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Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

The right hon. Gentleman is the Chair of the Health Committee. I can tell him that I am concerned that disease areas—admittedly deserving ones—that have well-funded lobbyists may crowd out those disease areas that perhaps do not have such a loud voice. I am chair of the all-party group on mental health and I know that for decades mental health has been underfunded and last in the queue. Things certainly have improved under this Government and it would be churlish of me to suggest otherwise, so here is my plea on behalf of mental health services. I am not going to ask for more money, because that would be unrealistic. However, perhaps we could keep what we have got, because we are doing good work with it, helping many millions of people who otherwise would not have been helped. I hope that after the general election, when the special interests come knocking, we will be fair and will listen to those voices that perhaps are not raised as loudly but are equally as deserving. Of course, we also have a responsibility, as Members of Parliament, in this difficult time. We must have robust and searching debate. Many enormous decisions will need to be taken, but I hope that we will resist the temptation to get too partisan, too vitriolic and too personal. I freely admit that I was not a particularly nice person five years ago. [Hon. Members: "Oh, you were."] My colleagues are being very generous. I thought it was the done thing to stand here and make puerile comments to score points against the Government. I did enjoy doing that, but it did not get me very far—I am still here on the Back Benches—and it certainly did not advance the causes of my constituents and their businesses. We need to set a very good example in the next Parliament, because people will be looking to us to do the right thing for them, to make the hard decisions and not only to stand by those decisions, but give them the proper scrutiny and attention that they deserve. I was asked to speak briefly because others wish to get in, but I should say that I am hugely optimistic about the future of this country. As I have said, I think we will have a very difficult few years ahead of us. The media like to talk this up as a near-apocalyptic five years, but I know that this country has, in the medium to long term, an enormously bright future ahead of it. I know that we are going to get through these dark times because we are all going to pull together and we are all going to do the right thing. We may not like it and it may be difficult for a period of time, but it would be ridiculous if politicians could not set out an optimistic vision for what will happen afterwards. No matter what side of the House we sit on, we all want to see our constituents become more prosperous, we all want to see them have great and better opportunities to advance their lives and achieve their aspirations, and we all want to see young people, of whatever age, have the very best education and the very best opportunity to pursue worthwhile careers, be they in the private or public sector. I know that we face great challenges, but I also believe that we have an extremely bright future ahead of us and it would be silly to suggest otherwise. I wish to say one last thing as this Parliament draws to a close. I have had a cracking time representing my constituency of Broxbourne; we have had a lot of good times and we have had a few bad times, but it has been a fabulous five years. I have also had the honour of serving with some simply wonderful Members of Parliament from both sides of the House, who are real heroes of their communities. In the next week we will say goodbye to a number of them and in six weeks' time we will say hello to perhaps another 300 colleagues, but this is a great Parliament to work in. Despite what has happened over the past five years, it is full of the most honourable people and it has been an absolute privilege to call them colleagues.