UK Parliament / Open data

Treasury and Work and Pensions

Queen's speech debate on Monday, 27 November 2006, in the House of Commons, led by George Osborne. The answering member was Gordon Brown.
Queen's speech debate on the economy (sixth day). First amendment in the name of the Leader of the Opposition negatived on division (229 to 294). Second amendment in the name of Sir Menzies Campbell negatived on division (59 to 298). Main question agreed on division (295 to 221).
Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
453 c834-941 
Session
2006-07
Department
Department for Work and Pensions
Treasury
Procedure
Addresses to the Crown
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Related items
Message from the Queen
Wednesday, 6 December 2006
Parliamentary proceedings
House of Commons
Proceeding contributions
Speaker | 453 c855 (Link to this contribution) I remind the House that there is a 15-minute limit on Back-Bench speeches and that applies from now....
Lord Cormack | 453 c926 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Was it not for very many years a convention of this House that the...

Show all contributions (238)
Speaker | 453 c924 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Gentleman should be quiet.
Lord Hutton of Furness | 453 c927 (Link to this contribution) No; I have dealt with that many times before. Look, this is a serious debate—we are here to discuss ...
Speaker | 453 c926 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has a point. As he knows, I have sent letters in the past to every hon. Member te...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 453 c926-7 (Link to this contribution) Let me begin by congratulating all right hon. and hon. Members who have spoken from the Back Benches...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 453 c927 (Link to this contribution) I hope that the right hon. Gentleman feels better for that, but he obviously heard a very different ...
John Redwood | 453 c927 (Link to this contribution) How on earth can the Minister say that my hon. Friend lacks substance when he gave a very good speec...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 453 c928 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not. [Hon. Members: ““Give way!””] I shall give way to the shadow Chancellor if he wants ...
Michael Gove | 453 c928 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way?
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 453 c928 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Secretary of State for giving way. Since he said a few moments ago that there h...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 453 c928 (Link to this contribution) That is not right—the hon. Gentleman needs to look at the after-housing-costs figures, which are the...
Michael Gove | 453 c928 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way?
Lord Hutton of Furness | 453 c928 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not. We have the best combination of unemployment and inflation in the G7, instead of on...
Michael Gove | 453 c928 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way?
Lord Hutton of Furness | 453 c929 (Link to this contribution) No. The Queen’s Speech carries forward, too, the central purpose of Labour in government, keeping o...
Michael Gove | 453 c892 (Link to this contribution) I am inordinately grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way. I am a great admirer of him and of ...
Lord Austin of Dudley | 453 c892 (Link to this contribution) I shall be brief in my response. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for all the work that he and other ...
Mike Weir | 453 c893-4 (Link to this contribution) I had intended to concentrate on the work and pensions aspects of the Queen’s Speech but, before doi...
Lord Austin of Dudley | 453 c892-3 (Link to this contribution) It is partly a result of rising incomes across society as a whole, over which the Government have pr...
Mike Weir | 453 c894-6 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree. I was not making the case that there should be no tax incentives, but the debate m...
Brooks Newmark | 453 c894 (Link to this contribution) I notice that the hon. Member for Blaydon (Mr. Anderson) is here and I know how passionately he feel...
Jim McGovern | 453 c896 (Link to this contribution) I am intrigued about how, if the hon. Gentleman’s party succeeds in taking Scotland out of the UK, t...
Mike Weir | 453 c897 (Link to this contribution) That is not what happened in practice in the many cases that I have been involved in. The other maj...
David Hamilton | 453 c896-7 (Link to this contribution) May I refer the hon. Member for Angus (Mr. Weir) to an extremely good report produced in the previou...
Sally Keeble | 453 c898 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to be able to speak in this part of the debate on the Queen’s Speech. I was interested...
Mike Weir | 453 c897-8 (Link to this contribution) I have taken a lot of interventions. A citizen’s pension would ensure that all our pensioners are l...
Jim Devine | 453 c897 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mike Weir | 453 c897 (Link to this contribution) No. In our policy paper ““A Secure Retirement for All””, we set out our proposals and the reasons we...
