Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: HM Treasury

Oral Answers to Questions

Mark Garnier Excerpts
Tuesday 10th September 2013

(11 years, 2 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Mark Garnier Portrait Mark Garnier (Wyre Forest) (Con)
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Household debt peaked in 2008 at 170% of household income. Since then it has come down, but households are still very vulnerable to rising interest rates. Does my hon. Friend agree that any fiscal policy must give comfort to the bond markets in order to help the Governor of the Bank of England keep interest rates low and mitigate the effect of rising rates on households?

Sajid Javid Portrait Sajid Javid
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My hon. Friend is obviously referring to the fact that when this Government came to office, we had the biggest deficit in our post-war history. The previous Government were borrowing £5,000 a second—£300,000 each and every minute. We have reduced that deficit by a third and, as my hon. Friend suggests, that has brought confidence, investment and jobs.