§ 3.36 p.m.
§ The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Denis Healey)The Budget I am presenting today is likely to prove the most crucial of the present Parliament. On the one hand, it must ensure that we consolidate and extend the gains we have made in the past year. On the other hand, it must prescribe the course for the fastest possible return of Britain to full employment and external balance during what is now universally recognised to be a period of world recovery. This is above all a Budget about jobs and about inflation, which is the main threat to jobs in Britain today.
I deal first with the short-term problems against the economic background of the past twelve months.