Peter Bone
Main Page: Peter Bone (Independent - Wellingborough)(12 years, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
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Vince Cable
The starting point of the hon. Gentleman’s question is right: there has to be cross-party support, because if we are thinking 10, 15 or 20 years ahead, we do not know what form of Government will emerge over that time. There is undoubtedly cross-party support among Government Members. I think that I heard support from the Opposition, but I was not totally clear about that.
Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)
I hate to say this to the Secretary of State, but there is not cross-party support from this particular quarter. His statement sounded to me like one that any Labour Minister in the previous Administration could have made; it talked about state intervention and picking winners and said nothing about cutting red tape and regulation. It was a Labour statement, not a coalition statement.
Vince Cable
The hon. Gentleman has his own very distinctive and unique style which we all admire. What I said goes in tandem with the announcements that my colleagues and I made this morning about scrapping a substantial amount of red tape. Of course, for large parts of the small-scale business sector that is rather more crucial. The two things coexist.