"I can assure the hon. Gentleman that that thirst for information has been evident, not least in his constituency last week. If he would care to turn up to one or two meetings, he would be asked quite a few questions which I think that he and his colleagues need …..." Lord Darling of Roulanish - View Speech
"What irritated members of the SNP so much last week was that wherever I went in Scotland more and more questions were asked about them, and as that fact became more and more widely reported, it really did rile them.
"What the hon. Gentleman has said so far is absolutely right, but there is one further thing to say: the UK Government have always followed the Electoral Commission’s advice. We would be interested to know whether the SNP is likely to take the same position...." Lord Darling of Roulanish - View Speech
"I agree with what the Prime Minister said about the banking union. Like so many other things coming out of the eurozone, it looks a bit half-baked at the moment. Did he get any sense of how much money the banking union will have, and where it will get it …..." Lord Darling of Roulanish - View Speech
"I hope that the hon. Member for Macclesfield (David Rutley) will forgive me if, in the time available to me, I do not follow him down the road of bulldozers or anything else. I should begin by drawing the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial …..." Lord Darling of Roulanish - View Speech
"I will address that point later. It is an important point, and I do not believe we should just sit back and hope that growth returns. The shadow Chancellor and many others both inside and outside the House also do not believe that the Government’s approach is right.
"There is a lot of debate about that issue. I do not have the time to address it in detail, but I have said—including in a programme that will be broadcast tonight—that I think the Bank of England needs to examine its role, because for a long time we have …..." Lord Darling of Roulanish - View Speech
"If I understood the Chancellor correctly, the profile of rising growth that he announced today looks remarkably similar to the profile that he announced in 2010, but which singularly failed to materialise. That, of course, is one reason why he has missed his debt target. Will he tell us why …..." Lord Darling of Roulanish - View Speech
"Will the Secretary of State tell us whether Mr Laidlaw considered the implications of the decision to make this a 15-year franchise? He will know that when I had his job I reduced the franchises to seven years, because after that time trying to speculate on the state of the …..." Lord Darling of Roulanish - View Speech
"The Chancellor referred to my quote in a newspaper yesterday. I should just tell him that I was asked specifically about the investigation of individuals, and I made the point that there are authorities, such as the Serious Fraud Office and the Financial Services Authority, who are supposed to be …..." Lord Darling of Roulanish - View Speech