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Finance (No. 2) Bill

I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to our debate. It has gradually become apparent to me in the past hour or two that, amazingly, a Government with a large majority do not have Members who wish to speak up for the Bill in the House of Commons. I am aware of the parliamentary in-joke that the best way of keeping a secret is to make a speech on the subject in the Chamber between 7 and 9 pm, but it is surprising that the Government do not have Members who anxious to support them. Personally, I am not surprised, because this is a nasty little Budget implemented by a huge, horrid Finance Bill of 475 pages. That does not include the explanatory notes, which comprise about 600 pages. That represents a continuation of Government practice. They are good at spending taxpayers’ money, but not so good at recognising the need to encourage and stimulate efforts to create wealth in our community. I am not surprised that the hon. Member for Wirral, West (Stephen Hesford) was concerned about productivity in the public sector. We can measure productivity in the private sector and we are concerned about it. Given all the money that is spent on the public sector—millions of pounds have gone in—and given that there is reorganisation after reorganisation, with hundreds of skilled workers being laid off and national health service waiting lists increasing, Government Members had to fight hard to say that public sector productivity is good. However, we can measure what goes in and we can see what comes out or what is achieved, so we know that that is not the case. Overall, the world is doing very well with dramatic growth, but our comparative position is less good. Globalisation is of massive benefit worldwide, and allows low-wage economies to manufacture, produce and distribute goods cheaply, so that they and their markets benefit. Transport improvements and low agricultural costs provide worldwide easy access to food markets, so that good, cheap food can be readily distributed. The availability of tourism leads to the sharing of benefits and access to capital markets means that London has benefited enormously as the leading market in many financial operations, including foreign exchange. It is therefore not surprising that the International Monetary Fund global growth forecast has just been upgraded from 4.3 per cent to 4.9 per cent. next year. This year, growth is 4.8 per cent., but last year, it was 5.3 per cent. Internationally, the signs are extremely good.