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Jobseeker's Allowance
Q5. Mr. Corbyn: To ask the Prime Minister what plans he has to visit a jobcentre to discuss the operation of the jobseeker's allowance. [4343]
The Prime Minister: I have no immediate plans to do so.
Mr. Corbyn: The Prime Minister should be ashamed of himself for not being prepared to go along to a jobcentre to discuss the introduction of the jobseeker's allowance, which is having a very serious effect on many
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people, especially because of the parallel introduction of incapacity benefit; many disabled people who have to face an all work test will lose their benefits altogether and will have to try to get unemployment benefit through the jobseeker's allowance. When the Prime Minister visits a jobcentre, will he consider that point and what he intends to do for the 220,000 disabled people who next year will apply under the jobseeker's allowance for unemployment benefit, but will probably lose it and end up destitute as a result?
The Prime Minister: The hon. Gentleman is talking nonsense, and I think that he knows he is doing so. The purpose of the jobseeker's allowance, as he should know, is to help people to plan the most effective route back into work. It creates a better framework of advice and support for the jobseeker and ensures that claimants better understand that benefit is dependent on the activities that they undertake to look for work. I believe that that principle is well understood and well supported across the country.
The jobseeker's allowance is also, of course, underpinned by the jobseeker's agreement, which sets out what each jobseeker agrees to do to find work. That is infinitely preferable to the old system of unemployment benefit and income support, which was confusing and in many ways unfair.
Engagements
Q6. Mr. Patrick Thompson: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 26 November. [4344]
The Prime Minister: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave some moments ago.
Mr. Thompson: Is my right hon. Friend aware of the exhibition to be held in the Upper Waiting Hall in the House of Commons next week to highlight the tremendous achievements of our engineering and manufacturing industry in this country? Does he agree that engineering offers attractive career prospects for our young people and will he pay tribute to those who are working to promote the achievements of the engineering industry through the Year of Engineering Success campaign next year?
The Prime Minister: I am grateful to hear about the exhibition that my hon. Friend mentions. I certainly agree with his sentiments; they were a key aspect of the competitiveness White Paper a short while ago and the reason we launched the action for engineering programme, to increase engineering's contribution to the national economy. There are now about 150,000 more people employed in manufacturing than three years ago. That reverses a long-term trend and is very welcome. In addition, some 40,000 to 50,000 people are on modern apprenticeship schemes. I agree entirely that engineering is an important part of the British economy.
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Q7. Rev. Martin Smyth: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 26 November. [4345]
The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply I gave some moments ago.
Rev. Martin Smyth: Has the Prime Minister noticed the change in emphasis between the hard man and soft man of IRA-Sinn Fein? Martin McGuinness is now promising to move heaven and earth--I know that he has tried to move earth in the past, but I do not believe that he has any influence in heaven--and Mitchell McLaughlin is now threatening lethal consequences, if the Prime
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Minister does not come up with terms. Will the Prime Minister speak on behalf of the nation and say that we are not prepared to bow to the threats of terrorists?
The Prime Minister: As the hon. Gentleman knows and as the House wholly accepts, IRA terrorism is utterly unacceptable for any purpose, at any time, in any place. It is also completely counter-productive if there is any suggestion that terrorism will bring Sinn Fein to the negotiating table. It emphatically will not bring it to the negotiating table. If I may quote what the Taoiseach said recently--with which I entirely agree--
- "If Republicans are committed to peace, as they say they are, let them call a ceasefire now and make it a credible one".
WAYS AND MEANS
Budget Statement
Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. Michael Morris): Before I call the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it may be for the convenience of hon. Members if I remind them that, at the end of the Chancellor's speech, copies of the Budget resolution will be available to hon. Members in the Vote Office.
INTRODUCTION
3.31 pm
The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Kenneth Clarke): Contrary to popular belief, I always look at the mirror in the morning. I am reasonably well prepared for this occasion and I am about to deliver the real Budget statement. I think this is positively my last appearance in the House in a speaking capacity this week, or so at the moment I expect it to be.
The British economy is today prosperous and successful. This Budget is going to make it even more prosperous and an even bigger success over the coming years.
When I presented my first Budget in 1993, it was against a very different economic background from today. Although the recovery had begun then, consumer confidence had not yet returned. Growth was not yet firmly established. Further firm action was needed on the public finances, and our critics, in 1993, were peddling doom and gloom about the British economy. The recovery is now in its fifth year. Consumer confidence has returned and we are achieving something unprecedented for a generation in this country--growth with low inflation and without a widening trade gap. But one thing has not changed in 1996--our critics are still peddling doom and gloom. With all their predictions of impending disaster, it is obvious that there is probably more than one Cassandra lurking in the Labour party.
In my first two Budgets I curbed the growth of public spending and took firm decisions on tax, which have brought borrowing down by almost a half since 1993. Last year, in my third Budget, I was able to return to cutting tax while spending more on the public services which the people I know care about most--health, schools and the police--and keeping borrowing on a firm downward path.
This year, I am presenting a Budget which builds on the last three. This Budget reduces public spending plans further, while providing more money for priority services. It makes responsible progress on our tax-cutting agenda, while getting borrowing down faster. This is not a reckless Budget on either tax or spending. In the run-up to Christmas I am not going to play Santa Claus, but this year I do not have to play Scrooge either.
I have one overriding aim, which is the lasting health of the British economy. [Hon. Members: "And winning the election."] The lasting health of the British economy might win elections, that is true, but my first aim is the lasting health of the British economy. We are securing that by creating the best conditions for British businesses and British men and women to earn a living. All my
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The British economy is in its fifth successive year of steady, healthy economic growth, with falling unemployment and low inflation. These are the best circumstances we have faced for a generation and that is the only sensible background to debate in this House. It is a Rolls-Royce recovery and it is built to last.
The International Monetary Fund and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development confidently expect the United Kingdom to be the fastest growing major European economy again next year. By next year we will have grown faster than either France or Germany for five years in succession for the first time in half a century.
This time--unlike so many previous recoveries that many of us remember--healthy growth has been accompanied by the best inflation performance for nearly 50 years and restrained growth of earnings has been good news for jobs. The British labour market has become our flexible friend. Employment began to rise sooner and unemployment began to fall sooner than in the previous recovery. Growth creates jobs quicker, as long as we retain a flexible labour market.
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