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Sir Stuart Bell: My hon. Friend refers to globalisation, which was the theme of my right hon. Friend the Member for Llanelli (Denzil Davies). My right hon. Friend made a great deal of outsourcing and of the movement of jobs from his constituency. I am glad to see the hon. Member for Strangford (Mrs. Robinson) in her place because she may have a similar problem in her constituency, to which no doubt she would allude if she were to catch Mr. Deputy Speaker's eye. Is it not a fact of life—we all have to live with it in the north-east—that global outsourcing takes place? We have lost Samsung, and areas in Northern Ireland have lost jobs? Is it not up to the Government, with the sort of Budget that was announced today, to seek to confront these problems and remedy them?
Mr. Gardiner: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Putting a 4.4 per cent. real-terms increase into education committing £8.5 billion in 2007 to education is intended precisely to increase the skills level, which means that our work force move up the value curve, which means in turn that they are capable of sustaining challenges. We cannot simply bemoan the loss of jobs at the lower end of the market. We must create an economy in which we are competitive internationally and are able to survive and thrive within that international market by having the skills base to do so. It is precisely in that area that there will be investment.
The IMF has welcomed the Government's commitment to addressing the long-term issue—
Mrs. Iris Robinson (Strangford) (DUP): I take up the issue that was raised by the hon. Member for
Middlesbrough (Sir Stuart Bell) a few moments ago. We are talking of about 5,000 job losses in my constituency over 18 months. These are skilled jobs. The only prospects that those who are involved in the process have at present are taxiing or call centres. What do we do with their skills?
Mr. Gardiner: I do not know precisely to which jobs the hon. Lady is referring within her constituency. Similarly, I do not know the structure of the labour market there.
Mrs. Robinson: I am referring to jobs in the textile industry and also jobs in TKECC, a company that makes belts for cars.
Mr. Gardiner: The loss of any jobs is a great problem and a source of sorrow for all those concerned, particularly for the Member of Parliament who is responsible for delivering the best for his or her constituents.
I am sure that the hon. Lady would agree with me that for a Government to stand back and say, "There is nothing that we can do about this" if jobs are lost is to send out exactly the wrong message. Today, the Government have said, "We must respond to the challenges that the global market brings. We must respond to that competition." That is not done by subsidising labour in some way to try to keep jobs in one place or another. We must respond by enabling workers who lose their jobs to acquire the skills that will enable us to compete in other areas at a higher value level. I am sure that that is what the hon. Lady wants for her constituents, which is what my right hon. Friend the Chancellor suggested this afternoon for the whole economy.
The Pensions Bill has been designed to address some of the problems that lie with the provision of pensions. There are still concerns that Britain is not setting aside nearly as much as it should in retirement. That has been alluded to this afternoon. Some sections of society come out worse than others. Typically, older women find themselves in the worst situation. For that reason, I support the calls that are being made by the TUC for the Government to encourage women over the age of 60 to continue to make national insurance payments so that they continue adding to their own pension provision. The cost to the Exchequer of doing that would be minimal, but the economic benefits to the women concerned could be quite considerable. It would mean increased general economic activity and reduced pensioner poverty, as well as an attack on age discrimination in the workplace. I urge the Treasury seriously to consider that issue. I welcome the announcement this afternoon of an extra £100 for pensioners for the winter payment. I echo the remarks of my hon. Friend the Member for Dumbarton (Mr. McFall), the Chairman of the Treasury Committee, about information sharing in the credit card industry to combat the unsustainable credit levels that are being run up. I commend the admirable work that he and the Treasury Committee have done on that problem.
