Fiscal Responsibility Bill

Wait a second. We have identified specific proposals that other parties have typically been unenthusiastic about initially, but which they have come to support as the full consequences have become apparent to them. We are supposed to be debating Third Reading and there are four specific objections to the Bill. First, it offers no flexibility. We have tried to improve that, but there is still no flexibility short of the Chancellor ripping up the legislation. Secondly, the provisions cannot be disregarded. There is no flexibility for different circumstances, and there is no formal mechanism for disregarding the Bill. It is all to be done on the whim of the Chancellor or a Minister. Thirdly, there is no accountability. What will happen if the Government do not meet the terms of their own legislation? The answer is nothing. Finally, and most importantly, the Bill is not meant to achieve any of the things that I have mentioned. The Minister has acknowledged that it is meant to send a signal that the Labour Government are credible on deficit reduction, but no one believes that it sends that signal. There are only two reasons why anyone in the markets and in the country is feeling reassured about deficit reduction. The first is that Lord Mandelson has seized the wheel of the Government again, and he appears to have an understanding of these matters that the Prime Minister does not. The second is that people are expecting Labour to lose the general election. They are not as alarmed as they would otherwise be because, when they see this charade; they know that the group of people surrounding the Prime Minister who put together this insulting legislation will be governing the country for only a matter of weeks, and that we can then get on with the serious business of making proper progress.