"That is an extraordinary allegation—that somehow the Labour Government took money away from businesses. I thought that it was the banks—[Interruption.] There was a failure of regulatory oversight, but it was not just in this country. It happened across the world. In future, economic historians will look …..." Mary Creagh - View Speech
"I am so grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that basic lesson in economics. He may not be aware of my past working as an adviser to small businesses and to MBAs at Cranfield university on how to set up small businesses. Our economic record between 1997 and 2005 was …..." Mary Creagh - View Speech
"My hon. Friend makes a good point, and many skilled IT workers and other professionals will lose valuable public sector contracts as the so-called bureaucratic back-office functions are scaled back.
One of the ways in which the Minister proposes to help the unemployed is by laying off 2,000 jobcentre staff …..." Mary Creagh - View Speech
"I thank the hon. Gentleman for his point. We are in danger of rehearsing the arguments that we had at great length on the Finance Bill last night. I chose not to speak in that debate, because otherwise it might have dragged on even later than it did. However, I …..." Mary Creagh - View Speech
"In the end, we all end up paying for it. We made pension reforms to try and get people in the private sector to enrol in pension funds, because companies in that sector tend not to pay pensions or enrol their staff in stakeholder pensions. As a result, the taxpayer—the …..." Mary Creagh - View Speech
"I will not take any more interventions, as this debate is turning into another Second Reading of the Finance Bill and I want to talk about unemployment and the future jobs fund.
In my constituency of Wakefield—which is well known to my right hon. Friend the Member for Normanton, Pontefract …..." Mary Creagh - View Speech
"The point is that they are entry-level jobs. The future jobs fund takes people off the unemployment register for six months, but the important thing is that those people then have a CV that does not say, “I’ve been on the dole and I don’t know how to get up …..." Mary Creagh - View Speech
"I think that we should have both. I do not think that 50,000 apprenticeships will be enough; nor do I think that cutting Peter to spend money on Paul is a fair way to allocate resources...." Mary Creagh - View Speech