The Co-operative Party

Geraint Davies: I’m an economist and you’re not.

Geraint Davies: Given the intimate relationship between any special adviser and their Secretary of State, is the right hon. Gentleman seriously contending that he did not know the content and the volume of what was transmitted? Why did he not release all the content when he promised to do so?

Geraint Davies: Rather than giving £10 billion to the IMF for the European bail-out fund, would it not be better to invest that money in a growth strategy in places such as Swansea to generate jobs and growth, and avoid the situation of the Chief Secretary suddenly announcing a further 5% cut in departmental spending, allegedly for a rainy day?

Geraint Davies: Pensioners in Swansea on £135 a week now face an £11 second bedroom tax, so that if they did want to be able to afford a £250,000 lobby lunch, they would have to invest all their money for 40 years. Is this not just the same old Tory story of feeding the rich and robbing the poor?

Geraint Davies: Leeks are normally very popular in Wales, but given that only 4,000 people in Wales pay the 50p rate of tax, compared with 94,000 in London, taken alongside the regional pay leak, this represents a massive transfer from poorer people in Wales to richer people in London. Does the Minister not agree that spreading that sort of fear through leaks ahead of the Budget announcement is disgraceful,...

Geraint Davies: Unemployment is at a 17-year high, more people than ever are being forced into part-time work, there are cuts in tax credits to the low-paid, 170,000 children will be forced into poverty in the coming year, growth is down, the deficit is up, 700,000 public sector workers are being sacked, services are being slashed and the Office for Budget Responsibility says that the Budget measures will...

Geraint Davies: What recent assessment he has made of the performance of the Crown Prosecution Service.

Geraint Davies: Further to that point of order, Mr Speaker. Yesterday I raised the future of Remploy with the Chancellor at Treasury Question Time. There was no inkling of any sudden announcement of a mass closure of 36 factories, with the Swansea factory closing down and 1,200 disabled people losing their jobs. Is it in order to make such a statement through the Library, without even a debate about the...

Geraint Davies: The Chancellor and his Government are considering the complete removal of all subsidy to disabled manufacturing workers in Remploy. Does he accept that, as a minimum, the subsidy should be at the level of unemployment benefit and reflect the knock-on cost on health in order to avoid making a net loss by putting those people on the dole?

Geraint Davies: As the former chair of Flood Risk Management Wales charged with leading Wales forward in adapting to climate change, I am pleased to speak in the debate. The Welsh Assembly Government have sustainable development at the core of their constitution. I shall put in a bid for Swansea as the site for the green investment bank, given the access to the natural wind and wave power, the great...