"The House always benefits from your interventions, Mr Speaker, and thank you for your kind good wishes to my hon. Friend. I think the House has already guessed that my hon. Friend would normally have been answering this debate. I receive a number of kind invitations from all quarters of …..." Michael Fallon - View Speech
"23. How can it be fair for small businesses outside London and the south-east to have to compete for staff paid on national rates working in public offices? Given that the last Government committed us to local pay nearly 10 years ago, and that it already operates in the Courts …..." Michael Fallon - View Speech
"I thank the shadow Secretary of State for giving way so early in his speech. Does he not recall the Governor of the Bank of England describing the Government’s economic policy as a “perfectly sensible” “textbook response”? Why is the Governor wrong and he right?..." Michael Fallon - View Speech
"Could the shadow Chancellor make it absolutely clear—yes or no—whether he would restore the age-related allowance if he came to power?..." Michael Fallon - View Speech
"I remind the House of my interests on the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. One of the most remarkable things about the Opposition’s response to this Budget is that we have not heard a single pledge to reverse any of the changes being proposed. We have heard a lot of …..." Michael Fallon - View Speech
"My hon. Friend is on to something. We note that the shadow Chancellor could not answer the questions on whether Labour would restore the age-related allowances, the changes to which its Members have been moaning about today.
"Given the amount of Budget lobbying now going on, will the Chief Secretary remind those who want to add even more to our borrowing by proposing wholly irresponsible and unfunded tax cuts of the Institute for Fiscal Studies advice that
"What lesson should we draw from Standard & Poor’s warning that the UK’s rating could come under downward pressure if, against its expectation, the commitment to fiscal consolidation wavers? Should not that warning be addressed to those who want us to cut more slowly and to borrow even more as …..." Michael Fallon - View Speech