HC Deb 30 October 1997 vol 299 cc1019-20
10. Mr. Beith

If he will make a statement about the impact of inflation on his public expenditure projections. [12658]

Mr. Darling

Public expenditure figures are based on cash planning. A key principle of spending control for two decades has been that there should be no automatic adjustments for inflation, because that would just build inflation into the system. We are committed to controlling public expenditure and keeping a firm grip on inflation.

Mr. Beith

Nevertheless, so that false expectations are not aroused, will the Chief Secretary confirm that, even with the very welcome extra £270 million, the national health service budget will be £150 million lower in real terms than was planned by the previous Government?

Mr. Darling

As I said earlier, we are committed to maintaining tight control over public expenditure. That is very important if we are to put the public finances on a sound long-term footing. No one could accuse us—or me in particular—of raising false expectations. I have never shrunk from saying that some hard choices will have to be made during the next two years. However, we have allocated an additional £300 million for the health service for the coming winter and an extra £1.2 billion for next year. That money would not have been available had the Conservatives still been in office. The health service will benefit greatly from that, as it will from other measures that we are taking to improve patient care.

Mr. Paice

Will the Chief Secretary tell the House the precise impact on inflation of his right hon. Friend's Budget this summer?

Mr. Darling

As the hon. Gentleman will know, I have answered many parliamentary questions to his colleagues, and perhaps even to him, in which I have made that clear. We have given real-terms increases to health and education, which will benefit patients and people in schools. I am not prepared to take lectures from the Conservatives, who left public finances in a ruinous state and left record levels of debt, having doubled the national debt over six years. Their failure to take action to control inflation has meant that we have had to make tough choices and take the necessary action that they ducked on every occasion.