"Given the failure of regulation and the Treasury’s knowledge of it, as the hon. Gentleman outlines, this is a matter of obligation for the Government, is it not? No individual can discard their obligations because they do not have enough cash, and the Government do have enough cash at the …..." John Pugh - View Speech
"Given the £180 million overrun on phase one, will the Government be tempted to backfill with second-rate private finance initiative buildings? What role will PFI have in the programme?..." John Pugh - View Speech
"Does the right hon. Gentleman think that the OBR has been any better at predicting the economy than the Treasury was before?..." John Pugh - View Speech
"How exactly is any of this reorganisation going to do anything about the depressing call handling statistics of HMRC? Will the Minister guarantee an improvement?..." John Pugh - View Speech
"There is a lot of crying wolf and worried bleating from the banks on this subject of ring-fencing. Is the Minister aware of any banks that have decamped to foreign parts because of it?..." John Pugh - View Speech
"I thank the Minister for that response. Currently, northern cities with elected Mayors have below-average economic performance in their region, whereas northern cities with above-average performances do not yet have elected Mayors. Why are the Government making a fetish of elected Mayors?..." John Pugh - View Speech
"I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Ceredigion (Mr Williams) not only on securing this debate but on having campaigned vigorously for years on this theme.
I have only one point to make. I was standing in Strangers yesterday holding up a placard about VAT and tourism while pointing …..." John Pugh - View Speech