The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much small businesses with a rateable value of less than £30,000 paid in business rates in (a) 2012, (b) 2013, (c) 2014 and (d) 2015.
Mr Marcus Jones
The Department does not hold this information.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-01-19.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what Government capital projects (a) have been carried out in the last and (b) are planned over the next five years in Greater Manchester; and what the (i) cost and (ii) location was and will be for each such project.
Greg Hands
The government has supported a wide range of capital projects in Manchester. This includes: £533m committed to Greater Manchester through the Local Growth Fund, which will support projects such as the new Ashton town centre interchange; a £900m gainshare agreement as part of the Devolution Deal, which will support projects such as the Trafford Metrolink extension; £199m as part of the city deal over ten years for local major transport schemes; £78m for the Factory theatre and arts venue at Spending Review 2015; and £235m for the Sir Henry Royce Institute for advanced materials research at the 2014 Autumn Statement. Greater Manchester will also benefit from the North of England Rail Infrastructure programme, which is worth over £1bn.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-02-22.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what formula was used to calculate the Government’s proposed living wage.
Harriett Baldwin
The Government has asked the Low Pay Commission to increase the National Living Wage to 60% of median earnings by 2020. This is a level consistent with the recommendations of leading experts in the Bain Report. Our target is for the National Living Wage to reach £9 by 2020.
On this basis, we have set the initial rate at £7.20 from April 2016. This marks the first step towards our target and represents a £900 a year increase in earnings for a full-time worker on the National Minimum Wage.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 17 February 2016 to Question 26660, on housing: construction, if he will place in the Library any value for money review and impact assessment carried out on the decision made by the previous Government.
Brandon Lewis
An overview of all published evaluations of Housing Market Renewal, both pre- and post-cessation, are included in a briefing note that is already in the Library of the House, and which can be accessed online at:
http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN05953/SN05953.pdf
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-09-02.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of private landlords who will be affected by the tax relief change to higher rate taxpayers announced in the Summer Budget 2015.
Jane Ellison
HMRC estimate that 1 in 5 landlords will pay more tax as a result of this measure.
Given that only a small proportion of the housing market is affected by this change, the Government does not expect these changes to have a large impact on rent levels or house prices. The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) also expects the impact on the housing market will be small.
The Government will double the housing budget from 2018-19 and has set out the most ambitious affordable housing plan since the 1970s to support working people in their aim to own their own home, together the measures in the plan amount to over £20 billion of investment in housing between 2016-17 and 2020-21.
The level of housing benefits is dependent on a number of factors such as, household and individual circumstances in regards to employment and household income, inflation and rents. The Government does not expect a large impact on rent levels from this policy, and any impact would be dampened in the short term due to other policy decisions. Therefore, the government does not anticipate changes to the overall level of housing benefits as a result. Nevertheless, the government will continue to monitor rental levels charged in the private rented sector.
Landlords are required to maintain their properties to a legal minimum standard. The reform to the wear and tear allowance means that all landlords will now be able to offset the costs of replacing furnishings in their properties removing the previous disincentive to do so. The Government therefore does not think that the changes to the tax rules will reduce standards for tenants.
Some landlords may face difficult decisions regarding their properties. This is why the Government has chosen to act in a proportionate and gradual way. Basic rate income tax relief will still be available on a landlord’s finance costs, the restriction will not be introduced until April 2017 and then it will be phased in over 4 years. This gives landlords time to plan ahead of the changes.
The speech made by Jim McMahon on 27 September 2022.
Conference, it’s wonderful to meet again.
In my role I’ve been up and down this country. I am proud of Britain, proud of what we can achieve together, and proud of the hard graft of working people.
That pride stands in stark contrast to a government showing utter contempt for our great nation.
Allowing over a million sewage spills over the last six years; one every two-and-a-half minutes: every one sanctioned by Tory MPs who blocked changes for tougher action.
How could any government that loves this country allow this abuse of our open spaces, rivers and sea?
Conference, their new leader claims she is “Trusted to deliver” but they’re the same old Tories. Friends, we know you don’t trust a Tory by their words, but their record!
Just one example; during Truss’s time as Environment Secretary; she signed off £24 million pounds of funding cuts for environmental protection, including monitoring sewage discharges. Every one of those sewage spills goes right to her door and their plan sees it continuing until at least 2035.
If only Liz Truss was as angry about raw human sewage polluting our country as she is about importing French cheese into it!
Conference, Labour will clean up the water industry.
