Confidence Crisis

It is a Crisis of Confidence; and I think, from a purely economic point of view, it is a quite unnecessary crisis, because there is no evidence to show that we are in what is called a cyclical depression.

It is a very dangerous thing for this country and for the democracies of the world that This Confidence Crisis should have come upon us at this particular moment, because, whatever anybody may say, the fundamental strength of the democratic countries of the world is their economic strength.

It is a Crisis of Confidence, a crisis due to the fact that sterling, instead of being a currency of confidence, has become a currency of doubt.

In the end this remains fundamentally a Crisis of Confidence.

It is a cliché to say that today we are suffering a Crisis of Confidence.

We could quite easily have a Crisis of Confidence among the ordinary men and women in many parts of Europe and of Asia, especially among those who have had vivid memories of invasion and occupation, and all that means, unless we can give them practical evidence that they are part of a united and effective Defence system - and that is the importance of the proposals we are now considering.

During the coming months he might bear in mind that what he is facing here is a Crisis in Confidence.

] That malaise has increased until it has reached the proportions of a Crisis of Confidence.

With low reserves and the danger of a Crisis of Confidence, the right hon. Gentleman has to go to extraordinary lengths to impress the foreign speculators.

In December, there was even a small run started because of a rumour, or a leakage, that the former Chancellor was about to leave the Treasury - though goodness knows why that should have caused a Crisis in Confidence in sterling.

The point is that we are not dealing with rational human beings when talking about this, and almost anything can start a Crisis of Confidence.

In fact, European traders and financiers have kept themselves so short of sterling that even in a Crisis of Confidence, such as we have had this autumn, there was less sterling to sell short, and, therefore, the Chancellor could not have expected to have done quite as badly as the Lord Privy Seal.

I am not suggesting for a moment that that is the intention of the Western Powers, but here again we see this Crisis of Confidence.

They say, in the introduction to the Economic Survey:There were several promising developments in the United Kingdom economy during 1957 but the year as a whole was dominated by the Crisis of Confidence in sterling which came to a head in August and September.

This is, after all, a Crisis of Confidence.

This Bill is one of the very greatest possible importance in so far as it touches upon the protection of the public and the maintenance of public order, and it is a question which involves something of a Crisis of Confidence for the Government, because my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has envisaged, and is now in the process of carrying out, a scheme of social reform with the theme of freedom for a responsible society.

This is a Crisis of Confidence.

In this connection I should like to refer to the extraordinary outburst of the hon. Member for Cardiff, North (Mr. Box) a day or two ago about the future of Cynheidre and Abernant which might create a Crisis of Confidence of some gravity.

As I understand them, they are designed principally to do one thing only, namely, to deal with a Crisis of Confidence in the £ which in political terms can even be said to be a crisis of confidence in the Government.

But the Chancellor was not sufficiently frank with the House, particularly yesterday, in that he did not make it clear that the short-term problem is simply and solely a new Crisis of Confidence in the £.

I do not think I am creating a Crisis of Confidence by quoting those remarks and the original remarks by the Parliamentary Secretary which do not tie up.

What happened - and I draw the attention of the House to this - was that the Chancellor had apparently not reckoned with a Crisis of Confidence in the £, although he had been given ample warning from these benches.

This is a Crisis of Confidence in the United Nations for many people in this country.

He began by speaking of a "Crisis of Confidence in the United Nations" and he went on to ask, why does it exist?

The Foreign Secretary, at the beginning of his speech, spoke of a Crisis of Confidence about the United Nations.

The Foreign Secretary used the phrase "Crisis of Confidence".

but we shall have with us the support of millions of people in this country who believe that Britain has reached the parting of the ways, that the Crisis of Confidence is not in the United Nations but in the Government's ability to support the United Nations, who believe—[Interruption.

His first point was that the United Nations had a Crisis of Confidence because… for the first time since its foundation a number of countries have voted publicly and without shame in favour of the use of force to achieve national ends.

How much more to the point his speech would have been had he related his criticisms to a series of concrete proposals for ending what he called "the Crisis of Confidence".

On the point which he raised about a Crisis of Confidence, I do not think I will repeat what could not have been more admirably said by my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Hertfordshire, East, (Sir D. Walker-Smith).

The noble Lord said:Why, then, if there is such a universal urge for peace and the machinery to achieve it is ready to hand, is there a Crisis of Confidence in the United Nations?

Nevertheless, it said:We do not believe that there is ' a Crisis of Confidence in the U.N. ', but consider that such a crisis might be induced by an assumption that it already exists.

No doubt, we shall be outnumbered by the votes of those who, every election, hand on heart, appeal for votes because they support the United Nations; but we shall have with us the support of millions of people in this country who believe that Britain has reached the parting of the ways, that the Crisis of Confidence is not in the United Nations but in the Government's ability to support the United Nations, who believe - [Interruption.

- who believe that the Crisis of Confidence is not in the United Nations but in the Government's support of it and that it can now be resolved only by the unequivocal repudiation of the Minister who has put it in doubt.

At this time, it is important to remember that there is a Crisis of Confidence in the industry which betokens ill if and when we join the Common Market.

The hon. Gentleman spoke about a Crisis of Confidence, but it was precisely to try to restore confidence and to increase efficiency that the Cotton Reorganisation Schemes were designed to enable the industry to compete with other countries.

In paragraph 20, the Estimates Committee drew attention to the disappointing rate of applications which was due, so it was told by witnesses, to the Crisis of Confidence in the industry.

There are opportunities for the future, and yet the industry is passing through a Crisis of Confidence which one must recognise.

I have said that the industry is suffering from a Crisis of Confidence.

There is, indeed, a Crisis of Confidence.

Does the President of the Board of Trade think that his statement of 6th June or his statement today will overcome the present Crisis of Confidence?

No wonder there is a Crisis of Confidence in the industry.

The opinion of all the witnesses who appeared before the Estimates Committee is that there has been a "Crisis of Confidence".

During the last debate the position was described as a Crisis of Confidence.

As the Estimates Committee pointed out, there was a Crisis of Confidence in the industry, and since the issue of the Estimates Committee's Report the Government have done nothing at all to restore that confidence.

The impression I had already gained from reading was heightened when I was there, that we are approaching a remarkable Crisis of Confidence in N.A.T.O.

Is it not perfectly clear that there has been for some time a real Crisis of Confidence between the Government and the board of B.O.A.C, and that we cannot get over that crisis by some of the words used this afternoon?

The right hon. Gentleman's assertions of a Crisis of Confidence are his own.

He denied that there was any Crisis of Confidence between the B.O.A.C.

The industry is suffering from a very severe Crisis of Confidence.

Will he make it his business, since after all there was something of a Crisis of Confidence between our two countries which led to the appointment of Professor Neustadt to find out whether that report does contain any statement about the earlier information given to Her Majesty's Government by a high American source?

The writer put his case with extreme moderation, and ended with the following thought-provoking words: "The decisions which you "— that is, the Prime Minister: "announced on the 6th February which abolish the Ministry for Science has contributed to the developing Crisis of Confidence among scientists and engineers.

The writer put his case with extreme moderation, and ended with the following thought-provoking words:The decisions which you " - that is, the Prime Minister:announced on the 6th February which abolish the Ministry for Science has contributed to the developing Crisis of Confidence among scientists and engineers.

Is he further aware that after this new revelation as to how the Herring Industry Board has conducted its affairs, there is a real and, I think, enduring Crisis of Confidence among the fishermen on the issue of how their money is used and whether it is used well or not?

He asserted that the Crisis of Confidence long ante-dated the election.

If we got through the Crisis of Confidence, it was not because of the Government's actions but in spite of them.

Thirdly, and lastly, will the right hon. Gentleman compare the speech made by Secretary-General U Thant, 10 days ago, in the United Nations with a speech I made on the Crisis of Confidence in the United Nations four years ago?

There is no Crisis of Confidence in the United Kingdom or in our people.

] I say that if it were not for the Crisis of Confidence created by the right hon. Gentleman there would be no need for this increase in taxation.

In fact, one can say about This Confidence Crisis and what happened this year that it is probably the first time since the war when foreign bankers had genuine reason to be concerned about the safety of the £.

Our main complaint about this Budget is that, while it seeks to deal in the short term with the Crisis of Confidence in sterling, it does absolutely nothing in the long term to make this country more competitive, to increase our productivity, to reduce industrial costs, to stimulate initiative and enterprise or to improve our export performance.

It is argued that the Government could have avoided the so-called Crisis of Confidence.

Why did not the Government avoid that Crisis in Confidence?

All the rest of this position flowed from the Crisis of Confidence for which the Prime Minister said his own Government was responsible.

ter of Housing, I must say at this Box in order to help the building societies to overcome the Crisis of Confidence in them which the Tory Press and Opposition spokesmen, whether they mean it or not, have been causing by their attitude during the last three weeks.

