First Day

Part of Debate on the Address – in the House of Commons at 8:28 pm on 21 November 1989.

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Photo of Nicholas Winterton Nicholas Winterton , Macclesfield 8:28, 21 November 1989

I refer to indirect taxes. I should not encourage my right hon. Friend to increase direct taxation, but I should counsel him not to reduce direct taxation any further.

The economy is critical not only to the country, but—dare I say it to my right hon. and hon. Friends on the Front Bench—to the future of the Conservative Government. We have two and a half years in which to get it right. The mere use of interest rates to deal with inflation will not be the answer. I hope that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor will use fiscal measures as well as monetary measures and will consider whether it is appropriate for the Bank of England to call in deposits from the clearing banks to take some of the hot money out of circulation, failing which—