Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Cabinet Office

Oral Answers to Questions

Luciana Berger Excerpts
Wednesday 24th November 2010

(13 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton Portrait The Prime Minister
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Yes, I agree with the shadow Chancellor. The interesting question is whether he agrees with the Leader of the Opposition. The Leader of the Opposition has two policies on tax, the graduate tax and the 50p tax, and his shadow Chancellor does not agree with either.

Luciana Berger Portrait Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)
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Q11. Before the election, the Prime Minister pledged not to cut education maintenance allowance and the Deputy Prime Minister pledged to vote against tuition fees. Can the Prime Minister now explain to my 17-year-old constituent Lauren Bedford the difference between a pledge and a promise?

Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton Portrait The Prime Minister
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What I would say to the hon. Lady’s constituent is that we inherited a complete mess from the previous Government. We have a choice—we can deal with it or we can end up in a situation like in Ireland and other countries of not just cutting education maintenance allowance but cutting everything. We are going to replace it with something that is more targeted on those who need the money to stay on at school—that is in the best interests of her constituents and everyone else.