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UK can repay its debts, says MP
The Labour chair of the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee has sounded a defiant note on the economy as Britain faces the prospect of recession.
John McFall said that the confidence expounded by prime minister Gordon Brown and chancellor Alistair Darling was justified, insisting that consumers need not panic amid sliding share prices and fears over the impact of the credit crunch.
Speaking to BBC Two's Daily Politics, he argued that the Labour government's financial record was testament to its ability to weather the storm.
"We have to characterise this situation as panic; sheer and utter panic across the global financial environment," he explained. "Bear Stearns, one of the pillars of Wall Street, for which the Fed and others depend, has collapsed overnight."
Mr McFall went on: "The government are saying they are better placed because if you look at their economic record of the last ten years, you have low inflation and you have low interest rates and you have increasing prosperity."
Mr McFall said that while up to £1 trillion could be held in debts, there were assets throughout houses, savings and other investments, which totalled £8 trillion – fundamentals which he felt would help steady the ship.
"Anytime the governor of the Bank of England has come before the committee, he has always said that, largely speaking, people are in a position to pay back that," he explained.
Borrowing in the UK is becoming increasingly difficult for many Britons, with the lending criteria applied by banks being tightened up amid the credit crunch.
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