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AMENDMENT OF THE LAW

I am grateful for the opportunity of following the hon. Member for Dundee, East (Stewart Hosie). It has been interesting to follow the debate from the beginning and see how many points have been made. The hon. Member for Dundee, East spoke about the trade deficit. He was very keen on that subject and raised a point similar to that made by my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton, North-East (Mr. Purchase) about the balance of payments deficit, as we used to call it. Let me explain one of the reasons why we have such a deficit. The last time I was in Scotland, in October last year, I bought a Christmas tree in Jedburgh. On the bottom of the tree it said ““Made in China””. There is the essence of the trade deficit. We are into high-technology goods and the world sends us its low-technology goods, so we have a trade deficit. It is counterbalanced, of course, by a surplus on services across the exchanges. The hon. Member for Dundee, East said that there was no social policy in the Budget, but as the Chancellor made clear, the Budget is about a having a fair society, so that element is part and parcel of the Budget strategy. The hon. Gentleman also raised the question of a trust for revenues from the North sea. I have heard that story at least once a year for 30 years, and the Treasury has always made the point that the revenues coming from North sea oil go into Treasury funds and come out the other side by way of investments and all the rest of it. The hon. Member for Dundee, East also mentioned the Barnett formula, which was also mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for North-West Leicestershire (David Taylor), who will be pleased to know that Lord Barnett was with us today. He was upstairs, if I may say so—but I am not allowed to say that, so I did not say it; I withdraw it. None the less, Lord Barnett did follow our proceedings very carefully today, and I am sure that he will have been touched to know that his Barnett formula is alive and well, and with us still. I congratulate the hon. Member for Dundee, East on his assimilation of the Red Book at such short notice. He also mentioned the private finance initiative. He will understand that it is now many years since the public sector could, on its own, handle the kind of investments that it needs. For example, when a hospital was built in my Middlesbrough constituency in 1997, it was the first PFI project. It was built with public and private money. That is the nature of the world we live in. I believe that about £59 billion is invested in our infrastructure through PFI, and there is no going back on that.