Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between George Mudie and Sajid Javid

Tuesday 5th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

I congratulate the Church Commissioners on their role and the expertise that they bring. Given that my hon. Friend is a commissioner, I take this opportunity to congratulate him too. He is right to highlight the fact that the previous Government’s changes to financial regulation contributed significantly to the banking crisis in 2008. That caused misery and hardship for millions of hard-working families, yet I notice that the Opposition have yet to apologise.

[Mr George Mudie (Leeds East) (Lab)]

The Minister will agree that a level playing field is important for competition. Why, then, did the Chancellor make the misguided offer to the Chinese Government to give light-touch regulation to Chinese banks operating in this country? If we are going to have competition, will that approach be extended to all other banks?

[Sajid Javid]

The hon. Gentleman will know that such decisions are made by the independent regulators—in this case, the Prudential Regulation Authority, which has made the reasons for the decision absolutely clear.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between George Mudie and Sajid Javid

Tuesday 6th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr George Mudie (Leeds East) (Lab)]

18. What estimate he has made of the level of economic growth since the October 2010 spending review.

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Sajid Javid)]

The economy grew by 1.8% in 2010 and 0.9% in 2011. The Office for Budget Responsibility is responsible for producing independent economic and fiscal forecasts.

[Mr Mudie]

The Minister will be aware that the Chancellor boasted that there would be growth of 2.6% in 2011 and 2.8% in 2012. Actually, growth has averaged 0.6% over the past two years. What went wrong?

[Sajid Javid]

The hon. Gentleman is a distinguished member of the Treasury Committee, and I think he knows better than that. The Government introduced an independent Office for Budget Responsibility to make forecasts, and the OBR report in October 2012 said that there were several reasons why the out-turn has been different from the forecasts, including

“deteriorating export markets…impaired credit conditions”

and “euro area anxiety”. Perhaps the hon. Gentleman can welcome yesterday’s report from the Centre for Economics and Business Research, which said that Britain would be the fastest-growing economy in Europe in 2013 and 2014. [Interruption.]