Alistair Darling: I knew that if I mentioned Europe this would happen, as sure as night follows day.
Alistair Darling: When comparing the judgments that we make about what is necessary fiscally, I do not think that bringing on to the main balance sheet PFI, Network Rail and everything else particularly helps. However, if that is the course of action that he has managed to persuade the Chancellor to take, we will look with great interest at the Budget in a couple of weeks. I just do not think that it is a...
Alistair Darling: For sheer endeavour, I will give way to the hon. Gentleman.
Alistair Darling: I think that the word "savage" was used by the Deputy Prime Minister, of whom the hon. Gentleman now finds himself a great admirer. It was not a word that I used. It is important in the task that confronts the whole country and the Government that we do not get ourselves into a situation of almost competitive austerity, in which Governments and countries become blind to the need to secure...
Alistair Darling: No, I will not. If we are to maintain jobs and ensure that borrowing does indeed come down, we need to have growth. Policies to achieve that are notable by their absence both in this country and the rest of continental Europe. It is no use Government Members citing what happened in Canada and Sweden. Yes, Canada reduced its structural deficit, but it did so at a time when its next door...
Alistair Darling: On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Yesterday, the Prime Minister said that the coming spending review was going to change our whole way of life and that today the Chancellor and Chief Secretary would publish a framework for this year's spending review. I am not seeking to reopen your decision in relation to my request for an urgent question, and I would normally have expected a statement in the...
Alistair Darling: First, may I welcome the Chancellor and his team to the Front Bench? I hope that he will join me in sending our good wishes to my right hon. Friend the Member for East Ham (Mr Timms), who remains a member of the Opposition Treasury team and who I am glad to say was in very good heart when I saw him a couple of weeks ago. He is looking forward to returning to the House at an early...
Alistair Darling: I agree that there are many issues that need to be resolved, in this country and others. No doubt we will return to them when the debate on the Gracious Speech resumes. I want to ask a specific question about the Office for Budget Responsibility that the Chancellor is about to set up. When that body makes its recommendations, will he undertake that it will publish all the underlying...
Alistair Darling: (Urgent Question): To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will set out the measures that will be implemented across government to deliver the more than £6 billion of in-year spending cuts announced earlier this week?
Alistair Darling: First, I am grateful to the Chief Secretary-I am just sorry that the Chancellor of the Exchequer could not make it. It is important, especially as the Government have difficult decisions and announcements to make over the next few months, that the Chancellor should be ready to come to this House to justify what he is doing. Will the Chief Secretary accept that there is no good reason why the...
Alistair Darling: This Budget takes place as the UK is emerging from the deepest global recession for over 60 years. It has been a testing time, which has required Governments across the world to make difficult decisions and difficult choices, and to take unprecedented actions. We had to decide whether to intervene to rescue the financial system or to stand on the sidelines, and whether we should support the...
Alistair Darling: Reform is necessary at domestic, European and international level to ensure that we have a regulatory system that can effectively monitor and, where necessary, curb risk-taking in the financial services sector.
Alistair Darling: I agree with my hon. Friend that it is important that we have a fair and just society; that we ensure that, when people are rewarded, they are rewarded for their effort; and, in the banking industry in particular, that the relationship between what somebody does and what they get should be better aligned. That is why we received the agreement of the G20 countries and imposed restrictions on...
Alistair Darling: I agree with the hon. Gentleman that global agreement on the reforms that we need is highly desirable. The proposals that the United States made 10 days ago, the requirements for increased capital, where necessary, to ensure that the amount of capital held is commensurate with the risk undertaken, and the measures to take forward the work on resolution plans-living wills, if you like-are all...
Alistair Darling: I do not think that the division that my hon. Friend provides is quite as simple as that. Hedge funds can perform a useful function, but it is important to ensure that, when banks engage in risky activity, they have sufficient capital behind them if things go wrong. That is why we are very happy to work with some of the proposals from the United States and, indeed, other parts of the world....
Alistair Darling: Interestingly, if one looks at Paul Volcker's proposals, which he made as part of his Group of Thirty proposals a year ago, one finds that he recognised that proprietary trading could be risky and recommended that greater capital be held against such risky activities. We have expressed that view before, and the issue clearly needs to be looked at. However, we must also bear in mind that most...
Alistair Darling: No, I do not accept that. If the hon. Gentleman reflects on what has happened since 2007, he will see that the problems were partly to do with liquidity. For example, Northern Rock was totally dependent on wholesale funding, and when that dried up, the bank effectively collapsed. However, the other problem was that too many firms, such as RBS, clearly did not understand the extent to which...
Alistair Darling: As I have said before, we have still to see the details of what the President is proposing; I understand that we will see more during the course of this week. I have to say to the hon. Gentleman that we are dealing with a complex set of proposals. On the day that the President made his announcement, according to Robert Peston-[Hon. Members: "Ah!"] Well, I am sure that he is right on this....
Alistair Darling: On the hon. Gentleman's first point, I said that where there is common ground between us and those in the United States, we will work closely with them; that is something that I intend to pursue at the G7 meeting this weekend, along with other Finance Ministers. I do not accept the proposition that if we simply break up banks we will sort the problem that needs to be sorted, because of the...
Alistair Darling: As the House would expect, Treasury officials meet a wide range of organisations and have done so for a number of years.