LIBOR (FSA Investigation)

Debate between George Osborne and Rob Wilson

Monday 2nd July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

The right hon. Gentleman asks two very good questions, as did the hon. Member for West Bromwich East (Mr Watson), about who should oversee the setting of LIBOR and what criminal sanctions should exist for the manipulation of that market. That is precisely what we are going to investigate over the next couple of months in Mr Wheatley’s inquiry. That will enable us in September and October to change the law; the Bill has been going through Parliament and can become law this autumn. I hope that I have the right hon. Gentleman’s support for getting on with this and getting the powers on the statute book.

[Mr Rob Wilson (Reading East) (Con)]

If it is found, following the Joint Committee inquiry, that manipulation of interest rates damaged small businesses or mortgage holders, will my right hon. Friend consider forcing the banks to reimburse fully those individual small businesses and mortgage holders?

[Mr Osborne]

Of course, if harm is proved to individuals or to businesses the whole question of compensation will arise, and we have the compensation regime to address that. As I said in the House on Thursday, it is difficult to establish whether that is the case because people were trying to manipulate the rate up and down on different days to suit their derivative trading book, so there were times when the rate was too low and times when it was too high compared with the fair market rate, and so the question of how much people lost out will be difficult to establish.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between George Osborne and Rob Wilson

Tuesday 24th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr George Osborne]

What I find extraordinary is that we have a Labour MP supporting the idea that the very wealthiest people in this country pay no income tax. That is an extraordinary thing for a Labour MP to advocate. As I say, we have made reforms in the Budget to improve the tax system and to ensure that people at the very top of the income scale pay some income tax.

[Mr Rob Wilson (Reading East) (Con)]

T10. The Thatcher Governments unleashed a decade or more of enterprise in this country. Young entrepreneurs today are still key to a private sector-led recovery, but only 3% of 18 to 24-year-olds set up their own business. Will the Chancellor consider further support for the new enterprise allowance and other schemes to increase assistance to young entrepreneurs?

[Mr Osborne]

The new enterprise allowance has been introduced and already some 10,000 people are developing their own business ideas using the incentive of the allowance. As I set out in the Budget, we are considering the case for enterprise loans. The Government provide a loan for people going to university, but what about a loan for people who want to start their own business? We will come to the House with ideas on that subject later this year.

Autumn Statement

Debate between George Osborne and Rob Wilson

Tuesday 29th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I had probably forgotten that we had inherited a golden economic legacy from the Labour party. What I remember is that we inherited a country that did not have a credible plan to deal with the deficit, which the credit rating agencies had put on negative outlook, and which the CBI, the OECD and all the other international organisations said lacked a credible plan.

Of course, as the OBR has made clear in its independent report, we are dealing with the consequences of the catastrophic failure of the last Labour Government to regulate financial services better, not least during the period when the shadow Chancellor was City Minister. That caused one of the deepest crashes of our country’s history. [Interruption.] We no longer hear the phrase “No more boom and bust” from the shadow Chancellor. He invented that phrase, and he gave us the largest boom and the biggest bust in our entire history.

[Mr Rob Wilson (Reading East) (Con)]

I congratulate the Chancellor on his statement, and in particular on the new tax breaks for private investors in start-up companies. As I have not seen the details yet, can the Chancellor briefly elaborate on how the system will work for smaller investors?

[Mr Osborne]

The seed enterprise investment scheme will provide 50% tax relief for all who invest in a qualifying start-up, even if they do not pay the 50% rate of income tax. The investment can be up to £100,000, although of course it can be much less. The companies involved can receive a maximum of £150,000. Those who have a capital gain can invest up to £100,000 of it in the scheme, and the amount will be tax-free for the next financial year. The scheme is aimed at small as well as slightly larger investors, and is designed to help start-up companies to obtain the finance they need.

