National Infrastructure Plan

Debate between Lord Darling of Roulanish and Danny Alexander

Wednesday 4th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

On HS2, I would say that far from cutting corners we are making every effort to ensure that the programme is delivered as quickly as possible. That is what I think the country needs. I welcome the right hon. Lady’s comments on Wylfa nuclear power station and I was pleased to sign the agreement with Hitachi and Horizon this morning. On onshore wind, I feel that I might have to disappoint the right hon. Lady. We have reduced the prices we will pay in recognition that the costs are coming down, which will make that market more competitive. It should not necessarily be seen as a reduction in the delivery of onshore wind at all.

[Mr Alistair Darling (Edinburgh South West) (Lab)]

I am sure that I was not the only Member of the House who had a sense of déjà vu when listening to what the Chief Secretary had to say. Indeed, I seem to remember announcing a number of those projects myself 10 years ago. Perhaps that demonstrates the problem we face, because successive Governments have found it very difficult to deliver on those large-scale projects, whether for housing, transport or energy, which we desperately need. I know that central Government planning went out of fashion about 40 or 50 years ago, but is there not a case for seeing whether central Government could take a grip of those projects and match them up with the funds, including insurance funds, which is a good thing, to ensure that they actually happen? They are too important to the country to be left to chance. I am sure that he does not want to join the long list of Ministers who have announced these projects, only to find a few years later that they are filled with disappointment because they simply are not there.

[Danny Alexander]

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his comments—as usual, he makes a much more cogent and compelling argument on these matters than his Front Benchers. In all seriousness, the document, “The National Infrastructure Plan 2013”, is intended to do precisely that—to set out a clear pipeline. The changes we are making—I pay tribute to my noble friend Lord Deighton, who has joined the Government as the Minister with responsibility for infrastructure—are intended to ensure that Departments are better equipped with the commercial capability to deliver projects, to ensure that central Government are better able to track in real time what is happening with the projects, and to ensure that we have the mechanisms to deal with problems and blockages that central Government might put in the way. For example, I chair the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure, which exists precisely to crack some of those policy problems and ensure that I do not suffer the disappointment that the right hon. Gentleman is so clearly filled with.

Comprehensive Spending Review

Debate between Lord Darling of Roulanish and Danny Alexander

Thursday 28th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker.

As I was saying, we have published distributional analyses that clearly demonstrate that those on the highest incomes will contribute more towards the consolidation, not just in cash terms but as a proportion of their income and consumption of public services.

[Mr Alistair Darling (Edinburgh South West) (Lab)]

I am grateful to the Chief Secretary for giving way. So far, he seems bereft of answers to any of the questions put to him. Does he agree with the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ analysis that the June Budget and last week’s spending review can be fair only if the Government include all the measures that I introduced in my Budget prior to the election?

[Danny Alexander]

I think that the phrase “no answers” applies to Opposition Front Benchers on dealing with the deficit.

The measures included in our analyses include measures for which we will introduce legislation, such as the measures on national insurance. Those measures are part of our plan and it is perfectly appropriate that they should be included.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Darling of Roulanish and Danny Alexander

Tuesday 13th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

Of course that matters, but what matters more than anything is the risks that this economy would have faced if we had stuck with the plans of the previous Government, which would have risked higher interest rates, lower growth and fewer jobs, and there would have been very big risks in the future.

[Mr Alistair Darling (Edinburgh South West) (Lab)]

I am glad that the Chief Secretary at least accepts the proposition put by the hon. Member for Louth and Horncastle (Sir Peter Tapsell).

We all agree that to get debt down, growth is essential. However, has the Chief Secretary noticed this morning’s remarks by Geoffrey Dicks, a member of the Office for Budget Responsibility, who said that his office had cut its forecasts for growth by 0.5% as a result of the Budget announcements two weeks ago, and went on to say that logically, as he put it, that increased the chances of our economy slipping back into recession?

[Danny Alexander]

He also made it clear that he did not think that that risk was a likely one. In the Budget—this is the important central judgment that the House needs to understand—we have faced up to the fact that if we had carried on with the plans of the previous Government, the big risk facing the economy would have been higher interest rates, fewer jobs, and a reduction in growth, and we would have faced the big risk that we have seen in other countries, which we need to ensure does not happen in this country. Our Budget has ensured that that risk is avoided; the previous Government would not have done that.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Alistair Darling (Edinburgh South West) (Lab)]

Does the Chief Secretary, in the Chancellor’s absence, agree that the independence and credibility of the OBR are absolutely paramount? Sir Alan Budd said to the Treasury Committee this morning that the numbers he released two weeks ago

“were not an appropriate basis for attempting to estimate the effects of the June Budget on general government employment”,

and the Prime Minister was quite wrong to claim that they were. Would it not be better for the OBR to be more accountable to this House, with its appointments being subject to confirmation hearings by the Treasury Committee, and for its deliberations to be completely open and transparent? What we have at the moment is a good idea strangled at birth by the way in which this Government have been treating it.

[Danny Alexander]

The independence of the OBR is not in question. That was made clear by Alan Budd in his evidence to the Treasury Committee today. This is a good idea that was brought forward by this Government, and it will be established in legislation. I do not think it was even part of the former Chancellor’s secret plans before the election, alongside a rise in VAT, a cut in corporation tax and a cut in income tax. Those are measures he should be supporting in this Budget, because he came up with them in the first place.