Public Services (Social Enterprise and Social Value) Bill

Jacob Rees-Mogg Excerpts

Friday 19th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Jacob Rees-Mogg (North East Somerset) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Gentleman cannot raise that at this point. It should have come before, and it did not. What is required now is an indication of “now”.

[Nadhim Zahawi (Stratford-on-Avon) (Con)]

Now.

Second Reading.

[Jacob Rees-Mogg]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker, I beg to move that the House sit in private.

Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 163), and negatived.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Chope]

As my hon. Friend says, that is ridiculous. The previous Government were too obsessed with the fact that this organisation was based in the north-east of England and had grown significantly as a result of all the money that it had received from the public purse. I hope that the new coalition Government will introduce a bit more sanity and proportion into the way in which that money is spent so that we can ensure that relatively small local contractors can participate.

[Jacob Rees-Mogg (North East Somerset) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that what he suggests is a good way of moving towards the localism agenda? If something is local, it can be smaller and involve smaller, more community-sized businesses much more easily than it can if it takes a central, Big Brother, top-down approach.

[Mr Chope]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Given time, I am sure that he would develop his argument in relation to north Somerset, as he has so ably on previous Fridays.

Localism is of great importance. When we talk about its importance, we should not be too fussed about whether we are talking about a local small business, a local social enterprise or a local charity. We must not create artificial distinctions.