Eurozone Crisis

Debate between George Osborne and Rob Wilson

Thursday 27th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I am not providing that advice across the Dispatch Box, but the Financial Services Authority, the Bank of England and the Treasury monitor British financial institutions to ensure that they are appropriately prepared for things that might happen. The European Banking Authority test that I have talked about takes into account a mark to market on the sovereign debt exposures of countries such as Italy and Spain.

[Mr Rob Wilson (Reading East) (Con)]

The Opposition have talked a lot about Britain’s marginalisation, so may I say that I welcome the fact that the Prime Minister attended yesterday’s meeting because I know that the Leader of the Opposition would much prefer President Sarkozy to represent this country? Will my right hon. Friend confirm that while he is Chancellor he will do everything he can to ensure that a British Prime Minister represents British interests in Europe?

Eurozone

Debate between George Osborne and Rob Wilson

Monday 10th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rob Wilson (Reading East) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend was right to be concerned in his statement about money finding its way to small and start-up businesses. May I urge him to consider streamlining the current, overly complex enterprise investment scheme and add tax relief to those business angel investors who are making their savings available to small businesses in this country? Such an approach would give a much-needed boost to small business in this country.

[Mr Osborne]

My hon. Friend will be pleased to know that we have just announced reforms to the EIS to make it more generous and, we hope, simpler to claim.

Autumn Forecast

Debate between George Osborne and Rob Wilson

Monday 29th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I will tell the hon. Gentleman what this issue is about: the hypocrisy of the Labour party. Labour Members set up Lord Browne’s report, and the shadow Chancellor was in the Cabinet that agreed to that. Lord Browne has reported, and now they are all walking away from it—it is absolutely pathetic.

[Mr Rob Wilson (Reading East) (Con)]

Compared with June, the OBR predicts, in table 4.21 on page 118, that we will save £19 billion in interest payments. Contrary to what the shadow Chancellor said, are not the choices made by my right hon. Friend the right ones to ensure that we have this £19 billion to spend on schools and hospitals rather than putting it in the pockets of foreign Governments and private bondholders?

[Mr Osborne]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. This is one of those issues that is perhaps less commented on, but very relevant. We are reducing the debt interest payments that we inherited from Labour, and the debt interest bill—the money that we have to pay out to private bondholders and foreign Governments to borrow—is coming down from the number that we inherited. That is £19 billion that would otherwise, if we followed the Labour party’s plans, be being paid to foreign Governments and private bondholders. That is how Labour Members want taxpayers’ money spent; we have other plans for it.

Financial Assistance (Ireland)

Debate between George Osborne and Rob Wilson

Monday 22nd November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

As my hon. Friend says, we are now part of the solution rather than being part of the problem.

[Mr Rob Wilson (Reading East) (Con)]

May I offer the Chancellor my support in the difficult task that he has ahead? Will he spell out for the House what he believes the consequences of leaving the euro would be for Ireland?

[Mr Osborne]

As I have said, that has to be a matter for Ireland. It has not been raised by them in any discussion, publicly or privately, and I do not think that I should speculate about it.

Comprehensive Spending Review

Debate between George Osborne and Rob Wilson

Wednesday 20th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

We looked very carefully at this programme, and it has a very high dead weight. We are raising the compulsory participation age to 18 and funding that—one of the policy’s original stated purposes was to get people to stay on after 16—and we will introduce a more targeted scheme, so there will be help. I have to say that we conducted a public consultation over the summer, and we received 100,000 responses, many from parents and children in receipt of EMA. It was one of the most prominent issues raised, and the overwhelming view of the responses was that it was not a well-targeted support. That has certainly been my experience from those in some of the schools that I have visited. We are looking for a more targeted payment that actually helps those whom this financial incentive would really encourage to stay on in education.

[Mr Rob Wilson (Reading East) (Con)]

I welcome the Chancellor’s commitment to protecting the science budget and his comments on Lord Browne’s review of university and student funding, but does he agree with me—and, apparently, the new shadow Chancellor—that the problem with a graduate tax is that the money goes straight to the Treasury and not to the universities?