George is making his speech as highlighted by Mike earlier.
- More to come later this year to reduce cost of energy, water bills, housing, transport and other financial services
- Truly sustainable growth depends on sound public finances
- Correct macroeconomic response is a combination of fiscal responsibility and monetary activism
- Employment growth extremely strongly
- Employment above pre-recession peak
- GDP growth has been weaker than forecast due to fiscal consolidation
- Advocates of “Plan B” on fiscal adjustment have lost the argument
- Eurozone crisis has decisively abated
- Government schemes have supported dramatic improvement in financial conditions
- UK pace of fiscal consolidation in line with G7 and G20 averages
- Risks for unsustainable debt may have abated global but have not disappeared
- Will not risk the UK by abandoning borrowing policy
- Must be vigilant for home grown risks to economy
- Global bond yields rising show confidence in economies
- Market movements (rates) since August have increased the need for forward guidance
- FPC in place to manage risk
- We are making sure the UK doesn’t return to debt fueled growth
- We are not seeing a return to unsustainable household debt
- House prices relative to earnings at 2003 levels, prices still down 25% from pre-crisis levels
- Help to buy Scheme there to fix a particular financial problem
- HTB will boost supply and could increase housing starts by 30% in the next 3 years
- More tough choices to find billions in savings after the next election. The job is not over.
- Emphasises maintaining low mortgage rates, low taxes to protect cost of living
