EU Council

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Matt Hancock

Monday 2nd July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Hancock (West Suffolk) (Con)]

I warmly welcome the announcement of the review into banking to replace the failed regulation drafted by Labour Members, but will the Prime Minister ensure that, as a deterrent, criminal sanctions are available in future for those bankers who are wholly irresponsible?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. The Chancellor will be going into more detail on this issue. We need to ensure that the regulators and the SFO have all the powers they need. People will not understand why crimes on the high street are punished in one way but crimes in the banks and elsewhere are punished in another way. That absolutely needs to be cleared up, and I am sure that this Government will do so.

G8 and NATO Summits

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Matt Hancock

Wednesday 23rd May 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman makes a good point. However much one can look at the Greek situation and feel for the people who are suffering as a result of unemployment and living standards, there is a crying need for genuine reform in Greece, and for more straightforward and honest politics when it comes to dealing with those problems. That means making sure that people do pay their taxes, and making sure that industries are competitive.

The issue of defence spending is obviously more complex because of the relationship between Greece and Turkey, but as we are now both NATO members and Turkey is an aspirant EU nation, there should be an opportunity to decrease Greek spending on national defence, while of course encouraging it to be a good NATO member at the same time.

[Matthew Hancock (West Suffolk) (Con)]

At the G8 summit, did any of the leaders advance the argument that dealing with the deficit and supporting growth were alternatives, or did they argue that it was necessary to bring about growth through monetary policy, by supporting the banks and by getting trade going? Did anyone advance the argument that it was necessary to borrow one’s way out of debt?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes a very important point. Absolutely no one suggested that dealing with deficits and securing growth were alternatives. They are complementary: we need both. That is the view of everyone around the G8 table. There is only group of people who have their heads in the sand and are complete deficit deniers, and they are the people who gave us the deficit in the first place.

Public Disorder

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Matt Hancock

Thursday 11th August 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Everyone wants to see a fairer and more equal country, but I have to say to the hon. Lady that young people smashing down windows and stealing televisions is not about inequality.

[Matthew Hancock (West Suffolk) (Con)]

Will the Prime Minister join me in congratulating policemen from Suffolk and across East Anglia who came to London in support of their colleagues? Will he answer this question? My constituents were shocked to discover that only 3,000 of the 32,000 policemen in the Met were on duty. What are we going to do to change that and can we get cross-party support for it?

[The Prime Minister]

I certainly join my hon. Friend in praising Suffolk and other police forces in East Anglia and Essex who got police officers into our capital. The point I made about the deployment of officers is one of the lessons we have to learn about the ability to surge up numbers quickly when circumstances require it.

Public Confidence in the Media and Police

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Matt Hancock

Wednesday 20th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

You know—urgh!

[Matthew Hancock (West Suffolk) (Con)]

Does it not raise serious questions about how the previous Government operated that Labour Members seem to think it would have been appropriate for the Prime Minister to be briefed on operational police matters? Do not the e-mails released show just what a professional his chief of staff is?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for putting that on the record because it is right. The judgment that my chief of staff reached was backed in advance by the permanent secretary at No. 10 and has been backed subsequently by leading police officers and the head of the Home Affairs Committee.

Phone Hacking

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Matt Hancock

Wednesday 13th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The premise underlying the hon. Gentleman’s question is wrong. My understanding is that when there is a police investigation, as there is with hacking, if evidence is destroyed that breaks the law. That investigation is happening right now. As regards setting up the inquiry, the terms of reference are now in the Library for the hon. Gentleman to see. If he has suggestions and ideas he can make them known, but I sent the terms of reference to his right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition this morning for comments from the Labour party and we have incorporated those comments in full.

[Matthew Hancock (West Suffolk) (Con)]

May I push the Prime Minister a little more on the culture of journalism? As with the bankers crisis and the MPs’ expenses crisis, changing the culture and self-responsibility of the industry is important. What will he do to take a lead on that?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. We should celebrate good journalism and social responsibility in journalism and media organisations. Let me put it on the record that many media organisations do some brilliant things in our country to build up what I call the big society. We must not damn all media because of what is happening and what has happened in some organisations. As well as a good regulatory system, we need a culture that is, yes, about getting to the truth but, no, not about breaking the law.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Matt Hancock

Wednesday 13th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Of course. The point about the inquiry, which I will be announcing in a moment or two, is that it will be judge led, it will take its powers from the Inquiries Act 2005, and it will be able to call people under oath. I think this is absolutely vital. As I say, there are three pillars to this. There is the issue of police corruption, there is the issue of what happened at the media, and there are also questions for politicians past, present and future.

[Matthew Hancock (West Suffolk) (Con)]

Q4. My constituents are increasingly concerned about the deepening problems in the eurozone. Will the Prime Minister reassure me that he is doing everything he can to keep us out of it and to urge the eurozone to act?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Matt Hancock

Wednesday 23rd March 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his question. He is absolutely right: this is an issue of cross-party concern. As he knows, we completely agree with what was proposed for the human trafficking directive. We decided to wait and check that it would actually be in line with what was wanted and did not have further dangers in terms of our immigration policy. I am happy to say that we will be opting into the directive, with parliamentary permission. Above all, we must ensure that our arrangements are in place to help trafficked children, including in the way he suggests.

