s claims about its inheritance are purely ludicrous. These are her choices, so stop blaming everyone else and take responsibility for them. [ Interruption. ] Let me turn to the substance of those choices. During the election, the Chancellor repeatedly promised that her plans were fully funded. Only a few weeks ago, the Prime Minister said the Budget would “balance the books”, but this Budget does no such thing and reveals that they have not been straight with the British people. [ Interruption. ]

• 30 Oct 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  On the day that the Prime Minister took office, he said that he wanted to restore trust to British politics with action, not words. Today, his actions speak for themselves, with a Budget that contains broken promise after broken promise and reveals the simple truth that the Prime Minister and the Chancellor have not been straight with the British people. Time and again, we Conservatives warned that a Labour Government would tax, borrow and spend far beyond what they were telling the country, and time and again they denied they had such plans. Today, the truth has come out—proof that Labour planned to do this all along. Today’s Budget sees the fiscal rules fiddled, borrowing increased by billions of pounds, inflation-busting handouts for the trade unions— [Interruption.]

• 30 Oct 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  Today, the Chancellor has launched an enormous borrowing spree, saddling our children and grandchildren with billions upon billions of pounds of more debt, pushing up interest rates, leaving our economy more exposed to future shocks and leading the OBR today to now forecast higher inflation in every year of the forecast. Her decision to let borrowing rip makes a total nonsense of her claims on the state of the public finances. If they truly were in such a dire state, as she has said, what we should have seen today is a significant reduction in borrowing to repair them, not the splurge she has just unleashed. Instead, what we see is borrowing higher in every year of the forecast and debt higher in every year of the forecast. Now, the Chancellor has tried to cover up that splurge by fiddling the fiscal rules. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the new measure will not actually even be a constraint on the amount she can borrow. It says it is: “hard to escape the suspicion” that the Government are attracted to this change “by the fact that it would allow for significantly more borrowing…without any need for tough choices elsewhere.” “Fiscal fiddling” is what it has called it. The Chancellor herself actually agrees. She specifically told the British people she would not change the debt target. She said she was “not going to fiddle the figures” to get better results, but that is exactly what she has done. She has gone back on her word and fiddled the figures so she can borrow billions more—broken promise after broken promise, and working people will pay the price. The reason the Chancellor has increased borrowing and increased taxes is because she has totally failed to grip public spending. First, she has no meaningful plan to deliver the £20 billion-worth of savings available if the public sector simply returned to its pre-pandemic levels of productivity. Instead, one of the first things the Chancellor did was to hand out inflation-busting pay rises to the unions without getting any productivity-enhancing reforms in return. The Chancellor also scrapped her predecessor’s plan to get the civil service back to its pre-pandemic numbers. She does not seem to think that the civil service can be reduced by a single person. And the Chancellor has no plan to control welfare spending. Yet if we simply got working age welfare spending on people with a disability or health condition back to pre-covid levels, that would free up £30 billion-worth of savings. Whether it is scrapping our plans to shrink the civil service or their failure to control welfare spending, this is not her inheritance, these are her choices. The result: higher spending, higher borrowing, higher taxes. It is broken promise after broken promise, and working people paying the price. Let me turn next to growth, and remind the Prime Minister and Chancellor that they did, in fact, inherit the fastest-growing economy in the G7. That is testament to the last Government boosting investment by introducing full expensing, increasing the labour supply by expanding childcare, reforming welfare and cutting tax on work—all decisions the OBR said would increase growth. The Chancellor has said that growing the economy is the Government’s No. 1 priority. The Prime Minister even said that higher growth would come “very quickly”. To be fair, the Prime Minister and Chancellor have had a rapid impact on growth. As their plans for the economy became clear, survey after survey showed business confidence plummeting. No wonder the Government’s own assessment says their French-style labour laws will impose a £5 billion— [ Interruption. ] Labour Members will be explaining it to the businesses in their constituencies that their labour laws, by their own assessment, will impose a £5 billion direct cost on business, disproportionately hitting smaller businesses. As business group after business group has pointed out, the tax rises on jobs and enterprise in today’s Budget will “hobble growth”—a “poll tax on business” is what they have called it. Despite the record-breaking tax rises, despite fiddling the figures and despite letting borrowing soar, today the OBR has forecast that growth will be lower under this Government than it was forecast to be under the Conservatives. That is the change they have wrought. This is what happens when the Labour party is led by people who have no experience of business and enterprise: relentlessly talking down our economy, delivering a tidal wave of anti-business regulations, destroying our flexible labour market and raising taxes to the highest level in our country’s history. It is the classic Labour agenda: higher taxes, higher borrowing, no plan for growth, and working people paying the price. During the election campaign, the Prime Minister specifically said there would be no tax surprises under Labour. The Chancellor went even further, saying she wanted to bring taxes down. Each time they made those promises, we warned that they were not telling the truth. Today, the Chancellor and Prime Minister have done what they were always planning to do, but chose to keep hidden from the British people. Far from reducing taxes, as a result of today’s Budget never in the history of our country have taxes been higher than they are under this Labour Government. They specifically promised that they would not raise tax on working people. The Chancellor said: “Labour will not put up your income tax, national insurance or VAT.” Just this month, the Prime Minister gave an “absolute commitment” to not raising tax on working people. What does today’s Budget do? It raises tax on working people by increasing national insurance and breaking Labour’s promise. As the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies has said, this is a straightforward breach of Labour’s manifesto, because, as the Office for Budget Responsibility has made clear, this tax rise is “passed through entirely” to working people. Even since the Chancellor started speaking, the IFS has already confirmed that the vast majority of this tax increase will hit working people through lower pay. However, we do not need to take it from the IFS or even the OBR; we can take it from the Chancellor herself. She has previously described her tax rise as a “jobs tax” which “takes money out of people’s pockets”. —[ Official Report , 19 October 2021; Vol. 701, c. 675.] And not only that—the Chancellor also said that the problem with national insurance “is that it is a tax purely on people who go to work and those who employ them”. Far from protecting working people, she is literally raising the only major tax that exclusively hits working people. But it does not stop there. Businesses on the British high street: your taxes are going up. Businesses investing in British energy: your taxes are going up. The small business owner looking to reap the rewards of years spent growing a business and creating jobs: your taxes are going up. The young couple saving to buy their first home: your taxes are going up. The family— [Interruption.]

