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Budget debate on Thursday, 23 April 2009, in the House of Commons, led by George Osborne. The answering member was Ed Miliband.

Amendment of the law

Budget debate (second day): economic situation.

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
491 c396-468 
Session
2008-09
Department
Treasury
Department of Energy and Climate Change
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Related items
Proceeding contributions
Ed Miliband | 491 c405 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman does not want to intervene. It is not surprising.
Baroness Browning | 491 c431 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry that the hon. Gentleman chose to ask that question—it was so Lib Dem. I hope that we will...
Show all contributions (138)
Mike Weir | 491 c455-6 (Link to this contribution) I came along today hoping to discuss the environmental and energy aspects of the Budget, which, to b...
Peter Bone | 491 c454-5 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Lady, who shares my concern about that. I wish to refer to a specific ins...
Peter Bone | 491 c451-4 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Northampton, North (Ms Keeble). She made some v...
Sally Keeble | 491 c454 (Link to this contribution) The chamber of commerce that covers the hon. Gentleman's constituency and mine hosted a small meetin...
Angela Eagle | 491 c450 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right to point to the potential savings from collaborative procurement. Some of th...
Sally Keeble | 491 c451 (Link to this contribution) I completely agree that there is scope for efficiency savings. It points to changes to the way in wh...
John Hayes | 491 c449 (Link to this contribution) But the whole point is that what we actually need is a more fluid housing market, where people—for e...
Sally Keeble | 491 c449-50 (Link to this contribution) I agree, but what will help greatly is the increase in supply that the Government are providing thro...
Sally Keeble | 491 c448-9 (Link to this contribution) There are quite a few measures that will help people in different sectors of the housing market, of ...
David Gauke | 491 c461-3 (Link to this contribution) I, for one, believe that the right hon. Gentleman's ambition should be higher. I think the Labour pa...
Clive Betts | 491 c463 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman was talking about manifesto commitments. Will the Conservative party put in its m...
Mike Weir | 491 c457-8 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for that explanation, which clarifies the matter slightly. I promised to allow ...
Charles Walker | 491 c458-60 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for allowing me in. I would have given him a couple more minutes before g...
David Gauke | 491 c460-1 (Link to this contribution) We have had a fascinating debate this afternoon, with a number of thoughtful contributions. I should...
Mike Weir | 491 c456-7 (Link to this contribution) I see the hon. Member for Glasgow, North-West (John Robertson) nodding at that, but there was a good...
Angela Eagle | 491 c457 (Link to this contribution) Because wave power is further behind than wind power, there is £405 million for technology transform...
David Gauke | 491 c463-4 (Link to this contribution) The Labour party has announced—under, I suspect, the same methodology that it used at the last elect...
Adam Price | 491 c445 (Link to this contribution) But does the hon. Lady accept that some key commentators, not least Nouriel Roubini, the so-called "...
Sally Keeble | 491 c445-6 (Link to this contribution) An active debate on the fiscal stimulus took place some time ago, but when one looks at the figures,...
Sally Keeble | 491 c445 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Carmarthen, East and Dinefwr (Adam Price) made an interesting speech, but I do n...
Angela Eagle | 491 c446 (Link to this contribution) On the fiscal measures alone in this financial year, 2009-10, does my hon. Friend agree—I think that...
Adam Price | 491 c443 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has put his finger on it. There is a structural demand gap and an output gap in t...
Angela Eagle | 491 c443-4 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has been brandishing the Red Book. Would he care to look at page 28? Box 24 conta...
Adam Price | 491 c444-5 (Link to this contribution) If we add up the figures, we may find that I am wrong, but the pre-Budget report mentioned a stimulu...
John Hayes | 491 c443 (Link to this contribution) The point that I was making, which I think the hon. Gentleman accepts, is that the basis of economic...
Adam Price | 491 c443 (Link to this contribution) I am one of those who say that if we are to rip up the public balances, we had better make sure that...
Sally Keeble | 491 c447-8 (Link to this contribution) A lot of people did. It is now really important to learn the lessons of what happened and to work ou...
John Hayes | 491 c448 (Link to this contribution) While the hon. Lady is on the subject of housing—I know that she shares my interest in that subject—...
