Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 6:32 pm on 23 March 2004.
I am most grateful to the Chief Secretary for giving way again. It is a tough constraint. The Chancellor said that he had tough choices to make; so have we. We can have his tax rises, or our constraint. Will the Chief Secretary answer the question? If you have 2½ per cent. efficiency and 2½ per cent. inflation, do you or do you not have to make real-terms cuts in front-line services? Yes or no?