Harriett Baldwin
Main Page: Harriett Baldwin (Conservative - West Worcestershire)Department Debates - View all Harriett Baldwin's debates with the HM Treasury
(1 day, 11 hours ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)
Given the current crisis, does the Chancellor regret in her first Budget increasing unfunded borrowing by £150 billion over this Parliament, which the Office for Budget Responsibility said at the time was
“one of the largest fiscal loosenings of any fiscal event in recent decades”?
Rachel Reeves
The Conservative party once believed in fiscal discipline, but that has gradually eroded over time. It is because of the fiscal rules that I introduced that we have been able to invest in Sizewell C and in small modular reactors. That was not possible under the fiscal rules of the previous Government. I would also say that borrowing fell in the last year. That did not happen in the last few years of the previous Conservative Government.