Oral Answers to Questions

Margot James Excerpts

Tuesday 8th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his kind words. I should congratulate him on being re-elected on this occasion, but I also note that my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) is here, which is a bit of a triumph for us. On the hon. Gentleman’s specific points, the decision will be made collectively. The Government will work in a cohesive manner in making those decisions.

[Margot James (Stourbridge) (Con)]

When I was in business, it was the oldest trick in the book for managers to come in with hopelessly optimistic growth estimates. Does the Minister think that that was endemic in the last Administration, and has he greater confidence, now that we have the impending Office for Budget Responsibility, that it will not be the case with our Administration so that, for the first time in many years, we will have realistic growth estimates?

[Mr Gauke]

It is clearly very important that we have credible growth projections. We look forward to hearing the projections from the Office for Budget Responsibility. As for the previous Government’s record, time will tell.