Royal Bank of Scotland Debate

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Department: HM Treasury

Royal Bank of Scotland

David Mowat Excerpts
Thursday 11th June 2015

(9 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Harriett Baldwin Portrait Harriett Baldwin
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I thank the hon. Lady for her kind words. She is absolutely right to highlight this country’s challenge on access to finance, particularly for the small and fast-growing sector for which bank finance might be appropriate, but it might want to move on to something else. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills is looking at a package of measures to make sure that businesses in Hull and elsewhere are able to have a wider range of choice in accessing finance.

David Mowat Portrait David Mowat (Warrington South) (Con)
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As far as I can make out, the position of the Opposition is that if we delay this sale, the shares might go up by 35%, and they might break even, which would be a good thing. Of course, though, they might go down. Does the Minister agree that they have no right to speculate with other people’s money, particularly when financed by an overdraft? If they believe this, they should buy some shares themselves.

Harriett Baldwin Portrait Harriett Baldwin
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There seems to be no pleasing Opposition Members. They are not happy when Royal Mail shares go up and we sell them for more money; and they are not happy when the RBS share price is where it is today. They seem to argue that the best thing to do, in all these situations, is to borrow more, spend more and invest more in the banking sector.