Contributions
1,280 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDBusiness and the EconomyI am enormously glad, and we should be balanced, that we have found something that goes the other way. I am not sure if one can subsist entirely on a seed potato—it may have been…21 May 2025HANSARDBusiness and the EconomyYes, I am enormously worried. We have to understand and make the connection that it is only the private sector that truly creates sustainable jobs. We need people to work in our…21 May 2025HANSARDBusiness and the EconomyI hesitate to stray into the matter of fishing, which I suspect we will debate many times in the future, but I note that those on the other Government Benches next to us tabled an…21 May 2025HANSARDBusiness and the EconomyNo one would believe, Madam Deputy Speaker, that you would implement such terrible measures without a proper impact assessment. More significant, however, is the fact that we have…21 May 2025HANSARDBusiness and the EconomyMy hon. Friend is exactly right. If Labour Members were honest enough to do so, they would admit that the Bill is a rushed piece of legislation. It was introduced because of an…21 May 2025HANSARDBusiness and the EconomyMy hon. Friend, who is himself a very distinguished and successful businessman, knows exactly the importance of that intangible quality of confidence that the Government have your…21 May 2025HANSARDBusiness and the EconomyOne has to celebrate small mercies, and I am delighted by the hon. Gentleman’s conversion to the cause of free trade. Free trade is what has lifted billions of people in the world…21 May 2025HANSARDBusiness and the EconomyI am afraid that to make those points is to misconstrue wilfully what is actually in the Bill. We have a very settled and balanced position of employment rights that dates back to…21 May 2025HANSARDBusiness and the EconomyI will give way.21 May 2025HANSARDBusiness and the EconomyHow tragic is it that from Gosport to Gloucester and everywhere between, businesses on our high streets are closing? This Government do not understand that. If they do understand,…21 May 2025HANSARDBusiness and the EconomyMy hon. Friend makes an incredibly important point. I believe that all of us come to this House to try to do our best and to grow the economy, but any Government faced with that…21 May 2025HANSARDBusiness and the EconomyMy hon. Friend makes exactly the right point about that triple whammy, and about the cumulative effect of changes and the consequences—potentially unintended—that manifest…21 May 2025HANSARDBusiness and the EconomyOur business community is ravaged; my hon. Friend is exactly right. We are plummeting to depths last reached only when the entire global economy was shut down due to an unknown…21 May 2025HANSARDBusiness and the EconomyOne is tempted to say that we should try to remove this wretched Government as quickly as possible. That, of course, is part of the answer. We need a Government who listen to the…21 May 2025HANSARDBusiness and the EconomyI thank my right hon. Friend and predecessor in the role of City Minister. This is an important point: where we can, we will support the Government in continuing the work, which…21 May 2025HANSARDBusiness and the EconomyI didn’t say that.21 May 2025HANSARDBusiness and the EconomyMost of us would put higher energy costs into the liability rather than the asset column of our economy. We are debating business, unemployment and the economy, and I hope the…21 May 2025HANSARDBusiness and the EconomyThe hon. Member is exactly right. When I describe my constituency as “South Downs”, people occasionally assume that it is in Northern Ireland, but all of our young people deserve…21 May 2025HANSARDBusiness and the EconomyI beg to move, That this House regrets that unemployment is rising and causing misery for young people in particular, that this Government has displayed a negligible understanding…21 May 2025HANSARDBusiness and the EconomyMy right hon. Friend is exactly right. He will correct me if I am wrong, but as I understand it, one millionaire is leaving our wonderful country every 45 minutes. That is to say…21 May 2025