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Economic Recovery

If the hon. Gentleman will allow me, I would like to respond in the two minutes remaining to some of the other points that he and others raised in the debate. Let me update the House on the deferral of business taxes, which, as I said in my opening remarks, is benefiting 150,000 businesses. The latest figures say that £3.8 billion in business taxes has been deferred. To provide clarification for Members who asked about it, this includes corporation tax, VAT and PAYE. It is also important to recognise that the UK has responded, as have other countries, by introducing a fiscal stimulus. We have had previous debates on whether the VAT cut is working, and I find it surprising that some of the same people who criticised us and said that the VAT cut has not made a difference are now making representations asking us to extend it because they really want it. People need to accept the fact that government is about making decisions on the basis of good political judgment. Our judgment was that it was right to recapitalise the banks and right to provide a fiscal stimulus—and we believe that it is right now to continue to ensure that we secure the recovery, without undertaking the huge cuts in expenditure that the Conservative party is now advocating. The Conservatives were wrong on the recession and they are wrong now about the recovery. They have a very dangerous set of policies indeed, so I hope the general public will wake up to the fact that they need to exercise their judgment very carefully over the next few months. Question put and agreed to. Resolved,"That this House has considered the matter of securing economic recovery."