Sally Keeble | 453 c899-900 (Link to this contribution) Let me give a specific example. The hon. Member for Wellingborough (Mr. Bone)—I was about to call hi...
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 453 c899 (Link to this contribution) Can the hon. Lady remind the House when the unprecedented period of economic growth that the Chancel...
Sally Keeble | 453 c898-9 (Link to this contribution) Yes, but the difficulties that women faced before the CSA was set up often went unrecognised, while ...
Mike Weir | 453 c898 (Link to this contribution) I am not suggesting that. I am merely concerned that when we change the system, we do so for the bet...
Brooks Newmark | 453 c900 (Link to this contribution) Before the Chancellor became the Chancellor, he made a big to-do about ending means-testing. As soon...
Jim Devine | 453 c897 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Speaker | 453 c901 (Link to this contribution) Order. We are getting continuous sedentary comments from those on the Front Benches, which simply di...
Sally Keeble | 453 c901 (Link to this contribution) Some people do not take the process up. I agree that that is an issue, just as it is an issue with t...
Lord Austin of Dudley | 453 c901 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for giving way. I agree with her that there is an issue if people are not cla...
Sally Keeble | 453 c901 (Link to this contribution) The pension credit puts the money where it is most needed and, in particular, meets the problem of w...
Sally Keeble | 453 c901 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to the hon. Gentleman in a minute. Before I started campaigning with pensioners on...
Brooks Newmark | 453 c901 (Link to this contribution) Notwithstanding what the hon. Lady says, the fact of the matter is that up to 5 million pensioners a...
Sally Keeble | 453 c901 (Link to this contribution) I want to have a go at the hon. Member for Braintree (Mr. Newmark) again, and then I will give way t...
Sally Keeble | 453 c900-1 (Link to this contribution) The Conservative party was very cruel to pensioners in running that nonsense about means-testing. Th...
Sammy Wilson | 453 c904 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely not. I was about to say that I support the comments of the right hon. Member for Wokingha...
Jim Devine | 453 c904 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is a staunch supporter of the Union, but he seems to be arguing for Northern Irel...
Sammy Wilson | 453 c903-4 (Link to this contribution) As my hon. Friend suggests, that progress has accelerated since the DUP became the largest party in ...
Peter Robinson | 453 c903 (Link to this contribution) Since the DUP became the largest party.
Sammy Wilson | 453 c903 (Link to this contribution) I have enjoyed this debate, from the thoughtful, measured contributions of the Back Benchers to the ...
Sally Keeble | 453 c902-3 (Link to this contribution) The old means test was an unpleasant and undignified process, but the means of claiming benefits tha...
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 453 c902 (Link to this contribution) I want to be clear that I understand what the hon. Lady is saying. The Chancellor said in 1994:"““I ...
Sally Keeble | 453 c902 (Link to this contribution) I give way to the hon. Gentleman, but after that I want to get on with what I want to say.
Sally Keeble | 453 c901 (Link to this contribution) Yes, my hon. Friend is right and the Government were right to target the money where it was needed, ...
Peter Robinson | 453 c905 (Link to this contribution) With regard to Northern Ireland having a differential corporation tax headline rate, two key factors...
Sammy Wilson | 453 c905 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that point. We share a land boundary with the Republic, so the tax differ...
Sammy Wilson | 453 c905 (Link to this contribution) I think that the hon. Gentleman mentioned the Laffer curve earlier, about which I used to speak to m...
Jim Devine | 453 c905 (Link to this contribution) You would want to point out that when people visit your GP practices and doctors in Northern Ireland...
Speaker | 453 c905 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Gentleman must use the correct parliamentary terms when addressing hon. Members.
Sammy Wilson | 453 c904 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his point, but as has been accepted in today’s debate, the economy of...
Kelvin Hopkins | 453 c904 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman suggests powerfully that a low-tax economy is a successful economy, and that the ...
Sammy Wilson | 453 c905 (Link to this contribution) Of course, those massive transfers were intended for the development of Ireland’s infrastructure, su...
Kelvin Hopkins | 453 c905 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman accept that one of the reasons for such strong growth in the Irish economy i...
Jim McGovern | 453 c909 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend speaks eloquently and forcefully about his part of the country, and I wish to make a ...
