It shares the Government concern that the level and frequency of such crimes remain extremely high.

The number of illicit small arms and light weapons in circulation, as well as the number of the victims of those weapons, remain unacceptably high.

First, it has often been pointed out that austerity can be self defeating, because a reduction in the fiscal deficit can lead in the short run to an increase in the debt GDP ratio if both the debt level and the multiplier are large.