Charter for Budget Responsibility

Oliver Dowden Excerpts

Wednesday 14th October 2015 Commons Chamber

[James Cleverly]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Oliver Dowden (Hertsmere) (Con)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[John McDonnell]

I will in due course.

It is increasingly clear that the charter and the fiscal mandate are not economic instruments, but political weapons. This is not an economic debate. It is about the politics of dismantling the welfare state, the closing down of the role of the state, and the redistribution of wealth from the majority to the minority. Austerity is not an economic necessity; it is a political choice.