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Finance Bill

Of course the office would say yes to that question, because if they said no, then whatever we call it would hit the fan. I am grateful for my hon. Friend's intervention, because I want to emphasise that one hopes that the scenario that he describes continues, as it is in the immediate interests of the country. I raised the issue because on three occasions the Debt Management Office has had difficulties in placing a week's debt. Given that, as a country, we are attempting to float debt of an unprecedented size, it would be extraordinary if that did not affect long-term interest rates and therefore the long-term recovery that we so desperately want in our economy. In the terrible scenario whereby the Debt Management Office reports to the Treasury that that day's debt has not been sold, we are in another world, which has not yet been described.