Tuesday 29th March 2011

(13 years, 8 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Iain Duncan Smith Portrait Mr Duncan Smith
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It is always a pleasure to give way to the right hon. Lady, because if anything she is always honest with her own side. I understand that quite recently she said that her own party had been pretty much unrealistic about the situation, and I seem to recall that she even said that it should be more specific about what reductions it would make. She was a part of a governing party that left this country with the worst recession, the worst deficit and massive debts, so I do not need to explain where we were in ’97; she needs to explain why we got to where we were at the last election.

Oliver Heald Portrait Mr Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire) (Con)
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Does my right hon. Friend think that it is actually the right hon. Lady who is something of an amnesiac? She seems to have forgotten the £5 billion a year taken out of pensions, and the fact that Labour sold the gold.

Iain Duncan Smith Portrait Mr Duncan Smith
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Indeed. My hon. Friend is, as ever, right.

It is worth reminding—