Speeches by Lowe.

“I am glad you clarified that; I was going to double-check that.”

“This is, I think, the 10th plan to effectively reduce regulatory burden and increase growth. Hopefully we will not need an 11th, but I can’t quite see how we aren’t going to need it.”

“This is my final question, because I can feel that the Chairman is itching. Are you looking to help the financial sector or, to Clive’s point, the building sector? What sectors are you looking to achieve benefit for, above all else?”

“We have to get at the answer to this.”

“Right, me again for round 2. This one is probably for you, Jim, given that both of us have had a career in the City [Interruption.] Dear me, that’s my wretched watch. As you and I probably know and understand, which not everybody will, in the financial services markets of 2000, London was the most vibrant capital marke…”

“I have no more questions, Geoffrey.”

“Okay. I am still not clear, but over what time are you looking for them to deliver this? What is your timeframe for delivery? I am not clear on the definition, but assuming they are—I am far from certain they are—what is the timeframe over which you want this delivered? If you do not know the objectives, they cannot de…”

“So how do they judge whether they have been successful or not?”

“Yes.”

“What do you consider success and what do you consider failure in terms of GDP growth? Have you told them that?”

“What do these regulators need to deliver for you to consider it successful growth? I am not clear.”

“I am still not clear: how do you define economic growth?”

“Can you define what you consider to be delivering growth?”

“Right. I asked a question of the Secretary of State for Business and Trade about “the number and proportion of senior civil servants within his Department that have (a) historic and (b) current directorships listed on Companies House.” In July 2023, there was one. What I am asking you—the question I am trying to get at…”

“Thank you for your example, Gareth, but I think labelling is a different issue from regulation. I would argue that you deregulate for growth; you do not regulate for growth. The NAO rightly sets out that regulators are primarily set up to correct market failures and to protect consumers, the public and the environment.…”

“Good afternoon, everybody. If you will indulge me, I want to understand the genesis of the name “Regulating for growth”. Who actually came up with that? Rachel Reeves irritates me when she spreads it around the Chamber liberally, so who actually thought that that was a sensible name?”

“I think my question is to Simon. I am again reading the MoD Report, and I would just like some clarity. It states: “The MoD told us…Fraud Defence and the police are also working jointly on a new investigative model for fraud and economic crime—which”—this is the key word—“could include joining police and Fraud Defence …”

“On that, perhaps you should start by getting your counter-fraud and police teams to trust and work together. That is your cultural problem; if people do not work together, nothing happens. I think I have done my bit for now, Chair.”

“If you run a whistleblowing line, you have to make it effective. You had 1,037 cases, of which 363 ended up being properly investigated by the police. If you do not have a properly functioning whistleblowing line, people will not whistleblow. Anyway, I think I have covered that off. I have one last question, because I …”

“But we do not want to talk generalities, Geoffrey. We want actual specifics.”