Pre-Budget Report

I will give way shortly, but I want to make some progress. On Monday afternoon, the shadow Chancellor said that we were heading in the same direction as Japan. I pointed out to him that I had had the benefit of a conversation with the Finance Minister of Japan just recently, who said that one of the reasons the Japanese economy had problems for so long was that the Japanese hesitated and delayed before doing something to help support it. We are not prepared to repeat those mistakes, whether they were made in this country or in Japan in the 1990s. The hon. Gentleman's advice is completely wrong once again. When we look at what is happening in other parts of the world and at what actions other countries are taking, we can see that all over the world, all countries recognise that they have a duty to support their economies at this time. It is only the Conservative party that seems to be taking a completely opposite stance.