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Building Britain's Future

I am very open-minded about the right hon. Lady’s point about the wisdom and need to prepare for the upturn. However, as someone who has a fundamental belief in the efficacies of private enterprise and the benefits of people taking risks, I think that a lot of the energy for a successful upturn naturally comes from such people. The balance between what the Government wish to do and what emerges, in parallel, from the privately owned economy has to be married in a sense that gives the Government a picture of what the country needs to look like. By cleverly talking about the need to prepare for the upturn, the right hon. Lady cannot escape from my accusation about the pain of the downturn, which is greater in this country than it would have been if the Government had not been so reckless in how they handled the economy. That is the fundamental point about the state of Britain at the moment: we have ended up in a worse position than any of our competitors during the downturn, and our debt burden is greater than that of almost any other country. Many generations will have to pay off the hundreds of billions of pounds of debt that have built up under the Government. The Prime Minister—the man now at the top of the Government—was alone in charge of the moneybags for a whole decade and is the most culpable politician I can think of in my lifetime, because of what he has wrought upon the British economy and the pain that has been caused. He has been reckless and detached, and he has caused far more pain and disaster for families and businesses than would have been the case if he had been more responsible. That is the judgment people will make at the ballot box at the next election. The Minister hit on two issues that are very important: those who have never been in work, and the plight of the young. A deep sadness of the recession is that it has hit young people very hard indeed. There has been a massive expansion of university places and many people who simply cannot get a job are now coming out of university. There have been many debates about whether that is a good or bad thing and whether the matter has been handled properly, but the fact is that, having got a degree, people are coming out of university and finding it very difficult to find a job. The recession is hitting the young disproportionately painfully in a way that is regrettable. The other matter concerns those who are unemployed. As I said, we started the recession with 1.7 million unemployed, and it looks as if the figure will go beyond 3 million. For every person who makes up that big number, there is a painful personal story. However, the trouble is that there are really 5 to 6 million people who are either on benefit, dependent on the state or out of work. At the last count, there were 1.58 million on jobseeker’s allowance, 2.6 million on incapacity benefit and the new employment and support allowance, 736,000 on lone parent’s benefits, 400,000 on carer’s benefits, 363,000 on disability benefits, 182,000 on other income-related benefits and 95,000 on bereavement benefits. In other words, within the economy, there is a dependency on the state that is far greater than the Government often admit. A further issue is the state of the east midlands, which was mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Boston and Skegness. Considering its location, the economic performance of the east midlands is weaker than we would wish it to be. The businesses that are keeping the east midlands prosperous are not getting enough praise and recognition for surviving despite the Government, rather than because of them. In our constituency casework, all of us will have been contacted by people who run businesses who have said, ““The bank has just pulled the plug,”” or ““I applied to this Government scheme and I’ve got nowhere,”” or ““Those who owe me money are suddenly saying that they are going to pay it in 60 days rather than 30.”” Many people who have risked their homes and their livelihoods to run their business are facing enormous difficulties. We have not heard enough about that today. There has not been enough praise for the risks taken by such people—whose earnings we take in taxation to spend on everything else—and for their position as the engine of the economy. I have mentioned the regional agenda, which will be debated far more in Westminster over the next few months, so I shall conclude by asking the Minister a few questions about whether his role is productive or practical. What percentage of his time is spent on regional matters and to what effect is that time spent? What powers does he actually have and what top three decisions can he point to as justifying his role? Will he explain how he has helped the east midlands area, rather than just talking about it, having lots of meetings and calling today’s sitting? Will he provide examples of real help that he has given to businesses in the region? If we are to justify this event, perhaps he can tell us whether he can see it having one positive outcome over the next month or so. Will he undertake to write to us all to explain quite what it is that we have achieved?