Pre-Budget Report

My Lords, the Minister has mentioned the IMF. Why was it that before the PBR Statement last November the IMF warned the Government that their spending was reckless? The noble Lord has drawn our attention to those IMF views. Why did he not stress that the IMF has been saying for a long time that Britain’s public spending should be reigned in? Why was it that last November the Chancellor of the Exchequer predicted a recovery for the British economy in the third quarter of this year when the IMF was saying precisely the opposite?