FORMAL MINUTES
Tuesday 17 January 2006
Members present:
Mr John McFall, in the Chair
Lorely Burt
Mr Jim Cousins
Angela Eagle
Mr Michael Fallon
Ms Sally Keeble
Susan Kramer
| Mr Andrew Love
Kerry McCarthy
Mr George Mudie
Mr Brooks Newmark
Mr Mark Todd
Peter Viggers
|
* * * *
Draft Report (The 2005 Pre-Budget Report), proposed by the Chairman,
brought up and read.
Ordered, That the Chairman's
draft Report be read a second time, paragraph by paragraph.
Paragraphs 1 to 10 read and agreed to.
Paragraph 11 read, as follows:
"In its economic survey of the United Kingdom
in October 2005 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) concluded that, over the last decade, 'macroeconomic
performance has been impressive; GDP growth has been robust and
cyclical fluctuations in output have proved smaller than for almost
any other OECD country, while inflation has remained close to
target'. The OECD believed that this was 'a testament to the strength
of the institutional arrangements for setting monetary and fiscal
policy as well as to the flexibility of labour and product markets'.
Our expert witnesses agreed with this assessment. Mr Martin Weale
of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR)
told us that 'the policy framework has been very helpful in delivering
stability, in particular the monetary [policy] arrangements that
we have had have meant that the Bank of England has been able
to react in a way that other countries have found difficult'.
He also believed that the surge in tax revenue in the late 1990s
had given the Government considerable room for manoeuvre in terms
of producing what has subsequently been an expansion of fiscal
policy. The IMF recently described macroeconomic stability in
the United Kingdom as 'remarkable' and concluded that this impressive
record owed much to good macroeconomic, financial and structural
policies, underpinned by sound policy frameworks and supported
by a generally favourable external environment. We note the
confirmation that over the past six years the United Kingdom has
been the most stable economy in the OECD and G7, a record that
international institutions have described as 'impressive'. We
note evidence that the institutional arrangements for monetary
and fiscal policy have played an important role in delivering
this stability."
Amendment proposed, in line 22, at the end, to add
the words "We also note, however, that for the third year
running the United Kingdom is again in breach of the Maastricht
deficit rules for 2005, and will now be subject to Commission
procedures.".—(Mr Michael Fallon.)
Question put, That the Amendment be made.
The Committee divided.
Ayes, 3
Mr Michael Fallon
Mr Brooks Newmark
Peter Viggers
| Noes, 9
Lorely Burt
Mr Jim Cousins
Angela Eagle
Ms Sally Keeble
Susan Kramer
Mr Andrew Love
Kerry McCarthy
Mr George Mudie
Mr Mark Todd
|
Paragraph agreed to.
A paragraph—(The Chairman)—brought up, read
the first and second time, and inserted (now paragraph 12).
Paragraphs 12 to 29 (now paragraphs 13 to 30) read and agreed
to.
Paragraph 30 read, amended, divided and agreed to (now paragraphs
31 and 32).
Paragraphs 31 to 74 (now paragraphs 33 to 76) read and agreed
to.
Another paragraph—(Mr Michael Fallon)—brought
up, read the first and second time, and inserted (now paragraph
77).
Paragraphs 75 to 97 (now paragraphs 78 to 100) read and agreed
to.
Summary read, amended and agreed to.
Resolved, That the Report, as amended, be the Second Report
of the Committee to the House.
Ordered, That the Chairman do make the Report to the House.
Ordered, That embargoed copies of the Report be made available,
in accordance with the provisions of Standing Order No. 134 (Select
committees (reports)).
Several papers were ordered to be appended to the Minutes of Evidence.
Ordered, That the Appendices to the Minutes of Evidence
taken before the Committee be reported to the House.
[Adjourned till Tuesday 24 January at 9.45
am
| 
