I began Business of the House Questions this week by paying tribute to Sir George Young who has announced that he will stand down after 41 years in parliament. I suggested his local party should incorporate an IQ test as part of the selection process for his successor to stop the mayor of London sniffing around.
Yesterday morning at 9.30am the Department for Work and Pensions released a written ministerial statement on the progress of universal credit. Despite being a major announcement on a failing flagship government policy Iain Duncan Smith tried to sneak the announcement out under the cover of the autumn statement. As recently as last month the secretary of state was claiming that delivery was on track, but now we know that there will be there will be major delays and a complete upheaval of the scheme. This is a contemptible way to treat parliament so I asked Andrew Lansley to ensure that the work and pensions secretary explain himself to the House at the earliest opportunity.
This week the prime minister skipped PMQs for a trip to China where he delivered a framed photo of himself and a biography of Margaret Thatcher and feasted upon bamboo fungus in the spectacular surroundings of the great hall of the people. And he accused Michael Meacher of taking mind-altering drugs! His press conference with the Chinese premier consisted of two long statements, no questions, and concluded to rapturous applause from the journalists who had the honour to be present. I think the lobby had better watch out.
As business questions happened before the autumn statement I took the opportunity to say that the chancellor has form when it comes to leaks and disasters. In the 2012 budget we had tax U-turns on pasties, charities and caravans – and the word ‘omnishambles’ entered the Oxford English Dictionary. In last year’s autumn statement George Osborne’s flagship Swiss tax deal and the 4G auction both raised less than a third of what he’d scored in the red book. And large chunks of the last budget were published before he’d even got to parliament.
This year, he’s been busy getting his U-turns in first and he’s been getting more incoherent by the day. He thinks its Marxist to cap energy prices but positively Thatcherite to cap payday loans. He’s been so panicked by the popularity of our energy price freeze that he’s persuaded the energy secretary to claim that a £70 increase in bills is actually a cut. When will he realise that on energy only a price freeze will do?
Despite the welcome news that our economy is growing again, growth is only a third of what the chancellor predicted it would be in 2010 and we have the slowest recovery for 100 years. All George Osborne has delivered is a recovery that t helps a few at the top and leaves ordinary people hurting. That’s this chancellor all over. Tax cuts for millionaires and a living standards crisis for everyone else.
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Angela Eagle is MP for Wallasey, shadow leader of the House of Commons and writes the weekly Business of Parliament column for Progress. She tweets @AngelaEagle