National Lottery Bill

That is a good point. It we took the argument to its logical conclusion, we would never grant money to anything on which the Government might conceivably spend. That would lead to a bad allocation of public funds. The Opposition may remember that our manifesto in 1997 was widely supported. We made a commitment to spend money on health and education because that was what the public wanted. That was confirmed in 2000 by a MORI poll. The hon. Member for Hornchurch asked earlier about the question in that poll. It asked what were the two or three things that people most wanted the lottery to fund. Fifty-five per cent. of people said education, and I believe that, for 69 per cent., the top priority was health. The top priorities were clearly health and education. YouGov repeated the question, asking people which existing good causes they most favoured. Charities were well supported—I believe that the figure was 30 per cent.—but, again, the most popular replies were health, education and the environment. If people who play the lottery tell us that, we must reflect their priorities. We must reflect the public’s priorities and continue to spend money on the arts, sport and heritage because they are Government priorities, but we must also spend on the other priorities of health, education, the environment and community well-being. Do the Opposition genuinely claim that the public are wrong? Will they issue press releases tomorrow, condemning spending on MRI scanners? Will any Opposition Member volunteer to do that? Will they issue press releases condemning spending on Macmillan nurses, physical education for young people or letting young people in schools learn from veterans about history? If any Opposition Member wants to volunteer to issue such a press release, I should be happy to see the coverage in the local paper.