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Debate on Tuesday, 24 April 2012, in the House of Commons, led by Mark Hoban. The answering member was Chris Leslie.

Section 5 of the European Communities (Amendment) Act 1993

Debate on a motion to take note with approval of the Government's assessment as set out in the Budget Report, combined with the Office for Budget Responsibility's Economic and Fiscal Outlook, which forms the basis of the UK's Convergence Programme, for the purposes of section 5 of the European Communities (Amendment) Act 1993. Agreed on division (281 to 228).

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
543 c855-83 
Session
2010-12
Department
Treasury
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
Richard Drax | 543 c859 (Link to this contribution) What will the Minister tell the millions of people in the eurozone when it goes horribly wrong—as it...
Mark Hoban | 543 c859 (Link to this contribution) It is not appropriate for any of us to provide a running commentary on the French presidential elect...
Show all contributions (92)
Mark Hendrick | 543 c860 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister accept that even though we are not members of the eurozone, this country is still ...
Mark Hoban | 543 c860 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend should recognise the strong political consensus in the eurozone for the continuation ...
Stewart Hosie | 543 c860 (Link to this contribution) I agree entirely with what the Minister has said about the need for stability, not least for UK reco...
Mark Hoban | 543 c860 (Link to this contribution) I remind the hon. Gentleman that as a consequence of the actions taken in the Budget one of the rati...
Mark Hoban | 543 c859 (Link to this contribution) If I may, I will finish my paragraph as it may clear up any misapprehensions that the hon. Gentleman...
Graham Stringer | 543 c859 (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister read the newspapers? Has he not noticed that Europe is getting less and less polit...
Anne Main | 543 c859 (Link to this contribution) The Minister is making a genuine argument in favour of stability, but the rise of the far right—and ...
Mark Hoban | 543 c862 (Link to this contribution) I do not wish to pre-empt the Commission's conclusion—it would be wrong to do so—but when other inte...
Lord Redwood | 543 c862 (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister think that, when the Commission reviews the British Government's homework, it will...
Mark Hoban | 543 c861-2 (Link to this contribution) Different member states have different constitutional requirements and different histories on the us...
Mark Hoban | 543 c862 (Link to this contribution) As I said, all the information in the convergence programme is already in the public domain. It was ...
Baroness Hoey | 543 c862 (Link to this contribution) I want to be clear in my own mind, because obviously this is important. If the House was to say no t...
Mark Hoban | 543 c861 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend would, I think, be the first to criticise other member states seeking to lecture us o...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 543 c861 (Link to this contribution) The Minister talks about the political will in Europe to continue with the euro, but one wonders abo...
Mark Hoban | 543 c860 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. In any economy where there is economic change, there wi...
Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 543 c860-1 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for giving way; he is being his normal generous self. Do we not have a responsi...
Baroness Hoey | 543 c855 (Link to this contribution) Given that the requirement for the Government's assessment was passed under the Maastricht treaty, f...
Kelvin Hopkins | 543 c858 (Link to this contribution) I shall reserve most of my remarks for later when I hope to have the chance to speak. However, I mus...
Mark Hoban | 543 c858 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend needs to recognise that, in several countries that have a programme in place, there i...
Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 543 c857-8 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a coherent argument, but we have been told on many occasions that what happens ...
Mark Hoban | 543 c857 (Link to this contribution) To be fair to the hon. Gentleman, I suspect he is one of the few Opposition Members who supported th...
Mark Hoban | 543 c856-7 (Link to this contribution) Europe needs to tackle its fiscal deficit and put in place the policies that will lead to economic g...
Kelvin Hopkins | 543 c857 (Link to this contribution) I do not believe that nonsense about people moving because of the top rate of tax. In France, the so...
Mark Hoban | 543 c856 (Link to this contribution) We are required to endeavour to achieve the Maastricht criteria. A very different regime is in place...
Kelvin Hopkins | 543 c856 (Link to this contribution) Setting aside my views on the Budget, which are probably not printable, is not talking about the sta...
Mark Hoban | 543 c855-6 (Link to this contribution) We have signed up to certain aspects of the stability and growth pact. One precondition is that we p...
