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AMENDMENT OF THE LAW

Yes. Now let us look at taxes on business. The Chancellor has adopted the Conservative idea of reducing corporation tax, but I did not hear him say in his statement that taxes on businesses will rise by £1 billion next year and £1.8 billion the year after. If those figures are wrong, perhaps we could be told. Borrowing will increase in the next five years. It has been suggested that the Chancellor will borrow more than twice what he will spend on law and order. The two figures cannot necessarily be compared, because the borrowing may be for investment, and spending on law and order may come out of current taxation, but it is a useful way of looking at the situation. The Prime Minister says that what matters most is education, but education spending growth is set to fall to 2.5 per cent. a year—lower than the rate of growth of the economy. There may be reasons for that, and I wish to put on record the fact that I welcome the increases in spending on the military, and I am glad that spending on security and intelligence will be increased. Clearly, Governments have to make decisions about how the cake is divided up, but if it is true that education spending will rise at a lower rate than the rate at which economy grows, I would expect the Chancellor to say that. If he is willing to defend it, why not say it in the open? When a Treasury Minister next takes to the Dispatch Box, will he say how Britain’s economic growth last year compared with that of other EU members? Is it true that we came 22nd out of the total of 27 member states? I turn now to the rate of inflation. Is it true that our inflation rate is the highest for 16 years? Is it double the level of 1997, when the Conservatives left office? Is it above the EU average? One would have expected to hear such details in a Budget statement, but I do not think that we did.