bensahel who is a senior fell for new american security. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i agree with that gentleman who was on from texas. if anybody in this country ever believes if we took up arms against our government, that they wouldn't shoot us down and you better believe they would shoot us down. the trouble here is we want to control the middle east. we're taking country after country over now. we've got bases in kuwait, we've got bases in saudi arabia, we've got bases in iraq. we've got them in afghanistan. and we've got them in pakistan, which people don't know, and we've got one in israel that people don't know. so until the american people wake up and see that we are a military complex. we want to take over the middle east, for one thing, oil. and that's the only reason. and if you think we went against

that government. >> host: johnny mentioned being shot down. here's "usa today." do you know the specifics today. how it was. once it's shot down, what's happened here. >> guest: when i read in the paper which is all i know about this there was some sort of mechanical problem and it was not shot down. >> host: this is an email from a viewer on what you read in the paper. this person wants to know what has colonel gadhafi's social policy been? did he provide the necessities for his citizens? there's another side of this that's not being told but always we believe whatever -- whatever that is. gullibility? >> guest: it's hard to talk about a social policy for really many of the countries in the middle east and whenever you're talking about a dictator holding power. they provide benefits to their friends and allies particularly those that support them to

remain in power and they take away things from those who don't. and in that sense, gadhafi was no different than many other dictators. he does have an erratic streak about how he behaves and how he's distributing patronage in his country but that's a pretty strong part of what dictators do. >> host: grace a democrat in trimble, ohio. you're next. >> caller: i want to address a previous caller said bush had gone to the u.n. and gotten their permission. well, they did not get their permission. the u.n. did not go along with our invasion of iraq based on false intelligence. she also said that -- i mean,, in fact, bush took out the international atomic agency inspectors in iraq. and then the iraq war resolution which kerry and clinton which is very, very pathetic that they voted for it. that that resolution which i encourage people to go read actually said exhaust all other

means before invading iraq. and i'm amazed by -- while i listen to msnbc and cnn, the use of the word and even on c-span -- the use of the word "slaughter" and "massacre" in regard to libya. you know --. >> host: i don't think you heard that from -- >> caller: i've heard it from your guests. i've heard it on the last three or four days. i've heard it from many people. chris matthews and many, many other hosts actually use that -- those terms. so, you know, the massacre happened in iraq. i mean, in fact, we're not even counting the injured or dead or displaced on your programs -- >> we'll leave "washington journal" at this point. see the remainder of it on our website, c-span.org. going live now to pentagon for a briefing with rear admiral gerald huber providing an update on the situation in libya as well as the u.s. military action against government forces there. live from the pentagon.

>> we're going to amp up the volume a little bit and then we'll be ready to go. we're here at the pentagon and we're pleased to be joined today by navy rear admiral girard p. huber u.s. naval forces europe and africa, director for policy resources and strategy. admiral huber is here to give a view on an operational update be it phone link again once again as yesterday from the uss mount whitney afloat in the mediterranean. admiral huber became the director of policy resources and strategy at u.s. naval forces europe and africa in august of 2009. he is currently the chief of staff for joint task force odyssey dawn, the task force established to provide operational and tactical international response to the unrest in libya and enforcement of u.n. security council resolution 1973. with that, admiral, i'll turn

things over to you. >> good afternoon, everyone. thank you, dave. thank you for the opportunity to talk about joint task force odyssey dawn coalition operations and joint operating area libya. before i bring you up-to-date with our operational picture, let me just take a moment to give you an update on the f-15 incident. on the evening of march 21st, you're all aware two u.s. air force crew members ejected safely from their f-15 strike eagle after the aircraft encountered an equipment malfunction in eastern libya while conducting a strike mission against pro-gadhafi air defense systems in accordance with the united nations security resolution 1973. both those crew members are safe. they are in u.s. care and are currently going through a reintegration process and my boss yesterday also addressed that issue. before i bring you up-to-date

with an operational picture first let me take a few moments to specifically point out our mission. joint task force odyssey dawn mission is to conduct military operations to protect the civilian population from attack or threat of attack in accordance with united nations security resolution 1973. again, to protect civilians and civilian populations under attack, to establish a no-fly zone, to help protect civilians and prevent mass atrocities and to enforce an arms embargo, to prevent the flow of arms and armed mercenaries from being used against civilians. to achieve our mission, innocent civilians in population centers must be protected. gadhafi's forces must ceasefire all attacks against civilians must stop. forces must have stopped advancing on benghazi and be

pulled back several areas. and humanitarian assistance must be allowed to reach the people of libya. clearly, gadhafi's forces have not met those requirements and are in clear violation of the u.n. security resolution 1973. there's widespread reporting indicating libyan ground forces are engaged in fighting in a number of cities. and they are threatening a number of others putting innocent civilians in grave danger. in misurata armed forces continue to clear opposition, increase combat operations and target civilian populations in the city. as a result, we are pressurizing gadhafi's forces that are attacking those civilian populations. so yesterday, admiral locklear,

the joint task force odyssey dawn provided you a strategy outlook on our current operations in libya. i would like to give you an operational update on the operations of the joint task force within the last 24 hours and how those operations have affected forces loyal to libyan leader gadhafi. first, let me reiterate our mission which is to conduct military operations to protect those civilian populations from attack or the threat of attack. we are doing that with our coalition partners. let me point out this operation is a fully integrated coalition playstation coalition ships, aircrafts, and staffs are focused on a single mission which is the enforcement of the u.n. security resolution 1973. we started out small and have now established a no-fly zone. we've attained maritime superiority, put in place embargo operations, interdicted

ground forces, suppressed enemy air defenses and are allowing for humanitarian assistance. all as a coalition operation. let me give you an overview of the air picture. our coalition i was as are making a significant and vital contribution to this mission. i cannot underestimate the impact or overstate that impact and continue to make an efforts to protect the libyan people. libyan i was as have been interdicted and those aircraft have either been destroyed or rendered inoperab we have no confirmed flight activity by regime air forces over the past 24 hours. as of yesterday, again, i said we started off small and have developed this coalition. coalition air forces are now flying 55% of the entire sorties of this coalition. we calculate those sorties into

24-hour cycle and there were 175 aircraft sorties, 113 which were u.s. and 63 coalitions. that number has increased just from three days ago where we were flying a 15% coalition sortie rate. an air defense activities we have degraded the libyan strategic surface air missile systems to a negligible threat. we believe that air defense system elements are severely degraded or destroyed and have been by these coalition forces. we have seen no related surface to air activity associated with target acquisitions when strikes strikes began on march 19th. we will continue our focus on the regime's air force network that continues to pose a threat to coalition air operations enforcing the no-fly zone but as i reiterated before, as i mentioned before, we are putting pressure on gadhafi's ground

forces that are attacking civilian populations and cities. and while those ground forces are engaged in fighting in ajdabiya and misurata and others, our odyssey dawn coalition partners will continue. i'll be glad now take your questions. >> admiral, this is bob burns from a.p. i'd like to ask you to elaborate on your comment there a minute ago about putting pressure on gadhafi's ground forces. i wonder if you could be a little bit more specific about progress you've made on that. for example, could you quantify in any way the amount of the ground forces that have either been disabled or destroyed or have defected or have been stood down deliberately? and how much of its capability remains in terms of ground

forces? >> let me tell you -- while i won't go into specific percentages i'll just mention the cities. from benghazi, which we now believe to be under opposition control, we have moved west to ajdabiya and to misurata our targeting priorities are mechanized forces, artillery, those mobile integrated -- those mobile surface air missile sites, interdicting their beans and bullets, their control and any opportunities for sustainment of that activity. >> hi, admiral. this is courtney from nbc news. on the sorties you mentioned, the 175, what's the time frame

for when those flew and how many of those actually were air strikes versus just flights? >> that's over a 24-hour cycle so that cycle would have ended 0600 our time here this morning. and again, the total was was 175, 113 u.s. and 63 coalition. that air cycle consists of defensive counter-air, suppression of enemy air defense -- of enemy air defenses, interdiction of those ground forces, a number of electronic warfare flights, but the numbers are not necessarily broken out by attacks. >> if i could just follow up, admiral, you mentioned, you know, the various targets including mechanized forces in artillery and whatnot.

can you talk a little bit about the armor tanks and whatnot? are you surveilling those tanks and those forces before they're struck to make sure they are, in fact, talked the populace and attacking the civilians? on is it just -- if they're in the region, if they're there, they're considered a target of opportunity and they're taken out? >> i will tell you part of that air plans according to your question is intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. the initial preparation of the environment for our forces. so when those forces that are used -- those aircraft that are used for either suppression of those enemy air defenses or interdiction of those mechanized forces or that artillery, that is done as part of an entire air plan and again, as part of those coalition air operations.

>> can i somewhat follow up on that? and a little more specifically, admiral, barbara star from cnn. >> what are you -- how are you communicating to libyan forces to tell them to position themselves to avoid attack if that is what they want to do? at last good deal of information out there indicating that you have used commando solo or other airborne communications or methods to tell them to position themselves in a nonthreatening manner. one, how are you communicating to pro-gadhafi forces? and two, how and what are you communicating to rebel forces? >> barbara, thank you very much for your question. as part of our -- as part of our coalition operation, we have methods which i will not discuss that we have the ability to pass

that information and those communications that we have told both the opposition forces of how to maneuver and we have also told gadhafi's forces of what they were expected to do in accordance with the unsdr. and again, our view and our mission is perfectly clear of what we have asked those forces to do. and that's the ceasefire, all attacks against civilians must stop. the forces must stop advancing. i mentioned benghazi. be pulled back from ajdabiya, misurata and humanitarian assistance must be allowed to etch radio -- reach the people of libya and that message is being through libya and his forces. >> if i may follow up what is your assessment of the current positioning of pro-gadhafi

forces in both misurata and ajdabiya? >> i will tell you that the opposition in both of those cities is under attack. and the civilian population in both of those cities attacked and as i mentioned in misurata and ajdabiya specifically, gadhafi's forces are targeting population centers specifically. >> to go into those cities with your attacks, how do you get them out of there? the pro-gadhafi forces? >> barbara, what i would like to do is go back to our mission which was clearly stated by the united nations security resolution and which was

mentioned specifically in the president's speech. and that is that our mission is to protect those civilians and civilian population centers. >> admiral nathan hodge of the "wall street journal." you had described benghazi as being under operation control. have there been any attempts by the coalition to reach out to the leadership of the opposition for the leadership of rebel forces? >> no, there has not. >> admiral, hi, it's david cloud with the "l.a. times." i just want to try to understand as best i can the nature of your operations within misurata and the other cities. are you at the moment carrying out tactical air strikes in a kind of urban environment where

you observe libyan ground forces attacking, you know, opposition-held areas or obviously civilians? i mean, in other words, are you -- are you undertaking targets of opportunity in an effort to stop active combat operations by the libyan forces? >> in projecting those civilians in accordance with what we're doing with our coalition partners, in our air plan, yes, we are interdicting and putting the pressure on gadhafi's forces that are attacking population centers. >> to detail, what -- the nature of those strikes, in other words, are they primarily against fixed positions, armor -- as you described or are there also attacks against units that are maybe on foot, in fact, carrying out attacks?

or is it artillery or mechanized units or are there other sorts of attacks? >> yeah, again, as i mentioned a couple times. what's been expected of all forces, whether they be mechanized forces or artillery or air forces, they are to ceasefire all attacks against civilians must stop. and those forces that are advancing on the city's of benghazi, ajdabiya today and misurata today must stop advancing. and humanitarian assistance must be allowed to reach the people of libya. >> admiral, this is anna mull with the "christian science monitor." i wanted to follow up on operations in urban areas like

misurata. to what extent, you know, can you go in there to protect the population? you know, given the close urban situation. can you talk a little bit of the challenges of operating in an urban environment? >> thank you for your question. it's an extremely complex and difficult environment. and our primary focus is to interdict those forces before they entered the city -- again, i said they were targeting population centers in the city, interdict those forces before they enter the city, cut off their lines of communication and cut off their command and control. >> do you have any evidence that libyan forces are standing down? that they're responding to your

information operations? >> we have no indication that the gadhafi forces are adhering to the united nations security resolution 1973. and that is why we continue to pressurize those forces. >> jennifer? >> jennifer griffin from fox news. of the sorties flown, how many of them were combat missions, cat i guess somes, of those how many were americans in the cat missions. and there were a.p. reports from the ground that gadhafi forces had pulled back in misurata in recent hours. are you saying those reports are wrong? and finally, do you consider yourself at war right now? >> well, to answer the first

question, i don't have that information on the number of sorties that are broken out that way. second of all, our indications here are that gadhafi's forces that are not adhering to the security resolution and again, your last question? >> do you consider yourself at war right now? >> we're carrying out the mission of the united nations security resolution 1973 in the direction of the president and his speech. >> admiral, if gadhafi doesn't respond to the 1973 u.n. resolution, do you have a plan b to counter his ground forces? and are you confident that other countries within the coalition

won't send special forces on the ground to libya? >> that's my primary focus today to discuss the current operations that we are in, and i would not project or discuss future military operations. >> admiral, when do you think -- could you give us a timeline -- when do you think the u.s. is capable and is able to transfer the command to other countries within the coalition? >> from the joint task force odyssey dawn, i know that there are a number of discussions going on at a number of political levels, both national and international where that decision will be decided. and we at joint task force

odyssey dawn -- we will move forward on those decisions. >> admiral, amy butler with aviation week, i'd like to ask you about some hardware. i'm curious what impact, if any, could the emergence of the sa-24 in that area have on air operations either now with the cats or in your future if you have to go lower level for humanitarian opps and can you give us a definitive answer why the f-22 wasn't used in any of these operations? >> yeah. to tell you, i wouldn't want to get into the specific technical details. and i don't have that second answer. >> dave martin with cbs. i thought i heard you say in response to barbara's question that you were telling opposition forces how to maneuver.

did i hear you correctly? and what -- what are you telling them? are you telling them not to go down such and such a road because we're attacking there? and how does that sort with general ham's statements that there are no official communications with the opposition? >> that's true. i misstated that. the message we are providing is a message to the regime forces and telling them what they need to do to comply with the u.n. security resolution. yeah, that's true. the answer that i had given was, we're providing that to the regime forces and that's the message. >> have your coalition attacks within cities caused any

civilian casualties? >> yeah, there have been no reports of civilian casualties. our mission here is to protect the civilian populace and we choose our targets and plan our actions with that as a top priority. >> statements coming out of big countries, india, china, russia, are calling for a ceasefire right now. is it a right time to call for a ceasefire. and when do you think there would be a time for it? >> to achieve our mission, the innocent civilians in the population centers must be protected. the gadhafi forces must ceasefire and all attacks against civilians must stop.

the forces of gadhafi must be pulled back from ajdabiya, misurata, and zawiyah. our efforts have been going on. i can't speculate on conclusion dates but i want to stress this is a multiphased operation designed to enforce the u.n. security resolution and deny the libyan regime the ability to use its force against its own people. our coalition partners continue to make great contribution to the mission and assume more and more responsibility. >> admiral, just to clarify something. you were asked whether or not there were civilian casualties as a result of your attacks inside libyan cities. so just to make sure we all understand, are u.s. forces and coalition forces, in fact, now attacking inside cities? and second, do you have any communications with opposition

or rebel forces? >> barbara, i don't want to discuss specific locations. again, there have been no reports of civilian casualties. our mission here is to protect the civilian populace. and we choose those targets and we plan our actions with that as a top priority. >> tony with the bloomberg news. can you quantify for the public this pressurizing on gadhafi's forces? how many bombs have you dropped in the last two or three days? do you have those statistics? >> no. i do not have those statistics. >> the cost of a campaign every day, i have a second question, to what extent are gadhafi's primary units, the 32nd commanded by his son and the 9th brigade involved in the attacks on the cities that you're trying to quell?

>> those forces are fully engaged in this conflict that is attacking those civilian populations. ..

been established. for this operation, as i said, we started out small, and as the coalition has grown we have expanded the no-fly zone from the west, from the east, over benghazi and have moved that as forces have reported on station, we moved that clearly to the west. >> how far to the west? are you covering -- we've been hearing since sunday the no-fly zone he is effectively in place but is it a no-fly zone over all the coastal areas? where --.

>> the no-fly sown is established over -- zone over libya and we have no indications of air traffic in the last days. >> from boundary to boundary? >> boundary to down dry on the coast. >> chris lawrence from cnn. you mentioned you have very good intelligence and surveillance of what gaddafi's forced are doing on the ground. what specific armament have you observed his forces using on civilians? is he using tanks, mortars? what sort of artillery and capability have you specifically observed? >> thanks for the question. tanks, artillery, rocket

launchers. >> is that outside of the major cities misurata, or are you noticing those being used inside the cities? >> it is outside and there are making incursions into the city and targeting the population centers in those cities with that equipment. the. >> [inaudible]. >> secretary clinton said yesterday there were reports that gadhafi son may have been killed. can you confirm those reports? >> i have no information on that. >> last question.

>> asia today. mr. gadhafi is saying that he will not leave until you leave and no cease-firing. he is still killing his own people on the ground. what i'm asking is, how can you take him out without having your ground forces inside libya -- agreeing with the 1973 u.n. security council as you just said? what is the next step to get him out and --? >> thanks for the question. the coalition is not targeting gadhafi. the focus on our mission is to uphold the u.n. security resolution which includes protecting libyan civilians and enforcing of the no-fly zone. >> what i'm asking, can you achieve your mission of the

u.n. security council 1973 without ground force? >> i lost you there. can you say the question again, please? >> can awe achieve your mission of 1973, u.n. security council resolution, without ground forces? >> our mandate now, is to enforce the no-fly zone and to allow humanitarian assistance to be available to libyan people. >> -- more people? >> got to go. >> with bloomberg again. can you kishg characterize the level of violence against the civilian

population since the allied campaign began on saturday? has it intensified or remained the same? the impression we get from you, it has gotten worse since the allies started bombing. is that accurate? >> our intelligence today is that there is no indication that gadhafi's forces are pulling back from misurata or a.j. dabiya. -- ajdabiya. >> is it intensified from saturday, is what i'm asking. the not what you're doing. the. >> the u.n. security resolution is clear, and that is, that there is a cease-fire and those forces must stop all attacks against civilians. and the forces must stop advancing on those cities. and that humanitarian assistance must be allowed to reach people in libya.

>> okay. admiral, we're out of time here. i will send it back to you for any closing remarks >> thank you. it has been a pleasure to talk with you today. you brought up some tough questions. that's why i'm here to insure you have a clear understanding of what the coalition forces are doing. in my opinion the coalition has accomplished quite a lot together. we'll continue to work together an insure protection of the people of libya against the violence of the current regime and violence and attacks against civilians must stop. while using ground forces for this effort is not an option. let me clarify there is no mistaking our clear commitment to protecting the libyan people. thank you for giving my the opportunity to talk with you today. thanks for the press to take the time to tell the story of efforts our forces are taking to successfully meet the objectives the mission clearly expressed in the united nations security resolution, 1973.

as military and civilian leaders previously said it is a broad international effort. we're working day and night carefully planning the way ahead to transition to a coalition lead for this operation. we're doing our very, very best to move ahead expeditiously yet remain vigilant of our concerns for the future of the people of libya. i'm proud of the work we're doing together and look forward to our future achievements. again, thank you so much for the opportunity. >> during today's prime minister questions in the british house of commons, prime minister david cameron gave an update on the situation in libya and confirmed the continued support of arab leaders for the mission.

