Oral Answers to Questions

Julian Brazier Excerpts

Wednesday 19th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman seems to have failed to notice that the Minister in question has resigned—you’re just a bit late.

[Mr Julian Brazier (Canterbury) (Con)]

Would my right hon. Friend agree that at a time when—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I want to hear Mr Brazier.

[Mr Brazier]

Would my right hon. Friend agree that at a time when the Governor of the Bank of England has said that we are facing a possibly unprecedented economic crisis, it is a good thing that the country is still committed to getting our debts under control and to retaining credibility in the financial markets?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. People should listen to what the Governor of the Bank of England said yesterday:

“With a lower level of sterling and a credible plan to reduce the fiscal deficit over the medium term, we were on track. But the problems in the euro area and the marked slowing of the world economy have lengthened the period over which a return to normality is likely.”

That is what we face in this country, but it means that we should stick to the plan of dealing with our debts and our deficit. If we listened to the Labour party and added £23 billion to the deficit this year, it would not be “Greek-onomics”; it would be “freakonomics”.