Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Kwasi Kwarteng and Kevin Hollinrake

Tuesday 11th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call Mr Hollinrake for the final question.

[Kevin Hollinrake (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The UK has rightly frozen around £30 billion of Russian foreign currency reserves. A number of countries are moving from freezing those assets to seizing them to pay reparations to Ukraine. Will my right hon. Friend look at similar measures from the UK?

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

Those measures have been discussed in the past; I think my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove) talked about that earlier in the year. Those schemes are always being looked at in the light of what is an increasingly bleak and volatile situation in Russia and Ukraine.

The Growth Plan

Debate between Kwasi Kwarteng and Kevin Hollinrake

Friday 23rd September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

What the hon. Lady did not mention in her question was the fact that a growing economy creates growing tax revenues, which pay for public services. Her high-tax, high-spend approach leads to a cycle of stagnation. We want to break free of that.

[Kevin Hollinrake (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

Growth and cutting taxes are true Conservative principles, and so is balancing the books. By my calculations, based on the Chancellor’s announcements, the deficit this year will be in the region of £250 billion and then probably £150 billion. That is certainly the evidence we got at the Treasury Committee yesterday; if that is not the case, I would be interested in his forecast. Of course, following this announcement there will be a higher deficit either way, so can he confirm that, as he seeks to balance the books in the future, he will not do so by cutting infrastructure investment in the north, whatever the outcome may be in terms of his likely growth path from here?

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

My hon. Friend will know that, through growth, we will get more tax receipts, which will actually reduce the net debt to GDP ratio over the medium term. That is 100% what we are focused on. He is right that in the past we have tended to reduce expenditure on capital projects. We must not do that in the future if we are to pursue our levelling-up goals.

Corporate Transparency and Economic Crime

Debate between Kwasi Kwarteng and Kevin Hollinrake

Monday 28th February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right to say that we want to have greater transparency. The example in the statement was merely that; it was an example of how people can hide ownership of assets. We want greater transparency generally.

[Kevin Hollinrake (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

I very much welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement, particularly the bit about overseas entities. There are a couple of things that he might consider for his White Paper. Some 43% of all financial crime is identified by whistleblowers, so proper whistleblowing protection is absolutely critical to identifying this stuff. The other thing is failure to prevent economic crime. If we want our banks and wealth managers to clamp down on this stuff and to do the right thing, they need to face criminal charges if they do not.

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend, who has been speaking about these affairs with a great deal of knowledge and passion for many years, and I have engaged with him on these subjects. He will also appreciate that what we are doing in bringing forward this legislation does not capture the entire economic crime package. There are other measures that we will be looking to bring in very soon.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Kwasi Kwarteng and Kevin Hollinrake

Tuesday 11th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Kevin Hollinrake (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

Regional mutual banks are key to the success of small and medium-sized enterprises in the world’s most productive economies, including Germany and the USA. Will my right hon. Friend meet me to discuss that important opportunity?

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

I am very happy to meet my hon. Friend. We have discussed that important issue on a number of occasions when I was wearing different hats in Government, but I am happy to meet him again.

Subsidy Control Bill

Debate between Kwasi Kwarteng and Kevin Hollinrake

2nd reading
Wednesday 22nd September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman’s description of what the Bill does. If he listens to the rest of my remarks, he may well hear further clarification. Of course, as is always the case, many of these issues will be discussed in Committee if the Bill’s Second Reading receives the assent of the House.

Public authorities will be empowered to make their own assessment of whether a new subsidy meets the requirements of the regime and, in the vast majority of cases, to proceed directly to granting that subsidy. For the first time, the decision on whether to grant a subsidy will always fall to the granting authority itself. For the largest subsidies, or those that present the highest risk of distorting competition, it is worth recalling that the default process under the EU state aid regime could last between nine and 12 months, and that that often determined whether a project could happen or not. Under the new regime, a new body, the UK subsidy advice unit, must publish its report within 30 working days. That is in huge contrast to the nine-to-12 month period under the EU.

[Kevin Hollinrake (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

The right hon. Member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd (Liz Saville Roberts) mentioned ideology. One ideology that I hope will always hold firm on this side of the House is that of not wasting taxpayers’ cash. Is the Minister comfortable with the situation in which local authorities and devolved Administrations could grant subsidies of hundreds of thousands of pounds without having to publicly declare them? Would we not be better with a much lower threshold, so that public scrutiny could always be in place?

