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Comprehensive Spending Review

I am going to press on and make some progress. I will take further interventions later, but I answered the point that the shadow Chief Secretary made. Rising interest rates choke the finances of those who borrow, and rising inflation bites on those on fixed incomes. It was the right hon. Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Mr Brown) who once observed:"““Public finances must be sustainable over the long term. If they are not, the poor…will suffer most.””—[Official Report, 2 July 1997; Vol. 297, c. 303-304.]" For once, I agree with Gordon. Those who say that there is a choice between fiscal discipline and supporting growth could not be further from the truth. The choice is between a sound platform to support growth and a lack of control that would undermine it. In reality, it is no choice at all.