I am an old-fashioned tax and spend social democrat. I believe that we should tax in order to fund better public services and that much, although not all, improvement requires additional public expenditure. I am persuaded by the arguments in the health strategy, for example, that it can only be done if you spend considerably more money. I am persuaded – nobody can argue with this – that we will only get better infrastructure, whether it is roads or public transport, if we spend, by and large, a great deal more public money. I am not saying that there cannot be improvements without spending money, but there are many important improvements which will not come about unless we spend more money.