Charter for Budget Responsibility

Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Health – in the House of Commons at 2:24 pm on 13 January 2015.

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Photo of George Osborne George Osborne The Chancellor of the Exchequer 2:24, 13 January 2015

The former Chancellor is making a strong speech. He might remember that the Labour Government increased the trend growth rate—a decision that at the time was in the hands of the Treasury, rather than an independent OBR. That led them to spend more money and run a structural deficit—the highest, according to the IMF—during that period. Now, we have come full circle and the shadow Chancellor, who was an economic adviser at the time, is proposing exactly the same assumption to underlie his economic policy, so that he can spend and borrow more.