Sally Keeble | 491 c446 (Link to this contribution) Yes, indeed. Giving way allowed me to pick the Red Book up. If one looks at what Germany did, one fi...
John Hayes | 491 c446 (Link to this contribution) I certainly do not wish to claim that I predicted the crisis—it would be an unwise Member who did so...
Sally Keeble | 491 c446 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right about the arguments that were made about personal debt, but w...
John Pugh | 491 c447 (Link to this contribution) Is it not a strange irony, that although practically nobody predicted the present situation, everybo...
Sally Keeble | 491 c447 (Link to this contribution) While things were going well, everybody wanted to believe that that was going to continue—
Baroness Browning | 491 c467 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry to take the hon. Lady away from Boris, but could I bring her back to inheritance tax? We ...
Angela Eagle | 491 c465-7 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, a depression. After that, his contribution went downhill. We probably do not agree on much m...
Angela Eagle | 491 c464-5 (Link to this contribution) We have had an interesting, at times thoughtful, sometimes amusing and sometimes vitriolic debate th...
Angela Eagle | 491 c467-8 (Link to this contribution) The interesting point is that the Conservatives' stated priority—indeed, it has been restated, inclu...
Stephen Timms | 491 c434 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend will be able to reassure her bingo-playing constituents that we have relieved stakes ...
Laura Moffatt | 491 c433 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman—I think—for that intervention. At times such as this, when families are f...
Michael Fallon | 491 c436-7 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. The word "investment" has been stretched far too wide. This Government hav...
Robert Goodwill | 491 c436 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the problem has been exacerbated by the fact that this Government hav...
Mark Lazarowicz | 491 c437-8 (Link to this contribution) Like the Secretary of State at the beginning of the debate, I was encouraged by the opening remarks ...
Laura Moffatt | 491 c434 (Link to this contribution) That is great to hear; I am glad that my right hon. Friend has answered the question for me. It is ...
Michael Fallon | 491 c434-6 (Link to this contribution) I remind the House of my interests recorded in the register. This year's Budget had to meet three c...
John Hayes | 491 c440 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes the case that we should be more economically diverse. He makes a persuasive...
Mark Lazarowicz | 491 c438-40 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman looks in more detail, he will find, for example, that the pledge for 16- to 24...
John Hayes | 491 c438 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is making a case for the innovative industries, particularly in respect of what h...
John Hayes | 491 c443 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is making a studious argument and he is right. Does he accept that growth over th...
Adam Price | 491 c443 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely. This recession is much deeper than all the other examples that are cited. The other fact...
Peter Bone | 491 c442 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. Will he expand on it, because the depth of this recession is ...
Adam Price | 491 c441-2 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Edinburgh, North and Leith (Mark Lazarowicz) must be one of life's eternal optim...
Mark Lazarowicz | 491 c440-1 (Link to this contribution) Clearly, we have to diversify more. There should be no dispute about that. We still have many good c...
Baroness Browning | 491 c425-6 (Link to this contribution) Let me begin by saying something about personal debt. Many people throughout the country are extreme...
Clive Betts | 491 c418 (Link to this contribution) Madam Deputy Speaker, may I begin by offering an apology to the House? I have a long-standing appoin...
Graham Stuart | 491 c418 (Link to this contribution) I am glad to hear that unemployment is not rising in Sheffield as quickly as it is elsewhere. We in ...
Clive Betts | 491 c424 (Link to this contribution) I think it does and I have written to my hon. Friend the Exchequer Secretary to say that a different...
Martin Horwood | 491 c423-4 (Link to this contribution) I am speaking more from a constituency point of view than as a Front Bencher, but I strongly agree w...
Clive Betts | 491 c424 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for that explanation, and I know that she has also written to me about it.
Angela Eagle | 491 c424 (Link to this contribution) On that very point, we have looked at this matter and I am afraid that EU directives work in such a ...
Clive Betts | 491 c424 (Link to this contribution) I am not absolutely convinced of the case for minimum pricing, as there are some difficulties with i...
Mike Weir | 491 c424 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman think that the Scottish Government proposal to introduce minimum unit pricin...
