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Northern Ireland Economy

I thank all hon. Members for taking part in a useful debate, and I thank the Minister for replying. I will be brief. I know how the hon. Member for North Antrim (Ian Paisley) feels when he sees buses, bits of which were made in his constituency, going down Whitehall. I felt the same when I saw propellers, made by and large in my constituency, on various aeroplanes taking me to different parts of the world recently, including Hong Kong, Vietnam and Nigeria. That reinforces in me the idea that high-spend, high-tax economies are things of the past: if ever they had their day, they do not have it any more. We live in a competitive world. The only way that we will retain prosperity in the UK—in Northern Ireland and anywhere else—is by being competitive. That will not be achieved by spending more money than we earn. Although the Minister has correctly outlined some of the difficulties in devolving the responsibility for corporation tax to Northern Ireland, I am convinced that they can be overcome. Nothing worth while is ever easy. The option, of course, would be to reduce the corporation tax rate in the UK to 12.5%, which would be acceptable and simple to do. In the absence of that policy in the Budget—I imagine—the Minister needs to consider seriously devolving to Northern Ireland the power to vary the corporation tax rate. The hon. Member for Pontypridd (Owen Smith), who spoke for the Opposition, is right. As I said, it is not a silver bullet, but it is a golden opportunity.