Post Office
Debate between Richard Burden and Jo Swinson
Jo Swinson
My hon. Friend makes a powerful point. The fact that we have a network with such a fantastic reach into communities up and down the country means that it is ideally placed for a range of different commercial contracts and potential partnerships, such as the one that he mentions with National Express.
Richard Burden (Birmingham, Northfield) (Lab)
At a time when so many of our constituents face crippling debts, I think the Minister might agree that local post offices should be able to play a bigger role in providing alternatives to loan sharks. It has been argued that credit unions could be co-located with local post offices, but all too often that does not stack up financially for the post office or the credit union. What does she feel she can do to bring them together and remove those barriers?
Jo Swinson
The hon. Gentleman makes an important point, not just about the suitability of post offices for such ventures but about the need for such projects in our communities. As he will be aware, the Government are investing £38 million to support credit unions to modernise and to ensure that they can be accessible to people in communities. There might be ways in which that can be used to create collaboration with the Post Office in communities where that makes sense.
High Cost Credit Bill
Debate between Richard Burden and Jo Swinson
Jo Swinson
We absolutely are moving ahead on the basis of evidence. We have legislated on this issue. We are transferring the issue of consumer credit to a new regulator. It is not as if there is no legislation. We agree that tough regulation is needed to deal with the significant problems in this market, and that regulation is happening. I have confidence in it and in what has happened already, which I will set out. This is about whether further legislation is needed at this juncture and I think that that is the only issue about which there is slight disagreement.
Jo Swinson
I will give way to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Northfield (Richard Burden) and then to the hon. Member for Worsley and Eccles South (Barbara Keeley), and then I will make some progress.
Richard Burden
I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. She has said that the objectives are shared throughout the House but that there is slight disagreement on some aspects. If the disagreement is slight, would it not make more sense to let the Bill have its Second Reading and go into Committee, and then any amendments that she might want to table could be debated? What is wrong with that?
Jo Swinson
The disagreement may be slight, but it is on the basic principle of whether the FCA is best placed to regulate these matters or whether the Government should mandate it to do so through legislation. That is a significant difference in principle.