Magnox: Early Contract Terminations

Debate between Greg Clark and Dennis Skinner

Monday 27th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

One reason I have asked Mr Holliday to make a report by October is so that that can happen. I will meet him in the coming days, as he sets out the scope and timetable, but that is one of the key reasons for the report, and I am sure he will want to make his recommendations available for the new process.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

What were the terms of the pay-off? The Secretary of State has not mentioned it.

[Greg Clark]

I have mentioned the settlement—it is nearly £100 million for the settlement of the litigation. The chief executive of the NDA has come to the end of his contract.

Opel/Vauxhall: Sale to PSA Group

Debate between Greg Clark and Dennis Skinner

Monday 6th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

I accept the hon. Gentleman’s advice, based on his experience. As I said earlier today, I am cautiously optimistic. I think that the commitments go in the right direction. Actually, the language that I have used is the language that Len McCluskey has used, and I dare say that he is a veteran of negotiations such as these. I think we all need to welcome a positive future for Vauxhall, but we also need to do everything we can to ensure that it is delivered.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

Is the Minister aware that he has twice—twice!—praised Len McCluskey in this House, and that he has mentioned the trade unions as though they were part of the CBI five times? Is this the same Minister who walked through the Lobby to attack the trade unions’ authority and introduce that lousy Act of Parliament?

[Greg Clark]

I am not sure that Len McCluskey would want me to praise him. I think I acknowledged that we had been working together on this, as I hope the hon. Gentleman would expect. I hope that the hon. Gentleman, and every Member of this House, would want us all to put party political differences aside and to do what we can to secure jobs in every constituency in this country represented by colleagues here.

Local Government Finance

Debate between Greg Clark and Dennis Skinner

Thursday 17th December 2015 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

In the case of Solihull, there will be £12 million available from the social care package for it to use. The great advantage of a four-year settlement is that reserves can be used to smooth the transition over the spending review period with the certainty and confidence that comes from knowing what the budgets are going to be for each of those years.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

In the hour since the Secretary of State got to his feet, he has not once acknowledged that this statement today is set against a background of Derbyshire, for example, having a 40% cut in its grant a few years ago. It has still not recovered from that £157 million cut. That is what he does not recognise. And I will tell him something else, in a question. Does he understand that this is like a Budget statement made by his pal Osborne, of the northern poorhouse variety? It is going to unravel as it goes along. The Minister had better glory in these few moments because by tomorrow, and certainly by next week when the detail is out, people will realise that it is nothing but another Tory con.

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Gentleman is characteristically churlish. If he had listened to my statement, he would have heard me pay tribute to the savings that councils have made, and of course they had to make them because we had the biggest deficit in peacetime history bequeathed to us by the party of which he is a member. What we are doing in this settlement is providing extra resources to meet the pressures on social services that have been identified. In the case of Derbyshire, that includes an increase of nearly £50 million in funding for adult social care from the package announced in the spending review.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Greg Clark and Dennis Skinner

Monday 14th September 2015 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

I do agree. “Powerhouse” is an apt description, because the economy of the south and the part of Hampshire that my right hon. Friend represents is really firing on all cylinders. I remember launching the growth deal there, where the new centre for 5G technology is up and running, creating many thousands of jobs.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

When the Minister brags about devolution proposals for local government, why does he not do the decent thing and say to local government that the coalition Government and this one have taken up to 40% off local authorities? Pay that money back, and then you can start work.

[Greg Clark]

During the recess I had a very cordial and constructive meeting with the leader of the hon. Gentleman’s local authority in Derbyshire, and the one accord that we had is that the progress that the coalition Government made in transferring powers from London and Westminster to the regions has been one of the contributory factors to the revival of the regions.