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Finance Bill

I know the hon. Gentleman is not stupid. I sat with him on the Treasury Committee, and he knows full well that the device that the Prime Minister used when Chancellor was to put as much debt as he could off balance sheet. If one uses equity accounting or consolidation accounting with the banks alone that have been bought by the Government, that is an extra £2 trillion of debt that should be added to the Government accounts. That excludes the £1 trillion of public sector pension liabilities. Debt today could be as high as £4 trillion or more. The hon. Gentleman must acknowledge that there is a huge amount of money held off balance sheet, as well as on balance sheet, by the Government.