(Warwick and Leamington)
(Lab): Monday will be a very sad day with the funeral of our
dear friend Jack. He was a great champion for the people of
Erdington but also, if I may say, for the manufacturing sector
and the car industry in particular. He had
GKN—now Melrose—in his constituency, and of
course Jaguar Land Rover. Today’s report from the Society of
Motor Manufacturers and Traders shows that last year there was a
34% reduction in production compared with 2019, which is
significantly worse than in European competitor nations. I am
sure that Jack would ask this question, were he here. Can we have
a debate in Government time on the Government’s mismanagement of
the pandemic and its impact on our economy?
Mr Rees-Mogg: Mr Speaker, if I may, I think it is fair to
say that there will be tributes to on Wednesday, when I know that
many Members from all sides of the House will want to pay a
tribute to him.
On the economy, I think the hon. Gentleman is simply wrong. The
policy adopted during the pandemic has saved the UK economy—that
is why it has already got back to its pre-pandemic level. The
£400 billion of taxpayer support for individuals and industry
meant that people did not lose their jobs and that businesses
survived the pandemic. If we had not provided what was probably
the greatest level of support of any country in the world, we
would have reduced the supply available when the economy came
back, and that would have been inflationary. It would also have
had the effect of putting many tens or hundreds of
thousands—possibly even millions—into unemployment; in fact, we
have the lowest youth unemployment on record. I think the attack
on economic management is simply misplaced and that my right hon.
Friend the Prime Minister and the Government got the big
decisions right. That has been so fundamentally important during
the whole of the covid pandemic.
