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Economic Recovery

I am certainly aware of Monday’s Opposition day debate, which focused on welfare and its role in securing the recovery. Today, we are talking about securing our economic future, and our measures to achieve that, which the Opposition opposed, are working. The International Monetary Fund, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research and a majority of City forecasters agree that the economy should begin to grow by the end of the year. However, there are still uncertainties and risks to confront, and no country can be complacent. Unemployment is rising here and throughout the world, and we have to see the problem through. I think that it was Churchill who said, "When you are going through hell, you must keep going," and that is why at the Pittsburgh summit the G20 agreed that it was too soon to withdraw fiscal support—support that the Opposition do not even want to provide. Yet again, that agreement is in stark contrast to the Conservatives’ argument today.