>> mr. speaker can i join the pril in paying tribute to the private daniel pryor? he demonstrated outstanding bravery in the line of duty and our prayers with his wife and young son and family and friends. mr. speaker i'm sure the whole house will want to think about armed forces personnel now in action in the military operation in libya and pay tribute to their outstanding work they're doing. prime minister following overwhelming vote in the house on monday update the house on the progress of our military operations and actions of british forces. >> yes, sir. i thank the right honorable gentleman what he said and speech in that debate on monday which i thought was extremely powerful. in terms of updating the house and military operations a no fly zone now is in place over libya. there are 11 nations now contributing over 150 aircraft. i think as we discussed on monday there has been an early and good effect in

terms of regime forces having to retreat from benghazi but clearly there's great concern about what the regime is doing in misurata. and any idea that the second cease-fire was anymore meaningful than the first cease-fire we can see that is complete nonsense. i think we made good progress in the no-fly zone. good progress in terms of turning some of those forces back and protecting civilians. clearly this is early stages and a lot more remains to be done. >> ed milbrand. >> i thank you for the answer and what he said about the debate on monday. we support u.n. resolution 1973 to protect the people of libya. the support of the arab league was a key factor in securing the u.n. resolution. can the prime minister update the house on the military contribution arab states are making to the operation and what conversations he had with arab leaders about their continued role in the enforcement of the resolution and plan of action? >> well, i can do that. first of all the arab league met again yesterday and

again reinforces their view that a no-fly zone is right and they support u.n. security council resolution 1973. in terms of concrete assets i can confirm yesterday they deployed first contribution in the forms of mirage aircraft and support of aircraft we'll get logistics contributions from countries like kuwait and also jordan. i hope further support will be forthcoming but i would be clear about this. because we had to act so quickly on saturday, it wasn't possible to bring forward as much arab support as perhaps would have been welcomed i think by everybody in this house but the clear support is there from the secretary-general of the arab nations. i also had a meeting with the saudi foreign minister yesterday and i believe support in the arab world, not just amongst arab leaders but air rab people -- arab people saving lives in libya very strong. >> mr. ed milibrand. the. >> the importance of

contribution of arab countries to the military operation us but i think you said there would be a more formal progress with the arab league and others. very important to me that that process does take place. let me ask one other think about our action. can the prime minister clarify the government's position regarding targeting of colonel gadhafi? it is very, very important we stick to the terms of u.n. resolution as we seek to maintain the coalition that we have built in relation to the u.n. resolution. >> i'm grateful for that question and the chance to set this out clearly to the house. all our targets must be selected to be absolutely in line with u.n. security council resolution 1973. that allows us to take all necessary measures to enforce a no-fly zone and put it in place as safely as possible and also to take action to protect civilian life. all targets should be in line with that but i don't propose to give a running commentary on targets or frankly say anything beyond that.

>> you can see the prime minister's questions in its entirety sunday night at 9:30 on c-span. also on the our website at c-span.org. we have more live coverage on situation in libya coming up. at 1:00 p.m., carnegie endowment for international peace. lisa anderson will talk about her perspective on political changes in the arab world. you can see live coverage on c-span again at 1:00 eastern. canadian prime minister steven harper presents his budget plan to the house of commons this afternoon. live coverage as the prime minister answers questions about his proposal at 2:15 eastern. he needs at least one of the three opposition parties to support the government or his government could be dissolved by a vote of no confidence.

>> we started whining about japanese. japanese will take us over. we thought we would defeat them in the second world war. they're taking us over in 1970. what is going to happen to america? they will own our country. that's it. we're all out of jobs. then we start whining about the mexicans. we're losing all manufacturing to mexico. look what is taking place. we can not compete, we can't do this, we can't do this. now we're forgetting about mexico and we're whining about chinese and indians. we're a country of whiners. that is all we are. we should have enough confidence we can compete with people if we all sacrifice a little bit. for the common good. >> watch this event from wheaton college, in illinois, tonight 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2.

>> yesterday the treasury department held a conference looking into challenges small businesses face in raising capital. treasury secretary tim geithner announced three states that received funding to help small business. also taking part, the head of the small business administration, karen mills. this is just over 20 minutes. >> good morning. sorry to keep you waiting. sorry i missed mary's introduction. nice to see you all. welcome to this conference on access to capital. i want to begin with just a few acknowledgements and

thanks. first to karen mills who runs the sba who is doing a great job in getting that institution to do a better job helping to provide credit to small businesses. at treasury, mary miller who organized this conference. jeff goldstein, don graves uns runs our small business credit program. rosy rios is here, our treasurer. we have people from the scc, from the occ, from the fed. if we don't i just want to acknowledge the role they play in helping find right balance between regulatory framework that can protect the financial system and yet still make sure banks and markets can provide credit to people with an idea. and we're also joined by a niche chopra, the white house chief technology officer and helped provide a little bit of spark and inspiration for this conference. i want to acknowledge and thank those of you in the room who are entrepreneurs and investors, who have ideas, expertise in this market. we're grateful you're

willing to come share those ideas with us today. we're going to need your expertise and your creativity. we're here today because the ability of entrepreneurs to access financing is essential to building a more competitive economy. we want to explore today how we can help make that happen. what are the barriers to accessing capital and financing. where can the government help? where should the government stay out of the way? what can the private sector do and what, what can the public sector do together to help small companies get access to capital they need to grow? now this financial crisis we're just coming out of caused a lot of damage to the capacity of the innovators to access capital and we can't promote innovation an investment in the united states on the scale we need unless we can do a better job in the future helping innovative companies again gain access to funding. now, in the crisis we moved, very, very quickly to help restart economic growth, reopen markets for capital

and credit and build a stronger financial system that can support innovation. alongside those very broad measures we took to address the crisis we put in place three more targeted specific types of policy measures that can help both startups and small businesses. and let me just run through those to make sure people are aware of the scale of what we did in that context. the first were in the form of tax cuts and incentives. the president signed into law 17 different specific tax cuts for small businesses including eliminating capital gains taxes on investments in small businesses. and raising the amount businesses can expense, immediately expense up to $500,000. second we put in place very substantial increases in funding and incentives for investments in particular industries that have very high, broad, economic, social returns like clean energy and like health care, basic science and research.

and third, we put in place a number of specially designed targeted credit programs both through the sba and alongside the sba, loan guaranties, capital, and aid to states, small business credit programs designed to help make sure there's enough capital in the system and in the wake of the crisis to support growth and financing. just one example in that context, in the under the state, what we call the state small business credit initiative, we provide funding for state and small business credit programs. we've already announced funding for three states, california, michigan, north carolina. and today we're announcing funding for three more states, missouri, connecticut and vermont. and again, this funding is, provides a lot of leverage for the taxpayer's resources, probably roughly 10 to one and we're working with programs with established track record on the ground in states across the country.

now, the broad strategy we helped put in place again is restart economic growth, reopen the broader markets for financing, cost of borrowing, credit terms are improving. equity markets have opened and open for some time but it is still a very tough financing environment for small companies and we want to draw more attention to the remaining challenges facing not just small companies but startups, new companies. now as all of you know over the past few decades we've seen a pretty substantial transformation, structural changes in the financial system including in the way startups fund themselves. at the earliest stages of financing small companies have become more reliant on angel investors, universities or specialty type investment fund. and as these small companies have found their feet, they're waiting longer than ever to go public. financing themselves through multiple private realms of capital-raising. the number of ipos in the united states has declined

significantly. and even though ipos have started to pick up a bit in the wake of the crisis, an increasing number of u.s. companies are choosing to go public in other countries or even deciding to stay private longer. so we want to get a better feel today for where we need to focus the attention on policymakers. and i want you to help us figure out not just what we can do, but how to do it. and of course we're always looking for things we can do quickly without legislation. you are saying we can act without legislation? it is easier for us to act with a little more speed. this gets a chance to get ideas across the country, for market makers, market participants. it is an opportunity to find solutions not just the traditional solution us but new, creative solution and again i'm very grateful that so many people are willing to come share those ideas with us today. i want to begin with just a bit, i want to end with a little bit of optimism. you know, we still are even, with the damage caused by

this crisis, even with the mistakes we made in the design of our financial system, we still have the strongest framework of property rights, the best disclosure requirements, the greatest diversity of financing opportunities for businesses, that you see anywhere in the world. and we want to make sure we build on that fundamental strength of the american financial system, and as we restore a more stable financial system, with better protection for consumers and investors we want to make sure that we focus every day, on trying to make sure that how we rebuild that core strength of our system so important to the growth of so many world class companies today in technology and across industries as a whole, we are a system once again that is the best system in the world for taking the savings of americans and investors around the world and channeling those savings to companies with a, with a great idea. thanks for coming. look forward to hearing your ideas and i want to turn the floor now to karen mills. [applause]

>> well, thank you very much, tim, and i want to thank those folks at treasury, jeff goldstein, mary miller, to continually have leadership in this critical area of access to capital. we've had a really close relationship between the sba and treasury over the past two years and it culminated in the passage of the small business jobs act. the single-most important piece of small business legislation in over 10 years. and it did some of the things that tim talked about. it provided, the small business lending fund, the state small business credit initiative. and allowed us at the sba to put billions of dollars into the hands of small businesses and do some innovative things that will

allow access to credit and other opportunities. i am delighted to see many familiar faces here. i come from the private sector and from the world of providing access to capital from, to small high-growth companies. that is my heritage for about 30 years. and one of the things that i appreciate is that we've got some of the best and the brightest in the room today. now that i'm on this side of the table, on the government side, i know how important it is to have your input right now. so, we really appreciate your taking the time. this is a working meeting. the problems that we're up here to address is how to have a well-functioning capital market that provides the tools that these small businesses need for both kinds of small businesses. we say at the sba a lot, there are two kinds of small

business. you know there is lots and lots of kinds. there are two basic kinds. main street, small business, which are restaurants and dry kleiners and car repair operations and part of our fabric of our daily lives and they provides lots and lots of the jobs in the u.s. half of the people who work in this country own or work for a small business. half of the people. but in fact, when you look at the net job creation it comes from a much smaller segment of high-growth, high-impact small businesses and that is our focus today. but in october 2008, the entire small business credit market froze. and the first thing that we had before us, secretary geithner and the sba and all of us had to step in and get capital into the hands of these small businesses. between the recovery act and the small business jobs act

we were table to do just that. we put $42 billion of sba guaranteed loans into the hands of small businesses and the cost to taxpayers was about $1.2 billion. so pretty good bang for the taxpayer buck. we talk a lot about that in this budget environment. and we're pretty pleased. and we're able to help tens of thousands of small businesses in that very tight credit market. and now we've actually got some good signs in the overall small business credit market. we're going to be talking about credit in one of the panels today. but in the base, main street small business credit market, our volume, at the sba is actually back to pre2008 levels. and, there is a, brand new statistic from pay net they're seeing small business lending increase 14% from january to january 2010, to 11, and loan officers have loosened

credit standards for the third consecutive quarter. so we are seeingsome of the big players come back into small business lending and that's good news. we still do see some gaps in the regular conventional market that in small loans and in loans to the underserved market. and it is not the subject of today but i do want to mention we've just launched two programs under our advantage platform, community advantage to get cdfies, community development financial institutions able to lend under our core sba 7-a program and give more points of access into the underserved markets and small loan advantage where we have done what everybody likes to hear. we have streamlined our sba paperwork. loan application just has two sides. and we have made it possible, our biggest lenders to do

small loans more efficiently because that market is, still has a gap in it. but today we're here to talk about this other segment of the market, the high-growth companies that create really the lion's share of the net jobs in this country. and this is when the president talks about outcompeting outinnovating, winning the future, we are really talking about being able to give these entrepreneurs our core asset, the tools that they need to grow and create jobs. and one of those tools need to be access to capital. what's the lay of the land? well, as tim started to talk about, when the recession hit in 2008, the amount of funding under venture-capital management rolled back. and there are lots of numbers and lots of you have even better numbers but i will throw out a couple. we have 13% less out under

venture-capital management than in 2000. only six vc-backed firms had ipo exits in 2008. i heard a bunch of different numbers this morning but our data shows that's, i'm getting a nod that that's right. six firms in 2008, down from 86 the year before. it is back up a little but not a lot. first half of 2009 early-stage investing deals fell about 40%. we all know about the alysha del vallely of death, the valley of debt is getting wider. number of venture deals, average fund size, number of deals, all dropped. we know that 70% of venture investments actually go to companies in three states. and we also know, and i travel all around the country, that there are high-growth, anyone know

straight tiff companies in every state. so there is potential for commercialization and innovation across the country that is not being tapped. the recession made the hurdles higher for america's entrepreneurs. they're having to wait longer to get access. they have to show more cash. they have to access more cash and more customers before they even talk to somebody about the next stage of financing. and too many of them are finding that hurdle is too high. so they're peeling back. they're putting plans on the shelf. . .

>> and one is under the fda, a program that some of you might know about. it's called the small business investment company program. sbic's, sbic's have been operating actually since 1958. and today we have partnerships -- we run over 300 funds. we have the authority every year to do 3 billion in matching diventures. and we licensees, we provide the matching funds. it is a 0 subsidy program which is in washington talks means no

budget impact to taxpayers. so we have the ability -- we have a great tool here. and thanks to shaun green, where are you, here? we have really been able to turn around this sbic activity. many of you also thought too much paperwork, too much time. that used to be the sba brand. we have a new brand. half the paperwork, half the time. [laughter] >> we last year put a record 1.6 billion in the hands of high growth firms in fiscal 2010. and 1.2 billion in the commitment went to new funds and we have reduced the cycle time and the turn-around in a way that i think you would be happy to see. this is a program that works. in 1969 they invested in a chip manufacturer with 2,000 employees and 500,000 in

revenues. and today it's intel. so we have a long list of the hall of fame of the sbic and there's someone here from capital. raise your hand if you're here. and intel is turning around and being a capital provider. so it's come full cycle and just one other small example of an sbic company that i like. an sbic in 2005 invested $4 million in a drilling equipment company in center rock, pennsylvania. remember i said these innovative companies are everywhere? and they're also in manufacturing? this company owned by brandon fisher increased -- changed from distribution to manufacturing. he makes drill bits. and you may know the name because he was in the first lady's box in the state of the union. he's the one who decided that he -- when he heard about the chilean miners who were trapped, that he could solve that problem

he took a team in his innovative technology, went down chile and stayed down there for weeks and weeks and he was what they called plan b. his drill bit day-to-day is the one that went down to rescued the chilean miners. that's how and you and programs like the sbic can drive in ovation in this entrepreneurial country that we have, in every state in the country. we have made a big investment in driving innovation. it's something called start up america. have any of you heard of startup america. by the end of the day you all will know about start up america. under this initiative we have done some things in this area of access to capital. one of which to take the sbic platform and roll out two new

initiatives. $2 billion. $1 billion will be for what we call impact funds. and we are taking applications now. we want fund managers to partner with us to reach out to people and places and sectors, sectors like green energy, places like states in transformation, michigan, others and underserved communities so that we can create sbic funds that will help lift those special sectors that need impact. and the second you'll all be interested is an early stage innovation fund which will target these firms trying to cross the valley of death. beyond capital under startup america we're doing some other interesting things. as you know, it's not just the capital that makes an entrepreneurial company grow. it's the mentoring and counseling and advice. and we have launched an entrepreneurial mentor core

pilot of the 100 of clean tech companies with the department of energy approximate we're matching them with accelerators across the country to also give them the ability to grow. and finally we are doing something called -- we call a regulatory road show. you may have -- a lot of you have spoken about removing barriers to entrepreneurs. that a good role would be to take away some of the impediments. we've heard this in a high growth conference that we did about a year ago. and the president respondent by issuing a memorandum on the importance of the regulatory fairness act and making sure that we take away impediments to our high growth small businesses and entrepreneurs. we are going to be -- we have been in raleigh-durham. we've been in austin. we've got another 7 or 8 cities to go.

and tomorrow, gene sperling and i will do a round table with fast company. we'll get input on specific ideas to increase the regulatory flexibility for our high growth companies. today, we want to hear from you directly, on a series of issues. particularly focused on access to capital across the lifecycle of firms. so we'll start with early stage capital. we'll talk about the ipo market and then we're also going to talk about debt for high growth companies. we particularly want to know what are the simple things? we want to know what are the simple things that we can do that can make a big difference? for actionable, simple things that you think we can put in our policy structure to make a difference? how can we build on the foundation of some things that are working like we've done, i

think, with the sbic? and what is working right now? and what's not. you are entrepreneurs or you work with entrepreneurs and high growth companies every day. we want to get your input so don't be shy. it's a working session. when you -- when we are able to get together and implement these things, we are doing what is absolutely critical to our american economy. we are helping our small businesses and our entrepreneurs, our grateful assets. we have a foundation in this country of the most entrepreneurial spirit. we have entrepreneurial capital. we have entrepreneurial know-how, a lot of which is in this room. we need to put all those things together so that we can give our high growth small businesses and entrepreneurs the tools that they need so they can go out,

create jobs, outcompete the rest of the world and allow us to win the future and have the american prosperity. thank you very much for coming here. [applause] >> canadian prime minister steven harper presents his budget plan to the house of commons this afternoon. and we'll have live coverage as he answers questions about his proposal. that's at 2:15 eastern. the pm needs at least one of the three opposition parties to support the budget or his government could be dissolved by a vote of no confidence. immigrant workers can now check their eligibility for employment in the u.s. through a homeland security department database. it can also be used to make sure government records are accurate. the system is an extension of e-verify which is being used by government employees to check the status of employees. next, homeland security secretary janet napolitano explains plans to expand it nationwide.

this is about 20 minutes. [inaudible conversations] >> good morning, everybody. >> good morning. >> i'm pleased to be here with you uscis director alejandro to make an important announcement about an improvement to the e-verify system. it's called e-verify self-check. the e-verify system writ large is a tool for employers in the united states to ensure that they are employing a legal work force. we know that illegal immigration is in large part a supply and

demand problem. it is spurred by the demand for illegal labor. and the fact is that employers who hire illegal labor participate in the pool factor of illegal immigration. this administration is firmly committed to addressing this phenomenon. on the one hand, we have already taken historic action against employers who knowingly hire illegal labor. at the same time, however, we're also in expanding and improving the e-verify system so that employers who are attempting to maintain a legal work force can more easily take steps to do so. we're also making ongoing enhancements to improve e-verify's accuracy and efficiency to enhance customer service and reduce fraud and misuse. now, e-verify self-check is a major new development in these

efforts. beginning today, for the first time, individuals in five states and the district of columbia will be able to check their own employment eligibility status before seeking a job. this new service is voluntary. it's fast. it's free. and importantly, it is secure. in this first phase of the self-check rollout users in arizona, idaho, colorado, mississippi, virginia, and the district of columbia will have access to the e-verify self-check service. and we will continue to bring this new service online in other states on a rolling basis as quickly as possible. overall, the e-verify system has proven to be very accurate. it's only getting more accurate with each passing day. however, there are instances where individuals, because of discrepancies in their data are at first incorrectly flagged as perhaps not being work eligible.

these cases are all resolved properly. no one who is eligible to work is prevented from doing so. but the instances where there is a disconnect between data and individual can introduce delay. e-verify self-check gives individuals access to their own employment eligibility status so they can make sure that the system is correct ahead of time. in the case of a data mismatch, it also provides them with the necessary guidance to update their social security administration or dhs record. self-check also benefits businesses by reducing the number of data mismatches experienced when using e-verify. it will decrease the amount of time and resources employers and employees spend resolving mismatches and they are an

overly percentages. we are using the information to prevent misuse. self-checks built in identity assurance tools to ensure an individual can perform an employment eligibility check only on him or herself. now, self-check is one of the many improvements dhs has made to the e-verify system. in the last year, usdis added the ability to verify u.s. passport and u.s. passport card photographs through e-verify reducing identity theft. it enhanced the web interface to make it easier to use and to minimize errors. it launched new initiatives to protect employee rights including streamlining the process for addressing potential cases of discrimination and e-verify misuse establishing a hotline for employees and producing new educational training videos that emphasize

employee rights. now, e-verify self-check takes the uncertainty out of the employment eligibility process. by providing individuals with the information before pursuing employment and strengthening the e-verify program and then also providing individuals with the ability to correct any mistakes in their data. so now let me turn this press conference over to provide you more information about this new service. >> thank you, secretary. thank you all for being here today. we are joined by our federal partners the social security administration and the department of justice's office of special counsel and, of course, our colleagues within the department of homeland security. we at u.s. citizenship and immigration services and all of us throughout the department of homeland security are inspired by secretary napolitano's leadership and her commitment to the character of our country as

a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws. i would like to take this opportunity to add to the secretary's remarks and highlight a few aspects of e-verify self-check, an initiative that we have executed. self-check provides a great service of employers and employees alike and we'll have the continue enhancement of an already successful e-verify program. self-check is a tool for lawful works. it provides them with a fast and secure access to their employment eligibility information. and gives them the opportunity to ensure that their information is accurate and up-to-date before they seek employment. we've made every effort to ensure that using self-check is as intuitive and straightforward as possible. if a user of self-check receives a mismatch, the program provides clear instructions in both english and spanish on how the user can correct his or her records.

