Angela Smith
Main Page: Angela Smith (Liberal Democrat - Penistone and Stocksbridge)
Vince Cable
Yes, it is designed to do exactly that. I can confirm that Cornwall and Isles of Scilly is one of the LEPs that is going ahead in the first wave.
Angela Smith (Penistone and Stocksbridge) (Lab)
Given that the £80 million loan to Sheffield Forgemasters was all about providing strategic investment to the advanced manufacturing sector to promote private sector growth, may I take it from the Secretary of State’s statement about focused intervention that his early disastrous decision to cancel the loan will be reversed, or will he continue to dig his heels in in the hope that the issue will go away? I can assure him that it will not.
Vince Cable
We have discussed this extensively in the House and in the Select Committee, and we have explained that the situation we were confronted with was that that project was not affordable. If new projects come up from there or elsewhere, they can be considered by the regional growth fund on their merits.