Oliver Dowden slams Mhairi Black for his coronation panto claim
The exchange in the House of Commons in response to a question on interest rates left the MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South visibly confused.
Mr Dowden deputized for Rishi Sunak during Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Question Time when the Tory leader was in Washington DC for talks with Joe Biden.
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As is customary at party congresses, the other two major opposition parties nominate their deputy leaders when the deputy prime minister steps in.
Ms Black said: “When the Prime Minister took office he said he would put economic stability and confidence at the heart of this government.
“Today UK interest rates are among the highest in the G20 and mortgage rates are rising, almost back to where they were after the former Prime Minister crashed the economy.”
She added: “Isn’t this administration’s greatest achievement being that it’s destroying the economy a little slower than its predecessor?”
Mr Dowden pointed to a new report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) which indicated that GDP would improve by 0.3 per cent in 2023 before moderating to 1 per cent growth in 2024 would.
The economic body said this was an improvement on the previous report in March, which had forecast GDP to fall by 0.2% this year.
Mr Dowden said: “I don’t know if the honorable lady was following the news today, but in fact the OECD has again raised our growth forecasts.
“And truly, a month ago the whole nation came together and celebrated this wonderful moment of pomp, pageantry and pride in our nation. How did the honorable lady describe it? I quote: “a pantomime”. Well, the real pantomime is the SNP in Scotland.”
Ms Black said she “didn’t know what question” the Deputy Prime Minister answered.
She then told the House of Commons: “This government plans to cut taxes on the wealthiest, spend £6billion on jailing people fleeing war and persecution and has lost £21billion to government fraud during this pandemic.”
“Is the view from the Prime Minister’s luxury helicopters so distorted that he thinks these are people’s priorities during a cost of living crisis?”
Mr Dowden said he would “not listen to lectures on waste from the SNP”.
Ms Black’s comment on the coronation came during an appearance on ITV program Peston in April, when she was asked what she thought King Charles’ forthcoming coronation meant for Britain.
She replied: “I mean, the formal ownership of the SNP is of course that the monarch is part of the state and in an independent Scotland that wouldn’t change, but personally, no, I don’t like the monarchy.”
“And I think in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, that money could be spent a lot better than on what honestly looks like a pantomime.”
“The money could be much better spent on what honestly looks like a pantomime.”
SNPs @MhairiBlack says she’s not personally a fan of the monarchy and argues money spent on the coronation could be used to help deal with the cost-of-living crisis.#peston pic.twitter.com/BbwKZcGUox
— Peston (@itvpeston) May 3, 2023
Earlier in the session, Labor Deputy Leader Angela Rayner urged Mr Dowden on the Government’s legal attempts to prevent the public inquiry into Covid-19 from getting to the unedited messages and diaries of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
“Speaking of the last election, the Tory manifesto pledged to end the abuse of judicial review. How’s it going?” she asked.
Mr Dowden replied: “Let me just remind you of some facts on the Covid inquiry.
“We set up the Covid investigation, we have provided it with more than 55,000 documents so far.
“We have given him all the financial means necessary to enable us to learn the lessons of the pandemic, but Mr Sprecher, Wales has also had a pandemic and what have the Labor-led Welsh authorities done there?” No independent inquiry in Wales.
“As always, one rule applies to Labor and another to everyone else.”
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Mr Rayner accused the Government of spending “hundreds of thousands of pounds” of taxpayers’ money on “loophole lawyers”.
She said: “He pretends it’s complicated, but it’s easy. They started the investigation to find out the truth, then they prevented the investigation from getting the information they wanted, and now they’re taking them to court.
“I know he considers himself a man of the people. So does he think that given his extensive knowledge of the British working class, working people will thank him for spending hundreds of thousands of pounds of their money on loophole lawyers just for the government to obstruct? the Covid investigation?”
Mr Dowden said the Government would “make available to the inquiry every single document related to Covid, including all internal discussions in any form requested, protecting above all what is totally and clearly irrelevant because they contain documents and messages in the worth of years demands.” between named individuals who fall within the scope and could include everything from the health status of officials to confidential details about their families.”
