VoteRecordSarahNewtonMP Aug019

Voting record of Sarah
Newton MP for Truro and

Falmouth constituency,
Cornwall
Sarah Newton was elected as the MP for Truro
and Falmouth in 2010
According to Theyworkforyou.com website, on the vast majority of issues Sarah Newton

has voted the same way as other Conservative MPs - a score of 92.25% of votes in this
Parliament with the government — well above average amongst MPs1. It is also
important to point out that as a government minister, Sarah Newton is obliged to vote
and support government legislation
Contents
Since 2010 Sarah Newton MP has voted for legislation to: ................................... 3
Cut local government funding ........................................................................................ 3
Cut school funding and promote academies ................................................................... 6
Weaken our human rights...................................................................................... 8
Restrict the role of Trade Unions .............................................................. 12
Cut welfare support for the most vulnerable ......................................... 13
Promote failed market solutions to our housing crisis .................... 16
Reduce taxes for the better off................................................................... 18
Reduce the rate of corporation tax ............................................................ 20
Measures both for and against tax avoidance ......................................... 22
Transform the NHS along market lines ........................................................ 24
Block measures to prevent climate change ............................................... 27
Reject electoral reform.................................................................................... 30
1 See Numerology on TheyWorkForYou.com website

1
Published by Progressive Alliance Cornwall
Notes
1. Text in blue is hyperlinked
2. The way our MP is voted, dates of votes etc is often qualified by

certain phrases such as ‘almost always’. This text is copied from
Theyworkfromyou.com
e.g. ‘Sarah Newton almost always voted to….’. You will need to
click on the blue hyperlinked text to see why her voting is qualified
by the term ‘almost always’. Right click on blue text to open up
drop-down menu then click ‘Open Link in New Tab’. Then scroll
down Theyworkforyou.com to see how she voted
2
Since 2010 Sarah Newton MP has voted for
legislation to:
Cut local government funding
Sarah Newton almost always voted for reducing central

government funding of local government
Her most recent votes were as follows:
On 5 Feb 2019 Sarah Newton voted to set the main central government grant to
local government for 2018-19 at a level 56% lower than it was set for 2017-18.
On 7 Feb 2018: Sarah Newton voted to set the main central government grant to
local government for 2018-19 at a level 28% lower than it was set for 2017-18.
On 22 Feb 2017: Sarah Newton voted to set the main central government grant
to local government for 2017-18 at a level 44% lower than it was set for 2016-17.
On 10 Feb 2016: Sarah Newton voted to set the main central government grant
to local government for 2016-17 at a level 24.6% lower than it was set for 2015-
16.
By 2020 councils will have lost 60p out of every £1 the Government had
provided to spend on local services in the last 10 years (from 2010 to
2020)
“Without additional resource, the worst is yet to come." Cllr Paul Carter,
chairman of the County Council Network and leader of Kent County Council
Cornwall Council funding cuts from central government has already amounted to £300
million with a further projected £75 million of cuts by 2020. Nationally the picture is
worse: funding cuts of £16 billion mean councils will have lost an average 60p out of
every £1 the Government had provided to spend on local services in the last 8 years.
168 councils will receive no revenue support grant at all next year2.
2 Local Government Association press release 1 Oct 2018

3
To plug the council funding gap, councils are being pushed to raise
local taxes and sell off public assets.
Nearly all English councils plan on increasing council tax this year while slashing
frontline services due to Government cuts, survey reveals3. This includes cuts to
libraries, adult social care and recycling.
For Cornwall, recent figures suggest that an “extra” £17 million

promised by this government to Cornwall Council will come entirely
from local taxpayers4
While the government trumpets income tax cuts and raising the tax threshold, it quietly
shifts the burden of taxation on to local councils.
Nationally, 4,000 publicly owned buildings and spaces in England are

being sold off every year5.
They are our libraries, youth

centres, allotments and
public swimming pools, the
everyday places at the heart
of our community where
local people come together,
access vital services and
support each other. Once
sold off to private
developers and short-term
speculators they are lost to
us forever.
Figures and graph taken from report

by Locality
Short term funding to stave off the crisis in social care has failed to
address 8 years of real term reductions
That’s according to an open public letter to the Prime Minister by the Directors of Adult
Social Services6. Local authority social care services in England have experienced 45 per
3 Nearly all English councils to increase council tax. LGA press release 14-Feb-2019
4 Taxpayers will fund extra £17m for Cornwall Council. Falmouth Packet 18-Dec-2018
5 The Great British Sell-off. Report by Locality (membership network for community organisations)
6 https://www.adass.org.uk/media/6421/social-care-green-paper-adass-letter-to-pm-210518.pdf
4
cent cuts to their funding. The most deprived areas have been the hardest hit seeing
cuts of more than £220 per head compared with under £40 per head for the least
deprived authorities7 .
The result is that many people are trapped in to taking on unaffordable

debt to fund their care – and finding themselves in court when they
can’t pay.
An investigation by GMB, the union for carers, has revealed at least 166,000 people are
trapped in debt for their social care8.
The Freedom of Information requests, submitted to every local authority in Great

