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Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Of course there are years in which growth in spending must be constrained below the growth of the economy, and the beginning of the 14 years of growth that we have enjoyed was accompanied by a long period of that kind, for which I was responsible. What I do not understand is why the Government put that in the Red Book and then deny that it is what they are doing, and why they attack the Conservative party vigorously every time we suggest that there is an urgent need to restrain the growth of public spending, as if we were doing horrendous damage to public services. The Chancellor is actually preparing to reduce growth in public spending below the likely rate of growth in GDP for several years following 2008, to remedy the problems that he has got into and the damage that has been done to the public finances since 2000.