Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Jeremy Lefroy(5 years ago)
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Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)
The decision by the European Union to suspend the equivalence agreement with Switzerland seems to be very damaging. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor has done a fantastic job over the past few years. Will he confirm whether the United Kingdom was consulted on whether the decision should go ahead?
Mr Hammond
We have been closely involved in this issue, discussing it both in the EU and with the Swiss. I can tell the House that although on the face of it the withdrawal of equivalence had a very significant effect on the ability of UK shareholders to trade Swiss shares on the Swiss stock exchange, the measures that the European Securities and Markets Authority announced on Friday significantly mitigate the impact. So we very much hope that the European Union and Switzerland will be able to reach agreement, and of course there is a very direct relevance to the UK’s own negotiations with the European Union.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Jeremy Lefroy(6 years, 8 months ago)
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Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)
What does the Chancellor believe we need to do to improve productivity, which is rightly one of his three priorities?
Mr Philip Hammond
We need to invest in our infrastructure and the skills of our people, we need to ensure that our high growth businesses have access to long-term capital, and address the regional disparity in productivity performance. If we can tackle those four things, we can start to close Britain’s productivity gap and see real wages rising sustainably over many years ahead.