Speaker | 453 c909 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Gentleman has given his hon. Friend enough to agree with him about for the time bein...
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 453 c909 (Link to this contribution) Listening to the hon. Gentleman’s rant, one would think that the incoming Conservative Government of...
David Anderson | 453 c909 (Link to this contribution) I accept that it became quite clear that social deprivation was not a price worth paying. The measur...
David Anderson | 453 c909-11 (Link to this contribution) I was going to say that I could not agree more, but I could have agreed more if my hon. Friend had b...
Jim Devine | 453 c905 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the hon. Gentleman is aware that although his constituents do not pay tax when they v...
David Anderson | 453 c908 (Link to this contribution) It is absolutely a contradiction in terms, and the people who lived through the times I am talking a...
Jim Devine | 453 c908 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that caring, compassionate Conservatism is a contradiction in terms?
David Anderson | 453 c907-8 (Link to this contribution) I apologise for my absence earlier. I had to attend an all-party parliamentary group meeting. The h...
Sammy Wilson | 453 c905-7 (Link to this contribution) Although, as I have said, the current administration has many advantages, unfortunately waiting list...
Philip Dunne | 453 c912 (Link to this contribution) Again, I am grateful for the opportunity to highlight the fact that public debt is nudging the level...
Brooks Newmark | 453 c912 (Link to this contribution) In fact, through clever devices, the Chancellor has been using off-balance sheet financing, which ha...
Philip Dunne | 453 c912-3 (Link to this contribution) As I have just said, off-balance sheet debt is of great concern and I thank my hon. Friend for highl...
Kelvin Hopkins | 453 c912 (Link to this contribution) I have recently been looking at the Government’s debt compared with that in the past and of other co...
Philip Dunne | 453 c912 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving me the opportunity to highlight the fact—I was not go...
Philip Dunne | 453 c911 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to contribute to the debate and to follow the hon. Member for Blaydon (Mr. An...
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 453 c924 (Link to this contribution) At the same time, the number of people living in deep poverty, below 40 per cent. of median earnings...
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 453 c922-4 (Link to this contribution) We come to the end of the final day of debate on what will be the Prime Minister’s final legislative...
Brooks Newmark | 453 c920-2 (Link to this contribution) After seven hours of patience, I am pleased to be able to participate in the final day of the Queen’...
Peter Bone | 453 c918-20 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that I will not give way, because other hon. Members wish to take part in the debate. T...
Peter Bone | 453 c917 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention. In fact, I was coming to that point. Th...
Philip Hollobone | 453 c917 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my hon. Friend on his remarks, which are, as usual, spot on. Does he agree that the s...
Peter Bone | 453 c916-7 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Ludlow (Mr. Dunne), who, as usual, ma...
Philip Dunne | 453 c913-6 (Link to this contribution) I have been very generous in giving way to the hon. Gentleman, but I must make progress. There are ...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 453 c929 (Link to this contribution) No. Things are different now. The new deal has helped more than 1.7 million people into work. Today...
Michael Gove | 453 c929-30 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Secretary of State for at last giving way. He will be aware that the former Hea...
Michael Gove | 453 c929;453 c928 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way?
Lord Hutton of Furness | 453 c930 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman needs to keep himself up to date. My right hon. Friend the Member for Darlington ...
Vincent Cable | 453 c850-1 (Link to this contribution) I first wish to focus on the second paragraph of the Queen’s Speech, which is about economic stabili...
John Redwood | 453 c851 (Link to this contribution) Why do the hon. Gentleman and his party still think that joining the euro would be good for our stab...
Vincent Cable | 453 c851-3 (Link to this contribution) Most of us in the House, whatever our party, would agree that it would be foolish to rule out the op...
Ian Davidson | 453 c853 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has raised several points about spending without telling us where the Liberals st...
Mike Weir | 453 c853 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman mentioned an all-party agreement on the Olympics. He was not quite correct, becau...
Vincent Cable | 453 c853 (Link to this contribution) I am not familiar with the details of the argument about the contract for aircraft carriers, but we ...
