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9.45 pm
The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. Phillip Oppenheim): We have had an interesting debate. I thought that the comments by the hon. Member
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for Nottingham, South (Mr. Simpson), when he complained about the Rolls-Royce metaphor, missed the point. He probably thought that my right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor meant Rolls-Royce, the rich man's car, but he meant Rolls-Royce the aero-engine manufacturer and I think that is a good analogy. [Interruption.] Whichever he meant, that is the analogy I will stick with.
When we came to power, Rolls-Royce--on the border of my constituency--had 10 per cent. of the world market for civil aero-engines. Now it has treble that and it threatens to overtake General Electric and Pratt and Whitney. That is a record I am proud of, because it has created secure, quality jobs and because, when my constituents travel abroad, they do so more and more on planes powered by Rolls-Royce engines.
Mr. MacShane:
They will have to pay the airport tax.
Mr. Oppenheim:
Will the right hon. Member for Dunfermline, East (Mr. Brown) tell us that the first thing that a Labour Government would do would be to reverse the airport tax? He is not prepared to do that. Fine, he accepts our agenda.
Mr. Gordon Brown:
I did not hear the hon. Gentleman.
Mr. Oppenheim:
The right hon. Gentleman should have been listening.
I agreed with much of the speech by the hon. Member for Glasgow, Springburn (Mr. Martin). He pointed out the difficulties caused to local traders by smuggling. It also causes difficulties for honest taxpayers, who have to pay more as a result. It causes difficulties to public services, because VAT funds, to a significant degree, hospitals, schools, law and order and the police. It is important to get it into perspective, because smuggling of, for example, tobacco represents around 1.5 per cent. of the total tobacco tax take and that is a significant amount in itself.
That is why we have listened carefully to the consultations and decided, bearing in mind the enormous growth of organised gangs and crime in smuggling, that we will keep 1,100 customs officers and redeploy them. We will also link better with organisations and the armed forces to ensure that we clamp down on smugglers. Smuggling is a key area in which we must clamp down. The problem extends to smuggling endangered species, which is not a revenue earner, but is important none the less.
The hon. Member for Newham, North-East (Mr. Timms) made an interesting speech. He asked whether we would put more private finance initiative figures in the Red Book next year. My right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor, and possibly even I, will reflect on that for next year's Red Book.
I listened with interest to the hon. Member for Rotherham (Mr. MacShane), but I must say that I am a little worried about him. He said he went to bed with a Trollope, he talked about red-hot thrusts and then he referred to me as the "posthorn general". I am seriously worried and I do not know what the hon. Gentleman has been smoking recently. He also cited Argentina as a great economic success story. When challenged to describe the economic policies that Argentina has followed for the past 10 years, he blustered and talked about a military
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I was pleased that the hon. Member for Coventry, North-West (Mr. Robinson) wandered into the Chamber earlier and made a couple of interventions. It is nice to see him, because I know that he is busy running around getting cash from business men for the office of the Leader of the Opposition. He is also busy, because he runs a very successful business--so successful that he has managed in the past couple of years to give himself massive increases in salary. I do not begrudge him that, but I should point out that it was not always quite like that. He used to run a company called Jaguar, during the great macho days of Labour's industrial strategy.
Mr. Campbell-Savours:
Has the Minister given my hon. Friend the Member for Coventry, North-West (Mr. Robinson) notice of this?
Mr. Oppenheim:
The hon. Member for Coventry, North-West is not even around.
When he ran Jaguar--
Mr. Campbell-Savours:
This is out of order.
Mr. Oppenheim:
The hon. Gentleman should listen.
When the hon. Member for Coventry, North-West ran Jaguar, its production slumped towards 10,000 cars a year. It was a byword for bad quality. Now, in the private sector--
Mr. Robert Ainsworth (Coventry, North-East):
Will the Minister give way?
Mr. Oppenheim:
I will in a minute, if the hon. Gentleman calms down.
In the private sector, Jaguar is successful and is making cars of which we can be proud.
