Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Davies of Oldham (Labour). It was answered on Tuesday, 7 December 2010.

Bankruptcy

Question: My Lords, the successive attempts by the noble Lord to define bankruptcy have looked quite pathetic... Well, his latest definition would indicate that every mortgage holder in Britain was bankrupt because they have substantial debts. The issue is whether these debts can be managed. He must draw a distinction between the situation of Ireland at the present time, or of Greece in recent times, and that of the United Kingdom, where, as has been indicated, our debt repayment is over a 14-year period.

Answer: My Lords, leaving aside the fact that the mortgage payers of this country would be somewhat upset to be thought of as having brought it upon themselves by reckless expenditure, the point is, as the IMF succinctly put it in its report of 27 September 2010: "““The consolidation plan and implementation of early measures to tackle the deficit—one of the highest in the world in 2010—greatly reduces the risk of a costly loss of confidence in fiscal sustainability and will help rebalance the economy””." That was what the IMF had to say.

Secondary information