Speeches by Cooper.

“On behalf of my party, may I join the Deputy Prime Minister in marking Holocaust Memorial Day? We will not forget. We also honour the service of Captain Philip Gilbert Muldowney, who died on Sunday. While the Chinese regime still holds British citizen Jimmy Lai captive in prison, and while the Chinese regime continues …”

“Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I wish you a speedy recovery. We know that pubs have been badly hit by these business rates changes, but businesses right across retail, hospitality and leisure have made investment and hiring decisions based on the expectation raised by this Government that they would get a full 20p discount…”

“Businesses up and down the country know that the Government raised their expectations and then dashed them. This whole sorry saga has been an absolute shambles. The question remains: why were Ministers so blindsided, when the VOA has confirmed that it was providing data drops over a period of 12 months? Will Ministers …”

“If the Government are serious about saving the high street, then these measures can only be the start. Since the Government’s first Budget, we Liberal Democrats have been warning that high streets were at risk if the Government did not make the various changes that they have made over the past 18 months. A number of qu…”

“These business rates changes will hammer high streets, and with the jobs tax on top, many businesses have already decided to shut up shop. Getting data out of the Government has been like getting blood from a stone; every question I am about to ask, I have asked before, but let me try again. Why did the Government set …”

“This is a retrospective tax without transitional protection. It upends plans for those who have already made sacrifices to build up their pensions, undermines confidence in pensions planning, reduces long-term investment and causes people to rush to withdraw money from their pensions. As has been mentioned, the charter…”

“We Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for the doubling of remote gaming duty, and we are grateful to the Government, who have finally listened and taken that on board. This measure will raise vital revenue in a fair way, while addressing the eye-watering profits of the big online gambling companies and standing up …”

“I am grateful to the Minister for confirming that she has consulted and that Ministers have had engagement with the industry. I was specifically wondering whether in the course of that consultation with the industry, there was discussion about using a different measure and choosing a different tax base for the calculat…”

“Clause 86 increases the rate of alcohol duty in line with RPI inflation. On paper, that measure might look like a normal, simple uprating policy, but it must be seen for what it really is: in the broader context, it is yet another tax on struggling hospitality businesses and financially stretched customers. Hospitality…”

“I hope so very much that he is not, but I understand why he said that, and I hear the same from many hospitality owners and pub landlords on my own patch. It is because we Liberal Democrats care so deeply for hospitality, and recognise the vital role that it plays in every community in the land, that we were campaignin…”

“I am grateful for that question, but if the hon. Member reads the explanatory statement closely, he will see that it says “alongside wider fiscal changes”. The Government could of course widen that to other legislative changes, if they chose to do so. However, on that basis, I hope the hon. Member and his colleague wil…”

“Absolutely not. During the passage of the Employment Rights Bill, we Liberal Democrats said repeatedly on the record in both Houses that we supported a higher minimum wage. The problem we are hearing from businesses, particularly small businesses, is that they are getting lots of changes from the Government all at once…”

“I have explained all those measures in this Chamber before, but I am happy to spell them out again, including the remarks I made a few minutes ago. The very first thing we called for was for the Government to use the powers they gave themselves in the Budget last year. I would love to know the costings for that measure…”

“I agree 100% with my hon. Friend. One of the points that I have made repeatedly to other Ministers is that businesses heard the promise that there would be permanently lower business rates, and made decisions based on the fact that they had heard the word “lower”. The Government gave themselves powers to introduce a lo…”

“I am incredibly grateful to the right hon. Member for making that point. I am the MP for St Albans, which is a small city, but I am a Suffolk girl born and bred. I know how valuable rural pubs are. They provide all sorts of services: they look after older people and single people; they are a fantastic community hub; an…”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Pubs are irreplaceable, and when a pub goes a community falls apart. Pubs are vital as part of the social fabric: they are the glue that holds our communities together, and we must protect them. We tabled new clause 9 because we want the Government to look at and “report on the cumul…”

“The Minister will have heard a number of colleagues asking for more detail about how the pension provisions will affect pensioners. The Minister has just said that further information is to come. Will he please give us an indication of the date when we can expect that guidance to be published, so that he can then come …”

“I will speak to clauses 1 to 8 and schedules 1 and 2. Overall, the tax changes increase complexity, raise the tax burden on small businesses and savers, and raise the risk of serious unintended consequences on the property market. They all have the hallmarks of a Treasury tax grab without proper the consideration of th…”

“These stealth taxes were started by the Conservatives and are being continued by Labour. When the Liberal Democrats were in government, we made sure to raise the income tax thresholds, taking people out of paying tax, but it is clear that the two biggest parties continue to drag more people into paying tax. According t…”