I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way. Will he clarify a point in his position that I do not understand? The Government say that they wish to halve the structural deficit by 2014. He says that he will have to take account of factors along the way. For example, growth might not be as strong as the Government anticipate, or there could be another recession—I hope that there is not, but there could be. There might be other unforeseen circumstances. Perhaps we will have additional military commitments, for example. Given that his position is that we must be flexible—I think that he is sensible to have that position—will he concede that it is possible that the Conservative party, were it to win the general election, would fail to reduce the structural deficit by half by 2014? In other words, the Conservatives might reduce it more slowly than the Government plan to reduce it.
Pre-Budget Report
Proceeding contribution from
Jeremy Browne
(Liberal Democrat)
in the House of Commons on Thursday, 7 January 2010.
It occurred during Debate on Pre-Budget Report.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
503 c318 
Session
2009-10
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
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2023-12-08 16:38:12 +0000
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