Britain with responsibility for social care, also show at least 1,178 people have been
taken to court by local authorities for social care debts.
“These stark figures show the UK’s social care ticking timebomb has now blown a
gaping hole in families’ finances.”
Sharon Wilde, GMB National Officer
7 Closer to home project. Centre for Welfare Reform

8 At least 166,000 trapped in social care debt. GMB Union 4-June-2018
5
Cut school funding and promote academies
Sarah Newton consistently voted for Academy schools
Academies are, to all intents and purposes, state-funded independent schools outside
local authority control. They receive their funding from central government. They were
brought in to improve educational achievement.
Two in three academy chains 'fail' poorer pupils

“Improving their educational achievement was the original reason why academies were
set up. In this regard they have not succeeded”
comment by Sir Peter Lampl, founder of the Sutton Trust.
When it comes to a comparison in performance between local authority run schools

and independent academies the record is mixed, but on the whole suggests there is no
substantial difference in performance9.
However, when it comes to poorer pupils, one recent study suggests that two in three
academy chains 'fail' poorer pupils. Poorer children in 38 of the 58 academy chains
performed below the national average last year for all state schools, according to
research from social mobility charity the Sutton Trust10.
School funding per pupil has been cut

Despite claims by this government that school funding has risen overall, the actual
school funding per pupil has fallen – see Local Constituency Profile in second part of
report
In Cornwall 22% of the population are without a qualification. There are

an additional 59,400 whose highest qualification is equivalent to a Level
111.
While academy trusts are set up as not-for-profit organisations there

have been serious concerns about their financial probity and lack of
transparency
For example:
9 Academies and Maintained schools: what do we know? By FullFact

10 Two in three academies fail poorer students. Article in the Independent 20-Dec 2018
11 Vital Signs document by Cornwall Community Foundation
6
• The collapse of the Perry Beeches free school network in Birmingham occurred
after £1.3m was paid into a company owned by a governor for “executive
services” and, from there, a second salary was paid to its chief executive. The
schools were left with £1.5m worth of debt.
• The collapsed Wakefield City Academies Trust sucked up more than £1m of
reserves from the 21 schools it took over, before returning them back to the
government once the cash was depleted. The trust’s chief executive was paid
more than £80,000 for 15 weeks’ work and procured almost £440,000 worth of
services from his own private IT and clerking companies.
• The Bolton Wanderers free school, which paid its football-club namesake more
than £300,000 a year for rent of a classroom in an otherwise empty stadium, but
was punted back to government with a £380,000 debt and a £200,000 pensions
deficit. The school has now closed.
The Guardian article from which these examples are taken stresses that none of this
was illegal. There are no caps on chief executive pay and only poorly policed rules on
buying from related companies. As the trust pointed out at the time, it followed all the
rules and said the contracts were the “best value” available.
7
Weaken our human rights
The exceptions to this are her vote for gay rights-see more
And her votes for marriage between people of the same sex
You can see her complete record here
In particular she voted:
Against largely retaining the EU "Charter of Fundamental Rights" as part of UK

law following the UK's withdrawal from the European Union.
The EU Charter went further than the Human Rights Act by including explicit protection
for members of the LGBT community (Article 21)12. It also included rights of the child
(article 24), and rights of the elderly (Article 25), as well as Social Rights such as
healthcare and environmental protection.
Against publication of a gender equality strategy

She voted against calling on the Government to ensure women and protected groups
are not disproportionally impacted by tax and benefit changes and against publication
of a gender equality strategy to improve the position of women.
“At an individual level, women lose on average considerably more from changes to
direct taxes and benefits than men. Women lose about £400 per year on average, and
men only £30, although these figures conceal very substantial variation within both
genders.”
Report by Equality and Human Rights Commission on the impact of tax
and benefit changes since 2010 to the end of the financial year 2021/2
Against efforts to address prejudice and discrimination

She voted to remove the duty on the Commission for Equality and Human Rights to
work to support the development of a society where people's ability to achieve their
potential is not limited by prejudice or discrimination and there is respect for human
rights.
12
Other rights include the right to social security, health care, and the right to environmental
protection. For the full list of rights see the English version of the Charter on EUR-LEX, Access to
European Union Law
8
Sarah Newton generally voted for restricting the scope of legal aid
Because of the prohibitive cost of legal fees, the number of people accessing legal aid
has fallen by 82% over an 8-year period (see graph below). In 2017, the Supreme Court
ruled that fees for those bringing employment tribunal claims were unlawful, and
indirectly discriminatory because a higher proportion of women would bring
discrimination cases13.
Sarah Newton was absent for a vote on Human Rights Act 1998
Repeal Bill
The Human Rights Act is the central plank in the UK human rights framework and while
it still remains in place, the Conservative governments determined to remove it. Sarah
Newton was absent for this vote; this could be a way of dissenting from the government
line. It could also mean that she did not see this issue as a priority.
This government is taking an axe to the Rule of Law

