Public Finances: Borrowing Costs Debate

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Department: HM Treasury

Public Finances: Borrowing Costs

Lola McEvoy Excerpts
Thursday 9th January 2025

(1 day, 13 hours ago)

Commons Chamber
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Darren Jones Portrait Darren Jones
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The fiscal rules are non-negotiable, and they will be met.

Lola McEvoy Portrait Lola McEvoy (Darlington) (Lab)
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Does the Minister agree that the reckless ideological austerity measures taken by the Conservative party in government have directly led to my constituents being significantly worse off and made it harder for them to get on in Darlington? Can he outline the impact that the new Office for Value for Money will have on the huge inefficiencies and waste that the last Government presided over?

Darren Jones Portrait Darren Jones
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The Office for Value for Money is an important part of our spending review process, as we undertake for the first time in 17 years a zero-based review of every single pound of public spending. We should focus on that for a moment: not once under the last Conservative Government was there a zero-based review. Not once did they go line by line through every pound of taxpayers’ money and public spending to check it was being spent in the people’s interests. Not once did they think that was a responsible thing to do. That is the first thing we are doing in government.