---

The Budget

It follows from what the hon. Lady says that she is in favour of either significantly higher direct taxes or higher public spending cuts. She cannot have it both ways, saying, ““We’ll have lower taxes and we’ll just spend more money.”” The public understand, even if Opposition Members do not. I wish to speak about another aspect of the poll published last week. It is a warning to my side. The electorate clearly understand the need to tackle the deficit, which is why they voted against Labour and gave the Conservative party significantly more seats at the election. However, they also want to ensure fairness. I say this for the Opposition; in their attacks on unfairness, they had a bit more traction with public opinion. There is no doubt about that, and the coalition Government need to be careful when taking the matter on board. Many things can be said to show that there is fairness. One factor, referred to by my hon. Friend the Member for Brecon and Radnorshire, is the increased personal allowance. In 2001, it was only £4,000. It was £6,000 when we came into office, and it had been frozen for the preceding year. In other words, lower paid people were brought into taxation as a result. It is now proposed to increase the allowance to £8,000. That is as much of a leap in two years as was achieved in almost eight years under the previous Government. That is fairness. At the same time, we are seeing significant increases in taxation for higher-rate taxpayers. Fairness is there, given what we are trying to achieve with corporation tax. Not mentioned in the Budget statement, but still important, is consultation on the proposed non-means-tested pension of £140 a week. That is really good news. It was welcomed by the age charities, but has gone completely unremarked in this debate. However, two areas still concern me. One is about the announcement on gift aid, which is there to encourage the development of the voluntary sector. I worry about the attitude of the Welsh Assembly Government towards the big society agenda. It is derided as a party political matter. I am concerned that we might miss out on opportunities across the UK.