Prices

Part of Opposition Day – in the House of Commons at 5:31 pm on 19 June 1985.

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Photo of Mr Derek Fatchett Mr Derek Fatchett , Leeds Central 5:31, 19 June 1985

Many studies of Nottingham would challenge those figures and suggest substantial revenue losses there. I was referring to the capital implications arising from the sale of houses in terms of capital receipts.

The hon. Gentleman also talked about bus fares and said that Labour authorities had held down for cheap, short-term political gain. That is strange. If it was for cheap, short-term political gain, why did the Government run away fom this year's metropolitan county council elections in areas which operate cheap transport policies? If his argument was so correct, would it not have been appropriate for the Conservative party to hold those elections and to put that view to the electorate in order to gain support? I am convinced that there would have been an endorsement of the cheap fares policy among many county councils, but the Government removed the right to vote from 13 million people.

Subsidised public transport may well be of great help to industry. Indeed, there is evidence to suggest that such policies are popular not only with the electorate but with commercial interests in city centres. In areas that have pursued such policies, there has been very little opposition from commercial interests. Therefore, it may be worthwhile for the hon. Gentleman to pursue those matters further.

The Chief Secretary regularly spoke of sound finance, to which he seemed to attribute a sacrosanct definition. That may well be the subject of much argument, but I make the assumption that there is a sacrosanct definition that allows us to understand exactly what sound finance means. To make that concept a reality in terms of managing the economy, one must turn sound finance into pounds and pence in relation to the PSBR, targets for monetary growth and various other measurements of monetary aggregates.

I indict the Government not for getting caught up in damaging dogma, but for the fact that, even in terms of their own dogma, they have been regressive and redistributive, and have pushed the burden of their policies on to the weakest members of our community. If a figure for the PSBR is needed and it is decided that it should be sacrosanct and cannot be altered, one can arrive at it by various means. In other words, the objective can be set, but the means can vary.

The Government cause the public anxiety because their methods push the burdens in one direction. We have discussed rents, mortgage costs, water rates and the cost of fuel. Those burdens have increased as a result of Government policies. The Government have no need to go in that direction, even on the basis of their own targets, but the means chosen are redistributive. It is a simple test to consider those burdens alongside the cuts in taxation for the rich in our society. The burden has been taken off the rich and has increased on those least able to carry it. That is my indictment and the country's indictment of the Government.