The Economy

Part of Opposition Day – in the House of Commons at 5:47 pm on 29 June 1998.

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Photo of Shaun Woodward Shaun Woodward Conservative, Witney 5:47, 29 June 1998

The reality is that running the economy requires prudence. The Chancellor likes to borrow the language of prudence, but shows none. There are areas in which the Finance Bill should be amended, and we shall debate them over the next two days. However, the action that should have been taken by the Chancellor—the United Kingdom's Chancellor, alas—has not been taken. He pretends to be an iron Chancellor, but he is in reality in the vein of old Labour Chancellors. He wants to spend, spend, spend.

The UK faces two futures. In the first, and better, our economy will soon give way to a very hard landing. In the other, more worrying scenario, which we can read about in every newspaper and every forecast, our economy is on course for recession. In either case, there will be a downturn, and that is bad news for Britain. Both scenarios were created in Downing street by the Chancellor's poor choices and bad judgment. He may not want to be here today, but they are his fault, arising from his decisions, for which he must bear responsibility. The Chancellor does nothing but allow the economy to slide into downturn or recession.