Oral Answers to Questions

Damian Hinds Excerpts

Tuesday 1st November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Miss Smith]

I will tell the hon. Lady what I am certainly going to do about it, which is join the rest of this Government in working on welfare reform, tax reform, child care reform and many other measures that will take women’s unemployment down from its record level, where her Government left it.

[Damian Hinds (East Hampshire) (Con)]

5. What recent estimate he has made of the size of the structural deficit.

[The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr George Osborne)]

The estimate is that the structural deficit for this year will be 5.3% of GDP, which is down from the record 8.9% in the last year of the previous Government, with it having been the highest in the G7 before the crisis. Of course, these estimates are now provided independently by the Office for Budget Responsibility, rather than being fiddled by the close advisers of the Chancellor and the Prime Minister, as used to happen.

[Damian Hinds]

Other countries face fierce criticism for their tardiness in addressing not only their immediate deficit, but their growing medium and long-term liabilities. How is progress in that regard for the British Government?

[Mr Osborne]

We are bringing the deficit down from the record levels that we inherited, which has in part provided stability in the financial markets for sterling and our interest rates. That has been absolutely crucial, as we can see in the very high interest rates faced by not just Greece and Portugal, but now even by countries such as Italy and France, which face significantly higher interest rates than we do. That is of course a huge boost to the British economy.