Today the Opposition has been challenged to say whether the Government is spending too much and where it would spend less. It is a reasonable question. For the first three to three and a half years of the last Government I would happily have spent more and for the last two years I would have spent less, in order to end up with a more balanced path of economic development over the period of five years. While I have accused the Minister of being procyclical in his economic thinking, the economic cycle has been precisely determined by the political cycle. The Minister cut slowly, as is his instinct, in the early years and splurged at the last minute, possibly against his instincts, because of electoral demands and he was being pushed to do so by spending Ministers. He has allowed the economy to be run, not by economic considerations, but by considerations of party politics. On these grounds alone he will be judged a failure as Minister for Finance.