Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: HM Treasury

Oral Answers to Questions

Cathy Jamieson Excerpts
Tuesday 24th June 2014

(10 years, 4 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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George Osborne Portrait Mr Osborne
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I agree with my hon. Friend that one of the big challenges now is to improve productivity, which was clearly impaired by the financial crisis. Obviously, in doing that we need to make sure that the data we receive from our ONS is of the highest quality. People at the ONS work incredibly hard on that, but of course there is always room for improvement, as the Governor of the Bank of England pointed out today, and we will work with the Bank and the ONS to ensure that any improvements that can be made will be made.

Cathy Jamieson Portrait Cathy Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab/Co-op)
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Is it not the truth that people in employment have seen their living standards fall year on year under this Chancellor? So can he tell us, will working people be better off next year than they were in 2010—yes or no?

George Osborne Portrait Mr Osborne
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The many thousands of people who are getting jobs in the hon. Lady’s area are better off, and of course—[Interruption.] Let me explain to the shadow Chancellor: if you bring the British economy to its knees, if you have the deepest recession for 100 years, if you preside over the biggest banking crisis in our history, you make this country poorer. But it is by fixing those problems, by working through our long-term economic plan, that we are going to make the country richer again.