Oral Answers to Questions

Rehman Chishti Excerpts

Tuesday 8th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

It may come as a surprise to Opposition Members, but an entire Government are capable of working together. That was not the experience when the Treasury was being run by the current shadow Chancellor.

[Rehman Chishti (Gillingham and Rainham) (Con)]

5. What assessment he has made of recent trends in the size of the structural deficit.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

11. What assessment he has made of recent trends in the size of the structural deficit.

[The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Danny Alexander)]

The structural deficit was 8.8% of GDP in 2009-10. The Office for Budget Responsibility forecast is for it to be 7.6% in 2010-11, falling to 0.3% by 2015-16. More information is in the OBR’s forecast.

[Rehman Chishti]

OECD figures in November show that Britain entered the financial crisis with the largest structural budget deficit in the G7. Does the Chief Secretary believe that this country entered the crisis led by the biggest deficit deniers in the G7?

[Danny Alexander]

That is a very good question. The previous Government were running a structural deficit from 2001-02, with a structural deficit of 2.6% in 2007-08, the largest, as the hon. Gentleman says, in the G7 in 2007. They were deficit deniers then, they are deficit deniers now, and that is why they have no answers to the problems of our country today.