Autumn Statement

Helen Goodman Excerpts

Wednesday 5th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. We have made difficult decisions on welfare uprating—we have asked the rich to pay more—but, as I have said, we have done that not only to help to deal with the deficit, but to help people who work hard and want to get on. That is precisely what we have done today

[Helen Goodman (Bishop Auckland) (Lab)]

Further to the answer that the Chancellor gave my right hon. Friend the Member for Morley and Outwood (Ed Balls), will he admit that in 2010 he cut public spending in the north-east by £2.8 billion, that last year he gave us 0.03% of the capital spend, and that this year he gave us 3%? Far from being fair, does that not mark a transfer of resources from the north to the south?

[Mr Osborne]

Under this Government, the level of capital spending is higher than the level in the plans that we inherited from the last Labour Government—which the hon. Lady supported at the time of the last Labour Budget—and, indeed, we have added to it today. Under this Government, the level of public investment as a proportion of GDP is higher than the average level under the Labour Government. As for investment in the north, there is the investment in the A1, the investment in High Speed 2, and the investment in the northern rail hub. There is a whole load of investment in the transport infrastructure of the north and the north-east because we are helping this country, which suffered so much under the Labour Government, when the gap between the north and the south grew.