Mr. A.J. Beith ( Berwick-upon-Tweed) :sx I would like to be clear about what the Chancellor is saying .sx Is he saying that the Government will accept a single currency on conditions that he can now define ?sx Mr. Lamont :sx The Government have made it clear that we are not prepared to give a commitment to move to a single currency .sx We believe that , if monetary union happens , it should be on an evolutionary basis , driven by the market .sx This is and always has been our position .sx It is the position of the Opposition that is shrouded in obscurity .sx When we listened to the right hon .sx Gentleman , we heard that he wants to give a commitment to a single currency without any conditions whatsoever .sx That appears to be his position .sx Dame Elaine Kellett-Bowman ( Lancaster) :sx Would my right hon .sx Friend make it clear to the Opposition that their illusion of a regional policy in an enlarged EC may be a different kettle of fish from what it used to be .sx Few , if any , of our regions would qualify for assistance under regional criteria , and Opposition Members ought to know that .sx Mr. Lamont :sx My hon .sx Friend makes a shrewd point and is precisely right .sx Any expansion of regional policy is not likely to be to the benefit of this country , and I am grateful to her for drawing our attention to that fact .sx Yesterday , I announced our public spending plans for the next three years .sx Once again , we have shown that there is no contradiction between our prudent policies and high-quality public services .sx We have honoured our commitments and allowed expenditure to rise to meet the unavoidable consequences of the recession .sx But neither spending nor the PSBR will rise to the heights of previous recessions .sx Government expenditure will peak at 42 per cent .sx of GDP , compared to 47.5 per cent .sx in 1982-83 and a skyscraping 49.25 per cent .sx - very nearly half the nation's income - under Labour .sx We remain committed to balancing the budget over the economic cycle .sx In 1987-88 , we repaid debt equivalent to 3 per cent .sx of GDP , comparable to our assumption next year of a 3 per cent .sx PSBR .sx Compare that with Labour's peak of 9.5 per cent .sx - the equivalent of pounds55 billion today .sx Our objective remains to balance the budget over the cycle .sx Just imagine how preposterous a goal that would be for the right hon .sx and learned Gentleman to state .sx Even yesterday , he wanted more money for training , for transport and for industry .sx Now that he has had a day to reflect , the whole House will be waiting for his answer to some vital questions .sx Does he accept the pledges made by Opposition spokesmen to spend more than we plan to ?sx How would he pay for them ?sx [HON .sx MEMBERS :sx " Answer .sx "] .sx Let us start with the National Health Service .sx I announced an increase in plans of pounds1 .sx 5 billion for the NHS - pounds1 .sx 5 billion which will help the NHS upgrade buildings and hospital equipment .sx Spending on hospital and community health services will rise by more than 5 per cent .sx in real terms between this year and next , bringing the total real increase in NHS spending since 1979 to well over 50 per cent .sx We could not have made our commitment to the NHS clearer .sx What a contrast with the Labour party - the party that cut nurses' pay and , in one year , cut NHS capital spending - hospital building - by 22 per cent .sx Fine words but poor action from the Labour party .sx So would the right hon .sx and learned Gentleman spend more ?sx Now is his chance to tell us how much .sx [HON .sx MEMBERS :sx " Answer .sx "] .sx We also announced an extra pounds1 .sx 4 billion for British Rail and London Transport .sx Next year they will invest more than three times as much as they did in 1979 .sx If the right hon .sx and learned Gentleman were standing here , would he spend more ?sx His hon .sx Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull , East ( Mr. Prescott ) would like to , but would he ?sx Now is his chance to tell us how much .sx [HON .sx MEMBERS :sx " Answer .sx "] .sx What about education ?sx We have more students in higher education than ever before .sx Pupil-teacher ratios in our classrooms are at their lowest ever , and spending per pupil is up more than 40 per cent .sx The leader of the Opposition plucked a figure out of the air and said that he would spend pounds2 .sx 6 billion more .sx We he licensed to do that ?sx sic !sx Would the right hon .sx and learned Gentleman give him the money ?sx If he would , how much ?sx [HON .sx MEMBERS :sx " Answer .sx "] .sx Next year , the aid budget will increase by 2 per cent .sx in real terms .sx Again that is not good enough for the hon .sx Member for Cynon Valley ( Mrs. Clwyd) .sx She wants to put it up in a single Parliament by more than pounds3 billion .sx Would the right hon .sx and learned Gentleman give her the money ?sx Now is his chance to tell us .sx How much ?sx [HON .sx MEMBERS :sx " Answer .sx "] .sx In April , the right hon .sx and learned Gentleman published what he called a shadow Budget .sx Why does not he publish a shadow autumn statement ?sx Then he could give us the answers .sx He must tell us this ; is the level of spending that we have announced too high , too low or just about right ?sx Is the level of borrowing too high , too low or just about right ?sx We have set out our expenditure plans for the next three years , on which we shall fight the election .sx The country wants the same from the Labour party .sx In the document 'Meet the Challenge , Make the Change' the Labour party promised that it would publish its detailed spending plans at the time of the election .sx Now that the election is a little closer , the hon .sx Member for Copeland ( Dr. Cunningham ) tells us that it will not publish its plans .sx What is the Labour party hiding ?sx We know what it is hiding :sx the cost of unaffordable spending plans and the massive increases in taxation that it knows are needed to pay for them .sx We have costed the hundreds of pledges made by the right hon .sx and learned