Rishi Sunak – Government will do ‘whatever it takes’ to protect people and businesses
Ahead of the Budget this Wednesday, both Andrew Marr and Sophy Ridge were joined by the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak. With the government’s roadmap for ending the lockdown having been published last week, all eyes are now on Sunak and the economic levers that he will be pulling as the pandemic hopefully begins its journey out of the news and into history. Sophy Ridge asked the Chancellor if the government’s furlough scheme would be extended beyond the current deadline of April. Without going as far as to say ‘yes’, Sunak suggested that an extension was on the cards:
RS: I said at the beginning of this crisis that I would do whatever it took to support people, families and businesses through this crisis, and I remain completely committed to that… We are here to keep supporting people as we reopen the economy.
We want to avoid ‘a stop-start approach’ to ending lockdown
Ridge also asked if the dates given in the government’s roadmap stood a chance of being bought forward, if the rollout of the vaccine continues to go well and there are no other obvious impediments to doing so. However, Sunak said that the given dates were the earliest possible in any scenario:
RS: What we want is a cautious, but irreversible approach… What businesses don’t want is a stop-start approach to this… We’ve given the earliest of dates to give a sense of timing and a sense of direction, and then obviously we might have to adjust those… But the early signs are promising.
We want ‘international agreement’ on taxing digital companies
Sunak was generally reluctant to give out any details from the Budget before his speech later in the week, notably on whether the £20 uplift in Universal Credit would be maintained, and on the prospect of a windfall tax on companies that have done well throughout the tough times. He was keener to talk about the renewed ‘Restart grants’ aimed at helping businesses in the hospitality sector to get back up and running. While on that subject, Ridge asked him if the pandemic meant there would be an irreversible switch to shopping online, and what that would mean for the government’s coffers:
RS: We’ve put something in place previously called the Digital Services Tax… We’re working with our international colleagues this year, and I’m doing that through the G7 and the G20 group of Finance Ministers to find an international agreement on taxing digital companies.
Rebalancing the books won’t ‘happen overnight’
Ridge brought up a quote reported in the Sunday Times that Sunak had told Conservative MPs that his goal was to ‘plug the £43 billion black hole’ in the UK’s finances, before announcing a flourish of tax cuts ahead of the next general election in 2024. If true, that would hint at a wealth of tax rises on their way over the next two years. Ridge put the quote to Sunak:
RS: I don’t recognise that figure… I would like to keep taxes low for people…
SR: …It sounds like you did say this…
RS: I think in the short term what we need to do is protect the economy… and over time we need to make sure that our public finances are sustainable… That isn’t going to happen overnight.
Eat Out to Help Out was ‘a matter of social justice’
Andrew Marr confronted Sunak over the Eat Out to Help Out scheme last August, which has been blamed for helping the virus to spread exponentially over the last few months of 2020.
RS: The decision that we made was to try and do our best to protect over 2 million people who work in that industry… Young people disproportionately work in that industry, as do women, as do those who are on lower incomes, so as a matter of social justice, trying to protect those jobs, I believe is incredibly important.
Vaccine certificates ‘complicated’ but under consideration
Marr went on to ask if the government was considering domestic ‘vaccine certificates’ to provide proof that people had got their jab. Sunak said the issue was under review:
RS: Not everyone is able to have a vaccine for health reasons, and then we would need to make sure that there would be a robust way to verify everyone’s vaccine status, which is why the Prime Minister has established a review… Obviously it’s a complicated, but potentially relevant question.
‘I’m glad’ Shamima Begum cannot return to UK
Ridge also raised the status of Shamima Begum, the young woman who journeyed to Syria from Bethnal Green when she was 15 in order to live a new life under the Islamic State. Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that Begum could not return to the UK in order to contest the stripping of her British citizenship:
RS: I’m glad that the Supreme Court have made the decision that they have… and that’s probably the right way for it to be.
Anneliese Dodds – We ‘don’t want to stick’ with Universal Credit
The shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds also made a tour of the TV studios to offer Labour’s perspective on the upcoming Budget. Marr wondered why Labour was not loudly making the case for the Chancellor extending the temporary £20 increase to Universal Credit in perpetuity. Dodds’ slightly evasive response was that the system should be scrapped:
AD: I’m not going to abandon our commitment to reform Universal Credit… We’ve been clear that we don’t want to stick with this system… It’s been shown to manifestly not support people in the way that they need.
Raising business taxes ‘not what any other country is doing’
It has been reported that Sunak has been considering a staggered 4 per cent rise in corporation tax in order to pay for the government’s spending on coronavirus support measures. Under Keir Starmer’s leadership, the Labour party has been eager to bolster its credentials with businesses, and argued that now is not the time for tax rises. Marr asked Dodds if she could support the government if it goes ahead with its rumoured plans:
AD: If there’s a long-term plan for changing the corporation tax regime, we will look at that favourably… I would be concerned about additional taxes on business right now… This is currently really clamping down on business confidence… and it’s not what any other country is doing right now.
Anas Sarwar – Referendum not the right thing to do
Ridge also spoke to Anas Sarwar, who has been newly elected as the leader of the Scottish Labour party. With crucial elections to the Scottish Parliament set to go ahead in May, Ridge asked Sarwar for his view on Scottish independence:
AS: Of course, it’s for the Scottish people to choose their own future, but actually, is it the right thing to have a referendum? I think coming through the collective trauma of Covid… we’ve actually come together [as] a country like never before. The idea that we come through this, and go straight into a divisive referendum campaign, I just don’t think is the right thing to do.
Sturgeon ‘should resign’ if ministerial code was broken
And finally, Sarwar added his voice to the calls for the Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to resign if she is found to have breached Scotland’s ministerial code over the handling of complaints into her predecessor Alex Salmond:
AS: Forget who the minister is, or which political party they are from, if a minister is found to breach the ministerial code, I think people would expect that minister to resign… Let’s take the party politics out of it, it’s a point of principle.
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