Wednesday 30th January 2013

(11 years, 9 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Chris Leslie Portrait Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op)
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On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. You will recall that yesterday, during Treasury questions, the Chancellor was rebuked by Mr. Speaker for claiming that my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds West (Rachel Reeves), the shadow Chief Secretary, was not “being completely straight” when she drew attention to figures published by the Office for Budget Responsibility showing that

“in the first three years this Government are spending £12.8 billion less”

on capital projects

“than the plans that they inherited.”—[Official Report, 29 January 2013; Vol. 557, c. 770.]

Now that it is clear that the Government have not matched the plans that Labour had for infrastructure investment—according to the Channel 4 News FactCheck verdict, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the Chancellor’s claim to have spent more on infrastructure than Labour had planned to spend was wrong—have you been given any notice that the Chancellor is available to come to the House this evening to apologise again for getting his facts completely incorrect?

Nigel Evans Portrait Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)
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I have been given no notification that the Chancellor or, indeed, any other Minister will make a statement from the Dispatch Box this evening, but if the position changes, the House will of course be notified in the usual manner.