---

Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Sit down. The Prime Minister and the Chancellor faced a choice between bold action in an election year and just playing politics, and once again they chose politics. This Prime Minister will never get a medal for courage—although it has to be said that most of his Cabinet get mentioned in "Dispatches". A credible plan also requires some honesty; instead, we got double-dealing. All those figures they told us about debt are based on their growth forecast. So let us have a look at the growth forecast—their record of predicting growth. In 2008, they said that we would grow by 2 per cent.; in fact, the economy grew by 0.5 per cent. In 2009, they predicted a decline of 3.5 per cent.; in fact, we shrank by 5 per cent. Now they say that the economy will grow by 3.25 per cent.; the independent experts say 2.1 per cent. The Chancellor told us, standing there at the Dispatch Box, that his forecasts were the same as the Bank of England's: they are not. The Bank of England is forecasting 3.1 per cent. this year and 3 per cent. next year, compared with his forecast of 3.5 per cent. With the former Chancellor, you used to have to go through the fine print before you found out about the rubbish in the Budget; this time, the rubbish came straight from the Dispatch Box. Having given us the lowest decade for growth since the second world war, they are now predicting one of the highest. They have given us the biggest bust in British history, and now they are forecasting an almost permanent boom. Why on earth should anyone believe what they say any more? What we need is a proper independent office of Budget responsibility, which we would set up to set independent forecasts and to keep the Chancellor honest. We need to get Britain back open for business. Again, this Budget completely fails the test. The Chancellor spent half an hour talking about helping business, but the fact is that he is raising £19 billion of extra taxes, many of them charged on business. Why? Because they flunked the difficult decisions on spending and they are raising tax after tax after tax. There are the fuel duty rise, the broadband tax, and the new taxes on small businesses. He talked about a cut, but he did not mention what happens on 5 April, when the revaluation and the end of transitional relief come in, hitting every small business in the country. Biggest of all is the rise in national insurance, which is a tax on every single job in our country. They want to tax your car, your phone, your business, and your jobs. These are the ticking tax bombshells that are timed to go off the day after the election, and that will destroy our recovery. Instead of more waste, more spending, and more taxes, what this Budget needed to do was to ease the burden on our families and businesses and let enterprise flourish. That is what a Conservative Government will bring. Let us freeze the council tax. No tax on new jobs for new businesses. Lower corporation tax rates and lower small business tax. Radical school and welfare reform. That would be real action to get our economy moving. This Prime Minister is going around telling everyone, "Stick with me—stick with what you know." But that is the whole problem—this country is stuck with him. Our economy is stuck. Business is stuck. Nothing is moving. Then there is the arrogance of it. "Stick with me." "Why?" "Because I doubled the debt, I put up your taxes, I wrecked the economy, and I mortgaged your children's future." It is like the captain of the Titanic saying, "Let me command the lifeboats." It is like Robert Maxwell saying, "Let me reinvest your pension." It is like Richard Nixon saying, "I'm the man to clean up politics." Does the Prime Minister really expect the British people to turn round and say, "Thank you for nearly bankrupting the economy?" Find me the small business owner who would wake up to a Labour victory and say, "Thank God we've got five more years of this red tape and taxes." Find me the family who would think, "Great, national insurance is going up and we're all going to be better off." Find me the international business that would think, "Yes, now's the time to invest in Britain." No one has yet thought of a question to which the answer is five more years of this Prime Minister—and that's because there isn't one. We need an unleashing of enterprise across this nation. We need a plan to boost employment through radical welfare and school reform. It is time that this country had a radical change of direction. We need a Conservative Government to clean up the mess made by this Labour Government and to stop another five years of debt, waste and taxes. Britain does not need this Prime Minister and this Chancellor—it needs new energy, leadership and values to get this country going again. That is the argument that we will take to the country the moment this man runs out of time and calls that election. [Interruption.]