Autumn Statement

Eric Ollerenshaw Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I acknowledged in my statement that tax receipts are £24 billion below what we forecast for 2017-18, but I pointed out that people have focused only on the tax side, not the spending side of the equation: lower unemployment and lower inflation have an impact on welfare payments and debt interest payments—we are paying £18 billion less in debt interest than was forecast—which is of course why we have not seen the big deterioration in the public finances that he and others predicted.

[Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Con)]

If we are to have a shale gas industry, I welcome the idea of a sovereign wealth fund. Does the Chancellor agree that northern money for northern investment could be a real game changer? When he sets up the fund, will he take into account the fact that it looks as though the majority of the gas will come from Lancashire, not Yorkshire? [Interruption.]