There has been much talk of cutbacks and curtailment. I want once again to remind this House of the scale of investment in our public services in recent years. I am proud that our growth rates since 1997 have allowed us to spend more on public services than has ever been possible before. In fact, we have had the highest rate of increase in public spending of all EU member states over that period. Spending on day-to-day public services here rose three times as fast as in the average EU member state between 1997 and 2002.