---

Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

May I say what a great pleasure it is to follow the hon. Member for Macclesfield (Sir Nicholas Winterton)? I am deeply sorry that he is standing down. He is far too young and still has far too much energy. He should stay with us for many more years—I hope that I will be here too, but that is another story. Despite coming from a different segment of the political spectrum, I find myself in agreement with him on so many issues, and particularly manufacturing, on which I also speak. He is absolutely right about the importance of manufacturing to the economy. Manufacturing is too small a sector now. We need to keep what we have and expand it for the future, so that we can get a more balanced economy, with manufacturing playing a much larger part in our long-term economic health. I congratulate him on his speech and, in particular, his emphasis on manufacturing. I am sorry that he is choosing to leave us. However, I do not always agree with the hon. Gentleman on the economy. I support the Chancellor, who was absolutely right to dismiss the Conservatives' demands for immediately making deep public spending cuts, which would simply cause a loss of jobs and hit the pensions and pay of public sector workers, as well as public services themselves. Some public services, on which some of the most vulnerable people in our society depend, are already suffering from the squeeze. This very week I went to a seminar on care. Even now, people are not getting the care that they need or deserve, whether at home or in residential care. I am seriously concerned about that. We need to spend more on care, not less. Children's services could also be seriously affected by the squeeze on public spending by local authorities and, perhaps, the health service. Over the past year or two, we have seen a number of serious failures in children's services, which are not helped by squeezing spending. I want more spent on children's services and social services generally, so that the most vulnerable can get the support and care that they need. If we were to go for serious cuts, we would be forced into serious deflation and a depression. In fact, we need to do the opposite to generate growth and employment. Indeed, some months ago the Conservatives chose a tactic to try to embarrass the Government and to panic them into imposing cuts just before an election. That would have had a serious effect on the economy and, no doubt, led to our suffering at the polls. What has actually happened, however, is that the Conservatives have shot themselves in the foot or scored an own goal, whichever metaphor we care to use.