Being a custodian of water and the environment will be a duty again. The institutions intended to hold them accountable are weakened and toothless as water bosses laugh all the way to the bank.
A Labour government will:
• Deliver mandatory monitoring of all sewage outlets
• Give the Environment Agency the power and resources to properly enforce the rules
• Introduce a legally binding target to end 90% of sewage discharges by 2030
• Introduce automatic fines for discharges, and a standing charge penalty for discharge points without monitoring in place
• Ensure any failure to improve is paid for by eroding dividends, not added to customer bills, or hitting vital investment in the system
• Water bosses that routinely and systematically break the rules will be held professionally and personally accountable, by striking off company directors and ensuring illegal activity is punished.
Conference, I said Labour will clean up the water industry, and I meant it.
Our plan for change does not stop there. It’s not enough to halt the surge of pollution, Labour’s ambition will breathe life back into our countryside and coastal communities; areas long abandoned by the Tories.
In 1951, Labour created the first National Park in the Peak District. From 1997, Labour delivered ‘right to roam’. The next Labour Government will bring the protections and opportunities afforded to our national parks, to our coastal areas. Bringing nature and the environment to every community, across our town and cities, embracing unloved spaces, the canal networks and green routes. Conference, much more will come on this.
We will meet our responsibility to hand the country we inherit to the next generation in a better condition than we began with. We will realise the right for everyone to have a rich, fulfilled and healthy life with nature and a decent environment at its heart.
In every aspect of DEFRA; nature, the environment, animal welfare, farming, fishing and everything else, there is work to do.
To deliver on our plan we need your help to get Labour into power. Let’s get to every single constituency, every community and every household, let’s show them the Tories record and then show them Labour’s plan.
Conference we are closer to power than at any time in the last decade, with Keir Starmer as our next Prime Minister, we will deliver the fresh start the country needs.
Let’s go and make it happen.
The comments made by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, on 17 March 2022.
The Government may have set out some flashy headline targets, but this green paper fails to map out a credible way to achieve those targets. It follows a similar pattern, from a government that is big on promises, but small on delivery.
Meanwhile, we’re in a dirty water emergency, poor air quality continues to affect the health of millions and the catastrophic decline of nature, habitats and wildlife continues. The reality is that the Tories have a track record in failing to take our environment and nature seriously.
Labour forced a vote to end sewage discharge into our rivers, lakes and seas and the Tories voted against it. Labour tabled constructive amendments to strengthen the Environment Bill and the Tories voted against it.
Only Labour has a plan to establish a legal right for citizens to breathe clean air by establishing a Clean Air Act. Only Labour has a plan to tackle our climate crisis by investing £28 billion a year until 2030.
The comments made by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary, on 24 January 2022.
After a decade of Conservative rule, vital services continue to be stripped back thanks to cuts, while the pockets of shareholders are cushioned from any blow and working families made to pay the price.
The system is clearly broken and the government is refusing to listen to Labour’s calls for higher fines for water companies, proper annual parliamentary scrutiny of Defra, Ofwat and the Environment Agency, as well as a proper plan for reducing raw sewage being discharged.
Labour’s contract with the British people for prosperity, security and respect, will see an end to sewage dumping to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas.
The comments made by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, on 3 January 2022.
In the same week Liz Truss fought for a taxpayer funded £1,400 lunch, she and 354 other Tories voted against Labours motion calling for funding to help kids catch up on education hit by the pandemic.
Says everything.
The comments made by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Environment Secretary, on 18 December 2021.
The nature emergency demands action.
Peatlands have suffered degradation for decades not just from being dug up to supply horticulture, but also by being drained and burned. Healthy peatlands – often called ‘Britain’s rainforests’ – support rich biodiversity, trap many times the carbon stored by forests, and help slow and prevent downstream flooding.
But the Conservative Government have delayed and limited action, they have committed to protecting only 40% of England’s blanket bogs from rotational burning.
On horticultural peat, gardening experts, conservationists and scientists have said the Government’s goal of a voluntary phaseout by 2020 was an ‘abject failure’, with the amount of peat sold actually rising as people turned to gardening in lockdown. That they are only just consulting on a ban lays bare their lack of commitment.
In contrast to the Conservatives’ delay and empty promises, Labour has pledged a net zero and nature test for every policy, investing £28 billion of capital a year to 2030 to meet the challenge of the climate and nature emergency head on, create certainty for business and provide leadership to seize the opportunities for the UK.