The £1.5 trillion black hole which is the UK national debt is of rather more significance than any cyclical deficit any country may have, but then I suspect the hon. Gentleman probably knew that already.
Returning to the scope of the Bill, it is important that the Minister says what will happen should the yield forecasts be less than planned. That is important for his Government, too, because their rationale, as stated in their manifesto, was focused on
“reducing wasteful spending, making savings in welfare and continuing to crack down on tax evasion and aggressive avoidance.”
That allowed them to commit to no increases in VAT, income tax or NICs. They argued:
“Tax rises on working people would harm our economy, reduce living standards and cost jobs.”
I have no problem with tackling genuinely wasteful spending, such as Trident, or clamping down on tax evasion, but it is this Government’s attack on welfare which is harming the economy, reducing standards of
living and threatening the growth needed to ensure the forecast yield from NICs is maintained in the way the Red Book forecasts suggest.