Autumn Statement

Debate between Guy Opperman and George Osborne

Wednesday 3rd December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

Yes, I will. When it comes to these Pacer trains—[Interruption.] Labour Front-Benchers had all those years in which they could have got rid of the Pacer trains. They complain about them now, but what about all the endless Labour Transport Secretaries who did nothing about them? This is happening now, with a Conservative Chancellor, a Conservative Transport Secretary, and a Conservative Member of Parliament for Harrogate and Knaresborough.

[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

People in the north-east will welcome the news about the NHS, hospices—including those in my constituency—carers, who will set great store by the Chancellor’s announcement, and home buyers. I also welcome the Chancellor’s comments about northern airports and air passenger duty. May I urge him to revisit the north-east in the spring, when we will introduce him to a region that has the most technology start-ups outside London, and has experienced the fastest rate of growth in private sector businesses over the last quarter?

[Mr Osborne]

Of course I am always very happy to visit the north-east. I was there quite recently, and will be going again very shortly.

There have been a number of great pieces of news for the north-east this week. There are the improvements to the A1 around Newcastle and Gateshead and up to Ellingham, and the commitment to look at dualling beyond that. There are the improvements that we are looking at for the A69 and the A66, which is something that my hon. Friend has raised with me personally. There is also the big investment in science in the north-east. I am particularly pleased to support investment in the brilliant work that Newcastle university does on ageing.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Guy Opperman and George Osborne

Tuesday 4th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

May I urge the Chancellor to meet me and my hon. Friend the Member for Carlisle (John Stevenson) so that we can make the case for including the dualling of the A69 in the autumn statement? Hopefully such a meeting could be before the autumn statement takes place.

[Mr George Osborne]

My hon. Friends the Members for Hexham (Guy Opperman) and for Carlisle (John Stevenson) have made a strong case for improving transport links in the north of England and between the north-east and Carlisle. They have already brought the A69 to my attention, and I would be happy to have that meeting.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Guy Opperman and George Osborne

Tuesday 2nd September 2014 Commons Chamber

[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

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

The core purpose of the Treasury is to ensure the stability and prosperity of the economy. That is delivered by our long-term plan. I can tell the House that the plan will be further expanded in the autumn statement, which I will deliver on Wednesday 3 December.

[Guy Opperman]

I thank the Chancellor for that answer. This summer, the Labour party set out a summer spending plan of some £21 billion of extra spending a year. I suggest this further debt will make our constituents wonder whether it has actually learned anything from bankrupting this country under Blair and his successors. Has my right hon. Friend assessed the impact on the public finances of such a disastrous decision?

[Mr Osborne]

My hon. Friend is right, of course. The Treasury’s own independent analysis of the Labour party’s approach to public spending shows that it could borrow over £166 billion more in the next Parliament. Labour Members have started to contribute to that with a £21 billion shopping list this summer. Perhaps the shadow Chancellor can get up and explain how he is going to pay for it.

Autumn Statement

Debate between Guy Opperman and George Osborne

Wednesday 5th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

First, unemployment had gone up under the Labour Government and they, like all Labour Governments in history, left office with unemployment higher than when they came into office. Secondly, if the hon. Lady looks at the employment forecasts she will see that, as I was saying to her hon. Friend the Member for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland (Tom Blenkinsop), 1 million jobs are forecast to be created over the coming period. As I have said, we are in a tough economic situation—I am not trying to disguise that from the House today—but I think that the decisions we have taken to help businesses and working people will be warmly welcomed.

[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

The improvements to the A1 and the freezing of fuel duty, which was raised 10 times under the previous Labour Government, are warmly welcomed by Government Members. However, may I urge the Chancellor to consider the call from the Chair of the Treasury Committee for local community banking to kick-start lending to small and medium-sized enterprises and local banking in local areas?

[Mr Osborne]

I welcome what my hon. Friend says about the dualling of the A1 up to Newcastle—I hope that in future we can do that as far as the Scottish border—and his comment on fuel duty. He has spoken to me personally about what more we can do to get community banking. There are still many issues to deal with in our banking system. We have to make it more competitive and encourage more entrants, and community banks can be part of the solution.

IMF

Debate between Guy Opperman and George Osborne

Monday 23rd April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I can tell my hon. Friend that his west midlands constituents will not have to pay any more taxes for the loan and will see no cuts in public services as a result of it. The money comes out of the foreign exchange reserves—the foreign currencies that Britain holds and always has held. I would also say to the people of the west midlands and elsewhere that the money is available for all countries in the world that get themselves into difficulties. They have to meet certain conditions—very tough conditions—before they get access to the money, but if the world did not have a global institution such as the IMF, we would be in a much worse place. All the manufacturers and exporters in the west midlands understand that problems in the world economy and our export markets come back to bite us very quickly indeed.

[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

Businesses in the north-east want a secure, worldwide support system for the global economy and welcome this decision on the IMF, but the man in the street in Newcastle and Hexham wants to know whether we have ever failed to get our money back from the IMF.

[Mr Osborne]

No we have not failed to get our money back from the IMF. Britain was one of the creators of the IMF, because we understood after the 1930s that if countries just walk away from problems in the world economy, the problem is very much worse. In the north-east, we have manufacturers such as Nissan in Sunderland. Nissan is making a big new investment in the UK. It is doing so, in the end, because it has faith that the world economy will be a more stable place, one of the reasons being that we have strong institutions such as the IMF.

Financial Services Regulation

Debate between Guy Opperman and George Osborne

Wednesday 16th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

My right hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin and Harpenden (Mr Lilley) was clear about the risks of creating the tripartite system when he was the shadow Chancellor who opposed that legislation. When it comes to light-touch regulation, let me quote what the former Prime Minister, the right hon. Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, said in 2006:

“I will be honest with you, many who advised me, including not a few newspapers, favoured a regulatory crackdown. I believe that we were right not to go down that road”.

I am afraid that the regulatory approach taken by the Labour Government when they were in office completely failed, and we will learn the lessons of their mistakes.

[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

Does the Chancellor agree that the Opposition, who sold the gold so wisely and then bought euros, prophesied a golden age and then brought the economy, like a ship, on to the rocks, are not qualified to give us financial advice and seem to have such a poor memory?

[Mr Osborne]

I agree with every word that my hon. Friend said.