Business of the House Debate

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Department: Leader of the House

Business of the House

Mark Hendrick Excerpts
Thursday 13th October 2011

(13 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lord Young of Cookham Portrait Sir George Young
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I am glad that the extra funding is being put to good use in my hon. Friend’s constituency, and I remind him that the shadow Secretary of State for Health said:

“It is irresponsible to increase NHS spending in real terms”.

Mark Hendrick Portrait Mark Hendrick (Preston) (Lab/Co-op)
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Is the Leader of the House aware of the 1,400 job losses that will occur at BAE Systems as a result of the Government’s cutting the defence budget too far and too fast? That is having a devastating effect on families across Lancashire and on the manufacturing base in this country. May we have a debate specifically on the future of manufacturing in this country?

Lord Young of Cookham Portrait Sir George Young
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I know that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Ministry of Defence are anxious to mitigate the problems that confront BAE Systems and a number of towns throughout the country that have been impacted by the reduction in defence spending—which I suspect the hon. Gentleman’s party would have had to do in any event had it been re-elected. I shall certainly pursue the particular issue in his constituency and see what steps can be taken to mitigate the impact on unemployment.