Equality and human rights are the cornerstone of the Rule of Law, namely that ‘no-one
is above the law and everyone is equal before the law’, including governments.
Without the Rule of Law, we are left with the rule of the strong.
Human rights are often portrayed by the popular press as protecting undeserving
others such as prisoners, and suspected terrorists. But human rights are for all of us.
In addition to reducing our human rights, there is now a crisis in our

legal system as a result of steep cuts to legal aid brought about by this
government’s Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act
(LASPO) in 2013.
This Act has overseen cuts of up to 34 per cent to the Ministry of Justice
expenditure from 2010-11 to 2015-16.
In effect this means that if you are subject to discrimination at work, experience family
breakdown, are a tenant about to be evicted, or a benefit claimant whose entitlement
has been miscalculated, you are on your own: either you pay for expensive legal help or
13 Employment tribunal fees unlawful, Supreme Court rules. BBC News 26-Jul-2017
9
you represent yourself in court and risk losing your case or worse still, wrongful
conviction through failure to understand the criminal justice system.
Charles Falconer, a former Lord Chancellor has highlighted just how serious these
developments are in relation to employment:
“More than 350,000 cases a year will probably no longer attract costs in the
future. This will have a huge impact in particular on claims for employers’ liability
for injuries at work. Many union and non-union employees alike will have to
bring claims themselves rather than with solicitors. The promoter of this change
is the insurance industry. It benefits substantially; the employee loses”.
And the Bach Commission Report also stresses the danger inherent in the breakdown
of the Rule of Law: “unless everybody can get some access to the legal system at the
time in their lives when they need it, trust in our institutions and in the rule of law
breaks down. When that happens, society breaks down”14
The ease with which our rights can be removed and access to justice
denied, demonstrates the urgent need for a proper, codified
constitution for the UK
A written, codified constitution acts as a protective firewall over fundamental laws and
rights but the UK doesn’t have one. Instead, it has an ‘unwritten constitution’; an
outdated set of unwritten rules and conventions, piecemeal legislation and unelected
Lords.
Rights can be removed by a simple majority of one, the same legislative means to
change the speed limit or amend VAT. By contrast written constitutions insist on a
higher order of democratic approval for their amendment, such as super-majorities in
both houses.
Join the campaign for a written constitution designed for

and by the people >>>
14 The Right To Justice. The final report of the Bach Commission September 2017
10
Graphic taken from article by Charles Falconer in the
Guardian
11
Restrict the role of Trade Unions
Sarah Newton almost always voted for more restrictive regulation of

trade union activity
Sarah Newton consistently voted for greater restrictions on

campaigning by third parties, such as charities, during elections
This is in keeping with Conservative government policy which seeks to restrict

and curtail Union activity. This has resulted in a weakening of trade union power
has hit workers pay.
Trade Union membership has been associated with higher pay

“Trade union membership has been found to result in a pay premium for
workers. In the UK, this premium is typically found to lie in the range 10-15%,
though it may have fallen over time.” Speech by Andrew G Haldane Chief Economist
Bank of England
Other Key points:

▪ The IMF published evidence in 2015 showing that strong unions make economies
more equal, and therefore more prosperous. See their paper
▪ Research presented by the Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre reveals the
labour movement and the workforce it represents to be in the backbone of
economic prosperity, dispelling the predominant narrative of keeping labour costs
down in the interests of competitiveness. See their paper
Source: The
Great Wages
Grab, TUC
publication
If you are interested in

finding out more and in
joining a Union, go to
https://www.tuc.org.uk/join
-union
12
Cut welfare support for the most
vulnerable
Consistently voted for a reduction in spending on welfare benefits
Consistently voted for reducing housing benefit for social tenants

deemed to have excess bedrooms (which Labour describe as the
"bedroom tax")
Consistently voted against raising welfare benefits at least in line

with prices
Sarah Newton voted to set the rate of increase of certain benefits, payments and tax
credits at 1% rather than in line with prices at 2.2% for 2014 and 2015. In effect that was
a cut to welfare support
Almost always voted for making local councils responsible for

helping those in financial need afford their council tax and reducing
the amount spent on such support
Sarah Newton Generally voted against spending public money to

create guaranteed jobs for young people who have spent a long time
unemployed
"I can no longer represent a government and a party who can't open
their eyes to the suffering endured by the most vulnerable in society,
suffering which we have deepened whilst having the power to fix." Heidi
Allen, ex Conservative MP15
The most vulnerable in society are those who experience disability issues. Amber Rudd,
the Work and Pensions Secretary has acknowledged the disability benefits system
remained imperfect, and some people feel they are “put on trial for seeking support”16.
15 Tory MPs Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Sarah Wollaston leave party and join ex-Labour Independents.
ITV news 20-Feb-2019
16 Rudd admits disabled people feel 'put on trial for seeking support’. Guardian 5-Mar-2019
13
Fact: in Cornwall, over one in four children live in poverty.
In 2017, the figure was 27.7%, an increase from the previous year of 26.6% in 2016.17
Fact: Amber Rudd, the Work and Pensions Secretary has admitted that
Universal Credit roll-out is a key cause in rise in use of food banks18.
Since this government came in power the number of food packs given out has
risen from 41,000 food packs in 2009/10 to 1,332,952 in for the year
2017/8. 484,026 of these went to children19
note these figures are ‘uses’ not ‘users’:

