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AMENDMENT OF THE LAW

No, he does not. I have mentioned investment in infrastructure, but I also want to mention investment in the creative industries—supporting those industries, which will be an engine of economic advance. I should like to be slightly parochial about the issue for a second. There has been a cultural success in my area. Liverpool is the European capital of culture this year, and we can see the transformative effect of that in my sub-region in Merseyside. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has sought to make that writ large across the country. Education services are another issue in respect of the economy. A small example of that is attracting overseas students to our higher education base; that is a significant form of foreign investment in this country. My right hon. Friend has always said that we should invest in talent; that is locked into our approach to the economy and has been made clearer in today’s Budget. Our target is to get 50 per cent. of the 18 to 30 age cohort into higher education, although there are divisions on that in the House, which saddens me. We need to equip our young people with a high degree of skill to compete in the global economy. At a different level, the Leitch review has discussed apprenticeships. The Government have made it clear that we are looking to bring in 250,000 more apprenticeships in the coming months and years. Investment in the environmental field and international development has been touched on today. I should like briefly to say something about the latter issue. Increasingly, India is an economic powerhouse. For many years, thanks to the Department for International Development, it has been our biggest partner in respect of overseas aid, and that is one of the reasons why for many years, the Indian economy—particularly in rural areas—has had access to water, roads and education. In a reciprocal way, we have applied a ““good neighbour”” principle. When the urban Indian economy comes forward, we will be in a good position to set up trade with what will be a tiger economy. Finally, although we have a good and sound economy going forward, how can children and families look forward to the future in uncertain times? First, there is job growth—there are 2 million more people in jobs than there were in 1997. There is record employment; more people are now in employment than ever before. That is another reason why we are in a good position to withstand the buffeting. All that contrasts with the £10 billion in cuts suggested by the Conservative party. If we are talking about bringing stability into the situation, we should realise that those cuts would destabilise the economy and put those children and families at risk.