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The Budget

I hear the hon. Gentleman heckling from a sedentary position. If we had not done that, the recession would have been even worse. That is the truth. As the people of Wales consider the Budget, they need to consider the truth, and the background to the Budget. What is the truth about Labour’s record? The truth is that we make no apology for recruiting hundreds and thousands more nurses, doctors, police officers and teachers. We make no apology for bringing forward public sector capital investment programmes to save jobs and to help businesses keep going. We make no apology for cutting VAT, for the car scrappage scheme and for extra investment in new technology, businesses and jobs. We make no apology for helping home buyers in difficulty to keep their homes. We make no apology for stopping a slide becoming a slump, for stopping a recession becoming a depression and for rescuing the economy.