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Proceeding contribution from David Lammy (Labour) in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 6 July 2010. It occurred during Debate on bill on Finance Bill.


Finance Bill

That is patent nonsense, which is why so many hon. Members are shouting from a sedentary position. What we see in the Bill is absolutely ideological. It is not the first time that the House has debated such ideological decisions, which have huge social consequences for people a long way from Westminster. On one side, we have an orthodoxy, a Conservative position, that says that we must reduce deficits at all costs, despite the social consequences. Behind that there is a desire to reduce the state and welfare at the same time. On the other side, consistently, over generations, we have progressive parties, and at the centre of those is the Labour party, which understands that the private and public sectors are co-dependent. They rely on each other. There are times during difficult recessionary periods when the public sector must borrow to ensure growth. That is why I am hugely proud of the future jobs fund. That was a classic example of our Government borrowing £1 billion to create jobs and to ensure that the social plight that constituencies such as mine have seen in the past did not come to pass again. What an outrage. What a shame. How can hon. Members look at the young people of Tottenham, who now do not have that scheme and who will join the unemployment queues as a result of yet another catastrophic decision? We on the Labour Benches remember the failed youth training scheme, a joke scheme that was not really about jobs; it was about gerrymandering the figures, which started to look so bleak in the depths of unemployment in the 1980s and 1990s.


Secondary information

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
513 c259 
Session
2010-12
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
Poverty Children Corporation tax Exports Excise duties Fuels Private sector Insurance premium tax Economic growth Forecasts Low incomes Pensions Public expenditure Unemployment Rural areas Public sector debt Tax avoidance VAT Resignations Tax evasion Tax burden Building schools for the future programme Office for Budget Responsibility Budd, Alan
Legislation
Finance Bill 2010-12
Link
View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk