Finance Bill

I would be here for some time if I were to explain the convoluted thinking of the Liberal Democrats, but my hon. Friend has made an extremely important point. Early forecasts of the deficit were high and later forecasts were lower, almost certainly as a consequence of the fiscal stimulus that took place at the time. I think that the Liberal Democrats are wrong to embark on an increase now. I shall explain some of the other economic consequences later, but just in case anyone thinks that I am being unbalanced and that I am going to let Labour off the hook, I think the very fact that the original plan had worked made it difficult to understand why Labour should allow the United Kingdom to be one of only two countries in the G20 to withdraw a fiscal stimulus package in 2010.