Banking Commission Report

Debate between George Osborne and Tobias Ellwood

Monday 19th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I would like to see them fall, which is why we are keen to get challenger banks out there. It is why we proceeded, as I have said, with the sale of Northern Rock, and why we want the Lloyds divestment to take place. As for what the exact market share of those banks should be, I do not believe, perhaps unlike my hon. Friend, in the command economy in which the Chancellor of the Exchequer determines every share of the market for every business. I will not prescribe exactly how much market share a bank should have; there has to be an element of the free market .

[Mr Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth East) (Con)]

I welcome these recommendations for regulation. It might come as a surprise or, indeed, a shock to Members to learn that I was refused my first mortgage application. That happened back in the days when mortgages to first-time buyers were capped at two thirds of the value of the property. Under the previous Government, however, first-time buyers could get 100% or 125% mortgages. Will the Chancellor confirm that those days of irresponsible lending are behind us?

[Mr Osborne]

We have not much mentioned today the report from the Financial Services Authority, which is about ensuring that people can afford the mortgages they seek. The changes are important, as they get the balance right between not pricing first-time buyers out of the market even more than they are now and ensuring at the same time that people are informed and can get a mortgage that they are able to afford.

Global Economy

Debate between George Osborne and Tobias Ellwood

Thursday 11th August 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

In the spending review, we set higher capital budgets than those set out by my predecessor, the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the last Labour Government. Therefore, capital spending budgets are higher than they would have been under the plan the hon. Lady stood on in the last election.

On getting the construction sector moving, that is precisely why we are tackling issues, such as the planning delays, that have been so difficult, and why we made a number of tax changes in the Budget to help the construction sector. The construction index was also positive in the last couple of weeks. I just say to the hon. Lady that when we are running the highest budget deficit in the G20, it is not possible to abandon our fiscal consolidation plans and to seek someone out there in the world to borrow more money from. That would lead to markedly higher interest rates—we need only look at the interest rates in Spain and Italy at present—and we know that higher interest rates do particular damage to the construction sector.

[Mr Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth East) (Con)]

I congratulate the Chancellor on sticking to his deficit reduction plan, which has allowed us to keep our triple A rating, unlike some other countries, including the United States and possibly now France. If France were to lose its triple A rating, what would be the implications for the EU stability fund and the ability for eurozone bail-outs to continue in the future?

[Mr Osborne]

My hon. Friend asks a good question, which is being asked in the markets at present. I have to say that one of the causes of the instability in the last couple of weeks has been loose comments by Finance Ministers on issues such as that which he raises, so I will “take the Fifth” and not comment.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between George Osborne and Tobias Ellwood

Tuesday 8th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I assume that the hon. Gentleman is referring to the request for additional support for the security situation in Northern Ireland. It is a request that I have taken very seriously, and we are interrogating the request properly—[Laughter.] I know that it comes as a complete surprise to Labour Members that the Treasury should actually interrogate spending requests from Departments, but we have decided that there is new management in charge at the Treasury, and that we should start doing that. We will treat the request with due diligence, but I am clear that security comes first. That will be my priority.

[Mr Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth East) (Con)]

T3. Is my hon. Friend aware of recently passed US legislation—the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act—that obliges oil, gas and mineral extraction companies listed on US stock exchanges to declare how much they pay directly to a Government for the rights to mine those resources? This has a huge impact in Africa in tackling corruption, increasing transparency and stopping the backhanders that end up being given to Heads of State. Would he agree to meet me to see whether we can introduce such legislation here in the UK?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between George Osborne and Tobias Ellwood

Tuesday 21st December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth East) (Con)]

14. What estimate he made of the effect on public finances of the introduction of a graduate tax.

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

A graduate tax would add billions of pounds to the budget deficit. That is just one reason why anyone in government, Labour, Conservative or Liberal Democrat, who has ever looked at the facts has concluded that a graduate tax is unworkable, unfair and unaffordable.

Autumn Forecast

Debate between George Osborne and Tobias Ellwood

Monday 29th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

We have created the regional growth fund to look specifically at areas that need support and investment. We have been able to announce some significant transport investment in other parts of our country. The national insurance tax reduction, which the hon. Gentleman mentions, refers explicitly and only to job creation outside the south-east and east, and I have deliberately taken that decision to try to create a more geographically balanced economy than the one I found when I took this job.

[Mr Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth East) (Con)]

It is clear from the response that we have heard today that the Labour party is still in denial about the huge deficit that it created. I congratulate my right hon. Friend on coming up with a workable, viable and transparent plan that can take us out of this mess.

I take my right hon. Friend back to the permanent fiscal stability facility, which will not come online until 2013. What will happen if another eurozone country requires a bail-out? Will Britain’s involvement be kept to a minimum?

[Mr Osborne]

I thank my hon. Friend for his initial comments. I say this about any future action that we may or may not have to take. On the bilateral loan, I said last week that there were some very specific— I stress the words “very specific”—circumstances that would lead us to support Ireland because of the interconnectedness of our economies. I also said that the European financial stability mechanism, the EU fund, was something that the previous Government had signed up to, and that the UK could not block its use because it operated under qualified majority voting. I had to deal with that situation, but by finding now what I think is a way forward that means that the mechanism disappears in 2013, we have taken a bad situation and made it a lot better.