"I hear what the hon. Gentleman is saying, but there is an element of him trying to rewrite history. We were making progress. I cannot say what he experienced in his constituency, but there were people in my constituency, some of whom had been out of work for a long …..." Russell Brown - View Speech
"I will be honest with hon. Gentleman and say that I cannot give him that figure. However, I think he is trying to forget that there were almost 3 million people who were unemployed under the previous Conservative Government. We worked massively hard to reduce the levels of unemployment in …..." Russell Brown - View Speech
"Let me just mention one or two other things. The hon. Member for Suffolk Coastal (Dr Coffey) has left the Chamber, but she spoke about paying down debt. In case the House has forgotten, when we came to power in 1997, there was 43% debt, and we paid down debt …..." Russell Brown - View Speech
"I am absolutely delighted that I allowed the hon. Gentleman to intervene. I have no wish to see that either.
The one thing that the SNP does not tell the people of Scotland is just how high taxation is in those countries that they are keen to mention and with …..." Russell Brown - View Speech
"That really is a naive question, but it is not unexpected. I am not asking for a council tax increase; I am asking for local government in Scotland to be properly funded. It has to be properly funded. To do otherwise is a false idea, especially when it falls on …..." Russell Brown - View Speech
"The hon. Gentleman mentioned free prescriptions. Why am I now coming across pensioners in my constituency who are visiting their doctor and instead of being given a prescription for painkillers are told to go to the chemist and buy them over the counter?..." Russell Brown - View Speech
"Will the Minister explain to my rural constituents in a low-wage economy area why of the 10 areas where the Chief Secretary has endeavoured to get a special rural fuel discount scheme into place, eight are in Lib Dem constituencies and two are in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency? Is that …..." Russell Brown - View Speech
"My hon. Friend mentions the LIBOR scandal and the mis-selling of products. May I put on record my thanks to the hon. Member for Aberconwy (Guto Bebb) for his work as chair of the all-party group on interest rate swap mis-selling?
"Given all that, does the hon. Gentleman agree that removing the cash flow that assists in running the business when it is under pressure simply creates additional problems?..." Russell Brown - View Speech