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Ms Lynne: No doubt the hon. Gentleman saw our alternative Budget and he will be aware that we costed it. We shall also cost our general election manifesto. Just because the hon. Gentleman is upset that his party will not join us in the Lobby and vote against the cut in income tax or make any commitment on spending, he has to attack a party that will.
Mr. O'Brien: Yes. The Liberal Democrats are in the business of putting a higher tax burden on ordinary families. Do they not understand that we already have the highest taxing Government in British political history? The Liberal Democrats seek to raise taxes even beyond those of Britain's highest taxing Government ever. Is that a record of which to be proud? I think not.
Let us not forget the hon. Member for Beverley (Mr. Cran), who is not concentrating on the debate. He read out a letter from a Mr. Chatwin, pleading not to impose a windfall tax on the privatised utilities. I bet he did not read out constituents' letters when they asked him not to put VAT on fuel at 8 per cent. or when they asked him not to increase it to 17.5 per cent. The privilege of having a letter read out went to the director of a privatised utility, not his constituents protesting against VAT on fuel as he voted for that.
My hon. Friend the Member for Peckham (Ms Harman) described VAT on fuel as the unkindest tax of all. The Tories introduced it at 8 per cent. and tried to double it to
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Seventeen years ago, the Conservative party took office committed to getting the state off people's backs, lowering taxes and creating greater prosperity. Over the years, the corruption of power held for too long has led them to betray every ideal that they ever had. Those who rule in the name of Conservatism now have accrued power to themselves in Whitehall, undermining local democracy and local councils and concentrating decision making in the hands of central Government. They have voted through the biggest tax rises in British political history, including 22 rises since the last election. They have presided over the two worst economic recessions since the war, including allowing Britain to fall from 13th to 18th place in the international prosperity league. We shall not forget to keep reminding people of that.
Besides betraying the people of Britain, the Government have also betrayed themselves, their ideals and the constituency workers who have knocked on doors on their behalf. The Chancellor delivered the Budget with all the panache of a second-hand car salesman selling a dodgy motor. The rhetoric was grand, but the economy that he was selling had real problems that have not been dealt with. Despite all the rhetoric, the Budget increased taxes. The penny off income tax and the other allowance measures were more than offset by increases in indirect taxation.
The price of their economic failure is not just the betrayal of the voters on tax. That price is also being paid by the disadvantaged in this country. The Conservatives claim to care, but by their acts we know them. Today we have heard about cuts in some benefits, particularly those to lone parents.
It is a great personal tragedy when a healthy man or woman who wants to work cannot find a job and support their family, as my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich, South (Mr. Garrett) said so well in his contribution to tonight's debate. Unemployment can strip a person of dignity, self-respect and hope. It can make them lose faith in the future.
In recent years, we have seen a growing group of people in this country becoming bereft of that hope. They are the millions who have been left behind and show no signs of catching up--the casualties who huddle in the centre of London and our other cities. They are Britain's shame because they are our fellow citizens. We ought to create a society in which we can give them hope and a stake in the future. No nation can afford to waste its citizens or assign a group of people to the margins of existence. Only when the conditions of misery and injustice that breed hatred and despair are challenged can we achieve anything like a better society.
Today, the Government have made life even more difficult for the forgotten poor of the Tory years--the unemployed and lone parents. While the Government have spent the past year defending the abuses of the highly paid directors in the privatised utilities--the Sir
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Today, we listened to the words of the Secretary of State for Social Security. They were the cold antiseptic words of a privileged man from a warm office, calculating without compassion that the underprivileged can make do with less. For lone parents he offers not the chance of a job, but the certainty of a cut in their standard of living that will hit their child as well as themselves.
In a powerful contribution, my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Maryhill (Mrs. Fyfe) told the House that lone parent families constituted one family in four in Scotland. She graphically told us the high price that today's families will pay for the Secretary of State's announcements.
My hon. Friend the Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Mr. Howarth) also told us in an effective contribution that families in his constituency--in my county--would be hit hard by today's announcements. Likewise, my hon. Friend the Member for Sherwood (Mr. Tipping) set out the impact of Government policy in his area--a mining area like my own. At a time when we have just heard that one third of the children in this country live in poverty, the cold antiseptic voice of the Secretary of State for Social Security delivered greater poverty for the children of lone parents.
As my hon. Friend the Member for Peckham said in her excellent speech, one in three children in this country are born into poverty. In 1979, it was one in 10. A national survey by the Health Visitors Association found widespread child malnutrition and poor living conditions. Nearly one third of health visitors found tuberculosis among their clients last year. Two thirds encountered iron deficiency, 93 per cent. had to deal with gastroenteritis and 4 per cent. dealt with reported rickets. They also found a high number of households where gas, electricity, telephone and water were cut off--the majority of those households included children. This is the international year for the eradication of poverty, and today, the Secretary of State for Social Security has contributed to the growth of poverty.
We should not be surprised by all this because Tory Britain has one of the highest proportions of workless households in the developed world. Under the Tories, one in five households of working age are without work and 11 million people have suffered a period of unemployment since the Prime Minister took office--one in four of the working population. There are still twice as many people unemployed now as there were in 1979, despite 32 changes to the statistics. The rate of job creation in Britain since 1979 ranks eleventh out of the 15 European countries. Half the work force have experienced part-time, temporary or insecure work or unemployment. Despite that, one of the Ministers with responsibility for employment has described job insecurity as a myth and the President of the Board of Trade has described it as a state of mind.
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If the Tories really want to cut the cost of benefits, they should realise that the best way of doing so is to put people back to work. That would make all of us better off by cutting the cost of welfare. That is why a Labour Government will concentrate on putting the unemployed back to work, taking the initiative and acting to improve opportunities. That is why the Tories simply blame the unemployed for their plight.
Instead of offering hope to 250,000 young people without jobs, the Secretary of State for Social Security offers them the despair of lower income and reduced opportunities. While Labour proposes ladders of opportunity for lone parents and job opportunities for the young and unemployed, the Conservatives prefer to perpetuate the prejudices of their most uncaring Members of Parliament against the poor.
The choice in this tax-raising Budget is the same choice as we will face in the general election, because the Budget was really all about the election. The choice is clear. It is between perpetuating a Government of cynics, diluted by non-entities, and making a new start for Britain under Labour. It is between seeking the low-wage, low-skill economy proposed by the present clique in office, and investing in the skills, technology and innovation that will open for us a future route to competitiveness. It is a choice between the short-term economics of Tory boom and bust and the stability of fiscal prudence, which are the precondition for growth in the 21st century and offered by Labour.
The choice is between the Conservatives, who see advantages in increasing inequality in the name of free enterprise, and Labour, which will fight growing inequality as an economic imperative. Only those societies in which all can have a stake in the future can succeed. The choice is between the Tories, who talk more and more of reducing ties with Europe--with the exception, perhaps, of the Chancellor--and Labour, which sees our future economic success being closely tied to our European partners.
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