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Opposition day on Monday, 23 January 2012, in the House of Commons, led by Rachel Reeves. The answering member was Danny Alexander.

Youth Unemployment and Bank Bonuses

Unallotted opposition day debate (part two). Closure motion. Agreed to on question. Main question negatived on division (225 to 302).

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
539 c86-137 
Session
2010-12
Department
Treasury
Procedure
Closure motions
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
Speaker | 539 c122 (Link to this contribution) Order. There are still six speakers, and we have to bring on the Front Benchers at 9.40 pm. I am goi...
Speaker | 539 c103 (Link to this contribution) Order. I remind hon. Members that there is a six-minute limit on speeches.
Show all contributions (174)
Michael Meacher | 539 c116-7 (Link to this contribution) If I said that the Chief Secretary's defence of the Government's position was unconvincing, that wou...
Stephen Williams | 539 c115-6 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way again because the time would count against me. Youth unemployment is a long-ter...
Pat McFadden | 539 c113-4 (Link to this contribution) There are many quotations from Conservative Members calling for less regulation during the previous ...
Stephen Williams | 539 c114 (Link to this contribution) The motion links the issue of bankers' bonuses and youth unemployment. With my constituents in Brist...
Pat McFadden | 539 c114 (Link to this contribution) I have heard that quotation twice today and I think that it is time to complete it. Lord Mandelson w...
Stephen Williams | 539 c115 (Link to this contribution) That makes it all right, does it? Is it okay to encourage the culture of corporate greed and excessi...
Sheila Gilmore | 539 c115 (Link to this contribution) In the early years of the Labour Government, did not youth unemployment fall far below the level inh...
Stephen Williams | 539 c115 (Link to this contribution) Before the hon. Lady intervened, I repeated that I was talking specifically about 16 and 17-year-old...
Lord Grayling | 539 c121 (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Lady has raised a specific point, may I put it to her that the Work programme providers ...
Michael Meacher | 539 c118 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not give way now. Bankers' bonuses have already nearly proved the ruination of this coun...
John Glen | 539 c118-9 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in the debate. I would like to make three points, b...
Michael Meacher | 539 c117-8 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a very important point. As I am sure everyone in the House realises, there is f...
Esther McVey | 539 c118 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
John Glen | 539 c119-20 (Link to this contribution) The Government have not been complacent. They have made, and are making, relentless attempts to deal...
Meg Hillier | 539 c120-1 (Link to this contribution) It is timely that I follow the hon. Member for Salisbury (John Glen), who lamented the increase in y...
Debbie Abrahams | 539 c119 (Link to this contribution) I am listening carefully to the hon. Gentleman, and I do not want to impugn him or any of his collea...
Speaker | 539 c119 (Link to this contribution) Order. Can we have short interventions?
Mark Tami | 539 c117 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is making a powerful case. Does he agree that the other problem is that bankers...
Geraint Davies | 539 c106 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman talks about bankers, but he will be aware that among the FTSE 100 companies, ther...
David Ruffley | 539 c105-6 (Link to this contribution) That is an interesting suggestion. I also think that the former Prime Minister should make a persona...
Lisa Nandy | 539 c107-8 (Link to this contribution) I want to make the case as to why, at a time when not everything can be our priority, this subject r...
David Ruffley | 539 c106-7 (Link to this contribution) I am not suggesting that for a minute, and if the hon. Gentleman bothered to read the motion, he wou...
Esther McVey | 539 c105 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
George Mudie | 539 c105 (Link to this contribution) No, I am sorry because I will be stopped quite soon. The last point I want to make concerns the irr...
David Ruffley | 539 c105 (Link to this contribution) Youth unemployment and bankers' bonuses are both too high, and the Opposition hope that by taxing th...
Jake Berry | 539 c105 (Link to this contribution) Let me pick up on the point about things being morally offensive. We have heard about the Leader of ...
Jake Berry | 539 c104 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
George Mudie | 539 c104-5 (Link to this contribution) No, because I am short of time. The people who caused the difficulty earn huge salaries because of ...
Pat McFadden | 539 c112-3 (Link to this contribution) At first glance it might seem as though youth unemployment and bank bonuses are separate issues, or ...
Jake Berry | 539 c111-2 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for making such an eloquent point. As my near neighbour, he is really throwin...
Gordon Birtwistle | 539 c111 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my hon. Friend on the initiative he is leading in his constituency. I did the same th...
