Autumn Statement

Mark Reckless Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

My right hon. Friend the Leader of the House, who is sitting next to me, said, “Oh, really”. I said that the sovereign wealth fund should be for across the north of England so that I did not get into any trans-Pennine, war of the roses dispute.

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that many of the immediate opportunities are in Lancashire, in or near the area he represents. I have spoken to him about what more we can do to make sure that local communities see the benefit of the jobs, investment and resources that we will get as a result of this important energy exploration and extraction. Of course, we now have the new college in the area—that has just been announced—so local people will have the right skills to get those jobs.

[Mark Reckless (Rochester and Strood) (UKIP)]

If the economy is doing as well as the Chancellor says, why are we borrowing more than France, Italy, Spain and Greece?

[Mr Osborne]

The reason is that we started with a 10.5% budget deficit, which we have had to reduce. Interestingly, the International Monetary Fund assesses that we have had the longest and most sustained reduction in the structural deficit, and that we are forecast to have the strongest reduction in the headline and the structural deficit in the future. The IMF assessment of how we have done shows that we are restoring economic stability to this country.