Amendment of the Law

Matt Hancock Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Richard Harrington (Watford) (Con)]

I assure you, Mr Deputy Speaker, that I will stick to the guidelines you have given. In fact, uniquely both in this House and in life generally, I find that I am speechless after listening to the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Diana Johnson). There is a holiday attraction somewhere called la-la land. I cannot remember who mentioned it but, obviously, it is nothing to do with Kingston upon Hull North. The picture the hon. Lady painted forgets who has been in power for the last 13 years and who has been responsible for a bloated public sector and a starved private sector, as well as for unemployment and all the other problems that many people, including the Chancellor, have spoken about today.

[Matthew Hancock (West Suffolk) (Con)]

Is my hon. Friend as confused as I am given that the previous speaker started her speech by saying there are new jobs at Siemens in Hull, thereby showing that manufacturing is expanding under this new Government?

[Richard Harrington]

My hon. Friend makes a good point, but we heard about Siemens so long ago that it had slipped my mind.

I shall restrict my comments to my experiences in business of dealing with the economy, and the experiences of my constituents and their businesses in Watford. Watford is not dissimilar to Kingston upon Hull. It has significant unemployment and shares all the same problems as many other parts of the country. Notwithstanding the Chancellor’s commendable statement today, the most significant factor in encouraging businesses to invest is the general macro-economic situation. Therefore, the most important aspects of this Budget and the last Budget are the measures for reducing the deficit.