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Building Britain's Future

I will not because I have only a few minutes left. The Minister should look at the latest OECD report, which clearly states that this country, of which the east midlands is obviously a part, has experienced the fastest rise in unemployment on record, which will probably hit 10 per cent. of our work force by 2010. We have the worst public finances in the G20 and the worst budget deficit, which will be 14 per cent. by 2010. The gross Government debt, as a ratio of GDP, will be 90 per cent. by 2010. These figures are staggering, as is the incompetence of the ex-Chancellor, now the Prime Minister, who has driven this country economically into the ground. All Labour Governments run out of money, as this one has done in spectacular style, and all Labour Governments ruin the economy. In the short time that I have left, I wish to highlight the areas on which the Minister and his colleagues need to focus if they are to drag the east midlands out of its current plight. The first area relates to environmental issues, which were quite rightly highlighted by the hon. Member for Nottingham, South. I have a particular interest: if sea levels rise, my whole constituency will be under water. There are also significant health inequalities in the east midlands that need to be focused on and addressed. There are significant economic problems. Unemployment continues to rise and the number of benefit claimants continues to increase. Businesses are continuing to go bust and people and still losing their homes. There needs to be much more of an economic focus from EMDA than there is currently. There needs to be a significant focus on transport, infrastructure, education and skills, and there needs to be much greater penetration of the HE and FE sectors than is currently the case, particularly in the rural parts of the east midlands. The public sector funding formula needs to represent more clearly and accurately the population that now lives in the east midlands—a point rightly highlighted by the hon. Member for Bassetlaw. We must focus not only on those moving from elsewhere in the UK, but on those moving from abroad, often to do the work that British people no longer want to do, such as working in the fields and packhouses in my constituency and elsewhere Lincolnshire.