Anneliese Dodds - Urgent Question speech regarding the Greensill scandal

“I welcome the Minister’s presence but it was the Chancellor who needed to come to the House today. The Chancellor who told David Cameron he would “push” his team to amend emergency loan schemes to suit Cameron’s new employer. The Chancellor whose officials met with Greensill ten times. The Chancellor who took the credit for Government business loan schemes when they were in the headlines – indeed, who personally announced those schemes. Yet the Chancellor is frit of putting his name to those loan schemes today. He’s just spent £600,000 on communications. You’d think that would extend to communicating with parliament.

“In the Chancellor’s absence, let me ask: What was the “alternative” that the Chancellor “pushed [his] team to explore” after David Cameron texted him? What discussions did Government have with the British Business Bank about Greensill’s access to CLBILS after it had already been rejected for the CCFF? Were the criteria for CLBILS amended so Greensill could access the scheme? And why was Greensill the only supply chain finance firm accredited to CLBILS, and what due diligence was done?

“Hundreds of millions of pounds of public money were put at risk by giving Greensill access to this scheme. With Greensill’s collapse, thousands of jobs – in Rotherham, Hartlepool, right across the country – have been put at risk. Those workers, and taxpayers across the country, deserve answers. The Chancellor said he would level with the public. Why is he running scared of levelling with them on the Greensill scandal?”