Debate on the Address

I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman's courtesy and compliments. Why did the hon. Gentleman omit from his litany two crucial economic statistics that are perhaps more important than those that he cited? First, there is the proportion of aggregate debt relative to GDP in 1997 and 2007. Secondly, why did the hon. Gentleman not say that during the 11 and a half years of Mrs. Thatcher's Governments, the average tax-to-GDP ratio was 43.5 per cent., and that in the 10 years and a little of Mr. Tony Blair's Governments that ratio was 39 per cent.? Why does the hon. Gentleman not include those figures in his condemnation of the Government?