"The Cabinet have given support where it matters most—in delivering the savings. Those savings were delivered in a matter of days, which the hon. Gentleman’s colleagues were never able to do.
The hon. Gentleman talked about the decisions that we have made. Perhaps he could acknowledge two things. First, we …..." David Laws - View Speech
"I agree with my hon. Friend on both those points, including his first comments about the shadow Chancellor. Yes, we are going to commit to increasing the real budget of the NHS each year, even in these tough economic times when we will have to deal with the consequences of …..." David Laws - View Speech
"My hon. Friend makes a very good point. I am pleased to have support from another Gladstonian Liberal on the Liberal Democrat Benches. I am grateful to him for drawing attention to the additional investment that we are making in social housing. That is a real priority for many Members …..." David Laws - View Speech
"I have already made it clear that our priority is to protect schools, which is precisely what we have done in the spending statement. I am afraid that there is a basic ideological differences between those on the Labour Benches and those on the Government Benches—we believe in devolving power …..." David Laws - View Speech
"I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I agree that there seems to have been a scorched-earth strategy as regards not only the state of the public finances but the way in which the Government were spending money at the end of their term. We are looking very closely at …..." David Laws - View Speech
"We are maintaining the young person’s guarantee. I have to tell the right hon. Lady that the clear advice that we have had is that that particular part of the young person’s guarantee was simply not effective and was wasteful—that the proportion of expenditure that was being saved as a …..." David Laws - View Speech
"My hon. Friend makes a very good point. He will also be aware that some of these funds are going to be used to avoid part of the tax on jobs that the previous Administration were intent on, and that will help to preserve employment in this country...." David Laws - View Speech
"Of course we would not, but I have to tell the right hon. Gentleman that the policy that we set has to be informed by the facts, and the facts and advice that we had from the Department for Work and Pensions about the future jobs fund suggested that it …..." David Laws - View Speech
"The hon. Gentleman is exactly right, and in the news even this morning and over the past few days we have seen the real risk that the lack of financial confidence could spread across the European Union and engulf even some nations that have not been affected to date. As …..." David Laws - View Speech