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Northern Rock

I have plenty answers and the north-east has plenty answers for the Liberal Democrats—I can tell them that. I want to engage with one of those answers. The Newcastle Journal is not renowned in the north-east as an anti-Liberal Democrat newspaper. On 20 November, which was well into the events at Northern Rock, the editorial in the Journal—speaking on behalf of the people of the north-east—said:"““The Chancellor did the right thing yesterday when he held true to the path he has taken since crisis engulfed Northern Rock...Of course, the approach has its critics, such as the hapless Vince Cable, whose posturing must embarrass Lib Dems in the region.””" It is unfortunate that the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) is not in the Chamber to hear what people in the north-east are saying. The hon. Gentleman has a reasonably measured demeanour when he is in the Chamber, but when he is in a television or radio studio, we hear headline grabbing, without a thought about his party's policy, or the consequences of his posturing not only on his party's effectiveness in the north-east but, far more important, on the economy of the north-east and the people of the north-east. The hon. Gentleman gave the game away during the debate, so it will be interesting to read the Official Report tomorrow—I took a note. He was asked what would happen after nationalisation and his reply was clear. He said that none of us knows exactly what would happen. That was this afternoon—not half an hour ago. If the Liberal Democrats want to be a serious political party with serious policies about serious issues affecting people in the north-east, what sort of strategy is that? Not today, but at least four or five weeks ago, the Liberal Democrats made the main plank of their policy that the business should be nationalised. When the hon. Gentleman said that, he knew he could grab a cheap headline, as the Conservative spokesman pointed out, yet he does not know what the consequences of his policy would be.