• 30 Oct 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

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  Britain’s poorest pensioners squeezed, welfare spending out of control and a spree of tax rises that the Government promised the working people of this country they would not do. National insurance—up. Capital gains tax—up. Inheritance tax—up. Energy taxes —up. Business rates—up. First time buyer’s stamp duty—up. Pensions tax—up. They have fiddled the figures. [ Interruption. ]

• 30 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  As Prime Minister, the right hon. and learned Gentleman will be acutely aware of the threats that our United Kingdom faces from an axis of authoritarian states: Iran, North Korea, Russia and China. In particular, I am proud of the way in which this House has united in standing up to Russian aggression in Ukraine, and I know that we will never waver in our commitment to the Ukrainian cause. I will always be grateful for the support that the Prime Minister gave me when we were the first country to send Ukraine western battle tanks and long-range missiles, and the first to offer security assurances to Kyiv. In the light of the threats that we face, may I urge him always to maintain the strength of the transatlantic alliance and to ensure that NATO remains the bedrock of western security, with the United Kingdom playing a leading role?

• 30 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Our two predecessors, Sir Tony Blair and Lord Hague, have repeatedly come together and powerfully argued in their joint reports that it is vital for the future prosperity of Britain’s economy, society and public services for us to be a world leader in technology and innovation. The Prime Minister and I may not yet be at our joint report writing stage, but in a similar spirit of cross-party agreement, could I ask him to find his inner tech bro and continue to support emerging British tech businesses and establish our country as the home of AI growth and innovation?

• 30 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  That is very kind of the Prime Minister. I know he is partial to the Lake district, but perhaps we can tempt him over to our end as well. Yorkshire is famous not just for its walks, but for being home to some of England’s greatest cricketers. Sadly, no one is going to put me on that list—but who knows? I now have a lot more time to practise. Cricket has the power to bring people from all communities together and give them fantastic opportunities, as was shown so powerfully by Andrew Flintoff’s recent documentary. We lead the world in female participation, and that will stand us in good stead when we host the women’s world cup in 2026 and when cricket becomes an Olympic sport in 2028. Can I therefore ask the Prime Minister to continue Government support for the England and Wales Cricket Board’s new initiative to get cricket into vastly more state schools, fostering a whole new generation of cricketers for us all to cheer on at every level?

• 30 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Mr Speaker, thank you for your kind words—and, indeed, I thank the Prime Minister for his kind words. No Prime Minister looks forward to PMQs, but I always did like this pre-Budget one. It was, for a change, nice not to be the main event but just the warm-up act. As you said, Mr Speaker, today is my last appearance at PMQs. I am happy to confirm reports that I will now be spending more time in the greatest place on earth, where the scenery is worthy of a movie set and everyone is a character. That’s right, Mr Speaker, if anyone needs me, I will be in Yorkshire. As an adopted Yorkshireman, I am particularly looking forward to doing the coast-to-coast walk that runs through my constituency and many others. Since 2015, we have made significant progress with the campaign to make it a national trail, and Natural England is close to concluding its work. Can I ask the Prime Minister to ensure that the coast-to-coast walk does indeed become Britain’s greatest national trail, and, in preparation for my return to the Back Benches, will he meet with me to discuss it?

