| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Mr. Bill Walker: If the objective of buying the Eurofighter were to create jobs, the hon. Lady would be right. But the reason for buying it is to deter anyone from aggression against us. That is less expensive than fighting wars.
Dr. Jones: Which aggressors will such equipment deter?
Certain elements of the defence procurement budget are necessary. I mention Nimrod in particular: it is obvious that a maritime nation should have a coastal surveillance capability. Such expenditure can be supported, but an analysis of the expenditure on the fighter aircraft would show that we could probably do the same job much more cheaply by buying much of the military equipment that was left over after the demise of the USSR.
26 Nov 1996 : Column 234
I am using this example to show the importance of Government spending for the wealth-creating sectors. It is wrong to suggest that Government spending is necessarily a bad thing: it can be very important for our industries, and for research and development.
As well as encouraging firms to invest, the public sector plays a crucial role in the creation of our science base. I read in yesterday's Financial Times that the leaders of the pharmaceutical industry have made representations to the Government about their deep concern about the rundown of the science base.
The £20 million so-called additional capital expenditure for science in the universities is merely a token gesture, because capital spending overall in the universities is still set on a downward trend. Coming after last year's massive 30 per cent. cut in capital spending on universities, £20 million is neither here nor there. There is still a steady decline in our science base, and that is not good for future investment.
The Chancellor says that the trade gap is pretty even, but I note that he declined to give the actual figure, which shows that we are still in deficit. We have a manufacturing deficit, and our manufacturing production is still only 2 per cent. above what it was before the recession. Those figures show the underlying problems of our economy, which the Budget fails to address. We should be introducing measures to increase research and development.
The Select Committee on Science and Technology, on which I serve, and the Select Committee on Trade and Industry have suggested tax incentives to increase business investment in research and development. I should also like to see more Government investment in research and development.
The Chancellor proposed the concept of "spend to save". I like that concept: it can be applied to the investments to which I have referred, and to much public spending. It is right that we should be looking to reduce the public sector borrowing requirement for Government spending on consumption, which should be paid for out of tax revenues.
Certain elements of public spending and public borrowing, however, are for investment, which pays for itself in terms of job creation and income revenue stream. I am thinking particularly of investment in public transport infrastructure and housing. A boost to Government spending in those areas would have paid for itself in a very short time, and would also have created jobs and increased demand in the economy. That would indeed have been spending to save, but we have been given the reverse. I have not had a chance to examine the figures, but it is widely predicted that the transport and housing programmes will continue to be slashed in the run-up to the election.
There is also the question of the growing inequalities in our society. A paper produced recently by Cambridge university showed that a penny reduction in income tax largely benefited the better-off: 89 per cent. of the benefit of a cut in the standard rate goes to those on the upper half of the income scale, while a mere 3 per cent. goes to the 10 per cent. who are on the lowest incomes. Cuts of that kind do nothing to deal with the growing inequality in society, or with the poverty in which so many people live.
A third of our children are growing up in poverty, and our pensioners are struggling to make ends meet following the consistent withering on the vine of the state
26 Nov 1996 : Column 235
It is disgraceful that, rather than doing that, the Government are penalising children in one-parent families by cutting benefits. Last year, the Chancellor ruled out such a measure, on the basis that it would deter members of one-parent families from working. It is disgraceful that so few adult members of one-parent families in this country go out to work. This measure does nothing to provide incentives to work, or to deal with growing inequalities and poverty in society.
Despite what the Chancellor says, this Budget looks no further than the next general election. He has scrabbled around to try to find bits of extra money in an attempt to justify income tax cuts. There has been the sale of Ministry of Defence married quarters, we have heard today about the sale of the student loans debt, and the private finance initiative will ultimately cost the taxpayer far more: the debt charges will be higher, because the private sector will pay more to borrow than the public sector would.
These chickens will come home to roost after the next election, but the Government do not care about that. They have set their sights on winning the election. Unfortunately, like so many people, they are trying to fight the last election.
Mr. Hugh Bayley (York):
I will speak briefly about one line in the Red Book: the control total for the Department for Education and Employment. The reason I rise to speak is that, at the end of last week, there was a serious and terrifying assault on a young girl in a York local education authority junior school. It was terrifying, obviously, for the girl who was attacked, for the other pupils and for parents, and I speak as a parent with junior school-age children in York.
Fortunately, a man has been arrested and charged with the assault, but that does not undo the damage. After Dunblane and the murder of Philip Lawrence, schools throughout Britain need better security, for the sake of children's safety and for parents' peace of mind.
Earlier this year, my local authority, City of York council, made a bid for closed circuit television for all York schools. It bid to a Home Office scheme--the CCTV challenge. After the murder of Philip Lawrence, the Department for Education and Employment and, I believe, the Welsh Office added funds to the scheme. Local education authorities were specifically encouraged to bid to the scheme for school security measures.
26 Nov 1996 : Column 236
In June, the Government responded to my local education authority. Their letter said:
A Department for Education and Employment press release, issued today as part of the Budget pack, says that an additional £60 million of GEST money will be earmarked for school security, but the line in the Red Book that concerns me is that on the control total for education and employment. It shows that Government spending, excluding standard spending assessment expenditure borne by local authorities, will fall from this year's forecast outturn of £14.81 billion to £13.95 billion next year. The difference must be made up by local authorities in their council tax bills.
Will the local authorities be able to make up the money? Other hon. Members have already mentioned the fact that the taxation burden is being switched from central to local government. The simple answer is no. Political pressures stop huge increases in council tax, so they will not be able to make up the money in that way, but, even if they wish to brave the political pressures for funding a need such as school security, council tax capping will stop them doing so.
My local authority will have to reduce its expenditure next year by about 5 per cent. overall. It will protect the education budget, but the opportunity for increased spending out of the money available to the local authority from the combination of central grant and the council tax will simply not allow it to increase education spending.
The Government should therefore not be playing political games with children's safety in schools. They should not be requiring LEAs to make a choice between spending money on teachers, books, reducing class sizes and improving the quality of education, and spending it on the security and safety of children in schools.
The same Department for Education press release, in the Budget pack, stated that the Government intend to make £22 million of extra money available to expand the assisted places scheme. I urge Ministers to put the safety and quality of education for all children in all schools above their decision to buy a few more places for a small minority of children in selective schools. Ministers will make the wrong decision if they proceed with their policy of expanding the assisted places scheme for a few children at the expense of safety for all schoolchildren. I urge them to think again.
Debate adjourned.--[Mr. Knapman.]
Debate to be resumed tomorrow.
26 Nov 1996 : Column 237
"I am afraid that your bid has not been successful in this round of the competition ... The value of the bids--at almost £45 million--was three times the amount of money we had available.
On the face of it, the letter sounded promising, but it now transpires that the money that is available for those future rounds of CCTV bidding is not available to schools. The current round is seeking bids for CCTV to monitor "open spaces". Local education authorities have been told that money for school security should come from GEST, grants for education support and training.
However, the Government has made it clear that it will provide a total of £45 million over the next 3 years to support the extension of CCTV . . . Local partnerships will therefore have a further opportunity to bid in the near future."
| Next Section
| Index | Home Page |