Category Archives: Debates

Mr John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): I remind the House that I offer business advice to a global engineering business and a small investor management business. We meet today with the winds of danger blowing once again from the euro area. We meet to discuss measures in the Queen’s Speech to make Britain more competitive, to [...]

Mr John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): Does the Minister believe the UK is bound by the Maastricht rules that its deficit should be 3% per annum and no more, and that it should have a stock of debt of only 60% of national income? The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mr Mark Hoban): We are required [...]

Mr John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): Given that I agree with the Chancellor that IMF money should not be used to bail out a currency, will he urge the IMF to make sure that loans are made available to European countries only when they are in a position to devalue or when they are withdrawing from [...]

Mr Redwood: I remind hon. Members that I am an adviser to an industrial company and a small investment management business. I am not a tax adviser, so I feel able to participate in this debate. I was interested in the Opposition amendment and it turns out to be rather disappointing, for a number of [...]

Mr Redwood: If the hon. Gentleman reads the Red Book further, he will see that £4 billion-plus more a year will be raised from self-assessment income tax under the 45p rate than under the 50p rate. Indeed, in the year to April 2012 there was a 9% reduction in self-assessment income tax, because the top [...]

Mr John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): When the Government proposed VAT on pasties, did they feel they needed to do that to protect other VAT revenue on takeaways from European challenge? Is that what is in the Chief Secretary’s mind? The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Danny Alexander): No, that is not what is in our [...]

Mr John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): I fully support the Government’s aim. We need to earn our way out of the fiscal crisis, the massive over-borrowing and the large deficits. I also fully support their aim to get more money from taxing the rich, and we need a tax break for everybody else. We need a [...]

Mr John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): I support the motion, but will my hon. Friend make this point clear to me: presumably, she would want the British Government to be able to get rid of the much-hated and stupid discards policy and be free to decide ourselves how to conserve stock? Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and [...]

Mr John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): Will the Deputy Prime Minister introduce a freedom Bill to get rid of a lot of bossy and unloved regulations? The Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Nick Clegg): As my right hon. Friend knows, we have already introduced a large set of measures that have removed a lot of unnecessary clutter [...]

Mr John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): This debate is about power and those on the Front Benches are misguided in thinking that it will enhance ministerial power to seek to influence the way in which Back-Bench business is conducted against the interests of all the Back Benchers who have turned up and spoken in today’s debate. [...]