Eric Ollerenshaw
Main Page: Eric Ollerenshaw (Conservative - Lancaster and Fleetwood)Department Debates - View all Eric Ollerenshaw's debates with the HM Treasury
(11 years, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Osborne
On planet earth, we inherited an economic mess, and we are putting it right. As I say, if Labour Members are serious about advocating an alternative economic plan, perhaps they would tell us today—perhaps someone will stand up and tell us—whether they oppose our spending cuts and would reverse them. We have not heard that today.
Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Con)
T9. Will my right hon. Friend continue his support for specific major infrastructure projects such as superfast broadband, rail electrification and High Speed 2, which should begin to address the divide between north and south that grew so much wider under the previous Government?
Mr Osborne
I strongly agree with what my fellow north-west MP has said. I think that investment in infrastructure is important, whether it is investment in superfast broadband for rural areas in Lancashire, investment in the northern rail hub—which, although it was campaigned for by parties on all sides in the north of England for years under the last Government, did not happen then, but is happening under this Government —or, indeed, investment in High Speed 2, which will help to change the economic geography of the country, and will ensure that all parts of it benefit from the economic recovery. I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend: those things need to go ahead.