Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Dave Doogan

Tuesday 21st March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Hunt]

I completely agree and, thanks to the brilliant efforts of the tech sector in South Cambridgeshire, we have now become the third largest tech sector in the world, after the United States and China, thanks to the Conservative Government.

[Dave Doogan (Angus) (SNP)]

My constituent Fiona Cooper was seeking to close the national insurance contribution gaps in her pension just before retirement and was frustrated that the advice she got about her missing years from HMRC needed validating by the Department for Work and Pensions. Does the Chancellor agree that one set of numbers is the cornerstone of any enterprise, and is he also frustrated that she has been advised that she will need to close full years before she can close part years?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Dave Doogan

Tuesday 20th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Hunt]

I am very proud of the fact that, having inherited an economy that was bankrupted by the hon. Lady’s party, we have given it one of the strongest growth rates in the developed world.

[Dave Doogan (Angus) (SNP)]

I know that the Chancellor has invested in public health personally, but may I urge him to invest, in a fiscal sense, in beer and alcohol duty, and to create a differential between off-sales and on-sales? On-sales are where jobs and tax and employment are generated, and off-sales are where all the harmful drinking comes from.

Economic Update

Debate between Jeremy Hunt and Dave Doogan

Monday 17th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Hunt]

As the hon. Member knows, I am not announcing any decisions today, but it would always be my intention to give a fair deal to Northern Ireland, which is an incredibly precious part of our Union.

[Dave Doogan (Angus) (SNP)]

The new Chancellor—October’s Chancellor—said, with no small measure of smug superiority and constitutional illiteracy, that in his opinion the four members he identified of his economic advisory board, who by my count are three members of large accountancy firms and one former insider from the Treasury, were well equipped to usher in the best possible economic plan for the devolved nations. That is clearly patent nonsense, but has it occurred to the Chancellor to invite the Finance Ministers from the devolved nations to form part of his economic advisory board, or is that beneath him?

[Jeremy Hunt]

I have regular contact and will continue to have regular contact—[Interruption.] Excuse me, would you let me answer? Sorry, Madam Deputy Speaker, but I was hoping the hon. Gentleman would let me answer.

I have regular contact with my Finance Minister counterparts in the devolved nations—and, indeed, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury had such discussions today—but this economic council is something different. This is about trying to make sure that we deal effectively with the instability we have seen in the markets, which is mainly London-based, and we want to make sure that it does not happen again, so I think I have four fantastic people for that role.