John Bercow: ...East Simon Christopher Danczuk, Rochdale Graham Peter Jones, Hyndburn Emma Elizabeth Reynolds, Wolverhampton North East David Ward, Bradford East Eric Joyce, Falkirk Anas Sarwar, Glasgow Central Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng, Spelthorne Frank Zacharias Robin Goldsmith, Richmond Park Stephen David John Gilbert, St Austell and Newquay Timothy James Farron, Westmorland and Lonsdale Gregory...
Kwasi Kwarteng: What steps his Department is taking to reduce the level of the budget deficit.
Kwasi Kwarteng: ...expansion, and in that context self-starting business men are very important. A gentleman from Shepperton, in my constituency, who has been in the breakage business for 30 years said to me, "Kwasi, it is very difficult. I am getting strangled by red tape and bureaucracy." A Government quango, whose name I shall not mention, had been bombarding him with forms that he had to fill in, so he...
Kwasi Kwarteng: I have been privileged to hear maiden speeches by my hon. Friends the Member for South Thanet (Laura Sandys) and for Hereford and South Herefordshire (Jesse Norman), who illustrated very well the nature of the threats that we face. My hon. Friend the Member for South Thanet talked about carers, and about the particular character and fortitude of the people of her constituency. The House...
Kwasi Kwarteng: This is the first time I have had the privilege of speaking while you are in the Chair, Mr Deputy Speaker, so I congratulate you on your appointment. We are in a bit of a déjà vu situation. Labour Members cry about Tory cuts, yet they forget why the cuts have to take place. They are suffering from collective amnesia and forgetting that for the last 13 years they ran this country and the...
Kwasi Kwarteng: In a debate that took place yesterday, the Minister for Universities and Science pointed out that manufacturing had collapsed even further under the Labour Government than under 18 years of the Conservative Government. I quote from memory, but it went from some 22% to 18% of GDP between 1979 and 1997, and had decreased to some 11% by 2009.
Kwasi Kwarteng: What does the hon. Lady think about the sovereign debt crisis in Greece, to which my right hon. Friend the Chancellor referred in his Budget statement?
Kwasi Kwarteng: What does the right hon. Gentleman think about the remarks written down by his party's former Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Mr Byrne), who said, I believe, "There is no more money"?
Kwasi Kwarteng: To what degree does the right hon. Lady believe that the previous Labour Government were responsible for the massive budget deficit that we face?
Kwasi Kwarteng: Will the hon. Gentleman clarify his basic position? Does he believe that in principle corporations ought to pay more tax than they are paying already?
That Angie Bray, Lilian Greenwood, Mr Tom Harris, Kelvin Hopkins, Kwasi Kwarteng, Mr John Leech, Paul Maynard, Angela Smith, Iain Stewart and Julian Sturdy be members of the Transport Committee.
Kwasi Kwarteng: Does the hon. Gentleman believe that the content of the Bill differs significantly from legislation produced and speeches made by the former Prime Minister, the former Member for Sedgefield?
Kwasi Kwarteng: Those of us who have looked at bond yields will have noticed that the tightening-as it called-of British bonds actually happened in April. That happened as a consequence of the markets being sure that the Labour Government would be voted out, as everyone in the City has mentioned.
Kwasi Kwarteng: I am unclear about the hon. Gentleman's position on the status quo. Does he believe that the system is sustainable at current levels, given the economic climate?
Kwasi Kwarteng: Many Conservative Members would broadly agree with my hon. Friend's sentiments; I do not believe there is much division among us on the matter. What practical steps does he think Her Majesty's Government can take to stop the grotesque expansion in the budget?
Mark Reckless: ...our local police forces that they must make savings; we should also give them the freedom to decide how that is done. Question put and agreed to. Ordered, That Mark Reckless, Mr Aidan Burley, Kwasi Kwarteng, Lorraine Fullbrook, Amber Rudd, Priti Patel, Mr Robert Buckland, Mr David Ruffley, Mr Douglas Carswell, Fiona Bruce, Mr Philip Hollobone and Mr Christopher Chope present the Bill....
Kwasi Kwarteng: What does the hon. Lady think was the reason behind our deficit being worse than that of every other country in the G20?
Kwasi Kwarteng: I am grateful to the hon. Lady for giving way. The House is unclear about Labour's position on the cap. Labour Members have accepted that there is a need for public spending restraint, but Government Members want to know whether they think the cap is fair or not.
Kwasi Kwarteng: The hon. Gentleman's comments seem to be a diatribe against all referendums anywhere and are not specific to the Bill. Of course a referendum is populist; it is the most direct form of gauging the popular will. The approach of his argument seems a complete waste of time.
Kwasi Kwarteng: My issue with my hon. Friend's eloquent speech is that I do not understand the word "process" that he has been using. We are already under the convention regime. Whether we are in or out of that is a boundary question. He might want to get out, but that is a different debate. Nothing he can do to amend the Bill will fundamentally alter the fact that we are already signed up to the "process".