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

Local authorities have to declare spending at much lower levels than the figure that my hon. Friend has just put forward. Clearly, transparency is at the centre of what we are trying to achieve. Instead of a year, the whole process will take only a few weeks. It will be a much quicker process and it will allow public authorities to act with far greater agility than before. However, I do not believe that the transparency will be in any way compromised. This is an area that will give more flexibility while not diminishing accountability. In fact, it will enhance accountability because, under the EU state aid regime, there was no way we could change the rules in any way.

At the same time, this is a regime that will provide certainty and confidence to businesses within the UK, and also to those among the foreign investment community who are keen to invest in the UK, by protecting against subsidies that risk distorting competition or causing harmful economic impacts. And of course, the regime will operate alongside our usual, traditional stringent spending controls to ensure the best use of public money.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Kwasi Kwarteng and Kevin Hollinrake

Tuesday 9th February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

As the right hon. Gentleman well knows, my door is always open, and I am very happy to meet him to discuss this issue. I recall that when my right hon. Friend the Member for Tunbridge Wells (Greg Clark) was in my place, it was a very delicate situation, but I am happy to discuss with the right hon. Gentleman ideas on how we can ameliorate it.

[Kevin Hollinrake (Thirsk and Malton) (Con) [V]]

I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. In my parliamentary work I have seen a number of examples of council landlords being unreasonable with tenants who are facing eviction or, potentially, insolvency when the right of forfeiture is restored on 31 March. Will my right hon. Friend set out his plans for this, but also send a message to local authorities that they should set a good example when it comes to helping businesses through this crisis?

The Insolvency (Moratorium) (Special Administration for Energy Licencees) (Regulations) 2020

Debate between Kwasi Kwarteng and Kevin Hollinrake

Wednesday 30th September 2020 General Committees

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

I appreciate that the hon. Member for Southampton, Test (Dr Whitehead) is not in his place, and I welcome the hon. Lady as his temporary replacement, but I detect his hand in many of her remarks; it was extremely characteristic of him to widen the scope of the debate. This is just an SI, but I was asked how many companies I thought would be insolvent. If I had a number, I would certainly never divulge it in this public forum. A lot of the questions posed by the hon. Lady are relevant, but they are not specifically tied to the nature of this debate or our specific requirement to consider the SI. I am happy to engage with her and her colleague in subsequent debates—that is an open invitation. I thank the hon. Lady for her contribution. I also thank you, Mr Davies, for the patient way in which you have chaired this debate.

[Kevin Hollinrake (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

Is my right hon. Friend looking at making it easier for communities to produce and distribute their own energy, and if so, would this SI affect their capability to do so?

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

I appreciate the enthusiasm of hon. Members to engage with this debate, but we have to be specific about the nature of the SI. I am absolutely happy to debate and talk to my hon. Friend individually about the scope for local communities to engage with energy provision, but the scope of the SI is, unfortunately, very narrowly concerned with the financial distress in which energy companies—as defined in the measure—may find themselves. Those companies will essentially have to pre-warn or give warning to the Secretary of State, so that the Secretary of State and Ofgem can act swiftly to address the situation. That is what the SI relates to, but I am of course happy to debate wider considerations in another forum.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Kwasi Kwarteng and Kevin Hollinrake

Tuesday 22nd October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

I did suggest that the VAT increase was part of EU legislation, and that is something we can amend, if we wish to do so, after we have left the EU. Solar is a UK success story. I will not take any lessons from the Labour party about the success of solar: 99% of our solar-generating capacity and over 1 million installations have been deployed since 2010, since the Government took office. This is something that we are proud of, and it will obviously be part of our energy mix as we seek to hit the target of zero carbon emissions in 2050.

[Kevin Hollinrake (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

Even given the VAT situation, solar and wind, together with battery storage on commercial buildings, are pretty much viable without public subsidy. Is not now the right time for a widespread deployment on every public building, including every school, hospital and prison?

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent observation. We are supporting innovation in this area. We have the Modern Energy Partners programme, which cuts energy costs and carbon emissions across the public sector.