Amendment of the law

The one thing the Budget statement demonstrates is that the Government intend to take absolutely no responsibility for any of the mess we are in. If we heard a variation of it once, we heard it a hundred times: this is a global problem. It is a pity that the Chancellor could not say those four special words, "It started in America." Perhaps the Government do not say that any more. However, the Government's prescription to cure the problem is interesting: more money for the jobcentre network to help get people who have lost their jobs back into the jobs that still exist is welcome, but they were forecasting the recovery based on quite extraordinary—almost unbelievable—growth figures in a few years' time. The same applies to the actions that they are proposing for the businesses that will create the jobs we need and craft the recovery from the recession. I suspect that the extension of tax relief for investments will be welcome, although the reaffirmation of a fuel duty escalator will not be welcome at all. I would have thought that with the barrel price sitting pretty stable at about $50 and the litre price at the pump sitting stable at about 95p, this was the time—the stable time—to put in the fuel duty regulator to deal with the spike when it happens next year, the year after that or the year after that. Instead, there seems to be simply another attempt to bring in more cash. In the middle of it all, however, are the proposals for £15 billion of cuts. I think the Chancellor described that as fiscal tightening. Others have described it as efficiency. It is most certainly cuts, and we have had it confirmed today that next year alone, that means a £500 million cut in the Scottish budget. I want to make it clear that that means the loss of 9,000 jobs, as a consequence of the £500 million lost to the Scottish budget next year. The Government are missing an opportunity. This is the time to cut other things—spending on ID cards, as many have said, and spending on Trident. That idea is gathering pace. Last night Tony Dolphin, from the Institute for Public Policy Research, said that""you have to identify your priorities"," and once that has been done,""look very hard at projects like the Trident programme, like ID cards and some big projects are going to have to be cancelled because unless you do that you just won't be able to make enough savings."" That is absolutely right. If we are serious about making savings but protecting the investment so that we can get a recovery from the recession, let us look at the ID card system and the Trident programme as projects to be cut.