EU Budget (Surcharge)

Debate between George Osborne and David Nuttall

Monday 10th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I take it as a win for Britain. Again, I do not want to follow lessons from Labour MPs about how to negotiate in Europe when they gave up much of the rebate, signed us into the eurozone bail-outs, gave up many of our vetoes over many years and refused to give the British people a say in referendums in key treaties.

[Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend know who my constituents believe is most in need of this money, the UK or the EU?

[Mr Osborne]

At a time when budgets are tough, I completely understand why people want the maximum amount of money possible to be spent at home, but the truth is that we have been able to get a reduction in the EU budget because of the tough negotiations of the British Prime Minister. That is what we are able to achieve by standing up for Britain’s interests in Europe.

Charter for Budget Responsibility

Debate between George Osborne and David Nuttall

Wednesday 26th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I will give way in a moment.

It was not fair that many out-of-work families received more as an income in welfare than the average family got from going out to work, so we capped the total benefits that one family can receive at £26,000. Thirty-six thousand households are now subject to the cap.

[Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)]

rose—

[Sheila Gilmore]

rose—

Economic Policy

Debate between George Osborne and David Nuttall

Monday 25th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I am not sure I really understand what the right hon. Gentleman is getting at. Yes, of course we have a difficult economic situation, because we inherited a 11.5% budget deficit and were coming out of a contraction of the economy of 6%—the right hon. Gentleman talks about flatlining but there was a 6% contraction of the economy when the shadow Chancellor was in the Cabinet. That is what we are dealing with. As I say, we have reduced the deficit, created 1 million jobs, and we have low interest rates.

[Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)]

Does the Chancellor agree that the only real way for the UK to maintain its economic credibility is to continue to cut spending in real terms and to start living within its means, so that we and our British companies can start to compete more effectively in the global marketplace?

[Mr Osborne]

We have to reduce spending and, as I have said, we will have a spending round later this year. We are reducing the share of national income taken by the state. When we came to office, almost 48% of national income was taken by the state, which was a completely unsustainable position. That position was never advocated by the Labour party when it sought office, but that is how it left the country. It now apparently wants to return to that position. As far as I understand the shadow Chancellor, who shakes his head, he does not support a single cut the Government have made.

IMF

Debate between George Osborne and David Nuttall

Monday 23rd April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I talked about loyal Labour Back Benchers and would never apply such an outrageous slur to the hon. Gentleman, whereas it is certainly applicable to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Steve McCabe). The distinction is not sophistry, because an IMF contribution, were there ever to be one, to a eurozone bail-out fund, would basically put that money into a eurozone pot and then the eurozone would decide how it was spent. If there is a country programme for a specific country in the eurozone, the IMF team would turn up, wherever it happens to be, impose its own conditions and do its own analysis, and that is fundamentally different. The logic of the hon. Gentleman’s question is that the IMF would never help a eurozone country, which would lead to the eurozone countries leaving the IMF, and we would then be fundamentally undermining one of the most important institutions the world has seen in the past 60 years.

[Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)]

Is it not the case that every time the IMF provides any assistance to a eurozone country, it simply demonstrates the complete failure of the European Central Bank to do its job properly?

[Mr Osborne]

The European Central Bank is of course a very important part of the equation, but one of the problems facing Ireland, Portugal and, indeed, Greece was that they were also shut out of international debt markets, and when countries are shut out of international debt markets they usually—almost always—turn to the IMF for assistance, so it would be very odd if the IMF were not there to help them.

Banking Commission Report

Debate between George Osborne and David Nuttall

Monday 19th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

The banks themselves—inasmuch as we are talking about shareholders who own them—will benefit from a safer banking system. Among the casualties of the banking crash were shareholders of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Northern Rock and the like. They lost money too and, as my hon. Friend well knows, they were not all immensely rich City people; rather, many were actually on quite low incomes. The shares were their main source of savings, so the shareholders also lost out. Owners of banks, including small shareholders, will benefit from a safer banking system.

[Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)]

Given that the UK’s four largest banks hold seven out of 10 personal current accounts and eight out of 10 of the current accounts of small and medium-sized businesses, will my right hon. Friend reassure me that the proposed new legislation and regulation will neither result in banks leaving the UK or being deterred from expanding, nor deter new banks from opening in the UK, thereby reducing competition and restricting choice for customers?

[Mr Osborne]

The reforms will make the UK an attractive location for international financial services, which will know that our system is better regulated, and for retail banking, because customers will have greater assurances that the banking system is safe and that they will not have to bail out the banks if they go wrong.