Then, they say that he mighthave saved himself the Crisis of Confidence into which the Government plunged themselves in November.

With great respect, I think that the hon. Member for Woolwich, West (Mr. Hamling) must distinguish between the trade problems which were emphasised all through the last Government - I emphasised them myself on innumerable occasions at the Board of Trade, as did my right hon. Friend the Member for Barnet at the Exchequer - and the Crisis of Confidence in November which was a financial crisis.

The facts are that on previous occasions when we have had balance of trade problems, they have been followed by a Crisis of Confidence in the £.

I am not surprised, because by their own acts they have created a Crisis of Confidence not only in the building industry but, I am sorry to say, in the country at large.

if he will take steps to demonstrate the underlying strength of sterling so as to forestall another Crisis of Confidence in the £; if he will give an assurance that any exchange control that may be necessary to defend sterling will be imposed should the need arise; and if he will make a statement.

The hon. and learned Gentleman complained about my hon. Friend widening the debate, but he has widened this into a debate on the whole economic situation, the disastrous record of the present Administration, the Crisis of Confidence, and everything else that is responsible for the situation in which the Government find themselves.

As a result, before he could see how the economic situation was going to develop, following the Crisis of Confidence in his own Government, he was committed to this enormous burden of the Finance Bill and the effects of these two taxes.

] - because, the facts being known, the Crisis of Confidence came under the Prime Minister and his Government and not under the previous Government.

In any event, the second part of my point is that if we had not had the Crisis of Confidence which was induced by the party opposite it would not have been necessary to go in for these measures.

This was the Crisis of Confidence.

The hon. Member has consistently pursued a policy of undermining confidence at a moment when the industry is in a Confidence Crisis.

We came to the General Election in 1964 without a Crisis of Confidence.

Then the hon. Gentleman does admit that it was a Crisis of Confidence?

One can hardly say otherwise in view of the great efforts which my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer has had to make this year to try to overcome that Crisis of Confidence.

I wonder, therefore, how the right hon. Member for Enfield, West could possibly have said during his speech And so we came to the election of 1964 without any Crisis of Confidence".

I therefore claim that the evidence of the first 10 months of the Labour Government proves that the Crisis in Confidence of last autumn and early spring was a self-inflicted wound which at times was crippling and at other times very nearly fatal.

The handling of the Bank Rate, the announcement of Capital Gains and Corporation Taxes, which did great harm to the movement of money across the exchanges and great harm to the capital side of our balance of payments, and the inflationary November Budget were clearly, as admitted by the Prime Minister in his speech of 23rd November, last year, the cause of the Confidence Crisis from which the Government have been trying to extricate themselves from then onwards.

The Prime Minister talked about a Crisis of Confidence, and it is not surprising that there was that crisis of confidence in us when a country like ours, the most important and biggest in E.F.T.A.

I think we all welcomed the comment of the hon. Member for Newcastle-upon-Tyne, East (Mr. Rhodes) - it seemed to have a ring of bipartisan truth about it which has not always been evident on both sides of the House - that the crisis in 1964 was not an economic crisis in the sense that the British economy was fundamentally weak, but a Crisis of Confidence.

The Socialist Government once again have, for political expediency, exaggerated a straightforward and every-day industrial problem, the problem of a Crisis of Confidence.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that his announcementhas provoked a grave Crisis of Confidence among teachers in Scotland?

There seems to be a wavering of confidence - some people would even say a Crisis of Confidence - between, on the one hand, the universities and, on the other, public, parliamentary and governmental opinion.

If I refer in some detail to the present fierce controversy surrounding the actions of the University of Glasgow, it is because it illustrates what can happen when there is a Crisis of Confidence, to borrow a phrase from the Secretary of State, between the university and the community, when, in fact, a sense of trust has been destroyed; because the so-called "affair of the banned students" really does constitute a crisis of confidence in the University of Glasgow.

The hon. Member for West Lothian (Mr. Dalyell) has referred to a Crisis of Confidence in the University of Glasgow.

First of all, an international Crisis in Confidence; secondly, increased taxation; thirdly, and following closely on the heels of this, inflation, and the increased cost of living which follows that, and lastly the reduction in voluntary saving.

I do not think it is an exaggeration to say that at this moment the coal mining industry of this country faces a grave Crisis of Confidence as a result of the development of competitive sources of energy and the accelerated programme of colliery closures in uneconomic coal-fields.

I congratulate him on ignoring the very strong and substantial pleas that were made about the fuel oil tax, and I want to draw his attention to the Crisis of Confidence which has arisen in the mining industry today.

My hon. Friend the Member for Midlothian (Mr. Eadie) talked about a Crisis of Confidence in the mining industry, and the same is true of the farming industry.

The Government's mishandling of the economy which led to the Crisis of Confidence had an immediate reaction on the local authorities.

The result was that, in a few weeks, there was a loss of morale, a Crisis of Confidence on the part of workers in the mining industry which has resulted in the loss, now, of approximately 1,000 miners a week.

It is in these circumstances, in this Crisis of Confidence, that the impact and relevance of the fuel oil duty becomes even more important.

Members need not react like that, because after hearing the Prime Minister's statement this afternoon, warning of what is to happen, I am certain that a blizzard is about to sweep this country and I fear that it may be something of the 1931 type and that there will be a Crisis of Confidence throughout the whole capitalist world.

Announce this package soon"for this is a Crisis of Confidence, as all crises are, and we have been basically in this crisis of confidence ever since November, 1964.

Does the Prime Minister recognise that it is fundamentally a Crisis of Confidence in himself and his Administration?

Yet the Government have arranged matters so that the construction industry shall have no discussion of the vast problems which face it - an industry in which the Government have created a Crisis of Confidence, added to by the events which have taken place today and the announcement which the Prime Minister made concerning that industry this afternoon.

People did doubt the Prime Minister's good intentions, for a few days later we had the first great Crisis of Confidence.

It is a Crisis of Confidence.

Why have we had this Crisis of Confidence and why, in the past week following the greatest deflation in history, has the not recovered as sharply as one would have expected?

We know that this is a Crisis of Confidence and of the Prime Minister's failure to convince the world that he means what he says and to take action at the earliest moment.

What happened to that industry was a Crisis of Confidence in the Government's intention to support it.

In a situation which is largely a Crisis of Confidence have not the Government forced some great companies to break their word?

We are told that we are in a Crisis of Confidence.

They had left the coalmining industry, probably in the main because of the Crisis of Confidence created by the Government and the National Coal Board.

Unless we have a comprehensive fuel policy which will define the place of gas, coal and oil for a long time ahead we shall face a Crisis of Confidence in the mining industry which will be extremely damaging to the economy of this country, not least on balance of payments grounds.

I have said that this is a general Crisis of Confidence, and I do not use the word "confidence" in the political sense used by hon. Members opposite.

For this reason, there is a Crisis of Confidence - a crisis of confidence in the market which jeopardises the fulfilment of the National Plan.

One sees this in the Crisis of Confidence in sterling.

But the hon. Member for The Wrekin said quite openly that this was a Crisis of Confidence and that it was affecting the Minister's chance of achieving his National Plan targets.

The cumulative effect of all this - the wrong decisions, the delayed decisions, the preoccupation with irrelevant dogma, the defeatism and the distrust on the Government's part - has been to create a continuing Crisis of Confidence in the industry's future.

However, if I am wrong it does not alter my general argument that if there is a Crisis of Confidence, people selling to us may demand payment earlier because of a possible risk of devaluation.

The Leader of the House, in one of his most carefully prepared statements, said the other day that it would be wrong to transform a carefully calculated cutback into an unplanned Crisis of Confidence.

I do not wish to go into all the points that have been made, but ever since November, 1964, we have basically been in a Crisis of Confidence.

He said that there was no Crisis of Confidence.

Will the right hon. Gentleman pay particular attention to the Crisis of Confidence in the hill and marginal section of farming, not only at the time of the next Review but immediately, so that something may be done to restore confidence, particularly if we are to enter the E.E.C.?

In the result, the Government have produced an acute, a grave, Crisis of Confidence, the importance of which cannot be over-estimated.

This Crisis of Confidence will have to be solved very quickly if we are to get replacement of those now drifting out of the industry.

I remind her that this was primarily a Crisis of Confidence in her Government.

I admire the United Nations, I support it, and I wish to see it succeed, but I believe that it faces a Crisis of Confidence, and that this crisis arises because first, alas, there has been irresponsibility among many of the many States which have recently joined it; secondly, because there has been the double standard referred to earlier, and, thirdly, because it has been ignored by many of the Powers.

It was from that moment that a Crisis of Confidence began from which we have not yet escaped.

Is my right hon. Friend aware that the ending of sanctions would cause a Crisis of Confidence among Afro-Asian and Commonwealth States, and that this might lead to the polarisation of white and coloured nations?

