I thank the Minister for the courteous way in which he deals with my many and often detailed questions. I hope that they keep him and his office busy, but my intention is to ensure that the House's scrutiny is thorough. He is always courteous in how he handles it, despite being on a sticky wicket, and he defends his position with patience and a degree of calmness that I suspect others would not achieve—I appreciate that, as I am sure the House does. May I also take the opportunity at the beginning of Third Reading to thank the Clerks for their support, because the legislation of this House occurs only with their efficiency and effectiveness? We rarely commend and thank them, but we should do so more often—I just wanted to put that on the record.
The Minister has alluded to the fact that the passage of this Bill has been brief, and that belies the huge sums attached to it. After all, it is not every day that three clauses equate to £16 billion. Conservative Members support raising the upper limits, and we are satisfied that the House will have the appropriate opportunity to scrutinise the process. We also recognise the need to update the law on exports and for government to help British business to remain competitive. We, along with other Members, have raised our concerns in respect of ensuring that ethical and environmental standards are maintained, and I accept the assurances that the Minister has given.
Our concern lies not so much with the legislation or the intentions that it will enact, but with the wide gap between Ministers' rhetoric and the speed and effectiveness of their actions. As with the Chancellor's Budget tomorrow, it will not be the words expressed from the Dispatch Box that will lead this country out of recession; it will be how effective Ministers are in delivering real help. On that, this Government's record has been at best slow, at worst inadequate and all too often incompetent. For the sake of hundreds of firms and thousands of workers, we need change and we need it now.
Industry and Exports (Financial Support) Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Mark Prisk
(Conservative)
in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 21 April 2009.
It occurred during Debate on bills
and
Committee of the Whole House (HC) on Industry and Exports (Financial Support) Bill.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
491 c167 
Session
2008-09
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
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Timestamp
2024-04-21 11:01:11 +0100
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