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Northern Rock plc Compensation Scheme Order 2008

My Lords, it is not for the Opposition to answer such questions, but we have never suggested that the inclusion of Northern Rock’s liabilities properly in the Government’s accounts would lead to either tax increases or expenditure cuts. We are asking the Government to report honestly on the effects of what they have done, which is to take Northern Rock into public ownership and, with it, all its liabilities, including those of Granite, thereby busting their own fiscal rules. That is the point we have been making and no other.