§ Mr. Matthew TaylorTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate(a) the size of the change in public spending on goods and services in the first year and sustained relative to base and (b) the size of the change in taxation needed in each case to secure a 1 per cent. point cut in interest rates, assuming broadly unchanged domestic demand; and if he will estimate the effects on the effective exchange rate index for sterling. [145866]
§ Miss Melanie Johnson[holding answer 16 January 2001]: It has been the practice of successive Governments for many years not to run Treasury model simulations in order to answer Parliamentary Questions, principally on grounds of cost.