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Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

This country has faced the deepest recession in living memory and the Budget outlines how we will secure the recovery and the future in a way that is sustainable and fair. The Budget is a new growth plan for the future. At its heart is a £2.5 billion one-off growth package to help small business, promote innovation and invest in national infrastructure and key skills. It is a Budget to secure the recovery, tackle borrowing and invest in our industrial future. It continues targeted support for businesses and families where and when it is needed and it sets out how we will stick to our plan to halve the deficit within four years. When the global recession hit, we faced a choice as a Government: to stand aside and leave the economy to the markets or to step in and protect people from the worst effects. The Opposition could have joined us, but they did not. They turned their backs on people up and down the country. Their do-nothing approach would have left communities to fend for themselves. They were wrong then and they are wrong today, and they would put the recovery at risk. There are signs of desperation from the Opposition. Two months ago, they said that not doing more on the deficit was ““moral cowardliness.”” We then heard from them about spending promises on the married man's allowance, tax give-aways for the richest estates, selling off the banks at a discount rate rather than getting taxpayers' money back, and last week they implied that there would be billons extra to increase personal allowances. Today, it is national insurance contributions. They are promising the impossible: tax cuts, deficit cuts and spending commitments all at the same time. It is an incompetent economic plan that would put the recovery at risk. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor made the tough decision to put an extra penny on national insurance, but that will come into effect only in April 2011, after the recovery is secured, and 60 per cent. of the revenue from our fair tax increases comes from the wealthiest 5 per cent. We took action during the recession. We stepped in because we believe that it is Government's responsibility to help people during difficult times. That is why we have helped businesses, allowing them to spread more than £5 billion of tax over a more affordable period through the time-to-pay service. It is why extra job advisers and other measures are in place, so that unemployment is running at 500,000 less than that expected by independent forecasters last year. It is why we put in place help for people struggling with their mortgages, through which 330,000 families received help or advice over the past year. Government action has helped people get through the recession, and businesses and families have been prepared to tighten their belts and take tough decisions. A strong competitive global economy for the future cannot rely on only one area or business model, but should rely on a diverse economy where everyone can play their part and has the opportunities they want. The Budget outlines how the Government will build that new recovery. The Opposition do not have a growth strategy. We know that the shadow Business Secretary said a few days ago that the words ““industrial strategy”” send a shiver down his spine. Renewing our infrastructure is a vital part of the recovery. A strong country and a strong economy need a strong and modern infrastructure. Our transport, water, waste, communications and energy infrastructure needs to be built for recovery and to pave the way for a low-carbon economy. We need to invest in that modern infrastructure. We can renew regional economies, renew and reinvent the manufacturing base, and build new competitive strengths in technologies, services and creative industries by investing in the skills, research and technologies that support them. The Government have already invested heavily in infrastructure, with more than £150 billion invested in transport networks over the past decade, and we have now set out plans for a new high-speed rail network. The ““Strategy for national infrastructure””, which was published last week, gives an overview of the current state of the UK's infrastructure. It identifies the challenges and opportunities, and sets out the areas for action. We will create a green investment bank to invest in low-carbon infrastructure, particularly in transport and energy, and we will invest an additional £250 million in making further progress on the managed motorways programme and other transport projects. The Government have always sought to ensure that all parts of the country benefit from economic growth. Their action and investment have helped to narrow the gap between the most deprived neighbourhoods and the national average on health, crime, education and worklessness. Ten years of public investment and the creation of the regional development agencies have paid huge dividends—restoring our universities and science base to world status and closing a lot of the backlog in investment in Britain's transport system and infrastructure. There has been huge investment in apprenticeships and skills, and we are a far stronger country because of that, as we work to secure the recovery. Supporting strong regions and regional recovery is not the policy of the Opposition, however, who are committed to scrapping RDAs. That would threaten regional economic recovery, put at risk the strategic investment in jobs that the RDAs are helping to create, and bring uncertainty when every business group says that we need to build confidence. Every area of the country should share in the increased prosperity that will come with recovery, so Regional Ministers will have a bigger role in promoting growth to make sure that their areas benefit. They will be supported by a regional growth fund that is to be established by the RDAs to promote investment and support growth. Strong city regions will have more autonomy and freedom to promote growth, and accelerated development zones will be piloted to support projects that deliver key infrastructure and commercial development in our cities. The Budget will ensure that there are opportunities for all as we recover from recession, and no one will be left behind. We will support low-income households by increasing the national minimum wage to £5.93, and we will increase support for families. We will extend the young person's guarantee beyond March 2011 to ensure that young people continue to be guaranteed training, work experience or a future jobs fund job if they cannot find work within six months. Everyone should have the opportunity to work and to thrive in their job, and no one should be left to a life on benefits. Today, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has published a Command Paper that sets out how we will guarantee help for people who do not find employment after two years and how we will introduce more individual and personalised help to people who are looking for a job. In the recession of the 1990s, repossessions soared and the building industry took years to recover. Last year, we committed more than £2 billion to building an additional 20,000 new affordable homes for rent and low-cost sale and 20,000 homes on privately developed sites. The Opposition opposed the measures that will create and protect 45,000 jobs and 3,000 apprenticeships. When we made it a condition that apprenticeships should be created when public money is used to build new housing, the shadow Minister for Housing said it was ““ridiculous”” and ““counter-productive””. Housing investment of £7.5 billion, over two years, will fund the building of up to 112,000 affordable homes to rent and buy and about 15,000 private sector homes. It will also support an estimated 160,000 jobs directly in the construction and related industries and will create 3,000 apprenticeships, as I have said.