Pre-Budget Report

The hon. Gentleman talks about new investment, but that money has to be found. As my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (Mr. Clarke) has pointed out, there is a vast amount of as yet undisclosed borrowing. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the contingent liabilities to which I referred in my earlier exchanges with the Chancellor represent a horrendous picture? Not only are we running at £1 trillion, as disclosed by the net public sector borrowing, but when we add in the Maastricht arrangements that my right hon. and learned Friend mentioned, we get up to £1,258 billion. We then have to add public sector pensions, Network Rail, the whole issue of the banking arrangements, including those for Bradford & Bingley, and nuclear decommissioning, so we end up with a figure that is about twice the amount that has been disclosed. In other words, we will not find the investment, because the money simply is not there. We are talking about £2.5 trillion.