Vincent Cable | 453 c854-5 (Link to this contribution) Some of us expressed scepticism about the costs from the very beginning, but we wished to be constru...
John Redwood | 453 c856 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that taking £5 billion a year out of pension funds’ income, causing a ...
Tony Wright | 453 c856 (Link to this contribution) Listening to the exchanges earlier, I could not help wondering what my constituents would make of th...
Speaker | 453 c848 (Link to this contribution) Fortunately, I am not responsible for notes passed around the Chamber.
Gordon Brown | 453 c849 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, but we got the new deal moving—[Interruption.]
Gordon Brown | 453 c849 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is absolutely wrong, as we came into power in May—[Interruption.]
Peter Bone | 453 c849 (Link to this contribution) I apologise to the Chancellor for not having the figures earlier, but unemployment in Wellingborough...
Gordon Brown | 453 c849 (Link to this contribution) I am prepared to give way. I hope that these are the figures for 1997.
Speaker | 453 c850 (Link to this contribution) Order. We must continue with the debate.
Gordon Brown | 453 c849-50 (Link to this contribution) The figure is 1,856, reduced to 1,500. The hon. Member for Wellingborough must know that, in the fir...
Speaker | 453 c849 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am sure that the House would wish the Chancellor to be able to clarify the point.
Brooks Newmark | 453 c861 (Link to this contribution) It might help the Economic Secretary to know that there is something called the Laffer curve, and th...
John Redwood | 453 c861-2 (Link to this contribution) The increase in taxation in Ireland has been phenomenal, and the super-fast growth of the Irish econ...
Stewart Hosie | 453 c862 (Link to this contribution) Public sector size is an issue, which the right hon. Gentleman should take on board. It is useful to...
John Redwood | 453 c862 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted if the Government now think that Northern Ireland should have that lower corporation ...
Ed Balls | 453 c861 (Link to this contribution) Let us be clear. The right hon. Gentleman is going to produce a report next summer in which he will ...
John Redwood | 453 c861 (Link to this contribution) That is one possible conclusion, but I will produce a grown-up report, which shows where we will get...
John Redwood | 453 c862 (Link to this contribution) That is a possibility, although the Minister must understand that I study such matters carefully bef...
Ed Balls | 453 c862 (Link to this contribution) Is the right hon. Gentleman saying that he will propose a reduced corporation tax for the whole Unit...
John Redwood | 453 c862-6 (Link to this contribution) It is obvious that a more lightly taxed and better-regulated area—which I think southern Ireland now...
Philip Dunne | 453 c862 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps my right hon. Friend agrees with me that the Financial Secretary needs to listen more to his...
Julia Goldsworthy | 453 c857 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman share my concern that many people lost a year’s-worth of savings? Given that...
Tony Wright | 453 c857-9 (Link to this contribution) One of the features of this episode is that we are dealing with people who have tried to do everythi...
Philip Dunne | 453 c856 (Link to this contribution) Which would the hon. Gentleman regard as the more overtly political: making a statement, as did the ...
Tony Wright | 453 c856-7 (Link to this contribution) People want to know how this could happen and what we are going to do about it. I have a letter fro...
Tony Wright | 453 c856 (Link to this contribution) Here again we see the instinctive temptation to make some instant political point that might help th...
Ed Balls | 453 c860 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman should not downplay the importance of his role. Will he inform the House of...
John Redwood | 453 c860 (Link to this contribution) The sad truth of life, which the public understand but the hon. Gentleman does not, is that we have ...
Michael Connarty | 453 c860 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman may come on to the fact that a number of shadow Ministers have made spendin...
John Redwood | 453 c859-60 (Link to this contribution) I am a company director and a pension trustee, and I have declared my interests in the register. Th...
Gordon Brown | 453 c846 (Link to this contribution) I tried to do my research before the debate and the figures that I have say that unemployment has fa...
Gordon Brown | 453 c848 (Link to this contribution) I am not giving way. I have also looked at the first report of the Conservative public services pol...
Gordon Brown | 453 c848 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the hon. Gentleman in a few moments.
Peter Atkinson | 453 c848 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. It may help the Chancellor to know that the figures have ar...
