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The Budget

I do not doubt that. I am not seeking to deny it. We lost and we lost badly. We lost for many other reasons than simply being blamed for the banking crisis. No party won. If the British public had thought that the Conservative mantra of savage cuts and 19th century free-market economics was the recipe for the future of Wales and Britain, they would have voted Conservative in record numbers. As we all know, they did not. As I was saying, we make no apology for investing to ensure that the recession did not become a depression and to secure the recovery, as we were successful in doing. Sadly, the real, but fragile, recovery that Labour handed over to the coalition Government looks like a faltering recovery today. By the autumn, it was clear that the economy was already losing momentum in the face of drastic coalition spending cuts, and that momentum was further weakened by the extra £7 billion of cuts announced in the October spending review. Instead of keeping growth going, the Government have opted for cuts that are far too fast and far too deep. They are front-loaded cuts that risk stalling the recovery, as we see from the growth figures in the background to the Budget.