EU Council

Guy Opperman Excerpts

Monday 28th October 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right: it is in our interest to have a working and stable single currency on our doorstep, and that will require a banking union, just as we effectively have a banking union and single currency in the United Kingdom. Some progress has been made. In terms of our efforts, the most important thing for us is to make sure that, as that goes ahead in the eurozone, we are not left out in respect of the regulations that affect the single market. Financial services is, of course, a vital business not just for the City of London, but for the cities of Belfast, Glasgow, Birmingham and the like. It is there that we should focus our negotiating effort to make sure that we have real safeguards in how those regulations are written.

[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

The north-east of England has a positive balance of payments. Did the Prime Minister have the chance to point out in respect of trade and employment that general unemployment in the north-east has fallen by 18% and youth unemployment by 24% over the last 18 months—due, I suggest, to the policies of this Government?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for standing up for the north-east. I had a good meeting in Brussels with Martin Callanan, the leader of Britain’s MEPs, who strongly represents the north-east in the European Parliament. We are seeing better employment figures and falls in unemployment in parts of the country, but we have more work to do to make sure that the recovery is spread right around the country.