Following the Government’s response to an Urgent Question on the Budget’s impact on farming communities, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown confronts the Minister with a heartfelt plea he received from a 75-year-old farmer who is angry that this Budget has, in his words, “destroyed everything I have ever worked for.”
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown criticises raising taxes and borrowing by a staggering £40 billion each; with increases in inheritance tax, capital gains tax, mortgages, stamp duty, and employment costs. He raises real concerns that proposed changes to agricultural and business property relief will significantly impact farmers and rural communities, leading to the fragmentation of family farms and changes to national insurance will make it harder for small businesses to grow.
Speaking during Business Questions, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown calls on Parliament to urgently make the necessary decisions on the restoration and renewal project of the historic Houses of Parliament buildings as ongoing maintenance costs are running at £2 million a week.
Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, intervenes on the Chair of the Treasury Committee’s speech in the Budget Debate to welcome the Budget announcement of funding for the compensation schemes for victims of the infected blood and Post Office Horizon scandals and calls on the Government to ensure that these payments are made quickly.
In response to the Government’s plans to relax the fiscal rules so it can borrow more money, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown raises concerns that increased borrowing will mean interest rates will stay higher for longer causing hardship for today’s mortgage payers and tomorrow’s generation of taxpayers, because they will have to repay this extra debt.
Following the Government’s agreement with Mauritius on the future of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) and the new announcement of a deal with the Government of St Helena to house new migrants arriving in BIOT in the interim period, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown asks the Minister for the Overseas Territories how many migrants are expected to be transferred to St Helena and how the £6.5 million figure being paid to St Helena was calculated.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown intervenes in an Opposition Day debate on farming and food security to highlight the need for capital investment in the Animal and Plant Health Agency and proper biosecure laboratories as failure to do so risks the biosecurity of the nation.
Following the Government statement on the conclusion of negotiations on the sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown asks the Foreign Secretary to ensure that when he publishes the treaty, he includes details of the exclusion zone around the vital strategic base on Diego Garcia and provisions to prevent any other foreign power establishing a sovereign military base on any of the archipelagos of the territory.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown calls on the Government to do more to reduce delays in the criminal justice system on serious sexual and rape cases as some cases are taking five years or more from prosecution to trial, and some traumatised victims are simply disappearing because they can not stand it any longer.