Robert Halfon is a member of the 1922 Committee's Executive and MP for Harlow. Follow Robert on Twitter.
Some people look at this Government’s education reforms and see them in terms of process. However, as Michael Gove has set out on these pages recently, Academies and Free Schools are more about improving standards than structural re-organisation. If one side of the policy is about standards, the other is getting students through the door in the first place. Recognising that reforming welfare can take a generation - but that a good education can provide a way-up for disadvantaged children and their families.
Education is everything. Quality education can quickly change people’s life chances. As long as we get pupils through the doors, we can change their lives by increasing their aspirations and providing them with the skills they need. Traditionally, eligibility for free school meals has been an indicator of poverty, with these pupils being outperformed by their peers. This year, the gap in attainment closed slightly, and the number of pupils getting five good GCSEs continues to improve. Last year, 36 per cent of pupils got five GCSEs grades A*-C, compared to 59 per cent of all pupils, and just 24 per cent of pupils eligible for free school meals in 2008.
Yesterday, Sir Andrew Green put the case against intervention in Syria. Today, the case for is argued by Robert Halfon, MP Harlow and a member of the 1922 Committee's Executive. Follow Robert on Twitter.
There are always three and half arguments against intervention: first, that it is outside the framework of international law; second, that Realpolitik should be the order of the day; and third, ‘What has Britain got to do with it’? And three and a half: the future after intervention will be disaster.
Well it is worth looking at these arguments each in turn:
First, international law: You may have heard those two words, ‘never again’. They are usually repeated after every notorious act of genocide: after the Holocaust, after Halabja, after Bosnia, after Rwanda. ‘Never Again’ conjures up some sort of dark optimism - that never again will the free world stand by and let dictators mass murder their own citizens.
Robert Halfon is the MP Harlow and a member of the 1922 Committee's Executive. Follow Robert on Twitter.
So much for Labour and the recasting of immigration policy. Chris Bryant’s interview on Radio 4 Today was a car-crash, not just because mistakes were made in the pre-release (Kent instead described as the place where Tesco closed a Distribution Centre, rather than Harlow, Essex, being a prime example), but because most fair-minded people know why we are in this mess in the first place.
The last Labour Government allowed de facto uncontrolled immigration, and grossly underestimated the amount of migrants who would come here - especially those from Eastern Europe. They also signed all the EU Directives that allowed big companies to hire agency workers on the cheap - in technical parlance, known as ‘The Swedish Derogation’.
But behind the political posturing, there is a more serious point: the problem of big corporate juggernauts, and the way they treat their workers.
Robert Halfon is the Member of Parliament for Harlow. Follow Robert on Twitter.
To misquote Benjamin Franklin, there are only two things
certain in life - death and fuel taxes. Every budget, Governments used to raise
fuel duty at midnight and motorists would flock to petrol stations the night
before. This Government is the first to reverse this trend for many years. Not
only has it frozen fuel duty in real terms, but also cut it by 1p in 2011. Yet
despite this, the price of petrol and diesel has become the number one toxic
political issue. And why? Because motorists are facing fuel poverty. Figures
show average motorists spend £1700 per year on fuel - a tenth of their income.
Of course the Government can do more to cut fuel duty, and I
hope it is the first candidate for tax cuts as soon as the economic conditions
allow. But we have to face the inconvenient truth that it might also be oil
companies keeping up the price of fuel, even taking into consideration
geo-political factors. So how are they allegedly doing it?
Petrol Deserts. Britain now has 60% fewer petrol stations than it did in 1990.
This has left some areas of the UK as “petrol deserts” where motorists have to
drive miles to fill up. There is a wealth of evidence. In Cornwall, for example,
a hypermarket sold fuel below cost-price until all the other independent petrol
stations closed. Then the prices rose considerably. Without market choice,
there is no competition - and this keeps our fuel prices high.
Rocket and Feather Practices. Ever noticed how prices at the pump are quick to go up, but slow
to decrease? In December last year, the AA showed that from October 2012, the
wholesale price of oil had fallen by at least 10p, but only 4p of this saving
had been passed on to motorists. Furthermore, data from DECC shows that there
is a price lag of around 3 to 4 weeks before any savings are passed on.