an individual user may use more than once
The 2017/8 figure is a 13% increase on the previous year. This is a higher increase than
the previous financial year, where foodbank use was up by 6%.
The top four reasons for referral to a foodbank in The Trussell Trust network in 2017-18
were ‘low income – benefits, not earning’, ‘benefit delay’, ‘benefit change’ and ‘debt’.
These figures come from the Trussell Trust and their report cites the roll-out of
Universal Credit as a significant factor in the increased use of foodbanks (see also
second section of this report Local Constituency Profile, Universal Credit below)
“Households with at least one disabled adult and a disabled child will
lose over £6,500 a year - over 13% of their annual income”
Report by Equality and Human Rights Commission March 2018: The Cumulative Impact
Assessment of Tax and Welfare Reforms
The reports key finding is that changes to taxes, benefits, tax credits and Universal
Credit (UC) announced since 2010 are regressive, however measured –that is, the
largest impacts are felt by those with lower incomes.
Those in the bottom twenty percent will lose, on average, approximately 10% of net
income, with much smaller losses for those higher up the income distribution.
Their analysis shows that by the end of the financial year 2021/2 the changes will have a
disproportionately negative impact on several protected groups, including disabled
people, certain ethnic minorities, and women:
17 2018 Vital Signs update by Cornwall Community Foundation

18 Amber Rudd links universal credit to rise in food bank use. BBC News 11-2-2019
19 End of year stats: Trussell Trust
14
• Negative impacts are particularly large for households with more disabled
members, and individuals with more severe disabilities, as well as for lone
parents on low incomes.
• For some family types, these losses represent an extremely large percentage of
income. For example, for households with at least one disabled adult and a
disabled child, average annual cash losses are just over £6,500 – over 13% of
average net income.
• On average, disabled lone parents with at least one disabled child fare even
worse, losing almost three out of every ten pounds of their net income. In cash
terms, their average losses are almost £10,000 per year.
Source: The cumulative impact of tax and welfare reforms by the

Equality and Human Rights Commission
It was reckless bank lending that cause the 2008 Global financial crash
but it is ordinary people who are paying the cost.
15
Promote failed market solutions to
our housing crisis
Sarah Newton consistently voted for phasing out secure tenancies

for life and for charging a market rent to high earners renting a
council home
Sarah Newton voted against boosting housing supply by reforming

the development industry; against measures to tackle landbanking;
against a new generation of New Towns and Garden Cities and
against giving local authorities a new right to grow to deliver the
homes their communities need.
Sarah Newton voted against more regulation of the private rental

sector, against a national register of landlords, against clearer
information on charges, and against the promotion of longer
tenancies when tenants want them.
Sarah Newton consistently voted against restrictions on fees charged

to tenants by letting agents
For a long time, letting agencies have had a license to print money with average fees
coming in at over £200 and being recorded as high as £700. The Chancellor Philip
Hammond proposed legislation 18 months ago to ban letting agents fees but as with
much else, legislation has been held up due to Brexit.
Fact: during this government’s tenure, the numbers of street homeless

has increased by 169 percent (figure uses 2010 baseline)
Fact: the number of homeless families and individuals placed in

temporary accommodation jumped to 78,000 last year, an 8% rise on
the year and a massive 60% rise since 2012.
16
source for both statistics: Homelessness Monitor 2018
Fact: local authorities and housing associations in England have built

one home for every two sold under the right-to-buy scheme.
Source: Guardian reference to
Resolution Foundation think tank
Notes
Votes to phase out secure tenancies and to block local authorities to deliver affordable
homes are part of a long-standing Conservative government policy to minimise the
public sector role in house building. This has left millions at the mercy of a dysfunctional
market, with little or no influence over where they get to live.
This has gone hand in hand with the sale of public land to private-sector developers,
who have long been the biggest buyers of government land.
Theresa May has been promoted the sale of public land as a solution to the housing
crisis but it is nothing of the sort. Developers’ bulging land banks are chock-full of land
acquired from public bodies, on which they could have built new homes, but have
chosen not to.
Only one in five new homes forecast to be built is classified as “affordable”, with as little
as 6% of new homes to be social rented housing.
£400 Billion: the transfer of public wealth into private hands

The scale of this land grab over time has gone largely unrecognised and dwarfs any
privatisation of public services. Brett Christophers, a Professor of Social and Economic
Geography at Uppsala University has estimated that since Margaret Thatcher the value
of public land transferred from public to private ownership amounts to £400 Billion. As
he writes:
“All told, around 2 million hectares of public land have been privatised during the past
four decades. This amounts to an eye-watering 10% of the entire British land mass,
and about half of all the land that was owned by public bodies when (Mrs) Thatcher
assumed power.”20
He remarks that Britains biggest privatisation never gets a mention. These policies are
shrinking the amount of publicly owned land on which to build affordable homes in the
name of providing cash to ‘pump prime’ NHS Sustainability and Transformation plans.
20The biggest privatisation you’ve never heard of: land. Article by Brett Christophers in The Guardian 8
Feb 2018
17
Reduce taxes for the better off
Sarah Newton voted in favour of proposed changes to the taxation

system, including rises in the income thresholds for both starting to
pay income tax, and for being charged income tax at the higher rate
At the same time, Council tax bills in England are to rise an average of 4.5%21. For
Cornwall, recent government figures suggest that an “extra” £17 million promised
to Cornwall Council will come entirely from local taxpayers22.The tax strategy of this
government is to give with one hand while taking with another.
Sarah Newton consistently voted for raising the threshold at which

people start to pay income tax
While raising the threshold is always a popular measure, this is a sleight of hand
because the biggest beneficiaries are the better off. The top half of households will
benefit from 84% if income tax cuts announced in the Autumn 2018 budget23.
Almost always voted for increasing the rate of VAT

