Contributions
1,396 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Economic Outlook and Furlough Scheme ChangesI thank the hon. Lady for her questions and comments. Of course, the issues that she highlights are of great importance and receive an enormous amount of attention in the…16 Jun 2020HANSARD Economic Outlook and Furlough Scheme ChangesI am very grateful to my right hon. Friend the Chairman of the Treasury Committee both for what he says today and for his report. He will know, and he took considerable evidence…16 Jun 2020HANSARD Economic Outlook and Furlough Scheme ChangesI thank my hon. Friend for his question. I am in awe of his ability, without notes, to recall exactly the same wording of his question when asked to give it a second time. That is…16 Jun 2020HANSARD Economic Outlook and Furlough Scheme ChangesI do not agree with that characterisation of the Government at all. We have done an enormous amount to support the green economy, but I do agree with the right hon. Gentleman that…16 Jun 2020HANSARD Economic Outlook and Furlough Scheme ChangesMy hon. Friend will be aware that the job retention scheme runs until October and the self-employed scheme covers that period as well. This is a source of great concern to us, and…16 Jun 2020HANSARD Economic Outlook and Furlough Scheme ChangesI am very grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his warm remarks in relation to Jo Cox, which will be shared by everyone. The hon. Gentleman will be aware that the aviation sector…16 Jun 2020HANSARD Economic Outlook and Furlough Scheme ChangesThat may well be true, but I would remind my hon. Friend that one scheme, the bounce-back loan scheme, is specifically targeted at small and medium-sized enterprises, and indeed…16 Jun 2020HANSARD Economic Outlook and Furlough Scheme ChangesMy hon. Friend will know that we have put significant support in place already. I share—as the Government do, and as I suspect the entire Chamber does—her desire for us to emerge…16 Jun 2020HANSARD Economic Outlook and Furlough Scheme ChangesActually, we have not said that. We remain interested in positive, detailed suggestions for improvement of the scheme. We have received some that do not appear workable. I will…16 Jun 2020HANSARD Economic Outlook and Furlough Scheme ChangesI can of course give my hon. Friend that assurance. I suspect that there is not a Member of this House who, if they look down the lists, will not see the positive benefits of the…16 Jun 2020HANSARD Economic Outlook and Furlough Scheme ChangesI am surprised that the hon. Lady should say that. As I recall, she and I have had two telephone conversations with colleagues in which we have discussed in detail the strengths…16 Jun 2020HANSARD Economic Outlook and Furlough Scheme ChangesMy right hon. Friend is right. I defer to no one in my admiration for Scotland as a country and for its history and people. It is true that in this crisis, as in the crisis of…16 Jun 2020HANSARD Economic Outlook and Furlough Scheme ChangesI do not think that the Scots are concluding that at all. Any rational person looking at the position would understand that Scotland had been immensely strengthened by its…16 Jun 2020HANSARD Economic Outlook and Furlough Scheme ChangesMy hon. Friend is of course absolutely right. The whole point of the strategy that we have adopted is to cushion the immediate shock, protect the vulnerable, and then move as…16 Jun 2020HANSARD Economic Outlook and Furlough Scheme ChangesOf course I agree with my hon. Friend on that. One of the great sadnesses of this has been the extent to which it is often the smallest and most local businesses—the most…16 Jun 2020HANSARD Economic Outlook and Furlough Scheme ChangesWhat I have said is simply that international and national bodies recognise the comprehensiveness and the relative generosity of our schemes— [Interruption . ] They have done…16 Jun 2020HANSARD Economic Outlook and Furlough Scheme ChangesAs my hon. Friend points out, we are working very hard to protect people in employment. That is what the latest numbers recognise, with the employment number as opposed to the…16 Jun 2020HANSARD Economic Outlook and Furlough Scheme ChangesI fully recognise the strategic importance of Bombardier in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency and, indeed, in Northern Ireland. I have visited it myself, and that is well…16 Jun 2020HANSARD Economic Outlook and Furlough Scheme ChangesI massively welcome the right hon. Lady’s support for and chairmanship of the Stratford East. It is a phenomenal theatre, as anyone will know who has acted in Joan Littlewood’s…16 Jun 2020HANSARD Economic Outlook and Furlough Scheme ChangesMy hon. Friend is absolutely right. One of the really heartening things about the early phases of the crisis was precisely the response from distilleries in producing hand…16 Jun 2020