§ Mr. Matthew TaylorTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answers of 19 January 2000,Official Report, column 516W, and 8 March 2000, Official Report, column 774W, if he will estimate the interest which would have been saved in the 1998–99 financial year if Government debt in the period 1990–91 446W to 1998–99 had been issued in the form of (a) Treasury bills and (b) floating rate notes and continuously rolled over. [114725]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonHypothetical calculations of this kind are meaningless. A wholesale change in financing of this kind would have had a major effect on relative yields. The only sure way to reduce debt interest and make room for worthwhile public spending is steadfast pursuit of disciplined fiscal and monetary policy within strict frameworks, as the present Government have done.