Rowen, Hughes and George quiz Darling and Byrne (Twickenham & Richmond Liberal Democrats)

Rowen, Hughes and George quiz Darling and Byrne

July 26, 2009 12:14 PM

• [Jul 14] Paul Rowen (Rochdale, Liberal Democrat): IF all taxpayer liabilities against RBS and Lloyds are taken into account, the current loss is more like £20 billion, rather than the £11 billion claimed by UK Financial Investments Ltd. In that context, can the Chancellor of the Exchequer give the House an assurance that there will be no early sale of these assets-before the general election, say?

Alistair Darling (Chancellor of the Exchequer, HM Treasury; Edinburgh South West, Labour): Yesterday, the UKFI was simply recording the book price of the shares for RBS and Lloyds, which are actually worth a bit more than in February, but as the shares are not being sold today, it is not a real loss. I can tell the House that it is our policy to return these shares to the private sector, but we will only do that when it is the right thing to do for the taxpayer, for financial stability, and for the wider economy. All those conditions were clearly set out in both the UKFI annual report yesterday, and in the White Paper that I published last week on the regulation of financial markets. We will enter into a sale only when we judge that the time is right: in other words, we are in no hurry to do so.

• Simon Hughes (North Southwark & Bermondsey, Liberal Democrat): While the Chancellor and his colleagues are responsible for some bank assets, is there not an opportunity to use them to provide guarantees or loans for the infrastructure that we need for the green and renewable energy products and plant that the Prime Minister and the rest of the Government keep telling us that we need? Is not now the time to use this asset at this moment of environmental crisis? (HC Deb, 14 July 2009, c153)

Alistair Darling (Chancellor of the Exchequer, HM Treasury; Edinburgh South West, Labour): The hon. Gentleman will no doubt recall that in the Budget I set out proposals significantly to increase the amount of money that we are spending to improve environmental and energy efficiency. He will no doubt also be aware that the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change will publish a White Paper tomorrow, which contains significant proposals that will go a long way to ensuring that we meet our obligations. We have already done more than most other countries in relation to our Kyoto obligations, and we will continue to do everything that we can to ensure that we have secure energy supplies that are much cleaner and greener in the future.

• . . Andrew George (St Ives, Liberal Democrat): With rising repossessions and 500,000 more families on local authority housing registers, what assessment have the Government made of the effectiveness of their policy to intervene to protect those in the most desperate housing need? (HC Deb, 14 July 2009, c154)

Liam Byrne (Chief Secretary, HM Treasury; Birmingham, Hodge Hill, Labour): As the House will know, a wide range of measures is in place to ensure that we minimise the number of people who lose their home during this recession. I know that the Council of Mortgage Lenders has already revised down at least once the number of repossessions that it anticipates this year, and it acknowledges that it is the rapid action taken by the Government, and the range of help that has been put in place, that will help to deliver that lower number. Obviously, every repossession is a tragedy for the family concerned: we want to ensure that we act to keep such repossessions to an absolute minimum.

Richmond upon Thames Liberal Democrats: