Lord Barnett
Main Page: Lord Barnett (Labour - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Barnett's debates with the HM Treasury
(11 years, 10 months ago)
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Lord Deighton
I welcome my noble friend’s encouragement to delve a little deeper into the figures. Certainly, with respect to employment, we are seeing a switch from an overinflated public sector to a much more dynamic private sector, which will stand us in very good stead in the longer term. If one looks at the specific factors relating to the output figures, there are some very interesting facts; for example, the majority of the decline in the fourth quarter relates to maintenance in the North Sea, and coping with the long-term decline of that source of revenue to the United Kingdom is a structural problem to which we must adjust.
Lord Barnett
Can the noble Lord tell us, if the economy is going so well, why the deficit is rising?
Lord Deighton
My comments were not intended to imply that the economy was going so well. My comments were intended to imply that the economy is facing extraordinarily difficult circumstances that were a function of the historical debt we accumulated, and a very difficult global situation in terms of demand. With respect to the deficit, I confirm that it has been reduced by a quarter.