---

Finance Bill

My hon. Friend raises two fundamental issues that will be at the forefront at the next general election, when the nation will judge this Government on what they said in their previous manifestos and what they actually did. Those are two great examples of how they told the nation one thing but did something else. Just two hours after the Chancellor sat down, the IMF ridiculed those figures, saying that the growth figure for 2009 would not be minus 3.5 per cent. but minus 4.1 per cent., and that next year it would not be 1.25 per cent. but minus 0.4 per cent. Things are getting much tougher. I wish that the Government would understand and own up to the fact that we are not going to come out of this recession in the optimistic way that they are projecting. If that is reflected in anything, it is the astronomical scale of borrowing that we are about to approve: £175 billion this year, £141 billion next year, and £118 billion the year after. Those are figures on a scale that have never been seen in the history of this Parliament. As a result, every child, including those not yet even born, will be burdened with taxation round their neck to the tune of £22,000. If the Government's figures of just six months ago have already been discredited, let us see, six months from now when the Chancellor gets up at the next pre-Budget statement, whether his forecasts were correct. Six months ago, he said that by June this year the recession would be over, so I am curious to see what will happen next year. This Bill should be about measures of taxation or otherwise to help us to weather the economic downturn, so what has happened to some of the initiatives that the Government rolled out with such vigour? What has happened to the credit guarantee scheme, the internship scheme, the asset-backed securities scheme, the HomeBuy Direct scheme, or the homeowners mortgage support scheme? Those were all talk—we have had no confirmation that they are working. We hear from our constituents and businesses that the money is not getting through because the banks are not able to lend as the Government promised that they would. The recession is lasting much longer because they are not giving us the leadership that we expect. The Government have failed to acknowledge the cuts to public services—they have been glossed over. In health, there is a cut of £2.3 million; in education, there is a total cut of about £1 billion. Today we had an interesting debate in Westminster Hall on funding for further education with the fiasco that is surrounding the Learning and Skills Council and the fact that there is now a shortfall of £2.7 billion. The Government have made vague announcements that there will be money, but we know from speaking to our schools that they have not been given as much money as they were promised. The Minister for Schools and Learners, who turned up late to the Westminster Hall debate, eventually made it and acknowledged that letters from the Learning and Skills Council went out without his authority. His office knew about them, but the consequence is that schools in my constituency have been promised less funding than before. They will have more pupils coming through the gates in September, but they do not have the ability to pay for them.