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Mr. Lilley: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr. Howarth: I have no time. I am sorry.
Mr. Howarth: We are running out of time and other hon. Members are waiting to speak.
The Secretary of State could have publicised the possibility of undertaking therapeutic paid and voluntary work while receiving benefit. For just £5 million, he could have helped disabled people on income support by raising the disregard in line with earnings. For another £70 million, he could have reduced the housing benefit taper for disabled people to 50p in the pound.
The Government could have focused more resources on the types of help available from the Employment Service. For just over £14 million, Ministers could have extended the jobfinder's grant to people on incapacity benefits. By spending just £2 million, he could have helped 5,000 disabled people who are starting work to receive extended housing benefit payments.
The Secretary of State could have started to tackle the failure of disability working allowance, which is currently claimed by only one in five of those eligible for it. He could have removed the unfair exclusion from disability working allowance of certain people, just because they have a working partner. A disregard of a partner's income, which would have helped disabled women in particular, would have cost £40 million and doubled the number of current claimants. A minor but worthwhile change would have been to raise the lower savings limit, at a cost of £1 million.
That leaves £68 million with which to use the Secretary of State's piloting powers first to consider how to open access to disability working allowance by changing the
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Lady Olga Maitland (Sutton and Cheam):
I give a warm welcome to the Budget. It was positive, balanced, calm and, above all, it reflected the healthy economy that needs to be sustained and nurtured. It was absolutely right that my right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor should feel confident about the future, because things have been moving so powerfully in our direction.
Looking at my own experiences down in Sutton, I believe that it is significant that, in the past month alone, unemployment figures moved down by 7 per cent. Indeed, they have now reached the lowest level in five years. That reflects what has been happening nationally. Unemployment has been falling by 450 people a day. That is excellent news. We now have the lowest unemployment rate in Europe. That is a far cry from France, Spain and Germany.
More people in jobs means that more people have money to spend. When I was recently out on the doorsteps of Sutton, several people in a single morning told me, "I've just moved into my new house." The property market is on the move. People are feeling confident--they are spending money on doing up their houses and putting money out into the economy. It is interesting that prices are reflecting that confidence. Gazumping has returned and we have not seen that for a long time. Prices have now risen by between 5 per cent. and 10 per cent. I also welcome the fact that businesses are on the move. Small businesses that I saw struggling to get off the ground only four years ago are now expanding and taking on staff.
Despite all that good news, my right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor has to be congratulated on not turning the Budget into a cheap election bid. He took no notice of the cartoon, published in The Times on Tuesday, which depicted a man in his pyjamas, kneeling beside his bed and saying his prayers. He said, "And please, let Mr. Clarke make a squalid, cynical bid for my vote." Despite temptation, the Chancellor made no such bid and writers for the leading newspapers had to scour their minds for suitable headlines.
On page 1 of its Budget special, The Independent had a banner headline, "Shockingly responsible". Another of its headlines was, "Dangerously sensible". The Financial Times wrote,
That warm glow means the lowest direct taxes in 60 years, with the equivalent of 2p off in the pound. That will go down well with my constituents in Sutton, who are
29 Nov 1996 : Column 545
Yet, despite all that, my right hon. and learned Friend has been able to make sure that we have money available for essential services and plenty left for health. I welcome the fact that £1.6 billion has been set aside for it. I have no doubt at all that St. Helier hospital in Sutton will benefit. Schools will benefit by £875 million, which will help us in our drive to raise standards. It is absolutely appropriate that we should pay due attention to people's sense of security by giving more support to the police and the Prison Service.
My constituents appreciate the fact that small businesses will benefit, because they make up a large proportion of my local enterprises. They will undoubtedly value the fact that corporation tax is down. They will certainly appreciate the fact that business rates are being frozen and, indeed, that the VAT threshold has been increased by £1,000 to £48,000.
The big philosophical difference between ourselves and Labour--one that will never be bridged, matched or copied--is that we believe that the taxpayer should decide how he spends what he earns. We believe that hard work should be rewarded and that he should be allowed to make his own decisions. Labour Members, by contrast, feel that they know better and will make the spending decisions for him. If the taxpayer does not believe that, he should study the 89 firm spending pledges that Labour has already made which will involve increases in public spending--adding up to a whopping £30 billion or £1,200 a year more in taxation--and compare that with our commitment to reduce tax.
Last year, when I spoke in the Budget debate, I focused on the effect that that Budget would have on the family. If you will excuse me, Madam Deputy Speaker, I make no apologies for developing those themes today. As a keen supporter of the traditional family, who have, for years, felt penalised for their responsible behaviour--marrying first and being committed to one another before having children--I give a special cheer that their plight has, at last, been recognised.
It has always been iniquitous that responsible parenting, within marriage, should be given less financial support than the profligate never-marrieds whose numbers are recorded to have doubled in the five years to 1992. The never-marrieds and, indeed, other lone parents--I accept that that category includes women who are not lone by choice but who have been widowed, divorced or abandoned--have put an unacceptable pressure on the social security budget.
Ms Lynne:
Will the hon. Lady give way?
Lady Olga Maitland:
No, we are tight on time, otherwise I would.