Gordon Brown | 453 c847;453 c846 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to give way if the hon. Gentleman wants to give me the right figures.
Peter Bone | 453 c847 (Link to this contribution) It is simple; the figures are the Government’s. At the end of October, more people were unemployed i...
Gordon Brown | 453 c847-8 (Link to this contribution) It is interesting that I can give the hon. Gentleman figures for his constituency but he cannot give...
Lord Vaizey of Didcot | 453 c844 (Link to this contribution) Given the Chancellor’s interest in the views of Back Benchers, will he confirm whether he supports t...
Peter Bone | 453 c846 (Link to this contribution) Can the Chancellor explain why there are more unemployed people in my constituency now than in Octob...
Gordon Brown | 453 c845-6 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way. We take seriously the security needs of Britain and the issue of how to meet th...
Gordon Brown | 453 c844-5;453 c844-6 (Link to this contribution) I must make progress. The one group of people who do not seem to have a policy on which they are pre...
David Gauke | 453 c844 (Link to this contribution) If the Chancellor does not agree with the right hon. Member for Darlington (Mr. Milburn) or the righ...
Gordon Brown | 453 c844 (Link to this contribution) The pensions Bill, which I thought had all-party support, will guarantee a rise in line with earning...
Gordon Brown | 453 c844 (Link to this contribution) The answer is no, and I have made that absolutely clear. The hon. Gentleman might explain to me why ...
Gordon Brown | 453 c844 (Link to this contribution) Well, I will give way once more and then I will have to make some progress, because I wish to expose...
Charles Kennedy | 453 c880-1 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is quite right. That is one of the first things that we have run into in developi...
Helen Goodman | 453 c881-3 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful for this opportunity to contribute to the Queen’s Speech debate. May I say what a...
Jon Cruddas | 453 c877 (Link to this contribution) I am not arguing against migration; I am trying to stimulate debate about the role of the state in h...
Jeremy Browne | 453 c877 (Link to this contribution) I appreciate that the hon. Gentleman’s constituency has a different social make-up from mine, but in...
Jon Cruddas | 453 c874-6 (Link to this contribution) By contrast with the hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), in this Queen’s Speech debate I wa...
Michael Gove | 453 c871-4 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate the hon. Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Michael Connarty) on the thoughtful ...
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 453 c880 (Link to this contribution) The Liberal Democrats have suggested placing responsibility for the collection of child maintenance ...
Charles Kennedy | 453 c878-80 (Link to this contribution) Certainly not; I am very happy where I am. Leaving aside the small issue of the colossal cost of Ir...
Charles Kennedy | 453 c877-8 (Link to this contribution) It is a genuine pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Dagenham (Jon Cruddas). From earlier exchange...
Pete Wishart | 453 c870 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the Government must show the same level of generosity and big-hea...
Michael Connarty | 453 c870-1 (Link to this contribution) I totally disagree. The money lost is not the responsibility of the Government. There are some quest...
Speaker | 453 c871 (Link to this contribution) Order. I showed some latitude to the hon. Gentleman because, although the terms of the amendment are...
Michael Connarty | 453 c866 (Link to this contribution) It was a pleasure to listen to the grown-up speech of the right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwo...
Michael Connarty | 453 c867-8 (Link to this contribution) I have to disagree with my hon. Friend—I shall call him my hon. Friend because I know that his motiv...
Stewart Hosie | 453 c867 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman mentions the investment in that bioplant, which is to be greatly welcomed, but ob...
Charles Walker | 453 c868 (Link to this contribution) Is it really the role of the Government to tell people how long they may work?
Michael Connarty | 453 c870 (Link to this contribution) That is a very perceptive intervention. In a tit-for-tat response, Australia has now withdrawn its s...
Helen Goodman | 453 c869 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that when people live abroad they are no longer a burden on our health ser...
Speaker | 453 c892 (Link to this contribution) Order. We are getting into too much detail on the Farepak matter. However important it is, it is, wi...
Jim Devine | 453 c891 (Link to this contribution) I am not. I do not know whether my hon. Friend saw that ITN today showed correspondence from Farepa...
