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Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

I welcome this opportunity to begin the second full day of the Budget debate, because it gives us the opportunity to bring to the House's attention all the things that were in the Budget but not actually mentioned in the Chancellor's Budget speech. The debate will give us all a chance to reflect on what the rest of the country thought about the Budget—which is: not a lot—and the fact that only three Labour Back Benchers have turned up to support the Government's final Budget suggests that the parliamentary Labour party does not think much of it either. [Interruption.] Or, indeed, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He normally turns up, but there we go. He did not turn up for his "Today" programme interview either, so, after an empty Budget, we got an empty chair. Anyway, it is a pleasure to be debating these matters with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the right hon. Member for Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper), because one thing is certainly clear. Depending on the result of the election, either she will be living in No. 11 Downing street or I will, so it is good for us to have this early debate. It normally takes 24 hours for people to see through these Labour Budgets, but this one disintegrated within about 24 minutes. Even before the Chancellor sat down, it was clear that he had completely failed to rise to the challenge of the times we face and the expectations of his high office. We know that the country faces a storm of economic problems. One in five young people cannot find work. Our recovery is one of the weakest in the G20, and our banking system cannot finance that recovery at the moment. Family incomes are being squeezed, and we have the largest budget deficit of any country in the developed world. Our credit rating is under threat, confidence is lacking, manufacturing is shrinking, exports are falling and business investment has collapsed. Everything cries out for urgent action, for energy, for vision, for leadership and for new ideas to get our economy moving. But what did we get yesterday from this exhausted, discredited Government? Absolutely nothing at all. An empty Budget. An exercise in politics, not an example of governing. The only ideas of any substance in this Budget are Conservative ideas. Taking first-time buyers out of stamp duty? Now, I knew I had heard that before, and when I did my research, it turned out that I had announced it at the Conservative party conference three years ago. It was roundly condemned by Labour Ministers at the time—[Interruption.] Well, we have the Treasury Minister here, and he told Parliament that the Government did not believe that our proposal on stamp duty""would be an effective use of public money".––[Official Report, Finance Public Bill Committee, 21 May 2009; c. 108.]" Does he hold to that view, or has he changed his mind?