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Economic Downturn (Unemployment)

As the hon. Gentleman comes towards his retirement, I guess that he is allowed to say what a wonderful job the Government are doing and describe the great things that are going on. I am grateful for his support in that regard. My role is to unblock things at a regional level. For example, in Camborne, Poole and Redruth we were able to unblock a set of infrastructure problems as part of developments there. Similarly, down the road in Cranbrook, close to Exeter, we were able to do the same through the regional economic task group. I am here to advocate for the region. I am here to listen to what the region’s MPs have to say and advocate within Departments. However, I am not really here to make executive decisions. I am here to facilitate better decisions being made by the Executive.