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Mr. Dennis Skinner (Bolsover): Is the Chancellor aware that it is a pleasure to hear a Labour Chancellor setting out a long-term policy that will show, at the general election, that for the first time there will be fewer people on the dole under a Labour Government than when they came into office? That policy means that we are planning to spend money--unlike the miserable years of 1978-79, when a Labour Government cut public expenditure.
As my right hon. Friend is probably aware, last week I called for money for jobs in the regions and a big chunk of money for the pensioners. It would be churlish of me not to say thank you. We have a listening Government--especially to me. The Tories should be more inclusive; they should thank the Chancellor too, because he has reduced the tax on the Leader of the Opposition's flat-back lorry.
Mr. Brown: I think that the Leader of the Opposition has got rid of his lorry; he does not seem to be going about the country as much as he did in the past. [Hon. Members: "It has broken down".] It has broken down--like his party's policy.
My hon. Friend referred to jobs. We have created 1 million jobs, but that is not enough. We must do better and we will do more. We can help many people back into work through the new measures under the new deal that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Employment is pushing forward.
My hon. Friend has been a champion of pensioners over the years--especially in putting their case to me and to others. He thanks us for our efforts for pensioners; we should recognise that he has been a champion of their case. He says that he likes to support Labour Chancellors; I shall report that remark to one of our colleagues in the House of Lords.
Mr. John Redwood (Wokingham): The Chancellor has been bruised and battered by the haulage industry and by the protests calling for fuel tax cuts. Now that he is the U-turn Chancellor, will he make a further U-turn to abolish the hated IR35 in order to help the high-tech industry? Will he do a U-turn to help home owners by cutting stamp duties that he raised much too far? Will he apologise to pensioners for the big increase in taxes on them? Is it not true that, even after the statement, he is still the rip-off Chancellor in a rip-off Government?
Mr. Brown: Here it is: the shadow Chancellor saying that there should be a bit of prudence from the Conservative party and then someone who would like to be shadow Chancellor--perhaps he would like to be the
party leader--saying that we should lose lots of tax revenue from IR35 and other measures. I do not know what the policy of the Conservative party is.The right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood) is still a member of the No Turning Back group, so he is fighting his corner for the right-wing cause. He has always said that public spending increases would cause a recession; the only problem is that he is wrong.
Mr. Ian Pearson (Dudley, South): May I congratulate my right hon. Friend on his statement? In particular, I welcome his comments on manufacturing and the proposals for the abolition of the withholding tax, the introduction of intellectual property and goodwill relief and for small business VAT simplification. I am sure that they are all measures that will be welcomed by industry.
Will my right hon. Friend tell us whether the stamp duty exemption in deprived areas will apply to all property types and not just residential ones? Will he consider extending the VAT reduced rate for churches to other types of property in deprived areas? Why do we have to wait until 2003 for the pensioners credit?
Mr. Brown: My hon. Friend has asked many questions. Detailed proposals are being published today for consultation, and I hope that he will join that consultation. He has been a great promoter of economic development in his region and he has had ideas that the Government have accepted in some cases because they were excellent proposals for industrial regeneration throughout the whole country. I ask him to examine in detail the proposal for stamp duty relief, which is worth about £120 million for industrial regeneration.
On VAT on churches, we are considering the matter of public buildings as a whole. On my hon. Friend's question about 2003, the pension arrangements will give a rise above inflation in basic pensions for the next two years. When we introduce the system in April 2003, we will get it right so that tax and benefit integration move forward. That is why the system will be introduced in 2003.
On my hon. Friend's general point about industry, I forgot to remind the House that the one of the last statements made from the Front Bench by the right hon. Member for Wokingham, the former Secretary of State for Wales was, "The Government are losing control of the economy." Once again, the right hon. Gentleman got it wrong.
Mr. John Bercow (Buckingham): Given that 99.6 per cent. of British businesses employ fewer than 100 people, that they account for 57 per cent. of the private sector work force and that they generate approximately two fifths of our national output, why is the Chancellor so proud of the fact that he has done nothing whatsoever today to reverse the tide of regulation which, thanks to him, is now deeper and more hazardous than any that British companies have ever faced?
Mr. Brown: First, we have taken measures to help small businesses. The hon. Gentleman has obviously not looked at the detailed documents or obtained them from
the Library, which is not out of character for him when he asks a question in the House. He should look at the documents and he will find--
Mr. Bercow: I have studied them.
Mr. Brown: Oh, the hon. Gentleman has studied the documents. Well, there is a VAT simplification scheme and it affects up to 50,000 businesses. We have cut small business tax, and he should recognise that fact.
As for the burden on business, the VAT scheme is a deregulation scheme; it is designed to simplify the system. I also remind him that the shadow Chancellor said of the Conservative party's record on regulation, "We were rather notable regulators. We passed volumes of new rules and laws, interfering with almost every aspect of business and social life." Perhaps, many of the hon. Gentleman's complaints are directed on this, as on other issues, to those sitting on the Opposition Front Bench.
Mr. Robert Sheldon (Ashton-under-Lyne): Is my right hon. Friend aware that his careful management of the economy over the past three years has produced the brightest economic prospects for more than a generation? Will he make sure that his prudence with a purpose will now move a little more towards the purpose that he had in mind and, in particular, towards the investment and productivity that I know that he has very much at heart? They are important for the long-term future of his plans, which I hope to see realised.
Mr. Brown: I am grateful to my right hon. Friend. He was a Minister in a previous Labour Government and is always a strong defender of manufacturing industry. His speeches on the economy are always listened to by the House.
I agree that productivity is the central issue that we must address with work forces and managements. In many sectors, the issue is not what Government can do, but how management and work forces can tackle together the problems in skills and restrictive practices that they must address and how they deal with the areas in which new
technology must be introduced. However, as I said to the TUC and the CBI, to whom I have spoken in the past two months, we must continue to address such problems. I believe that over the next few months, my right hon. Friend will see a number of initiatives in skills, benchmarking, management training and the introduction of new technology. A great deal more work is being done so that we can rival the world's best.
Mr. John Wilkinson (Ruislip-Northwood): Was it political prudence or his economic judgment that led the Chancellor not once to mention the euro in his original statement? Was it because the economy is doing much better outside the eurozone than it could ever do within it, or is it perhaps because he was frightened that the voters would be scandalised were he to admit that he is wasting inordinate sums of public money on the changeover plan to the euro when, for example, my constituents have to endure interminable delays on the tube, and face the closure of the premier heart hospital in the United Kingdom, Harefield?
Mr. Brown: In that case the hon. Gentleman will be pleased that I talked in my statement about the health service, transport and all the other issues that relate to public services. Only the hon. Gentleman thinks that every debate in the House of Commons must be about the euro. Today we are debating public services and the pre-Budget statement.
As for European measures, I made a number of proposals for European economic reform to Finance Ministers this week. We published our updated report on euro preparations, and we will continue to pursue the policy of prepare and decide. The hon. Gentleman must make up his mind whether he agrees with the official policy of the Conservative party, which is not to be against the euro in principle, or whether he will hold to his own position, which is always to be against it, under all circumstances. He will find, of course, that the shadow Chancellor has not made up his mind on that either.
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