Fiscal Responsibility Bill

This has been a somewhat curious debate. I do not know whether there has been a precedent for such a Bill. The Bill was at the heart of the Prime Minister's party conference speech in 2009; it was the flagship economic Bill in the Queen's Speech; and it is the centrepiece of the Government's economic strategy to reduce the deficit. However, I wonder whether we have ever had such a Bill, because it has attracted not a single voice of support from Back Benchers on Second Reading. I suppose that the Government might have hoped that in a time of crisis the country would unite around them as they set out to address the problem, but as it happens the Bill has managed to unite the House in opposition. The fact is that we have had only two contributions from Labour Back Benchers in the debate. I do not know where the rest of the parliamentary Labour party are tonight—they may be plotting, once again, if the rumours that have been reported this evening are true—but not one Labour Back Bencher could be prevailed upon to speak in support of the Bill. Instead, we have had from Back Benchers a series of critical contributions. The right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field) and his hon. Friend the Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Ms Clark) took somewhat different perspectives on the Bill, but they both opposed it. The hon. Member for Dundee, East (Stewart Hosie) from the Scottish nationalists, the hon. Member for Croydon, Central (Mr. Pelling) from the independents, my right hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood) and my hon. Friends the Members for Chichester (Mr. Tyrie) and for Ludlow (Mr. Dunne) were all critical, too. Almost any speaker this evening could have uttered the words that we have heard used to describe the Bill, including "profoundly pointless", "frivolous", "a political prank", "an expensive press release" or "mere words", but we have not heard any words of support for the Bill. Let us imagine the scene in the Treasury last year as preparations were made for the pre-Budget report. The public finances are in ruins and we are borrowing more than at any time in our peacetime history. For every £4 spent by the Government, £1 is borrowed. We are borrowing more than any other G20 country. The CBI, the International Monetary Fund, the OECD and the Governor of the Bank of England are all calling for a credible plan to reduce the deficit. The credit rating agencies have started to express their concerns about the UK's triple A rating, and the risks of failing to set out a credible plan are becoming clear in the markets, as my hon. Friend the Member for Ludlow so clearly set out. We even have the example of Greece, one of two OECD countries borrowing more than the UK, where confidence has been lost and it costs them an extra 2.5 per cent. on interest rates to clear Government debt. It is plain that without a credible plan, mortgage rates may go up and businesses will find credit hard to secure. The challenge that the Treasury faced at the time of the PBR was to restore fiscal credibility, and what did we get—a clear acknowledgement of the scale of the crisis, details of departmental spending in the years ahead, a general sense of direction on how the deficit would be reduced, or even just policies to improve the dismal and discredited forecasting record of the Treasury? No, we got this Bill: a Bill that sets out targets but no enforcement mechanism—no sanctions if they are breached. That is not a credible response; it is a distraction policy.