00:00Growth is the number one mission of this government and of course I want growth to be stronger
00:05and to be felt by families across the United Kingdom. But I was really honest when I became
00:11Chancellor about the scale of the challenges that I inherited, particularly the situation
00:17with the public finances. We had to make a number of difficult decisions on spending,
00:21welfare and taxation, but those decisions have now been taken. We've wiped the slate
00:26clean after 14 years of chaos and mismanagement of our public finances and we're now able
00:34to move on because we've drawn a line under that period. That provides stability for businesses
00:40and families after the huge spikes in interest rates and inflation that we saw in the last
00:45Parliament. If you look at the forecasts from the independent experts, they have inflation
00:50and interest rates on a downward path. That is a world away from inflation going to more
00:55than 11% in the last Parliament and interest rates and mortgage rates going through the
01:00roof. If we hadn't have taken the action that we did last month to put the public finances
01:05on a firm footing, we would be in a situation again where interest rates would have to go
01:09up. That would not be good for business. We've provided stability that is essential to ensure
01:14our economy can grow.
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