preventing anyone from misusing this service and ensuring the security of a user's personally identifiable information are of the utmost importance. in designing self-check we installed critical safeguards to accomplish those goals. self-check's primary mechanism for preventing fraudsters from misusing the service is an identity quiz. self-check prevents attempts to circumvent the identity assurance process and prevents imposters from running a stolen identity through the service, an important protection for individuals who have reported identity theft to credit bureaus and placed a fraud lock on their identity. our agency will identify the service to ensure no one is misusing it. we believe with providing this secure, free and easy to use service they will take advantage of the opportunity, to confirm the accuracy of their employment

eligibility, status before they seek employment. we are proud of self-check and its enhancement of the e-verify program. we are confidence that it will prove to be a valuable tool for employees and employers alike. i will now turn the lectern over to michael, who is the chief of special operations in our verification division and also the chief architect of this new service to walk us through an interactive demonstration of e-verify self-check. i want to thank and commend michael and his fantastic team for their dedication and extraordinary work in making this possible. michael? >> thank you very much. what i'd like to do at this point is to walk you guys through kind of a quick demonstration of how the e-verify self-check service works. so you can kind of see it live in action. this is an interactive preview that's kind of a canned demo. if anyone is interested running themselves through self-check after this press conference happens there are a bunch of

computers set up in the back where we can enable that to happen. but to get started, this would be the website and kind of the first page for e-verify self-check. it's kind of where we tell you a little bit about the service, a little bit of a sales job of why it's a benefit to you. you'll notice also on the side we have a how to use self-check, know your rights which is particularly important to us that a self-check user knows his or her rights. they know that an employer can make them use self-check in terms of employment. we worked very closely with dhs privacy community and the privacy community in developing the self-check service and we wanted to state our commitment to privacy to the users so they know their information is protected. and then extensive questions and answers. if i'm interested in using it i would hit the start self-check button. and this -- you notice kind of the branding of the page has changed. we have now left the usdid.gov

hosted and now you're in the host application itself. you have to agree to use terms to -- to terms of use in a privacy statement and read and agree to those terms. but if i agree, this is the first step so now you're kind of in the application, and you'll notice the process graphic at the top. there are four steps and kind of two phases to self-check. the first phase is establishing your identity. so i would have to give my first name, last name, date of birth and my address. we would take that information. hit continue. review and confirm the information that's provided to make sure i wasn't going too fast and i did a typo. i hit confirm. and then this screen pops up. what happens next? and this is very important from our perspective to tell the user why we collected the information from them, what we're doing with that information and most importantly, that dhs is not going to be provided the

questions that you are asked, the multiple choices you choose. we contacted with a third-party identity assurance service to essentially tell us to authenticate some of these identity and then respond back to the government in saying this person is good to go and you should enable them to check their own work authorization status. i would hit continue. and i'll take a typical user's path. okay. so what i did here is the information i provided went out. was checked by our third-party identity assurance service both public and credit records. we found a match and then we -- from that information in the person's record we generated a knowledge-based quiz to the user. we rebrand the screen and it's a visual cue and this is not homeland security asking you these questions. but i would click through these answers through these particular questions and follow a typical

user's path. and as you can see, welcome to e-verify self-check you have successfully completed the identity assurance process and are ready to confirm your work eligibility. and i'm now in the confirmed work eligibility phase of the demo. so i would enter information here basically exactly from my form i-9 because you're doing an e-verify check on yourself. you'll notice we pulled the name and date of birth that happened in the identity assurance process so this isn't a case where mike can authenticate his identity and run somebody else's information to confirm their work eligibility. you can only confirm your own work eligibility. so i would enter social security number, my citizenship status, i'd hit continue. and take a typical user's path. work authorization confirmed. so what happened there was the information bounced up against social security, matched with social security, and my name, my date of birth and my social security number and social security has responded back to

us and by extension the user that the person's work authorization has confirmed. and the important part here is we tried to make the screen as colloquial as possible because this is not a work authorization credential. this is telling you at this point in time, if the information you provided was taken by your employer and run through e-verify, you would check out as work authorized. if i self-check myself successfully and then six months from now i was run through e-verify, i can still get a mismatch if my status has changed. i've changed my name, if my employer gives a typo but what this gives is peace of mind to the user that i would successfully go through e-verify based on the information i provided and my work authorization records that the government has compared favorably to what i have. so thank you very much for the opportunity to show this to you.

>> we'll now take questions. >> hi, good morning. i have two questions. i would like -- if you could please talk a little bit more in detail about the mismatches you mentioned. i would like to know how many mismatches you get out of how many total results of the e-verify? what is the impact of this mismatches in the operation? and what's the goal? you expect to bring it down to how many mismatches and by what? and the other question i'll ask later. >> just to make sure everybody heard. what is our level of mismatches in the e-verify program? what is our goal? what is the impact? e-verify is accurate as confirming an individual who is, in fact, work authorized more than 96% of the time. of course, our goal is 100% accuracy but please remember

that a tentative nonconfirmation which is sometimes referred to as a mismatch may not be a function of any inaccuracies in government databases but may, in fact, be a function of a prospective employer, a new employee's failure to update government records so, for example, a newly married individual who has changed his or her surname may not have updated that change of surname in government databases which could yield a tentative nonconfirmation. the importance of e-verify self-check is to give a prospective employee the opportunity to ascertain whether any such tentative nonconfirmation would result from the use of e-verify and if it is, in fact, the result of an inaccuracy, correct that inaccuracy before a job is sought.

[inaudible] >> we receive -- i don't have the precise volume of e-verify checks, but we are having about 1200 new employers sign up every week. we have over 850,000 work sites using e-verify. and over 250,000 employers use e-verify now. >> i wanted to be a little bit more on the procedure side. is this meant to correct mismatches as you call them? what's the benefit for the employee to self-check if the employer is not participating in e-verify as it remains a voluntary service for most employers in the country? >> well, this -- e-verify self-check enables an employee to check his or her work

eligibility before he or she seeks employment. and it enables the employee to have the certainty that should he or she apply for a job, where an employer does use e-verify, that the work eligibility will be confirmed. it also assists an employee just generally before entering the job market to know that the government records are indeed up-to-date. >> a little follow-up on what fernando just asked. do you have any plans to make e-verify mandatory for private companies in the short term? i mean, that seems to be an advance to the program. you said you're improving the system. so it looks like you are going that way. and the second question is, what's the next step for the

program in the short term? >> in answer to your question, the mandating of e-verify requires legislative action. we believe that e-verify is a very valuable tool and, in fact, the most effective tool currently to enable employers to ensure the lawfulness of their work force. the next steps in the e-verify self-check program as the secretary noted we have launched the first phase in six states, and our goal is to have this program available throughout the country within 12 months. >> i understand you're currently using the identification systems using credit checks and so on to make sure that person a cannot run person b's e-verify

self-check. at the same time it seems to be a fairly powerful tool to detect someone who is using, for example, a fake social security number. are there any plans to use this kind of third-party verification systems for regular e-verify? and i have a couple of follow-up questions beyond that. >> we are looking at the use of this self-assurance tool on a broader scale. we do not have the legal authority to impose this obligation as a part of the employer/employee relationship. we cannot compel employers ourselves now under our current authorities to use a self-check process, that an employee should use the self-check process. >> are they doing anything or concerned about the extent of social security fraud that many critics say the e-verify system is vulnerable to? >> we most certainly are. one of the key developments that we achieved this past year in

2010 was the availability of passport photo identification to address and combat identity fraud. and that is a continual effort on our part. >> michael with fox news. madam secretary, if i could ask you a quick question off-topic. there is a security breach last week related to rfa. >> uh-huh. >> do you consider that a new vulnerability that dhs has identified? and what is dhs doing to address the problem both with fiber companies and with the public. >> yeah, we've been heavily involved in the rsa matter for a matter of days now. and that has been at several levels. one is working across the federal government with respect to identifying any breaches there that were rsa-related and making sure those are repaired and then also intersecting with the private sector particularly, the critical infrastructure

parts of the private sector. and we've been using our u.s. cert capability with which to do that. and having a number of other interactions over the course of the past week with respect to rsa. and i think what we are seeing there is what we are seeing now and it's just -- it's just an illustration of the ever-evolving nature of threats that we have to adapt to, deal with and get ahead of, and that, of course, the cyberthreat right now. and with respect to rsa, the extent of that. >> nicholas fallacy of cns news. a question for madam secretary. do you -- do you think the federal government should take legal action against utah for preempting the federal government in passing immigration laws one of which

authorizes a guest worker program? well, that's a question for the attorney general. the department of justice have taken action against arizona 1070 with respect to the principle but with respect to the utah law that's up to the department of justice. .. >> you can well imagine the discriminatory impact of that. e-verify is to be used for individuals who recently have

been hired by an employer, and if, in fact, there's a tentative nonconfirmation with respect to that employee's eligibility, the employees has eight business days in which to resolve that. the benefit of e-verify self-check is it alleviates that burden on the employee, so now the employee can ensure that his or her work authorization is confirmed upon the use of e-verify before that eight day business day period is triggered. and, of course, it takes away the burden from the employer at the time. >> thank you all very much. >> thank you very much. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] >> there are computers in the back of the rim for e-verify self-check with privacy. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> yesterday canada's finance minister jim flaherty delivered his administration's budget to parliament. today prime minister stephen harper answers questions about the budget from house of commons. we'll have live coverage of that story at 2:15 p.m. this is about 35 minutes and courtesy of cpac.>>

>> mr. speaker, today our government, the next phase of canada's economic action plan, and low tax plan for jobs andor [appe]. [applause] >> since 2006 our government hao worked hard to deliver real benefits to canadians, real support for the challenges of ge real world. we got the gsd twice from seven 7%six to 5%. we introduced -- we introduced ue 1200-dollar per year universal childcare benefits. we established attacks savingsgs account.we r we remove more than 1 million

low income canadians from the tax roll. the list goes we d we deliver these benefits to support the financial security ptecting an families while protecting health care and pension. in good times and challenging circumstances, our government has made responsible c ohoices. when times were good we pay doww debt.wn we strengthened our already strong financial sector. we delivered more than 120 tax cuts families, and jobs-creating not trooper infopreneurs'. we also rejected calls from the opposition to a poll the job- killing carbon tax. -- to uphold the job-killing carbon tax. [cheers and applause] most importantly, when the global recession hit, canada was able to meet the challenge head- on and through canada's economic

action plan, we delivered further tax cuts to help stimulate our economy. >> mr. speaker, we enhanced unemployment benefits and expanded retraining for those hit hardest by the global recession. we also made historic investments in roads, bridges, public transit, and fire education. creating jobs across the country and building the foundation for long-term growth. >> canada is emerging from the global recession as one of the world's top-performing advanced economies. [applause] throughout the recession, the world has looked too can add that as a model and an inspiration, but still, there is

more to be done. the global economy is still fragile. the u.s. and other trading partners are facing challenges. compared to other countries, canada's economy is performing very well. but our continued recovery is by no means assured. many threats remain. >> in this time of global uncertainty, our government is focused on the number one priority of canadians. we're focused on securing our economic recovery. we are focused on improving the financial security of canadian workers, seniors, and families. we have a plan to achieve these goals, a plan that is working, and we need to stay on track. >> speaker, the next phase of canada's economic action plan is critically important. to secure our recovery from the

global recession, canada needs a principled stable government. [cheers and applause] now is not the time for instability. it would make it harder for canadian businesses to plan and to expand. it would drive investment away to other countries. it would jeopardize the gains we have made. our government will provide a steady hand needed to secure our recovery and strengthen the financial security of canadians. we have a balanced plan to achieve these goals, a low tax plan for jobs and growth. mr. speaker, the parliament faces a choice. it is a choice between stability and uncertainty. it is a choice between principle and opportunism. our government is focused on securing our recovery from the

global recession. we will keep taxes low. we will undertake additional targets that investments to support jobs and growth. we will control government spending and stay on track to eliminate the deficit. [cheers and applause] we will not cut transfer payments for crucial services -- [cheers and applause] in education. we will not cut those transfers for health care, like the previous government did. [applause] and we will not give in to opposition demands to impose massive tax increases. [cheers and applause] this is a reckless policy that would lead to a continuing

deficits and higher taxes for all canadians. it would stall our recovery, kill hundreds of thousands of jobs, and said families back. mr. speaker, the steamroll comes from the private sector. >> we will help businesses to create jobs. we will not raise taxes on growth. this is a key principle moving forward in the next phase of canada's economic action plan. i encourage all the honorable members of this house to examine in detail the comprehensive plan we are presenting today. for now, i will mention just a few highlights. >> first, a low tax plan to create jobs. since july 2009, the canadian economy has created more than 480,000 new jobs.

[cheers and applause] still, we remain concerned about the number of canadians looking for work. we need to keep predicting in creating jobs now. we need to keep building the foundation for long-term growth. a key part of that foundation is low taxes. our government has delivered tax relief for all canadians. through our cuts togst and personal income tax, the average canadian family of four is saving more than $3,000. [applause] our tax cuts are also helping employers to invest, grow, and create jobs. our commitments to lower taxes is supported by its strong consensus that protecting

canada's tax advantages key to securing our recovery. it is key to creating jobs now and to ensuring long-term growth. that means greater job security for workers and greater financial security for their families. our government will preserve this advantage for canada. we will keep taxes low to keep creating jobs for canadians. [applause] mr. speaker, i even so, in the current global economic climate, many businesses remain hesitant to invest and hire. now it is time for the private sector to invest again. our government will take further action to encourage them to expand and create jobs. to encourage small business to hire new employees, we will provide a new targeted incentives. the hiring credit for small

business will provide a one-year ei rate for some 525,000 canadian small businesses. [applause] this measure will reduce payroll costs for new jobs and encourage hiring. mr. speaker, we will also take further action to help the manufacturing and processing sector to encourage investment and job creation. we will extend the 50% straight line accelerated capital cost allowance for manufacturing -- [cheers and applause] [inaudible] this will help businesses and headquarters to invest and improve productivity and stay competitive. it will benefit a broad range of industries, including paul and paper, primary manufacturing,

computers and electronics, and the automotive industry. phew >> mr. speaker, to support the canadian forestry industry, we will extend the current forest innovation and market development programs. [applause] in addition, through a consultative process involving the aerospace industry's association of can and and and their member firms, we will conduct a comprehensive review of policies and programs to develop a federal policy framework to maximize the competitiveness of canada's aerospace and space industry. [applause]

mr. speaker, beyond this, we will promote new export opportunities for all canadian businesses. canada is one of the world's great trading nations. we need to keep expanding our access to foreign markets, to create new jobs here at home. our government has signed a trade agreements with eight countries, and we have launched negotiations with some 50 other countries, including india and the european union. [cheers and applause] to support these expanding trade relationships, we will modernize canada's customs tariff legislation. this will cut red tape, make it easier for canadian businesses to compete internationally. also, we will extend export development canada's tiberi powers to support canadian businesses in the domestic financing market for an additional year. [applause]

we will also enhance canada's engagement with india through stronger bilateral ties along -- among business people, public servants, researchers, and academic institutions. in the next phase of canada's economic action plan, our government will also take further action to support families and communities to build a higher quality of life for all canadians. we will provide greater financial security for canadians and practical help to help make ends meet. mr. speaker, canadians were card looking after their families and contributing to their communities. -- canadians work hard. many individuals and families and added responsibilities in caring for ill parents are relatives. these family caregivers make special sacrifices, often

leaving the work force temporarily and for going employment income. one may be caring for her mother, just as her mother once cared for her. another maybe at home full-time to look after her young son, who has a disabling illness. another may be helping his wife as she faces the challenges of ms. each family caregiver is unique, but all of them are generous canadians. they are our neighbors, our friends, our family, and that they deserved some extra help. to recognize and support canadians caring for in firm to

loved ones, we will establish a new family caregiver tax credit. [applause] this new tax credit will be on an amount of $2,000 and will benefit more than 500,000 canadians caring for loved ones. it will include, for the first time, those caring for sick spouses, common law partners, and miners in children. who had a disabling childress -- and minors for children who had a disabling illness. >> for so many canadian children, involvement in the arts is a part of growing up. whether it is dance, music lessons, or camp, it is a great way to make friends and develop

creativity. but for some families, the fees and costs involved in be beyond their reach. to help parents in providing these important opportunities for their children, we will establish a new children's art tax credit, covering up the $500 per child -- [cheers and applause] mr. speaker, in an addition, we will further help families make their homes more energy efficient by extending for one year the eco energy retrofit homes program. [applause] this will help families lower their energy bills and support jobs and home renovation. mr. speaker, we will also take action to help low-income

seniors. in communities across our country, there are seniors struggling to pay their bills each month. often, their women. often, their widowed. they worked hard their whole lives for their families and communities but lag any pension incomes. to provide greater support to seniors most in need, we will provide a top-of benefit to the guaranteed income supplement. -- a top-up benefit to the guaranteed income supplement. [cheers and applause] this new measure will provide up to $600 extra per year for single seniors, and up to $840 per year for senior couples. [applause] mr. speaker, it will improve the financial security of some

680,000 canadians who helped build our country to help them live their senior years in dignity. mr. speaker, our government will also provide an additional help to canadians saving for retirement, including self- employed canadians, through a new low-cost pension option. we will work with our provincial and territorial partners to implement the registered pension plan as soon as possible. federal provincial and territorial governments are continuing work on options for a modest enhancement to the canada pension plan. any changes to the ccp will require a consensus among

government and reflect the need to protect canada's economic recovery. >> as i mentioned earlier, through canada's economic action plan, we have implemented the largest federal investment in infrastructure in over 60 years. [applause] going forward, we will work with the provinces, the territories, the federation of canadian municipalities, and other stakeholders to develop a new long-term plan for public infrastructure. we will also introduce legislation to confirm permanent funding for municipal infrastructure through the gas tax fund. [applause] >> here here. [applause] >> this will ensure a stable and

predictable source of revenue for the renewal of local infrastructure to improve the quality of life in our cities and towns. mr. speaker, our government will also take action to strengthen rural and remote communities. the number of doctors and nurses in canada has increased in a six years, but canadians in some regions of the country continue to experience a shortage. we will help address this problem by for giving a portion of federal student loans for new doctors, nurses, and nurse practitioners to agree to practice in underserved, rural, or remote areas. [applause] mr. speaker, we will provide $52 million over the next two years to support programs for

aboriginal communities across the country, including those in the territories. these investments could support to assist first nations to upgrade and replace their essentials fuel tanks on reserves. [applause] mr. speaker, we will also take action to support volunteer firefighting services in rural communities. [cheers and applause] >> here here here here. here here. [applause] >> volunteer firefighters sacrifice their time and some encourage fences to provide a crucial service.

as we were reminded just days ago by the tragic fire in ontario, they are also willing to sacrifice their lives to protect others. [applause] we will recognize the importance of this noble necessary work and helps sustain volunteer fire departments by establishing a new volunteer firefighters tax credit. [applause] mr. speaker, in addition to these concrete measures to strengthen communities, our government will keep investing in the knowledge and skills canadians need to prosper over the long term in the global economy. since 2006, we have made major investments in research and development, in post secondary education, and skills training. as noted in the recent issue of the chronicle of higher

education, canada is increasingly attracting top talent from all are around the world. canada has gone from a brain drain to bring gain, -- to brain gain, and the world is taking notice. [applause] mr. speaker, in reporting research and development, our goal is to promote innovation. and ultimately, to create good new jobs for canadians. in the next phase of canada's economic action plan, we will build on our successful investments so far. we will establish additional can add that excellence research shares. we will invest in a world class research through support for the perimeter institute, brain

canada, and -- [speaks french] we will extend and vince research funding to students and researchers that canada's colleges and pauly techniques. we will establish 30 industrial research chairs that colleges and schools across canada. we will also provide new support for joint commercialization projects between colleges, universities, and companies. [applause] alongside our investments in research and development and in higher education, our government has also made substantial investments in it skills training.

our goal is to help canadian workers reach the next stage of their career and to seek new opportunities in the years to come. >> to koster competitiveness in the digital economy, we will encourage colleges to work with small businesses to accelerate the adoption of information and communication technologies. we will promote student enrollment in both the secondary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs. we will also provide tax relief for canadians who are required to certify their skills in carpentry, medicine, and other fields by making their exam fee is eligible for the tuition tax credit. [applause] mr. speaker, to respond to increased demand for help in career transition through post

secondary education, we will enhance the canada student loans program for part-time students. [applause] to help older workers who may need special help to re-enter the workforce, we will extend the target initiative for older workers. mr. speaker, over the past two years, work-sharing has protected almost 280,000 jobs. our government will continue helping businesses to retain employees and keep canadians working. to continue protecting canadian johns, we will enhance and extend the work-sharing program. -- to continue protecting canadian jobs, we will enhance the program. we will also take further action to support the outstanding canadians who have served our country in uniform. we will build on our continuing substantial support for career

transition services and serve veterans affairs canada. in addition, our support for additionhelmets to heart hats program will help find work in construction. [applause] our great canadian veterans have earned our deepest gratitude at highest respect. this is just one more practical way to provide the support they deserve. mr. speaker, the next phase of canada's economic action plan is designed to build on our actions so far. it is our plan to create jobs now and sustain economic growth for years to come. looking ahead, can add the's leading private sector economists project steady growth over the next few years. still, the plan our government

is presenting today is based on a cautious estimate of canada's economic growth in the near term. it reflects our government's consistent responsible, and balanced approach to the economy. mr. speaker, a key part of that balanced approach is our commitment to sound fiscal policy. among other things, a sound fiscal policy requires that we protect the integrity of the tax system. as promised in the speech from the throne last year, we will keep taxes low, while taking action to close unfair tax loopholes that allow a few businesses and individuals to take advantage of the canadians who pay their fair share. >beyond this and most of all,

sound fiscal policy requires that we return to a balanced budget. can add up's deficit is much smaller than that of most other advanced countries. we are emerging from the global recession with the lowest net to gdp ratio of any g-7 economy by far. [applause] even so, we must not be complacent. we must ensure that canada remains financially sound. then we can continue building a future of hope and opportunity for all canadians. the global recession required extraordinary investments to protect canadians, to stimulate dowry economy come and to create jobs. canadians understand that a temporary deficit was necessary to limit the impact of the

global recession in canada, and all parties in parliament agreed. going forward, to secure our recovery, we must now focus increasingly on controlling government spending. we must complete the transition from providing temporary stimulus to ensuring long-term economic growth. to that end, we will continue implementing our plan to eliminate the deficit in return to a balanced budget by 2015. [cheers and applause] >> hree here here here. >> first of all, we will complete our stimulus package as promised. secondly, we will continue specific measures to restrain the growth of government program spending. third, we will complete, within

the next year, a comprehensive review of government spending. this strategic and operating review is designed to realize substantial additional savings through greater efficiency and effectiveness. it will place us in a strong position to resume paying down government debt and to continue investing in priorities and supporting canadian families. >> mr. speaker, our government has laid out the next phase of canada's economic action plan. a low tax plan for jobs and growth. it is based on our extensive consultations with canadians from coast to coast to coast. it reflects their values and response to their priorities. our plan does not say yes to

every demand. it does not contain massive new spending. because that is not leadership. >> leadership is about finding a balance between the needs. it is about staying focused on our number one priority, security and our economic recovery by creating jobs and growth now and in the years to come. we believe that the honorable members of the opposition will recognize that our plan addresses practical concerns with responsible solutions. as i said earlier, today, parliament faces a choice. a choice between opportunism or working together to secure our recovery and strengthen the financial security of canadians. our government is focused on providing the principle that a stable government our country

needs at this challenging but promising time in our history. we will keep taxes low and preserve can add that's advantage in the global economy to keep creating jobs for canadians. we will strengthen the financial security of canadian workers, seniors, and families. by implementing the next phase of canada's economic action plan, we could keep building a higher quality of life for our families and communities. by choosing to act in the best interest of our country, we can ensure a bright future for our children and grandchildren. we invite all honorable members to support our low tax plan is for jobs and growth. [cheers and applause]

[applause] >> in a few moments we will return life to the canadian parliament as prime minister stephen harper presents his budget plan to the house of commons today. prime minister needs at least one of the opposition parties to the side with his budget for his parliament could be dissolved. and killed in a portion an abortion debate from the british

house of commons today as the chancellor of the exchequer george osborne presented his budget proposal. this segment later leader had no been criticized the government budget policies and the leader of the liberal democrat party for being an accomplice to the governments problems.eaker, >> mr. speaker, what is the w chancellor's singularor's achievement, to deliver a budgee for growth?recast. down this year to 1.7%, downgraded next year, also. mr. deputy speaker it didn't - happen by chance but it happened by choice. his choice. choice. it's the wrong choice to go too far and too fast. in his own words in the june budget, he chose to go 40 billion pounds further and faster in tax rises and spending cuts than our plan to half the

deficit in four years. it seems in consumer confidence fall every month since the general election. in his first budget the chancellor promised steady and sustained economic recovery. and when last september's growth figures came out, the chancellor took the credit. he called the figures a vote of confidence in the government's economic policy. [laughter] >> but when the economy contracted in the fourth quarter, what did he do? he blamed the snow. mr. deputy speaker, even he -- even he must appreciate the irony. because while the prime minister was grounded from his trip to thailand, he was on the piece of cloisters. i guess it was a right type of holiday but a one trip for our economy. mr. deputy speaker, what is it about the british snow? because they had worse snow? germany. a big freeze in france. in the u.s., the worst blizzards

of the decades. but despite all of that, but despite of all that, their economies grew in the fourth quarter. and while our growth has worsened, theirs have improved. the german economy -- the chancellor -- the chancellor should just calm down just a little bit, mr. deputy speaker. the german economy is forecast to grow more strongly than it was last year. so is the united states. growth in the world economy has been revised up. but which is the major country downgrading its growth forecast, the united kingdom. mr. deputy speaker, it's not the wrong type of snow to blame. it's the wrong type of chancellor. it's the wrong type of chancellor in the wrong type of government with the wrong priorities for britain. mr. deputy speaker, mr. deputy speaker -- >> courtesy should be shown but

can i say to everybody, the public also wants to hear what the opposition has got to say. if the cabinet members do not want to listen, then please leave the chair. some people may agree, some may disagree. the opposition? >> they shout and sneer when it hits the highs. he also promised in his june budget that he would deliver low inflation. and what happened? inflation has risen months after months after months. and it didn't simply happen by accident. it happened because he took the wrong decision on v.a.t. same old taxes, same old tories. and he promised us falling unemployment, too. and what has happened since he gave his first budget? over 60,000 more people looking for work. to this tory government, just like the ones of the past,

unemployment is still is price worth paying. and when people heard -- and when people heard the chancellor's budget speech today, they will wonder what world he was describing. i think the chancellor should listen to this because -- because -- well, in the constituencies, in the constituencies of over 130 members of this house, 10 people are chasing every vacancy. 1 in 5 young people is looking for work. families are seeing their family finances squeezed, not this year but year after year. and mr. deputy speaker, what does the government say to communities losing their jobs? let me tell you the people of the newport justifying the closing of their passport office. they say the redundantly would provide a boost in trade for the local economy. mr. deputy speaker, what kind of planet do these people live on? on growth, on inflation, on

unemployment, on the promises he made, the chancellor couldn't bring himself to admit that his second budget tells the story of the failure of his birth. at this stage of the recovery, growth should be powering ahead. unemployment should be falling fast. and every month when unemployment is higher than it should be, it throws up long-term damage. every month when growth is low as it should be it hits the potential of our economy. the problem is instead of committing it, he refuses to change course. what did the energy secretary say? if the figures change the government should not be lashed to the mark of their reckless gamble. it should be willing to change and think again. now, mr. deputy speaker, it's not as if they haven't had practice of the u-turn business. they're becoming the past masters on forecasts, school sports, housing benefits for those looking for work even for the vanity but on the lashed to

mast they are least willing to change. now we learned something new about the chancellor. apparently his political aspirations is to be a blend of nigel lawson and michael hessletimes. mr. speaker, another comparison brings to mind. the same hubris and arrogance of the early 1990s. the same broken promises. the same views of unemployment is a price worth paying. he's norman lamont with an ipod, mr. speaker. and no doubt on his playlist, jenna regret. [laughter] >> mr. deputy speaker, this is not a growth budget, it's not a jobs budget. it's a budget for more of the same. from a complasent arrogant chancellor and a complacent arrogant government. it's hurting but it isn't

working. and let's not forget, mr. deputy speaker, these are not just the chancellor's decisions. they are not just the prime minister's decisions. they're the deputy prime minister's decisions, too. he is an accomplice to the tory plan. when it comes to the economy, the man who coined the phrase, long live britain, has a snooze button truly on. nobody voted for this plan. least of all his liberal democrat voters who are >> a portion of debate of british house of commons after the british budget statement today. we wish we'd a statement in its entirety at about 3 p.m. eastern here on c-span2. the canadian finance minister presented the federal budget to the house of commons yesterday, and soon after the lives of the opposition party announced they

would oppose it. and now canadian prime minister stephen harper takes questions along with his cabinet at. he needs the support of at least one of the opposition parties in order to govern. if he can't get the support for the budget he needs, it could result in the dissolution of parliament and parliamentary elections. live coverage courtesy of the cpac. we expect the canadian prime minister stephen harper in just a moment. >> earlier today, an explosion occurred in jerusalem. canada strongly condemns the cowardly act of terror against the israeli people. our sympathies are with the victims and a fellow. terrorism must be rejected. the comprehensive just can only be reached through negotiation. this heinous act of terror cannot be tolerated. those behind this criminal act must be brought to justice and

held accountable. further, we urge both parties to return to the peace negotiating table as soon as possible. our government stands by the people of israel on this tragic news. [applause] >> the honorable -- [applause] >> the honorable member for london. >> canada -- [inaudible] >> the canadians maternal death ratio has been growing steadily since 1990. there are many factors that contribute to this including rising obesity rate, and an increase in overall maternal age. to reverse this trend we need investment in education and women's health.

specifically, families -- [inaudible] another factor affecting gender equality is access to regulate affordable child care. 's budget -- the government failed to take steps to increase the number of affordable day care spaces like it's liberal predecessor, yet again to introduce a national childcare program that would give canadian women a much-needed boost in the direction of equality. >> mr. speaker, the people keep telling us they don't want an election and they find it illogical that the opposition, the opposition is going against help for seniors to bring more dr. stern regions, all of the measures intended to help families as well. i'm confident that these people are pashtun will remember the

label coalition is only interested in raising tax, killing jobs in the region and retailing all arguments in order to is save power. they have listened and health consultations and introduce a responsible budget that will not further -- but future generations into debt. we have to keep our economy viable, taxes low and jobs growing. that is what we expected in the budget, not useless elections. the honorable member. >> you already knew it but the budget prove the environment is not on the conservative's list of priorities. people have been calling for a tax break for the oil companies. the conservatives are cautious and adjusting to the oil sands bring into the liberal, to the traditional oil and gas sectors which represent a ridiculously decrease. where as, the $100 million will

be allocated to the develop of clean energy here for consumers are getting more than $405 million. the $1.3 billion over the last four years could have sustained aid to the environ to the eco-energy program. if it had been infested in its imprint and extensions. which has only been renewed for one year. whereas the kyoto framework constitutes the basic instrument in order to reach the binding reduction that we have, we have to realize the conservatives are not acting. >> the honorable member. >> the prime minister, gives billions for stealth fighters, corporations, but only transfer for families. the families, the finance minister has ruled that any compromise and the conservatives

have new attacks add on the air that prove they wanted the budget to fail all alone. by hiding the cost of their still fighting some parliament the conservatives have been sold out in the canadians, and it means we can't trust their budget members. [speaking in french] >> translator: the charges and jail time for breaking election laws as well as the investigations. now he wants an election to avoid scrutiny from the auditor general on his disgraceful $1 billion g20 photo op. tricky liberals can no longer support and out of touch and out of control that deceit committees and attacks our democracy. the prime minister doesn't make the rules. canadian to do. >> the next stage of canada's economic action plan is critically important for candidates economic recovery.

it is a low tax plan of critical importance to the finance the security of canadian families. however, the liberal leader has united once again as a coalition prepared to defeat this budget. it seems not to matter to the opposition that this budget includes a sound measures that address the needs of hard-working canadians. it provides strong initiative to support job creation, and continued economic growth. it contains significant new support for families in local communities. this budget provides the opposition party with a clear choice. whether to place her own political ambitions ahead of canada's national security and forces an unnecessary election because their thinking only of themselves. we encourage them to do precisely that. >> order.

>> oral questions. the honorable leader of the opposition. [applause] [applause] >> mr. speaker, spending billions of dollars on stealth fighters, corporate tax cuts, and mega- prisons means that you have to shortchange the canadian family. there's nothing in this budget on affordable housing. there's nothing here on childcare. there's nothing to support our health system. and these are the priorities of needing families. why is this, i miss out of touch and out of control? [applause] >> the budget was presented yesterday by the minister of finance focus on the, was our most vulnerable senior citizen,

living in poverty, whether its support for volunteer firefighters who do an excellent job, there's support for them. [applause] 's whether it's support for health care which would have risen by 36%, mr. speaker, an unprecedented commitment to public health care, mr. speaker, the liberal party he will not know because he was not here, cut health care by $25 million but i know that because the member from toronto center told me so. >> order. order. audible leader of the opposition. order. >> mr. speaker, the priorities of this government make no sense to canadians. they expect more in a single day at the g20 than they spend on seniors in the year. they are about to spend 1000 times more on jets than helping students get a college or university education.

no canadian can understand those priorities. why is this prime minister so out of touch? >> order. >> the priority is to bring canada into a reckless collection and to form a coalition. that, mr. speaker, is not in the interest of hard-working canadians. what canadians told us is seniors living in poverty need help and it's in the. volunteer firefighters need support, and it's in the. the men and women who work in our hospitals need an increase in transportation and it is in there, mr. speaker. the liberal leadership of the site his own interest and do the right thing for canadians and support this budget. [applause] >> the honorable leader of the opposition. we cannot support this budget, mr. speaker, because these priorities are bad for canadians.

1000 times more for prisons than force youth crime prevention. nothing for affordable housing, nothing for day care. but billions for mega-prisons and gifts for large corporations. why is this prime minister so disconnected from the priority of the canadians? >> the liberal party cannot find billions of dollars or these fighter jets, cannot find billions of dollars -- look at what canadians are saying about the budget. the canadian taxpayers federation, the government should be -- [shouting] >> the canadian labour conference, this is a win for every seniors living in canada. [cheers and applause] >> mr. speaker, environmental defense to renew funding for the

chemical management plant, mr. speaker, these are good benefits to canadians. he should set aside his own ambition and stand up for canada, mr. speaker,. >> order. the honorable leader of the opposition. [speaking in french] >> translator: mr. speaker, we have another problem with this government. they are investigating a mr. carson, a former chief of staff of the prime minister, four of the prime minister's closest advisers may end up in prison for electoral fraud. the government is just a breath away from being found in contempt apartment. will the prime minister and the government finally admit their responsibility for the abuse of power? >> the honorable government house leader. >> mr. speaker, we will not tolerate anyone breaking the law. we brought in tough reforms, mr. speaker, to make canada's government more accountable but

we believe in those reform. when these allegations were brought to our attention we informed the authorities. that was the right thing to do, mr. speaker. another right thing to do would be for this leader of the opposition to put aside his call for the government to raise taxes by 6 million get behind our job creating economic plan contained in the budget. >> the honorable leader of the opposition. >> mr. speaker, the problem here is the conservative government is on the edge of being found in contempt of parliament. they are investigating what the prime minister's former chief of staff, four of the closest clapboards of the prime minister face accusations of election fraud. after the content that this pattern reveals for canadians and for the institutions, is it any wonder that this government will be rewarded with content in return? [applause] >> the audible government.

-- the honorable government house leader inspect the leader party who showed content, tragedy doesn't accept the fundamental democratic principle that the person with the most votes wins elections, mr. speaker. he wanted to establish a coalition. and now, mr. speaker, the coalition is back again, mr. speaker. .. with many instances of the

contempt for parliament and democracy confirm one thing. q-quebec québec is can no longer trust such a government. the honorable member of affairs. >> mr. speaker my colleague table the budget yesterday that perfectly matches the aspirations and priorities of quebecers. economic recovery, job creation mr. speaker, low-level, acceptable level. asked asian and in each case, where we table a budget that seeks to force -- support québec's economy the block is against it and the then votes against it. the honorable member. >> what he has just said is false. in 2010, -- 2007 after $3.7 billion we got 3.3 and we supported it, so he continues to spread lies. this government is mocking the

people and the house of commons. it spends millions of taxpayers money in a pre-election campaign. it made sure table the budget that would be unacceptable for the opposition party and then the prime minister has the gall to repeat once again that he doesn't want elections. does he not realize that by acting like this he has lost the confidence of quebecers? the honorable minister of foreign affairs. >> mr. speaker for the past 20 years, we have heard the same gnashing of teeth in the same speech by this party. what did they deliver for québec in the last 20 years? nothing, zero. [applause] >> order please. order. the honorable member.

>> mr. speaker, we don't live on our needs. we live standing up. this conservative government couldn't care less about québec. nothing prevented it from compensating québec for taxatiot fooling around here in ottawa. if the government wanted to avoid elections all it had to do was compensate québec to the tune of $2.2 billion. doesn't the prime minister realize that québec will provoke elections and finance minister says quebecers will decide. the honorable minister of finance. order. >> we have had good discussions with the government of québec, the minister minister of finance in québec. regarding the hsp. we hope it will have an agreement soon.

we will continue our talks with the québec government. the honorable member. >> mr. speaker, they have been fooling around with this for 20 years. they continue to help the wealthy. tax cuts are maintained for oil companies. the the banks continue to stop file fortunes and tax havens, but government continues to refuse to pay its debt to québec. how can the finance minister explained that he cannot do justice to québec that he can help his cronies in the banks and oil companies? either he can or he is in bad faith. the honorable minister of foreign affairs. >> mr. speaker, this member of parliament was part of the pq government. there were others in that group that were part of the pq

government. never did they ask for this, never did they ever send out or quebecers. they were industrial leak doormats. [applause] >> the honorable member of toronto. [applause] >> mr. speaker, this government and every canadian knew where we stood. we wanted to make sure that this budget would be addressing the needs of middle-class families and give them a break. in fact too many people are out of work. yesterday, the conservatives presented a job-killing budget that took far more out of the economy than a put back in. they missed their own job target by more than 240,000 jobs according to their own figures. why is this government putting

the needs of main street ahead of the needs of people who are out of work? [applause] >> mr. speaker, the leader of the party had bothered to read the budget he would know, he would know that more than 480,000 net new jobs have been created in this country. this is the best job creation record in the advanced economies of the world. they look to canada and say this is the best place to invest in the next five years. they look at our financial system and say this is in just the best financial system in the g7 are the g20. it is the best financial system in the world. [applause] >> the honorable member of toronto, danforth. >> the minister knows he is not telling the truth, because one of his own ministers was in a breakout room when they were

studying here. >> the prime minister knows full well that part-time jobs are at a record high. there are 150,000 full-time jobs fewer than before the recession. they do nothing to help get employee but the banks and oil companies are still receiving big dips. why does the prime minister preferred to go into an election than help families, the middle-class? the honorable minister of finance. >> thank you mr. speaker. once again there is a tremendous benefit to reading the document. as i said yesterday it is not that long a read. is one of the shortest budget that is happened in the last 20 years. there is a wonderful chart in their that shows the jobs creation and it shows contrary to what the member says, about 75% of those 480,000 jobs are

full-time. [applause] >> the honorable member for toronto, danforth. >> they have not replace the full-time work that was robbed and the middle-class is suffering as a result. maybe you'd better read his own document. [applause] now the government is preventing investing in the best retirement savings plan that canada pension plan. the government wants them to come up with their own scheme so they can -- that is their plan. i want to build a canada where canadians can retire in dignity. we proposed it, canadians want a. why wouldn't they deliver it? [applause] >> the on herbal minister of finance. >> once again the leader of the fourth party is demonstrating his uncanny ability not to let

the facts interfere with this argument. mr. speaker, we have negotiations ongoing with the provincial government. as the member officer should know because he has been in this place long enough, he ought to know that the federal government cannot unilaterally alter the canada pension plan. we share jurisdiction with the provinces. there are rules, very our constitutional. you need two-thirds of the provinces to agree and two-thirds of the population. we are continuing to work with the provinces. >> the honorable member. >> mr. speaker on april 28, 2009, three months after bruce carson left the pmo the minister of the environment had a bilateral meeting in washington with stephen chu the energy secretary. 11 people attended, seven american senior department officials were there with dr. chu, the canadian ambassador and to staff from the office

were there and so was bruce carson. not the private citizens but introduced a special adviser to minister. will the prime minister explain why his former staff continues to enjoy privileged access to private high-level discussions month after month? [applause] >> the honorable house leader. >> mr. speaker, there are serious allegations raised. [inaudible] this is an important law. it is a matter we have made a first priority. [inaudible] >> the honorable member of park scale, hide park. >> mr. speaker five months later the conservator sent mr. carson

to another international climate change summit. this time one of canada's official delegates. mr. cartman was there and with the represented the prime minister backed mr. carson's day job is to advise the oil and gas industry on energy and climate change policy. every canadian knows this is a complex of interest. the rcmp may be investigating how mr. carson eustis -- an explanation of why when and how mr. bersin was given this kind of access in the first place. >> you order. the honorable government house leader. >> mr. speaker is not unusual at the climate change summit -- a variety of people representing industries, labor groups and lay people mr. speaker. i remember when i was minister of the environment even inviting the member firm parkdale hyde park mr. speaker.

