Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

The hon. Gentleman has the figures in front of him, but I have not. However, I think he will find that, peak to trough, the fall was faster and deeper here than in any other major industrialised country. If it was not actually the deepest, it was very near to it. The Minister disagrees, but he can read the figures in a few days' time and tell me exactly where we are in the pecking order. In any case, employment in the labour market has been more resilient, but that is due to reforms the Conservatives put through in the 1980s and '90s, which, luckily, Labour did not dismantle.