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Pre-Budget Report

Let me explain that in detail in a moment. It is fair to say that the Conservatives have questioned our judgment that four years is the right time frame over which to halve the deficit, but their questioning has been in the style and manner of rather open-ended, slightly ponderous thinking aloud. They have not offered an alternative proposition, such as reducing our four-year time frame to three. They know what the price of such a move would be, and they seem unsure whether they want to pay it.