Pre-Budget Report

First, Mr. Deputy Speaker, may I apologise for the fact that I will be unable to stay for the closing speeches? It has been a pleasure to listen to the debate and some excellent speeches have been made. The PBR represents firm action to help secure recovery, to go for growth and to halve the deficit in four years while protecting key services, and the subject of key services and public services in general will form a major part of my speech. I believe that the PBR offers a balanced package, and the best economic approach for long-term stability. The Government are taking tough decisions to halve the deficit and to make a range of savings and efficiencies that we know, in some cases, will be very difficult indeed. I particularly welcome the commitment in the PBR to spending on schools and to NHS expenditure, the increase in the basic state pension and the child element of the child tax credit. I also want to highlight the issues to do with the tax on bank bonuses, which is very important. We should not be put off by scaremongering. Many of my constituents welcome that tax, as do most people in the country. Some people in the banks got off very lightly indeed. I also welcome the measures to do with tax evasion and tax avoidance, which are very important for fairness and will raise a significant amount of money. They will play an important role in ensuring that we get that money in and that we stop people avoiding and evading tax. I want to spend some time discussing the issue of employment. I was pleased to see in the PBR that £300 million will be brought forward to offer a job, training or a work placement to every 18 to 24-year-old who has been claiming jobseeker's allowance for six months. Unemployment is a great concern and many people in my constituency have suffered from the economic downturn. However, unlike the Opposition, we have not walked away from that and we are doing all we can not just through the fiscal stimulus but through the other methods that I shall come to shortly. When the Opposition were last in government, they said that unemployment was a price worth paying. We should never forget that. In Halton in the 1980s, almost one person in five in my constituency was unemployed. Many were pushed on to incapacity benefit. Let me give some figures that I mentioned before. For instance, in August 1985 19.1 per cent. of the 16-to-19 age group were unemployed. In August 2009, 6.7 per cent. of that age group were unemployed. That is still obviously too many, and we have to do more, but the fact that one in five of my constituents were unemployed for many years shows the massive scale of the problems that we faced then. We should also not forget the record interest rate of more than 15 per cent. Rates were very high for a very long time, and many people lost their homes. We saw record levels of repossessions with no help from the Government of the time. I am pleased that we are doing more on that. We have helped people to stay in their homes and I hope that the Government will continue to do more. Of course, it is still a personal tragedy for those who lose their homes. I also want to welcome the improvement in support for debt counselling and advice services and access to them. The PBR provides extra money for citizens advice bureaux, which have helped many people to stay in their homes and to get their debts under some sort of control. Only this week I had a call from a constituent who thanked me for helping her by putting her in touch with the right people to get debt advice. She was then able to get an agreement with the mortgage provider and can now stay in her home. That is not untypical of what has been going on during this economic downturn. The stimulus has been very important in dealing with unemployment, but my right hon. Friend the Financial Secretary will not be surprised to hear that infrastructure projects are one of the big areas in providing employment and stimulus. May I remind him of the proposed new Mersey crossing? It is a £400 million project and the report of the inspector's recommendations and the inquiry that took place last year is due to land on the desk of the Secretary of State in the next few weeks. The crossing will provide hundreds of construction jobs over the next few years, if it is approved, and about 4,000 or 5,000 jobs thereafter through the economic benefits that it will bring. So, as well as improving the congestion problems in my constituency, and in Merseyside and Cheshire, it is very important for jobs. I hope that when the report lands on the Treasury's desk, the project will get the quickest approval possible. I want to spend a little of the short time available to me talking about public spending, which the Conservative party sees as a great evil. There have been massive improvements during Labour's time in government; Labour Government expenditure has brought great improvements throughout the country, not least in many public services in my constituency. Many people now take those services for granted, and it is worth reminding them what has happened. The greatest contrast is between hospital waiting lists now and previously, when it was common for people to wait two years or more for an operation. Those waiting times are now down to a few months or even weeks in some cases. That has been a massive turnaround. If anything shows the differences between now and previously, that change is it. Other benefits in my constituency are the modernisation of many schools with the provision of new buildings and sporting facilities. There have also been tremendous improvements educationally, with many great improvements in exam results. There have been improvements in transport and significant improvements in local health services and access to such services. Whiston hospital, for example, which serves many of my constituents, has received investments of £250 million. There are many private rooms in that hospital. We would like to know what the Tory promise is on private rooms, because they seem to be backtracking again. That brand-new, modern facility will serve my constituents and the wider area, replacing the Victorian buildings that the Tories always thought were okay for treating our people in. There are also improved cancer services, and more doctors and nurses. Let me make a point about the current weather situation and public expenditure. We should not forget the cold weather payments that are being made. The winter fuel allowance is particularly important to pensioners and the disabled. I want to make that point very clear. The free bus pass for pensioners and the disabled is another thing that is often taken for granted now, and is another example of good public expenditure. It is important to remind people what life was like under a Conservative Government. We have only to remember Black Wednesday and what happened to the pound then. There were record unemployment rates of more than 3 million, two recessions, long NHS waiting lists, as I have mentioned, and record numbers of repossessions. That is what life was like under a Conservative Government. Even on tax, the Conservatives' record was dodgy. It took them almost 18 years to reduce the tax burden—that was a long-held promise that they made early on in their years of power—so even they had trouble doing that. We should remind people about that. I believe that our approach to the economy is the right one, and that the Conservative approach lacks credibility—whatever that approach will finally be. The hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond) refused to give a date for when he wanted the deficit to be halved when I asked him to do so. He was asked about that two or three times. It is clear that a Conservative Government would revert to type, would introduce massive cuts in public expenditure and would not support public services or maintain the improvements that the Labour Government have made. Any Government will have to make significant savings, but the speed and scale of the savings will be crucial. That is the difference between the Conservatives and us: we will continue to put whatever stimulus we can into the economy and will also improve public services. The scale of cuts could be horrendous under the Conservatives, but we do not know what the full scale would be because they are not being open and honest about what they intend to do. I believe that we have the right approach to deal with the situation. I also believe that the people of this country will not be fooled by what the Conservatives are saying. They know what the Conservatives are like and what will be reintroduced if they get back into power. I believe that they will stick with and trust the Labour Government, having seen Labour's good management of the economy. The economic downturn has been handled well, and we have been seen as a world leader in that regard. The downturn has been very difficult for millions of people in this country, but by having a stimulus, by improving public expenditure in certain areas and through good stewardship, we can continue to bring improvements for the future of this country, its public services and the economy.