Esther McVey | 539 c110-1 (Link to this contribution) It is not just computer games and electronics companies that say that. The Institute for Manufacturi...
Jake Berry | 539 c111 (Link to this contribution) I agree. Of particular joy to me is the fact that my constituency has a new academy school, which ha...
Lisa Nandy | 539 c108-10 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that the facts do not bear that out. I agree, however, about the stubborn problem of str...
Jake Berry | 539 c110 (Link to this contribution) It is clear to everybody in the House, regardless which side they sit on, that we are facing excepti...
Lisa Nandy | 539 c108 (Link to this contribution) I share that sentiment, but I am concerned. Those young people are turning to a Government who said,...
Duncan Hames | 539 c108 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is making a typically impassioned and impressive speech. On the question of whether th...
Meg Hillier | 539 c108 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that there may be poverty among young people—my constituency, unfortunatel...
Lord Grayling | 539 c129 (Link to this contribution) I am a little puzzled. I could be wrong, but I thought I heard the right hon. Member for Birmingham,...
Stephen Timms | 539 c129 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the Minister will tell us when the guidance to which he referred will be published.
Esther McVey | 539 c130 (Link to this contribution) When I read the title of today's Opposition day debate, which mentioned youth unemployment and bank ...
Lord Grayling | 539 c130-2 (Link to this contribution) Let me start by making it absolutely clear that tackling unemployment and youth unemployment is righ...
Stephen Timms | 539 c130 (Link to this contribution) We had some discussion in the debate about the future jobs fund. The Minister has awarded a contract...
Lord Grayling | 539 c132-3 (Link to this contribution) I simply cannot understand the view that Opposition Members have of our retail sector. Our larger re...
Sheila Gilmore | 539 c132 (Link to this contribution) I am sure the Minister agrees that work experience programmes should give people skills that they do...
Alan Campbell | 539 c133 (Link to this contribution) claimed to move the closure (Standing Order No. 36). Question put forthwith, That the Question be n...
Meg Hillier | 539 c121-2 (Link to this contribution) If what the Minister says transpires, I will be a very happy Member of Parliament for Hackney South ...
Iain McKenzie | 539 c124-5 (Link to this contribution) Unemployment in Scotland is suffering the double whammy of not only the UK Government but the Scotti...
Mel Stride | 539 c125 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a powerful point about the future jobs fund—that it was basically about short-t...
Richard Graham | 539 c125 (Link to this contribution) It gives me huge pleasure to join this debate in which we can all surely agree with the hon. Member ...
David Simpson | 539 c123 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that a further way in which the coalition could help small to medium-s...
Alec Shelbrooke | 539 c122-3 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker; I shall try to keep to four minutes. I start by echoing what my hon. ...
Iain McKenzie | 539 c124 (Link to this contribution) It will come as no surprise that I want to focus on the UK unemployment blackspot that is Scotland. ...
Alec Shelbrooke | 539 c123-4 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. Bureaucracy has strangled small businesse...
Richard Graham | 539 c126-7 (Link to this contribution) Let me be clear that I was not writing off the future jobs fund—I did say that it was useful. Howeve...
Jonathan Reynolds | 539 c126 (Link to this contribution) If the future jobs fund was not a success, why have the Government introduced the youth contract, an...
Richard Graham | 539 c125 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is entirely right and brilliantly anticipates the thread of my argument.
Stephen Timms | 539 c128-9 (Link to this contribution) We have had a very good debate. In June last year, the Prime Minister told the House that cutting th...
Geraint Davies | 539 c128 (Link to this contribution) We need a balance of savings—certainly not cuts against our productive capacity—with the main focus ...
Glyn Davies | 539 c128 (Link to this contribution) I should like to give the hon. Gentleman another chance to support the Opposition's policy of acknow...
Geraint Davies | 539 c127-8 (Link to this contribution) I am not opposing having to make savings and cuts. I am saying that the key is growth. As a business...
Charlie Elphicke | 539 c127 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman explain whether he agrees with the shadow Chancellor, who said the other day...
Geraint Davies | 539 c127 (Link to this contribution) At the centre of this debate is the question of what the optimum balance should be between growth an...
Robert Flello | 539 c98 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman explain his idea of economic stability to my constituents? In my const...
Rachel Reeves | 539 c97 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman says that the Government are tackling the deficit, but will he confirm how ...
Danny Alexander | 539 c97 (Link to this contribution) I have heard nothing coherent from the Opposition, and I have heard nothing from the business commun...