My third comment is about the whole attitude of the Government, for this is at the heart of the present Crisis of Confidence in industry.

I have no doubt that the growth of disenchantment and disillusion which prevails in the country, and which extends to all parties and to most politicians, is a Crisis of Confidence that the Government can overcome, only if they present honestly and fairly to the country, however burdensome the consequences of that presentation may be, a strategy that clearly will provide us with the opportunity of escaping from the miserable treadmill that we have trodden for so many years when we have overcome crisis after crisis by staggering from one expedient to another.

In that confidence - if this is a Crisis of Confidence, then, like charity, confidence must be restored at home - I shall give the Government my vote.

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the policy of sanctions is designed to cause a Crisis of Confidence and of government in Salisbury?

If we were to tap those balances before the weekend, that would cause such a Crisis of Confidence that we would get into deep trouble next Monday morning.

Against the background of the tragic events of 20th June which led to our original withdrawal from Crater—namely the mutiny of elements of the South Arabian Police and the Crisis of Confidence between the South Arabian Armed Forces, the Federal Government and perforce the British authorities—the situation was such that a wrong or misunderstood move at even a comparatively low level could have led to a complete breakdown, a general mutiny of the South Arabian Forces, the massacre of British citizens up-country and a fighting withdrawal with many British and Arab casualties, with the possibility of repercussions elsewhere in the Middle East damaging to British interests.

There is one important lesson to be learned from the Crisis of Confidence in which France has found herself.

On the other hand, we must remember that the alternative is a tribunal of inquiry, and that the Salmon Commission said that it was "strongly of the opinion" that these tribunals should "always be confined to matters of vital public importance concerning which there is something in the nature of a nation-wide Crisis of Confidence" That is from paragraph 27 of the Report.

Is the Minister aware that in Scotland there is a Crisis of Confidence in the mining industry which is shared by miners?

Against this background we are facing a real Crisis of Confidence among our soldiers at the moment.

As former miners and as Members representing mining constituencies we have to tell the nation that the present position has arisen because the policy of contraction has led to a Crisis of Confidence in the industry.

We want to give hope to the industry and this would help defeat the Crisis of Confidence.

The last quotation is just one sentence from the beginning of my speech on that day:… we have been in a Crisis of Confidence since November, 1964, and we can never get rid of it while the present Prime Minister holds his office".

It is also a situation in which many miners are coming to a Crisis of Confidence.

If one muddles this money up with the general sum of Government finance one will cause, first, a serious financial muddle within Government finance and, secondly, a Crisis of Confidence among those who have contributed in the past and expect to receive pensions.

This, as with the previous crises since November, 1964, is basically a Crisis of Confidence, and confidence will not return until this discredited and disreputable Government get out.

There is a Crisis of Confidence between us and the young people of this country.

They claim that broadcasting has evoked so much interest, and even that there is a Crisis of Confidence - for example, over such things as the B.B.C.'s plans for sound radio and over the television companies - that there should be an inquiry now.

by way of levy, and I imagine that they will not thank the Minister for a second indirect levy of this kind, particularly in the present atmosphere when there has been a certain Crisis of Confidence in the C.I.T.B.

Does he agree that the publication of the Coal Industry Bill, particularly Clauses 6 and 7, which is regarded by miners as provocative, will stimulate a Crisis of Confidence in the coal industry?

Will he make it crystal clear at the highest level in Washington that if the American Congress were to pass legislation which would make it impossible for Concorde to operate even subsonically in the United States, this would create a major Crisis of Confidence between the two countries?

Does not the Secretary of State agree that it was foolish and irresponsible for the Government to announce changes immediately they came to power, costing, according to the North-East Development Council, £38 million a year in aid to the Northern Region, and to create a complete Crisis of Confidence in all sections of the community in the North before the review policy has even been decided?

They have caused a Crisis in Confidence.

The announcement at that time - that investment grants would be replaced by investment allowances and that R.E.P. would be withdrawn by 1974 - first precipitated the Crisis of Confidence.

What caused the Crisis of Confidence was the law and order situation.

It is manifestly unfair that the Minister should cause a Crisis of Confidence in Scotland and create an air of uncertainty over the steel industry.

The Bill would recognise that, if private matters should remain private, public matters which are pre-eminently of public concern should be aired and debated in public and there should never be a suggestion or whisper that matters on which there is a general Crisis of Confidence are somehow being hidden from the public.

However, is he further aware that this week the Scottish area of the National Union of Mineworkers voiced the great concern felt by miners, and that the situation could create a Crisis of Confidence in the mining industry?

This Crisis of Confidence has been caused by the complete ineptitude of the Government, and their failure to tackle the situation has resulted in the city of Glasgow, which has always been described as the industrial capital of Scotland, being described now as the industrial graveyard of Scotland, and that is very sad.

I shall not develop that point now, except to say that there is a Crisis of Confidence.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Sunderland, North (Mr. Willey) spoke briefly, but nevertheless movingly, about the Crisis of Confidence on Teesside.

Both the right hon. Gentleman and the hon. Gentleman seem to think that there is some Crisis of Confidence in the industry.

These two announcements by themselves were responsible for the creation of the Crisis of Confidence to which so many hon. Members on this side of the House have referred since June, 1970.

At the same time, is the right hon. Gentleman aware that there is a Crisis of Confidence in the police, particularly among members of the coloured community, and that this will never be assuaged unless there is an element of independent investigation at the beginning?

I do not accept the argument about a Crisis of Confidence in the police.

We will need to be much bolder because we will be faced immediately, on taking office, as we were in 1964 and 1945, with a so-called Crisis of Confidence, with a flight of capital.

The hon. Member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Mr. Sheldon) spoke of a Crisis of Confidence, the present economic crisis, as he called it, and the terrible state of the economy.

Although they have tried hard, it does not see, unless the right hon. Member for Stepney (Mr. Shore) has something up his sleeve, that the debate will be seen as having been of great significance or a major Crisis of Confidence in the Government.

In view of the unusually strong words used by the judge in what in itself was a disturbing trial, does not the Home Secretary think that it is in the interests both of the police and of the coloured community that there should be an immediate inquiry into these allegations in case there has been some sort of breakdown in communications on both sides leading to a serious Crisis of Confidence?

The report comes at a time when we must admit that there is a considerable Crisis of Confidence in the probation service.

Although I accept that there are matters of concern with the probation service - no one in my position could be unaware of the problems which concern the service: its pay and manpower structure and its general future - it is putting it somewhat high to describe it as a Crisis of Confidence.

The Special Powers Act also from its introduction has created a Crisis of Confidence in the law.

I must again challenge her, as I did at Question Time today, about the "Crisis of Confidence" which she claims exists in the probation service.

I made them only because the hon. Lady repeated her comments about the "Crisis of Confidence" in the probation service, and the implication of that was that that crisis had arisen out of the inability to provide adequate resources.

There should be a massive injection of public money which would create private investment, because there is a Crisis of Confidence in the private sector in Scotland and the best way to correct this is for a massive injection of Government funds to give a boost to the private sector.

My hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Gorbals (Mr. McElhone) called it a Crisis in Confidence - a very good phrase.

Another aspect of this Crisis of Confidence is that, having heard so much about the opportunities for expansion within the EEC, one would have thought that this dynamism that we were to import would have begun to show some indication in Scotland.

My right hon. and hon. Friends were quite right to remove it when they did, although it created a certain Crisis of Confidence for a short time in the yards.

There may be international implications, but the real Crisis of Confidence is that of ordinary people in the Government.

The Government face a Crisis of Confidence on their own doorstep.

The rise in land prices is being picked upon by many as a symbol of weakness and a Crisis of Confidence in the British economy.

The Crisis of Confidence in the United States arising from Watergate may have something to do with that.

For a time it can of course be financed by borrowing; it has been inconspicuous borrowing, and it has not led to any kind of Crisis of Confidence.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that in the SELNEC area generally there is a Crisis of Confidence about the Government's intentions towards the Piccadilly - Victoria line proposals of the SELNECPTA?

Their morale is desperately low, and the right hon. Gentleman must accept the fact, unpleasant though it is, that there is a Crisis of Confidence within the service today, as has been well illustrated by my hon. Friend the Member for Willesden, West (Mr. Pavitt) and my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham, North (Mr. Whitlock).

Is he aware that such a decision would be considered an outrage and may precipitate a Crisis of Confidence in the Government's transport policy?

We face a Crisis of Confidence.

Starting from the base in 1970 which the right hon. and learned Gentleman mentioned - I still maintain that there was an underlying rising level of unemployment, and there was certainly a stagnant economy and a Crisis of Confidence in business - in the course of our three and a half years in office we gave priority and new, indeed, unprecedented, resources to communications, to infrastucture and to the environment.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the Chancellor's words do not tie in with the Government's actions and that higher taxes, price control and the possibility of vastly increased wage claims are leading to a Crisis of Confidence in industry which is already showing itself in a failure to make investment decisions?

