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Mr. Rogers: Say that again.

Mr. Townend: It is not my fault if the hon. Gentleman was not listening. One of the great growth areas of social security spending is on one-parent families--almost one in three children now lives in a one-parent family. We should do everything possible to keep families together and to reduce the soaring divorce rate. While I have every sympathy with widows and deserted wives, I believe that we have been far too generous to single, teenage, unmarried girls. We should remove benefit as an option for them. With today's education, young girls should know the options: contraception, adoption, abortion--although some people are opposed to it--and staying home with mum.

Some Labour Members will say that this is a callous approach, but I recall that, when we said that we would stop paying social security benefits to the wives and families of strikers, we faced the same accusation. We had the courage to take that action and, within two years, the number of days lost as a result of strikes plummeted. If we did what I suggest, within a couple of years the number of pregnancies among single girls would drop.

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We are spending millions of pounds on fostering, but adoption costs the state virtually nothing. Because of social workers' prejudice against adoption, the number of adoptions is minuscule and many couples who want to adopt and provide wonderful homes are denied the opportunity. For some reason, social workers dislike adoption, and they make it difficult for people to adopt. I think the reason is that, when children are adopted, they leave the control of social workers, whereas if children are in foster homes, we need more social workers. The number of social workers has soared in recent decades and, by and large, society is no better off than it was 30 years ago. We are now facing the same problem with a new fashion: counselling. If we do not hit it on the head, there will be an explosion in jobs and expenditure just as there was with social workers. The cost to the taxpayer will be enormous.

Mr. Richard Spring (Bury St. Edmunds): The right hon. Member for Dunfermline, East (Mr. Brown) made a truly appalling speech. Does my hon. Friend think that he is having a conversation with a stress counsellor? I think he probably needs one.

Mr. Townend: The right hon. Gentleman does not need to talk to a counsellor--he needs to learn some common sense and how the economy works. It is a pity that he has not been running a real business.

There could be savings everywhere. We all think health should be a priority. We have allocated far too much money to the AIDS campaign because of the pressure from the homosexual lobby. It has turned out not to be a heterosexual disease. I spoke to a consultant at the weekend who said that the amount of money that has been allocated to AIDS is out of proportion to the danger when compared with other health issues. This week, I read in the newspaper that we have spent £15,000 on a sex-change operation for a 70-year-old.

Education is important. Last week, I received a letter from my local council--it is not a Conservative-controlled local authority--saying how easy it is for students to commit grant fraud. Law and order is quite rightly a Conservative priority. We are sending more people to gaol, which is costing us more. If a lifer goes to gaol at an early age, it can cost the taxpayer £1 million. There are too many lifers in gaol because of our obsession against physical punishment. Capital punishment should be restored for the worst murders, such as the person who murdered Mrs. Russell and her children. Capital punishment would be a deterrent and it would save the taxpayer an enormous amount of money. Too many thugs are gaoled too young. If we brought back corporal punishment for the first or second offence, we would probably prevent many young offenders from embarking on a life of crime and save a lot of money.

Mr. Rogers: The hon. Gentleman has had a go at young mothers, the prison population and all sorts of other people in society. When will he get around to gipsies and Jewish people?

Mr. Townend: That comment is unworthy of the hon. Gentleman. With respect, it is a very racist remark from a member of a party that I thought had set its face against racism. There is nothing wrong with suggesting saving public money by sending fewer people to gaol.

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I have said for many years that charity begins at home. Hon. Members are very good at producing league tables, and I can report that the United Kingdom is the world's fifth highest spender on overseas aid. The aid budget has been virtually ring-fenced--my spies tell me that that was due to the powerful influence of the previous Foreign Secretary. I suggest that there is no case for special treatment when we have a high borrowing requirement. The overseas aid budget should be cut.

The arts always receive special consideration at Budget time. The national lottery now pours tens of millions of pounds into arts, and that budget should no longer be protected.

I agree entirely with my right hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham who said that the difference between what was allowed for inflation and the actual, lower, inflation rate should be clawed back from Government Departments. We should aim to reduce the control total by some £6 billion to £8 billion. Most of that money should be devoted to reducing the taxation burden so that we can re-establish ourselves as the low spending, low tax party. Some of the money could go to speeding up the reduction of the public sector borrowing requirement. Tax cuts matched by spending cuts are economically sound and economically beneficial.

We must maintain the PSBR on a downward trend. As we have heard, the reductions in the past year were due to a shortfall in revenue. Several factors are involved, including the loss of excise duty on tobacco and alcoholic drinks--I have personal knowledge of that subject as I have been involved with the industry for years--due to large-scale smuggling controlled by the criminal element, and imports for personal consumption. That is costing the Treasury hundreds of millions--if not billions--of pounds. I think that people forget that value added tax is lost along with excise duty.

I have mentioned the black economy. VAT continues to be lost in the black economy, and in the secondary economy from those people who have jobs and pay tax but moonlight. The skilful practices of accountants employed by multinational companies have led to reduced corporation tax revenue. We must deal with those problems.

We are at a critical stage: the Chancellor holds in his hands our chance of victory at the next election. If I had time, I would address the question of the single currency. If we get off the fence and announce our opposition in principle, and if we reduce spending, taxes and borrowing, there will be clear blue water between the Government and the Labour party in the economic sphere. I am sure that, when the time comes, the British people will choose our alternative.

5.52 pm

Mr. Malcolm Bruce (Gordon): I shall not respond to that rather nasty speech from the hon. Member for Bridlington (Mr. Townend): it seemed to comprise a caricature collection of the most odious right-wing prejudices that one could assemble--if that is an economic policy, I sincerely hope that the British people will not vote for it.

I enjoyed the speech of the right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood). I thought it good rumbustious politics, but bad economics. I am wrestling with costing a spending programme, but the right hon.

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Gentleman did not convince me that he has found the basis for real spending cuts or the machinery for delivering significant tax cuts.

Mr. Redwood: Will the hon. Gentleman explain to the House why Liberal Democrats in the county of Berkshire spent a lot of money on a campaign to save the county council, yet when the matter came before the House no Liberal Democrats spoke or voted to protect that council? Was that money well spent? Would it not have been better spent on education?

Mr. Bruce: I thought that the right hon. Gentleman intended to give further elucidation of economic policy. As to local politics in Berkshire, the Conservatives have the votes to deliver the campaign's objectives and, regrettably, the Liberal Democrats do not. We would deliver them if we could.

Reference has been made to a leaked Treasury document. I think that its fundamental substance was over-promoted, but no doubt it has been the source of some entertainment and information. I do not know whether it was a training exercise by kids or an indication that things are so bad in the Government that the kids have taken over the kindergarten, but it was clearly an exploration of a range of policy options--if only to see what one could come up with in a brainstorming session.

The right hon. Member for Wokingham and others in his party who follow the right-wing agenda tend to talk rather glibly about cutting public spending and about lower taxation at 35 per cent. or 30 per cent. They suggest that people will pay less tax and nothing terrible will happen to public services. The reality is that service provision, particularly for the poor and the disadvantaged, would inevitably be squeezed, and there is no guarantee that those on middle incomes would be better off. There is no guarantee that national insurance benefits and premiums will be cheaper if privatised.

It is a deception to suggest that we can cut taxes without pain and without corresponding losses. We should thank the kids because they have flushed out the real substance of the debate. In that sense, I am grateful for the opportunity to see what the tax cutting agenda is all about.

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