I congratulate the hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire North (Gavin Newlands) on his maiden speech and painting such a clear picture of his constituency. I look forward to his contributions in the House, which I know will be feisty and campaigning—something that he seems to have been doing for most of his life. I also congratulate the other hon. Members who have made maiden speeches today.
I am delighted to speak in this debate to lend my weight to the general consensus on this side of the House that this was a positive and transformational Budget. It will move towards an economy in which the books will be balanced. We cannot pretend that the deficit is solved. It is still too high, which is why we need the Chancellor’s plan to continue to reduce it. I welcome the philosophy behind the Budget. It is all about changing behaviour and loading the scales in favour of people going to work, with the aim being to develop higher wages, lower taxes and a lower welfare economy. While there will be some time for adjustment, we cannot go on spending more than we earn, and we have to work to this new plan. The key tools for the success of this plan lie in raising the living wage and cutting welfare dependency, and I am delighted that the Leader of the Opposition seems to agree with us. It is a shame that her colleagues are not as enlightened as she is.
We cannot continue on a trajectory where nine out of 10 people claim welfare benefits. Some 1% of the world’s population lives in the UK, but 7% of the world’s welfare payments are made here. That does not make sense, which is why, with care and sympathy, we need gradually to alter it.