Oral Answers to Questions

Matt Western Excerpts

Wednesday 9th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend. No. 1, yes of course we will do everything we can with NHS Test and Trace, plus our armed forces, to roll out community testing in Stafford; and No. 2, of course we want to support Stafford and the people of Stafford with a massive programme of business support, including nearly £1.4 million in bounce back loans, grants, rate relief and VAT deferrals.

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

  The Prime Minister will fully appreciate that the use of gross domestic product as a measure is abstract in terms of dealing with and understanding prosperity, but people talk about a 15% drop in GDP as a result of the pandemic. Looking at a simple analysis of car sales as an indicator of economic performance, relative to Germany, we have lost 184,000 car sales in the UK, or versus France, 100,000. Behind those numbers, which are a big hit to UK plc, are jobs and businesses. How does the Prime Minister explain this relative economic performance?

[The Prime Minister]

The Government of this country have done everything we can to support business and support lives and livelihoods throughout this pandemic, with now, I think, more than £260 billion of support, and that remains the case. The hon. Gentleman mentions France and Germany. He should know that unemployment, in spite of all the difficulties this country has faced, remains lower in this country than in France, Italy, Spain and the United States. Yes, it is tough, but we are going to get through it and we are going to get through it together.