Speeches by Thomas.

“I say gently to the hon. Lady that when she had the conversations that she says she had with businesses in her constituency, I am sure she pointed out the huge economic mess that this Government inherited and the £22 billion black hole in public finances. That is why the Chancellor of the Exchequer had to make some ver…”

“Well, I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for confirming once again that he is against the India trade deal, against the deal with the US and against the deal with the European Union. I turn now to business investment. The Opposition’s motion claims that “investors and entrepreneurs are being driven overseas”. I hate t…”

“One way that the hon. Gentleman could help businesses in Scotland would be to call for the Scottish Government to do what we are doing in this country and extend business rates relief to hospitality and leisure. Investors from across the globe are choosing to put their money in the UK. Our international investment summ…”

“I say gently to the hon. Lady that the current rate of inflation is an awful lot lower than the 11% it rose to under her party. I was a bit surprised that there was nothing in the shadow Secretary of State’s lengthy speech on trade until my hon. Friend the Member for Peterborough (Andrew Pakes) provoked him. We have se…”

“I am happy to give way to the right hon. Gentleman one more time.”

“Those assessments were published in the Red Book at the time of the Budget. The right hon. Gentleman can do his own research and look those figures up. Turning back to the international investment coming into our country and the support from business leaders for our measures, Iberdrola’s executive chairman said at the …”

“I can assure the right hon. Gentleman that we are always talking to businesses in the hospitality sector and across the economy. I say gently to him, though, that we had to take those difficult decisions in the Budget because of the mess that we inherited from his party. Businesses in the hospitality sector and beyond …”

“With due respect to the hon. Gentleman, he needs to track these things over a period of time. The Bank of England has revised the growth numbers up for this year, as a result of the measures that we have been taking. As I said earlier, we have had to take some difficult decisions in the Budget to fill the £22 billion b…”

“Although that felt like a very long 50 minutes, it is always nice to see the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Andrew Griffith) taking centre stage for the Conservative party. As one of the authors of the Liz Truss Budget, he is a constant reminder of the fiscal mess the Conservatives very kindly left this Gover…”

“As I understand it, the hon. Lady actually supports the investment that those tax changes are delivering—she supports every penny of that investment coming into our economy. I wish the Conservative party—perhaps the hon. Lady has some influence with the shadow Chancellor—would set out its plans to raise a similar amoun…”

“The ONS numbers on employment show an extra 200,000 jobs in the economy since the general election, so I gently encourage the hon. Gentleman to look at a slightly wider range of statistics. The shadow Secretary of State once again turned to the making work pay and Employment Rights Bill agenda of the Labour party. Let …”

“Oh, go on then.”

“With due respect to the hon. Lady, it is not one or the other: a pro-worker economy is a pro-business economy. That sentiment has been echoed by experts such as Simon Deakin, a professor of law at the University of Cambridge. He says that, on average, strengthening employment laws in this country has had pro-employment…”

“With due respect, the hon. Member is wrong. The OECD says that we will have the second fastest growing economy in the G7. Let me come back to small businesses. Since taking office, we have sought to hardwire the views of small businesses into everything that we do. Together with the Federation of Small Businesses, we h…”

“I would never criticise you.”

“I will begin in the usual way by congratulating the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Sarah Olney) on securing this debate. I also acknowledge the contribution of the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), who seems to represent the whole of Northern Ireland in Westminster Hall. The hon. Member for Richmond Park rightl…”

“I am completely with the hon. Lady on that point and recognise that is exactly where Government can play a useful role in getting behind industry-led initiatives. We have certainly been doing that in the context of the invest in women taskforce and are also working with the Lending Standards Board on the code that it i…”

“We have begun a series of roadshows, which bring overseas buyers to the UK to meet small businesses here in, for example, clean energy, advanced manufacturing, life sciences, technology, and digital, creative, financial and professional services. In addition, we are offering new online support to help small and medium-…”

“First, I commend the work of Phoenox Textiles and my hon. Friend for championing its concerns. Because of the concern she has articulated, which we have heard from across the retail sector—I have certainly heard it from members of the Retail Sector Council—my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State recently met the Tr…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for that question, and I commend her for the business roundtable that she hosted. She is absolutely right, and we recognise that supply chain instability is a critical issue for businesses. We are therefore working hard to minimise the uncertainty that businesses face, both in exporting and in pu…”