Short Money and Policy Development Grant Debate
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Jim McMahon
Main Page: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)Department Debates - View all Jim McMahon's debates with the HM Treasury
Short Money and Policy Development Grant
Jim McMahon Excerpts(8 years, 3 months ago)
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John Penrose
As I mentioned before, the total cost of Spads since the general election has started to fall.
Jim McMahon (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab)
This cannot be taken in isolation. The fact is that the Government do not like being held to account. That is precisely why we now have the Trade Union Bill, why charities are being gagged by the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Bill and why the Government are cutting the money to the Opposition. The truth is that they might be able to win a vote, but they cannot win the argument.
John Penrose
I keep on coming back to the central point that it is perfectly possible to undertake policy raising and policy development tasks more cheaply than before, as the hon. Member for Clacton (Mr Carswell) mentioned. The rest of the country would not understand why, when everyone else has had to become more efficient, politicians should somehow be a special case. They would accuse us of feathering our own nests, and it would be extremely hard to justify that kind of action to anyone outside this place.