Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Oral Answers to Questions

Hannah Bardell Excerpts
Tuesday 10th November 2015

(9 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Sajid Javid Portrait Sajid Javid
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My hon. Friend is right to remind us of the current deficit. That is why one of the reforms that we want is a deeper and broader single market which includes digital and professional services, which Britain is very good at, alongside manufacturing, so that we can do more trade.

Hannah Bardell Portrait Hannah Bardell (Livingston) (SNP)
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Writing in The Telegraph, the Prime Minister’s potential successor as leader of the Tory party, the hon. Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson), said that the Prime Minister was right

“to unsheathe a section of the blade that might soon be used to cut the rope and set Britain free”

from the EU. Has the Secretary of State made an assessment of the likely impact on Scottish business of Britain turning its back on its European trading partners, and does he think that is appropriate language from a man of such standing?

Sajid Javid Portrait Sajid Javid
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I agree that we need reform. All Members on the Government Benches agree on the need to fight for that reform, which means cutting red tape and creating a deeper single market, more ambitious free trade agreements and fairness between the euro-ins and outs. I hope the hon. Lady will join us in fighting for that reform.

Hannah Bardell Portrait Hannah Bardell
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A poll of Scottish business last month found that 82% of small and medium-sized businesses support the UK remaining in the EU. I dare say that those businesses value their ability to export more than £12.9 billion-worth of goods and services throughout the EU, creating wealth and jobs at home. Have this Government not lost all control of an exit agenda that was started only to appease right-wing Eurosceptic Back Benchers and may very well result in Scotland being dragged into delusional imperial isolation against its will?