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EU Council/Afghanistan, India and Pakistan

The right hon. Gentleman's whole theme was that the summit was stronger on words than on action; if any group in the world is stronger on words than on action, it is the Liberal party. I shall answer individually each of the questions that the right hon. Gentleman has asked. On troops in Afghanistan, I am grateful for his support for the additional mission to ensure that central Helmand is free of the Taliban. On Zimbabwe, I disagree that we have done little; we have done a huge amount to try to get humanitarian aid to the people who are affected by cholera, to persuade the southern African states to take the necessary action, to bring this forward to the Security Council, as we are doing, and to ensure that the whole world understands the blood-stained regime that we are dealing with in Zimbabwe. We will continue our efforts to try to persuade African leaders to take a tougher stand on the issue. On the Congo, I think that the right hon. Gentleman realises that, in preference to rushing to deploy an EU force at the moment, the most important thing is to strengthen the UN force. It is to rise from 17,000 to 20,000, and we have put aside some money to help the recruiting of the additional troops for work in the Congo. By far the quickest and most effective way of getting help to people there, and of dealing with the incursions that are taking place, is to strengthen the numbers, the quality and the leadership of the UN force on the ground. On climate change, I also disagree with the right hon. Gentleman. There is a debate to be had about carbon leakage, and there is to be a rigorous examination of its impact. No action will be taken to exclude the non-power sectors of the economy from auctioning until that rigorous examination has been carried out. The proposals will then go back to the Council for further discussion within six months, so that we can be clear that carbon leakage is not being used as an excuse to escape responsibility for taking action on climate change. Our objectives of a 20 per cent. cut in emissions, of 100 per cent. power auctioning and of a €9 billion commitment to carbon capture and storage were all achieved at the summit, and, for all the difficulties that the right hon. Gentleman has raised about carbon leakage—a matter that has still to come back to be discussed in full later—there have been enormous advances that will put Europe in a position to take the lead in Copenhagen in securing a climate change agreement. I know that the right hon. Gentleman does not favour the VAT cuts that have taken place, but I believe that they are already making a difference, and I hope that he will support the increase in public spending that is taking place as a result of decisions that we have made. Not only has £5 billion already been allocated to small businesses, with a great deal more to come, but a £10 billion increase in the capital budget from last year to next year will enable us to proceed with our plans for roads, transport, schools and hospitals in a way that will employ more people. I hope that the Liberal party will continue to support that action, which is necessary to inject more capital spending into the economy at a time when it is most needed. The fact of the matter is that monetary policy has a transmission mechanism that is impaired, and we cannot rely totally on monetary policy. No other major country in the world is saying that monetary policy alone can do this work, apart from the people who represent the Conservative party at the moment. Fiscal policy is absolutely essential, especially at a time of low inflation and low interest rates: the case for using fiscal policy is even stronger then. It is unfortunate that the Conservatives have not learnt the basic lesson of the 1970s and 1980s that a recession is prolonged by a failure to invest and a failure to use capital spending. The Liberals and I are agreed on the need for capital investment. The Conservative party should go back to the drawing board and think again.