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Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

I think they said that some things were better but that other things were far worse. We managed to highlight the problem in the local papers in March 2005, but a year later nothing has been done to address it. I am about to say something controversial—nobody has said this so far: we are all passionate about our country and we all want our Olympic contestants to do extremely well in the games, but when the Royal Shrewsbury hospital is £30 million in debt, my doctors and nurses face the sack and we have a crisis in the national health service, the Chancellor should not be giving £200 million to the Olympic team. Controversial. But that is how passionately I feel about the Royal Shrewsbury hospital. My second point is about carbon dioxide emissions. I am a member of the Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which is looking into our obligations on CO2 emissions. The Chancellor has imposed a tax on 4x4 vehicles and the Lib Dems have repeatedly campaigned about them, saying that they will tax 4x4s until the pips squeak. They fail to realise that many people in rural constituencies, living in villages such as Cardington, which is perched on top of a large hill, or running farms, need a 4x4 to get around. So, the Chancellor is penalising hard-working farmers and families who live in rural areas. By imposing the tax, he is certainly not going to stop super-rich people in Westminster from buying those large vehicles. Why is he using a blatant tool such as this to punish people who live in rural communities?