Chi Onwurah
Main Page: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)Department Debates - View all Chi Onwurah's debates with the Department for Education
(12 years, 10 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Vince Cable
As was explained earlier, the Prime Minister, the Trade and Investment Minister, I and others have made strong representations to the Indian Government on the merits of BAE Systems for this contract. The hon. Gentleman will know that the contract was narrowed down to two companies on the basis of quality. The Indian Government appear to have made a narrow decision based on price, but this is by no means the end of the process. BAE Systems will have plenty of opportunities to restate its case on quality and life-time costs and we shall reinforce it.
Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)
The Secretary of State has leapt to the defence of the tax deal by which a public servant running the Student Loans Company avoids tax of £40,000 a year. It is a pity that the right hon. Gentleman is not as vigorous in defending the interests of small businesses when it comes to bank lending. Can he confirm, as the Minister implied earlier, that this arrangement will end immediately? Does he agree that when his Government say, “We’re all in this together”, they mean the tax avoiders and the excessively paid, not the people in businesses who desperately need support in order to get our economy working again?
Vince Cable
My colleague, the Minister for Universities and Science, has already given a very full answer on this issue. When I spoke about it earlier, I should have made it clear that Mr Lester had accepted a pay cut, not a tax cut. In addition, there will shortly be an urgent question on the matter, when any further details can be pursued. As for the wider policy questions, we made it very clear last week that we believe that our reforms of executive pay will radically reduce the rewards for failure and mediocrity in business.