VAT, which hits the poorest hardest, is a growing proportion of UK government
revenues (see below)
Almost always voted against increasing the tax rate applied to

income over £150,000
Voted a mixture of for and against higher taxes on banks
Generally voted against a banker’s bonus tax

Bonuses paid out to those working in the financial and insurance activities industry
amounted to £15 billion in 2017, an increase of 9.7% over the previous financial year24.
Consistently voted against an annual tax on the value of expensive

homes (popularly known as a mansion tax)
21 Council tax bills in England to rise an average of 4.5%. BBC news 5 March-2019
22 Taxpayers will fund extra £17m for Cornwall Council. Falmouth Packet 18-Dec-2018
23 Budget income tax cuts 'to overwhelmingly benefit the rich'. Guardian 30 Oct 2018
24 Average Weekly Earnings, bonus payments in Great Britain: 2017 ONS figures
18
This was a tax proposed by both Labour and the Liberal Democrats prior to the 2015
election for properties above £2m25
Almost always voted for reducing capital gains tax

Capital Gains Tax is a tax on the sale of an asset that’s increased in value such as a
property or an investment.
The richest 10% pay just 34% of their income in taxes, but the poorest
10% pay 42% of their income.
VAT, which hits the poorest hardest, is a growing proportion of UK government

revenues, while corporation tax is shrinking as a percentage of the total tax take.
Source http://www.taxjustice.uk/
▪ Inequalities from both income (wages and income from rents and share) and
wealth inequality (the actual value of shares, property, land and other assets)
remain deep and enduring.
▪ Between 2010-2012 and 2012-2014, over half of the increase in personal wealth
went to the top 10 per cent of households. A political focus on income inequality
alone has masked the true extent of inequality in the UK. It must widen to
include wealth.
▪ Wealth inequality is twice as great as income inequality. The wealthiest 10 per
cent of households own 45 per cent of the nation’s wealth, while the least
wealthy half of all households own just 9 per cent.
▪ The next generation is set to have less wealth, largely due to housing
inequalities. Fewer than half of ‘millennials’ (those born between 1981 and 2000)
are expected to own their own home by the age of 45, based on current trends
Sources:
Wealth in the twenty-first century, discussion paper by the IPPR Commission on
Economic Justice pub 2017
Tax Justice UK http://www.taxjustice.uk/
25 How would a mansion tax work? BBC news 6-10-2014
19
Reduce the rate of corporation tax
Sarah Newton almost always voted for reducing the rate of
corporation tax
Since 2010 the rate of corporation tax has fallen from 28% to 19% in April 2017 with an
election manifesto promise to reduce corporation tax to 17% by 202026
Sarah Newton generally voted for stronger tax incentives for

companies to invest in assets
“Changes to corporate tax have represented some of the largest

giveaways in both parliaments since 2010.” Source:IFS report
The IFS has further commented that cuts to corporation tax rates announced between
2010 and 2016 are estimated to reduce revenues by at least £16.5 billion a year in the
short to medium run. Accounting for measures that raise revenue, including anti-
avoidance measures, onshore corporate tax policies over this period reduce revenues
by an estimated £12.4 billion a year.
The government has countered this claim by pointing out

that while the corporate tax rate has been reduced, the
amount collected has gone up. See fullfact
The increase in the number of registered companies has doubled since the year 2000.
You would expect the cash value of corporate tax receipts to increase as the economy
grew over time. But there are two other factors to consider:
• Growth in incorporation has boosted corporation tax receipts but reduced tax
revenue overall because incomes generated by individuals working for their
own business are taxed more lightly than employment income. Both the IFS
(Institute of Fiscal Studies) and the Office of Budget Responsibility have pointed
to this factor27.
26
Financial Times 19-11-2017
27See What’s been happening to corporation tax? IFS and also Why have onshore CT receipts performed
so well since 2013-14? OBR
20
• The transfer of public wealth and assets to the private sector over time.
Outsourcing, privatisation of public services, the sale of public land and assets
have all helped increase the size of the private sector. This is an exercise in
wealth transfer not wealth creation.
The scale of this wealth transfer cannot be underestimated. As mentioned elsewhere

the value of public land transferred from public to private ownership amounts to £400
Billion – half of all land owned by public bodies when Mrs Thatcher assumed power.
This dwarfs any privatisation of public services but largely goes unremarked.
The UK’s public procurement market is valued at just over £250bn of central and local
government money in the 2015-16 financial year (the Institute for Gov gives £260
billion). That's about one-third of total government spend and 13.6% of gross domestic
product
Central government departments and the NHS accounted for around £136bn.
Sources:
How do companies win government contracts? BBC News 19-Jan-2018
What is public procurement and why does it matter? Institute for Government
The biggest privatisation you’ve never heard of: land. Article by Brett Christophers The Guardian 8
Feb 2018
21
Measures both for and against tax
avoidance
The headline given on TheyWorkForYou website is “Sarah Newton generally voted for
measures to reduce tax avoidance”. However the breakdown of votes given under this
heading are largely to do with raising the threshold for paying income tax and for
introducing a soft drinks levy.
The votes set out below have been picked out as those most relevant to tax avoidance.
These indicate a mixed record.
On 13 Apr 2016 Sarah Newton voted against implementing a series of proposals