Baroness Browning | 491 c426-8 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady raises a good point, and that will help some pensioners, although not all. She also po...
Sally Keeble | 491 c426 (Link to this contribution) This is an important point, and all Members will have encountered constituents who raise such concer...
Baroness Browning | 491 c428-9 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman who, as ever, has put his finger on an example that I wish I had...
Adam Price | 491 c428 (Link to this contribution) May I just give the hon. Lady an example of the imbalance in the FSA, to which she has referred? Ind...
Laura Moffatt | 491 c431-3 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Angela Browning). I agreed stro...
Graham Stuart | 491 c429 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making a powerful point on park homes. Through her, may I make the point to those ...
Martin Horwood | 491 c430 (Link to this contribution) If by serious measures the hon. Lady means public spending cuts, can she be more forthcoming than he...
Baroness Browning | 491 c410 (Link to this contribution) How much has the tax take to the Treasury declined since the Labour Government introduced their inhe...
Ed Miliband | 491 c410 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the hon. Lady would like to answer for the shadow Chancellor.
Mike Weir | 491 c408 (Link to this contribution) Before the right hon. Gentleman moves on, I should say that the two Front Benchers have had a totall...
Ed Miliband | 491 c408 (Link to this contribution) If anything, the financial crisis has shown that the Scottish National party's view about independen...
Adam Price | 491 c408 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman has dismissed the SNP Government, but what does he say to comments made by ...
Ed Miliband | 491 c408-9 (Link to this contribution) Those are efficiency savings. I do not accept the notion that they are the cuts in spending that the...
George Osborne | 491 c409 (Link to this contribution) So that we are fully in command of the facts, will the Secretary of State confirm that the Labour Go...
Ed Miliband | 491 c409 (Link to this contribution) Yes, of course I will, but that was to reflect the particular position of couples. Again, I invite t...
Ed Miliband | 491 c409 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman shakes his head—is he denying it? Oh, so it is his policy. He does not really wan...
Ed Miliband | 491 c408 (Link to this contribution) I agree—my hon. Friend is absolutely right. The priority that the Chancellor gave to those measures ...
Ed Miliband | 491 c407 (Link to this contribution) I was making a very simple point. The money has been allocated for the spending review up to 2010-11...
Joan Walley | 491 c407-8 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is bringing us to the details of what is in the Budget report. The question is ...
Ed Miliband | 491 c406 (Link to this contribution) I am glad to have tempted the hon. Gentleman back to the Dispatch Box. Let me say to him very clearl...
George Osborne | 491 c406 (Link to this contribution) Let me ask the question again, because it is very important. The definition of cuts that the right h...
Ed Miliband | 491 c405-6 (Link to this contribution) I think the hon. Gentleman overdoes it. A more balanced view would be welcome not just from the shad...
George Osborne | 491 c406 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman concede that, using his formulation, there are £84 billion of cuts off...
Ed Miliband | 491 c407 (Link to this contribution) I have respect for the hon. Gentleman, too, but let me say to him that he certainly would not get an...
George Osborne | 491 c407 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State said something pretty significant about future spending plans. During the Bud...
Ed Miliband | 491 c406 (Link to this contribution) I do not concede that. I was making it quite clear that money has been promised in 2009-10 to hospit...
Charles Walker | 491 c406-7 (Link to this contribution) I have a lot of time for the Secretary of State—[Hon. Members: "Why?"] Because he is a very nice and...
Mark Lazarowicz | 491 c416 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is, like me, a member of the Environmental Audit Committee, which proposed an inc...
Martin Horwood | 491 c416-8 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is, of course, correct. I am happy to clarify the policy. I am not saying that we...
Martin Horwood | 491 c413 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the opportunity to clarify that, ideally, we would abolish fuel duty, and we have ...
Peter Bone | 491 c413 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry to interrupt the hon. Gentleman's well thought out speech. The Government say that the ca...
Martin Horwood | 491 c413-5 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a valuable point. If it ends up stimulating the more frequent purchase of n...
Peter Bone | 491 c415 (Link to this contribution) I am listening carefully to the hon. Gentleman's well-crafted speech. Does he support the Government...
