§ The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Gordon Brown)Only once in a generation is the tax system fundamentally reformed. The Budget I bring before the House and the country today begins the task not just of modernising taxation but of modernising the entire tax and benefits system of our country. We do this to encourage enterprise; to reward work; to support families; to advance the ambitions not just of the few but of the many.
For decades, under Governments of both parties, the great economic strengths of our country have been undermined by deep-seated structural weaknesses—instability, under-investment, unemployment. So behind the detailed measures of this Budget is the conviction that we must break for good from the conflicts and the dogmas that have held us back and have for too long failed our country. We must build a national economic purpose around new ambitions for Britain.
First, stability. We must break from our history of stop-go and the false trade offs between unemployment and inflation. The new ambition for our country is long-term economic strength and stability based on an unshakeable commitment to prudent monetary and fiscal rules.
Secondly, enterprise. Instead of punishing success by high taxation or offering the incentive of low taxation to only a few, the new ambition is a tax system that ensures that work always pays, that encourages skills and that rewards enterprise and entrepreneurship throughout the whole economy.
Thirdly, welfare reform. The new ambition for Britain is a modern welfare state that, instead of trapping people in poverty, provides opportunity for all.
And fourthly, strong public services. Instead of simply defending unreformed public services, or denigrating them simply for being public, the new ambition is to have modern schools and hospitals in an environment where investment and reform go hand in hand.
So this will be a new Labour Budget that demonstrates that a modern Government with new ambition for Britain can advance both enterprise and fairness and can advance them together—that, by rewarding work and rewarding work at every level, everyone and not just one section of society succeeds. It is a Budget to advance the ambition of all.