Lord Austin of Dudley | 453 c891 (Link to this contribution) In a few moments. The Queen’s Speech and the response of the hon. Member for Tatton (Mr. Osborne) h...
Michael Gove | 453 c891 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Austin of Dudley | 453 c891 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend gives an eloquent description of the poverty that his constituents and those in the r...
Jim Devine | 453 c891 (Link to this contribution) When the Conservative party was in power in my constituency I worked in a primary care psychiatric u...
Lord Austin of Dudley | 453 c890 (Link to this contribution) Of course it is important to work against the causes of poverty and to invest in skills and educatio...
David Gauke | 453 c886-8 (Link to this contribution) First, I think that the hon. Gentleman is referring to the Companies Act 1985. I am referring to Fin...
Kelvin Hopkins | 453 c884 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making a very fine speech; I agree with what she says. Does she accept that massiv...
Helen Goodman | 453 c883-4 (Link to this contribution) The debate about annual targets has been fully aired and the argument against them is that there wou...
David Gauke | 453 c884-5 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to have an opportunity to speak in today’s debate. In particular, I would lik...
Helen Goodman | 453 c884 (Link to this contribution) What my hon. Friend says makes complete sense. We need to reinvest in public transport, which is why...
Brooks Newmark | 453 c883 (Link to this contribution) I support the hon. Lady’s point that there should be target, but does she not believe that there sho...
George Osborne | 453 c839 (Link to this contribution) Ah! Here is one of the plotters. Of course I give way to him.
Kitty Ussher | 453 c838 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman confirm that, under Conservative policies, educational investment would come...
George Osborne | 453 c837-8 (Link to this contribution) I will make some progress. On education spending, let us listen to the Select Committee on Educatio...
George Osborne | 453 c838-9 (Link to this contribution) We have made it absolutely clear that we will properly fund public services, and that economic stabi...
George Osborne | 453 c837 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the hon. Gentleman in a moment. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and D...
George Osborne | 453 c837 (Link to this contribution) I am quoting the words of Dr. Malone, from the Royal College of Nursing, who says:"““Twelve months a...
Jim Devine | 453 c837 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman saying that there are 20,000 redundancies in the health service?
George Osborne | 453 c837 (Link to this contribution) I note the hon. Gentleman’s comment from a sedentary position. Those are figures from the Royal Coll...
George Osborne | 453 c837 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will confirm that unemployment is now rising in Cheshire, as in th...
Andrew Miller | 453 c837 (Link to this contribution) It is Cheshire that I want to ask the hon. Gentleman about. Is he aware that in 1997, when the Conse...
George Osborne | 453 c837 (Link to this contribution) I give way to my colleague from Cheshire.
George Osborne | 453 c836 (Link to this contribution) I am glad that the hon. Gentleman has confirmed that productivity growth has been disappointing. I w...
David Leslie Taylor | 453 c836 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way. Does he not agree that productivity growth can b...
George Osborne | 453 c834-6 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, as an amendment to the Address, at the end of the Question to add:"‘but humbly regret...
Speaker | 453 c834 (Link to this contribution) I wish to inform the House that I have selected for debate the amendment in the name of the Leader o...
Julian Brazier | 453 c843 (Link to this contribution) The Chancellor mentioned savings products, but can he tell the House why the savings ratio has halve...
Gordon Brown | 453 c843 (Link to this contribution) The savings ratio in the US is negative, but the economy continues to grow—[Interruption.] The hon. ...
Gordon Brown | 453 c843 (Link to this contribution) This is a very important point, because it is about the future of the Conservative party. Did the ri...
Gordon Brown | 453 c843 (Link to this contribution) Well, this is very interesting. Which part of the Conservative party shall I give way to? We have th...
Gordon Brown | 453 c843 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to give way if the right hon. Gentleman wants to clarify that point.
John Redwood | 453 c843 (Link to this contribution) The Chancellor is living in a fictitious world—he should wait to see the proper report. Of course, i...
Gordon Brown | 453 c842-3 (Link to this contribution) I would not give much for the right hon. Gentleman’s advice. At a presentation that he gave only a f...
Gordon Brown | 453 c843 (Link to this contribution) Should I take the Cornerstone group, the No Turning Back group or perhaps the hon. Member for Wantag...