Eurozone Crisis

Debate between George Osborne and David Nuttall

Thursday 27th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that now that the 17 eurozone countries have established the precedent of holding their own euro summit and have created yet another president, the president of the euro group, there is a real danger that they will start to agree policies to suit themselves and then impose them on the other 10 EU countries that, thankfully, like the UK, have not adopted the euro?

[Mr Osborne]

I agree with my hon. Friend that we have to be alert to the danger of the 17 eurozone members, which will have a qualified voting majority, caucusing on areas that are legitimately the preserve of the 27 member states. When this country, under the previous Government, allowed the eurogroup of Finance Ministers to be established and accepted that Britain would not be at that eurogroup, there was the fear that the eurogroup would caucus. That was one of the concerns of the then Government and Opposition. That actually has not happened. If anything, they have not co-ordinated and worked together closely enough over the past decade or so. However, he is absolutely right that we need to ensure that they do not caucus in the future in a way that undermines our voice and influence or that bounces all 27 member states. All member states not in the euro are alert to this challenge. Indeed, last night the Prime Minister had dinner with the Polish and Swedish Prime Ministers to discuss precisely that issue.

Eurozone

Debate between George Osborne and David Nuttall

Monday 10th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

As I said, it was an independent decision of the Bank of England. In the explanation that the Governor gave of why the Bank took the decision, he explicitly referred to the situation regarding the euro. I agree with that decision. Work done by the Bank of England suggests that the method can work.

[Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)]

Following the bail-out of Dexia, does my right hon. Friend consider that there is an increased risk of the credit rating of other eurozone countries, particularly Belgium, being downgraded?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between George Osborne and David Nuttall

Tuesday 6th September 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr George Osborne)]

The financial crisis in the eurozone is extremely serious. Fortunately, Britain is not in the euro; unfortunately, however, we are not immune to the instability on our doorstep. The euro area must implement its policy commitments to address the crisis, made most recently at the July summit. As I have said, the euro area should follow the remorseless logic of monetary union with greater fiscal integration. We must ensure that we are not part of that integration and that our national interests are protected and promoted at all points.

[Mr Nuttall]

I thank the Chancellor for that reply. Given that the crisis in the eurozone was caused by some member states having too much debt, would it not be a good idea—rather than increasing those debts with further bail-outs—for this country to press for the European treaties to be amended to allow a country to leave the euro while remaining in the European Union if it still wished to do so? As things stand, that is not possible.

[Mr Osborne]

As my hon. Friend knows, the treaty does not provide for a member state to leave at the moment, and there is no immediate prospect of major treaty renegotiation—something that the German Government have made very clear again this week. In other words, we need to focus on the task at hand, which is implementing all the agreements, communiqués and commitments made in recent months by the eurozone. That is absolutely crucial to the stability not just of the eurozone but of the wider global economy.

Autumn Forecast

Debate between George Osborne and David Nuttall

Monday 29th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

If the hon. Gentleman cannot tell the difference between the economic situations in which Britain and Ireland find themselves today perhaps he should not turn up to these events.

I just make this observation. This is an independent report, produced by Robert Chote. [Interruption.] I have had a lot of chuntering from Opposition Front Benchers about the independence of the Office for Budget Responsibility. We set it up on an independent basis and we have given all members of the Treasury Committee the right to approve or reject the members of the budget responsibility committee. We will see whether Opposition Members, including Front Benchers, support this legislation when it comes before Parliament. At the moment, it does not sound as if they will support it, but perhaps they will change their minds.

[Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)]

Is my right hon. Friend as concerned as I am that over-prescriptive regulation such as that proposed by the Financial Services Authority’s retail distribution review may result in a loss of jobs?

[Mr Osborne]

I know that a number of concerns have been raised about the FSA’s review of that area. Obviously, it is an independent regulator, but I have made sure that those concerns have been drawn to its attention.

Financial Assistance (Ireland)

Debate between George Osborne and David Nuttall

Monday 22nd November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

Quite frankly, that assessment is not shared by the International Monetary Fund or other EU member states. It is not the assessment of anyone who looks at the Irish situation except for the hon. Gentleman.

[Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)]

Bearing in mind that the Treasury will itself have to borrow the billions of pounds that it proposes to lend to the Irish Government, will the Chancellor reassure the House that the interest rate it charges the Irish Government will be substantially higher than the rate we must pay?

[Mr Osborne]

The terms and conditions of the loan are still to be decided, and as I said, they will be brought to the House of Commons. However, to make a general observation, we are seeking not to make a buck, but to help our friend.