Our discussions today are obviously only half the picture. Many hon. Members are preparing for the spending review in July, and I should like to make a
special plea for extra investment in London's transport infrastructure. Funding for Transport for London is to set to fall by £200 million in 2005–06 after record increases, I acknowledge, in recent years. The impact on my constituents and London's ability to sell itself as a world-class city will be considerable, and the effects will be felt beyond London, because if it does not receive inward investment Britain as a whole will not do so either. London's population is set to increase by 800,000—equivalent to a city the size of Sheffield—by 2016, so there will be significant extra demands on an already stretched transport system. No Government would consider building a new town with a population of 800,000 and not equipping it with a proper transport infrastructure. We should not allow London's population to grow to that extent without equipping it to cope with the increase.The case for extra investment is clear. Better transport links would help to reduce inequality in inner-city London, an area that has the highest deprivation indices in the country. Investment would also bring new money into London and the British economy as a whole. As London is the dynamo of the British economy it is essential that investment in its infrastructure continue at the recent increased rates after decades of neglect. London's productivity levels are 25 per cent. higher than the national figure, and it makes a net contribution to the Exchequer of £10 billion to £20 billion a year. However, it cannot go on supporting the British economy without proper investment. We must reduce the £230 million annual losses caused by failures and delays on London's transport system, and must reap the benefits of proper investment. The plain fact is that this is not a national competition—it is an international one. The case for London is the case for Britain, and unless the transport infrastructure receives extra funding we will begin to lose our competitive edge against cities such as New York and Paris. I therefore urge the Treasury team to consider the impact on the economy as a whole if London's infrastructure problems become a disincentive to invest in the UK.
Next year, we face, as the Chancellor said, stark economic choices. The electorate must choose between a Chancellor who has an impeccable economic record, who promises more and has a record to back it up, and a party with an economic record that left scars on our society with two recessions, 3 million unemployed and huge economic and social inequalities. The Opposition clearly have no shame, because now they are offering the electorate the choice of more cuts—£18 billion-worth in total, which would mean cuts in everyday services, local government, crime prevention and transport. They mocked when the Chancellor spoke about freezing levels of investment and input, but they have proposed £18 billion-worth of cuts in services, and must account for that.
Hon. Members often speak about the Budget speech as though it were simply an economic event. It is, of course, a political event as well, and today's Budget was a deeply political event because the Opposition committed themselves to matching our spending on health at 7.2 per cent. in real terms every year to 2008—a 50 per cent. rise in our total spending on health since 1997. In education there is a 4.4 per cent. annual rise and an extra £8.5 billion in 2007. Now the Opposition have a political choice to make. While matching the spending
and the growth levels that are being maintained by the Chancellor in every area of Government, can they commit themselves to matching our increase in health spending and in education and skills spending? If they cannot, they are denying the country the opportunity to grow and develop in the future.It is precisely such investment in skills and education that represents the choice that every Government and every people must make. They must decide whether to consume for themselves or to invest in their children's future. If those on the Opposition Treasury Bench cannot match our commitment in that area, they will show that they are more interested in individual present consumption for greed than in investment in the country's future and our children.
4.36 pm
Mr. Michael Fallon (Sevenoaks) (Con): I begin by declaring the interests recorded in the register.
If the hon. Member for Brent, North (Mr. Gardiner) will forgive me, I shall not follow him, partly because he spoke for so long and partly because he and the hon. Member for Middlesbrough (Sir Stuart Bell), if he will forgive me for saying so, both appear to belong to the creationist school of the Labour party, as I would characterise it, which believes that almost everything in this country started to get better only in 1997. That was not the case in Brent, and it certainly was not the case in Middlesbrough.
I am sure that, on reflection, the hon. Member for Middlesbrough will concede that although it is great to see Middlesbrough doing well now, that recovery did not start in 1997. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin and Harpenden (Mr. Lilley) reminded us, these things take a long time. It was back in 1987 that Lady Thatcher walked in the wilderness on Teesside and began the process of regeneration. Teesside university, which the hon. Gentleman mentioned, was set up by the last Conservative Government, not by the present Government. I am delighted that things are going well on Teesside, but the hon. Gentleman must not pretend to the House that it all started on 1 May 1997.
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