Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Oral Answers to Questions

David Nuttall Excerpts
Thursday 10th April 2014

(10 years, 7 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Vince Cable Portrait Vince Cable
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The hon. Gentleman’s constituency is a good example of what is happening in the labour market. The claimant count is down to about 2.5%, which is much lower than it was when we took office. Many engineering companies are short of labour and wages are going up. We have been through a difficult period, but one of the success stories is that employment has massively increased—465,000 during the last year. His constituency is a very good example of the policies working.

David Nuttall Portrait Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)
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Does the Secretary of State agree that retailers would find it easier to pay higher wages if they were allowed to open all day on Sunday?

Vince Cable Portrait Vince Cable
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I suspect that it would make relatively little difference. We had a modest experiment at the time of the Olympics. The results did not show a great deal of real economic consequences, but we are always open to new evidence.