Business of the House

Dave Doogan Excerpts

Thursday 17th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

My hon. Friend will know this is an extremely important part of the move towards more electric vehicles. We have pledged at least £500 million to support local charge point provision, and we will continue to support that roll-out. It might be a topic for an Adjournment debate, and I encourage him to apply for one.

[Dave Doogan (Angus) (SNP)]

We heard a lot in today’s autumn statement about the international headwinds of inflation and fuel prices, but we did not hear very much about the 12 years of Conservative mismanagement of the economy in the United Kingdom and the penury that it has heaped on people in Scotland. So many people across these islands are in work, but two thirds of our households living in poverty are working households. Food banks, which were unheard of before this Government came to power, are now a feature in every town, village and city. We did not hear anything about defence—we will hear about that soon—but this Government spent £6.6 billion on the nuclear enterprise alone, so can we have a debate on the role that will have in the future of these islands? Scotland does not want those nuclear weapons, the UK cannot afford them, and Scotland cannot afford the UK.

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for the opportunity to raise another issue that was not spoken about in the Chancellor’s statement: the fact that the SNP has been forced to cut funding to public services by 8% in real terms after its financial mismanagement, which led to it facing a £3.5 billion overspend. With regard to the nuclear enterprise, I will not even attempt to persuade him of its merits. If he cannot see the merits of such an enterprise in the light of what we face at the moment with an aggressive Russia, I think he is a lost cause.