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Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

It is a great privilege to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Northampton, South (Mr. Binley), who has given a tour de force on behalf of small businesses that this House needed to hear, because of the impact on small business of this Budget. Too few Labour Members have ever worked in small business or understand small business. They cheered the Budget, which will harm small businesses such as corner shops. My hon. Friend could have mentioned that many post offices around the country will be hit by the increase in tax. Like my hon. Friend, I plan to be relatively narrow in my focus tonight. I shall focus on the environment, the environmental impact of the Budget and the environmental record of this Chancellor of the Exchequer. I will then go on to discuss some of the local issues in the East Riding of Yorkshire, many of which affect other constituencies. In 1997, the current Chancellor made his first pre-Budget report, in which he stated that"““nothing is more important than our approach to the environment.””—[Official Report, 25 November 1997; Vol. 301, c. 779.]" This is the last of the Chancellor’s Budgets, so it is a suitable time to examine his record on the environment. I hope that I will not bore the House too much, but I shall leave hon. Members to judge that. I am currently a member of the Environmental Audit Committee, which is a cross-party Committee dominated by Labour Members and which examines this Government’s environmental record. The Committee’s report on the pre-Budget report 2000 stated:"““The Committee has found no evidence that the Government has carried out a comprehensive environmental appraisal of its Pre-Budget measures which would even satisfy its own guidance in this area…The Government’s response to us on VAT and energy efficiency is not persuasive nor even credible.””" The Government’s failure on energy efficiency is sad. Those of us who want to see the carbon footprint of this country reduced know that the cheapest, most effective and quickest route to reducing emissions from this country is through energy efficiency. What is the Chancellor’s record? The next report by the Environmental Audit Committee appeared in 2001. The Committee included many Labour Members, such as the right hon. Member for Oldham, West and Royton (Mr. Meacher), the former Members for Cardiff, Central and for Aberdeen, North, and the hon. Members for Wrexham (Ian Lucas), for Stoke-on-Trent, North (Joan Walley) and for Telford (David Wright). The report stated:"““We regret the fact that the Treasury has retreated from a strategic commitment to environmental tax reform…The Treasury is failing to provide adequate leadership and co-ordination across central Government…We strongly regret the refusal of the Treasury””—" this will be familiar to Select Committee members across Government—"““to provide us with the Spending Review main guidance. This…vividly demonstrates that the Treasury will only share what it does not value or consider important.””" That report came from a Labour-dominated Committee. Were things improving in 2002? The 2002 Environmental Audit Committee report stated:"““The Government’s Climate Change strategy for reducing greenhouse gases is seriously off-course, and current progress and future projections must be reviewed as a matter of urgency.””" The Committee picked up on the Government’s failure to transfer tax from ““goods”” and employment on to ““bads”” for the environment, which they had originally promised to do:"““The Treasury’s strategic objective of shifting the burden of taxation from ‘goods’ to ‘bads’ is in danger of stalling. Indeed, we see little evidence of an environmental tax strategy as such.””" The pattern is becoming set, and we look each year for some hope and some chance of change. As for the 2003 pre-Budget report, the EAC—still dominated by Labour Members—found that the Chancellor, though definitely Brown, was far from green. Many articles have been written in newspapers—for instance, by Stephen Tindale of Greenpeace—on the question, ““Is the Chancellor green?”” The truth is that Brown may be the new Black—Conrad—but definitely not the new green. The EAC stated that"““the Climate Change Strategy is seriously off course. The policy instruments the Government has put in place have yet to make a significant impact on the UK carbon emissions trajectory.””" On the 2004 pre-Budget report, it stated:"““It is disappointing that the Treasury, after consulting in both 2002 and 2003 on fiscal measures for domestic energy efficiency, was unable to include in Budget 2004 a more significant package of measures.””" In 2005, the EAC comes out again to say—[Interruption.] It is worth putting on record the reports of a Committee dominated by Labour Members, because they paint a picture of the Chancellor’s total failure to deliver on the environment. I understand why those on the Government Front Bench do not want to hear it. It said:"““PBR 2005 signifies a continued slowing down of the Treasury’s momentum in turning its rhetoric on the environment into action””."