Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Vince Cable and Dennis Skinner

Thursday 11th September 2014 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

And not only in Worcester. Indeed, one of the most rapidly growing programmes, operating through the British business bank, is the start-up loans scheme. My hon. Friend may be aware that approximately 19,000 start-up loans have now been made, with a value of over £100 million.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

One business that is not growing—the Business Secretary knows that as well as me, because we met him a few weeks ago to talk about its demise—is the deep-mine coal industry. There are only three pits left now. Does he really want to preside over the demise of the last deep-mine coal pits in Britain? Two of them are in Yorkshire, and one is in Nottinghamshire. They are reaching the end of their lives, but they have reserves that should be exhausted. I have got a plan, and he knows about it. The Government should apply for state aid and get £70 million, which is only a tiny proportion of the £700 million that this Government took from the National Union of Mineworkers pension fund in February. That is all we need in order for those three pits—Hatfield, Thoresby and Kellingley—to be able to exhaust their reserves. Those are the conditions in Europe. Why does he not apply for the money, instead of being led by the Tories surrounding him, who are determined to see the end of the pits in Britain?

[Vince Cable]

The hon. Gentleman is right that we had a very good and constructive meeting with him and his colleagues on the future of the remaining deep-mine pits. He will be aware, because I think we explained this, that the state aid issue is much more difficult than he—

[Mr Skinner]

No, it isn’t.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

I wonder if the Secretary of State would care to amend the reply he gave to me about when the pits closed. Just for his information, between the end of the pit strike in 1985 and the onset of the Labour Government in 1997, 170 pits were closed, out of less than 200. Those are the figures. They cannot be denied, and if he checks the record he will see that I am speaking the truth. On a second issue, is it not stupid to be getting rid of 3,000 mining jobs in the three pits that I have referred to while at the same time importing more coal from Russia when there are supposed to be sanctions? Is there not a stench of hypocrisy here?

[Vince Cable]

The hon. Gentleman is, of course, right on the figures. When we came into office there were only three pits left and none of the 170 he mentioned had been reopened, although there was a long period of Labour government during which that could have happened if the economics had been as he describes them. We have been actively involved in the case of these three pits; we have no wish to see a sudden closure and mass redundancies, and we continue to talk to potential commercial parties about it.

Royal Mail

Debate between Vince Cable and Dennis Skinner

Tuesday 1st April 2014 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I strongly suggest that the Opposition Members who are getting excited read the NAO report carefully, because it spells out what would have been the costs to the taxpayer had the IPO failed.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

Is the Secretary of State aware that what he has said will reverberate every single day until the general election, including in Twickenham, as those postmen and women who have been slagged off by him from the Dispatch Box today talk on every single doorstep? What they all want to know is that not one single penny from those priority bidders will finish up in the pockets of the Tory party or the Liberal party.

[Vince Cable]

Most of the Communication Workers Union members I meet acknowledge the considerable value of the shareholdings that they now have—they own the company.

Royal Mail

Debate between Vince Cable and Dennis Skinner

Wednesday 10th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

Yes, I am sure that is absolutely right. I hope that those words will also be taken to heart by the CWU.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

Is the Secretary of State aware that about 30 years ago Mrs Thatcher privatised countless public utilities? It was called the share-owning democracy: the British people would hold the shares, they would last for ever, it would be nirvana. The net result was that all those public utilities—oil, gas, water, electricity—are now owned abroad. What guarantees can he give, as a little Liberal, on just how we manage to keep this so-called share-owning democracy in this country? Why doesn’t he do the decent thing—meet Billy Hayes and the CWU, scrap this, act like a man, and get back to where he used to be?

[Vince Cable]

I have perfectly amicable conversations with Mr Hayes and his colleagues, and they will undoubtedly continue. I was not sure whether the hon. Gentleman’s tirade was directed at privatisation or foreign ownership; they are rather different issues. I think that foreign owners have made a major contribution to this country. Some of our leading manufacturing companies are run by foreign owners who have invested in the long term and have made a real commitment to this country. I am certainly not going to impose nationalistic restrictions on ownership.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Vince Cable and Dennis Skinner

Thursday 21st March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State is fond of talking about rebalancing the economy. A walk down the high street in any town or city will show that the growth industries are payday loans, betting shops, pawnbrokers and food banks. Is not that a really sad, evil commentary on these three wasted years?

[Vince Cable]

Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will come back with me to Markham Vale in his constituency, which I visited at his suggestion—[Interruption.] Real regeneration is taking place there with Government support.

Directors’ Pay

Debate between Vince Cable and Dennis Skinner

Wednesday 20th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

My hon. Friend is right, and that was one point that institutional investors made when we consulted them. They saw that the option of having a three-year unchanged policy would be helpful in deflating top pay. She is right that the problem that we are dealing with is an upward spiral in which pay is often unrelated to performance and top executives are trying to get into the top quartile, where by definition they cannot all be.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

Is the Secretary of State not singing a different song from the one that he used to utter from the seat where I am now? He used to talk about the balance between people on both sides in business—the trade unions and the bosses. Is the truth not that he has come here with a set of proposals that might have been okay some time ago, but that he has been tied hand and foot by the Tories in the coalition and even got rattled by being asked a few decent questions by the pleasant shadow Business Secretary? What a transformation.

