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AMENDMENT OF THE LAW

My hon. Friend repeats in another form exactly the point that I am making. The special offers and the undercutting of prices from the recommended retail price are enabling young people in particular to go out and get themselves drunk at little cost instead of simply buying alcohol to have a drink. We cannot effect the necessary change in behaviour merely by raising the duty on alcohol—we must tackle the source, which is the undercutting of prices. The 58 per cent. rise in schools spending that the Chancellor alluded to is well seen in my constituency, where as a result of that investment extraordinary improvements have gone on over the past decade, particularly in the secondary schools. I would single out Wembley high technology college, where the percentage of students achieving five A* to C grade GCSEs has improved from 42 per cent. to, in this last year, 83 per cent. That is precisely a result of the investment that has gone in, and it must continue to do so. I am conscious that other hon. Members wish to speak, and that I have spoken for a long time. I conclude by saying simply that the Chancellor’s Budget was accused of being boring, but at least it was stable, sensible and prudent. By contrast, the Leader of the Opposition managed to speak for nine minutes and 28 seconds, by my reckoning, without putting forward a single Conservative policy. The Chancellor’s fare today may have been no more exciting than a bowl of soup, but the Leader of the Opposition’s soup was made of chicken, the chicken was starving and it was only the shadow of a chicken.