The three speeches/headings immediately before

1. 1 earlier: Kelvin Hopkins

   I did not know that we had a policy of joining the euro, but I think that the most sensible thing that the Prime Minister did in his years as Chancellor was not to join the euro—I applaud him for that. Had we joined it, we would have the same problems as Ireland, which has a massively overvalued currency, so what he did was very sensible.

   The other component of competitiveness is, of course, investment. Private companies invest when they can sell things. If demand has been deflated in the economy and they cannot sell anything, they will not invest. Thus, the crucial component, beyond having an approach that ensures an appropriate value for one's currency, is to have a good market: a good level of demand in the domestic economy, as well as the international one.

2. 2 earlier: Peter Bone

   I agree entirely with the argument that the hon. Gentleman is making, but would it not be better if the Government said from the Dispatch Box tonight that they will drop their policy of joining the euro, so that we can continue to have a currency that devalues.

3. 3 earlier: Kelvin Hopkins

   It is a great pleasure to speak in this debate. First, I thought that the speeches made by my right hon. Friends the Members for Holborn and St. Pancras (Frank Dobson) and for Oldham, West and Royton (Mr. Meacher) were brilliant—I need not add to anything that they said, because I agreed with every word of it. However, perhaps I might fill in a few gaps and express a few of my own views.

   The Conservative motion is pretty feeble. It just contains footling supply-side changes and a coded reference to squeezing benefits, and it proposes a little bit of tax advantage for business. That does not really address the major problems that the economy must face over the coming years. The right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe (Mr. Clarke) again came with the old canard of flexible labour markets and driving down wages, which would just deflate demand even further and would not solve any of the problems.

   The motion refers to competitiveness, which is important. I have argued for a long time that the pound was substantially overvalued relative to other currencies, particularly the euro and the dollar. One of the good things that has happened over the past year is the severe depreciation—a serious depreciation—of sterling to a more reasonable level, and we have started to improve our competitiveness on that basis.