Pre-Budget Report

I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman has made a mistake, and intended to address that question to the Chief Secretary. There is a fact here that we must all face: whoever is in government after the next general election will have to cut public spending. Surprisingly, even the Prime Minister on a good day—[Interruption.] The hon. Member for Luton, North (Kelvin Hopkins) does not agree that it will be necessary to cut public spending after the next general election. I think that puts him in a very small minority in the House. We will leave him with his thoughts and perhaps those of the little group around him, but he is well out of the mainstream of current thinking.