The increase in total spending on lone parents leapt from £1.7 billion in 1979 to £9.4 billion in 1996--nearly half our defence expenditure. In simple terms, that adds up to about £1,500 a year on the tax of a family who are supporting their own children. I believe that the time has come to be more judgmental. The current system has been too tolerant. The current benefit system encourages lone
29 Nov 1996 : Column 546
Ms Lynne:
Will the hon. Lady give way?
Lady Olga Maitland:
I cannot--time is against me. Other hon. Members want to speak. I wish I could give way, but I cannot. Please forgive me.
There has certainly been no fear of the consequences on the part of lone parents, who are firm in their belief that the state should take care. That is now about to change and the changes will mark the beginning of a gradual social revolution that will pay greater regard to the traditional family and recognise the benefits that families bestow on society as a whole.
I therefore welcome the decision to end the extra £6.30 a week one-parent benefit given to nearly 1 million lone mothers who, between them, are responsible for one third of all births. That will cease to be available to any new claimant in April 1998. Likewise, at the same time, single parents claiming income support will lose the £5.20 a week premium on benefit payments, which will save the taxpayer about £270 million a year.
In future, lone parents and married couples who are also on benefit will be given even-handed treatment. That is enormously significant and it is the right way forward. I rather regret that the hon. Member for Peckham (Ms Harman) gave the impression that she did not feel that married couples should have equal treatment with lone parents. Indeed, I got the impression that she felt that they should be disadvantaged because they are taking responsibility for their own lives.
It should be noted that the timing of the ending of the benefit is significant. Seventeen months' notice is ample time for a woman to think again before she comes pregnant. The choice is hers. Nowadays, accidents do not have to happen. Unwanted pregnancies are entirely preventable, and single women who fancy the idea of having a baby should think carefully. The question that a single woman should ask herself, and, indeed, her "partner", is: "Which is more fair to the child who cannot protest about the conditions into which he is born--to be born to a mother alone in the world with no means to give him the secure upbringing that he deserves, or to be born into the home with two married and committed parents?"
I believe that the mother should focus less on her own desires and wishes and more on the needs of the child. I also believe that it is time for society to expect and demand more of fathers. This is no time to be tolerant of feckless fathers, for they have, after all, played a key role in the future of their offspring.
Study after study has shown that the life chances of a child born within marriage are considerably greater than those of a child born outside marriage. A child born and raised alone by a never-married mother or divorced parents outside the traditional family is more than likely to suffer abuse, to experience mental and physical health problems and to perform poorly at school, and is less likely as a consequence to get a job later on. There is also a greater likelihood that he or she will become involved in drugs and crime. The largely low-achieving girls are more likely to repeat the cycle and become pregnant themselves.
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It has to be said that the problem is exacerbated by creating a generation who turn to the state for help; the dependent welfare culture, encouraged thanks to the non-judgmental politically correct attitudes of the day. The swift handout, the "ask no questions" culture is, in the end, less caring than one that probes carefully and sets clear benchmarks on what is acceptable behaviour.
For the sake of our children, we have no choice but to start tackling those problems head on. By the same token, I look forward to seeing a full restoration of the married couple's allowance. I accept that there has been a modest increase in the Budget this year in line with inflation. I very much hope that when the Conservative Government introduce the Budget next year, they will improve on that. While we cannot force couples to be more loving and affectionate, one can create a climate whereby it is in their interest and that of their families to stay together.
The cost of a full married couple's allowance matching that on the continent would be offset by children growing up in a more stable home and with less likelihood or necessity to call on the state for help. Indeed, in that regard, we should study the experiences of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and even Japan, where families are rewarded by favourable allowances and tax deductions. Generous tax breaks will in the end be less draining on the state than allowing a system to grow that provides little incentive for people to plan carefully how and when to start their families.
The moves put forward by the Budget, to start restructuring the family, are infinitely more profound than the attention that they have received. Over the past three decades, the biggest change on the social landscape has been the changing forms of family on the basis that there is an acceptable choice between marriage and cohabitation, and, indeed, making the treatment of the two choices of equal merit. Indeed, there had been fears that to do otherwise was simply too judgmental.
In the end, we have found that the price has been unacceptably high. There are real differences between marriage and cohabitation and between children born within marriage and those born outside it. Marriages are more stable than informal arrangements. Despite increasingly high levels of divorce, a married couple is more likely to stay together than a cohabiting one. Those who attempt to defend the increasing birth rate outside marriage point out that, at present, half the children born out of wedlock live with two unmarried parents. But cohabitation is no substitute for marriage. Only 16 per cent. of cohabitations last more than five years. That compares with the 10-year average for marriages that end in divorce.
For all those reasons, it is entirely appropriate and consistent with Conservative philosophy that we should be brave and bold in our support for traditional marriage. At a time when so much is changing so fast, the family remains for many a source of stability. Most ordinary families have not lost their bearings. They want to live by the familiar civilised rules. What has broken down are the official structures to support them, with the consequent burdens on the state.
"A display of sturdy common sense"
and
"Clarke praised for his prudence".
Indeed, The Independent capped that by saying,
"Meanwhile, the economy ticks towards a boom".
Michael Brunson, the political editor of ITN, said that the Budget would "spread a warm glow".
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