Green budget: Net borrowing plans unveiled
Chancellor Gordon Brown today lashed out against the practice of cutting spending and borrowing.
Link: Pre-Budget special report
‘This would create the bust & boom of capital investment,’ he said, while members of the House cried out their discontent.
Brown said ‘Britain was in that position’ before labour came into power, and argued that in times of downturn such an option would neither advisable nor prudent.
He announced the net borrowing figure for the next five consecutive years starting in 2002 as £20bn, £24bn, £19bn, £19bn and £20bn.
These figures present declining percentages of GDP from 1.9% in 2002 to 1.5% in 2007. This is ‘well within the Maastricht criteria,’ the chancellor said, compared to 2.7% in the US and 7% in France.