[Vince Cable]

I know that the shadow Secretary of State is indeed very pleasant. I will concede that point. I did not think his questions were terribly good, but he is certainly very pleasant.

As for my performance when I used to sit in the seat where the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr Skinner) is now, I did indeed warmly welcome Patricia Hewitt’s changes seven years before the end of the Labour Government. They were a big step forward, and they were helpful even though taken as a whole they were quite a weak package. What is happening today builds substantially on those proposals.

Executive Pay

Debate between Vince Cable and Dennis Skinner

Monday 23rd January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

Across the coalition, we have been very clear that we expect restraint. In some cases that has been accepted: the head of Lloyds, for example, has waived his bonus for this year. We should not trivialise the issue of contracts, which is a serious matter involving how business is conducted.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

Whatever happened to the phrase, “We’re all in it together”? I listened carefully to what the right hon. Gentleman said. He talked about “we”. Does he mean himself and the Liberals, or does he mean the whole Government? The truth is that the workers will carry the can, and the bankers and executives who have got their 50% pay increases will get away with blue murder.

[Vince Cable]

As my right hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (Mr Redwood) reminded us, we are dealing with a legacy in which precisely the failings that he described were allowed to happen over a long period. We are trying to put that right. Addressing executive pay is only one means by which we deal with the fundamental injustices and inequalities in society. There are many other issues, including tax and regulation. However, this proposal will make a significant difference.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Vince Cable and Dennis Skinner

Thursday 8th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

T4. When the Secretary of State was talking about the running down of British industry, he failed to mention that, in the 1980s, the Thatcher Government employed MacGregor to come over here and close large parts of the steel industry, and he almost destroyed the whole mining industry. Does the Secretary of State not realise that, surrounded by all those Tories, he is a mini-MacGregor of his day, carrying out the dirty work of the Tories and overseeing the demise of the rest of British industry? He does it not for the money that MacGregor got but for a ministerial car and a red box.

[Vince Cable]

After the hon. Gentleman’s previous contribution, I set up a visit to his constituency, which will take place, I think, in the first quarter of next year. I can discuss these matters in depth with him then, which I think is rather more than my Labour predecessor did. The hon. Gentleman has been a Member for a long time, but he has overlooked the fact that in the 13 years of Labour Government there was a decline in manufacturing output averaging 0.5% a year.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Vince Cable and Dennis Skinner

Thursday 27th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

Skills are obviously critical, and no doubt my hon. Friend the Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning will say more about the big increase in the number of apprenticeships shortly. I am sure that the school in my hon. Friend’s constituency will contribute to this at an early stage of development. Apprentices are a real success story and we are certainly going to build on it.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

One way to increase manufacturing growth would undoubtedly be for the Business Secretary to turn his attention to Markham Vale. I cadged about £32 million off the then Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government to flatten the pit tips and build a vast industrial estate straight off junction 29A on the M1, and what has happened? There have been grey, miserable clouds hanging over Markham Vale ever since this tin-pot Government came to power. Why don’t you pull your finger out? We were spending money while the sun was shining; there is none being spent now.

[Vince Cable]

I would certainly be happy to visit Markham Vale at some point and talk those things through with the hon. Gentleman. His area has a local enterprise partnership and has had an opportunity to put in a bid for an enterprise zone or the regional growth fund. I do not know what it has done, but I am certainly happy to talk to him.

I know that the hon. Gentleman is a long-standing Member and I am sure that he has followed the changes in attitudes towards manufacturing in this House under different Governments. He will be interested in the leader of the Labour party’s new distinction between “predators” and “producers”. What is troubling a lot of us on the Government Benches is why a party of dinosaurs is so opposed to predators. Perhaps the hon. Gentleman can explain.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Vince Cable and Dennis Skinner

Thursday 14th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

Does the Secretary of State remember the Lib Dem halcyon days when he sat here on the Opposition side of the House opposing university top-up fees and walked through the same Lobby as me? He was also against the privatisation of Royal Mail, but we now know the price of a Liberal pledge: a seat on the Government Front Bench and a ministerial salary. What a price to pay.

[Vince Cable]

I have always enjoyed—[Interruption.]

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Vince Cable and Dennis Skinner

Thursday 8th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

I am very happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss that problem, which is happening all around the country. As it happens, in his constituency, I believe that nine companies have taken up the enterprise finance scheme—654 companies in Scotland have done likewise—and have drawn more than £1 million from it, but I recognise the problem. Actually, I think I met the chief executive of the bank to which I believe my hon. Friend is referring last week. I am aware of the enormous frustration in many small-scale enterprises, and I will continue to pursue the matter.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

What help will the Secretary of State give to those small and medium-sized businesses that were hoping to take part in the building of 700 schools, including one in Tibshelf in my constituency? Does he not understand that public sector cuts equals private sector misery?

[Vince Cable]

I think that the hon. Gentleman is conflating two massively different issues. I have many responsibilities—this is a very big Department—but school building, mercifully, is not one of them. However, he raises the more basic question of bank lending. Of course, there is an enormous problem, despite very high approval rates through the banking system. I am discussing with the Chancellor how we can improve the supply of capital, and there will be a paper before the summer on the different streams that we can energise to get capital flowing into good companies.