Vince Cable
Vince Cable
Sir John Vincent "Vince" Cableis a British politician who was the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills from 2010 to 2015 and the Member of Parliament for Twickenham from 1997 until losing his seat in the 2015 election...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth9 May 1943
against budget fiscal progress rather report rules simply time
Rather than simply auditing assumptions, the NAO should report progress against the Chancellor's fiscal rules at the time of the Budget and pre-Budget report,
high taxes voters
Many voters still...associate us with high taxes and big spending.
measure
It's a tax-cutting measure and we should have made that clearer.
areas british chunks current recognise services
We do recognise that there are areas where the current financial services market, the banking market, just isn't working for chunks of the British economy.
asian attract britain cast continue countries doubts gateway inward overseas track
We've got to get back on track to working with them. Because if I and my colleagues are going to continue to attract inward investment from overseas - you know particularly from the big Asian countries - they see Britain as a gateway to Europe. They don't want any doubts cast upon that.
bit british business buy defensive european promote union
We've been a bit too defensive about the European Union rules. We don't want to become protectionist and nationalist in the way we buy things but we think we could do a lot more to promote British business through procurement.
beginning confidence costs debt evidence financial german greek happening keeps position positive rather service
I think what is happening is I think first of all there is confidence in the U.K. economy. We're in a German rather than a Greek position in international financial markets, which is very positive and keeps our debt service costs down, and we're also beginning to see real evidence of rebalancing.
damage good leadership slow support
He has been a very good leader, but we have had a slow hemorrhaging of support and confidence. A lot of damage has been done. I don't think that the leadership is sustainable.
games people playing quite rules trust
His credibility isn't quite what it used to be. Playing games with rules doesn't make people trust you.
brown chancellor gordon problems serious time trouble
Gordon Brown is in serious trouble for the first time as chancellor because of problems of his own making.
past house transformation
The House has noticed the Prime Minister's remarkable transformation in the past few weeks, from Stalin to Mr. Bean.
believe government roles
I clearly believe a lot more than some of my coalition colleagues - Tories - in redistribution and using the tax system for that purpose. I also believe in the government having an active role in the economy, which is having an industrial strategy. I'm not a believer in laissez-faire.
skills long growth
The economy has become seriously unbalanced. Its growth has not been driven by investment or by overcoming Britain's long-standing weaknesses in investment and productivity, particularly skills. Instead, there has been a binge of debt-financed consumer spending.
responsibility abuse weak
Regulators are a backstop: they don't own banks. The governance at the top of our leading banks has been shown to be lamentably weak. No one at the top of Barclays will take responsibility for systemic abuse.