intended to reduce tax avoidance and evasion.
On 11 Feb 2015 Sarah Newton voted against introducing a penalty regime for
the general anti-abuse rule and against other measures intended to reduce tax
avoidance.
On 2 Jul 2013: Sarah Newton voted to introduce a general anti-abuse rule to

tackle abusive tax avoidance, to raise the basic income tax free allowance, and to
support other tax changes proposed in the Finance Bill.
On 1 Jul 2013: Sarah Newton voted against requiring a review of the potential for
new internationally co-ordinated laws requiring greater transparency on how
much tax multi-national companies pay to the UK and other countries.
On 15 Apr 2013:Sarah Newton voted to introduce a general anti-abuse rule to

tackle abusive tax avoidance, to raise the basic income tax free allowance, and to
support other tax changes proposed in the Finance Bill.
This was a positive and welcome step by the government to address tax abuse.
However the government as dragged its feet in other respects – see below.
Tax avoidance estimates vary from £2.5 billion to £25 Billion – the latter
figure is more than the £20 Billion the NHS needs from Philip Hammond
Report by Tax Justice Network 21-10-2018
22
This matters hugely not just because of cash-strapped public services funded through
tax revenue – but also because outsourcing of public services often go to private
companies who avoid paying any tax at all.
In UK the volume of tenders to tax haven companies is described as

‘severe’ - 13.4 % of their total value.
Source: Datlablog
Examples include this tender for provision of agency workforce worth £700 million,
awarded to Capita Business Services Ltd. co-owned from the Bermudas (22%), or a £700
million contract awarded by Bath and North East Somerset to Richard Branson’s
VIRGIN CARE LIMITED company co-owned from British Virgin Islands.
The government has recently been accused of defying parliament by delaying plans to
require British tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands to bring in public registers
that reveal the true identity of owners of companies sheltering assets.
Other key Points:

▪ Corporate tax avoiders include local popular retail outlets such as Caffé Nero
and Starbucks. Caffè Nero has not paid a penny in UK corporation tax for a
decade despite selling around £2billion of lattes and flat whites.
▪ It also includes popular online retailer Amazon whose UK corporation tax bill
almost halved to £4.5m despite tripling its pre-tax profits at its UK business
from £24m in 2016 to £72m in 2017.
▪ A widely supported proposal to tackle corporate tax avoidance is to implement
Country-by-Country reporting. This requires companies to publish information
for every country they operate in rather than only provide a single set of
information at a global level that blankets all their operations
▪ the compliance costs for multinationals to do country-by-country reporting
would be near zero since they collect the data already. And the impact would be
global, since around one in five of the world’s biggest multinationals are in the
UK
▪ The UK government already has power to implement this but has failed to do so
(it passed legislation two years ago)
23
Transform the NHS along market lines
Sarah Newton consistently voted for reforming the NHS so GPs buy
services on behalf of their patients
Votes include:
On 31 Jan 2011: Sarah Newton voted to support proposed NHS reforms

including giving more power to GPs to commission services, strengthening the
Care Quality Commission, and cutting admin costs for example by abolishing
Primary Care Trusts.
On 9 May 2011: Sarah Newton voted against fundamentally changing the

Government's plans for NHS reforms including dropping the proposed market-
based approach.
On 26 Oct 2011: Sarah Newton voted against dropping the Health and Social
Care Bill and against entering cross party talks on reforming NHS
commissioning.
The above votes are a sample votes by Sarah Newton in support of 2012 Health and
Social Care Act which introduced a market-based approach to health service provision.
See a full list of her votes here
Sarah Newton consistently voted against restricting the provision of services to

private patients by the NHS
the continuing squeeze on NHS funding encourages the treatment of private patients
becoming more important, with a potentially significant impact on the availability of
care for NHS patients.
The Health and Social Care Act 2012 was the biggest
re-organisation of the NHS since its creation – one
modelled along market lines.
Recently, the government has just announced a £20 billion increase in funding for the
NHS but promises from any government should be considered in the light of their past
record.
24
It is worth remembering that before the election in 2010 voters were promised that a
Conservative government would not bring about a top-down reorganisation of the NHS,
a promise stated not once but several times. David Cameron even wrote that pledge
into the Coalition Agreement28. So it came as a huge surprise that shortly after he was
elected, he launched the biggest reorganisation of the NHS ever, the NHS Health and
Social Care Act 2012. It brought about a reorganisation so big that the then Chief
Executive of the NHS, David Nicholson famously described them as ‘visible from space’.
This counts as one of the most blatant betrayals of a voting public in recent times and it
raises serious doubts as to whether any promise by this government can be trusted.
Patients4NHS gives a short useful overview of this highly complex piece of legislation
that, was enacted in April 2013. The headline changes were:
• a massive restructuring of the NHS, costing billions of pounds to introduce, and

