Open-cast Coal Sites (Restoration)

Debate between Nia Griffith and Madeleine Moon

Thursday 29th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend find it extraordinary that Celtic Energy was given an exemption from any form of restoration bond, whereas all the other private operators in the area had to pay such a bond? It made for a completely uneven playing field.

[Mrs Moon]

It most certainly did. Money went to the Major Government, and our community has been left with the financial responsibility for restoring the sites. It is shocking.

Finance Bill

Debate between Nia Griffith and Madeleine Moon

Tuesday 28th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Nia Griffith]

My hon. Friend is right.

Let us move on from the small items such as mobile phone bills and the VAT on them—it might be someone’s only phone if they do not have a landline. Let us move to the other end of the scale and what are called the big ticket purchases such as replacing a car or refurbishing a kitchen. They are things that people do not have to do now, but they may choose to do; perhaps they intend to do them in the next few years. The Labour Government introduced the car scrappage scheme, which spurred on people who were thinking of replacing their car in the next couple of years to bring that purchase forward. It meant that money that was available, which some people had put by in savings, was fed into the economy and made a difference.

[Mrs Madeleine Moon (Bridgend) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend remember that the car scrappage scheme was particularly effective in Wales, where the Ford factory found that the majority of cars bought under the scheme were Fords. So jobs were kept in Wales? The Welsh Liberal Democrats want to take those jobs away from Welsh workers.

[Nia Griffith]

The whole point of an active Government who take an interest in re-igniting the economy was absolutely that—to create jobs and ensure wealth creation so that we would be in a better position to pay back quickly—