Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ian Murray and George Osborne

Tuesday 4th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

What we have seen under this Government is a party that is able to bring our public finances under control; to reduce the welfare bill; and to make sure the egregious waste in Westminster and Whitehall that took place under the previous Government no longer takes place. We will fund that by lower public expenditure, because once we get the public finances under control we are going to keep them under control.

[Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab)]

3. What assessment he has made of the effect of tax receipts on the deficit in the last 12 months.

Independent Banking Commission Report

Debate between Ian Murray and George Osborne

Monday 12th September 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

Yes, in short: I agree with my hon. Friend. John Vickers and his commissioners explicitly address the costs and benefits of these changes, and although they accept that there will be some additional costs, they will be more than outweighed by the broader benefits that include the benefits of having an environment in which banks are seen as more stable and the benefit to the UK economy of retail banks using their retail deposits to support retail lending.

[Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab)]

Some 100,000 jobs in Edinburgh are reliant on the financial services sector, including many tens of thousands in my constituency. How can the Chancellor reassure the House and my constituents that the banks will not pay the cost of implementing the Vickers report recommendations by cutting my constituents’ jobs?

[Mr Osborne]

Of course, one of the groups of people who are the innocent victims of what went wrong are the many people who worked in the branches of banks such as RBS and HBOS throughout the country and who lost their jobs even though they were not investment bankers working in the City of London or trading mortgage derivatives and so forth. I hope that we can now build a successful and competitive banking system that, in Scotland and elsewhere, hires people, opens branches and reverses the trend of recent years. Such groups of people have definitely been the innocent victims of what went wrong and we must do right by them.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ian Murray and George Osborne

Tuesday 22nd March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

At that meeting at Rolls-Royce, John Rose made a very compelling case for how little we had done as a country to support our manufacturing sector. We will set out policies tomorrow to assist, and we have already, as I said, put in place four annual reductions in the corporation tax. More broadly, we have to get away from a model of growth that was pursued over the last decade—based on excessive debt, and growth in one sector, the City of London, in one corner of the country, the south-east. We must have more balanced and sustainable growth in the future.

[Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab)]

Does the Chancellor of the Exchequer recall saying at the end of 2007:

“Today I can confirm for the first time that a Conservative Government will adopt these”—

Labour’s—

“spending totals…to…the year 2010-11”?

Does he regret calling the article, “Tories cutting services? That’s a pack of lies”?

[Mr Osborne]

We got into office in 2010-11, and we abandoned those spending plans for the years ahead.

Bank Bonuses

Debate between Ian Murray and George Osborne

Tuesday 11th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

It is, of course, important—I said this in my statement—that we have a successful but properly regulated financial services industry, which employs hundreds of thousands of people, including thousands of people in many constituencies represented in the Chamber. It used to be the case—although perhaps it is not the case any more—that senior Labour politicians would at least acknowledge that. That is why I would much rather reach a settlement with the banks, and that is what we are seeking to do. We want a successful industry that pays a proper contribution to the Exchequer and lends more to British business, and that is my objective.

[Ian Murray (Edinburgh South) (Lab)]

Does the Chancellor of the Exchequer think it fair that pensioners and hard-working families in my constituency are paying 2.5% more in VAT as a result of his Government’s broken promise on VAT, while the bankers get away scot-free?

[Mr Osborne]

We have introduced a permanent bank levy. An argument was made at the general election by Labour Treasury Ministers and the Labour Prime Minister that we should not introduce a levy unilaterally, as it would make Britain uncompetitive. That argument was aired then, and we have now introduced a permanent bank levy. I do not know whether the Labour party supports it or not, but it will raise almost £10 million during this Parliament, and it applies each and every year, rather than being a one-off.