Mentions
What was said, and which frame it usedEvery item the dashboard counts, newest first. The marked words are the phrases that made it count; the tags say whether it used an opposing frame, an MMT-consistent idea, or named MMT. These are keyword matches: whether an item endorses or attacks an idea is shown once our classifier's accuracy is published.
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Public Inquiries
My Lords, given that statutory inquiries are held when events have caused public concern, and often cost tens of millions—if not hundreds of millions—of taxpayers’ money, does the Minister agree that reasons should always be given by Ministers for rejecting inquiry recommendations, so as to ensure due openness and accountability to the public?
- Opposing frame: Taxpayers' money
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Fiscal Outlook
…Labour decisions have weakened growth, dug us deeper into the debt hole and increased our fiscal vulnerability. What is needed is a plan to control spending and strengthen the underlying budget so we live within our means, bear down on inflation and the cost of our debt, and, above all, get the economy growing faster. But the Government’s actions have produced the reverse of all that. Let us look at spending. I was intrigued to hear the Chancellor say on Monday: “Staying true to our values means being honest about the need to control government spending”. For a moment, I thought I was listen…
- Opposing frame: Household budget
- Opposing frame: Maxed-out credit card
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Fiscal Outlook
…London down the road, they are looking at nearly £3 trillion of our national debt, our rising debt interest and our shrinking fiscal buffer, and asking whether we as a nation have a credible plan to live within our means. Here, down the Corridor in the other place, in the City of Westminster, are 403 Labour MPs, many demanding that the Government spend more, tax more, borrow more or, at the very least, do not spend less. Many of those MPs understandably argue that: indeed, it is what brought them into politics. Plaudits to them; they are standing up for their convictions and beliefs. They b…
- Opposing frame: Household budget
- Opposing frame: Maxed-out credit card
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Fiscal Outlook
…other growth-driving infrastructure—also in some pump-priming, which the noble Lord, Lord Howell, was encouraging us to think about. Taking this approach is responsible: it means the Government will balance the books with a buffer to protect against uncertainty, will control borrowing, and will reduce long-term pressures on our public finances. As the Chancellor said, there is nothing progressive about spending £1 in every £10 on debt interest. I thought the speech by the noble Baroness, Lady Morrissey, was a classic speech from the House of Lords of such insight and expertise about how the…
- Opposing frame: Household budget
- MMT-consistent idea: Deficit myth
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Fiscal Outlook
…approaching £3 trillion. Yet he has already run up a potential bill of more than £50 billion while proposing further uncosted public ownership. Nationalising water alone could cost some £140 billion. Where will the money come from? Will the Prime Minister break his pledge and Labour’s manifesto commitment not to raise taxes? The tax burden, as we have heard before, is already at a record high. Any further increases will discourage hiring, investment and entrepreneurship and accelerate capital flight. Some 27,300 high net worth individuals and 6,000 business owners have left Britain in the la…
- Opposing frame: Fiscal black hole
- Opposing frame: How will you pay for it?
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Railways Bill
I beg the Committee’s pardon: I got slightly muddled because of changes to the groupings. I come to my Amendments 60, 64A, 83, 84, 87, 94, 124, 125 and 291. The central issue running through these amendments is accountability. We are creating an enormous, new, publicly owned organisation that will, in all likelihood, receive billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money and exercise extraordinary control over the railway. It therefore needs clear objectives, measurable performance indicators and consequences for when it fails to deliver. Amendment 60 addresses the funding objectives. As drafted, the…
- Opposing frame: Taxpayers' money
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Ukraine and Russia
…me reprioritisation to make sure we are prioritising the activities that will provide most impact at this point in time. I acknowledge, however, that one of our responsibilities as a Department is to live within our means. One discipline I have to bring to the Ministry of Defence, drawing on my experience at the Department of Health and Social Care and the NHS, is to ensure there is no culture of routine overspending, that we are improving productivity, that we deliver value for money and that we recognise that the money we are investing in defence comes with choices and trade-offs that appl…
- Opposing frame: Household budget
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Job Support: Public Procurement
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for bringing the important work of Together Gloucestershire to the House’s attention. It is an excellent example of where social value can ensure that British taxpayer’s money is directed towards delivering British jobs and skills in our constituency. I will ask the Minister and our officials to meet with my hon. Friend and businesses in his constituency.
