Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how much public-sector borrowing will grow up to 2018–19 as a consequence of the fiscal changes announced in the recent budget.

The government has set out a strategy that reduces the deficit at the same rate again in this Parliament as over the previous Parliament - that means reducing the deficit by 1.1 per cent of GDP a year on average, for the next four years. While, as set out in the Office for Budget Responsibility’s July Economic and Fiscal Outlook, borrowing is forecast to be £21 billion higher up to 2018-19, the resulting smoother fiscal path leads to a higher surplus and lower public sector net debt as a share of GDP, relative to the March Budget.