Mr. MacShane:
Under American management.
Mr. Oppenheim:
I would rather that it had American management and made 50,000 or 60,000 cars a year than be under state control and losing a fortune that could be spent on hospitals and schools--as it was under the stewardship of the hon. Member for Coventry, North-West.
Mr. Ainsworth:
The Minister is referring to my hon. Friend the Member for Coventry, North-West, who is not here to defend himself. I worked at Jaguar at that time under the chairmanship of my hon. Friend. We worked overtime on Saturdays and Sundays, when the oil crisis meant that every car manufacturer in the world wound up stacking up cars that they were unable to sell in the American prairies. The Minister should not attack my hon. Friend with such a load of nonsense.
Mr. Oppenheim:
I do not blame the hon. Gentleman, or the work force; I blame the management and the Government at the time. The fact that the workers were working overtime indicates appalling labour management, because the company was building 10,000 cars a year. [Interruption.] If Opposition Members will calm down, they will hear me refer to the favourite subject of the right
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The hon. Member for Bristol, South (Ms Primarolo) referred to the need to tie up tax loopholes and to increase the VAT take. Every time we tie up a loophole--in this Budget we are doing just that--Labour shouts, "It's a tax rise." It will be interesting to see what Labour does if it ever comes to power. One of the VAT loopholes that we tied up last time--[Interruption.] If the hon. Member for Bristol, South listens, she might learn something. One of the loopholes that we tied up last time was VAT on gold granules, and Labour published a leaflet calling that a tax rise.
Presumably, for fear of what Labour calls "putting up taxes", it will sign a tax avoiders charter and say to the clever accountants and well-paid tax lawyers, "Get on with it, boys. We don't want to be accused of putting up taxes." [Interruption.] If the right hon. Member for Dunfermline, East stops making animal noises for a moment, we can talk about league tables, which are his favourite subject.
Let us talk about Labour's prosperity league. Labour claims that the tables it used came from the Government's competitiveness White Paper, and that is true--up to a point. One of the tables compares the OECD ranking of GDP per person for 1979 with the World bank ranking for 1994, which allegedly shows Britain slipping from 13th to 18th. The trouble is that only one of the league tables was in the competitiveness White Paper. The 1979 comparisons quoted by Labour come from a different organisation, use different methodology and include different countries--[Interruption.] It is all very well for the right hon. Member for Dunfermline, East to say, "Oh, God." These are the facts, and he should listen if he has any claim to honesty.
One of the economies that the right hon. Member for Dunfermline, East claimed overtook us was Kuwait--an oil-rich nation. The other, Hong Kong, is hardly an example of socialist central planning. Hong Kong is possibly the most free-market, open economy in the industrialised world.
Mr. Oppenheim:
The hon. Gentleman asks where we are, and I shall tell him and put the matter in perspective for him. In 1960--[Interruption.] Hon. Members should listen for a minute. According to the consistent OECD series, in 1960 Britain was fifth equal. By 1970, we had slipped to 11th, behind France, Denmark and the Netherlands. By 1979, we had slipped to 15th, behind Germany, Sweden and Belgium. By 1994--15 years later--we had slipped by a further one place to 16th. During the same period, France slipped by seven places.
Mr. Oppenheim:
The hon. Gentleman should listen to this and perhaps he will say that again.
In 19 years, from 1960 to 1979, Britain slipped by 10 places. In 15 years, from 1979 to 1994, a period of huge change in the global economy and of the advance of
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I know that Labour Members like league tables, so I shall quote another. During the 1970s, Britain's manufacturing productivity grew at a third of the rate of Japan's, half the rate of France's and half the rate of Germany's. Since 1980, our manufacturing productivity has grown 50 per cent. faster than Japan. We moved from the bottom of the G7 league table in the 1960s and 1970s to the top, which is why, according to an independent report, after decades of decline, since 1979 we have closed three quarters of the competitiveness gap with Germany and we are catching up fast. Those are the facts, and that is why people say that there are lies, damned lies and new Labour league tables.
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