[Matthew Hancock (West Suffolk) (Con)]

Q13. A recent Public Accounts Committee report found that in the past hospitals were built under the private finance initiative even though it was more expensive than other forms of financing. In some PFI hospitals, it now costs £333 to change a light switch. What is the Prime Minister going to do about it, and whose fault was it?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. Some of the PFI deals that were entered into were extremely expensive, and the costs will rack up on taxpayers for years to come. He does not have to believe me, as we now have it from Labour’s shadow Health Secretary, who has made a number of helpful interventions in recent weeks. The latest one was in the Morning Star—not a paper I always read. Whether talking to a communist paper or backing Tory plans, he is very consistent: he is always in favour of what the Government are doing. He said:

“There is definitely a case for saying we were poor at PFI, poor at negotiating PFI contracts from the outset.”

I could not agree more.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Matt Hancock

Wednesday 16th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I strongly support the British police. They are the finest force in the world. What the police and other public servants know is that we were left a deep Budget deficit that we have to deal with. If we want to keep police officers on the streets, it is necessary to have the pay freeze that we are talking about. It is necessary to look, as Tom Winsor has done, at the allowances that they receive and to work out how we can make sure that we have well-paid, well-motivated police officers doing a great job in our country. Again, if the Labour party is just going to stand against every reform, every change and every improvement and say there is nothing we can do about any one of these problems, not only will it be irrelevant, but the British public will work out that it is irrelevant.

[Matthew Hancock (West Suffolk) (Con)]

Last night there was a violent double murder in Beck Row in Suffolk, which was the most serious in a series of incidents in the area. Will the Prime Minister assure me, and the residents of west Suffolk, that these crimes will be fully investigated, that their perpetrators will face justice and that everywhere in this country must be subject to the rule of law?

[The Prime Minister]

I can certainly give my hon. Friend that assurance. This is a very disturbing case, and I am sure that hon. Members will all have heard about it this morning on the news. I think the police will want to do everything they can to get to the bottom of this dreadful crime and to bring the perpetrators to justice.

G20 Summit

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Matt Hancock

Monday 15th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I think that the biggest lesson is that the Irish followed one key new Labour policy, which was to join the euro. Fortunately, new Labour did not have the courage and bravery to follow through its own manifesto and listened very carefully to my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), who fought a very strong campaign to keep us out of the euro.

[Matthew Hancock (West Suffolk) (Con)]

I welcome the language in the communiqué on imbalances and the recognition that more needs to be done. Given the clear language in the communiqué and the support for dealing with deficits, can the Prime Minister think of any credible group that now opposes action on the deficit?

[The Prime Minister]

It is difficult to find a group that is against dealing with deficits. I think that even Cuba has now recognised that we need to take action—and that is the point. The G20 is united in the fact that we need to deal quickly with large and excessive deficits. That was the conversation around the table, and that is what is in the communiqué. There is only one group of people I can think of who would have been in the deficit denial corner: the Labour party.

Strategic Defence and Security Review

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Matt Hancock

Tuesday 19th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman’s break from Parliament did not do anything for his temper or his nature. He is completely wrong. We have to get these decisions right for the long term and, as I have tried to explain, a politically easier decision would have been a militarily wrong decision. That is a good way to start.

[Matthew Hancock (West Suffolk) (Con)]

Last week, the Public Accounts Committee heard from Sir Bill Jeffrey, who said that the lack of a strategic review over the last couple of years had made the situation in the defence budget more difficult. I welcome the Prime Minister’s assurance that there will be a strategic defence review every five years, but what can he do to entrench that and to ensure that the shambolic position of there having been no review for 12 years never happens again?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Matt Hancock

Wednesday 30th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am well aware that the Conservative party did not sweep Scotland, and I thank the hon. Gentleman for reminding me of it.

What I said I would do if we formed a Government was to go straight to Scotland and Wales to meet the First Ministers and have—[Interruption.] The hon. Gentleman has asked a question; he might as well listen to the answer before he starts shouting at me. I said that I would have proper meetings and have a respect agenda in which we respected the devolved Assemblies. I have to say that under the last Government there was a whole year during the financial crisis when the Prime Minister of our country did not even meet the First Minister of Scotland. That will not happen under this Government—we believe in respect.

[Matthew Hancock (West Suffolk) (Con)]

Q14. May I tell the Prime Minister how pleased my constituents were when he found £50 million to help further education colleges that were promised funding but left high and dry by the previous Administration? Will he ensure that the application for an FE college in Haverhill in my constituency is given the attention it deserves, so that Haverhill can get the FE college that it is promised?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes a very good public spending application, and I am sure that the Treasury will have been listening carefully. He also makes a very good point: even in a difficult Budget, when reductions had to be made, we have boosted spending on FE colleges and increased the number of apprenticeships, after the shambles left by the last lot.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton and Matt Hancock

Wednesday 23rd June 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The very idea of shouty, reactionary propaganda being passed in the House of Commons is an appalling thought. As I am sure we all recognise, these are matters for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, who will be looking at them very closely.

[Matthew Hancock (West Suffolk) (Con)]

Can the Prime Minister confirm that, until yesterday’s Budget, the benefits for some of the poorest in society were to be increased at a rate less than inflation, and therefore cut in real terms?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. The Labour Government’s plans were to increase benefits by less than consumer price inflation next year. They left a £300 million—they do not know this, the dupes behind the Front Bench—[Interruption.] I think dupes is an accurate description of what I am looking at. There was a £300 million black hole, and you do not have to be a “Star Trek” fan to know that when you are in a black hole, you should stop digging.