When watching the situation will the right hon. Gentleman bear in mind that there is a malaise among British industrial and commercial managements, which amounts almost to a Crisis of Confidence?

Is it not alarming, at a time when the business community is already demoralised as a result of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's anti-business Budget, that the Secretary of State for Industry should contribute to the nation's Crisis of Confidence by threatening to demolish the rest of the free enterprise sector?

There is also a Crisis of Confidence in recruitment.

The fact remains that devolution does not resolve the Crisis in Confidence in government at local level.

Certainly the end of the United States rôle in Vietnam and the inevitable Crisis of Confidence and of pur-pose which the United States faces must give us pause, and nothing that Her Majesty's Government do or which the House would want done must lead the United States to weaken its commitment to Europe, with all the advantages for us that that commitment implies.

The Crisis of Confidence in the pound will not be swept away by the debate on Thursday.

As the hon. Member for Cardigan (Mr. Howells) has pointed out, the debate takes place against the sombre background of a Crisis of Confidence in the livestock industry and, in particular, in the dairy industry.

It is the Minister's indifference to this situation that has caused a Crisis of Confidence.

It is no wonder there is a Crisis of Confidence.

We are dealing with a major Crisis of Confidence, and I suggest that there are only three possible ways out of it.

Does my hon. Friend not agree that there is now a Crisis of Confidence between the workers in the steel industry, the British Steel Corporation and management?

That, again, will lead to a further Crisis of Confidence in sterling.

This is the Crisis of Confidence.

According to the Government, he does not have a Crisis of Confidence.

There is a Crisis of Confidence in the council.

Any Labour Government are always supposed to suffer a Crisis of Confidence.

It is in some ways a Crisis of Confidence, as people in local government and, I suggest, in this House have failed so far tomake clear and to think through what sort of local government system and local government objectives we want to see.

It would indeed evoke a response in all parties if the Government were to abandon for once the tidy convenience that they claim to be one of the great virtues of the Bill in this method of taxation, and realise that there will be a severe Crisis of Confidence in the attitude of the Government towards charities unless they do think again, and quickly.

It is that a Crisis of Confidence has arisen in the ranks of the Labour Party because the Government have failed to secure the compliance of the Liberal Party to support them in their timetable motion.

As the Royal Commission on Tribunals of Inquiry reported in 1966, such tribunals should be set up as sparingly as possible and should always be confined to matters of vital public importance concerning which there is something of the nature of a Crisis of Confidence.

For the past 30 years there has been a Crisis of Confidence among the leaders of this country.

If, in the event, it emerges that there is scope for further fiscal relaxation, the remedies would be by no means as drastic or painful as the measures necessary to resolve another Crisis of Confidence, a crisis which could easily follow an ill-considered attempt to expand activity faster than our real economic position permits.

They fear that, if they pursue that course with inflation still high, negative interest rate may create a Crisis of Confidence.

The same people who bleat about the Crisis of Confidence in capitalism today would be the first to shout if conscription were reintroduced in order to meet the massive imbalance between the forces of NATO and those of the Warsaw Pact countries.

The Salmon Commission on Tribunals of Inquiry which reported in 1966 said that the exceptional inquisitorial powers conferred upon a tribunal under the 1921 Act shouldalways be confined to matters of vital public importance" - certainly this is one - concerning which there is something in the nature of a nation-wide Crisis of Confidence" - where no other method of investigation would be adequate.

That is if we answer the preliminary question "Yes" - the question posed by Lord Justice Salmon in the 1966 report whether this inquiry should be confined to matters of vital public importance concerning which there is something in the nature of a nation-wide Crisis of Confidence.

I very vividly remember the right hon. Member for Huyton (Sir H. Wilson), when he was Prime Minister, commenting in, I think, 1964 on that first sterling crisis, saying that what was wrong then was not that our economy was weak but that there was a Crisis of Confidence.

In my view, if they are implemented as they are set out at present, the result will be a Crisis of Confidence in the system.

If the Secretary of State disputes that there is a Crisis of Confidence in our schools, she cannot be talking to parents or to industrialists, who are on constant record that our schools are not in fact producing the training and the standards needed in a modern industrial society.

There is a Crisis of Confidence in education.

Salmon indeed strongly favoured the use of the tribunal procedure in respect of what the report describes as "matters of vital public importance concerning which there is something in the nature of a nation-wide Crisis of Confidence", where "no other method of investigation would be adequate".

The indecision for several months after the election in June 1970 of the right hon. Gentleman and his right hon. Friends led to a Crisis of Confidence in industry in relation to investment grants.

It was always utterly possible that there could be a Crisis of Confidence overseas in the Crown Agents.

We created a Crisis of Confidence in the industry to such an extent that young people were not prepared to enter the industry as a career.

In view of the acute Crisis of Confidence facing the hill farming sector of the farming industry, especially in the North-East of Scotland, will my right hon. Friend please arrange for an early debate in the House on its anxious and pressing problems?

There is a Crisis of Confidence in the industry that is largely of the Government's making.

These redundancies and closures are creating a Crisis of Confidence about job prospects in the city that can be alleviated only by urgent Government action.

There was recently a Crisis of Confidence in the board and an unprecedented, lengthy and bitter strike.

At times such as this, nation States go through a difficult Crisis of Confidence, just as we did after we lost our major world role.

Whatever the merits of the Bill, there is no doubt that, since we are dealing with the second major upheaval in the National Health Service initiated by a Tory Government, whose record is appalling, there will be a deepening Crisis of Confidence among the staff and users of the Health Service.

To a very large extent, we are now in the same situation as we were in 1970 and 1971, especially in the first year of the previous Conservative Government, when all the hesitations and consultations that were taking place about the presentation of their regional policy created a complete Crisis of Confidence in industry.

We have the same Crisis of Confidence.

However, the Government should recognise that a Crisis of Confidence exists in Northamptonshire.

Glaring gaps are also beginning to appear in our breeding herds and this is an ominous sign and one which will affect the pockets of consumers unless the growing Crisis of Confidence on Cheshire farms is reversed.

A Crisis of Confidence in the universities will follow the financial crisis that has now taken place.

The Association of District Councils has referred to the present Crisis of Confidence.

It is no exaggeration to say that there is a Crisis of Confidence.

We must resolve the problems of depopulation in schools and the Crisis of Confidence in our education system.

To sum up, the Government's attempts to curb public expenditure have led to a Crisis of Confidence in local authorities.

Our industrial base has been narrowing and that process has been going on, as in the textile industries, at a time when our basic industry, fishing, has been in decline, partly because of the loss of the distant water opportunities and the collapse of the distant water fleet, but also because the new fleet making a smaller catch is threatened by a Crisis of Confidence because an aging fleet is not making enough money and is too crippled with debt to pay for new investment or even, in some cases, to keep going.

This debate arises from a Crisis of Confidence in the fishing industry - an industry burdened with debt and being pressured by the banks.

They are doing everything possible to create a Crisis of Confidence in the NHS so that more people will take out private medical insurance.

However, since 1974, for various reasons, the industry has suffered a Crisis of Confidence, and as a result there has been a steady decline in the beef herd.

There is no doubt that if the threat were carried out, now or in the future, it would create a Crisis of Confidence in that most crucial sector of our economy, the construction industry, which employs the largest element of skilled labour in the country's work force.

As it created the Crisis in Confidence in the urban aid programme, by how much has the Scottish Office cleared the existing applications for urban aid in its in-trays?

We have not a Crisis of Confidence in the country but an absence of confidence in the Government.

It is clear that the security services themselves are in a Crisis of Confidence.

The right hon. Member for South Down (Mr. Powell) said that, far from the economic Utopia that the EEC was supposed to have become, we have been going through an exceedingly difficult period, when there has been a great Crisis of Confidence in the future of the Community.

He knows the massive Crisis of Confidence that it would create in the economy, the huge inflation and the destruction of jobs on a scale that would rapidly outdo those that he was trying to build up.

Yes, the miners deserve congratulations on their increased productivity, but is the right hon. Gentleman aware that a Crisis of Confidence is emerging in the mining industry?

That is surely wrong in a place where there is a Crisis of Confidence in the process of law.

However, will the Home Secretary accept that there is a severe Crisis of Confidence in London over the police tactics?

The hon. Member for Glasgow, Garscadden (Mr. Dewar) made the important point that there is a potential Crisis of Confidence within the SDA, as a result of the Government's equivocation about its future.

I believe, from the representations that we have had, that there is more than the beginning of a Crisis of Confidence in Hong Kong regarding progress on the road to direct elections.

Whatever the outcome of the vote, I hope that the Government will further consider these matters: otherwise we shall end up with a deeply divided generation and a Crisis of Confidence between the Government and the student community.

