§ The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Kenneth Clarke)I have already said publicly that I have been looking forward to this year's Budget. I am enjoying each Budget a little more as I get nearer to my aims—[Interruption.] My aims are very worth while.
The British economy has now been growing for almost four years. The recovery has created more than half a million new jobs. We have more of our people in work than any other major country in the European Union. Inflation is enjoying its best run for almost 50 years. All the major western economies have slowed down this year, but our recovery remains stronger than most. The International Monetary Fund has forecast that, next year, we shall be joint top, with Germany, of the G7 growth league table.
Few Chancellors have delivered their Budget against a background of such strong economic fundamentals. But getting this far has not been easy. It has required tough decisions on tax and spending over the past three years. This Budget builds on the hard-won gains that this Government have made and keeps Britain on course to be the enterprise centre of Europe: a Britain that creates more jobs and generates the greater wealth and personal prosperity in which all can share; a Britain in which everyone can keep more of what they earn or save to spend as they choose, not as the state chooses; and a Britain where more money is spent on the things that everyone cares about—our schools, our hospitals, our police. [HON. MEMBERS: "Oh."] Yes.
The people of this country believe in those goals. Only this Government are committed to the means of achieving them. We are keeping inflation low. We are keeping control of public spending. We are keeping Government borrowing on a downward path. And we believe in the policies of low taxation, which all countries must follow if they want to be world-class economic powers.
These are the people of Britain who are hard working and take responsibility for themselves and their families. They are the people who want to get on in life, who run their own businesses and who create jobs. And they are the people with that great British virtue—a social conscience—[Interruption.]—people with a real social 1056 conscience, who want to see a successful economy first earn the wealth, in order to give the weak and the less fortunate a helping hand.
This Budget addresses the aspirations of the people of this country in an economically and socially responsible way. It controls public spending overall while shifting more money towards schools, hospitals and the police. It keeps Government borrowing on a clear downward path and fiscal policy tight so that the recovery will be sustained. And it cuts taxes. For all those reasons, that is why I have been looking forward to this year's Budget.