In the Finance Bill there are new measures to encourage work, improve productivity and protect the environment. The March Budget also set the spending envelope for the spending review, consistent with a continuing commitment to fiscal prudence and stability. With the March Budget and now the outcome of the spending review announced by the Chancellor last week, the country can be in no doubt that we are working hard for a stronger and fairer Britain, where there is opportunity and security for all, releasing substantial new resources for health and education, tackling child poverty, supporting pensioners, improving transport and tackling crime. But this is only possible because we have delivered a platform of stability and sustainable public finances. Inflation outturns have been close to target over the whole of the past year.
More people are in work than ever before.
Employment is up by over 1 million since the election. With the assistance of the New Deal, long-term unemployment is at its lowest level for 20 years and youth unemployment at its lowest for a generation. Real take-home pay is up by between 8 and 25 per cent, and when spending on areas we are targeting such as children and pensions is taken out, welfare spending is falling for the first time in decades. Budget 2000 locked in the fiscal tightening over the next two years to an even greater extent than projected in Budget 1999. Last week, the Chancellor announced that the budgetary outturn for 1999-2000, published since March, has shown a larger surplus than expected at the time of the Budget, allowing the Government to make a greater than expected debt repayment.