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Fiscal Responsibility Bill

The hon. Gentleman makes a helpful intervention; there are two separate points there. If the Bill is intended to provide reassurance to those institutions that lend to us, or to the advisers to whom they listen, the evidence so far is pretty clear: it will not work. Have the Government set out a credible fiscal policy? Again, I think the evidence is pretty clear that they have not provided anything credible. I return to the remarks of the Governor of the Bank of England last night, particularly his quoting of Ben Bernanke stating the need to set out a strong commitment to fiscal sustainability in the long term. The Governor went on to say that the Chancellor had made it clear that the spring Budget provides the opportunity to do precisely that. Implicit within that is the fact that the Government have not so far set out a strong commitment to fiscal sustainability. The whole point of the Bill is, supposedly, for the Government to demonstrate such a strong commitment, but nobody is convinced.