However, when the international oil price increases, evidence shows that the
oil companies are quick to raise the price of petrol at the pumps - sometimes
significantly higher than the market suggests; this was the case in February
2012
Financial speculation
is keeping prices high. As documented on the PetrolPromise.com website that I set up,
there are whistleblowers who allege that there is manipulation of prices in
order to increased profits. One way this is alleged to have been happening is
the abuse of the Platts system, which is the world’s leading oil price
reporting agency. Every day, there is a half-hour period where oil transactions
are self-reported to Platts. This leaves the system open to manipulation and
lacking in transparency. A whistleblower told me about how huge trades would be
offered and then withdrawn to manipulate the price of oil.
99.3% of the UK Budget is not spent on Overseas Aid. So what is all the fuss about? When looked at in the context of the whole of the Budget, 0.7% is in fact a very small amount. And whilst we are on about fuss, who wrote this? -
“Our generous but carefully controlled aid programme is both an investment in the freedom and prosperity of the poorer countries and in a stable and expanding world economy"
- or when asked about the essential role of Government, argued -
“...you have to do international aid."
It was none other than Margaret Thatcher. The first quote is from the 1983 Manifesto, and the second from The Times in 1988. Whilst she was in office, the UK spent more, in proportion to GDP, on overseas development than the United States.
Robert Halfon is the Member of Parliament for Harlow. Follow Robert on Twitter.
Dear Andrew,
I read your latest article in the Telegraph with interest. We agree on many
things. For example, that a new homes tax would be misguided. You are right to
highlight the danger of taxing property, not merely because of the cost of
revaluing Council Tax bands, but also because of the precedent that it
sets. First they come for homes worth more than £2 million. Then £1 million.
Then £500,000 ... ?
However, we disagree about restoring
the 10p rate of tax. Like many on the Centre-Right, I believe that the creation
of new progressive bands of income tax would be a noble goal for Conservatives.
For example, a 10p band introduced above the current personal allowance (say
between £9,440 and £12,000) would hand back more than £250 a year to a worker
on minimum wage, and would help them to earn much closer to a Living Wage in
cash-terms. Conservatives could also look to widen out a 10p band over time.
This could help more middle earners as well.
You take a different view. In the
Telegraph, your preference is for tax cuts to be focused on raising the
personal allowance even higher than £10,000 to “take more people out of tax
altogether”. This is where we part company. I believe that having
raised the personal tax-free allowance to £10,000, Conservatives should
argue in a restoration of the 10p rate instead.
There are some important differences
here, and they are worth exploring.
Robert Halfon is the Member of Parliament for Harlow. Follow Rob on Twitter.
What is the best way to show that tax-cutting is the best
way to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor, to help eliminate the
poverty trap and create incentives to work? What tax measure would really
neutralise Labour's oft-spoken claims that we cut taxes for the rich?
The answer is by showing that there is a moral mission for
lower taxes — and the best, boldest, and most symbolic way would be to restore
the starting ten pence band of income-tax, which Gordon Brown scrapped in 2008.
When Labour brought in the 50p income tax-rate, it cost HMRC
something like £7 billion pounds overnight, as people changed their behaviour
to avoid the new tax. This year, the Coalition will cut that 50p income
tax-rate down to 45p, because this is expected to raise more money from
the rich, not less. The message of the campaign at CutTaxTo10p.com —
or, alternatively GreatGordonBrownRepealBill.com ! — is that we should use
every extra penny raised from this to restore the 10p basic rate of income tax,
to help lower earners. Added to the Universal Credit, this will help
stop disincentives to employment, and to ensure that work always
pays.
Robert Halfon is the Member of Parliament for
Harlow. Follow Rob
on Twitter.
I agree that
there should be a Palestinian State. In fact, not many realise there is already
a Palestinian State called Jordan — originally called TransJordan (because it
was across the River on the East Bank), that was created by the British, for
the Arabs, as part of the original state of Palestine in 1921. The idea of
the 1917 Balfour Declaration was that the Jews would have a smaller part of the
other side of the river. In fact, after the 1948-9 war against the newly
created State of Israel, the Jordanian monarch, Abdullah called himself the
King of Jordan AND Palestine, as his country controlled The West Bank.