Mark Lazarowicz | 491 c413 (Link to this contribution) May I clarify one point? I assume that the hon. Gentleman's party will support an increase in fuel d...
Martin Horwood | 491 c411-3 (Link to this contribution) This Budget, like the previous one, was widely hyped as a green Budget. The Secretary of State himse...
Ed Miliband | 491 c411 (Link to this contribution) I have already given way to the hon. Gentleman. The Conservatives were not supporters of the tax cr...
Ed Miliband | 491 c411 (Link to this contribution) That says it all, really. There were overpayments in the tax credits system. Some of that is to do w...
Ed Miliband | 491 c410-1 (Link to this contribution) I will give way in a moment, but this is a Conservative policy to which I should like wider attentio...
Charles Walker | 491 c411 (Link to this contribution) Could the Secretary of State tell the House how many billions of pounds in tax credits have been ove...
George Osborne | 491 c410 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman confirm that his changes, or cuts, to inheritance tax introduced a rec...
Peter Bone | 491 c396 (Link to this contribution) He's going to the International Monetary Fund.
George Osborne | 491 c396-8 (Link to this contribution) As my hon. Friend says, the Chancellor might well want to put in a call to the IMF for all sorts of ...
George Osborne | 491 c399-401 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman shakes his head, but it is there on page 200 of the Red Book. He can read i...
Ed Miliband | 491 c404-5 (Link to this contribution) I am not quite clear from that answer whether or not the hon. Gentleman supports the action. I suspe...
George Osborne | 491 c404 (Link to this contribution) We support in a recession getting money to the front line from the waste that the Government have id...
Ed Miliband | 491 c403 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to open this Budget debate with the shadow Chancellor. For one brief, shining moment du...
Ed Miliband | 491 c403-4 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman listens, he is welcome to intervene. The national debt went down from 42 per ...
Ed Miliband | 491 c405 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to the hon. Gentleman in a few minutes. He might answer on the shadow Chancellor's ...
Bob Russell | 491 c405 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Bob Russell | 491 c405 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister accept that, in the real world, after years of plenty and 12 years of a Labour Gov...
George Osborne | 491 c402 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. He can have a dukedom as far as I am concerned. The national insurance tax rise, which we w...
George Osborne | 491 c401-2 (Link to this contribution) It is a telling comment from a person who was appointed just days after the Prime Minister became Pr...
Lord Deben | 491 c401 (Link to this contribution) Is my hon. Friend aware that the former Labour Minister, Lord Digby Jones, said today that the Budge...
George Osborne | 491 c401 (Link to this contribution) I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman noticed, but one of the key changes in the Budget is that t...
Clive Betts | 491 c401 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman say whether a future Conservative Government would actually implement the 50...
Peter Bone | 491 c402 (Link to this contribution) What would my hon. Friend say to my constituents who have seen a rise in unemployment of 67 per cent...
George Osborne | 491 c402 (Link to this contribution) I am coming to why if the Secretary of State could be a little patient. Perhaps he can explain why t...
Graham Stuart | 491 c433 (Link to this contribution) It is indeed hard to be jolly at a time such as this. If they are still in work, the hon. Lady's con...
Baroness Browning | 491 c429-30 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that. I know that the all-party group on park home owners has ma...
Martin Horwood | 491 c415-6 (Link to this contribution) I had not spotted that item, and I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for drawing it to my attention....
Ed Miliband | 491 c410 (Link to this contribution) No, it was correcting an anomaly in the tax system regarding the position of married couples compare...
Ed Miliband | 491 c410 (Link to this contribution) Funnily enough, I do not know the figures off the top of my head. What I do know, however, is that t...
George Osborne | 491 c396 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to open the second day of this Budget debate. It gives us an opportunity to l...
Clive Betts | 491 c418-23 (Link to this contribution) Of course, the rate at which unemployment is rising depends on the base from which it starts. I can ...
George Osborne | 491 c402-3 (Link to this contribution) I would advise them to continue returning my hon. Friend to Parliament. I remind the House that he w...
Subjects
Debts Banks Credit Budgets Finance Financial institutions Economic situation Economic growth Forecasts National income Public expenditure Loans Regulation Economic recession Taxation Budget April 2009 World economy
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