Glyn Davies
Main Page: Glyn Davies (Conservative - Montgomeryshire)Department Debates - View all Glyn Davies's debates with the HM Treasury
(14 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con)
4. What recent representations he has received on steps to reduce the budget deficit.
Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)
6. What recent representations he has received on steps to reduce the budget deficit.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr George Osborne)
The Government’s plan to tackle the record budget deficit they inherited has been supported by the CBI, the OECD and, now, the International Monetary Fund. We have received more than 60,000 representations from the public as to how to go about deficit reduction and many of their suggestions are being put into effect. To date, we have received no proposals and no suggestions from the official Opposition, who created the deficit in the first place.
Mr Osborne
My hon. Friend is absolutely right about debt interest; this country is now paying £120 million a day in debt interest. Debt interest under the previous Government was forecast to rise to £60 billion a year, making it one of the largest items of Government expenditure. He talks about suggestions from Members of Parliament. The new leader of the Labour party said:
“I think whoever is the Labour leader will, by the time of the spending review, have to show that they have an alternative plan”.
So the clock is ticking.
Glyn Davies
The Chancellor attended the IMF conference at the weekend. Can he share with us what our international partners are saying about the coalition Government’s efforts to deal with the deficit?
Mr Osborne
As I am sure my hon. Friend is aware, the IMF’s article IV study of the United Kingdom said:
“The government’s strong and credible multi-year fiscal deficit reduction plan is essential to ensure debt sustainability.”
That is in marked contrast to last year’s IMF report on the UK. At the IMF annual meetings, which I attended last weekend, it was made clear that concerns about sovereign debt issues in Europe were one of the greatest threats to the world recovery. Of course, the decisions that we have taken in this House have moved Britain out of the financial danger zone and helped to deal with that potential threat.