The vast majority of Arabs currently in Jordan are in fact Palestinians. The
rulers of Jordan are, however, not Palestinian, as the monarchy are minority
Hashemites. Before the 1967 Six Day War, when Israel defeated the Arab invasion
and took control of the West Bank and Gaza (which had been under the arm of
Egypt), there had never been demands from Palestinians in the disputed
Territories for a second Palestinian State, as they were under Jordanian rule.
Robert Halfon is the
Member of Parliament for Harlow. Follow Rob on Twitter.
On Tuesday, I tabled a Private Members Bill on petrol prices, supported
by many other Conservative backbenchers, as well as MPs from Northern Ireland,
and Scotland. (You can see an extract in the short video above.) The idea
behind it was very simple: that fuel tax should be crystal clear to motorists.
In essence, this would sweep away the complex regulations about what fuel
garages can and cannot put on their till receipts, and replace them with one
simple rule. That whenever you fill up the family car, the till receipt should
say in black and white how much fuel duty, VAT, and petrol you have paid. It
should also say how much is actually being spent on Britain’s roads.
Simple. This would make the tax system more honest; it would be a big deterrent
against any future tax-rises; and it would add pressure on the oil companies to
be fair.
At present, the amount of tax charged on fuel is invisible, disguising the fact
that fuel duty and VAT together make up more than 60% of pump prices.
FairFuelUK, independent fuel retailers, the Taxpayers Alliance, and PetrolPromise.com
are all campaigning in different ways for cheaper petrol and diesel, and for
fuel tax transparency as well. FairFuelUK have even created an example of what
an honest fuel receipt might look like. You can see it here.
To its credit, this is a Government that believes in transparency. The
Prime Minister has said:
“We want to be the most open and transparent Government in the world.”
What better to show this than printing the level of fuel duty on garage
receipts?
Inevitably, there will be some Treasury Sir Humphries who are sceptical.
“Isn’t this up to the retailers?” They may ask. “Can this really be done?”
“Doesn’t this create a dangerous precedent?”
First of all, the HMRC website has a prescriptive 15-bullet point list
of what a VAT receipt can and cannot show. Transparency needs to be led by
Government. Only a Bill can give genuine clarity to retailers, and make it
standard across the whole country.
Second, the precedent has already been set. The Government is (rightly)
supporting Ben Gummer’s brilliant idea, and giving every taxpayer a statement
of what their personal taxes pay for. My point is: Why not do this for fuel
duty, as well?
A similar Sir Humphrey argument might be used about Labour’s 3p fuel
duty rise, which is planned for January 2013. The question is: Where does the
money come from?
Weighed against should be the increasing evidence that poorer drivers
are being forced off the roads by expensive fuel prices, with less money is
coming into the Treasury as a result. LSE studies show that high petrol costs
could even be adding to Britain’s dole queues. The AA has stated that 3p extra
on a litre of fuel drains £1.8 million off the High Street every single day.
This is because human behaviour is dynamic. People respond to incentives, and
the Treasury should account for this.
That is why over the coming weeks and months, I will be urging Ministers
to give a strong signal that there will be no further fuel duty rises this
Parliament. This would not only benefit jobs and growth, but it would help
significantly with the cost of living. The Prime Minister spoke up
strongly for “White
Van Conservatism” in his party conference speech. Let’s get those
White Van wheels in motion, and stop Labour’s 3p rise in fuel duty.
Robert Halfon is the Member of Parliament for Harlow. Follow Rob on Twitter.
If Ed Milliband wanted to claim that Labour is the party of One Nation — or of One Notion, as described by the PM — then the Tories can do some similar stealing
of Labour clothes.
The Conference in Birmingham, redefined by Mr Cameron’s speech, showed that
the Conservatives are the true Workers' Party now. Whilst Labour remain
the party of state welfarism and the dependency culture, Conservatives re-took
the battleground of aspiration — a primary Tory story through the ages.
White Van Conservatism triumphed over metropolitan intellectualism. The Aspiration Nation over Harvard-inspired ‘predistribution’.
