Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Penny Mordaunt and Danny Alexander

Tuesday 11th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

I certainly think that a new culture is needed in the banking sector. That was the basic reason why the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards was established. It produced a very wide-ranging report, and many of its recommendations were taken forward by this House in the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013. I think that that will lead to a better culture. I suggest that the hon. Gentleman raises his specific concerns with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

[Penny Mordaunt (Portsmouth North) (Con)]

T8. The maritime taskforce will report shortly, setting out the opportunities and actions to make Portsmouth and the Solent area the heart of the maritime industry in the UK. Will the Economic Secretary work with me to ensure that we can capitalise on the report’s findings to make that vision a reality?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Penny Mordaunt and Danny Alexander

Tuesday 25th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

Our programme of investment in rural broadband is being delivered in every part of the United Kingdom, and it is on track for delivery. We continue to look at the capability of Government Departments to deliver infrastructure projects effectively. My noble Friend the Commercial Secretary to the Treasury has been undertaking a review of these matters and will set out the conclusions shortly.

[Penny Mordaunt (Portsmouth North) (Con)]

This morning, it was Labour party policy to cut pensions to spend more on welfare. We have just heard that the party now supports the triple lock. Is the Chancellor optimistic that by tea time it might support our policy on controlled welfare spending? [Interruption.]

Finance (No. 4) Bill

Debate between Penny Mordaunt and Danny Alexander

Monday 16th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt (Portsmouth North) (Con)]

Can my right hon. Friend confirm that the measures in the Budget will raise five times more than changing the 50p rate?

[Danny Alexander]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right about that. The figures in the Budget book, certified by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility, show that in each and every year, money raised from the wealthiest in the land will dwarf by five times at least the cost of reducing the 50p rate to 45p. In doing that, we are also, for example, clamping down on the avoidance of stamp duty—something that was left as an open door by the previous Government. They seemed to be in favour of a tax system that encouraged avoidance, rather than clamping down on avoidance, ensuring that everyone pays their fair share and thereby raising five times as much money overall, which we can use, for example, to fund the massive cost of the substantial reductions in income tax for people on low and middle incomes in this country.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Penny Mordaunt and Danny Alexander

Tuesday 16th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

The welfare reforms that we are proposing are designed to support people off benefit and into work. That is the whole point of the reforms that the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions outlined last week. The reforms that will create a universal credit and some of the changes that we announced in the spending review are all there to help people off benefit and into work, and to help people get jobs, which is what the hon. Gentleman should support.

[Penny Mordaunt (Portsmouth North) (Con)]

Can the Chancellor confirm that, unlike the shadow Chancellor, he is not an instinctive cutter?

Public Spending

Debate between Penny Mordaunt and Danny Alexander

Thursday 17th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

The hon. Gentleman has no doubt studied carefully the coalition programme for government, and he will know that we have agreed to proceed with the successor deterrent to Trident. The value-for-money review will do precisely what it says on the tin: we want to get the best value for money from the project and not waste taxpayers’ money unnecessarily on the renewal.

[Penny Mordaunt (Portsmouth North) (Con)]

I was surprised, but glad, to hear that Treasury staff have been able to help the shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury to review the projects mentioned in the statement. It is a shame that he did not do that while he was in office. Will the Chief Secretary consider seconding some of his staff—if he can spare them—to help to educate Labour Members and to get them on the same page as the rest of the country, given the state that they have left the economy in?

[Danny Alexander]

I agree with the hon. Lady that the people of this country are ahead of the Labour party in realising the seriousness of the economic problems that we face. That consensus is now a global one—people will have seen the statement from the G20 summit on the need for faster fiscal consolidation. That is right, and the Opposition are wrong.