mr. speaker we generally elect them to spend the whole time there and not to go to have the meeting. >> the conservatives are saying that bruce carton left his office and until now the cross cross -- and 2009 the department of energy and the kent -- a meeting. mr. carson was such a good escort that in september didn't take part in a live -- multilateral state meeting. carson went without them. >> the honorable leader of the government house of commons. >> he has a rather interesting use of vocabulary at a different sense of the word.

here is what we know mr. speaker. the serious allegations were raised with the prime minister. he did the right thing and the proper thing and immediately referred the matter to the three relevant stories. i hope they will do two things. i hope they will conduct an investigation and number two i hope they'll use the full strength to anyone who broke it. >> the honorable member, let's try something else mr. speaker. the conservatives created the canadian school of energy and environment for $50 million on its web site and we find carson's biography which states and i quote since he joined the canadian school of energy and the environment carson has a number of roles at the request of the minister and the current and former minister. mr. speaker the cat is out of the bag of course and now the conservatives -- québec and

minister and there's a need to confess to the house and the rmp to tell them what is happening with their friend carson. >> the honorable leader of the government and the house of commons. >> these outrageous accusations accusations -- they won't help a single senior living in poverty and they won't help the volunteer firefighters and it won't help the health care workers. the liberal party should get behind these canadians. >> the honorable member. >> mr. speaker the conservative government church of its form is continuing to ignore the urgent needs of the unemployed and have set out the measures and in its budget to help them. were still instead of in-depth improvement to the employment insurance program the conservatives will take money from the ei fund as the liberals did in order to subsidize those

who are better off. does the government realized that it's indifference to workers in québec that could provoke an election? the honorable minister of human resources. >> mr. speaker, the honorable member and his colleagues have taken the time to read yesterday's budget they would have known what was proposed in the budget is an extension of a number of things. for example, the two pilot projects for example, the targeted initiative for long-term workers. for example, the improvements to the program of work sharing. which is going to help 280,000 people but they have decided to vote against it. >> it is because we will vote against it. the government claims that the

proposed reforms by the bloc québec is in the unions allow people to have your benefits for 360 hours of work. that is not true mr. speaker. save for example and unemployed worker who has just enough hours to qualify for the plan would only be entitled to 32 weeks in the benefits. instead of masking its indifference with regard to workers, will the government stop taking from the fund and instead improve the ei plan? the honorable minister of human resources and skills development. >> mr. speaker yesterday in the budget, we have put forward for proposals to improve and extend benefits under eei in order to help the unemployed throughout canada but mr. speaker like usual the bloc said that they will vote against it and they have already voted against five additional weeks. they voted against the program

to help long tenured workers. the targeted initiative for older workers mr. speaker. they will always vote against the interests of the people of québec in the region. it is just scandalous. >> the budget has nothing to -- barely 60 million for research when the conservatives were able to find $10 billion for the ontario centered auto industry. the communications union has condemned immediate assistance for workers and those the government has been chosen to throw the poorest of the poor a few crumbs. how could conservatives had tabled another budget that has failed to meet these urgent needs of the workers in the region affected by the crisis? >> the honorable minister. >> mr. speaker, this mp is trying to make canadians believe

that they are just spreading misinformation mr. speaker and auto industry. we are partners along with american companies. we are working in partnership, so in the forestry sector however we are competitors. when will they understand that? we fund an agreement to protect the industry and the liberals have let them -- from 2000 to 2007. >> the a conservative budget does not meet the needs of québec's producers. the government is refusing to improve cost it was asian programs and it failed to adequately compensate for specified materials and furthermore it is imposing foreign million dollars in cuts on the agricultural sector. how could the government of tabled the budget that completely ignores the needs of producers in québec? >> the honorable minister of veterans affairs.

>> mr. speaker, what governments in its budget says that no tax increases? this conservative government, a government that says no tax increases. the conservative government did it. which government invested $50 million in innovation to help farmers mr. speaker? mr. speaker, we have presented a budget that meets the needs of canadians. we are helping caregivers and we are helping families. we are helping all types of other people. their other measures in the budget. >> we now know how the conservative government is going to pay for their corporate tax cuts, american prisons and tendered fighter jets. they are cutting services. it left canada cutting $7 million, cutting $32 million

to a co-op, cutting $85 million to -- economic council says quote little in this budget of direct and if it to atlantic canada. my question, how do the atlanta conservative mp's allow this to happen? [applause] >> mr. speaker my question for the member is tell the people how the small business people would feel about her not supporting a credit for hiring new employees? how would the volunteer firefighters feel about her not supporting a credit for the hard work and the sacrifice that they provide? how will they feel for her not supporting the great investments we have made in marine atlantic and the great work being done to promote the economy in her region?

>> i can tell you how they feel about the increases in payroll tax is mr. speaker. not only is this government slashing and burning funding for atlantic canada, and now we find out more abuse of power. the conservatives are under investigation by the public service commission for stacking the opportunities agency with political appointments. is there no end to what the conservatives will built due to reward their own? have they no shame? [applause] >> mr. speaker a bit of news for the honorable member. we are the first government to commit stable funding to a important alcoa programs such as the atlantic in addition fund,, the innovative communities fund. we are the first government to invest where her government failed when it came to marine

atlantic. we delivered on the side of the house. we are going to continue to deliver and support her constituents even if she won't. >> the honorable member. order. the honorable member for -- brain. >> mr. speaker this regime will never learn. everything they don't like they deny. what is the minister referred to it -- differ to table? the diagnostic -- we would have an opportunity to see what is happening. will they choose to spend billions on fighter jets and make a persons and start up investing in the -- to the workers in the montréal region have to go to work by swimming across? the honorable member of transport. >> mr. speaker, the champlain bridge is extremely important

for entrepreneurs and for the people in the montréal region. and also the people in canada. we have invested a lot of money in the corridor, because the bridge is extremely important. at the same time mr. speaker, i have spoken with the québec minister this morning, and we are talking about the situation. the safety of the bridge and the future is clear. we must talk with the québec government for the future. >> mr. speaker i'm asking him for the results of the diagnostic evaluation. he doesn't seem to understand it is the most important infrastructure, road of destruction in the country but they don't care. billions for fighter jets and mecca persons no problem, but when it is time for people to

get home every day and get to work every morning they are happy with the old bridge. this is nonsense. stop playing with people safety. when will the new bridge be built? the honorable minister. >> that is why when i spoke with the ceo of the federal port authority or bridge authority, when i talk to the engineers a month ago and québec they said the investments we have made in the bridge will keep us applet lycée for the next 10 years. mr. speaker at the end of the month or thereabouts there will be a report given to us. everyone knows that bridge will need to be replaced in the long term but mr. speaker what we can do without that paper presented to us it is does it contain light rail? does it contain an option? those options will be presented to us and of course we will make the decision working hand-in-hand with the québec government. [applause] >> the honorable member.

>> mr. speaker, the ad hoc coalition, ad hoc coalition headed by the liberal leader has finally found a pretext to reunite in trying to defeat the government. another reason, can the minister of veterans affairs togo house what is in the budget that will help all the regions of québec? >> the honorable minister of veterans affairs. >> mr. speaker i want want to take a my colleagues for their fine work and for that question. of course we have a budget that takes into consideration the needs of canadians in their daily lives, he had a couple with a child who are studying, taking art classes or taking other types of courses. there is a tax credit for that board needed for our seniors who need more money. >> they are getting a guaranteed

employment -- supplement. there are a number of measures that have been added including no increases in taxes. we are responsible government. >> mr. speaker, canada is one of the richest countries in the world and yet we have hundreds of thousands of seniors who are living below the poverty line. during our meeting with the minister minister and the prime minister the nbp insisted this was a priority to us. it is unacceptable to us in a country as rich as canada, seniors who built this country are being allowed to live in poverty. why does the government preferred to provoke an election rather than help all those who live under the poverty line? >> the honorable minister of state. >> mr. speaker our government is committed to supporting. we are proud of the fact that our actions have played a part in cutting the low income rate among canada's seniors from 29%

in 1980 to 5.8% in 2008. one of the lowest rates in the world mr. speaker. we have increase guaranteed income supplement benefits, cut taxes for seniors, judd is pension income splitting, invested in homes come increase the guaranteed income supplement and we will keep working hard to deliver for seniors as was said in the budget yesterday. >> the honorable member. >> mr. speaker we have just begun service what kind of party they are taking. is this a tough on seniors policy? is it more important for them to get more money to the chartered banks then they got last year? they made 22 billion in profits and used half, 11 billion for executive bonuses. next year the conservatives want to give a further 3 billion in corporate tax cuts. for every dollar they came up with her impoverished seniors, they found $10 per canada's richest corporations.

their proposal would leave hundreds of thousands of seniors below the poverty line and in a country as rich as ours, that is not acceptable. >> the honorable minister. >> mr. speaker this is coming from a party who has consistently voted against an ace senior help and it is shameful. what we have done in our budget yesterday is elevated the poverty line for seniors to 680,000 seniors across the country that will benefit from yesterday's budget. >> the honorable member. >> mr. speaker in a letter published by the fafsa the minister of -- have stated some sections of the champlain bridge could collapse. the minister continues to claim that the bridge is safe and building a new bridge can wait. does the minister of transport realize it is his indifference to the needs of québec that could provoke an election?

>> the honorable minister of transport. >> the champlain bridge is an extremely important bridge. that is why we have invested almost born at million dollars over the next 10 years to make sure it stays safe. mr. speaker of course i'm not an engineer so the question is who do we ask this? we asked the engineers to inspect the bridge and asked the ceo who oversees the bridge. we work with the provincial governor who works with us to make sure the bridge is safe. mr. speaker of course the bridge will have to be replaced in the longer term but mr. speaker the bridge is safe and will be safe and we will work closely with the québec government to make a long-term plan for the replacement in the years to come. >> they also managed to find the funds needed to build a new bridge in windsor ontario and invested 50 million in the -- payette share. however, when it came to replacing the most heavily trafficked bridge in canada

located in québec they were unable to find the funds needed. it is disgraceful. when will the needs of québec at the same attention of those of ontario and michigan? >> the honorable minister of transport. >> that is a good question. how much money are we going to spend on the new windsor bridge? zero taxpayer dollars. mr. speaker perhaps there is an option for the champlain bridge but the reason we are not saying that as we are going to their wait for the report to be tabled in the house. when that report is tabled we will have it presented to us mr. speaker and those options will be design ideas whether it will include a railway, whether well include rapid transit weather will include a bus route. mr. speaker there lots of options but we certainly aren't going to go into this willy-nilly while the bridge is safe and we will work with its québec government to design our options. >> the honorable member. >> mr. speaker on both sides of the river, yesterday's

conservative -- confirmed everyone's worst fears. our public service is a key sense it detected the smell of of -- around the minister's officers. said a building on the economic recovery the conservatives are creating uncertainty about job security as thousands of families and in the greater national region. the conservatives are in the habit of laying off public servants who are doing their jobs but don't they think this is getting to be a bit too much? >> the honorable president of the treasury board. >> mr. speaker as we said yesterday, around 11,000 jobs each year need the public service and my colleague mentioned the fact that there are times when there are jobs that have -- under the liberal's

mr. speaker. in the high numbers in fact. there were many jobs that were cut under the liberals. >> we see the conservatives are very keen on firing public servant to did not follow their ideology, but this is getting a bit much. on both sides of the river, tens of thousands of families did not sleep well last night after the conservative budget confirmed that over 20,000 jobs would be slashed from our hard-working dedicated public service. why are conservatives revving up the chainsaw and threatening our shares public services? >> the honorable minister from the treasury board. >> mr. speaker this is taking things to an extreme. is bad enough to ignore the fact that our budget that was just table gives the highest levels ever for health care, for public or for seniors, for research,

poor education along with lowering taxes. now what they are doing is trying to frighten public servants. mr. speaker 11,000 public servants leave public service. mr. speaker we have been very clear that we in no way, shape or form are we going to replicate with the liberals did in the mid-90s, slashing overnight tens of thousands of public servants and health care. >> the honorable member. >> is natural for us to work with conservatives but because every canadian deserves their access to health care we try to work with them to get results at a time when millions need it. the conservative budget has no money for doctors. their political gains are more important than political service. more than 5 million canadians have access to family doctors.

>> mr. speaker the members care about the health of canadians but while we vote against the budget will mean there will be no funding for neurological -- the vote against the budget will mean additional funding for doctors and nurses will not be funded. that will be a vote against increased taxes and mr. speaker that is a vote against -- thank you. >> mr. speaker in yesterday's budget this government had an opportunity to address the needs of the average family but they chose not to. nothing for education, nothing to support friendship centers, nothing to provide clean water and nothing to increase health across canada special especially in the north. their answers to these conditions are projects that only reduce the governments on liability like like replacing fuel tanks. why did the minister choose to

ignore the calls this nation is making? >> the minister of entire --. >> it will help improve the lives of canadians. since coming to office, economic development and human rights. it is going quite well, thank you. [inaudible] mr. speaker where the party that delivered in the north. [applause] >> the honorable member. order. >> mr. speaker, canadians work hard to build this country. we know nannies have substandard

working conditions and have had their immigration status threatened and passports confiscated so they could not play. today the star revealed one man he was forced into a gag order preventing her from -- alarmingly it all happened in the house of the member of this floor in their liberal caucus. mrspeaker can the parliamentary secretary of immigration tell this house with the government's position is on immigration abuse? >> the honorable parliamentary secretary. >> immigrant women enjoy the same rights as canadian workers. they are being abused aysha report that abuse to their relevant agencies. our government is ensuring immigrant women know their rights whether it is abuse or exploitation. immigrant women have the right to speak out. the real question is what the liberal leader not take a stand on this issue and state that they -- is wrong and not

acceptable? >> the honorable member of unionville. >> last week i had the opportunity to visit the diamond aircraft facilities in london. the company is still waiting for a decision on the 35 million-dollar loss and this government. the ontario government came through with its $35 million a year ago. meanwhile hinging on this minister's decision are 500 future jobs and the possible layoffs of 200 existing employees. why does this minister loaf around for a year leaving hundreds of canadian families facing possible layoffs? >> the honorable minister. >> the question is the fact is this government has given this particular company $20 million to our aerospace program mr. speaker. they have asked for an additional on top of the 20 million. 35 million more dollars. it is our responsibility as

keepers of the taxpayers interest to make sure that we do our diligence and that work is ongoing mr. speaker. >> the honorable member for québec. >> the conservative government is trying to disqualify the navy shipyard from an important request for proposals. the national assembly of québec unanimously passed a motion asking the federal government to be equitable. the conservatives and the members had to stop sabotaging the recovery. why did the government to demand a request for proposals midstream so as to give less time to restructure? >> the honorable minister of public works. >> mr. speaker, the requirement was not to change at any time in the process. for company to be solvent is par for the course for any

government contracting and let me say when this company was in very difficult financial situation last year with this government who supported a 270 million-dollar loan, but helped the company long. the true this mr. speaker it is qualified for competition and we hope they will be able to support it if they solvent. >> that concludes our question period for this afternoon. i would like to draw the attention of honorable members. the presence of the gallery of his excellency theodore, minister of foreign affairs of romania. [applause] >> the british government also release their budget today in the house of commons. chancellor of the exchequer george osborne talked about tax incentives, public expenditures and spending cuts followed by debate with opposition leader ed miliband among others who criticize the current governments failed promises.

this is about two hours.sit >> i now call the right honorable mr.-- of the exchequer. >> thank you mr. deputy speaker. last year's emergency budget was about rescuing the nation's finances and paying for the mistakes of the past. today's budget is about reforming the nation's economy so that we have him during growth and jobs in the future. and it is about doing what we can to help families with the cost of living and the high price ofc oil. we understand how difficult itf is for so many people across oun

country right now. so we are able now to set up rescue and reform and reform tod recovery.om it is because of the difficult decisions we have alreadye take. those decisions have brought economic stability. and without stability, there cae be no sustainable growth and no new jobs. without stability, governments have to keep coming back to their citizens for more, more taxes and more spending cuts. in britain we do not have to do that today. we have inherited a recorda budget deficit, but we have set out a credible comprehensive plan to deal with it.pl we have had to undertake difficult measures, but we have already asked the british people d today we do not need to ask for more. so this is not a tax raising budget, nor can we afford to take give away. taken together the measures i

will announce today are fiscally neutral across the period. this is a budget built on sound money, a budget that encourages enterprise, that supports exports, manufacturing and investment. that is based on robust independent figures, a budget for making things, not for making things up. [shouting] britain has a plan and we are sticking to it. in recent months any other countries have seen their ratings downgraded and their borrowing costs soar. our country's fiscal plans have been strongly endured by the imf, the european commission, the oecd, and that every reputable business body in britain. and for anyone who questions whether this massive in the real world, the real businesses and families, consider this. market interest rates increase our at 12-point by persevered in ireland close to 10%. in portugal and spain they are 7% and 5%.

today, our country's market interest rates have fallen to 3.6%. we have a higher deficit in portugal, greece, and spain but we are virtually the same interest rates as germany. this is our powerful monetary stimulus to our recovery economy. stability, credibility, lower interest rates, that is what we have achieved. [shouting] but stability, mr. deputy speaker, is not enough. so today in addition to the redbook we're publishing a plan for growth. this budget confronts the harshest truth that it has been ignored too long. britain has lost ground in the world's economy and needs to catch up your in the last decade other nations have reduced their business taxes, remove barriers to enterprise, improved education systems, reformed welfare systems and increased exports. sadly, the reverse has happened in britain.

we gambled on a debt fueled model of growth that failed. with a state now account for almost half of all economy can we simply cannot afford to go on like this. britain has to earn its way in the modern world. mr. deputy speaker, i turned to the forecast. last november i told the house that the recovery was going to be more challenging than recoveries from recessions in recent decades. that is inevitable when we've had the sharpest fall since the 1930s, the highest budget deficit in our peacetime, and the largest banking crisis in our entire history. but i said thanks to the course we've set, the independent forecast was for our economy to growth in each of the next five years, for unappointed peak this year and then fall, and for employment to rise through the parliament. that remains the case in the independent forecast we publish today. those forecasts have been drawn

up by the office for budget responsibility. this important change has transformed the way budgets are put together. so instead of chancellors nixing the figures to fix the budget may not to fix the budget to fit the figures. yesterday, the legislation for the office for budget responsibility on a prominent statutory an independent received royal assent, and i'm sure the whole house will want to thank robert, steve, graham parker, and their whole staff for the very professional job they are doing. let me start with their growth forecast. now it has been know for chancellors in recent years to wrap these office such great state in hopes that no one will keep on or notice. [laughter] >> i will not do that. although average quarterly growth this year is set to be higher than was previously forecast the annual forecast for 2011 has been revised to 1.7%.