• 30 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  The Prime Minister has the immense privilege of being Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is a special part of our Union, but one that needs particular care, attention and respect. Having a strong, functioning Assembly at Stormont is good for the people of Northern Ireland and good for our Union, which is why I was so pleased to see government restored there earlier this year, and I am grateful to the Prime Minister for his support with that. Can he assure the House that he will continue to work to keep Stormont open, delivering for the Northern Irish people and strengthening Northern Ireland’s place in our Union?

• 30 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Finally, may I point out that tomorrow is Diwali? I became leader of my party during Diwali, and I now stand down during that same festival. I am proud to have been the first British Asian Prime Minister, but I was even prouder that it was not that big a deal. That speaks volumes about the values of the British people, of our country, and of this Parliament. Will the Prime Minister join me in applauding the kindness, decency and tolerance that have always been the British way?

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  That is very clearly what the Government have said. Only last week, the Prime Minister said at the Dispatch Box that he would give the security forces “the powers that they need”. —[ Official Report , 9 October 2024; Vol. 754, c. 297.] If he is to fulfil that promise, I urge him to get up to speed on this issue and implement the scheme. Furthermore, Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee has warned that British universities are increasingly a rich feeding ground for China to exert political influence over us. That is why we passed the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, with new powers to help to defend universities from that threat, but the new Education Secretary has since blocked it. Can the Prime Minister tell us how, without that tool, the Government will prevent Chinese influence over our universities?

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I thank the Prime Minister for that answer. As he knows, China has become a decisive enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine, now supplying the vast majority of Russia’s imported military micro-electronics and components and worsening the suffering of the Ukrainian people. Will the Prime Minister confirm that he is prepared to sanction any Chinese business or individual involved in aiding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including imposing secondary sanctions on financial institutions?

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  The FIR scheme and the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act were new tools—new sets of powers—that the previous Government passed in order to give our universities and security services the powers that they need to tackle a growing threat. The Opposition will of course continue to support the Government in protecting our national security, but we believe that those tools are needed, and we are concerned by reports that the new Government have paused their implementation or indeed scrapped them. Finally, the Chinese Government have sanctioned multiple Members of our Parliament for championing human rights. As a result, they have faced intimidation, abuse and surveillance. I commend you, Mr Speaker, for your defence of the right of every Member of this House to speak out on crucial issues without fear of retaliation from foreign states. I know that the Prime Minister will agree with that too, so this week will the Foreign Secretary in his meetings not just raise the issue but tell the Chinese Government to lift those sanctions on our colleagues?

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I join the Prime Minister’s words of tribute to Alex Salmond and the Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert, and thank him for his kind words about Sir David Amess, whom we remember fondly. We are thinking of all their families at this moment. This week, China has carried out unwarranted, aggressive and intimidatory military exercises in the Taiwan strait. Our allies are rightly concerned. After worrying reports that the Government may have intervened to stop a visit to the UK by the former Taiwanese President, will the Prime Minister confirm that the Foreign Secretary will use his meetings in Beijing this week to condemn China’s dangerous escalatory acts in the strait?

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Given what the Prime Minister said—I agree of course that we must engage and should use that engagement for our national interest—I hope that the Foreign Secretary will unequivocally condemn this military escalation and stand up for democracy in Taiwan. The whole House will be concerned about the fate of the democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai. He is a British citizen who has been wrongly imprisoned in Hong Kong for four years. The previous Government pressured China for his release. Does the Prime Minister agree that this is a politically motivated prosecution and that it is a breach of China’s legal obligations to Hong Kong under the Sino-British declaration?

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Yes, I assure the Prime Minister of our support. It is something that the last Government began. The United States recently expanded their sanctions and I hope the new Government will continue to look at doing the same. The last Government also established a new system of registration and monitoring to protect the UK from interference from foreign states, including China, Russia and Iran. The foreign influence registration scheme was described as essential by MI5 in the fight to help to keep Britain safe, but since the Prime Minister took office, he has halted its implementation. Why?

• 9 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I am very happy to welcome investments that my Government negotiated, but when it comes to the Prime Minister’s answer on tax, businesses across the country would have found his answer just about as reassuring as Sue Gray found it when he promised to protect her job. It is no wonder that confidence is plummeting on his watch, which he did not mention. Turning to another commitment, before the election his Chancellor said that changing the debt target in the fiscal rules would be tantamount to “fiddling the figures”. Does he still agree with the Chancellor?

• 9 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  On debt, we left the Government the second lowest debt in the G7. As the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said— [ Interruption. ]

• 9 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I don’t think that even Lord Alli is buying any of that nonsense. I am not asking about the Budget; I am asking specifically about the promise that the Prime Minister made to the British people. So let me ask him again just to clarify his own promise: does his commitment not to raise national insurance apply to both employee and employer national insurance contributions?

