Business of the House

Jonathan Reynolds Excerpts

Thursday 26th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who complements the point made by another of my hon. Friends about the initiatives that we are taking to equip young people with the skills that they need. I was delighted to hear of the extra £2 million invested in my hon. Friend’s college, which I know will be well spent. She reminds the House of the steps that we have taken to enable young people to compete in a competitive job market.

[Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge and Hyde) (Lab/Co-op)]

How can we not have an urgent debate about the state of the economy before we prorogue? If the GDP figures yesterday had been positive, the Government would cite that as proof that the strategy was working, but they were not—they were terrible. Should the Government not think again, show some humility and give the House a chance to debate that?

[Sir George Young]

I say to the hon. Gentleman what I said a few moments ago. We had the Budget, followed by several days’ debate on the Budget. We then had Second Reading of the Finance Bill, followed by two days of debate on the Floor of the House on measures in the Finance Bill. We then had a debate on the Financial Services Bill. It honestly is not the case that the Government have denied the House an opportunity to debate the economy. On top of that, the Opposition are allotted regular Opposition days, which they can use if they want further debates. The answer is that we have debated the matter. We would welcome further debates, and there may be an opportunity in the new Session when we debate the Queen’s Speech for a further exchange about the economy.