Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress is being made on reducing the deficit.

Since 2010, the deficit has been reduced by three-quarters. However, as the OBR’s Fiscal Risks Report published last week shows, the public finances remain vulnerable and it’s important for this country to bring down its levels of debt.

That is why the government has committed to reduce the structural deficit to below 2% and get debt falling as a share of GDP by 2020-21, guiding the public finances back to balance by the middle of the next decade.