Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Derek Twigg and Jo Swinson

Thursday 8th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Jo Swinson]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. He highlights the distress that is caused to his constituents—I know from my correspondence that this also applies to constituents across the country—when companies undertake the activities he describes. I look forward to meeting him to discuss this specific issue in a couple of weeks’ time. He has already introduced an Adjournment debate to go into his case in detail. I reiterate that we need to get the balance right between encouraging enterprise and protecting consumers and business, but I look forward to discussing the matter with him further.

[Derek Twigg (Halton) (Lab)]

I agree with the hon. Member for Colchester (Sir Bob Russell). What happens is that perfectly good businesses get left with bad debts because a contract has not been paid. They then have a cash flow problem and the banks often will not support them. The Minister should look again at this and at the role of the banks in this situation.

[Jo Swinson]

The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point, because what often happens is that one business goes under and its creditors get into difficulty as a result. We want to make sure that the system works to prevent such situations and provide support to businesses. We need to be wary of unintended consequences, because we also do not want a regime under which people who have had a failure in business cannot start up again, but we need to look at the disqualification regime and check that we have got the balance right.