Amendment of the Law

Debate between Vince Cable and Baroness Primarolo

Thursday 19th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Kenneth Clarke (Rushcliffe) (Con)]

I share the right hon. Gentleman’s experience of having opposed the minimum wage when it was proposed by the previous Government, although I now realise that was a mistake and have been converted to the value of it, given how it has worked. Does he agree that if the political debate follows what the shadow Chancellor wants, and each of the parties—all seven of them, no doubt—says what it would tell employers to pay as a minimum wage, we go back to the danger that I initially feared of unemployment being caused by bidding up, for vote-catching reasons, the basic pay of people trying to get into work?

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Dawn Primarolo)]

Order. Before the Secretary of State replies, may I gently say that 23 Members wish to take part in this debate, and he has been speaking for nearly 35 minutes. I understand that he has generously taken lots of interventions, but will he perhaps think about all his colleagues who still wish to speak?

[Vince Cable]

I will certainly respond as you wish, Madam Deputy Speaker. I think I have taken at least 23 interventions, but I am happy to cruise to a conclusion on that note.

If we are going to lift real wages and living standards, that must be done through the growth of productivity. That is the only way it can happen. A whole set of measures in the Budget suggest how that can happen in the long term. It must come through skills and innovation, and there was a series of constructive initiatives—catapults, science capital investment, driverless cars, the internet of things, the energy research institution, and other things—in the Budget. Cumulatively, those will drive up productivity in British industry.

One announcement that perhaps did not receive as much attention as it should have done was about trying to improve the way funding flows through apprenticeships and a voucher system that enables employers—particularly small companies—to acquire the skills they need. The key, however, will be business investment, and I have already pointed to improving trends in that respect. One lesson of our period in office is that under the difficult conditions we have had, by investing judiciously through bodies such as the regional growth fund, the Green Investment Bank, and the British Business Bank, the Government can stimulate significant amounts of additional private investment.

I will finish with an announcement in response to a question that the Leader of the Opposition threw out yesterday about the Green Investment Bank. We have agreed that that is a successful initiative that stimulates private investment, and for £2 billion from Government there has been £3 billion extra from the private sector. We want to build on that success and are looking at a range of options for bringing private capital into the Green Investment Bank, and to give it greater operational freedom and enable it to borrow in capital markets. That will provide it with an alternative channel of funding, and ensure its future as a lasting and enduring institution.

There was a great deal of excitement earlier this morning about the alternative route to fiscal policy that my party was advocating, and it is right that in the run-up to the general election we should have a different approach to how we balance the budget. However, there was a lot of common ground, and this was a joint coalition Budget that we are proud to have been associated with. It was about economic growth—we are now the most successful in the industrial world having been in the worst crisis—and about rising business investment, exceptional levels of employment, and rapidly falling unemployment. All that is taking place at a time when the public finances have been approved, and we have moved from being a basket case to a successful economy.

Pub Companies

Debate between Vince Cable and Baroness Primarolo

Wednesday 9th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dawn Primarolo)]

Order. This is a very short debate and many Members wish to speak, but some of them are repeatedly intervening on the Secretary of State. It would be good if, first, interventions could be short, and secondly, those wishing to speak could be a little more disciplined, given that there is already a five-minute time limit on Back-Bench speeches. At this rate, that is going to go down.

[Vince Cable]

I am afraid that I cannot offer the hon. Gentleman the assurances he wants on beer duty. I supported the Government’s approach to the taxation. On his drinking habits, I will only say that, like several of us, I am still haunted by having signed the temperance pledge aged 11.

--- Later in debate ---

[Greg Mulholland]

Will my right hon. Friend look again at the Save the Pub document, which shows that the figures on pub closures are extremely misleading? He must recognise that they were paid for by the pubcos’ association, the British Beer and Pub Association. Many pubs have been reclassified on closure as being free of tie, having in some cases never operated as such. The figures clearly show that there are more free-of-tie pubs now than there were, and that tied business failure is huge—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dawn Primarolo)]

Order. We must have brief interventions. Time is ticking on.

[Vince Cable]

I would not want to cross swords with my colleague on the statistics, which he knows extremely well. He makes a compelling point.

Returning to the issue of the success of the industry, and particularly the small companies, the Office of Fair Trading found in 2010 that the market share of microbrewers had increased between 2004 and 2008, and that the volume of sales had grown by something in the order of 50% in that period. We found out recently that the number of breweries in Britain had topped 1,000, which is the highest level since the 1930s. Furthermore, as well as the tie being essential to family brewers such as Charles Wells or Fuller’s, the OFT also found that large pub companies that owned tied pubs also bought a considerable volume from microbrewers and regional brewers. Accordingly, the Government’s proposals are designed to address abuses of the tie, through enshrining in the code the principle that a tied tenant should be no worse off than a free-of-tie tenant, while not impinging on the business practices of companies that are using the tie responsibly, as many do.

This is an industry in which many companies behave well, in which seven out of 10 licensees would sign up again with their pub company and in which there are real examples of pub companies, brewers and tenants working together to invest for the future. Unfortunately, parts of the industry have acted irresponsibly in squeezing their tenants, resulting in considerable personal, as well as economic, hardship for those who lose out.

That is why the Government are now going to consult on the strong, decisive step of introducing a strengthened statutory code that will address the balance of risk and reward, as well as an independent adjudicator who can investigate on behalf of tenants and impose sanctions on pub companies that persistently breach the code. As I said to the hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell), I intend to publish the consultation soon. We hope that it will be completed in the spring and that it will be strongly welcomed by the House, as well as more widely by all those who work in, use or benefit from the pub industry.