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3.8 pm

Mr. Tom Clarke (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab): It is always a pleasure to follow my namesake, the right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe (Mr. Clarke). He always makes entertaining speeches, and the longer he goes on, the more entertaining he becomes. However, I hope that he will forgive me when I say that I was not persuaded by his Cassandra-like predictions. We have heard them before—in 1997. The British people heard them too, and they made their judgment. I do not want to hurt the right hon. and learned Gentleman's feelings, but they made up their minds about his four Budgets, just as they are doing this week about the Budget that we

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are debating today. People who expected a counterblast to the Chancellor's Budget speech will be considerably disappointed by what Opposition Members have said.

It is fair to say that the most robust representations on behalf of the Scottish whisky industry were made by my hon. Friends the Members for Ochil (Mr. O'Neill) and for Dumbarton (Mr. McFall), the latter of whom is the chairman of the all-party Scotch whisky group. I agree with what they said. They accepted, as do I, that the Budget should be judged in context and in perspective, but they sought to encourage Treasury Ministers to listen to the representations that are being made. I shall do the same.

Just before I left for the Chamber, I heard from the Inver House distillery. It is in a neighbouring constituency, but many of my constituents work there. Such a good Budget would be all the better if my right hon. and hon. Friends on the Front Bench listened to our views on the Scottish whisky industry. If they did, we could have even greater celebrations than those already taking place on other aspects of the Budget.

When the rhetoric of the past few days of debate in the House is over and people examine what took place, they will conclude—as did my hon. Friend the Member for Ochil—that it was an impressive Budget. Its very impressiveness was one reason why the right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe managed to get himself into a lather. Few have really challenged the assertion that the Budget represents success. It is successful not only because my right hon. Friend the Chancellor has met his various targets, important though they are, but because of his unshakeable commitment to sustained economic growth—something that numerous Conservative Chancellors failed to achieve over 18 years, to the great cost of my constituents and many others.

The response to the Budget, especially from Opposition Front Benchers, was not a considered criticism of its main thrust. Indeed, we heard Opposition Members taking credit for some of the announcements in the Budget. I had not expected them to be joined by the right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe, a former Chancellor, in paying tribute to Lord Lamont. In my constituency, we still remember black Wednesday, and we have no desire to return to those days or to the negative equity, high unemployment and high inflation that we experienced under the previous Government but which have not been a feature of this Chancellor's stewardship.

Time after time, Opposition Members have tried to take credit for the Budget's contents. For example, the hon. Member for Havant (Mr. Willetts) complained that he was being interrupted during his paean of praise for the Budget. The hon. Member for Northavon (Mr. Webb) took credit, typically, for the fact that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor had the confidence to grant autonomy to the Bank of England, especially on interest rates. However, even those hon. Gentlemen were put in the shade by the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Mr. Collins), who said in the debate on education that he was

"welcoming all the wonderful things that the Government have accepted from Conservative suggestions".—[Official Report, 18 March 2004; Vol. 419, c. 466.]

If wonderful things are happening, it cannot be such a bad Budget. That is why I want to be positive about it.

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The Budget is about success and real, tangible achievement. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions said earlier, the Chancellor's targets on employment, inflation, interest rates and—most importantly—economic growth are more accurate than those of his critics. They are more accurate than those of economists and financial journalists. To the credit of the latter, they have conceded that that is the case. In the spirit of reality, I remind the House that we are now seeing the benefits of the stability and economic growth to which my right hon. Friend has been committed. Unemployment now costs £3 billion a year less than in 1997. Debt interest payments cost £7 billion a year less. That is £10 billion a year saved, not by market forces or the use of a magic wand, but because the Chancellor set priorities and made sure that he stuck to them rigidly.

Economic growth has enabled the Government to encourage greater investment and the benefits have been felt in many areas, including jobs, training, skills, education, health and transport. I cannot be the only hon. Member who can say that I see the benefits of that investment bearing fruit day after day in my constituency, in a way that did not happen during the 18 years of the previous Government.

I welcome what my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions said about apprenticeship courses and skills. In my constituency, the number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance in 1997 was 2,375. Last year, the figure was 1,504—a more than 30 per cent. reduction. That might not matter in debates in the House, but it matters to the young people in my constituency who have found jobs. I welcome the Government's commitment to apprenticeship courses, and the marvellous work of the Department for Work and Pensions in my area. For example, North Lanarkshire council is embarking on the largest ever public investment programme to rebuild and refurbish every school in my constituency. We want apprenticeships that are demand led, so that local employers—small and large—can benefit.

I also welcome what the Department for Work and Pensions is doing for people with disabilities. As my good friend Bert Massie said, on behalf of the Disability Rights Commission,

"I hope that there will be a significant access dividend with increased resources contributing to a reduction in inequalities. But clear targets need to be set. Similarly the new deal for skills needs to be more focussed on closing the qualifications gap between disabled and non-disabled people".

I welcome his views, as will my hon. Friend the Minister for Disabled People, who has dealt so well with disability matters in her Department.

We have our concerns about the private sector, of course, despite the growth in jobs. The Chancellor was right to say that

"our belief is that British manufacturing and service industries will rise to the challenge",

but there is one specific area of manufacturing where we have been let down. Companies such as Sheffield Forgemasters in my constituency have gone into liquidation, and former employees have no guarantee of receiving their full pension entitlement, even though some of them have worked for the same company for more than 30 years. Despite the Government's new

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Pensions Bill, which, of course, I very much welcome, I am not alone as a Member of Parliament in calling for more assistance to ensure that people who have worked all their lives and paid into their pension schemes receive their full pension entitlement.

The Chancellor seeks

"excellence in education, science and enterprise."—[Official Report, 17 March 2004; Vol. 419, c. 321–2.]

A very good example of that is the success of the new deal in my constituency. Our share of almost 500,000 young people finding jobs is nearly 2,000 in my constituency. I welcome the announcement last week that, for the first time ever, 16 and 17-year-olds will benefit from the minimum wage. The economic growth that we are seeing has also brought benefits such as pension credit, whereby 3,775 households in my constituency will gain. In all, 4,563 individuals will experience an average award of £41.50, which otherwise was simply not available.

In this Budget, the Chancellor has once again enhanced his reputation for challenging poverty at home and abroad. Having taken 1.5 million children out of poverty in Britain, it was with pride that Labour Members heard him say in his Budget statement:

"I can tell the House that in the spending review this Government will not freeze or cut international development aid, but we will increase it."—[Official Report, 17 March 2004; Vol. 419, c. 330.]

Whatever criticism might be made of the Government, it is to their eternal credit that they refused to live with the obscenity of 3 million unemployed people. We are now seeing the benefits in the economy, in our social fabric and in the regeneration of our communities, including opportunities for people to work and to exercise their skills. That is why the Chancellor was right to claim that we are nearer full employment than we have been for a generation, and why he was right to reflect, as I hope the House will today, on the words of William Beveridge:

"If full employment is not won and kept, no liberties are secure, for to many they will not seem worthwhile."

3.23 pm

Mr. Alex Salmond (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): After the last two speeches, I now have an embarrassment of riches about which Clarke to agree with. I will probably pursue my normal moderate course in carefully negotiating my way between their two positions. I am struck, however, by the lack of Labour Back-Bench support for the Chancellor's Budget. I recall that, a few years ago, when the right hon. Member for Monklands, East was trying to explain a particular by-election result when the Labour party did very badly and no one turned out, she said that it was sign of contentment with the Government's policies. I dare say that, in the same world of explanation, this vast expanse of empty green Benches is a sign of total contentment with the Chancellor's Budget.

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