Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make a comparative assessment of the economic effect of (a) a target for a long-term current surplus and (b) an overall surplus target.

Illustrative projections published by the Treasury at Budget 2014 show that running a long-term balanced current budget would result in public sector net debt of around 60% of GDP in 2035-36, while running a long-term overall surplus of 1% of GDP would result in public sector net debt of around 32% of GDP. Lower public debt would reduce the UK’s vulnerability to future shocks as well as lower debt servicing costs.