Professor John McHale:

No, we would say it is about right. This is why we supported the plans in the coming budget. What we then saw was a deviation from what was a sound prudent plan. In each of our reports, even though we had suggestions for how things might be done better, we stated the underlying policy is prudent. We see the plans, particularly if the Government follows through on its plan to follow the rules, as prudent. We saw what happened this year, when there was a surge in revenue and there was a big increase in expenditure, as a deviation from this prudent path. The underlying path of deficit and debt reduction is a balancing act and it is not the case we think the past was better.