Edward Balls: I have not given up, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am hoping that if the Chancellor turns up he may end up welcoming this proposal, overwhelmed by the clarity and objectivity of the analysis that I am about to put before the House. Let us wait and see. I accept that this reform, which I first proposed last September and has been widely discussed and debated since, is a radical change. This is the...
Edward Balls: ...there was caution on both sides of the House about this proposal. In the early days, when the OBR was establishing its reputation—I think it has established its reputation now for independence and objectivity—to be fair to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when asked about this in October 2010, he said that this was “a legitimate matter for the House to debate and to decide.”