Derek McDowell (Labour)

We all agreed that it started in 1994, or possibly even earlier. The second myth is the notion that tax cuts stimulated or were responsible for the boom. In many respects, they were the product of the boom. The major income tax cuts occurred in the late 1990s and not in the early 1990s. I do not think one can claim, as the Minister of State's party does, that income tax cuts gave rise to the boom. They did not.

The third myth is taking root at the moment. It is the notion that the Government has suddenly changed direction. I want to enter a note of caution. We have seen last December's spending before. We even have had far higher rates of spending than that which we saw last December. We had such rates in the two years preceding the 2002 general election.

As one swallow does not make a summer, one half decent budget does not make the Minister for Finance a socialist. I believe very strongly that had we seen consistently over the past seven years budgets approximate to the last one, the country would be a much better place in which to live. Before those of us who look at things from the perspective I do start heaping plaudits on the Minister, we must see a great deal more evidence of a change in direction.