Results 1-20 of 3,835 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Vincent Cable

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Banking Reform (3 Nov 2009) has video

Vincent Cable: I thank the Chancellor for giving us good notice of this statement, but may I check the numbers involved? We have the £25.5 billion for RBS, the £3.3 billion after the fee for Lloyds, the £8 billion contingent capital commitment and the £282 billion insurance for the RBS toxic assets. Why did he not also mention that—as I understand to be the case—RBS has been...

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Bank Liabilities (3 Nov 2009) has video

Vincent Cable: Can the Chancellor explain what process is being put in place to ensure that Northern Rock's good assets, of which there are undoubtedly many, are not sold off cheaply to the private sector while its bad, toxic debts—including those that resulted from 125 per cent. mortgages—are left with the taxpayer?

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Bank Liabilities (3 Nov 2009) has video

Vincent Cable: But what is the hurry? As I understand it, the European Commission has set no timeline for this process—unlike with the Royal Bank of Scotland. Our experience of other countries, such as Sweden, is that this problem could take 10 years to sort out, so why are the Government putting forward this proposal now? They run the risk of getting very bad value for money for the taxpayer in a...

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Equitable Life (21 Oct 2009) has video

Vincent Cable: We all understand that the Minister has a perfectly legitimate role in protecting the Treasury, but his argument seems to be that the Government's route is designed to protect the policyholders by getting them resolution more quickly than the ombudsman. Why, then, does he think the policyholders have invested a substantial amount of money in order to pursue a legal action to follow the...

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Equitable Life (21 Oct 2009) has video

Vincent Cable: I beg to move, That this House notes that the Parliamentary Ombudsman has taken the unusual step of using powers under the 1967 Act to present Parliament with a further and final report on Equitable Life; also notes that the Public Administration Select Committee's Sixth Report, Justice denied? The Government's response to the Ombudsman's report on Equitable Life, concluded that the...

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Equitable Life (21 Oct 2009) has video

Vincent Cable: The right hon. Gentleman is right; as this is such an important case—it is the biggest that the ombudsman has taken on—if the ombudsman's authority is simply flouted, that makes the ombudsman redundant. I might go further than him by asking the following: if the institutions of Parliament are flouted, what is the purpose of Parliament? That is a fundamental question.

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Equitable Life (21 Oct 2009) has video

Vincent Cable: Well, it can be and, indeed, it should be. Let me try to anticipate the Government's concerns. In addition to the two broad principles that I have sketched out—the human concerns and the constitutional concerns—a third issue arises: money and finance. There is common ground on the fact that that must be relevant when we are talking about large amounts of compensation, but we have...

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Equitable Life (21 Oct 2009) has video

Vincent Cable: Indeed, and I now propose to take my hon. Friend through this nine-year journey, the end of which we hope we are finally approaching. Let me turn to one aspect of this tension between the two approaches to resolving the compensation—the Government-led versus the tribunal-led. I note that the Government amendment contains the remarkable phrase that their scheme "is administratively...

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Equitable Life (21 Oct 2009) has video

Vincent Cable: My colleague is right. Of course, following the judicial review, some of those categories are now included; I understood the statement that the Minister made yesterday to say that the Government have accepted that specific change. So, there is wider coverage than there was before, but we remain with the fundamental division.

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Equitable Life (21 Oct 2009) has video

Vincent Cable: I had not thought of that angle, but it is a good one. I am sure that if we were to add together the legal fees and the opportunity cost of Treasury officials' time, we would be talking about many millions.

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Equitable Life (21 Oct 2009) has video

Vincent Cable: Well, indeed; I believe that the hon. Gentleman is referring to the concept of disproportional effects, which the Government have introduced. None of us fully understands what it means. I do not think that the arbitrator whom the Government have appointed understands what it means either because, as far as we can tell, in his initial report he has not tried to engage with that extremely...

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Equitable Life (21 Oct 2009) has video

Vincent Cable: That is a very emotive way of putting it but, in essence, the hon. Gentleman is right. That is the fact of the matter because, as I said in my introduction, every day that passes another 15 of those people die; it is a sadness that many of them will never see justice.

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Equitable Life (21 Oct 2009) has video

Vincent Cable: I am sure that hon. Members are anxious to hear me get on with the history, but I shall take one further intervention now.

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Equitable Life (21 Oct 2009) has video

Vincent Cable: Yes, that is right; it has been clear from the beginning that we are talking about relative losses. It is clear that nobody—neither the action group nor anybody else—is suggesting that wider definition. Let me return briefly to the beginning of these events. I do so not simply for the sake of it, but because a large number of hon. Members were not in this place when the original...

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Equitable Life (21 Oct 2009) has video

Vincent Cable: Yes, and that was the second step in the process. We had several years before Penrose finally reported in 2004. Lord Penrose described the delays, even at that stage—remember, this was five years ago—as "iniquitous and unfair". Indeed, he found a combination of failures of policy, which are not examples of maladministration, and of maladministration and recommended that the matter...

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Equitable Life (21 Oct 2009) has video

Vincent Cable: I cannot find the exact phrase in the few seconds that I have been given, but it was very clear that the process should be expeditious and humane. That is where we are in terms of the ombudsman's approach. She also said: "It is clear to me from the Government's response to my report and from the further evidence given to the Select Committee on behalf of the Government...that, whatever the...

Opposition Day — [19th allotted day]: Equitable Life (21 Oct 2009) has video

Vincent Cable: Indeed. Since the Government have declared themselves to be racing us in order to get there faster than the proponents of this motion, speed is no longer the issue. They have told us that they will speed up, at long last, but fairness will become the issue. The issue will be whether the Government accept Sir John Chadwick's findings when they appear. We will come to that. Let me finish my...