I unreservedly welcome this sign of life and activity in the Scottish Office, but if there are to be meetings this week with British Coal in which the Secretary of State will be involved, it is important that we know about them so that the phenomenon represented by the General Estrella at Rothesay dock does not become a Crisis of Confidence for the future of the industry.

They feel that there is a Crisis of Confidence in Hong Kong.

We all remember the Crisis of Confidence that the hon. Gentleman suffered in Committee.

There is a growing Crisis of Confidence in safety, among both the hundreds and thousands who commute each day into London and passengers throughout the country.

The most obvious and topical area in which the Ministry is failing the consumer is exemplified by the recent Crisis of Confidence in the egg industry.

There is a justifiable Crisis of Confidence in our food production which will not be dispelled by the largely cosmetic actions which Ministers have taken so far.

Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that the Crisis of Confidence in our education system is directly related to the Government's policies?

But when a Crisis of Confidence has reached such proportions, someone has to step in, and the obvious person is the Minister.

I make that point to underline the fact that to have done otherwise at that time would in the short term have been extremely dangerous, would have flown in the face of conventional wisdom, and might well have precipitated a yet greater and more prolonged Crisis of Confidence in the market.

Will the Prime Minister say what she intends to do to stop the Crisis of Confidence about the relationship between herself and her Chancellor of the Exchequer?

I impugn no one's integrity or good faith but it really is important that that Crisis of Confidence to which the right hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent (Mr. Foot) referred - I might say at inordinate length - this afternoon is resolved.

Has my right hon. Friend read the report in the Scottish Sunday Express about the Crisis of Confidence throughout Scottish business -[HON.

The current situation in Hong Kong has been described as a Crisis of Confidence.

The Commission revealed a serious Crisis of Confidence in the British travel industry.

I do not agree with the hon. Member for Edinburgh, South when he talks about a Crisis of Confidence.

It is currently suffering from a Crisis of Confidence - not in its own ability, but in the sheer impossibility of competing against unfair monetary compensatory amounts.

But it is equally true that the industryfaces a severe Crisis of Confidence in its future, with average farming incomes dropping by about 9 per cent.

I beg to move,That this House is shocked at the continued public feuding between the police and the Crown Prosecution Service which has developed into a Crisis of Confidence in two essential parts of the criminal justice system; and notes that the public legal services are in a serious state of collapse, in particular in respect of the legal aid system, the duty solicitors' scheme, the funding crisis of law centres and the failure of the Government to make progress on the issue of family courts.

The Police Federation maintains that there is a Crisis of Confidence in the CPS.

On the question of DPP evidence, I accept that the Attorney-General thinks that there is no Crisis of Confidence.

The motion speaks of continued feuding between the CPs and the police - feuding that has given rise to a "Crisis of Confidence" between them.

As there is this Crisis of Confidence, and the Ulster Defence Regiment is under attack not only from the IRA, but by its propagandists, surely the Government should come to the House to make a statement about those murders and allow Members of Parliament from Northern Ireland to question them.

This does not help the whole society to face the Confidence Crisis.

I do not claim to have the necessary expertise to say one way or the other, but I know how the public and the industry are reacting and I do not think that they would be dismayed if the Minister took such a course, which might help to resolve the present Crisis of Confidence in the beef industry.

Does my hon. Friend agree that that will create a Crisis of Confidence among school governors equal to that among teachers, and that it is greatly to be deplored?

There is a real Crisis of Confidence; may I therefore ask my right hon. Friend to find an early stage in this Session when we can debate the grave prospects facing agriculture, so that they can be fully understood by both Parliament and people?

I realise that there is a Crisis of Confidence in the Conservative party.

I understand that it is rare for a maiden speech to be made in a debate such as this, but I feel that it is not inappropriate to make mine now in that the Bradford, North by-election result partly precipitated the Crisis of Confidence of many members of the Government and thus the resignation of the Prime Minister.

I remember Lord Wilson standing at the Dispatch Box explaining to the House that, although Britain's economy had underlying strength, a Crisis of Confidence was affecting our currency.

There is a Crisis of Confidence in the industrial community in respect of the Government's ability to resolve the skills crisis.

Those who take an interest in the fishing industry will have little doubt about the serious Crisis of Confidence in the industry.

This is, as much as anything, a Crisis of Confidence.

In the mid-1980s, the museum world suffered a Crisis of Confidence, which coincided with lengthy consideration by my distinguished predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Shoreham (Mr Luce), of whether to introduce museum admission charges.

Does the Secretary of State understand that there is a Crisis of Confidence in the basis of trusts?

I begin with a quotation:There is a Crisis of Confidence amongst teachers of such growing magnitude that it now threatens the entire spectrum of the Government's educational reforms.

As the draft Conservative education manifesto says, there is a Crisis of Confidence among teachers.

I have been sent a copy of the report, which says: There is a Crisis of Confidence amongst teachers of such growing magnitude that it now threatens the entire spectrum of the Government's educational reforms.

There is a Crisis of Confidence among the customers and consumers of the banking sector about bank charges and the transparency of the market in banking services.

I supported the Government, as did my right hon. and hon. Friends, because we desperately wanted to avoid a Crisis of Confidence - a recession, sadly - and in doing so it is clear that we over-ignited the flames of demand.

He went on to say, however:the coal mining industry ofNottinghamshirefaces a grave Crisis of Confidence".

There is a Crisis of Confidence within the boards, which the Government could easily alleviate by making it clear that they intend to listen, as I have suggested.

I know whereof I speak when I say that agriculture is going through a Crisis of Confidence in the future, and that crisis is shared by every other major developed country.

That approach has caused a Crisis of Confidence in the British Government on the part of our continental partners.

Yes, there is a Crisis of Confidence.

They are the fixed points that will determine much of what goes below it, and the House must recognise - not in terms of the complacent language used by Conservative Members - that there is a Crisis of Confidence in our legal system today.

After 14 years of Conservative Government and a Crisis of Confidence, why will not the main proposals in his statement take effect for another two to three years?

The Commission came over clearly as saying that there was a Crisis of Confidence in the Commission.

I welcome the debate as a sign that the Government are starting to recognise what the Labour party has been saying for some time - there is a Crisis of Confidence in the Government's handling of crime and a mounting chorus of pleas for action.

First, we ask the Government to accept that there is a Crisis of Confidence and that they must provide a national strategy that respects and supports a dynamic partnership at local level.

The House should face up to the fact that there is a Crisis of Confidence in the country.

He said that there was a Crisis of Confidence in the criminal justice system in Britain.

There is a Crisis of Confidence.

then it said that there would not he—little knowing, apparently, that the Lord Privy Seal and the Prime Minister had decided that the Crisis of Confidence in the Secretary of State was so great that he would be forced to make this statement today.

10 said that there would be; then it said that there would not he - little knowing, apparently, that the Lord Privy Seal and the Prime Minister had decided that the Crisis of Confidence in the Secretary of State was so great that he would be forced to make this statement today.

I believe that the future of London's transport has reached a crucial and critical point, and that there is a danger of a Crisis of Confidence in the system and its continuation, because of the projected reduction in capital from the public purse owing to public expenditure restraint.

Instead of attempting to tackle the Crisis of Confidence in the Government's botched education reforms, he has decided to implement compulsory competitive tendering, a move opposed by all the organisations to which I referred.

Does he agree that, unless this matter is properly resolved, there may be such a Crisis of Confidence that any reasonable relationship between the industry and the Scottish Office may break down for ever?

That is the great Crisis of Confidence, and it is the great problem which all councils face.

The danger is that if the Government take too much responsibility to themselves they will be faced more and more with an erosion of consent which may spill over from one area of policy to another, perhaps until there is an overall Crisis of Confidence in the capacity of Government.

Now that the Public Accounts Committee has said that the standards of conduct in Government are at their lowest point for 140 years, the Cabinet Secretary has said that it is possible to tell Parliament half-truths and a Cabinet Minister has said that it is possible not to tell the truth at all, is there not a Crisis of Confidence in the conduct of Government?

Our cities now face a Crisis in Confidence, resources and management by the Government.

When the SIB says that 500,000 workers might need to be compensated, when there is talk of £2 million to £3 million - and when the Association of British Insurers is suggesting that it could be £300 million - in compensation, there is a significant Crisis of Confidence in the financial services industry.

The hon. Member for Warwickshire, North (Mr. O'Brien) said that there was a Crisis of Confidence in the industry.

The possibility of the hon. Gentleman's taking responsibility in these matters would cause a serious Crisis of Confidence in the country and set back all the hopes of recovery that we are nurturing.

But, as a first step, the Government could show their willingness to tackle the Crisis of Confidence by changing the procedure by which private Members' Bills are considered.

There is a Crisis of Confidence in the workings of the House, and we must address that if we are to preserve the House's authority.

In the past two years, there has been more debate about the Crisis of Confidence in community care for mentally ill people in the leader columns of newspapers, in pubs and on buses taking people to work than on the Floor of the House.