- Opposing frame: Taxpayers' money
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‘A completely unique opportunity’: the secretive process that will decide the BBC’s future
…changing technology and changing habits. Year on year, fewer and fewer people are using the BBC, and fewer and fewer people are paying for it. Hundreds of millions of pounds in cuts are under way to balance the books. This charter renewal is its only chance to turn back those tides. And yet in my interviews with 30 experts and BBC and government insiders over the past year, most struggled to tell me exactly what the charter is. One former director general told me simply: “The charter is … the charter.” Part of the difficulty of comprehending the charter lies in the difficulty of grasping th…
- Opposing frame: Household budget
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Pharmacies: Government Funding
…ly available to community pharmacies. There is a strong feeling among local branches that the extraordinary contribution pharmacies made during the pandemic has been forgotten. They are struggling to balance the books, as a number of Members have explained. Community pharmacy funding has fallen substantially in real terms over the past decade. The Government’s recent funding settlement is a welcome step in the right direction, with significant increases announced for ’24-25 and ’25-26 and continued support for services such as Pharmacy First, blood pressure checks and contraception, but we m…
- Opposing frame: Household budget
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Jaguar Land Rover: Redundancies
JLR’s plan to cut 4,000 jobs is devastating for workers, families and communities in Coventry and across the west midlands. JLR is based in my constituency and its highly skilled workforce is vital to our region’s economy and industrial future. The trade union Unite is right to demand urgent answers and for every alternative to job losses to be explored. The Business Secretary has now met JLR and Unite, so can the Minister tell the House what has actually been secured from JLR, a company that has already been granted £1.5 billion of public money? Will the Department publish the company’s plan…
- Opposing frame: Taxpayers' money
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NHS: Agency Medical Staff
My Lords, while the Minister talks about reduced agency spending, which is welcome, total temporary workforce costs remain largely unchanged, seemingly displacing into bank premiums, overtime and other insourcing. Will the Minister commit to publishing the total combined costs of flexible staffing, so that Parliament can judge whether taxpayers’ money is actually being saved or merely reshuffled within budget lines?
- Opposing frame: Taxpayers' money
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UK government pays highest interest rate on 30-year bond since 1998
…rate since the Debt Management Office, which is responsible for financing government borrowing, was established in 1998. Healey used a speech in Coventry on Monday to stress that he was determined to balance the books. Markets have been spooked by fears of a fresh rise in inflation after the resumption of the Middle East conflict increased oil prices, and investors fretting about the risks of rising public debt. When the Office for Budget Responsibility does its latest forecast before the budget on 28 October, higher interest rates on government borrowing are expected to wipe out at least ha…
- Opposing frame: Household budget
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Israel and Palestine
During the debate in this House on 9 July, I and other Members raised our concerns about charities working in the illegal Israeli settlements and, in particular, about the use of taxpayers’ money through gift aid contributions to those charities. As a result, I received a response from the Charity Commission for England and Wales sharing those concerns about the potential impact, including on public trust and confidence in the charity sector, of charities being seen to actively assist in the development or expansion of illegal settlements in Palestine. What more will the Foreign Secretary do,…
- Opposing frame: Taxpayers' money
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Public Sector Productivity
Public sector productivity is improving, with the NHS delivering 3.5% productivity growth in 2025-26, beating its 2% target. The Government will continue to drive public sector efficiency so that taxpayers’ money delivers the best possible public services. In addition, we are investing in AI adoption across the public sector to help realise the overall target of £14 billion of efficiencies by 2028-29, as agreed at the last spending review.
- Opposing frame: Taxpayers' money
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Councils pay more than £125m a year placing vulnerable children in illegal care homes in England
Exclusive: Booming industry of businesses profit from shortage of beds for most at-risk children Councils are paying more than £125m a year of taxpayers’ money to place vulnerable children in illegal care homes across England, an investigation has found. The Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) have uncovered a booming industry of businesses profiting from a shortage of beds for the most at-risk children in Ofsted-inspected homes. Local authority payment records show that more than 480 private companies have been paid £250m for 1,800 unlawful placements of children over…
- Opposing frame: Taxpayers' money
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Another Australian found safe after Nepal-Tibet floods – as it happened
…or governments to be able to deliver commitments. Independent MP Kate Chaney says reporting of an “invite-only” community infrastructure grants program by Labor shows “governments from both sides use taxpayer-funded grants to buy votes”. The ABC has reported the Major and Local Community Infrastructure Program committed tens of thousands of dollars to key seats, but 45 seats around the county (almost a third) were not invited to apply for this fund. Chaney says: This is pork barrelling, and we’ve seen it before. The Coalition had Sports Rorts, and now Labor is ‘park’ barrelling – money for p…
- Opposing frame: Taxpayers' money
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John Healey backs growth but says Labour must be honest on spending
…eceipts by 2029-30. With the public finances under pressure from soaring long-term bond yields, which hit an 18-year high last week, Healey argued that stronger growth was the most sustainable way to balance the books. However, he also signalled that his budget would require Labour “being honest about the need to control government spending”. Economists have warned the chancellor could be forced to increase taxes or cut spending in response to rising spending pressures and the economic fallout from the war in Iran triggering turmoil in global bond markets. The UK’s 10-year borrowing costs ro…
- Opposing frame: Fiscal black hole
- Opposing frame: Household budget
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Economic Growth
Sometimes it is necessary, in order to fund improvements in our national health service and to fill the £22 billion fiscal black hole that we inherited.
- Opposing frame: Fiscal black hole
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Draft Building Safety Levy (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2026
I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Building Safety Levy (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2026. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. The remediation of residential buildings with unsafe cladding in England is a priority for this Government. Nine years on from the Grenfell tragedy, there is no justification for any building to remain unsafe. Helping residents to feel safe in their homes and to move on from this issue is crucial work. The Government are committing £5.2 billion of taxpayers’ money to the costs of remediation, and the building safety…
- Opposing frame: Taxpayers' money