Business of the House

Stephen Flynn Excerpts

Thursday 3rd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

All sensible Governments listen to wise Back Benchers, who represent their constituents assiduously. My hon. Friend makes that right point: we need—[Interruption.] The right hon. Member for Walsall South (Valerie Vaz) is a Front Bencher, not a Back Bencher, although I listen to her with great care always. We agree on some things, but not, by any means, on everything. As I was saying, we do need to build more homes. We need to build enough homes; we need to build the right homes; and we need to build beautiful homes. We need to build the type of homes that people want. I am afraid that we have not always managed that since the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 came in. Indeed, we have reduced the size of homes and of gardens over the decades since, which is not necessarily what people want. The White Paper is open for consultation until October, and I am sure that right hon. and hon. Members will make their views known in a variety of ways, both inside the Chamber and by direct correspondence.

[Stephen Flynn (Aberdeen South) (SNP)]

It is now six months since I stood in this House to raise concerns about the collapsing oil price and the impact that would have on my city of Aberdeen. Since then, the UK Government have been busy: they have failed to deliver a single penny of sector-specific support; they are yet to sign off on an oil and gas sector deal; and they are now refusing to release any of the £12.9 billion-worth of decommissioning tax receipts that appear to have been locked in a vault in Whitehall. I am sure the Leader of the House will share my concern at this complete inaction and will therefore wish to put aside some Government time for a debate on these very important matters.

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

The Government have done an enormous amount to support the overall economy, as I have already pointed out, by providing £35 billion for the furlough scheme, £8.5 billion for the self-employed and £15 billion for coronavirus business interruption loans for our small and medium-sized enterprises and large businesses. So a huge amount has been done to help businesses across the country. The price of oil fell into negative territory during the peak of this crisis and has recovered from that quite significantly. Volatility in the oil price is something everybody in the oil industry is well aware of.