The Government has put improved resources into public services and into boosting public provision and I believe it has no apology to make for the increases in pensions or child benefit. It would be useful for those who say that public spending is too high to indicate where it is too high and where cuts should be made. It appears that people now want higher levels of spending in each area of Government activity, including health, education and transport, but they also want the overall level of Government spending to be reduced. This is clearly an unsustainable argument. People should recognise that great social progress has been made over the past five years. Some 380,000 extra people have been employed and the long-term rate of unemployment has been reduced to approximately 4%. It should be recognised also that we must cut our cloth according to our measure. That means moderating the rate of growth in public expenditure at a time when the rate of growth in the economy is also moderating.