A Crisis of Confidence exists in the trust leadership.

As the motion makes clear, more than anything else, there is a Crisis of Confidence in health care in London, especially in south-east London, and I am delighted to follow my good friend, the hon. Member for Lewisham, East (Mrs. Prentice).

Today we can name the gnome of Davos, the right hon. Member for Enfield, Southgate (Mr. Portillo), whose remarks in Switzerland earlier this month about how the Government would veto developments in Europe, led to the Crisis of Confidence in the pound.

As the House has heard, there has been a serious loss of jobs and a Crisis of Confidence.

There must be a Crisis of Confidence in gas when it takes not a member of the public or even a Member of Parliament to get a suitable response from the chairman but the Minister responsible for key powers over British Gas.

Does that not show that there is a serious Crisis of Confidence in the Crown Prosecution Service, and that reform of that service is urgently needed?

I give a qualified welcome to the Government's decision to take some action over the increasing Crisis of Confidence in mental health services.

At the heart of the Crisis of Confidence is the issue of trust.

Does the Secretary of State accept that this is the third report in 10 months to present chapter and verse for the view of the outgoing chief inspector of prisons, Sir Stephen Tumim, that there is a Crisis of Confidence in the prison service?

Judge Stephen Tumim said earlier this year that the Prison Service faced a Crisis of Confidence.

The Minister will be aware of the Crisis of Confidence felt by UK fishermen about the operation of the current common fisheries policy.

There is a Crisis of Confidence in teaching in this country; it does not involve simply money, but status.

Care in the community is both more humane and more effective, but the tragedy is that recent failures have dented public faith in the policy to such an extent that I now believe that there is almost a Crisis of Confidence.

This has caused a terrible Crisis of Confidence throughout Merseyside.

Millions of home owners are caught in negative equity, 1,000 home owners lose their homes through repossession every week and the market is suffering from a deep Crisis of Confidence.

If he is to bring the levy to Parliament without industry consensus - there is grave danger that, if the Federation of Master Builders and the National Federation of Specialist Contractors withdraw their support, it will not have the necessary percentage - there could be a Crisis of Confidence.

Farmers in my constituency have written to me today because theyhave heard what the Minister has said, as have many consumers, and there is still a Crisis of Confidence in British beef.

That is what has led to the overall Crisis of Confidence.

Mr. Baldry: The Crisis of Confidence in British beef and the EU ban on UK beef exports will have affected the dairy sector in several ways.

The meat processing and bakery industry - which is particularly important in Ayrshire - processes 12,000 tons of beef annually and it has been hit badly by the Crisis in Confidence.

Their ineptitude has caused the appalling Crisis of Confidence, the difficult relations with the European Community and so on.

It could not proceed with our normal co-operation unless it faced up to the Crisis of Confidence affecting not only consumers but Governments throughout Europe.

There is a Crisis of Confidence in beef eating in Germany.

I remember the late Harold Wilson explaining to the House that, although Britain's basic economy was strong, we were faced with a narrow Crisis of Confidence, as I think he called it.

In their own way, each has been distressing, but they have also contributed to a general Crisis in Confidence in the ability of the accident and emergency service at Dryburn hospital to cope with the range of patients from the area.

I want to add my voice to her assertion that there is a Crisis of Confidence in hospital provision in north Durham.

One does not need to be an expert in agricultural technology and procedures to understand that there has been a massive Crisis of Confidence in British food, not just beef.

I accept the right hon. Gentleman's point that that is a legacy from the previous regime, but there is a Crisis of Confidence in food safety in the United Kingdom now and worry about the import of substandard food - notably beef - from other countries.

Individuals are looking at where the Government are going with individual savings accounts and therefore holding back, but it shows a serious Crisis of Confidence in the insurance industry's performance.

Northern Ireland has suffered from a Crisis of Confidence: a lack of confidence between communities, between politicians, and among the institutions of Government and those charged with maintaining law.

There is a Crisis of Confidence, and I ask the Minister to take one specific step.

There is no Crisis of Confidence in the Government's determination to put social services on a secure foundation - which they singularly lacked under the right hon. Lady's stewardship - and to take forward this initiative and agenda for carers.

The Minister talks complacently about the new deal, but is he aware of what Personnel Today has called a Crisis of Confidence in the new deal among employers?

The escalation of the banana war would bring a host of casualties - thousands of job losses in the Scottish borders, the destruction of island economies throughout the Caribbean and an increase in illegal drugs production and trade, targeted on America - but even more damaging in the longer term would be the signalling of a Crisis of Confidence in the WTO, which is the supposed arbiter of world trade disputes.

My hon. Friend will be aware that we inheriteda Crisis of Confidence in food, following the E. coli outbreak in central Scotland in 1996 and 1997, when 21 people tragically died.

The disparities between white and black and ethnic minority communities, of which we have heard so much, help to explain the Crisis of Confidence.

That provision brings us immediately to the current Crisis of Confidence over the Government's policy on beef on the bone.

That research supports the argument that, when opportunities arise to increase the number of judges, steps must be taken to start dealing with the Crisis of Confidence in the judiciary.

Whereas there was a Crisis of Confidence under the previous, Tory Administration, we now have a climate of confidence.

Does he see any further scope for a role for an intermediary from a Commonwealth country, such as President Obasanjo or President Mbeki, because the vital interests of South Africa and the region as a whole could be threatened if there is a Crisis of Confidence among the white people of that area?

If they have a Crisis of Confidence, it is because there is a crisis of confidence.

However, until then, the Crisis of Confidence will continue; asset values will continue to fall; and there will be continued closures in all our constituencies.

I know that there are concerns about a Crisis of Confidence among sub-postmasters, and I accept that that means that people make business decisions in that climate.

The Minister knows that there is a Crisis of Confidence in the laboratory service and a major problem with recruitment and retention.

The words used in the Labour Party's general election manifesto bear repetition: "There is unquestionably a national Crisis of Confidence in our political system".

It could even be described as a Crisis of Confidence.

A Crisis of Confidence in policing affects them just as much it does inner-city and rural areas.

There is unquestionably a national Crisis of Confidence in our political system.

If there is a Crisis of Confidence, the previous Conservative Government have much to answer for.

The Government need to accept that there is a Crisis of Confidence in the care homes sector.

But where we have cases such as one I heard about recently where a school for profoundly deaf children was inspected by a team only one of whom had any experience of teaching children with this problem, we are bound to have a Crisis of Confidence.

We also have obligations to the United Nations which, as the right hon. and learned Member for North-East Fife (Mr. Campbell) said, is potentially facing a Crisis of Confidence with Jordanian and Indian forces leaving as the fighting season begins.

Does the Minister accept that concerns about audit are merely the tip of the iceberg, and that there is a growing Crisis of Confidence in the Government's whole handling of general practice?

Can the Leader of the House promise us a statement during the first week after the break on the continuing Crisis of Confidence in the sub-post office network?

Boom-and-bust policies had created a Crisis of Confidence in the housing market, with the highest ever levels of negative equity, mortgage arrears, home repossessions and homelessness in the early to mid-1990s.

We had an over-centralised Government, a near national Crisis in Confidence in our national parliament, excessive secrecy and a lack of principal protection for human rights.

There is certainly a Crisis of Confidence in the Home Secretary and in his Prime Minister.

In a landmark report to your Lordships' House, the Science and Technology Committee stated that post-BSE and after the saga of genetic crops, science is facing an emerging Crisis of Confidence in Britain.

Or will the noble Lord, Lord Bassam, own up like a man and say, "Yes, this Government have brought about a Crisis of Confidence in the ability of the police to combat violent crime in particular"--that they have, indeed, failed to preserve the Queen's peace?

In addition to being accountable only to central Government and not the local community, despite the presence of the chambers, are not all the RDAs experiencing the same Crisis of Confidence in their ability to represent not just business interests but regional interests?

That is why there is a Crisis of Confidence between the United States, the new Labour Government and the European allies If the Government continue in office for more than a few moments more, if they continue to believe that they can speak with two voices, say one thing in Europe and another in Washington and conceal from the House of Commons and the British public the truth of what is going on, they will have another think rapidly coming.

We are discussing a Crisis of Confidence in the policing of Northern Ireland, a haemorrhage of police officers on a scale which, if it were to take place, as has been said, in any police force on the mainland, would cause outrage.

We have some experience - obviously less so given the particular nature of the attacks of11 September - from the Gulf war of a Crisis in Confidence among people using airlines.

The public in Norfolk have a Crisis of Confidence in social services and their delivery on such issues.

May I add my welcome for the Secretary of State's timely statement, and take the opportunity to reiterate my belief that an open and liberal trading system, strengthened by this round, is exactly the way to counter the present Crisis of Confidence in the international economy, and particularly to help developing countries to progress through trade, which, as she rightly says, is the primary objective of the new round?