Danny Alexander | 539 c98 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman looks around Europe at the countries that have failed to tackle their deficits...
Claire O'Neill | 539 c97 (Link to this contribution) I should like to bring a local business perspective to the debate. I had dinner last week with a gro...
Danny Alexander | 539 c97 (Link to this contribution) I will give way in a moment. The Opposition do not seem to realise that tackling that deficit is th...
Baroness Clark of Kilwinning | 539 c100 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman will be aware that while the living standards of those on low and medium in...
Danny Alexander | 539 c100 (Link to this contribution) The Government have taken on the issue of ensuring that the wealthiest pay a greater share, to ensur...
Alec Shelbrooke | 539 c100 (Link to this contribution) On the point just raised in an intervention, we hear much crowing from Opposition Members, but does ...
Danny Alexander | 539 c100 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has made his point, but I do not think that it is for me to comment on the tax affair...
Meg Hillier | 539 c100 (Link to this contribution) Last week the right hon. Gentleman made a speech in which he talked about co-operatives, and ideas t...
Danny Alexander | 539 c100 (Link to this contribution) I am quite confident that in that case we chose the option that was best for the taxpayer, best for ...
Toby Perkins | 539 c101 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Danny Alexander | 539 c101 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not. I mentioned the Financial Policy Committee of the Bank of England and its comments....
Lisa Nandy | 539 c101 (Link to this contribution) May I ask the right hon. Gentleman to consider one more fact before he concludes on this subject? Wh...
Danny Alexander | 539 c101 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure that one can prioritise growth over jobs—and that is the first explanation I have hear...
Danny Alexander | 539 c98-9 (Link to this contribution) I am going to make some progress now. As the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills...
Lord Cryer | 539 c99 (Link to this contribution) Going back to the subject of unemployment rates, youth unemployment in my constituency has gone up b...
Danny Alexander | 539 c99 (Link to this contribution) As I made clear earlier, I do not consider it to be a price worth paying. That is why the Government...
Danny Alexander | 539 c99 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman may intervene now if he wishes to.
Seema Malhotra | 539 c100 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman tell us how many jobs the Work programme has created?
Danny Alexander | 539 c100 (Link to this contribution) I cannot give the hon. Lady that information—[Hon. Members: ““Ah!””] I welcome her to her place and ...
Danny Alexander | 539 c100 (Link to this contribution) I have already given way to the hon. Gentleman and to the hon. Lady, and I want to make some progres...
Danny Alexander | 539 c103 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry that the shadow Chief Secretary did not take the opportunity to offer an apology for the ...
George Mudie | 539 c104 (Link to this contribution) I want to raise three points. The hon. Member for Devizes (Claire Perry), who has left the Chamber, ...
Rehman Chishti | 539 c103 (Link to this contribution) Will the Chief Secretary give way?
Speaker | 539 c103 (Link to this contribution) Order. Hon. Members should calm down, as a lot of Back-Benchers want to speak as well.
Danny Alexander | 539 c103 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that those on the Opposition Front were trying to shout the apology that the country ...
Rehman Chishti | 539 c104 (Link to this contribution) Looking at what we are doing now, does the hon. Gentleman welcome the Government's pledge to put £15...
George Mudie | 539 c104 (Link to this contribution) I would rather the Government had not trebled tuition fees. I would rather that instead of spending ...
Danny Alexander | 539 c102 (Link to this contribution) The Government have made decisions to improve the benefits available through the enterprise investme...
Julie Hilling | 539 c102 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Danny Alexander | 539 c101-2 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that he is on the Government Front Bench any more, Mr Deputy Speaker. A fair account...
Lord Walney | 539 c101 (Link to this contribution) The Chief Secretary is being very up-front with the House about the fact that he believes that he is...
Danny Alexander | 539 c101 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the hon. Member for Barrow and Furness (John Woodcock), who has not intervened be...
Danny Alexander | 539 c103 (Link to this contribution) I am doing no such thing, because those announcements will be made in due course. I have said that b...
Danny Alexander | 539 c102 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way one last time, and then I shall finish my speech.
Julie Hilling | 539 c103 (Link to this contribution) Is the right hon. Gentleman confirming, then, that the chief executive of RBS will only get a £2,000...
Stuart Andrew | 539 c94 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady talks about cuts to Leeds city council, but does she not remember that it was her Gove...