this the obr a true specifically to the weekend reports of last year, the rise in world commodity prices and a high than expected inflation in the u.k. however, the obr points out that the effect in their words is to create scope of slightly stronger growth in later years. so while the expect real gdp growth of 2.5% next% next year, they forecast it will then rise to 2.9% in 2013, the 2.9% in 2014 followed by 2.8% in 2015. the european commission has also this month published its growth forecast. the show that the uk's full cast to grow more strongly in the coming years and spain, italy, france but the average for the euro zone and the average for the european union. all countries have to steer a

course between two central risks. the risk of european sovereign debt crisis, on the one hand, and on the other the risk that comes from rising global poverty prices. food prices around the world have increased by nearly 50% since the beginning of last year. or has risen by 35% in just five months. that is why the obr expects inflation to remain between four and 5% for most of this year, before dropping to 2.5% next year and then 2% in two years time. i have today, tricky written to the governors of the bank of england to confirm that the inflation target for the monitor policy committee will remain at 2% ash but by the consumer prices index. i can also confirm that the facility set up by my predecessor will remain in place. one cause of current instability is the conflict inside libya. the whole house will praise the

courage and professionalism of our armed forces are trying to bring the conflict to an end and save lives. i can confirm that the additional cost of military operations will be met entirely on the treasure reserve. house will also know that last week i authorized the u.k. to part in according to g7 currency innovation in support of the japanese yen. our hearts go out to the japanese people, and this is one way in which britain can help. it is still too early to say what lasting impact the earthquake and tsunami will have on the world economy. but this is an opportunity for me to report that we had already decided to rebuild the uk's foreign currency reserve, which are at historically low levels. we will purchase a range of high quality assets that will unfortunately the price of gold now at a record high we will not be able to replenish the gold reserves that sold at a record low. [shouting]

>> mr. deputy speaker, i turn now to the fiscal forecast for our debt and deficit. borrowing to fund the deficit this year is now set to come in below target at 146 billion pounds. then fall to 122 billion next year, in 101 billion the year after, than 70 billion in 2013-14. in 46 billion, and 29 billion by 2015-16. inflation has had its impact but crucially the obr a fix that next years structural deficit remains the same as forecast last november. in other words, the size of the task or repairing britain's finance is unchanged. our national debt and the share of our national income is forced to be 60% this year, before peaking at 71%, and then starting to fall reaching 69% by the end of the period. this leads me to one of the central task of the obr. that is assessing the government's performance against

its stated budget goals. in an open and independent way, so that we avoid repeating disastrous experience of the so-called golden rule. our fiscal mandate is to achieve a cyclically adjusted current balance by the end of the rolling five year forecast period, which is currently 2015-16. we have not with a 6% target as the debt should be following in the proportion of gdp by the year 2015-16 as well. i can report to the house that the obr confirmed that on the central forecast we will meet both these objectives, a thousand structural current budget, and falling national debt by the end of the parliament. indeed, the forecast remains that we will meet both these objectives one year earlier. [shouting] mr. deputy speaker, i said at the start of the stability and fiscal responsibility were not enough. our country has to compete if we are going to create jobs and growth. britain has fallen behind many others in the world in the last

decade. we've dropped in the world global competitiveness seen and growth in the country has become so unbalanced, consider this staggering truth. during the boom years before the bust, private sector employment actually felt in the region as important as the west middle. so today's budget is an urgent call for action for britain. private sector growth must take the place of government deficits. prosperity must be shared across all parts of the united kingdom. yes, we want the city of london to remain the world leading center for financial services, that we should resolve that the rest of the country becomes a world leader in advanced manufacturing, life sciences, industries, business services, green energy and so much more. this is our vision for growth. difficult decisions and major reform are needed to make it happen. but the alternative is to accept britain's economic decline and a continuing fall in the living

standards for our population. and that is not an alternative anyone in this house should be prepared to accept. mr. deputy speaker, this budget sets are but these four economic ambitions. britain should have the most competitive system energy 20. be the best place in europe to start finance and grow a business. the a more ballots economy by encouraging exports and investment. and have a more educated workforce that is the most flexible in europe. let me set up the measures now that will achieve these ambitions. first, taxation. here's the truth. britain used the third lowest corporate tax in europe and now has the sixth highest. at the same time our tax code has become so complex that in recent years it took india to become the longest in the world. from adam smith to others people set out the principles of good taxation. this government for the modern age.

our taxes should be efficient and support growth. they should be certain and predictable. they should be simple to understand and easy to comply with. and our tax system should be fair, reward work, and asked the most from those who can't afford the most. in july last year we set out the office of tax simplification to provide independent advice -- advice. i want to thank michael jack and john for the work they have done. following their recommendations i can announce today that its budget abolishes no fewer than 43 complex release. this includes the money and give a system which we will let me for another 989 years. [laughter] >> however i decided not to follow their advice to post the committee investment tax relief and instead i encourage people to take it up. this budget at a stroke removes over 100 pages from our tax code that begins the work.

in the last budget i announce that from next month welfare payments and public service, pensions will be in line with the consumer price index. i said at the time we should also consider operating the tax system in the same way. from april 2012 the assumption for direct taxes will move to cbi. there will be protection to this of those eligible for age-related, married couples, and blind persons allowed his, and for employers national insurance contributions. the increase in the personal tax allowance already announced will fast exceed anything, and that's even before any further increases in that allow its. but this will bring coherence to the facts and benefit system and we look to moving into a taxes over the same basis for what the fiscal system allowed. but there is in one service which we want to undertake, that will dramatically supervise the tax system. for decades we've operated

income tax and national insurance as two fundamentally different tax code, and force businesses large and small to operate two completely different systems of administration with two different periods of basis of charge. the resulting anomalies are legion, and it imposes totally unnecessary costs and complexity on employers, and it costs the taxpayer in the extra burden it places on a gym or see. so i am announcing today that the government will consult on emerging the opposition of national insurance and income tax. i am not proposing we extend national insurance to commissioners are other forms or we abolish the contributory principle. our purpose is not to increase taxes. it is disabled by the. and huge task will therefore require a great deal of consultation and take a number of years to complete. but it is time we took this historic step to simplify

dramatically our tax system and make it fit for the modern age. making our tax system more competitive is another challenge for the times we live in. again, let's face facts. other countries are quite deliberately making their tax systems more competitive and attracting multinational companies away from the united kingdom. we could stand and do nothing, increasing the living standards of every house and come in the country depends on key things, investment and the tax revenues that come with them here in the united kingdom. so we will go ahead with a highly competitive tax rate on profits derived from industries like pharmaceuticals. we will fundamentally reform the complex rules that control foreign companies and make them more territorial. we will introduce new rules that effectively applied older competitive by .75% rate for overseas financing income.

this will give us a far more attractive system than france, america or germany. i want britain to be the place international businesses go to, not the place that they leave. but today i wanted even more. so i can announce that from april this year, corporation tax will be reduced not just by the 1% my previous announce but by 2%. and it will continue to fall by 1% in each of the following three years taking on corporate tax rate right down to 23%. 16% lower than america, 11% lower than france, 7% lower than germany, the lowest corporation tax in the g7. let it be heard clearly around the world, from shanghai to seattle, britain is open for business. [shouting] >> and to ensure, and to ensure that this is not a net tax cut for banks.

i am adjusting the bank levy rate next year to offset its affect. [shouting] >> in each -- mr. deputy speaker, in each and every year of this parliament, our permanent bank levy raises more in any one year of the last parliament bank taxes. the most competitive access and energy 20 is the first of our economic ambitions. the second is that britain becomes the best place in europe to start, finance and grow a business. again let's face facts. in the last decade countries like germany, denmark, finland and the netherlands have all overtaken us in international rankings of competitiveness. that is not surprising when the total cost of regulation imposed on business since 1998 is almost 90 billion pounds a year.

so in today's plan for growth we take action. 350 million pounds worth of specific regulations will go, including the quality act, discrimination rules, the recommendations on health and safety laws will be implemented in full, and no win no fee legal services that prey on employers will be restricted. existing regulation will restrict neither the public process, and from april we're going to impose a moratorium exempting all businesses employing fewer than 10 people, and all genuine startups funded domestic regulations for the next three years. [shouting] >> we'll also take this fight against regulation to brussels where this week my right honorable friend the prime minister bibby including other allies. we will tackle what every government has identified as a chronic obstacle to economic growth in britain. and no government has done anything about the planning

system. councils of spending 13% more in real terms than they did five years ago despite the fact that applications have fallen by .. s involved in planning decisions to prioritize growth in jobs. will introduce a new presumption in favor of sustainable development so that the people say yes. we will retain existing controls on greenbelt, but we will remove the national impose targets on use of praided lands. and will also allow certain use class changes introduced time limits on applications, and pilot for the first time ever auctions of planning commission on land. planning rules and bad regulations stand in the way of new jobs. so too, mr. deputy speaker, does the shortage of finance.

small businesses are the innocent victims of the credit crunch. that is why we have agreed with the banks to pay 50% increase in the availability of credit to small businesses. and lack of startup capital has long been a problem in the british economy. too often with very ideas and britain but it is other countries that exploit them. today i announce sweeping changes. from april this year income tax relief will increase from 20%, to 30%. next year we will double the amount of any individual can invest increase the size of companies that qualify for investment and raise the limit on the amount that can be invested in the company by 400%. and next week my right honorable friend the prime minister of the business sector will launched a new campaign by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, supported by many of britain's most successful firms that will help people start and grow a business.

today we can add to the help from the six of april this year i am doubling the size of entrepreneurs relief to 10 million pounds. let britain be the home of enterprise in an age when people can't invest all over the world. it's time that we ended the uncertainty around the taxation of non-domiciles. they are welcome in this country but i always believe they should be pay something in return for the special tax status. the last government followed our advice and introduce a 30,000-pound charge for those who have lived here for seven years. i think we can ask more for those who have been your even longer so i'm increasing the charged up 50,000 pounds for non-dom so been in the country for 12 years. this will raise over 200 million pounds in the coming years. but in return and to encourage investment in our country i am removing the tax charge when non-dom's remain capital gains to the u.k. for the purpose of investing in a british business. we will introduce a statutory

residents test to end the speculation and uncertainty and to provide stability, i confirmed that i will be making no further changes to the taxation of non-domiciles in this parliament. in an age when business and capital and people can't increasingly move anywhere, high tax rates can do real damage. that's true for high corporate tax rates, and it's true for high personal tax rates, also. they crush enterprise. the divine aspiration. they often undermined tax revenues and people avoid them. i include that the 50% tax rate would do lasting damage to our economy if it were to become permanent. that is why i regard it as a temporary measure. just as my labour predecessor, the right honorable did when he introduced a. i said before and that wouldn't be the right time to remove it and we're asking others in our society on much lower incomes to make sacrifices, for we are all in this together. [shouting]

>> i think it is sensible -- to see how much revenue it actually raises. i've asked hmrc, mr. deputy speaker, i've asked hmrc to find out the truth when the self assessment forms start coming in. of course, the taxation must be fair. it's right that the wealthy should pay more than others and it's especially wrong when they avoid taxes. i will have much more to say later on in his speech on tax avoidance and evasion, but there's one area that needs extra work in the coming months and that's on the taxation of a very high value prop it would evasion and avoid and are widespread in the some of the wealthiest are not paying their fair share. so as well as reviewing revenues from the 50 the tax rate will also be redoubling our efforts to find ways of ensuring that owners of high by your property cannot avoid and their fair share. help for small businesses, a

boost for enterprise, reforms to planning, cuts to existing regulations, and a moratorium on new ones. all part of our ambition to make britain the first place in your to start, grow, and finance a business. [shouting] >> our third edition is to encourage investment and exports to a more balanced economy for britain. in the plan for growth we publish today we set out specific measures we can take to help a wide range of businesses. and life sciences we dramatically reduce the time it takes to get approval for clinical trials. in our digital and creative industries we will approve intellectual-property regime. in our professional and business services, one of our unsung success stories, we will reform our burdens of money-laundering regime now for legal obligation and launch a new trust in business for the services to our retail sector includes many small shopkeepers, anxious about

the impact of coming business rises. the last government planned at the current rate holiday for small businesses should end in october this year. i don't think that would be right. so i can announce that at a cost to the exchequer of 370 million pounds i will extend the right holiday for small businesses for another year to october 2012. [shouting] >> we will also take action to help the construction industry. stamp duty will not be levied on the mean value of the house is being purchased within, and real estate investment trust will be simplified to encourage homebuilding. but average mortgage deposits are close to 30% and this goes homeownership beyond the reach of many, many families. this is not fair. so i can announce today that from the proceeds of this year's bank levy, we will fund a 250 million pounds commitment the first time buyers. and you shared equity scheme

first time will be available for first time buyers who want to purchase a newly built property or who cannot afford. this will help 10,000 families get onto the housing ladder for the first time. [shouting] >> the previous government, mr. deputy speaker, intended to end the temporary changes to the support for mortgage interest next january. instead, we will extend it for another year. and that will reduce mortgage arrears for around 100,000 out of work homeowners. mr. deputy speaker, manufacturing is crucial to the rebalancing of our economy. over the last decade the share of the economy accounted for by financial services decreased by over two-thirds while manufacturing share fell by almost a half. under this government manufacturing is now growing at a record rate at 14,000 more jobs have been created in this sector in the last three months. to help us continue the government announced its plan

today to make out export promotion more entrepreneurial to great new export credits to help smaller businesses, launch britain's first technology and innovation to hide manufacturing, and fund a further nine new university centers in manufacturing. science is one area where britain already has an advantage over many other countries and it is essential to our future as a place to create business. that's one reason what i protected the science budget from cuts last year. i can tell the house that i have been able to find again from this years extra bank levy an additional 100 million pounds to invest in new scientist facilities, in cambridge, the knowledge research environmental and life sciences, the international space innovation center, and the national science and innovation campus. but if britain is willing to become a home of innovation, then we want research and development to take place not just in our great universities but in a small list -- our

smaller businesses also. i've listened to him and gone even further then he recommends. from april this year, mr. deputy speaker, the small companies research and develop it tax credit will rise to 200%, and from extra it will rise again to 225%. we also want to encourage manufacturers to invest in a lease machinery and technology. so i propose to double the limit on the capital allowances for short life assets from four years, to eight years. and it allows for the renovation of business premises and assisted areas which was due to expire next year we will extend for a further five years. supported the private sector across the whole of the united kingdom is central to our economic ambitions. savings in the transport department mean that we can also afford 200 million pounds of additional investment in our

regional whale ways. will go ahead with the 85 million pounds also linking manchester and piccadilly stations, significantly reducing journey times between liverpool and leeds. we can commit to and i know as we have just been hearing many honorable members have been calling for this, redoubling the scale. and this will help our great western main line to wales. and we can find another 100 million pounds to help councils repair the potholes on our roads. mr. deputy speaker, helping all parts of our country succeed is also the purpose behind the new enterprise zone to be launched today. mr. deputy speaker, there have been reports that we be able to fund 10 new enterprise zones. i confirmed instead we will fund 21 new enterprises.

[shouting] >> businesses will get up to a 100% discount on rates, new -- the potential to use capital allowances in zones where there is a strong focus on manufacturing. in return for radically reduce planning restrictions, we will that local authorities keep all business rate growth in their zone for a period of at least 25 years to spend on development priorities. the first 10 enterprise zones will be in urban areas of highest need, but also the highest potential. they'll be in birmingham, in leeds, liverpool, manchester, the bristol area, the black country, and sheffield. tomorrow my right honorable friend prime minister and deputy prime minister will announce some of these specific locations of these new enterprise zones. and i confirmed that a further zone will be located in london where i've asked for a suitable

site. a further 10 enterprise zones will be announced in the summer and i want local enterprise partnerships all over the country to come forward with proposals. responsibilities are to go in northern ireland, southern to wales. so we will work with the administration so that they can enjoy the benefits of this policy. in northern ireland to martha treasury will publish a paper on how we help their private sector to grow, to do with the unique issues posed by the irish republic business tax regime. to consider the case for northern ireland having an even lower rate of corporation tax than the rest of the united kingdom. i look forward to engaging with all parties there on the way forward. there is one of the particular issue that affects a specific part of our country, and that is the very high water bills for customers in the southwest because of the geography there, particularly for those on lower incomes. so we will come forward with

public money to help bring those bills down. [shouting] >> mr. deputy speaker, let me turn now to the opportunity presented by the green energy revolution, and as our determination to be the greenest government ever. we've already announced our ambitious renewable incentives and support for low emission cars. and changes to the a company car tax regime today increases that support. our greenfield to reduce the energy bills for homes will be introduced next year and i confirmed that we will act to incentivize and encourage its take a. we are pioneering new carbon capture and storage technology with 1 billion pounds already provided and future projects will be funded out of general spending rather than a complex new levy. but we need to take two-thirds of both if we're going to make the green energy revolution a reality. first as i have argued, investment in green energy will never be certain and less we bring some stability to the price of carbon. today we become first country in

the world to introduce a carbon price in the power sector. the price will start at around 16 pounds per ton in 2013, and move to a cart -- target price of 30 pounds in 2020. this will provide the incentive of those accounts of new investment in our dilapidated energy infrastructure. to ensure customers get a fair deal, we will closely follow developments in the energy sector in the light of the off year published on monday. at the same time i am extending the climate change agreements to 2023 and increasing the climate change levy discount on electricity for those who sign up from 65%, 80% from apri april 2013. this will help our most energy intensive industry. green taxes will increase as a proportion of total tax revenues as we promised, and the second bold step we take today is the creation of the green investment bank to support low carbon investment with the returns of

two long-term are too risky for the market. we've already committed a billion pounds to a. today i commit to billion pounds more, funded from sales and underwritten by the treasury. this will enable the green investment bank to start operation one year earlier than planned in 2012. [shouting] >> it will leverage an additional 18 billion pounds to private sector invested in green projects over this parliament, i can also confirm today that from 2015-16 subject to our overall debt targeting that will allow the green investment banks to borrow and invest. so a green investment bank is resources, a new carbon price more, new capital allowances for manufacturing, new support for home builders and first time buyers, and economy where growth happens across the country and across all sectors. that is our ambition. [shouting]

>> and mr. deputy speaker, it leads me to this fourth ambition. to create a more educated workforce that is the most flexible in your. britain's working age population has the lowest skills than the populations of america, germany and france. and that's probably the biggest problem facing our economy in the future. that's why we are undertaking far-reaching reform of our schools and universities, and funding of people premium. an additional earlier support for a most disadvantaged children in poverty. that's why we commissioned the most impressive reform. the government is committed to funding new university technical colleges which will provide vocational training but it is the best incorporate the curriculum is being developed in close coordination with both locally universities and leading employers. and i commend ken baker for getting these new colleges up and running in our manufacturing centers. today the government has announced that it will fund 12

new university technical colleges. i can tell the house we will provide funding to double that number to at least 24. we will also deal directly with the challenge of youth unemployment that has been on a steady rise for the last seven years and give people direct contact with the workplace. instead of 20,000 young people benefiting from our new work experience scheme as we plan, we'll increase that number five fold, to 100,000 places over the next few years. in austria, germany and switzerland, around one in four employers offer apprenticeships. in england, fewer than one in 10 do. that's got to change. [laughter] >> that's got to change after 10 years of a labour government. [shouting] >> last year, my right honorable friend published a steel strategy and confirm the largest ever expansion in adult apprenticeship or today i'm funding another 40,000 a

partnerships for young unemployed people. there are currently only 1500 high level apprenticeship across the whole of england. this budget provides for 10,000 more. that brings a total of 250,000 more apprenticeships over the next four years as a result of this government policy. [shouting] >> a government backing once were, watch real trained to secure jobs and more growth. mr. deputy speaker, we shouldn't talk about those without talking about those who are coming to the end of their working lives, and looking through retarded. i am very proud that this coalition government that took the decision to relate the basic state pension to earnings and guarantee its increased to a triple lock. this would simply not have been afforded as they argue without an increase in the state pension age. the state pension age is set to rise to 66 by 2020 or i can tell

the house that we will now seek hopefully with more parties support a new more automatic mechanism for future increases in the state pension age based on regular independent reviews on longevity. this is another major reform that would help britain live within her means. we also need to make sure that our public service pensions are both fair to those who give their working lives to help others, and fair to the taxpayers who have the burden. to say we publish the results of our consultation on the discount rate which shows that a more appropriate rate would be inflation plus gdp growth, this reinforces our case to increasing the employee contributions by an average of 3% to indeed the new discount rate could be used to justify further cogitation rises. as part of the reforms i am not prepared to ask more than the average. john has been completed his final report which looks at the pension benefit.