Lord Redwood | 543 c856 (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister believe the UK is bound by the Maastricht rules that its deficit should be 3% per ...
Chris Leslie | 543 c863 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, I was here this time last year making a very similar, uncannily parallel speech, but I will ...
Mark Hendrick | 543 c863 (Link to this contribution) We will oppose the Government tonight, but we will do so not because we disagree with the European U...
Chris Leslie | 543 c863-5 (Link to this contribution) People will have their different reasons for opposing the motion, and my hon. Friend is right to sta...
Anne Main | 543 c865 (Link to this contribution) I note that the shadow Minister is making a principled argument and that he disagrees with the figur...
Chris Leslie | 543 c865-6 (Link to this contribution) We have a blinkered and, in many ways, deluded approach to austerity—or über-austerity, as some migh...
Chris Leslie | 543 c865 (Link to this contribution) That is an interesting question. Obviously, I believe in the rule of law, and there is a legal oblig...
Kelvin Hopkins | 543 c865 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree with not submitting the report to the European Union, but is not the growth situati...
William Cash | 543 c866 (Link to this contribution) I apologise for coming in late, but I have just got off the plane from Denmark where I was meeting t...
Chris Leslie | 543 c866 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that I am not surprised to hear that that is the case. The hon. Gentleman spends a great...
Stewart Hosie | 543 c866-7 (Link to this contribution) That is the key point. The hon. Gentleman quoted from the 1993 Act—a Tory Act, of course—about the n...
Chris Leslie | 543 c867 (Link to this contribution) It is that lack of credibility that makes me want to oppose the motion. The hon. Gentleman picked up...
Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 543 c866 (Link to this contribution) I feel it appropriate to give the shadow Minister some friendly advice. One reason why my party was ...
Chris Leslie | 543 c866 (Link to this contribution) I obviously disagree with the hon. Gentleman's assessment, but he made an important point earlier ab...
Gavin Shuker | 543 c868 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend talks about confidence. Did he see the comments of Barney Frank, a leading US congres...
Chris Leslie | 543 c868 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. All across the globe, developed countries are realising that a strategy focused singularly o...
Stewart Hosie | 543 c867 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman picks up on our Chancellor's reference to ““a safer haven””. Does he think that c...
Chris Leslie | 543 c867-8 (Link to this contribution) Of course, that is because of the Government's record of high unemployment, with statistics showing ...
Lord Redwood | 543 c868-9 (Link to this contribution) I have some sympathy with the Minister in this debate, which is about colossal issues, such as the f...
Mark Hendrick | 543 c869 (Link to this contribution) I accept that the policies of many euro area member states are deflationary, but it is ridiculous to...
Lord Redwood | 543 c869 (Link to this contribution) As I shall make clear shortly, our policies are rather different. For one thing, the coalition Gover...
Stewart Hosie | 543 c869 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman, who knows the Red Book inside out, will recall that it makes clear that th...
Lord Redwood | 543 c869-70 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman has not read the Red Book intelligently. The 80:20 statistic on ...
Mark Hendrick | 543 c870 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman makes great play of tax revenues. We all know where they come from—they com...
Lord Redwood | 543 c870-1 (Link to this contribution) So far the strategy has generated quite a lot of new private sector jobs, which is very welcome, but...
Gavin Shuker | 543 c871 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is talking like a cheerleader about the Laffer curve. Why does he think tha...
Lord Redwood | 543 c871 (Link to this contribution) I think that the UK economy may be growing. We will know the facts tomorrow, when we see the first q...
Graham Stringer | 543 c871-2 (Link to this contribution) Is there not a third reason: that we are in the wrong part of the world, next to the eurozone, which...
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 543 c874 (Link to this contribution) I apologise for not being here for the whole of the debate, but I was in the Finance Public Bill Com...
Kelvin Hopkins | 543 c874 (Link to this contribution) I hope we do too. As for the repercussions, will we be taken to the European Court of Justice? I sup...
Baroness Hoey | 543 c874 (Link to this contribution) I wonder whether my hon. Friend could give me an answer to the question I asked the Minister, to whi...
