UK Steel Production: Greensill Capital
Debate between Rupa Huq and Kwasi Kwarteng(3 years, 8 months ago)
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Kwasi Kwarteng
My right hon. Friend is absolutely right to point to electricity and energy costs. I am in regular contact with my right hon. Friend the Chancellor to see what can be done, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (John Redwood) said, to address that problem.
Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)
The Greensill affair raises the issue not just of Liberty Steel’s refinancing but of ex-Prime Minister David Cameron bending the ear of the now Chancellor, although he was not on the lobbying register. With ex-Minister Eric Pickles overseeing the body regulating current Ministers’ interests, how can the Government ensure transparency on conflicts of interest when they seem to operate a culture of friends with benefits and mates’ rates, with British steel jobs being mere collateral?
Kwasi Kwarteng
Obviously, I completely reject the hon. Lady’s characterisation of what goes on. She will know that officials often meet huge numbers of business people who are affected by policy. That is part of policy development, but it is always done in a transparent, open and proper way.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Rupa Huq and Kwasi Kwarteng(4 years, 10 months ago)
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Kwasi Kwarteng
Absolutely. I welcome my hon. Friend to his place—another very successful campaign. On fracking, the moratorium is what it says: we are stopping it. The only way it can be resumed is by compelling evidence, which so far is not forthcoming. So the moratorium stays and fracking, for the time being, is over.
Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)