extra billions to run because of the additional costs of operating the NHS as a
market. Section 75 of the Act turned the NHS from a predominantly internal
market (in which the NHS was the ‘preferred provider’ of services) into a full
market (in which it is not). All contracts for NHS services worth over £156K had to
be put out to competitive tender.
• Abolished the Secretary of State for Health’s legal ‘duty to provide’ a national
health service throughout England and replaced it with a looser duty ‘to promote
a comprehensive health service’.
• Removed day-to-day management from central government and passed it to
NHS England (NHSE), a non-governmental, largely unaccountable body that,
without any mandate from the public.
• Abolished Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) and instead set up Clinical Commissioning
Groups (CCGs), to be overseen by NHS England and given over 60% of the NHS
commissioning budget to take on the highly complex task of commissioning
health care services.
.
NHS funding
1.2% increase per year in NHS funding between 2009/10 until
201729
4.0% per annum – the long-term average increase in health

spending between 1949 to 2009.
28 Cameron’s Betrayal of the NHS. A paper by Open Democracy that comprises a detailed list of broken
promises on the NHS
29 NHS Budget: how it has changed. The Kings Fund
25
4 percent may sound a lot but this is considered the minimum real terms increase
(inflation adjusted) needed to address the health needs of a growing and ageing
population.
“Pressures such as stabilising waiting times, increasing staff pay and addressing population
growth, ageing and chronic conditions are expected to reach as much as £31bn by 2024, far
exceeding the £20.5bn pledged by the Prime Minister in June 2018.”
Source: NHS Confederation30
Pressures on funding have leant impetus to outsourcing services, often

to private companies that take public money but pay no tax themselves.
The outsourcing of health services to private companies has increased rapidly since the
Health and Social Care Act.
In the year ending April 2017 the value of contracts awarded to private companies was
£3.1bn, a jump of £700m from the year before. Richard Branson’s Virgin Care now
dominates the market but it, along with other companies such as Circle holdings, and
United Healthcare are all companies that win NHS contracts but park their profits in tax
havens.
Funding pressures have also forced the sale of NHS land that might otherwise have
been used to build affordable low cost housing. The Sustainability and Transformation
Plans for the NHS are to be largely funded through the sale of NHS land.
These are five-year plans covering all aspects of NHS spending in England31. They build
on the Naylor Review and aim to reduce the number of sites from which they NHS
operates: fewer GP family practices, closure and downgrading of hospitals,
centralisation of services. Forty-four areas have been identified as the geographical
‘footprints’ on which the plans are based, with an average population size of 1.2 million
people (the smallest covers a population of 300,000 and the largest 2.8 million).
STPs represent a shift in the way that the NHS in England plans its services. While the
Health and Social Care Act 2012 sought to strengthen the role of competition within the
health system, NHS organisations are now being told to collaborate rather than
compete to respond to the challenges facing their local services. This new approach is
being called ‘place-based planning’.
30 Revealed: The reality behind the 2019–24 NHS funding settlement. NHS Confederation
31 Sustainability and Transformation Plans explained. The Kings Fund
26
Block measures to prevent climate
change
Sarah Newton generally voted against measures to prevent climate
change
Update: None of the MPs for Cornwall turned up to debate climate
change in Parliament after the school strike32
Some of the key votes about measures to prevent climate change include:
On 9 May 2016: Sarah Newton voted against reducing the permitted

carbon dioxide emission rate of new homes and instead requiring a
review of minimum energy performance requirements.
40% of UK emissions come from households according to the Committee on

Climate Change. See more (This figure includes transport, waste and aviation)
On 14 Mar 2016: Sarah Newton voted against requiring a strategy for

carbon capture and storage for the energy industry
Carbon Capture uses technologies to capture, transport and store carbon

dioxide emissions from large point sources, such as power stations. . See more
On 14 Mar 2016 Sarah Newton voted against setting a decarbonisation

target for the UK within six months of June 2016 and to review it
annually thereafter
On 26 Oct 2015 Sarah Newton voted against charging the first year rate
of vehicle tax, which varies substantially based on carbon dioxide
emissions, for the subsequent two years as well; against a variable rate
of vehicle tax based on carbon dioxide emissions for vehicles registered
on or after 1 April 2017 and to charge additional tax on vehicles costing
over £40,000.
32 MPs debate climate after school strike – but only a handful turn up. Article in Guardian 28-Feb-2019
27
While emissions from industry and domestic use show signs of falling, carbon
emissions from vehicles remains the same over an 11-year period (see chart
below). They are the biggest source of emissions in Cornwall – see Local
Constituency Profile in part 2 of report.
On 5 Nov 2014 Sarah Newton voted against local government having

powers to develop more integrated, frequent, cheaper and greener bus
services with integrated Oyster card-style ticketing
On 17 Oct 2012 Sarah Newton voted against requiring the UK Green

