Business of the House

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Thursday 24th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I would condemn what happened in that particular club, and I hope that there is no repetition of that incident in any organisation associated with my party.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

Please may we have a debate about exports and, specifically, the success of British exporters? The latest data for the first three quarters of this year show a 13% increase in exports, with faster growth in exports to the BRIC countries—Brazil, Russia, India and China—especially China.

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for drawing attention to one of the ambitions of our economic policy, which is to switch the emphasis on growth from spending and borrowing to investment and exports. The fact that we are not in the eurozone enables us to have a competitive exchange rate, which in turn gives our exporters a head start over those in some other countries.