i'm sure members in all parts of the cells were want to thank thu for a very impressive report. [shouting] >> or at least part of the house. i can from today that government expects recommendations as a basis of consultation with public sector work with unions and others. they should be no cherry picking on either side. i believe this how should also recommend similar changes to the pensions of mps. we should also address the state pension system which has become unbelievably complex. if people can't work out, what they're going to get in retirement or how much with the means test, then they can't work out what they need to say. so the pensions minister, the pensions secretary and i have worked together to develop options including a new single tiered pension. it will be simple, it would be

based on contributions, it would be a flat rate that people know what to expect. it will cost no more than the current system. we currently estimate this new single tier pension will be worth around 140-pound per week. it will not apply to current pensioners and it will pay years to come into effect. as with the other major reforms i've announced today, simplify our tax system to improve our economic performance, to reform our public sector pension, this government is doing the right thing for the long-term. [shouting] >> the most competitive corporate taxes, the best place to start up and run a business, and investing, exporting, green and manufacturing more balanced economy, a better educated workforce, a more fair pension system, these are our ambitions with the measures to match. mr. deputy speaker, let me turn now to personal taxes and duties. let me start by noting that a society should not be judged by the strength of its economy alone, but also by the compassion of its people.

the culture secretary and i -- [shouting] >> that's what i happen to think at least in what. the culture secretary and i have been working on a series of substantial reforms that will support, from the largest to the coins collected in the charity bucket. so first we will dramatically simplify the administration of gift aid instead of asking charities to submit a written record everything they can we will by 2013 pay for a much easier system. second, we will encourage wealthy people in our society to give even more. they gift aid benefit will be increased from 500 pounds to two and a half thousand pounds of cherries and museums can say thank you properly. we will consult in the coming year on how to encourage the preeminent work advance to our nation in return for a tax deduction. we will introduce from april next year this major change to

our inheritance tax system. if you leave 10% or more of your estate to charity, then again it will take 10% off your inheritance tax rates. [shouting] >> let me be clear. no beneficiaries will be better off as a result of this policy, just the charities. to the tune of 300 million pounds, i want to make giving 10% of a legacy to charity the new norm in our country. the third reform we make to the charitable taxes is not about the biggest donations but the smallest. [laughter] >> we will introduce, mr. deputy speaker, a new scheme where gift aid can be placed on small donations up to a total of 5000 pounds a year per charity without the need for those to fill in any forms at all. that means give dave on the content of the collecting tin and the street bucket, 100,000 charities will benefit to the tune of 240 million pounds.

and together, these represent the most radical and most generous reforms to charitable giving for more than 20 years. [shouting] >> do the right thing for a charity and the government will do the right thing for you. it's a big help for a big society. [shouting] >> but mr. deputy speaker, our charity does not extend to those in our society who seek to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. tax avoidance innovation means we have to ask more from working families, and that is not fair. unfortunately, not enough has been done in recent years to tackle this injustice. agent elsie estimates that 14 billion pounds was lost to avoid and innovation in 2008. today we published our new strategy paper on tackling tax avoidance? and we take specific measures to shut down the open abuses that have been allowed to continue for too long. we will can close down the

reforms of the plant taxa points, tying capital gains rules for copies and in the practice of disguising enumeration which highly -- lifetime loans that have never been paid. and we're going to tackle the exploitation of low value consignment relief that has left out music scores losing battle. in total, on the numbers audited by independent obr, the tax avoidance measures in this budget raise around 1 billion pounds a year, 4 billion pounds over the parliament, we are doing more today to clamp down on tax avoidance than in any budget in recent years. [shouting] mr. deputy speaker, t gives us more resources in a fiscally neutral buzz it to help those families who do pay their taxes but who are struggling with the daily cost of living.

we've already taken steps to help the disabled. i'm glad to report the following measures in my budget last year, every local authority in england has chosen to freeze council tax in the coming year. compared to the amount council tax could have risen by, this race will save a family at an average robbery 72 pounds a year. in two weeks time the child tax credit are low income families will increase by an additional 255 pounds. i confirmed today that in the coming year all workers in the armed forces, as inserts, teachers and civil servants earning 21,000 pounds a year or less will receive a pay uplift of 250 pounds. as i said last year, the national insurance rate rise which the last government announced will have to go ahead, but because with increased the threshold it will be cheaper to employ people on incomes of less than 21,000 pounds than it is today. that's how we stop labors job attacks.

>> anyone learning lesson 35,000 pounds a year will also be better off. in 14 days than the personal income tax allowance, the amount people can earn tax-free will go up by a thousand pounds. that's the largest rise in our history. that means in real terms around 160 pounds extra per year, or 200 pounds in cash for 23 million taxpayers. the coalition agreement commits this government to real increases in the personal allows each and every year. and since this country, no one earning less than 10,000 pounds should be caught in income tax net. this budget today takes another step towards that valuable coal. i can confirm that from april next year, the personal tax allowed to increase by a third, 630 pounds, 8105 pounds. that's another real increase of 48 pounds extra per year, or 100 expounds in cash terms. together with issues rise, a total of 326 pounds extra money each year for those working hard

to pay for their family needs. [shouting] >> and, indeed, and it means just 10 months into office this coalition government has taken 1.1 million low-paid people out of tax altogether. [shouting] >> and one more thing, and one more thing, last year we restricted the allowance increased. this year we have not. the result is there will be no more people into the higher tax rate as a result of this budget. mr. deputy speaker, let me turn now to excise duties. first, air passenger duties. mr. deputy speaker, let me be straight to the house. we had hoped we could replace the per passenger tax with a per plane tax. we have tried every possible option, that it reluctantly have to accept that all are currently illegal on international law. so we will work with others to try to get that law changed.

but in the meantime, we are consulting today on how to improve existing bans that appear to believe the caribbean is further away than california. we will also seek to bring private jets which pay no duty at all into the scope of taxation. the wealthiest should not escape attacks by the ordinary holidaymaker has to pay. and i can tell the house there was a heavy duty last year and with the cost pressures on family we think it would be fair to delay this able air passenger duty rise for next year. let me turn to duties on alcohol. we have already announced plans to increase duty on the strongest beers and cut in half the duty paid on low alcohol beers. beyond that i can tell the house i have no further changes to announce the rate of on-call duty put in place by the previous government. as usual these changes will come in at midnight on sunday. i will announce again by my predecessors, tobacco duty rates

will increase by 2% above inflation. however, it is clear that the structure of the tobacco duty regime is being exploited to produce cheaper cigarettes so we will change the regime to near the differential between these lower brands and the rest. between cigarettes and handle tobacco, this will reduce smoking and improve our nation's health. these tobacco duty changes will come into effect at 6 p.m. this evening. i turn now to other excise duties. rates of vehicle excise duty will increase by inflation only, and we will freeze rates for heavy-duty vehicles. i'm also proposing to increase the improved mileage allowance payments. this mileage rate has not increased at all since 2002, making those who depend on their car to work increasingly worse off. it will not increased from 40p to 45p per mile. and i can tell the house that we will extend this release because volunteers out as package, cherries and other 7.4 for many

years. all other duty rises will remain exactly as planned by the previous government, except fuel duty. the price of petro has become a huge burden on family. in the last six months, the cost of filling up a family car such as a ford focus has increased by 10 pounds. this rise is also hit businesses hard. especially small businesses. and it's important when shops -- and responsible government is able to listen and respond. let's be clear about what is within our control and what is not so we don't raise false hopes. british government are not in charge of the world's oil price and as we've seen, events like those in the middle these can push the cost of petco at the pump higher. but british governments are in charge of the duty that we levy on petro. and the previous cabinet --

[shouting] the previous cabinet put in place before they left office a new fuel duty escalator that involve seven fuel duty increases. three have already taken place adding just over 3%, for the price of petrol. the third step on the escalator is due to come into effect next week and that would add almost another 5 cents to the price of a liter of petrol. i've made it clear that i would listen to the concerns put to me by so many people. many have suggested that we should use the extra revenues we automatically get from the north sea. and it's true that they go up when the oil price rises, but the obr confirmed that rising oil prices also cause other tax revenues across the rest of the economy to fall by a similar amount. i'm not prepared to undermine the public finances like that. others in this house have suggested we create a separate vat rate for petrol. the treasury that examine this

proposal it was not for the offset their 5p rise as coming. it would take six years to come into play and that is because it turns out to be illegal. so i have decided to reject this approach and do something different. [shouting] [laughter] >> mr. deputy speaker, mr. deputy speaker, the north sea oil tax regime was most recently changed in 2006 when the price of oil stood at $66. it is now almost doubled that amount. that means that oil companies are making unexpected profits on oil prices that are far higher than those who base their investment decisions on. we do not in the north sea is intend to introduce a regime now. we can do something else.

we can introduce a fair fuel stabilizer. [shouting] >> from tomorrow the supplementary charge levied on oil and gas production will increase from 20%, to 32%. even after this problems on a barrel of oil are forecast to be higher in the next five years than in the last five years that this will raise an additional 2 billion pounds of revenue. and we will use the new tax money to do this. first, we will delay the inflation rise until next year and also delay the april 2012 inflation rise and to the following summer. second, the fuel duty escalator that adds an extra penny on top of inflation every year will be canceled. not just for this year or next year, but for the rest of this parliament. [shouting] >> but i don't want important investment in the north sea lost. so if the oil price sustains our falls below $75 we will consult

on the precise figure, we will read and it is the escalator and reduce the new oil tax in proportion. that is how it will work. know as clear when the oil price is high. no extra tax on the profits of north sea oil company said the oil price falls and stays low. that's the fair fuel stabilizer. [shouting] >> and this is the result for bringing hard-pressed families. i have made sure there be no fuel duty rise this year. i have canceled the fuel escalator when oil price is high, and one final thing. as well as stopping these fuel duty rises i am saying that fuel duty by 1 penny per liter. this will take effect in petrol stations from 6 p.m. tonight. [shouting] >> mr. deputy speaker, i know that by itself this will not in the pressure on family budget, but we've done what we can to help. help for families, help for businesses, governments have

listened and tell. mr. deputy speaker, there was some who said issue that my job was to help families with the cost of living and of others who said no, mine is to support business, undertake far-reaching reform to help the economy grow. it is the central understanding of this government and core to our strategy that these are not two separate tasks. they are one and the same thing. we are only going to raise the living standards of families if we have an economy that can compete in the coming age so this is our plan for growth. we want the words made in britain, designed in britain, invented in britain to drive our nation forward. .. and i commend this budget to the house.

>> under the standing order of number 51 it will be decided without debate. will the chancellor of the exchequer please move forward? the chancellor. >> question is pursuant to the provisional taxes acts 1968, provisional shall be given to the following merchants increase in the rate supplementary chargr duty rate ocean ocean number 10, c tobacco products, motion number 12 comity amusement machine license duties license amount of duty motion no. 13. e, field duty raised from the 23rd of march, no. 14. f, stop duty prevention of

avoidedance no. 9. as many say aye. the ayes have it. i call the counselor of the exchequer to call the motion of the law and the motions of the debate will take place today and end on the succeeding day. the remaining motions will be put to the end of the budget debate on tuesday the 29th of march. will the chancellor please read the motion. >> the question is that the expedient to amend the law with respect to the national debt and the public revenue and to make further provision in connection with the finance. 2, that the resolution does not extend to the making of any amendment with respect to value-added tax so as to provide. a zero rating or exempting supply acquisition or importation. b, or the refunding an amount of tax, c, for any relief other than the relief has that i so

far applicable to applies for every description and 2 so far as applicable to the services and applies the services of every description. i note the right honorable david miliband, leader of the opposition. >> mr. deputy speaker. the chancellor spoke for an hour but one fact says it all. and he couldn't bring himself to say it. growth down this year and next year. it's the same old tory, it's hurting but it isn't working. what was he said last year about growth? judge me on the figures. judge him we will. every time he goes to the chamber, growth is down. down from 2.6% to 2.63%. in november, down again. and in january, what did the prime minister say.

his three priorities for the year were growth, growth, growth. and what happened in this budget, growth, down, down, down. and taking account of all the measures -- and taking account of all the measures, what is -- >> order, order, order! we should show the same courtesy that was shown to the chancellor deputy. >> mr. speaker, what is the chancellor's singular achievement to deliver a budget for growth that downgrades the growth forecast. down this year to 1.7%. downgraded next year to -- mr. deputy speaker, it didn't happen by chance it, happened by choice. it's the wrong choice to go too far and too fast. in his own words in the june budget, he chose to go 40 billion pounds further and

faster in tax rises and spending cuts than our plan to half the deficit in four years. it seems in consumer confidence fall every month since the general election. in his first budget the chancellor promised steady and sustained economic recovery. and when last september's growth figures came out, the chancellor took the credit. he called the figures a vote of confidence in the government's economic policy. [laughter] >> but when the economy contracted in the fourth quarter, what did he do? he blamed the snow. mr. deputy speaker, even he -- even he must appreciate the irony. because while the prime minister was grounded from his trip to thailand, he was on the piece of cloisters. i guess it was a right type of holiday but a one trip for our economy. mr. deputy speaker, what is it

about the british snow? because they had worse snow? germany. a big freeze in france. in the u.s., the worst blizzards of the decades. but despite all of that, but despite of all that, their economies grew in the fourth quarter. and while our growth has worsened, theirs have improved. the german economy -- the chancellor -- the chancellor should just calm down just a little bit, mr. deputy speaker. the german economy is forecast to grow more strongly than it was last year. so is the united states. growth in the world economy has been revised up. but which is the major country downgrading its growth forecast, the united kingdom. mr. deputy speaker, it's not the wrong type of snow to blame. it's the wrong type of chancellor. it's the wrong type of chancellor in the wrong type of government with the wrong priorities for britain.

mr. deputy speaker, mr. deputy speaker -- >> courtesy should be shown but can i say to everybody, the public also wants to hear what the opposition has got to say. if the cabinet members do not want to listen, then please leave the chair. some people may agree, some may disagree. the opposition? >> they shout and sneer when it hits the highs. he also promised in his june budget that he would deliver low inflation. and what happened? inflation has risen months after months after months. and it didn't simply happen by accident. it happened because he took the wrong decision on v.a.t. same old taxes, same old tories. and he promised us falling unemployment, too. and what has happened since he gave his first budget?

over 60,000 more people looking for work. to this tory government, just like the ones of the past, unemployment is still is price worth paying. and when people heard -- and when people heard the chancellor's budget speech today, they will wonder what world he was describing. i think the chancellor should listen to this because -- because -- well, in the constituencies, in the constituencies of over 130 members of this house, 10 people are chasing every vacancy. 1 in 5 young people is looking for work. families are seeing their family finances squeezed, not this year but year after year. and mr. deputy speaker, what does the government say to communities losing their jobs? let me tell you the people of the newport justifying the closing of their passport office. they say the redundantly would provide a boost in trade for the

local economy. mr. deputy speaker, what kind of planet do these people live on? on growth, on inflation, on unemployment, on the promises he made, the chancellor couldn't bring himself to admit that his second budget tells the story of the failure of his birth. at this stage of the recovery, growth should be powering ahead. unemployment should be falling fast. and every month when unemployment is higher than it should be, it throws up long-term damage. every month when growth is low as it should be it hits the potential of our economy. the problem is instead of committing it, he refuses to change course. what did the energy secretary say? if the figures change the government should not be lashed to the mark of their reckless gamble. it should be willing to change and think again. now, mr. deputy speaker, it's not as if they haven't had practice of the u-turn business. they're becoming the past masters on forecasts, school

sports, housing benefits for those looking for work even for the vanity but on the lashed to mast they are least willing to change. now we learned something new about the chancellor. apparently his political aspirations is to be a blend of nigel lawson and michael hessletimes. mr. speaker, another comparison brings to mind. the same hubris and arrogance of the early 1990s. the same broken promises. the same views of unemployment is a price worth paying. he's norman lamont with an ipod, mr. speaker. and no doubt on his playlist, jenna regret. [laughter] >> mr. deputy speaker, this is not a growth budget, it's not a jobs budget. it's a budget for more of the

same. from a complasent arrogant chancellor and a complacent arrogant government. it's hurting but it isn't working. and let's not forget, mr. deputy speaker, these are not just the chancellor's decisions. they are not just the prime minister's decisions. they're the deputy prime minister's decisions, too. he is an accomplice to the tory plan. when it comes to the economy, the man who coined the phrase, long live britain, has a snooze button truly on. nobody voted for this plan. least of all his liberal democrat voters who are told and promise after promise he would never confront them. mr. deputy speaker if i can put it this way to him, there's a reason nobody wants to share a platform with him. on the measures on this budget,

on the measures in this budget, i welcome the support for the armed forces. i welcome the support for the armed forces. and on the measures he promotes growth, we will support him. but there is -- there is little -- if they listen. there is little reason -- there is little reason they will make the difference to grow we need. the justice secretary fell asleep during the chancellor's speech in growth strategies that were so compelling. but -- but, mr. deputy speaker, but mr. deputy speaker, this is important. the office for the budget responsibility -- the office for budget responsibility has already factored in every single measure he's just announced and they still pronounced today's

downgraded growth forecast. and you can't blame people for being skeptical when the chancellor says he has a new flagship policy for growth. because people are asking, people are asking what happened to his last flagship policy for growth during the budget? does anyone remember the national insurance holiday? in june, he took the credit of that dispatch force to helping 400,000 small firms. how many have actually benefited? mr. deputy speaker, he's strangely shy in revealing the figures. but someone let slip to the financial times. by mid-january it wasn't 400,000, it wasn't 40,000. it wasn't even 4,000. it was less than a half percent of the number he promised just 1500 businesses. now, on his incentives to small firms, we all looked at the details. i have to say -- but i have to say -- i have to say his

decision to counsel flexible working for families with children between 16 and 18 is extraordinary. this prime minister took credit for championing that policy. and in a few months later he takes the credit for small businesses for dumping it. has he got no shame? the idea -- no. the idea -- the idea that families needing flexibility for our economic future is frankly absurd and it tells you all you need to know about this government's values. and how they think our economy succeeds. greater insecurity as a route to greater prosperity. we take a different view. flexible working is yet another growth and promise from the broken promise prime minister. now, mr. deputy speaker, while we're on the subject of broken

promises, remember what the prime minister said before the election. he said he would be the banker basher in chief. now, the chancellor made great play of his budget speech but the reality is this, last year labour's bonus tax raised 3.5 billion pounds. it's in the redbook. and this year the bank levy raises just 1.9 billion pounds. it's the tory government cutting taxes for the banks while they raised taxes on everybody else. and he should have -- and he should have used the money to invest in the jobs funds which they abolished to make a real difference to housing in this country and to boost enterprise. mr. deputy speaker, they're failing on growth and they are failing on living standards, too. what did the prime minister say before the election? to families receiving tax credits? he said that below 50,000 pounds a year, that the tax credit was

safe. when labour said otherwise, the home secretary said this. that is a lie and it is irresponsible for labour to be worrying families needlessly. but what is the truth? next year over 1 million families with incomes as low as 26,000 pounds will lose all their tax credits. they should be ashamed of their broken promises on tax credits. and it's hard the cost of living crisis they are pursuing. the chancellor said everybody under thro-5,000 would be better off. but let's look at the facts. he came along in the june budget and put out v.a.t. costing families 450 pounds a year. now, he's got the nerve to expect them to be grateful when he gives them a fraction of their own money back. and what the what did the institute that fiscal studies tell us this morning. they said this, there's an all of lot of giving with one hand

and taking away with lots and lots of other hands. it's a classic tory con. and what about about the decision on petrol. he whacked up v.a.t. by 3 pence. families won't be fooled by the economics. both on average families it's 5 up in the basic rate of income tax and just one p down next year. what do the british people know from history? every tory ends up costing them more. same old tory, same old defeat. mr. deputy speaker, we needed a budget that changed the direction of economic policy. we needed a budget that protected the promise of britain so the next generation does better than the last. we needed a budget that changed course on cutting too far and too fast. the chancellor said over the weekend with his customary

modesty he completed his rescue mission of the british economy. after this budget it's not the chancellor who's rescuing the country it's a country that needs rescuing from this chancellor. mr. deputy speaker, when families look at this budget, look at the squeeze on their living standards, look at their job losses in that community, they will conclude it's hurting but it isn't working. >> order! [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

