Member

No one in this debate is arguing that public money should be spent carelessly, that compensation should be unfair, or that taxpayers should sign a blank cheque. Of course value for money and proper scrutiny matter, and Governments must act competently, transparently and responsibly, but there is a difference between scrutiny and paralysis, and I fear that some of the amendments before us cross the line. A strategic industry cannot always be saved on a timetable designed for paperwork rather than production. When blast furnaces, skills, orders and an entire industrial community are at risk, the Government must be able to move. That is not recklessness. That is leadership.