Gentleman and his colleagues , and we know that they add up to pounds35 billion .sx The right hon .sx and learned Gentleman has never quarrelled with the detail of any of our estimates .sx The pounds35 billion of extra spending means pounds35 billion of extra tax - perhaps not right away .sx Perhaps he would try to borrow some more , but he could not delay the evil day for long .sx Eventually , it would mean skyscraping taxes , not only for the better-off , but for everybody .sx The right hon .sx and learned Gentleman always forgets that what the Government give , they first must take away , and a Labour Government would take away a lot from the British people .sx The right hon .sx and learned Gentleman claims that he would get the money from growth .sx We have heard that one before .sx That is what Labour Oppositions always say , but Labour Governments always fail to deliver , because their policies of intervention and regulation throttle recovery .sx Growth would peter out under Labour .sx Even if Labour could somehow spend the growth created by Conservative policies , the right hon .sx and learned Gentleman still would not have the money .sx He clearly has not read the public expenditure plans any more carefully than he has read the forecast .sx The plans that we have published for the next three years already take account of growth .sx Those plans are consistent with our objective of balancing the budget over the medium term .sx If the right hon .sx and learned Gentleman wants to spend more , he must either borrow more , or tax more , or both .sx The British people have seen through Labour's deceit .sx They know what a Labour Government would mean .sx Since the war , living standards have risen half again as fast under Conservative Governments as under Labour .sx Since 1979 , living standards have risen by almost 37 per cent .sx We have cut income tax rates .sx The plans that I announced yesterday show that , even when times are difficult , we will continue to improve public services and to honour our commitments .sx It is this argument that leads to the right hon .sx and learned Gentleman's increasing desperation - a desperation that manifests itself in his peculiar determination never to have one consistent policy when he can have two contradictory ones .sx He thinks that we should cut interest rates further and faster ; but at the same time says that we should stay in the exchange rate mechanism .sx We know that it is our cautious approach that has enabled us to cut interest rates and keep the pound stable .sx He wants to increase spending ; but he claims that he will not put up taxes :sx We know that it is our firm control of public spending that has enabled us to cut tax rates .sx He says that we should improve competitiveness and strengthen the supply side ; but he wants to introduce a minimum wage and bury business under a mountain of bureaucracy .sx We know that low inflation and a more flexible labour market is the way to create wealth and jobs .sx He says that there is no recovery .sx A few weeks ago on the radio , he said that the recovery would be weak and faltering .sx His right hon .sx Friend the Leader of the Opposition has told us that the recovery is heading for an inflationary boom .sx We know we are headed for sustained , non-inflationary growth .sx A Labour Government would bring higher taxes , higher inflation , higher interest rates and higher unemployment .sx Their policies would leave the nation with no prospect of economic recovery and no hope of improving the public services .sx This Government are dedicated to a sustainable , economic recovery based on stable , low inflation .sx We are dedicated to a tax system that gives people the incentive to work and the opportunity to save .sx We are dedicated to using the fruits of these policies to improve the public services of the nation - not only providing our health , education and transport systems with increased resources , but securing improved performance from them .sx This Government's objectives are shared by the nation , and the economic policy which serves those objectives deserves the support of this House .sx I ask the House to reject the amendment and to support the Loyal Address .sx 5.18 pm .sx Mr. A.J. Beith ( Berwick-upon-Tweed) :sx There could hardly be more of a contrast between this year's debate on the Loyal Address and our debate last year .sx Hon .sx Members may have forgotten in the interval what happened .sx Last year's debate was marked by a speech by the right hon .sx and learned Member for Surrey , East ( Sir G. Howe ) , who was in the Chamber a moment ago , rather like Banquo's ghost , but has disappeared , in rather the same way .sx That speech was probably one of the most dramatic and remarkable , although it was quiet in delivery , that many of us have heard in the whole of our time in this House , because it was the undoing of a Prime Minister .sx The speech pointed to the impossibility of papering together deep divisions over Europe by the use of sophisticated language .sx It blew open those divisions , but did not stop the present Prime Minister saying , when he spoke as Chancellor in that debate :sx " I believe that they will vote for the consistency , courage and conviction with which my right hon .sx Friend the Prime Minister has led this country so successfully for so long .sx " - [ Official Report , 14 November 1990 ; Vol. 180 , c. 599 .sx ] .sx Conservative Members did not wait to find out whether people would vote for that courage and conviction , but bundled out the then Prime Minister , the right hon .sx Member for Finchley ( Mrs. Thatcher ) pretty quickly once they had had the encouragement of a Liberal Democrat by-election win and the exposure of the divisions by the right hon .sx and learned Member for Surrey , East .sx In the same debate , the then Chancellor forecast the same growth that has been forecast today - a growth that did not happen .sx It was the beginning of the protracted end of the Government .sx The next stage in that process has been a Gracious Speech full of apologies .sx