§ 3.33 p.m.
§ The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Roy Jenkins)The circumstances in which I open this Budget are, I am glad to say, more agreeable than those in which I made my last two Budget statements; and I propose to celebrate, and even to enable the House to participate in the celebration, if in no other way, by being a little shorter than on these two previous occasions.
In 1968, we were in the trough of crisis. By this time last year we had made progress; but we were still encompassed 1213 by danger and full recovery was still a hope and an aim. Today, we have solid achievement behind us.
Over the past two years I have had to give priority to a massive switch of resources into the balance of payments. Other aims of economic policy had to be subordinated to this. This major objective has now been achieved and the time has come when we can adopt a more normal balance of priorities. The main task now is less burdensome, but in some ways more complex: it is to maintain the strength of the position we have won, and, at the same time, to guide the economy into steadily increasing growth.
There is no virtue in endeavouring to obtain a larger and larger surplus; at the same time, a strong balance of payments is still vitally necessary. The change lies in the fact that other objectives of policy can now be brought into the front line alongside the balance of payments; and we can perhaps cease to treat the foreign balance as a perennial national obsession.
Our success on the external front is recent, but firm—provided that we do not take positive action to dissipate it. This is a good moment for reviewing our progress. The House will not, therefore, be surprised if I begin this Budget statement with some account of the economic history of the past two years, and especially the past year. This will form the basis for my judgment of the outlook now and of the prospect for building securely upon the success we have achieved.