Oral Answers to Questions

Julie Hilling Excerpts

Tuesday 5th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I have discussed RBS and what we can do to ensure that it supports the Scottish economy with my right hon. Friend on many occasions. The plan that the management has proposed, which we and the Governor of the Bank of England support—it is the first time since RBS collapsed in autumn 2008 that all those groups agree on a single strategy for the bank—will mean a strong, healthy future for RBS as a bank that supports the entire United Kingdom economy and, in particular, the Scottish economy. It is an important part of Scottish economic history and of Scotland’s economic future, too.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

6. What recent assessment he has made of the rate of increase in (a) average earnings and (b) consumer price inflation.

[The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Mr David Gauke)]

Disposable income increased last year at the fastest pace since 2009. In March, the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast that real household disposable income growth would accelerate each year from 2014 to 2017, reaching 2.3% in 2017. The best way to raise living standards is to stick to the Government’s economic plan and deliver a recovery that works for all. Britain is back on the path to prosperity, the economy is growing, the deficit is falling and jobs are being created.

[Julie Hilling]

I do not understand how the Minister and the Chancellor can think that their economic policies are a success. After three wasted and damaging years of flatlining, working people are on average £1,500 a year worse off. Is it not clear that his plan has failed hard-working families?

[Mr Gauke]

It has not failed the people of Bolton West, where unemployment has fallen by 1,800 in the past year.