Jason McCartney
Main Page: Jason McCartney (Conservative - Colne Valley)(13 years, 1 month ago)
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Angela Smith
My hon. Friend is right. The growth figures today show that we are heading for a gross domestic product growth increase of 0.5% over the past year, which is a significant slow-down from the 2.6% registered in the last year of the Labour Government. It is appalling that the Government do not seem able to resolve issues to do with releasing investment to manufacturing and businesses up and down the country, and do not seem able to ensure that the funding flows quickly to the companies that need it in order to secure our economic future.
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?
Angela Smith
I would welcome recognition by the Government that we need far more than what is on offer on the table. We need proper decentralisation of the decision-making processes, more transparency, and a more efficient way of delivering funds to companies. The chances of such funds delivering significant economic growth are about as good as the chances of Huddersfield football club getting a promotion to the championship next year.
Mr Prisk
After the dithering by the Labour party over Longbridge and that site, the hon. Gentleman should be a little careful about what he says. We made the situation crystal clear to the owners, the local enterprise partnership and the city council. Those discussions are in hand, and I am confident that they will be concluded successfully.
Jason McCartney
I thank the Minister for coming to the royal armouries in Leeds just a few weeks ago to speak to the Leeds city region LEP. Some 600 energetic, enthusiastic and positive business leaders are really moving forward with this. I take on board his point about business confidence. Camira Fabrics, Thornton & Ross Pharmaceuticals, Newsholme Food Group and Equi-Trek horse boxes in my patch are all going out there and making it happen. Does the Minister not agree that the regional growth fund is just part of the package for growth? We also have the enterprise zones, the LEPs and 450,000 apprenticeships; that is up 50%. Yesterday, a young entrepreneur got in contact with me about the enterprise allowance. The regional growth fund is just part of our package, while the Opposition only have an unfunded cut in VAT.