Downing Street Says » Prime Minister’s economy speech

Asked what the percentage of shrinkage was, the PMS said that the Prime Minister had stated that people shouldn’t have a pre-conceived idea about the size of the state, but it was very important to get the private sector moving and see growth in the private sector.

Asked in what way the Prime Minister felt that the cuts we were about to embark on were different from the brutal cuts of the 1980s, the PMS said that it was very clear given the size of the deficit, which was the largest peace time deficit this country had seen, that it needed to be tackled. He had been very clear in his speech this morning that there was no option other than to tackle it, and if we didn’t tackle it, we would see rising debt interest payments, which would cost us more. There would be a Budget on 22 June that would set out the overall envelope for spending and there would then be a spending review process which would agree allocations to the departments. Both the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister had been very clear that it was important for the process to involve a wide consultation with people about what needed to happen to public spending and what would happen to public services.

Asked if the Prime Minister was concerned about how previous governments had exaggerated growth forecasts, the PMS said the Prime Minister had set out his view that those forecasts were optimistic. The Chancellor had put in place a new process for the future – an independent Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) – that would set out independent forecasts. We would proceed on that basis, but the Prime Minister was very much focused on dealing with the problem at hand.

Asked how much leeway there was for a consultation of the deficit review, the PMS said that the Treasury would set out more detail on this tomorrow, but they had taken one step already by publishing some data at the end of last week. The intention was to work hard through the summer to allow us to engage properly with people and have a proper debate about what needed to happen to public spending.

Asked if it was appropriate for the Prime Minister to comment or pre-judge the outcome, the PMS said that the Prime Minister was not pre judging what the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) was going to say; the OBR was completely independent and would set those forecasts. The important thing was what forecasts were used to set fiscal policy and the important thing was that that was done independently.

Put that this Government was now committed to making all interest or annual figures for the debts every year, the PMS said that the previous Government produced debt interest forecasts a year or two out, but not five years out. The 70 billion number was the five year out debt interest number. The Treasury would make a judgement on what numbers should be published in the Budget, but as a general principle the Government had been very clear about wanting to be transparent about these things.

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» Monday, June 7, 2010

Prime Minister’s economy speech

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