British - Politician | May 9, 1943 -
We have sectors of the economy, aerospace is a good example, where Britain's probably the second country in the world, the automobile sector, where we've done extraordinarily well, an enormous amount of investment over the last couple of years, life sciences is another.
Vince Cable
LifeGoodWorldCountryDoneOver
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.
BusinessThinkRulesWantBecome
The real problem at the moment is that the banks - because of their existing culture, which is frankly anti-business, obsession with short-term trading profits, not focusing on the long term - are throttling the recovery of British industry.
MomentCultureProblemLongRecovery
Britain is no longer one of the world's price setters. It is painful. It is a challenge to us in government to explain all that, and it is a pity that the political class is not preparing the public for it to understand how massive the problem is.
ChallengeGovernmentWorldPolitical
So I went into government with a clear mind about what the problems were, and what needed to be done.
GovernmentMindProblemsDoneClear
I am going to confront the old-fashioned negative thinking which says that all government needs to do to generate growth is cut worker and environmental protections, cut taxes on the rich and stroke 'fat cats' until they purr with pleasure. I'm completely repudiating the idea that government has to get out of the way.
GrowthCatsGovernmentI AmNegative
Housing associations have fingered the fact that they cannot use their assets as liquidity due to Bank of England rules unlike their continental equivalents. This has emerged to be one of the main bottlenecks to getting investment going in the U.K. It is a Bank of England issue.
RulesInvestmentBankHousingGoing
The worship of youth has diminished - perhaps generally - in recent years.
YouthWorshipYearsRecentPerhaps
I've always been comfortable working with women and I've had two happy marriages. Draw what conclusions you like from that.
WomenHappyYouComfortableAlways
I am a bit of a lefty on some issues.
I AmIssuesSomeAmBitLefty
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.
PurposeGovernmentBelieveColleagues
Well, as I said, you know the issue of Greek debt, they've grasped the principle of debt reduction. I think most people would argue that probably more needs to be done on that front, and they've just begun to take the first steps to accepting that there's going to have to be much closer economic integration in Europe.
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