Oral Answers to Questions

Gregg McClymont Excerpts

Thursday 18th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Vaizey]

That money will be spent. Local enterprise partnerships and local authorities can apply for it, and we intend to announce a new delivery mechanism next spring.

[Gregg McClymont (Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East) (Lab)]

16. Whether the proceeds from the sale of High Speed 1 will be added to the start-up capital for the green investment bank.

[The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable)]

I am unable to provide commercially sensitive information on individual asset sales, but I can say that I do not expect the proceeds of the sale of HS 1 to be used for the green investment bank. Instead, they will make a contribution to reducing the stock of national debt.

[Gregg McClymont]

The Secretary of State has referred to his own policies as Maoist, but may I suggest that he is more like Chiang Kai-shek? He is losing the war, he has retreated to his own little island, and he is increasingly cut adrift from the mainland of this Tory Government.

[Vince Cable]

That blizzard of rhetoric rather disguises the fact that in setting up the green investment bank we are making a very real commitment to investment in a green economy, and a substantial Government financial commitment has been made to it.