Mr. Sebastian Barnes:

As we have discussed this morning, we are confident that we should be able to avoid the kind of severe and painful austerity that people will remember from the period from 2008 to 2010 and the associated negative impact on employment. This does not mean that difficult decisions will not have to be made in that period from 2023 to 2025. Some combination of higher taxes and reductions to some elements of spending will need to be envisaged in one way or another. It will not be an easy period, but it will be very different from what people will remember from the period from 2008 to 2010. I hope that message reassures people. Debt rising to very high levels does not mean that it will have the same consequences as it did between 2008 and 2010.