>> put statements to this house first before going -- >> get on with the debate. >> we must move on. mr. andrew tirid. this budget will be judged on whether it keeps up on course to tackle the deficit and whether it provides the strategy to improve the long-run performance of the british economy. >> in my view we need to be clear, all of us, about one thing. we are living beyond our means as a country. >> here, here. >> with every one pound in every four they spend has been foreign. that overshadows everything else today. despite all the clash of party symbols, the gap between the

parties actually on the scale of action to reduce the deficit has been done. two-thirds of the adjustment has been done by the counselor of the exchequer. i regret he's not in place at the moment. it was courageous of him to set that deficit reduction plan out and their spending cuts out before the election. he did it. today, this chancellor has stuck to his plans to sort out the public finances. and that's taken courage, too. and i think deserves our full support. i think he's done the right thing. i want to make three further points on the deficit. first, the government is not reducing public expenditures to dangerous levels. at 40% of gdp by the end of parliament, it will be returned to promptly the same level achieved by labour in 2008. nonetheless, the retrenchment is

going to feel more painful from this time on. the consolidation in each of the next three years at around 2530 billion pounds a year is three times the amount implemented in the first year of this government. the third point i want to make on the -- on the deficit is that the pressure to flinch will now mount. we simply must not do so for at least two reasons. for a start it would cost the country a fortune in high deficit response as markets lost confidence in economic policy. and secondly, to do so would mean a field day for the spending lobbyists once they smelled blood the government's strategy would be put severely at risk. i want to say a few words about the great strategy. today, the chancellor announced a comprehensive new approach to this. and it contains many measures which i think we should welcome, not least the large risk of

deregulation measures. the planning and measures to improve access to start up capital. on all of those it's essential that each part of the strategies is consistent with other parts of public policy. individually, direct measures always sound attractive. the test is whether they form a coherent strategy. on those grounds i warmly welcome what amounts to a new agenda for tax reform to create the most competitive tax system in the advanced world. and i particularly support the reductions in corporation tax which will bring it down to 23% within a few years. mr. deputy speaker, it's an absolute disgrace that the u.k. now has the longest tax code in the world. the complexity of the system is getting in the way of thousands of small businesses in our constituency. the very people who can take us back to sustained growth. we must have a tax system which

allows enterprise to flourish. a few weeks ago, the treasury committee published a report setting out the key principles which should underpin tax reform. i can summarize them very briefly. let's have more simplicity. let's have more stability. and let's have lower rates and fewer relief as possible. i note in this budget the chancellor has announced -- has abolished 43 reliefs and he's gotten rid of 43 pages of the tax code and let's have medley in the tax system as well. the chancellor appears to have set us out in the right direction. it will be now for the treasury committee and others to judge whether his proposals match up to the principles that we set out in our report and which match quite closely what others in the tax industry have

concluded -- the tax advisory industry have concluded on the way forward. the committee would also examine who gains and who loses from the budget. last year, the committee demanded an unprecedented amount of detail on the distribution with respect to the budget. the chancellor responded and i'd like to commend him for this. by publishing more information than had ever been provided by a chancellor before. this will be particularly important with respect to the plan to merge income tax ..al which chancellors of the exchequer have looked at very closely and then in the end rejected. largely because it hits the incomes in certain groups in unexpected ways. maybe the time has come for the treasury committee will take evidence on whether indeed the time has come to implement it. i think we should also look at a number of other proposals that will have long-term

distributional impacts. among them, of course, the encouragement of charitable giving with the sizeable extension of gift aid and the inheritance tax relief. and i hope that the vast majority in the house welcome that, too. we will also do -- we'll do our best to examine the coherence of some of his other measures against wider public policy. i can best illustrate it by alluding to points made too me by colleagues in the house. the chancellor announced the creation of 21 enterprises. they must be designed carefully to ensure that they create jobs and increase overall activity. the risk would always be with enterprises that they distort activity at the boundaries and add no new jobs. [inaudible] >> i will. >> i thank my honorable friend putting up the remarks.

and don't you think it should be expended out to towns where we have a strong scientific corridor? >> yes. it just crosses my mind that you might have an interest in harlow. [laughter] >> the crucial issue is that if we are to create areas which have special reliefs that we don't inadvertently merely moving activity around the country while adding nothing to overall welfare of u.k. and that is a very difficult judgment and we need to look extremely carefully at it. >> will my right honorable friend be -- >> i will. >> my right honorable friend will have heard the chancellor say that there will be discussions in relation to the position in wales and scotland. and the existence of an enterprise in the bristol area if the welsh assembly might not follow in that policy and it mightial for the relocation -- >> i think my right honorable

friend is saying and i think they need to be accountable point to. and the cost of fuel. this budget gives some relief on fuel duty rises with the cancellation of the fuel duty escalator among other things while reducing other government policies putting up the cost of energy are a lot for businesses and homeowners in other ways. not least the price of electricity. and the cost of rail travel is also going up. does all this, the reduction for motorists and increase for rail users and much higher energy bills form a coherent policy? i don't know. but it needs to be carefully examined. it needs to be examined particularly in the light of the chancellor's announcement for a price for carbon. all these issues need to be very carefully looked at. the distorted energy policy will make britain less competitive,

particularly, in our export market. in our effort to -- in our effort to return to sustained growth, we need to make best use of every pound invested in our public services. another example of the need to make sure we have coherence in growth policy, it was put to me by colleagues on both sides of the house. they've asked whether spending 17 billion pounds up a high-speed rail is best use of the money instead of investing in modern rail and improving existing tracks. i suspect that millions of rail commuters whose trains are unreliable and relatively slow will be interested to the answer to that question. i'm very pleased that the transport select committee has just announced an inquiry into this and i think a lot of people will be awaiting the outcome. >> i'm grateful on my right honorable friend. would he agree that high-speed

rail has a profoundly bad economic decision for the whole country? >> what i'm deliberately trying to do is not answer the questions here but pose these questions for the select committees and others to try and answer. i think -- what i'm trying to point out is that in order to demonstrate a coherent of growth strategies, a large policies need to look to ensure that we're not wasting public resources in the next few years. i'd like to end just by making one -- i'll give way to -- >> can i thank the honorable gentleman -- does it not concern him that nothing has been said in the budget today about the centerpiece of the government's growth strategy? in other words, the holiday on national insurance for small companies outside london and the southeast. shouldn't we know more about how that is going and whether it's been in any way a success?

>> an interesting point and, of course, as he notes, we'll be holding hearings next week on this and we'll have an opportunity to take evidence on exactly that point. i'd like to draw my remarks to a close by just observing the growth and the deficit reduction strategy, the two issues that i've been discussing today. it will be one and the same thing. if a reduction in the size of the government -- of government allows room for the private sector to grow. i know that it's not something on which agreement will be reached across the house. but i hope members on the other side of the house will permit me to end with a personal review. even if there was no debt, i believe we should still reduce public spending. at close to 50% of gdp, public spending is too high. >> here, here. >> it reduces choice and freedom for millions of individuals, and it burdens enterprises with

unacceptable levels of taxation. during the 13 years of the last government, public spending averaged around 40% of gdp. i support the government's plan to reduce it back to that level again. >> here, here. >> could i just say to honorable members, there's a lot of members who want to get in today and quite rightly want to get in as many as possible. there's no time limit but brevity will be helpful to other people. so stewart bowden. >> i'm grateful, mr. deputy speaker, for the opportunity of speaking earlier and for the hollingable member and i raised three points i would like to take up. the first one he referred to the reduction in the deficit over the next 45 years. and he said that he thought that this would give grave concern in the future and bring great pressure to bound the government not to continue with the program. in this sense he's perfectly right. 146 billion reduced to 122 billion. reduced to 70 billion, reduced

to 26 billion for the years 2015 and '16. that's a massive drop and it will have consequences for the public sector which in the end he acknowledged. in the budget speech of the chancellor he did not make any mention to the welfare state. nor did he mention the point which the honorable member finished on which is the balance between the public and the private sector. and that is a clear imbalance that we're going to see between the public and the private and whether the public sector can shed jobs and whether they can go into the private sector. that is an interesting point. and we will follow it with great interest. in the northeast of england, where we have something like 47% in the public sector, then you can see, mr. deputy speaker, the difficulties and the dangers of moving quickly and rapidly with such a massive debt reduction over 45 years.

how wilson once said one man's pay rise is another man's ticket to the -- the deficit reduction we're talking about today is one man's job passing from the public sector. and i have to tell the honorable member since he made the point, he must remember that those who actually work in the public sector are producers. they pay taxes. they consume. and to remove them from that sector by such a drastic and rapid reduction in the deficit will not actually add to the prosperity or the standard of living of our people. >> mr. deputy secretary, i'm very grateful for the honorable

11billion pounds, which is a leading pounds. and the honorable gentleman is right that we have mixed up thet deficit with the overall test it, but public spending will continue to go up. that is where there's a certain site and they have two say fromf the chancellor when he made his budget speech.rate >> i'm grateful from every adula man, wouldls be also agree witht that by hacutting public or job, direct effects on the earth,r. the university shows the northeast some 50,000 jobs will

go because of public sector costs. 20,000 will be in the private sector. >> i'm grateful to my honorable friend. i've also seen the study of the pricewaterhousecooper on the impact on the northeast of the various deficit reduction plans that we have seen. may i congratulate without sick or fancy to the leader of the opposition, he made a very short speech, a very precise speech, but he hit -- he hit every nail on the head that needed to be hit. growth is down. growth is down. we ended to a zero growth in the last quarter. where is growth going this year? 1.7% for the year. how does that compare with germany, 3% growth. >> could the honorable gentleman just enlightened the house when in any recovery from any major

asset-based inflation growth has returned with even a 5 or 7-year period? one thinks of the 1930s which wasn't -- there was no return to growth until the end of that decade. one thinks of japan where there was no return of growth until this decade. how can you possibly attribute to this government a situation who regards growth as you do. >> i'm very grateful to the honorable gentleman's point and we have argued consistently and so has the international community that we had a financial crisis from 2008 and 2009. and out of that financial crisis, without making references to tsunamis, earthquakes, there are many after-shocks and it takes much time to actually get over that. so i certainly agree with that point. but it was not us who said that we were going to raise growth in last year. it was the conservative government and the honorable member made an excellent point when he pointed out quite rightly that under a labour government, we had 40% growth of

debt in relation to gross domestic products. my recollection it was 37-something percent. it was the financial crisis that pushed it up to where it was. >> i'm very grateful to my honorable friend for giving way. would he also say after all the measures we've heard from the chancellor and the budget, the growth forecast is actually after the effect of those. so actually how bad would the growth forecast have been without these measures? which it's still drastically down what he was suggesting when he delivered this budget nine, tric ten months ago. >> i haven't government that far in my speech. if growth is down and inflation is up. and prices going up in france, inflation has 2%. where we have higher inflation

is because of the policy of the government. we decrease it over a period of time the value of our currency by 25%. we increased our exports but we increased our imports. our imports are still greater than our exports. we are importing the inflation. the difference between the french inflation of 2% and our inflation which is going to run between 3.5 and 5% is actually we're importing and we're importing because of government policy. and so unemployment -- let me say is the point. unemployment going up. 17 years high. the chancellor made a great thing about 3,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector. he didn't refer to all of those jobs. how many more jobs will be lost when we move into the actual cutbacks starting april the 1st on local councils. how will they deal with the 20% reduction and the nigel health

system. we know we will lose jobs in middleboro. we're the fourth highest unemployment rate in the country. that is wrong. and that happened under a labour government, happened under a tory government but the cutbacks that have been announced and have come back to this massive deficit reduction program announced by the chancellor in his last budget would actually push us further down. further down. and there was no reference made to the welfare states. what happened to the welfare state. what happened to the balance between the public and the private sector. what happened to those who are not able to look after themselves? where was all that in today's budget. >> honorable members talked about what's happening in the northeast and the northwest over the last 10 years. we've seen public sector jobs increase by 100,000, between '99 and 2009. in the private sector we've seen growth of just about 10,000 jobs.

that is completely unsustainable. what can -- what do you propose is going to address -- address that situation? how are they going to do that? >> well, let me be how grateful to the honorable gentleman. that may be a figure in his part of the world and it may not be a figure in the other part of the world. let me get back to the point. we created a balance between the private sector and the public sector and we believe that balance was the right plans of the country and in terms of the northeast of england when we lost manufacturing jobs, we lost steel jobs, we lost coal jobs and ship-building jobs, we dissolved in the public sector unleashed those who worked in the public sector created careers for themselves and related to the point my honorable friend made. there was a relationship between the public and the private sector. they work together. >> i think the honorable gentleman had a -- >> i say my right honorable gentleman who has been most generous committee explain why

the government whom he supported was given a structural deficit several years before the financial crisis? >> we had no difficulty with the structural deficit because we believed in infrastructure projects. we believed in public/private initiatives. and it was exactly the same what the germans brought. it was a fine way of doing it and it's still a fine way of doing because in my constituency, we got the first public/private initiative which was to change university hospital. so we have nothing to regret on what is now called the structural deficit and when i say to the honorable gentleman i said earlier, the structural deficit is like any other deficit. it's part and parcel of the full objective. and the right honorable gentleman who made the point earlier is perfectly right. why is the taxing this deficit public expenditure in other areas is going up. so get your balance right, mr. deputy speaker, and what

we're not getting right is the balance here. the chancellor made a great play of competitiveness. he said that we were -- we've moved from fourth in the league of competitiveness to 12. we've made a big thing about competitiveness. he did not mention the euro, not surprisingly. he didn't mention the conference tomorrow and the day after when the european union, the sfooep -- 17 members of the eurozone. and why are they doing that? they are wishing to increase their growth and their imports and we're in competition with them. we're in competition with germany. we're in competition with france. we will be in competition with these other countries when the counselor of exchequer talked about greece and spain. why the fourth economy of the world has to compare itself with greece? with 150% deficit, not the 60% or the 50%.

we're talking about 115%. the 50% debt against gross domestic product. how come our nation states, the fourth largest in the world has to be compared to a small country of greece. and we go in the 67 billion deficit reduction in one budget and the chancellor today -- he was very gracious having already taken all this money out of the economy is now saying i won't be taking any more out. i'll hit you on the head with one big hammer and i'll come back with another one. how gracious of him. how gracious to destabilize within the space of nine months our economy. and that is what he's done. that is what he continues to do. he will certainly rebalance the economy. it will be away from the welfare state. it will be away from the public sector. it will be away from the work force of our country. and he will weaken the fabric of our country and weaken the standard of living of all of our people.

>> it's actually not the chancellor who's associated this economy with those of portugal, ireland, greece and spain but it's the international markets. when we have the governor of the bank of england in front of the treasury select committee two weeks ago, he and his team confirmed that without a package of fiscal austairity we will be we'll have more than what we are doing now at the moment and that's the official position of the bank of england and that's why these measures have been taken. >> i won't go down the road that the exchequer will be criticizing the president of the bank of england that would not be appropriate for me but the advice that was given to the government when it became a government was a very severe advice comparing us -- comparing us with agrees. now, the right honorable gentleman makes an interesting point. at what point in our history did

we turn over our economy to the ratings agencies? at what point did we say to ourselves, it's only a rating agencies when the rating agencies call you, and they all have a fix -- they have a panic. you're not to reduce our ratings, are you? mr. speaker, why would -- why did we as a nation state give our economy over to a ratings agency to moody's, to standard & poor's? where was the chancellor of the exchequer who said, no, i'm not going to do that. and in relation to the ratings agencies. the ratings agencies accepted the deficit reduction plan of a labour government. they were happy with the four-year program. it was this particular government who fell back to the age of the noble lords and to the -- john major referred to my right honorable member. it's not working. it's not --

[laughter] >> it's not working. and that was the two points. the honorable gentleman gave away one i'm not sure i should give away to a second time. >> would you not agree with when john major left office in the last government? [inaudible conversations] >> that mr. deputy speaker is not true. and it could not possibly be true. how this made the reference to the we borrowed 11 billion in the month of february alone. so if one takes every aspect of this government's policy in relation to competitiveness in relation to growth, in relation to unemployment, in relation to inflation, what one does see, that's the point i wanted to make in relation to the noble lords. this government is falling back to where it was way back from '79 to '83 and then into '92. the public sector doesn't count for very much.

the welfare state doesn't count for very much. what counts is balancing the budget and i'm surprised that the honorable members of chiexster. in five years maybe we will be adopting a german proposal of balancing the budget completely in that time. so i don't want to hold the house up much longer. i would like to make some reference to my constituency and to say to the chancellor, we're very grateful that we have an enterprise zone. we're very grateful we have a local enterprise partnership. we will work closely with the government on both of those. we have seen the muck balling of steals. we have someone to take over our steel mills. we will look to this budget. we will look to the local enterprise partnership. we will look to the new enterprise zone and we look to the new steel mill that that will create jobs, bring in 600

million in investment and for my part of the world, notwithstanding the cutbacks, notwithstanding the impact on local counselors for tea side, the future is bright and i'm very happy to be confident in that notwithstanding all the blows we will take over the next four years. thank you, mr. speaker. >> john? >> thank you, mr. deputy speaker. >> here, here, here. >> i want to remind the house that i do offer industrial advice to a swedish industrial group and investment advice to a british investment company. mr. deputy speaker, some members ahave expressed displeasure that this side of the house should have mentioned the circumstances in agrees agrees and portugal. they remind us that we have a much bigger economy. and i'm pleased to say at the moment we have a better-managed economy than the case in greets agrees, spain portugal.

our public deficit was larger even than theirs as a proportion of our national income when the big deficit reduction program started. and i would like to praise my right honorable friend the counsel of the exchequer for overseeing his central task day in and day out, month in and month out our five-year burden all of us in this house is to get that deficit down before it kills our public finances and our economy. >> here here. >> if anyone thinks there is no risk, i would invite them to go visit greece portugal or ireland and see what happens when you ignore a deficit for the best of reasons. when you say, i do want to spend a little bit more on a good public cause and so i will borrow it so spend it. of course, we've all got great causes we would like to spend more money on. borrow somethi borrowing is something so often

and when you're borrowing too much it destroys your general economy it doesn't provide too big of a burden on those who have to pay the taxes and the interest charges but in the end brings down the public sector as well with far bigger cuts and far less favorable choices than we have trying to take matters into our own hands by planning a steady deficit reduction. it is particularly poignant, mr. deputy speaker, that we are debating in this relatively civilized atmosphere in a relatively sane and sensible way an economy position about which there are strong agreements but no overall disagreements about the imperative to avoid big rises in bond rates, interest rates and the imperative to get on with some kind of deficit reduction. on exactly the same day that the portuguese parliament is meeting to discuss not their first, not their second, not their third but their fourth package of emergency damaging public

spending cuts and unaffordable tax increases because such is the plight their economy is being driven into by reckless overspending and too much borrowing and by of course being within the euro area. >> i thank my right honorable friend for giving way. would he agree in answer to the gentleman's question when the ratings agencies took over. they will go no further back in 1949 when we had a run on the forge exchange markets -- foreign change markets and we had the foreign exchange markets under labour government in 1976 to '9 where we had a run on the foreign exchange markets under a labour government? >> mr. deputy speaker, my right honorable friend is quite right. the labour party has pointed out there was one or two examples under conservative governments too so i don't want to be drawn too far down the historical path. i think we can see what we need to see by looking at the modern reality where we see that as my right honorable friend the chancellor rightly said, currently and fortunately,

british bond rates, the rate we have to pay to borrow money for public purposes are much closer to germany's than they are to many other countries in europe. and they are on the half the level they are in trouble of portugal at the moment. portuguese 10-year moment went through 8% today just to stress to those beleaguered portuguese parliamentans whether aem election might be an answer to their problems. if they don't take dire immediate action their country can't borrow at any affordable rate of interest and so they can't go on spending the extra 10% of national income that we are currently spending which is borrowed to tie us through and to get us through better managed times. mr. deputy speaker, i think my right honorable friend the chancellor is right that having tackled the deficit and set out a pathway for doing it, he should then turn to the question of how he can accelerate growth.

the truth of the 5-year deficit program is very simple. that we need well above average growth for the last three or four years of the program period in order to deliver the numbers in the redbook today, which is very similar to the numbers in the redbook we saw in the first edition of this chancellor last summer. and just to remind the house, the scale of the task, the government's plan is to be spending 70 billion a year more in the fifth year of the plan, 2014, '15 than the last labour year. an increase of 70 billion in cash terms, not a big increase. there will be pressures because of it. but it is an increase of 70 billion a year. and to get the deficit down, by increasing the amount of tax revenue collected by an eye watering 175 billion pounds extra in the last year of the