Speaker | 453 c844 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am having some difficulty in hearing the Chancellor and the debate. Perhaps the House could...
Speaker | 453 c841 (Link to this contribution) Mr. Robertson, you have been delivering a speech for the past half hour. You must be quiet.
George Osborne | 453 c841 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Glasgow, North-West (John Robertson) must be careful: he should not misbehave, a...
Gordon Brown | 453 c841 (Link to this contribution) Is it not remarkable that in the Queen’s Speech debate on the economy, when we are supposed to be re...
Gordon Brown | 453 c841 (Link to this contribution) The interest rate is 5 per cent. The hon. Gentleman might wish to stand up and tell us what were the...
Mark Pritchard | 453 c841-2 (Link to this contribution) Is it not time that this Chancellor took some responsibility for our failing economy? [Interruption....
Gordon Brown | 453 c842 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman talks about Britain’s failing economy. During the past year, the shadow Chancello...
Michael Fallon | 453 c842 (Link to this contribution) If it is all going so swimmingly well, why is it reported this morning that one in five British comp...
Gordon Brown | 453 c842 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is reading from a survey of 89 companies. Let me tell Conservative Members what h...
John Redwood | 453 c842 (Link to this contribution) That was true, but it is no longer. Does the Chancellor accept that Ireland is now growing three tim...
Chris Bryant | 453 c839 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. He has made great play—as the Tory party is currently doing—of ...
George Osborne | 453 c839 (Link to this contribution) Despite pressure from some of my colleagues, I am not pledging to abolish inheritance tax. Let us c...
Lord McFall of Alcluith | 453 c839 (Link to this contribution) I have been following the shadow Chancellor’s statements closely. He said that he would not abolish ...
George Osborne | 453 c839 (Link to this contribution) I will certainly give way to the Chairman of the Treasury Committee. Has he read this book?
George Osborne | 453 c840-1 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman talks about being patronising! Because of the way that they have been desi...
George Osborne | 453 c840 (Link to this contribution) I cannot remember whether the right hon. Gentleman has published his diaries, but of course I give w...
Lord Hutton of Furness | 453 c928 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not give way. The Conservative party voted against the new deal, against tax credits and...
John Redwood | 453 c861 (Link to this contribution) That is a sensible question, and if the hon. Gentleman had been present for previous debates, he wou...
Michael Connarty | 453 c868-9 (Link to this contribution) It is the role of the Government to protect people from exploitation and to look after their health....
Andrew Selous | 453 c890 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that to fully tackle poverty it is necessary to work seriously against...
Lord Austin of Dudley | 453 c888-90 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to speak in the debate and a particular pleasure to follow the speech made by...
Mike Weir | 453 c896 (Link to this contribution) I am dreadfully sorry that the hon. Gentleman, a Scottish MP, does not understand that there is alre...
Brooks Newmark | 453 c905 (Link to this contribution) The reason why a more competitive tax base has worked in the Republic of Ireland is that lowering ta...
Kelvin Hopkins | 453 c911 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman claims credit for growth between 1992 and 1997. That is fair enough, but the Cons...
Jim Devine | 453 c886 (Link to this contribution) As a result of Farepak’s collapse, hundreds of thousands of hard-working families have, in effect, s...
Denis MacShane | 453 c840 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will have his due place in them when they appear. Yes, there were...
George Osborne | 453 c839-40 (Link to this contribution) I am not going to write my Budget for 2009 in 2006, but I can tell the right hon. Gentleman that, un...
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 453 c924-6 (Link to this contribution) The number of people living in deep poverty, below 40 per cent. of median earnings, has shot up by 4...
Nadine Dorries | 453 c927 (Link to this contribution) Today’s debate has been about probity and integrity, and honesty is very important in this Chamber. ...
Kelvin Hopkins | 453 c912 (Link to this contribution) I did not support it. I was not a Member of Parliament at the time, but I would have opposed it root...
Subjects
Children
Climate change
Economic situation
Poverty
Pensions
Public sector
Public expenditure
Statistics
Welfare tax credits
Taxation
Skilled workers
Unemployment
Productivity
World economy
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