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Finance Bill

As always, what the hon. Gentleman is saying is very thoughtful. He is focusing on the national debt and comparisons with competitor countries, but does he not recognise that it is not simply the debt level that is important? The US dollar is a reserve currency, and that changes the dynamics, as does the fact that other countries have balance of trade surpluses. Is it not the case that there was a combination of circumstances in the UK that made going into this recession particularly difficult for us, such as our very high debt levels and massive balance of trade deficit, and the fact that sterling is not a reserve currency?