Pre-Budget Report

The figures on which I rely are from the Office for National Statistics, and indeed the researchers in the House of Commons Library have confirmed them. They illustrate the point that I, my right hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood) and my hon. Friend the Member for Braintree (Mr. Newmark) have made that the figure is not £850 billion, as is suggested. The true figure, which I believe is now endorsed by our Front Benchers—it certainly appears to be—is nearer £3 trillion, and maybe more. If the measurement is out by a factor of three or four, does the hon. Gentleman not agree that that underlines all the difficulties about what the deficit is and what the definition of net debt should be?