Government Debt
Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury
2:30 pm
Jesse Norman (Hereford and South Herefordshire, Conservative)
What recent estimate he has made of the level of central Government debt.
Robert Buckland (South Swindon, Conservative)
What recent estimate he has made of the level of central Government debt.
David Gauke (Exchequer Secretary, HM Treasury; South West Hertfordshire, Conservative)
The Office for National Statistics publishes central Government debt figures monthly. The latest figures released on
Jesse Norman (Hereford and South Herefordshire, Conservative)
I thank my hon. Friend for that response. This country continues to bear a huge burden of private finance initiative debt. The Government have made important progress in improving the cost and operation of PFI over the past 18 months. Does he share my view, and that of many of my colleagues, that more can be done to secure a fair deal on PFI, while securing investment in our infrastructure?
David Gauke (Exchequer Secretary, HM Treasury; South West Hertfordshire, Conservative)
My hon. Friend has campaigned tirelessly on this matter. As he knows, the Government have improved the assurance and approval arrangements for PFI, and the transparency. We are seeking to obtain £1.5 billion of savings on existing stock of PFI contracts, and we will of course continue to work hard to improve the situation.
Robert Buckland (South Swindon, Conservative)
With gilt yields at their lowest for 60 years, does this situation not show that the international markets have huge faith in the UK’s debt reduction strategy?
David Gauke (Exchequer Secretary, HM Treasury; South West Hertfordshire, Conservative)
My hon. Friend is absolutely right and that point was confirmed yesterday by the OECD. We would be a very foolish Government indeed to throw away that credibility by pursuing a policy of spend and borrow as the Labour party advocates.
Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North, Labour)
In 1945, Britain had higher Government debt than now and the Government of that time did not impose cuts but ran a full-employment economy and there was rapid growth. Is it not time that the Government took a leaf out of Labour’s book in relation to running the economy?
David Gauke (Exchequer Secretary, HM Treasury; South West Hertfordshire, Conservative)
May I just make the point about the 1945 Government that they were running surpluses from 1948 onwards? If memory serves, the debt in 1945 was 232% of GDP and by 1951 it was 178% of GDP, so they brought debt down. That is not a bad thing to do and this Government want to do it, whereas the Labour party wants to put debt up.
Sammy Wilson (East Antrim, DUP)
Given the increase in debt caused by the lower growth rates and the impact that that is likely to have on the Government’s deficit reduction plan, what impact does the Minister believe that will have on the United Kingdom’s credit rating? Does he believe that steps need to be taken to inject growth into the economy?
David Gauke (Exchequer Secretary, HM Treasury; South West Hertfordshire, Conservative)
It is worth pointing out what Standard & Poor said recently when it confirmed our triple A credit rating. It said that if we abandoned our fiscal plans—if we borrowed more—that credit rating would be at risk. The best way of keeping our triple A rating is by sticking to the plan.