Kevin Barron
Main Page: Kevin Barron (Labour - Rother Valley)Department Debates - View all Kevin Barron's debates with the HM Treasury
(11 years, 10 months ago)
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Mr Osborne
I read in the paper that the Primrose Hill mansion my hon. Friend refers to falls just below the threshold for the new mansion tax proposed by the Labour economic team. However, my hon. Friend makes a good point: we must invest in economic infrastructure across the country. People have been calling for years for the electrification of the trans-Pennine route, and indeed the northern hub. It did not happen under a Labour Government but it is happening under this Government.
Mr Kevin Barron (Rother Valley) (Lab)
Does the Chancellor accept that the state of the British economy and its flatlining in terms of growth is a good example of how party political scaremongering at the Dispatch Box for three years does not work?
Mr Osborne
I am not sure I really understand what the right hon. Gentleman is getting at. Yes, of course we have a difficult economic situation, because we inherited a 11.5% budget deficit and were coming out of a contraction of the economy of 6%—the right hon. Gentleman talks about flatlining but there was a 6% contraction of the economy when the shadow Chancellor was in the Cabinet. That is what we are dealing with. As I say, we have reduced the deficit, created 1 million jobs, and we have low interest rates.