Thomas Cook

Rachel Reeves Excerpts

Wednesday 25th September 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. To this point, the erudition of questions has been equalled only by their length. Unfortunately, there is a premium on time, as we have other matters with which we have to deal, so I appeal to colleagues to cast aside pre-written scripts and to confine themselves to single sentence—preferably short sentence—questions, without preamble, so that we can make progress.

[Rachel Reeves (Leeds West) (Lab)]

The BEIS Committee believes that Thomas Cook’s directors and auditors have serious questions to answer. In the past five years, £20 million in bonuses has been paid to directors, and the company has now gone under with debts of more than £3 billion. Will the Secretary of State for Transport confirm that the directors of Thomas Cook will not be able to continue as directors at any other firm until the Insolvency Service has completed its investigation? Will the Government commit to replacing the FRC with a regulatory framework that holds directors to account, as our Committee has called for?

[Grant Shapps]

I think I answered the first question about the Insolvency Act and the Company Directors Disqualification Act. As the hon. Lady knows, it is for the official receiver to do that part of the work, and I cannot pre-empt it. She tempts me to stray into other areas, which are a long way from the transport brief, so I think I had better not answer now.