• 9 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  It is clear that the Prime Minister has opened the door to raising employer national insurance contributions, including on pensions, and fiddling the figures so that he can borrow more. He talks about what he has achieved, but economic confidence is plummeting, growth is now stalling and the UK’s borrowing costs are rising on his watch. Can I close on another important topic? Yesterday’s intervention from the head of MI5 will have been sobering for the whole House, not least his warning that Britain faces the most complex and interconnected threats in our country’s history. I know the Prime Minister will agree that our security services are owed a debt of gratitude for what they do to keep us safe, but can he confirm that the forthcoming terrorism Bill will give our security services the powers they need to tackle evolving threats? I can assure him of our constructive support on these vital questions of national security, in the same spirit that he provided that support to me.

• 9 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  As the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said, it is “hard to escape the suspicion” that the Government are attracted to this change because “it would allow for significantly more borrowing”. The Chancellor previously said that this change would be “fiddling the figures”, so I have a simple question: does the Prime Minister still agree with the Chancellor?

• 9 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Tomorrow, the Government will publish their anticipated changes to employment law. Given the weekend’s events, when did the Prime Minister first become a convert to fire and rehire?

• 9 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  When the Prime Minister talks about security at work, once again it is one rule for him and another rule for everyone else. I know that not everything or everyone has survived his first 100 days in government, so can he confirm that when he promised not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT, that commitment applies to both employer and employee national insurance contributions?

• 7 Oct 2024 · Anniversary of 7 October Attacks: Middle East · Hansard source

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  I thank the Prime Minister for advance sight of his statement. Today is the anniversary of 7 October. This modern pogrom—the worst loss of Jewish life since the second world war—was a horrendous reminder of the antisemitism in our world and the existential threats that Israel faces. Over the past year, many of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October have been raped, sexually abused, murdered, and mutilated beyond recognition. Today, a year on, many still remain held by Hamas and other terrorist groups. I think particularly today of the British citizen Emily Damari, who has endured a year in captivity. Across this House, I know that we join in saying, “Bring them home.” The situation in the middle east is grave. Too many innocent civilian lives have been lost. It is right that this country continues to play its part in defending Israel against Iranian attacks, but we should not forget the base cause of all these events: Iran’s refusal to accept Israel’s right to exist, and its desire to destabilise the region through arming and funding its terrorist proxies—Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. The current conflict in Lebanon is a result of Hezbollah’s determination to use this territory to launch rocket attacks on Israel. Let me be clear: Israel has a right to defend itself, it has a right to eliminate the leadership of Hezbollah, and it has a right to restore security for its citizens. This country should support Israel in pursuing those goals, but can the Prime Minister expand on what he said about what role the United Kingdom is playing in providing humanitarian support to those Lebanese citizens who have been displaced because of this conflict? I welcome his announcements on some financial support to that end. The medium-term question that we must help to address is what happens once the Israeli operation has finished. I ask the Prime Minister to update the House on what steps this country, along with our allies, is taking to help to build up the capacity of the Lebanese state so that Hezbollah cannot simply re-establish itself in southern Lebanon. We must never forget that Hezbollah does not represent the interests of Lebanon or its citizens; it represents those of its paymasters in Tehran. Turning to the situation of British nationals in Lebanon, I know that the Government have rightly been urging them to leave for some time now, but it is clear that difficulties in obtaining tickets on commercial flights mean that a number of our citizens are still there. I welcome the Government’s chartering of planes to help British nationals to return home, and know very well the logistical challenges involved. I pay tribute to all the Foreign Office and other teams who will be working hard to make sure that that happens. Can the Prime Minister assure the House that any British national who wishes to leave Lebanon will be able to do so on a Government-chartered flight? Turning next to the Prime Minister’s speech at the UN General Assembly, which he mentioned, I fully endorse his reaffirmation that the United Kingdom will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. Events in the middle east, and indeed Ukraine, are another reminder that the world is increasingly becoming more dangerous. If we wish to be able to continue to deter our enemies, defend our values and stand up for our interests, we will need to invest more in our military. The Prime Minister and I have discussed previously my view that we should increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030, and in our previous exchanges in this House he has said that a trajectory for future defence spending would be set out at the coming fiscal event. I ask that he reconfirm his commitment to that timetable. On this sad anniversary, I finish by saying that the United Kingdom stands with Israel against this terrorism today, tomorrow and always. I say to the Jewish community here in Britain that I know that at moments like this, when the Jewish people are under attack in their homeland, Jewish people everywhere can feel less safe. I know that the Prime Minister will agree with me that, across this House, we will always stand against the evils of antisemitism.