Oral Answers to Questions

Linda Riordan Excerpts

Tuesday 21st June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Emily Thornberry (Islington South and Finsbury) (Lab)]

1. What assessment he has made of potential trends in the level of debt as a proportion of gross domestic product to 2014-15.

[Mrs Linda Riordan (Halifax) (Lab/Co-op)]

6. What assessment he has made of potential trends in the level of debt as a proportion of gross domestic product to 2014-15.

[The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr George Osborne)]

This Government inherited plans that had Government debt rising as a share of GDP in 2014-15. Thanks to the credible plan that we have put in place, debt is now forecast to be falling in that year.

[Mr Osborne]

The public finance figures are out today, and they show that the British economy and the British Government are on track to reduce the budget deficit, as we forecast in the Budget. On a day like this, in a week like this, for the Opposition to suggest that we should abandon our credible deficit reduction plan shows how out of touch they are with what is going on in the world today.

[Mrs Riordan]

Will the Chancellor confirm that national debt as a proportion of GDP was 36.5% in 2007-08, before the global crisis, which was significantly lower than the 42.5% that we inherited from the previous Government, and lower than in America, France, Germany and Japan?