Businesses and the Regions

I can assure the House that the Chancellor and the Secretary of State are pressing ahead with this as quickly as possible in their discussions with the banks. Last night, in the Mais lecture, the Chancellor set out further steps in our approach to the situation, particularly with regard to public spending. He said:"““When private activity slows, it is even more important to maintain wider public spending. This is why it is right to bring forward planned spending commitments—as with our housing package in September...We must also make sure we maintain public investment—in infrastructure, education and health””." He also stressed that the Government will take the decisions necessary to ensure stability in the medium term to return borrowing and debt to a sustainable level. These statements matter for businesses in our regions because many businesses depend on the Government as a customer. Those businesses supply the goods and labour that are necessary for the building of schools, roads, and so on. They include companies such as Hill and Smith in my constituency, which I visited on Friday. It makes crash barriers for our roads, and the Highways Agency is one of its main customers. Such companies are very interested in the level of public spending that is to take place.