I do not want to prejudge the argument, which we may have as early as tomorrow, about T5, but it would be wrong to decide that large, complex argument on the basis of a current Crisis of Confidence in the industry.

There is a Crisis of Confidence in our schools about their future.

I suppose that that will be one of the periodic episodes when the European Union goes through an internal Crisis of Confidence and tries to re-invent itself.

I hope that the Minister realises that the Government face a Crisis of Confidence among legitimate, community-based training providers and that warm words will not be enough.

The continued gap between those approaches deepens the Crisis of Confidence in Northern Ireland, and a sensible Administration would not allow that to develop.

We believe that in this country we are facing a considerable Crisis of Confidence in the parliamentary system.

I make them against the background of what the noble Baroness, Lady Williams of Crosby, called in her speech a Crisis of Confidence in the parliamentary system.

If there is a Crisis of Confidence in Parliament - and there is - in my judgment the answer does not lie in a hybrid solution.

The right place from which to start was identified yesterday by the noble Baroness, Lady Williams of Crosby, when she drew attention to the much wider issue outside this specific debate relating to the considerable Crisis of Confidence in the parliamentary system.

Thus, although I broadly concur with the opening analysis of my noble friend Lady Williams of Crosby in terms of the Crisis of Confidence in our democracy, I do not entirely share her analysis of the remedy.

There is no doubt that there is a Crisis of Confidence in the concept of private pension provision following the mis-selling scandals of the 1980s and the Equitable Life fiasco, on which we focused at the start of the debate - before you took the Chair, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

In practice, there is a Crisis of Confidence among many hundreds of thousands of our constituents, and we must restore that confidence to ensure that vaccination coverage is as thorough as possible.

No one in the Chamber can be in any doubt that we are in the middle of a Crisis of Confidence regarding funded pension schemes.

Another worrying factor is the Crisis of Confidence that the Government have now created.

It is these failings that have created a deep Crisis of Confidence in the peace agreement, particularly among moderate unionists, many of whom, it should be remembered, were reluctantly persuaded to support the agreement, and such factors as the release of terrorist prisoners, on the basis that it offered an end to violence and after hearing the Prime Minister's pledges.

If he does not believe that there is a Crisis of Confidence in our examination system, he must have been elsewhere for the past two months.

Consequently, there has been widespread concern and a widespread Crisis of Confidence in financial institutions generally and in relation to the regulators.

There is clearly a Crisis of Confidence in the entire pensions industry.

In scientific issues of this importance, should we not endorse the views of the Science and Technology Select Committee of the other place, which observed in 1999 that there was a Crisis of Confidence by the public in the regulation of science and technology and called for greater openness and dialogue.

There was a Crisis of Confidence in the railways, both in the minds of the public and in the industry as a whole.

We have a Crisis of Confidence, or lack of confidence, of the people in the criminal justice system.

Every time there is a Crisis of Confidence in maternity services an inquiry is held.

The point that I am trying to make is that, at a time when there is a Crisis of Confidence in private sector pensions, we must all bite the bullet together and say to all Britain's 5 million - something of that order; several million, anyway - retired occupational pensioners that they will have a less high priority when the funds are divided up and that they might get less next year than they would have got this year.

The fundamental problem that we face with savings is that there is a Crisis of Confidence about whether one will get an adequate return from savings.

Although there may not be a pensions crisis per se, I accept the argument put to us by a number of people in the Select Committee hearings that there is a Crisis of Confidence in the private pensions sector.

The failure of private sector work-based schemes when companies go bankrupt is another problem that has helped to generate the Crisis of Confidence in the pensions market.

Such dramatic examples of malfeasance have triggered a Crisis of Confidence among all investors in equity shares in all public limited companies.

The Crisis of Confidence over private pensions started with the last Government and the mis-selling of £13.

Indeed, but they cannot take all the blame for what the Select Committee on Work and Pensions described in its latest report as the Crisis of Confidence in the pension system, and what my hon. Friend and I would describe as the crisis in the pension system.

I thank the Secretary of State for his statement because today's workers are experiencing a Crisis of Confidence in their pension funds and some of the measures that he has announced will help to alleviate it.

For many people there is a Crisis of Confidence in our criminal justice system.

The Minister's claims that the Government want to improve our democratic system and improve faith in the political process are indicated by the presentation of this Bill, which is a symbol of the present Crisis of Confidence in the democratic process in this country, which has been created and worsened by this Government.

It is important that the Secretary of State, who remains accountable to Parliament for the provision of healthcare, has the ability to be able to require CHAI to undertake a review or investigation where there is a Crisis of Confidence in public services.

I was of course glad to hear the Minister say that if there were a Crisis of Confidence of some kind, such as Alder Hay, CHAI would normally set about the task of looking into those matters of its own accord.

I urge them to consider how they are going to tackle the Crisis of Confidence in the political process among moderate unionists.

It is the greatest Crisis of Confidence in the handling of issues of war and peace since Suez.

We went through a Crisis of Confidence.

There is currently a Crisis of Confidence in pension schemes.

There is a Crisis of Confidence in the business of government.

Her statement is a recipe for years of litigation, which will enormously benefit many lawyers but which will be at the expense of all those who have suffered enormous hardship, and will do nothing to address the Crisis of Confidence in the industry.

This Crisis of Confidence for those people who would not even dream of putting money into a pension scheme has to be addressed.

We know that one crime is one too many, but a Crisis of Confidence in policing stoked up by irresponsible comments also damages people's well-being.

My Lords, with only three-fifths of adults and two-fifths of children in this country registered with an NHS dentist, there is clearly a Crisis of Confidence among the dental profession.

Given the levels of participation in our democratic society, is it not fair to say that there is a Crisis in Confidence in respect of some of our institutions?

The letter continues: "This has caused a major Crisis of Confidence".

I cannot recognise the point that my hon. Friendthe Member for Milton Keynes, North-East (Brian White) made about the Crisis of Confidence in the industry.

Does the Minister recognise that that behaviour, and indeed the lack of consultation with the public and with elected representatives, created a Crisis of Confidence in the PCT, both among many GPs and among elected representatives in the area - in no way confined to elected representatives of my party political complexion.

Given the YouGov poll reported in today's Daily Telegraph, we have perhaps come full circle since the claim in the same document that, "There is unquestionably a national Crisis of Confidence in our political system".

There is, I believe, a serious Crisis of Confidence in Maidstone about the future of a large and well respected general hospital.

It is essential for the financial services industry as a whole, for the United Kingdom economy and for individuals who have lost savings that the issues involved in the Crisis of Confidence are fully, frankly and openly addressed.

In 2003, in the aftermath of the Iraq war, Kofi Annan, conscious of the Crisis of Confidence in the UN, appointed a high-level panel to consider the UN's future in the face of threats, challenges and change.

It is disappointing that, after eight years and four Secretaries of State, Labour has just woken up to the Crisis of Confidence in our examination system.

Returning to my initial question to the Minister, I hope that that will embolden the Government as part of their strategy to respond to the Crisis of Confidence in European matters to trust Parliament more and to think much more laterally and excitingly about how this Parliament can be brought into the scrutiny of European affairs.

As Sir Max Hastings says in today's Daily Mail: "There is a Crisis of Confidence from top to bottom in the British Army".

As he said, my constituents suffer from a Crisis of Confidence in the aviation industry.

The hon. Gentleman again attempts to clarify what he said, but the fact remains that, following that election, we had the biggest Crisis of Confidence in the electoral system of this country that we have ever seen.

Allegations against Ministers are slightly different because collective responsibility means that they have the potential of spreading to the Government as a whole, which risks a more generalised Crisis of Confidence.

There is no doubt that there is a Crisis of Confidence among consumers about the pensions and savings industry.

My Lords, I agree with the Lord Chancellor that we face a very serious Crisis of Confidence in our political system, but one of the aspects of political fundraising is that it sometimes goes beyond traditional methods.

We are faced with a Crisis of Confidence in the entire political system and, indeed, in your Lordships' House.

The Government have presided over an unprecedented Crisis of Confidence in all sections of the countryside, from the foot and mouth epidemic to the latest fiasco of the non-payment of single farm payments in North Yorkshire and throughout England.

The growing gap between the hard-working staff in the NHS and the leadership that ought to be coming from the Department of Health is causing a Crisis of Confidence.

The much-respected head of the Nuffield Trust, Sir Denis Pereira Gray, said at a recent seminar at the Cass Business School that the Crisis of Confidence in national statistics is getting worse.

Among other things, the Government have presided over an explosion in sexually transmitted diseases, a Crisis of Confidence in child immunisations and a failure of readiness to protect the country against pandemic flu.

That suggests that there is no Crisis in the Confidence in which our Armed Forces are held, which speaks to the effectiveness with which the Ministry of Defence handles its public relations.