White Van
Conservatism is not based on ‘right wing caricature’, as painted by our
opponents. As ConservativeHome has described, it is strong and
compassionate too. For a long time, commentators made the mistake of thinking that
Conservatives could only be modern if they had metropolitan values.
Anything outside that worldview was old fashioned "right-wing". In his
appeal to strivers, the Prime MInister’s speech disproved this thesis.
Robert Halfon is the Member of Parliament for Harlow. Follow Rob on Twitter.
I
am one of those who believe that pessimism is a luxury that no Tory can allow
himself. So, whilst we can watch Mr Miliband's speech and congratulate him for
some political ingenuity — regarding his 'One Nation' clarion call — in
practice this gives Conservatives a tremendous opportunity: a chance to
reinvigorate the Big Society.
For
Labour, 'One Nation' still remains another way of saying “the State”. Looking
at his speech closely, Mr Miliband argues for “collective action” through the mechanisms
of the State. This has been the Socialist cry through the ages; alleviate
poverty through redistribution using the levers of Government. He still is
arguing for a social-democratic state that robs from the rich in order to give
to the poor.
Another
thought: “One Nation” as expounded by Disraeli was intrinsically “Tory” — it
spoke for tradition, not for its own sake, but because it provided an anchor of
stability between the generations. For Labour, the '500 year old Oak Tree' is
anathema because their view of “One Nation” means Year Zero.
Robert Halfon is the Member of Parliament for Harlow. Follow Rob on Twitter.
Today in Parliament, I will lead a debate in Parliament, urging the Office of Fair Trading and the Financial Services Authority to investigate the oil market. This is for three reasons:
Oil companies - we have proof - are stopping cheaper oil prices from getting to market. This hurts people on low incomes, who are filling up the family car.
A professional oil trader has now given an explosive statement to my PetrolPromise.com website, explaining in detail how the oil-price is being rigged by speculators and banks.
Some bad news today for people filling up the family car. The Sun says oil prices are set to hit “a new high”,causing misery for millions. The Daily Mail reports that Britain is still the 10th most expensive place in the world to buy petrol and diesel. Now, I accept that this Government has stepped up to the plate when it comes to cutting fuel duty. Petrol is now 10p per litre cheaper than Labour planned, thanks to George Osborne. The tax on fuel has been either frozen or reduced steadily for two years. In fact, the Chancellor has now done more to keep petrol prices down in this Parliament than Labour did in 13 years.
But why are prices at the pumps still so expensive? The answer — uncomfortable though it may be for some Conservatives — is that the oil market is neither transparent nor competitive. That is why I have founded the e-petition website PetrolPromise.com — powered by software from Right Angle — to call for an investigation into the UK oil market, after allegations of price-fixing at the pumps.
Regular readers will know that I have been banging on about petrol and diesel prices for some years now - and actually ConservativeHome was instrumental, in making the case through 2011 for lower fuel duty. The Government listened to us, and deserve credit for it. George Osborne has done more to cut fuel taxes in two years, than Labour did in a decade.
Today MPs will debate fuel prices again. Forget the recent price-drops - however good they may be - motorists are being ripped off for pounds, not pennies. A few pennies are welcome but they are not enough. Fuel duty is still too high, and even at this late stage I am urging the Government to think again on the 3p rise in August 2012.
But there is a bigger and more dangerous Leviathan, which is crushing our economic recovery. The oil market, along with bank speculation in oil, is keeping the international price of crude oil dangerously high - oil is now so ludicrously expensive in fact that even if the Chancellor DID cut fuel duty, families would barely feel it in their pockets.
Robert Halfon is the Conservative MP for Harlow and a Vice-Chair of the APPG on the Kurdistan Region. Follow Rob on Twitter.
The British Government should formally recognise historic atrocities against the Iraqi Kurds as genocide according to a report from a cross-party group of MPs, launched today in the Commons in co-operation with the Henry Jackson Society.
The report of the all-party parliamentary group says that "recognising the genocide in Kurdistan is a vital part of respecting those who died and helps ensure that the ideology that groomed such barbarism is constantly challenged and never again allowed to re-emerge."
UK and international acknowledgement "helps the Iraqi Kurds make a transition from a people who were abandoned to one that is a full part of the world community with the UK being a valued political, cultural and commercial partner."
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