Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: HM Treasury

Oral Answers to Questions

David Evennett Excerpts
Tuesday 15th November 2022

(2 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Jeremy Hunt Portrait Jeremy Hunt
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Of course, there are lessons to be learned about the way those schemes were administered, but I am very proud that unemployment remains at a 50-year low because of the decisions that the Prime Minister took on the furlough scheme and Government-backed loans. That was the right thing to do.

David Evennett Portrait Sir David Evennett (Bexleyheath and Crayford) (Con)
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I regularly visit small businesses and entrepreneurs across my constituency of Bexleyheath and Crayford. They are the backbone of our local economy, but like families, they have been badly hit by the cost of living. Will my right hon. Friend reassure me that this Government will do all they can to help small businesses across the country to thrive?

Jeremy Hunt Portrait Jeremy Hunt
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That is what Conservatives are all about so I am happy to give him that assurance. It is not just words; it is action: the halving of business rates for most retail, hospitality and leisure businesses; the freezing of the multiplier on business rates; the furlough scheme; the Government-backed loans and the energy price support that we are giving businesses. All that is because this Government back business.