Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sajid Javid and Robert Neill

Tuesday 23rd November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

I am sorry to hear about the hon. Lady’s constituent, and of course a Minister will meet her.

[Sir Robert Neill (Bromley and Chislehurst) (Con)]

T10. I refer to my interest as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on stroke and as the husband of a stroke survivor.Mechanical thrombectomy can be a game-changer for sufferers of strokes, greatly reducing the levels of disability they are left with. NHS England committed itself to a full roll-out of mechanical thrombectomy availability by 2022, but we are lagging seriously behind. Where are the plan and the investment to bring the programme back up to date and on track?

Economy and Jobs

Debate between Sajid Javid and Robert Neill

Monday 20th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

Yes—I am pleased that my hon. Friend has asked me that. We are absolutely committed to that deal; indeed, we want to go further. The automotive sector is one of our most important sectors, responsible for much of the growth and many of the jobs in our economy. It will certainly get the Government’s strong support.

Let me briefly address an important question for the future of our economy: our future relationship with the EU. We are leaving the EU, its single market and the customs union. We are seeking an ambitious, Canada-style free trade agreement. In doing so, we will be a sovereign and independent country, not a rule taker, so yes, some things will change. It is a new chapter. We are ambitious for British businesses, through a close relationship not only with the EU but with other partners. Some 90% of global growth is expected to come from outside the EU over the next decade, so there are real opportunities for the UK. We will maintain high standards not because we are told to, but because that is what the British people want. Above all, we will be driven by British interests.

[Sir Robert Neill (Bromley and Chislehurst) (Con)]

I welcome what my right hon. Friend is saying, but will he bear in mind in particular the need to protect the interests of the financial services sector, as Britain is a world leader in financial services? It is right that so large a sector would not necessarily be a rule taker, but does he recognise that we need better than the current equivalence regime, to make sure that we maximise access for our world-leading financial services?

[Sajid Javid]

I agree absolutely with my hon. Friend and will come to that topic in just a moment.

The foundation of our new economic plan is fiscal responsibility. It has taken a decade of hard work by the British people to turn our public finances around. The deficit has fallen from 10% of GDP in 2010 to just 1.8% today. We are not going to throw that away. We were elected on a platform to manage the public finances responsibly, so it is a matter of trust, as well as economic credibility, that we deliver on that promise to the British people. We will be bound by a credible new fiscal framework that will keep our borrowing and debt under control while allowing for new investment in levelling up and spreading opportunity throughout the country. At the Budget, I will publish a new charter for budget responsibility that will give effect to those rules, and the Office for Budget Responsibility will scrutinise our performance against them.

Thanks to the hard work of the British people, we have got that deficit down, and debt is under control. We can now afford to invest more in levelling up and spreading opportunity right across our country. The first step will be our national infrastructure strategy. Better infrastructure can boost people’s earning power by making it easier to find work. It can help businesses access new markets. It can help us thrive and grow. It can boost communities and places and improve standards of living. It is simply not good enough that we have fallen behind so many other countries on infrastructure, and the Government are going to fix that.