James Gray
Main Page: James Gray (Conservative - North Wiltshire)(12 years, 6 months ago)
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Mr James Gray (in the Chair)
We now come to a debate on UK relations with Libya. I beg your pardon; we do not. That was an extremely good debate on the UK’s relations with Libya, which I enjoyed very much. We now come to a debate on the effectiveness of the regional growth fund.
Angela Smith (Penistone and Stocksbridge) (Lab)
I am mightily relieved that the topic is not Libya, Mr Gray, because my notes do not refer to it in the least. I am pleased to have secured this debate on the regional growth fund. I want to start by putting the fund in the context of the economy as a whole. There is no doubt that the British economy is in trouble. We have a growth crisis. Year-on-year growth has all but vanished, with this morning’s Office for National Statistics growth forecast for quarter 3 at 0.5%, and with construction already in negative territory. Unemployment is at levels not seen since Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, and is rising at an alarming rate. Worse still, the young are paying the heaviest price, with youth unemployment at almost 1 million.
Worryingly, unemployment is rising at a much faster rate in the regions than in London or the south-east, as Government cuts bite more heavily into the regions. Already, the unemployment rate in Yorkshire and the Humber is almost twice that in the south-east, according to ONS figures. Inflation is running at more than twice the Bank of England’s target rate of 2.5%, while average incomes are rising at half that rate. That means, as the Governor of the Bank of England said recently, that families are experiencing the biggest squeeze on their incomes in living memory.
The Minister, in his response to the debate, will undoubtedly claim that our growth problem is due to the eurozone crisis. No. The blame must lie at the doors of No. 11 and No. 10 Downing street. Our economic growth has faltered thanks to a reckless slashing of investment by this out-of-touch Government. Yes, in 2008 the global economy did go through the worst financial crisis, and subsequently the deepest recession, since the 1930s, and yes, the British economy was badly affected by the irresponsibility of banks over-lending, but since the Government came to power, the UK economy has stagnated, as I have pointed out. Since last autumn, only earthquake-hit Japan has grown more slowly than the UK in the G7. There is no doubt that the Government’s policies are hurting, but they are certainly not working. Today, I want to spell out that it is not just that the Government are not doing enough to help our economy grow; what they are doing, they are doing badly.
The previous Government’s key tools for regional economic development were the nine regional development agencies covering the country. Those tools for investment enjoyed significant Government support both politically and financially, with a budget of approximately £2 billion a year. I think that in the last year of the Labour Government, the budget was £1.7 billion. The Conservatives made no secret of their desire to abolish the RDAs if they won the general election—they did not win it, but they are in power thanks to the Liberal Democrats—but they were very light on what they thought should replace them.
Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)
I thank the hon. Lady—my neighbour in West Yorkshire—for giving way, but I found your partisan language, your doom-mongering and your negativity quite shocking, which is a shame.
Mr James Gray (in the Chair)
Order. I will have no part of doom-mongering and such language.
Jason McCartney
One minute, the hon. Member for Penistone and Stocksbridge (Angela Smith) is happy that Forgemasters is getting a loan, and the next she is unhappy—she seems unhappy with both. May I confirm that she welcomes the regional growth fund as a scheme, but for the tinkering with the details and the learning as we go on with different bids? Does she join Government Members in welcoming the scheme and the way in which it invests in businesses, as it did in David Brown’s in my constituency?
Jason McCartney
That was a £2 million investment, which will secure 80 new jobs.