Budget (Scotland) (No 4) Bill: Stage 3

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at 4:36 pm on 13 February 2003.

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Photo of Wendy Alexander Wendy Alexander Labour 4:36, 13 February 2003

In the spirit of Richard Simpson's speech, I did not want to miss the opportunity to liven proceedings up a little. Harold Wilson once said:

"A week is a long time in politics", and I thought that I might review the past week from the Executive's perspective. This week, interest rates were cut to their lowest level for almost 50 years and the level of unemployment in Scotland fell again. Since 1997, 134,000 more people have found employment, and more than 1,000 people per constituency have gone back into work since the Parliament was established. This week, a series of public spending announcements has been made. All that was delivered in a week that has seen darkening days for the world economy. It has been a sound week indeed.