Investment Bank to explicitly act in support of the target of reducing UK
carbon emissions to 20% of 1990 levels by 2050.
We have 12 years to limit climate change catastrophe, warns UN
The naturalist Sir David Attenborough has said climate change is

humanity's greatest threat in thousands of years. See more
In 2018 we have seen forest fires in the Arctic circle; record high temperatures in
parts of Australia, Africa and the US; floods in India and devastating droughts in
South Africa and Argentina.
The world’s leading climate scientists have warned there is only a dozen years
for global warming to be kept to a maximum of 1.5C, beyond which even half a
degree will significantly worsen the risks of drought, floods, extreme heat and
poverty for hundreds of millions of people.
Urgent and unprecedented changes are needed to reach the target, but the
authors of the report stress this is affordable and feasible if we act now. The UK
has already signed up to the Paris agreement pledge to keep temperatures
between 1.5C and 2C. but questions remain as to whether the present
government is genuinely committed to implementing them given the present
voting record of our Conservative MPs.
The UK leads the European Union in giving subsidies to fossil fuels,

according to a report from the European commission. It found €12bn
(£10.5bn) a year in support for fossil fuels in the UK, significantly more
than the €8.3bn spent on renewable energy.
28
Commission report found €12bn (£10.5bn) a year in support for fossil fuels in
the UK, significantly more than the €8.3bn spent on renewable energy33.
Transport emissions
shows no sign of falling
Cornwall Council has declared a 'climate emergency'.

The authority says the declaration "recognises the climate change crisis and the
need for urgent action". It follows a motion debated at a full Council meeting 22
January, where the Council called on Westminster to provide the powers and
resources necessary to achieve the target for Cornwall to become carbon
neutral by 2030 and committed to work with other Councils with similar
ambitions.
Join Extinction Rebellion in Cornwall, the leading local

campaign group pushing for a carbon-free economy>>>
33 EU Commission report, as reported in Guardian article UK has biggest fossil fuel subsidies in the EU,
finds commission 23 Jan 2019
29
Reject electoral reform
Sarah Newton has voted against electoral reform and the proposal to
replace our present First Past The Post System with Proportional
Representation.
“Proportional representation is a voting system in which the share of the seats

that a party wins matches a share of the votes that a party receives”
definition by the campaign group Make Votes Matter
Our present voting system is broken.

It wastes millions of votes and awards disproportionate power to governing parties
based on a minority of votes
Source: Make Votes Matter, Kernow
30

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Voting record of Sarah

Newton MP for Truro and

According to Theyworkforyou.com website, on the vast majority of issues Sarah Newton

1 See Numerology on TheyWorkForYou.com website

2. The way our MP is voted, dates of votes etc is often qualified by

Cut local government funding

Sarah Newton almost always voted for reducing central

Her most recent votes were as follows:

2 Local Government Association press release 1 Oct 2018

For Cornwall, recent figures suggest that an “extra” £17 million

Nationally, 4,000 publicly owned buildings and spaces in England are

They are our libraries, youth

Figures and graph taken from report

The result is that many people are trapped in to taking on unaffordable

The Freedom of Information requests, submitted to every local authority in Great

7 Closer to home project. Centre for Welfare Reform

Sarah Newton consistently voted for Academy schools

Two in three academy chains 'fail' poorer pupils

When it comes to a comparison in performance between local authority run schools

School funding per pupil has been cut

In Cornwall 22% of the population are without a qualification. There are

While academy trusts are set up as not-for-profit organisations there

9 Academies and Maintained schools: what do we know? By FullFact

You can see her complete record here

In particular she voted:

Against largely retaining the EU "Charter of Fundamental Rights" as part of UK

Against publication of a gender equality strategy

Against efforts to address prejudice and discrimination

This government is taking an axe to the Rule of Law

In addition to reducing our human rights, there is now a crisis in our

Join the campaign for a written constitution designed for

Sarah Newton almost always voted for more restrictive regulation of

Sarah Newton consistently voted for greater restrictions on

This is in keeping with Conservative government policy which seeks to restrict

Trade Union membership has been associated with higher pay

Other Key points:

If you are interested in

Consistently voted for a reduction in spending on welfare benefits

Consistently voted for reducing housing benefit for social tenants

Consistently voted against raising welfare benefits at least in line

Almost always voted for making local councils responsible for

Sarah Newton Generally voted against spending public money to

note these figures are ‘uses’ not ‘users’:

17 2018 Vital Signs update by Cornwall Community Foundation

Source: The cumulative impact of tax and welfare reforms by the

Sarah Newton consistently voted for phasing out secure tenancies

Sarah Newton voted against boosting housing supply by reforming

Sarah Newton voted against more regulation of the private rental

Sarah Newton consistently voted against restrictions on fees charged

Fact: during this government’s tenure, the numbers of street homeless

Fact: the number of homeless families and individuals placed in

Fact: local authorities and housing associations in England have built

£400 Billion: the transfer of public wealth into private hands

Sarah Newton voted in favour of proposed changes to the taxation

Sarah Newton consistently voted for raising the threshold at which

Almost always voted for increasing the rate of VAT

Almost always voted against increasing the tax rate applied to

Voted a mixture of for and against higher taxes on banks

Generally voted against a banker’s bonus tax

Consistently voted against an annual tax on the value of expensive

Almost always voted for reducing capital gains tax

VAT, which hits the poorest hardest, is a growing proportion of UK government