Financial Markets

My Lords, I congratulate my right honourable friends the Prime Minister and the Chancellor on the quick action that they have taken. I just add that, when the Prime Minister was Chancellor, he was very astute in not joining the euro, given the totally shambolic nonsense that is going on and the unco-ordinated action. At least we have been quick and to the point. My question is about the public debt. Is it not important that we protect the real economy as much as we can and treat increases in public debt as temporary and necessary, rather than making a totem of and trying to protect the money supply? That is exactly what drove the US economy in the great depression in the 1930s, as shown by the great monetarist, Milton Friedman. Let us not go down the path of making those mistakes and let us protect the real economy.