Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: HM Treasury

Oral Answers to Questions

Gareth Thomas Excerpts
Tuesday 6th September 2011

(13 years, 2 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Danny Alexander Portrait Danny Alexander
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I can certainly assure my hon. Friend of that. Unlike under the previous Government, No. 10 Downing street and the Treasury work very well together on these issues.

Gareth Thomas Portrait Mr Gareth Thomas (Harrow West) (Lab/Co-op)
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11. What recent assessment he has made of the level of economic growth.

Mark Hoban Portrait The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mr Mark Hoban)
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Our economic policy objective is to achieve strong, sustainable and balanced growth, more evenly shared across the country and between industries. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast, published at the Budget, takes full account of the policy measures announced in the spending review and in Budget 2011. The OBR forecast that the economy would grow throughout 2011, and in every year of the forecast. It will publish its updated forecast in the autumn.

Gareth Thomas Portrait Mr Thomas
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As the level of economic growth over the past 12 months was lower in Britain than in the rest of the G7, is it not about time that the Minister had the courage to persuade his right hon. Friend the Chancellor to start work on a plan B?

Mark Hoban Portrait Mr Hoban
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It has been very clear, listening to all the international commentators talking about what is happening in the UK economy, that their advice has been to stick to the course and stick to plan A. That is the action that this Government are committed to—[Interruption.] This is interesting. We have one plan; the previous Government seemed to have more plans than they knew what to do with, and that is why they lost their credibility.