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Richmond upon Thames Liberal Democrats:Covering the constituencies of Twickenham and Richmond Park |
Thurso and Swales quiz Cameron at PMQs
December 10, 2011 9:29 AM
• [Dec 07] John Thurso (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, Liberal Democrat): SMALL and medium-sized enterprises in my constituency are still having grave difficulty in accessing reasonable finance. A major contributory factor in that is lack of competition. Will the Government consider breaking up the nationalised banks to create more competition on the high street?
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David Cameron: I do think we have opportunities to increase competition on the high street, and obviously, as we look to return the state banks to the private sector we will have further opportunities. We have already managed to take one important step forward by getting Northern Rock back out there lending to businesses and households, properly established in the north-east of England.
• . . Ian Swales (Redcar, Liberal Democrat): What would the Prime Minister say to a council such as Redcar and Cleveland borough council, which is considering rejecting Government funding for a council tax freeze next year, and instead charging my hard-pressed constituents 3.5 % more?
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David Cameron: I very much hope that all councils will take up the offer of a council tax freeze, because in this year of all years, when people face economic hardship, it is important that we help where we can. That is why we have cut the petrol tax. That is why we have allowed the council tax freeze to go ahead. So my advice to people in the hon. Gentleman's constituency would be to support parties that back a council tax freeze.
• . . Peter Tapsell (Louth and Horncastle, Conservative): May I hark back a month to 7 November, when, as is recorded at column 28 of that day's Hansard, I put three suggestions to my right hon. Friend for containing the euro crisis, with which he appeared to agree? None of them, as he will have noticed, has been acted upon by the European Central Bank, so may I now express to him my belief that the alternative policy of a fiscal union will, as my hon. Friend Dr Lewis has just said, pose a great threat to the liberty of Europe, because it would inevitably make Germany still more dominant? Can the Germans be persuaded to study the reason for the Boston tea party? "No taxation without representation" is the bastion of freedom.
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David Cameron: As ever-[Interruption.]
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John Bercow (Speaker): Order. We have heard the question. We now want to hear the Prime Minister's answer.
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David Cameron: As ever, the Father of the House speaks with great knowledge, wisdom and foresight. The reason why he and I do not want to join the single currency is that we would not be prepared to put up with a supra-national power that would tell us what our debt, our deficit and everything else should be. That is why we do not want to join. If the countries of the eurozone want to make their system work, it is clear to me that fiscal rules are one thing that they may need, but that will not be enough without proper competitiveness, and-this is the third point that my right hon. Friend made-the full-hearted intervention and support of the institutions of the eurozone, including the European Central Bank. But it is a decision that those eurozone countries have to make themselves.
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