Rachel Reeves | 539 c93 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the hon. Member for Pudsey (Stuart Andrew), who can perhaps try to justify the cu...
Danny Alexander | 539 c94 (Link to this contribution) I welcome this opportunity to discuss youth unemployment and bank bonuses. Both matters are hugely i...
Rachel Reeves | 539 c94 (Link to this contribution) In Pudsey, which is my next-door constituency, long-term youth unemployment has increased by more th...
Rachel Reeves | 539 c93 (Link to this contribution) The Leader of the Opposition has said that the knighthood for Fred Goodwin was not warranted, but I ...
James Gray | 539 c92-3 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Lady express some degree of regret, because bank bonuses under this Government are 40%...
Rachel Reeves | 539 c93 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend speaks passionately about his region in the north-east, and I know he does a huge amo...
Tom Blenkinsop | 539 c93 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech on Labour's proposal to create 100,000 jobs for the you...
Sheila Gilmore | 539 c96 (Link to this contribution) McDonald's, which is apparently getting £10 million a year for training people in the things that it...
Danny Alexander | 539 c95 (Link to this contribution) The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions, my right hon. Friend the Member for Epsom a...
David Miliband | 539 c95 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman quoted the figure of 40% for the rise in youth unemployment under the previ...
Danny Alexander | 539 c95 (Link to this contribution) I fear that the hon. Gentleman was planning his question so carefully that he did not listen to my r...
Toby Perkins | 539 c95 (Link to this contribution) The Chief Secretary talks about the previous Government's record, but I feel as if I am listening to...
Danny Alexander | 539 c95 (Link to this contribution) Hold on. I will give way to the former Foreign Secretary, but let me make just a little bit of progr...
Danny Alexander | 539 c94 (Link to this contribution) I would say to them that in very difficult times we are doing everything we can to support them. Let...
Meg Hillier | 539 c94 (Link to this contribution) What would the right hon. Gentleman say to the young people in my constituency, where there has been...
Danny Alexander | 539 c94 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the hon. Lady, and then I will make some progress.
Danny Alexander | 539 c96 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend: the apprenticeship programme is a vital part of tackling youth unemploy...
Mary MacLeod | 539 c96 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that apprenticeships are an important part of the solution, by givin...
Danny Alexander | 539 c96-7 (Link to this contribution) I am going to make some progress, and I will give way again shortly. Across the wider economy we ar...
Danny Alexander | 539 c97 (Link to this contribution) I will give way in a moment. We have plans that will help to foster a recovery led by our private s...
Danny Alexander | 539 c96 (Link to this contribution) I have visited companies around the country, in Scotland and England, that have created a significan...
Danny Alexander | 539 c96 (Link to this contribution) The youth contract, which I have mentioned, along with the Work programme and many other things that...
Alison Seabeck | 539 c96 (Link to this contribution) In Plymouth we are dependent on the public sector, and we are also a garrison town. As a result of t...
Rachel Reeves | 539 c89 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right that long-term youth unemployment has a scarring effect, which affects more ...
Madeleine Moon | 539 c89 (Link to this contribution) Unemployment among all 16 to 24-year-olds on jobseeker's allowance in the Bridgend constituency is 8...
Rachel Reeves | 539 c89 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is exactly right. That is why, as part of Labour's five-point plan for jobs and growt...
Elizabeth Truss | 539 c89 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady accept responsibility for the failure to skill up our young people to take on job...
Rachel Reeves | 539 c89 (Link to this contribution) People are not getting jobs at the moment not because they do not have skills but because the jobs a...
Graham Stuart | 539 c89-90 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady talks about a grim familiarity. Does she acknowledge that every Labour Government in h...
Rachel Reeves | 539 c90 (Link to this contribution) Unemployment has reached 3 million twice, both times under Conservative Governments. At the last ele...
Rachel Reeves | 539 c90 (Link to this contribution) In the 1980s and early 1990s, unemployment reached 3 million. Was that because Conservative Governme...
Graham Stuart | 539 c90 (Link to this contribution) That is because we are clearing up your mess.
Margot James | 539 c90 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Lady acknowledge that long-term youth unemployment is falling—and, indeed, has fallen ...
Rachel Reeves | 539 c91 (Link to this contribution) I will not condemn my right hon. Friend for taking a job. I am talking about the reality of the chal...
Sheila Gilmore | 539 c91 (Link to this contribution) I would have intervened earlier, but I was trying to work out the arithmetic of Government Members. ...
Rachel Reeves | 539 c90 (Link to this contribution) In the hon. Lady's constituency, long-term youth unemployment has gone up by 25% in the past few mon...
Charlie Elphicke | 539 c90 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady talked about the scarring effect of the fast-buck culture. Will she condemn the right ...
Rachel Reeves | 539 c91-2 (Link to this contribution) I expect the hon. Lady's constituents, like mine, regret that the Government cancelled the future jo...
Mark Pritchard | 539 c92 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady approaches such matters very thoughtfully indeed, and as a future Labour leader I woul...
Rachel Reeves | 539 c91 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend. We have look only at the forecasts from, for example, the independent O...
Claire O'Neill | 539 c91 (Link to this contribution) Unemployment in my constituency is creeping upwards and long-term unemployment is coming down, but i...
Susan Elan Jones | 539 c92 (Link to this contribution) None of the automated Government Members mentions the VAT tax bombshell, because they must know in t...
Rachel Reeves | 539 c92 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure how the Government will rebalance the economy by throwing more people on the scrapheap...
David Winnick | 539 c87 (Link to this contribution) Even if this is a laughing matter for the Government, it certainly is not for us. My constituency ha...
Andrea Leadsom | 539 c87 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady feel at all positive about the Government's steps to create new apprenticeships f...
Rachel Reeves | 539 c87 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend speaks for the many families and young people in all our constituencies who are exper...
Rachel Reeves | 539 c87-8 (Link to this contribution) I will make a little progress, because we know that many Members want to speak. I will try to give w...
Rachel Reeves | 539 c87 (Link to this contribution) The reality is that the Office for Budget Responsibility has examined all the Government's plans and...
Rachel Reeves | 539 c88 (Link to this contribution) We introduced a bank bonus tax to get some money back from the banks. The Government refused to go a...
Lord Redwood | 539 c88 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Lady explain why Labour Ministers accepted and approved such grotesque contracts for R...
Meg Hillier | 539 c89 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the growing trend of extended unemployment—more than six months—for y...
Toby Perkins | 539 c87 (Link to this contribution) Is it not clear that what we have heard in the first moment or two of this debate is Conservative Me...
Rachel Reeves | 539 c86 (Link to this contribution) Youth unemployment in my constituency, like in most of our constituencies, is rising fast, whereas i...
Matt Hancock | 539 c86 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady mentions unemployment in Members' constituencies. Does she recognise that, based on th...
Rachel Reeves | 539 c86 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House notes with concern that unemployment has risen to its highest level f...
Speaker | 539 c86 (Link to this contribution) Before I call the first speaker, may I say to both Front Benchers that a large number of Back Benche...
Rachel Reeves | 539 c87 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman might be aware of the global financial crisis that took place. Between 1997 and t...
Nadhim Zahawi | 539 c86 (Link to this contribution) May I share with the hon. Lady the figures in her own constituency? Youth unemployment rose by 625 b...
Stephen Timms | 539 c129-30 (Link to this contribution) We do support the benefit cap. The version that the Minister is pressing through is, as the House of...
Jake Berry | 539 c124 (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Gentleman is addressing his concerns to unemployment in Scotland, can he confirm whether...
Lord Cryer | 539 c99 (Link to this contribution) I wanted to intervene while the right hon. Gentleman was speaking earlier.
Rachel Reeves | 539 c103 (Link to this contribution) I wonder when the electorate might get an apology from the Liberal Democrats for trebling university...
Danny Alexander | 539 c103 (Link to this contribution) No, I am going to make some progress now. A fair and sustainable recovery demands leadership, and t...
Rachel Reeves | 539 c87 (Link to this contribution) I think many of our constituents watching this debate will say exactly that. The Government are in d...
Meg Hillier | 539 c113 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend wish to comment on the sudden enthusiasm of Conservative Members for regul...
Rachel Reeves | 539 c92 (Link to this contribution) The cut in VAT to 17.5% is part of Labour's five-point plan for jobs and growth. It would put £450 i...
Danny Alexander | 539 c97-8 (Link to this contribution) I can confirm that according to the latest forecast, there will be significantly increased borrowing...
Richard Fuller | 539 c102 (Link to this contribution) There is a lot of consensus on both sides of the House that people who are wealthy should be looking...
Subjects
Directors Banks Incentives Financial services Pay Managers Young people Taxation Unemployment
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