Orders of the Day — The Economy

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 3:54 pm on 30 October 1996.

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Photo of Gordon Brown Gordon Brown Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer 3:54, 30 October 1996

No, I am not giving way.

Today is the last day of the debate on the Queen's Speech. Two weeks ago, at the Conservative party conference, the Prime Minister told his party and the nation that henceforth the Conservative party would display unity and single-mindedness, and that divisions and U-turns were all in the past. Last Wednesday, his policy on law and order lasted from 11 am to 4 pm. Yesterday, the new education policy lasted from 8.15 am until 10.21 am—the swiftest U-turn was made possible by the invention of the mobile telephone. As he faces the House this afternoon, the Chancellor must be relieved that Madam Speaker has banned the use of mobile telephones in the Chamber, and he cannot receive a telephone call from the Prime Minister.

The Queen's Speech shows that, whether it is education, law and order or the economy, none of the problems that the country faces can be solved by the Government. Problems will be camouflaged, disguised, made the subject of U-turns, and exploited for narrow party political ends. The Government may even try to throw money at them, but they will never solve the fundamental problems. No amount of propaganda, no Saatchi and Saatchi billboard campaigns, no selective use of statistics and no U-turns could disguise the fact that the Government offer the country only drift, which is damaging our national interest. They no longer have any purpose or direction in solving the problems we face.

Nothing now can be sorted out by these men and women. Their 18th Queen's Speech cannot undo the damage caused by the previous 17. They should do now what they should have done long ago: they should put their record of failure before the British people, and face a general election which they will lose.