Brian H. Donohoe
Main Page: Brian H. Donohoe (Labour - Central Ayrshire)Department Debates - View all Brian H. Donohoe's debates with the HM Treasury
Charter for Budget Responsibility
Brian H. Donohoe Excerpts(9 years, 3 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Osborne
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is not enough to eliminate the deficit. We then have to get our national debt down. It is too high and leaves us exposed to the next economic shock. We do not want to go into the next economic shock with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 80%. That is precisely why, in good economic times, we need to be running an overall budget surplus. That is the only credible and sustained way to get national debt down. That is the way to fix the roof when the sun is shining.
Mr Brian H. Donohoe (Central Ayrshire) (Lab)
Was it not the case that the right hon. Gentleman’s boss, the Prime Minister, said that he would balance the books by 2015?
Mr Osborne
What we have done is cut the deficit by a half. We have neither gone faster than we said we were going to go, nor gone slower than we said we were going to go. We have stuck to our spending plans when people were urging us to take either course. To get lectures in managing the public finances from the Labour party is extraordinary.