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Budget Responsibility and National Audit Bill [Lords]

My hon. Friend is right to focus on the importance of flexibility and the ability to deal with the problems he has described in his own constituency. However, the hon. Member for Stone (Mr Cash) made a useful point about the EU's arrangements, under which a completely independent central bank with no democratic controls sets interest rates that might or might not be appropriate for different nations. There are Maastricht rules and a rigid currency that cannot be flexed by countries that need to do so. Our situation is so much better because we have preserved a degree of flexibility so that we can manage our economy in the interests of our people.