Kelvin Hopkins | 543 c873 (Link to this contribution) That is a problem for Ministers and local authorities, but it has been estimated that we need anothe...
Richard Drax | 543 c873 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the hon. Gentleman could say where all those homes would be built. I believe the last Govern...
Kelvin Hopkins | 543 c873-4 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, and I think many of the peoples of the European countries that are now suffering would like ...
William Cash | 543 c873 (Link to this contribution) Given the hon. Gentleman's important comment about the convergence criteria, does he accept that it ...
Kelvin Hopkins | 543 c872 (Link to this contribution) Let me say first that the Minister is heroic to take this brief, which is—to understate the matter—a...
Lord Redwood | 543 c872 (Link to this contribution) I know that you would like me to wind up quickly, Mr Deputy Speaker, because others wish to contribu...
Kelvin Hopkins | 543 c872-3 (Link to this contribution) I am not as skilled as the hon. Gentleman in using the internet. Old-fashioned though it may be, I g...
David Nuttall | 543 c872 (Link to this contribution) The EU could just look it up for free on the internet.
Anne Main | 543 c878 (Link to this contribution) I just wish to contribute a few words at the end of this debate, which I have listened to with inter...
William Cash | 543 c878 (Link to this contribution) Has my hon. Friend noticed that the motion ends with the words"““which forms the basis of the UK's C...
Nicholas Dakin | 543 c877-8 (Link to this contribution) It is pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Bury North (Mr Nuttall), who has dealt with one side of...
David Nuttall | 543 c876-7 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend makes a very good point, and it prompts the following: if the bureaucrats in Br...
Lord Redwood | 543 c876 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend also agree that it is a cruel paradox that the EU lectures member states to get ...
David Nuttall | 543 c876 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree with my hon. Friend on both those points: first, this is a complete waste of time, ...
William Cash | 543 c876 (Link to this contribution) As someone who took a very active part in the Maastricht debates, I can say that this current debate...
David Nuttall | 543 c876 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful, as I am sure are all Members, for that confirmation from the Minister. That answ...
Mark Hoban | 543 c876 (Link to this contribution) May I reiterate an assurance that I gave earlier? We are following the policies that we think are ri...
David Nuttall | 543 c875-6 (Link to this contribution) As always, it is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Luton North (Kelvin Hopkins). He ref...
Lord Redwood | 543 c878 (Link to this contribution) I fear that the convergence programme began so that countries could converge with the Maastricht cri...
Anne Main | 543 c878 (Link to this contribution) As usual, my hon. Friend is absolutely right. Why do we want to converge? I do not believe that the ...
William Cash | 543 c879 (Link to this contribution) I simply wish to say that I thought that my hon. Friend the Member for Bury North (Mr Nuttall) reall...
Anne Main | 543 c878-9 (Link to this contribution) I shall not be supporting this motion, because I fundamentally disagree with what is on the front of...
Speaker | 543 c879 (Link to this contribution) That must be the shortest speech that Mr Cash has made. Question put. The House divided: Ayes 281,...
Chris Leslie | 543 c863 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend the Member for Vauxhall (Kate Hoey) asked an extremely pertinent question, and I want...
Mark Hoban | 543 c862-3 (Link to this contribution) No, I will allow the hon. Gentleman to make his own contribution in his distinctive style, and doubt...
Mark Hoban | 543 c858-9 (Link to this contribution) It has been demonstrated time and again in a host of different economies that supply-side reforms ar...
Chris Leslie | 543 c865 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps my hon. Friend can help.
Kelvin Hopkins | 543 c874-5 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. I think we ought to debate many more of these things on the Floor of the House. I would like...
Mark Hoban | 543 c859 (Link to this contribution) It would be inappropriate for the UK Government to dictate the economic policies to be followed by t...
Mark Hoban | 543 c855 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House approves, for the purposes of section 5 of the European Communities (...
Subjects
Income tax Financial markets EU action Economic and monetary union EU economic policy Economic policy Economic growth Tax rates and bands Economic recession Stability and Growth Pact Office for Budget Responsibility Budget March 2011
Link
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