New Year is a time for looking back and looking forward.

It’s been a tough year. A global financial crisis has engulfed us all and although it was not of our making, we had to face up to the consequences of it. We had to bail out the banks to protect our savings and keep unemployment as low as possible. We had to invest in businesses to keep them afloat and stimulate the economy. We had to spend money to stop people losing their houses and to get those who had lost their jobs back into work.

It cost a lot of money but we had no choice. We were better placed to face the storm than most countries because the national debt was lower here when the crisis struck. On the other hand the storm hurt us more because more people here buy their home than they do in other countries and the London banking sector is the biggest, and so the most at risk from a financial crisis like this one, in the world.

It is clear now that we were right to save the banks and boost the economy but the money that we used now has to be repaid. Which brings us to the year ahead.

We are coming out of the slowdown now so when do we start to cut the deficit? Do it too soon and too deeply and we will plunge back into recession. Do it too late and the money markets won’t trust us again.

The Government made the right calls in the last year despite loud voices from the opposition calling for us to do nothing. Now we’ve set out our stall to cut the deficit in half over four years but not to start until later next year when the economy is strong enough to cope.

Of course, next year you get a choice too. The General Election is a choice not a referendum so your choice next year is between backing the Government who have been proven correct every step of the way over the last year or to choose a party that made the wrong calls on every big issue that faced us during the crisis. Put like that - some choices are easier than others!