Oral Answers to Questions

Shabana Mahmood Excerpts

Wednesday 25th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

What is interesting is that if any Member of Parliament wants to talk about manufacturing success or business success in their constituency, they are shouted down by the Opposition, because all they want to hear is bad news and to talk our economy down. We are investing in skills and putting more money into the apprenticeship schemes and the university technical colleges. I was at Airbus in Filton this week seeing the expansion and growth plans there, and it is good to hear what is happening in my hon. Friend’s constituency.

[Shabana Mahmood (Birmingham, Ladywood) (Lab)]

Does the Prime Minister agree with his Chancellor, who said in 2008 that

“once…you’ve got a downturn you cannot possibly slash public expenditure”?

Will the Prime Minister stick to his complacent plan of cutting too far and too fast, which has delivered a double-dip recession?

[The Prime Minister]

Well read. [Interruption.] The point is that we inherited from the Labour party a budget deficit of 11%. The budget deficit we inherited was bigger than Greece’s, bigger than Spain’s, bigger than Portugal’s. If you do not deal with your debts and your deficit, you will never keep interest rates low, and it is low interest rates that offer us the best prospects of getting out of this difficult economic situation we are in.