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Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

The hon. Gentleman will be aware of the work on how we can improve the A14, for example, and some of the options being considered could include tolling. If he is interested in finding out more about how the on approaching the issue, he can meet up with people who are involved in the A14 challenge. That programme of improvements will deliver for the community in that region in a way that his party's Government failed to in 13 years. The hon. Gentleman is looking at the sky and shaking his head, but I have a very, very long list of investments that the Government are making, whereas the Labour party delivered precious little. The biggest irony, of course, is that we ended up with all this debt, but what did it get spent on? Not the things that would have made a real difference to Britain—not roads, not trains. Labour frittered it away and wasted it on an unprecedented scale. This Government understand that Britain is not just an island nation but a trading nation, so our ports must be world-class global gateways. That is why we are backing major container port developments such as Liverpool, Bathside Bay, Felixstowe South, London Gateway, Teesport and the port of Bristol. It is also why we want to see a successful and sustainable future for that other crucial global gateway, our aviation industry. We should remember that our country and our capital are right up there with the very best when it comes to international connections. Only China and the USA have aviation networks more extensive than ours. We are directly connected to 356 international destinations, and no European country can match our connections to the world's great commercial centres. There are more than 9,000 flights every year to New York, 3,000 to Hong Kong, 2,500 to Singapore—I could go on. To each of those important destinations and many others, Britain is the world leader. Nevertheless, if we are to maintain that status, we have to take on the tough challenges facing the industry, whether it is improving the passenger experience or enhancing capacity and connectivity, while tackling the industry's impact on climate change and the local environment. We are determined to look at those difficult issues. As the Budget makes clear, we will set out our thinking on aviation capacity and a sustainable aviation framework this summer. We are determined to ensure that we retain our aviation competitiveness and hub status in the decades to come. An economy built on success requires investment in infrastructure that is built to last. That is why we need to invest in, reform and modernise our transport networks to make them the very best that they can be at not just national but local level. This Budget helps to lay those foundations for Britain's future economic success. We will not follow the Labour party's advice to spend more, borrow more and put our economic credibility at risk. We will hold our course to cut Labour's deficit, rebalance our economy and forge a path to sustainable growth. We will make the investment decisions needed to ensure that our economy is well placed to compete in the decades ahead. Tackling today's challenges and investing in tomorrow's future—that is what this Budget is about and what this Government are about, and we will build a country that we can be proud of again.