§ As last year I shall deal quite briefly with the Government's financial accounts, the full details of which are available to hon. Members in the Budget Report. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the out-turn for 1969–70 is the figure for the central Government's surplus. In my Budget statement last year I estimated that the central Government would have a surplus of £807 million. In fact, we achieved one of £1,130 million.
§ The improvement mainly reflects the extension of the import deposit scheme last December, but even without this we would have been able to extinguish liabilities last year on a scale never before realised in a single financial year. Further-more, the public sector as a whole achieved a net surplus of about £600 million last year compared with a deficit of £450 million in the previous year.
§ In 1970–71, I would expect the central Government surplus on the basis of existing tax rates to be about £800 million. This is almost exactly the same as the estimate I made last year for 1969–70; but, largely because it allows for the running down of the import deposit scheme, it is £330 million less than the out-turn for last year. On the same basis, the surplus for the public sector as 1232 a whole in 1970–71 would be £420 million. This would be £180 million larger than the estimate I made in my last Budget for 1969–70, but £175 million less than the out-turn for that year. Leaving aside the effects of the import deposit scheme, however, the public sector surplus would be about £400 million better than last year's out-turn.