Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Victoria Atkins and Patrick Grady

Tuesday 20th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

14. What recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of withdrawal from the EU on the economy.

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Victoria Atkins)]

As per my previous response to the same question by the hon. Gentleman in the last Treasury oral questions, I note that the UK has grown at a similar rate to comparable European economies since 2016, and that it still remains challenging to separate out the effects of Brexit and wider global trends on the UK economy. We remain absolutely committed to seizing the opportunities we now have, free from the EU.

[Patrick Grady]

That is very convenient. Only the UK has to deal with Brexit. Everyone has had to deal with covid and everyone has had to deal with Ukraine, but only the UK has had to deal with Brexit. That is why, according to the London School of Economics, customers have collectively paid nearly £7 billion extra in their food bills as a direct result of all the checks and frustrations that have come with Brexit. Is the Minister honestly saying that it was a good idea, and that it has not hurt the UK economy?

[Victoria Atkins]

Let me again gently remind the hon. Gentleman to look at what is happening in the rest of the EU. For example, the eurozone is suffering from the effects of mild recession. All this is due to the global headwinds that we are all facing. However, I know that the hon. Gentleman will be delighted by the recent growth upgrades from the Office for Budget Responsibility, the Bank of England and the OECD. We do face challenges, and of course we have to work with our global counterparts to try to deal with those global headwinds, but we are focusing very much on the Prime Minister’s priority of halving inflation, because that is what will make a real difference to our constituents.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Victoria Atkins and Patrick Grady

Tuesday 9th May 2023 Commons Chamber

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

17. What recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU on the economy.

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Victoria Atkins)]

The UK has grown faster than France and at a similar rate to Germany since leaving the single market. It remains challenging to separate the effects of Brexit and wider global trends on the UK economy, such as the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, adding pressures to trade, prices and the wider economy. We continue to support businesses trading with the EU and help them to seize new opportunities with fast-growing economies around the world, including through our free trade agreement negotiations.

[Victoria Atkins]

Crikey, I am going to leave it to the Leader of the Opposition to flip-flop his way through that particular policy. What I can tell the hon. Lady is that we are the best place in Europe to invest in tech. We are only the third economy in the world with a $1 trillion tech sector; we are ranked as the world’s fourth most innovative economy; and we have created more unicorns than France and Germany combined.

[Patrick Grady]

Unicorns and fantasies are largely what we hear from Members on the Government Benches these days. The reality is that the Music Venue Trust reckons that grassroots venues are closing at a rate of one per week, bands from Europe find it increasingly difficult to travel here, and our hospitality sector more generally is experiencing catastrophic staff shortages. Is Lord Heseltine not right when he says that Brexit has been

“a classic mistake, a terrible”

horrible miscalculation, and the

“elephant in the room of our present economic difficulties”?

[Victoria Atkins]

I am interested that the hon. Gentleman dismisses these incredibly successful unicorn start-ups in the UK economy. I hope that he will not dismiss their continuing success as we continue to support them through the various tax reliefs we are offering them and investment, including our most recent research and development tax reliefs. I would also point out to him that of course Scotland will benefit from some 73 trade deals secured with non-EU countries—benefits that include control of our fishing waters, something that I know is a matter of great concern to Scottish residents.

Afghanistan Policy

Debate between Victoria Atkins and Patrick Grady

Monday 13th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Victoria Atkins]

As I said, some of those evacuated during Op Pitting and who would be considered under the criteria of the scheme will form part of that scheme, but there are two other avenues through which people can be invited to take part, and I have referred to those in previous answers.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

How widely and generously will the definition of an “assisted UK effort” be applied? I have cases of two interpreters who were told that they did not qualify for ARAP because they worked for G4S rather than for the Army, but if they had been properly assessed, they could already be here. Will they now qualify?

[Victoria Atkins]

I ask the hon. Gentleman to write to the Minister for the Armed Forces.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Victoria Atkins and Patrick Grady

Monday 13th July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Victoria Atkins]

The online harms White Paper was world leading in its ambitions to sort out the online world. We are very clear that what is illegal offline is also illegal online and that has been the driving force behind our work on this White Paper and on the consultation. As I have said, we will be responding to the consultation in the autumn. We are very much working at pace on this, but we should not shirk the fact that we are leading the world potentially with this work, including our work on tackling online child sexual exploitation, and we all want this abuse to stop.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of support and accommodation for asylum seekers during the covid-19 outbreak.