Speeches by Baldwin.

“I did not hear an answer to my question. To add insult to injury to the retail and hospitality businesses on our high streets, the letter that has gone out from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government about the change in business rates gives completely different information from the guidance on the Tr…”

“Could you just answer the specific question I had was, which was: are you still—”

“Are you still chairing the growth mission board?”

“Mr Bowler, I have a technical point on the business rates questions I was asking the Chancellor earlier. The Treasury website gives some worked examples of how the transitional relief will be applied. That is a maximum cap versus the 40% discount that was in place. The letter that has gone out from the Ministry of Hous…”

“It sounds like the letter from MHCLG is incorrect, so perhaps that could be clarified, and that will help us all.”

“We will get into measures in a moment, but last year I asked you about the way in which you are implementing all the article IV recommendations from the IMF. You are basically going through the whole list of recommendations and ticking them off one by one. Last year, I asked you if you were planning any overhaul of cou…”

“Chancellor, in your Budget you say: “The high street will benefit from permanently lower business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure”. I think you will have heard that the reality is that a lot of high street businesses are looking at the detail and feel that they will struggle to survive with the higher rates b…”

“This is about your Budget measures, Chancellor.”

“Can I urge you to look at this again, Chancellor? UKHospitality would dispute that. They think there will be a 15% hike on average for pubs. I will just leave that out there.”

“So you chose not to put any new growth measures in this Budget, or are you still—”

“Do you accept, Chancellor, that your revealed preference now, in terms of the two Budgets you have brought in, is that you hike taxes a lot, and that the speculation—and the impact of the speculation—in the run-up to this Budget had a real-world impact on people’s decisions in mortgages, pensions, and a range of differ…”

“I do not want to hear about the previous Government.”

“Yes, and they are saying that the average pub will get that cap.”

“That is what they are saying.”

“It was not caused—”

“I am the former Chair of that Committee, Madam Deputy Speaker, but I appreciate the chance to make a couple of additional points. My right hon. Friend the Member for Central Devon (Sir Mel Stride) set out an extensive case. In the speech I made right after the Budget, I mentioned that shenanigans had happened with rega…”

“Chancellor, in the run-up to the general election, you said that you had no plans for tax rises beyond what was in your manifesto, that you would focus on growth and that growth was the way in which you were going to get more tax revenue coming in. You have now put together two of the biggest tax-raising Budgets in UK …”

“Which has been discredited by the Office for Budget Responsibility.”

“I would love to, but I am going to try to really race through what I have to say. There is a track record here of saying one thing and then doing another. What we see is a revealed preference from our Chancellor for tax hikes. She was unable to deliver the welfare reforms she sought, and she has been unable to deliver …”

“Do you want to have a stab at estimating what the monetary policy equivalent impact of that relaxation would be?”