John Grady

John Grady

Labour — Glasgow East

Speaking in the House of Commons on 16 December 2025

Debate

Finance (No. 2) Bill

Contribution

I fully support the Chancellor’s decision to rebuild the headroom, tackle Government borrowing and stick to her fiscal rules. It is consistent with Labour values. There is nothing progressive about 10% of Government spending being on interest. There is nothing progressive about leaving unsustainable debt to future generations. I worry that there is a lot of criticism of the Chancellor’s proposals but very little by way of fully worked-up alternative proposals. Tackling debt is very important because the nature of Government debt buyers is changing with the closure of defined-benefit schemes, and as the OBR has outlined in a report, where we borrow money from in the future will be very different from what we face now. Furthermore, there is rising debt across many Governments in the western world. Tackling this Government debt in the longer term is very important, and the Chancellor is quite right to focus on her fiscal rules and face the tough decisions that need to be taken. All of us must play our part in assisting with something that is incredibly important for our country.

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