I shall complete this depressing picture by talking about the situation in Israel, where there is something approaching political paralysis and a real Crisis of Confidence.

Some of my American colleagues are barely capable of giving a speech without saying, "America will be energy-independent," but that is a fat lot of use if al-Qaeda take down a supertanker in the Malacca strait, creating not only an environmental disaster but a potential Crisis in Confidence for the Japanese or Chinese economy, and a shock to the oil price.

They have created a Crisis of Confidence in pension saving that must be addressed as a matter of urgency.

The Government now find themselves facing a serious Crisis of Confidence over their willingness ever to implement, or at least within a reasonable time frame, what many Members on both sides of the House regard as a very important part of the legislation.

There is a Crisis in the Confidence of people going into academic medicine, which is severely threatened.

There is a Crisis of Confidence about the criminal justice system in this country.

Outside the House, there is a Crisis of Confidence in our democracy, and it is just as profound as the crisis of confidence in the financial markets.

There is a widespread Crisis of Confidence over not just what we are aiming to do, but whether we can do it.

That is precisely why there is a Crisis of Confidence in the system.

The third element of the Crisis of Confidence is the lack of local preparedness among councils and police, health and housing authorities.

Today we face a similar Crisis of Confidence in the security of our energy supply: an energy crunch the effects of which may be every bit as serious as those of the credit crunch.

That in turn led to a Crisis of Confidence in the banking system, which in turn sent LIBOR spiralling, thereby producing the current global slowdown in economic activity.

For example, the authorities may need to take actions under the SRR following the discovery of a fraud or a sudden Crisis of Confidence in the suitability of a bank's management.

However, the fact that that recession was preceded and hugely aggravated by this Crisis of Confidence, and is likely to be prolonged by the collapse of confidence, means that we are probably in the most difficult economic situation that many of us can remember.

Is it not the case that the core issue for the economy remains the Crisis of Confidence in the financial system and the consequent inability of companies to gain credit?

This debate is really about a Crisis of Confidence in politics.

It is obviously difficult to consider counterfactual scenarios and what might have happened had Lehman Brothers not been allowed to collapse, but it seems clear that that collapse precipitated a catastrophic Crisis in Confidence in the banking system and created a huge number of problems that have reverberated around the world and still affect the UK.

The basic problem that we are facing is a Crisis of Confidence about bank assets, which is preventing the UK banking system from providing loans for businesses, and mortgages for those who want to buy a home.

At the heart of the current financial and economic problems around the world is a Crisis of Confidence about bank assets.

It will depend on the precise circumstances of the fiscal regime in each country, but the key thing is to have a continued, concerted and effective fiscal stimulus that provides demand from the public sector to absorb the capacity which is no longer being used because of the Crisis of Confidence in the private sector.

However, we have a responsibility now to build on those proposals, not only to deal with the current Crisis of Confidence in our political system, but to make sure that we deal with it in a way that stands the test of time.

He said that if a timetable were forthcoming for the work to be completed and if the date of an election were announced, that might be better, but he referred to the Government's response to the Crisis of Confidence.

The recent expenses scandal is the biggest single recent reason for the Crisis of Confidence, and we should put a lot of effort into getting it sorted.

So what has been the Government's response to this Crisis of Confidence in the House and in the Government?

There are those who argue that the present Crisis of Confidence necessitates constitutional change - indeed, radical constitutional change.

He said that there is a Crisis of Confidence in the political class.

Despite its manifest imperfections, the immediate Crisis of Confidence in our political system and the political classes has been the expenses debacle.

There is a myth, which has been given a new lease of life by the recent Crisis of Confidence in Parliament, that debates no longer matter and that MPs are Lobby fodder controlled by ever more powerful Whips.

That this election is being held at this moment testifies to the turmoil that is engulfing this place and to the Crisis of Confidence in parliamentarians themselves.

It is entirely appropriate, following two unprecedented events - the global economic upheaval and the Crisis of Confidence in our parliamentary institutions - that the Government should set out new policies.

Over the past 17 years, whenever there has been a Crisis of Confidence in this country, Parliament has created a quango.

We have suffered a financial Crisis of Confidence in the banking sector, with consumers throughout the country not being sure where to put their money and unsure what was going on as everything seemed to collapse.

We have to face the fact that the Bill has been hatched and dispatched in a great hurry as we were facing, and still are facing, a Crisis of Confidence in the other place.

It is a Crisis of Confidence in politics that threatens the cultural basis of democracy itself.

Voters in the general election will be left in no doubt that only a vote for the Liberal Democrats will guarantee that electoral and parliamentary reform are pursued with the vigour that the present Crisis of Confidence in our politics demands.

I think that they will agree with me that there is now a real Crisis of Confidence in our parliamentary democracy.

What worries me is that there has been a great Crisis of Confidence in the parliamentary system, which destabilises the constitution.

When the global credit markets started to close, initiating the credit crunch that led to a Crisis of Confidence, it became clear that-in both domestic and international terms-there was no stability in either the regulatory arrangements established by the international community or in those established by the present Prime Minister, then Chancellor of the Exchequer.

It is a crucial point because we are in a Crisis of Confidence in the political system.

The Leader of the House rightly put our debate in the context of the wider issues of conduct, reform and the Crisis of Confidence that we face in terms of public attitudes to our Parliament.

We cannot ignore the Crisis of Confidence in the public mind with regard to the whole of Parliament.

Of course we must take account of the Crisis of Confidence in politics and the creeping contempt for our parliamentary institutions, as the noble Baroness, Lady Shephard, put it.

Of course, today's Crisis in Confidence in Parliament arrives hot on the heels of an unprecedented economic firestorm in the past two years, whereby the catastrophe that has befallen financial institutions has shaken public confidence in the capitalist system, and with the inquiry that is currently being conducted into our going to war in Iraq there is again a sense that the Executive have been allowed to get away with blue murder.

It is perhaps not entirely coincidental that the momentous upheaval in 1832 came as a result of a Crisis of Confidence in many other institutions.

Of course, today's Crisis in Confidence in Parliament arrives hot on the heels of an unprecedented economic firestorm in the past two years, whereby the catastrophe that has befallen financial institutions has shaken public confidence in the capitalist system and with the inquiry that is currently being conducted into our going to war in Iraq there is again a sense that the Executive has been allowed to get away with blue murder.

We should remember that the Crisis in Confidence in politics is not exclusive to Westminster.

The answer is that in the past 12 months, as everyone knows-it has affected hon. Members in all parts of the House in the same way-we have seen a Crisis of Confidence in our political system and our politicians on a scale that none of us has witnessed before in our political lifetime.

There is clearly a Crisis of Confidence in the political class.

How will people know what to do when, for example, there is a Crisis of Confidence, as there was with Northern Rock, and queues form outside banks and people ask for their money but no one is quite clear about who is doing what on the day?

The Bill has been progressing through Parliament against the backdrop of an unprecedented Crisis of Confidence in politics.

I do not quibble with them at all, but, as the Minister said, Parliament is in the middle of a Crisis of Confidence, in both system and persons.

Worse, they have consolidated public disillusion with Parliament, rather than responding to the Crisis of Confidence that has been referred to so often today-by the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham and the noble Baroness, Lady D'Souza, in particular, but also by my noble friend Lord McNally and the noble Lord, Lord Graham.

After interminable discussion, we could at least show the public that we are taking action to revive our democracy, and we will try to meet the Crisis of Confidence in Parliament.

We face a Crisis of Confidence, but it is not a crisis of confidence in our established institutions, but rather a crisis of confidence in our political class.

If there are rapid cuts in public spending, they of course run the risk of having an impact on growth; we all understand that, but there is the risk on the other side that if we did nothing or delayed taking action, there would be a serious Crisis of Confidence in the economy because of the sovereign risk crisis that is rolling around Europe.

Micropower Council's chief executive has warned that the industry faces a Confidence Crisis if clarity about the renewable heat incentive is not provided soon.

Last year, with the Crisis of Confidence in British politics caused by the expenses scandal, to which the Deputy Prime Minister referred, my right hon. Friendthe Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Mr Brown), the then Prime Minister, rightly judged that the British people should have an opportunity to decide for themselves whether there should be a change in voting systems.

The combined effect of all these developments has been to cause a Crisis of Confidence in the profession; I do not believe it to be an exaggeration to describe it as that.

There has been a Crisis of Confidence, but it has been in politicians rather than the political system.

Given that the failure of any bank, even with a proper resolution regime, could contribute to a systemic Crisis in Confidence, can I have the Chancellor's assurance that he will put all the pressure he can on the PRA to ensure that it continues with active supervision to minimise the probability of bank failure at any level?

This debate takes place in the context of a Crisis of Confidence in our education system and, more broadly-if I may pick a few headings at random-in our society's ability to raise children so that they achieve, enjoy life, are safe and healthy, make a contribution, and go on to prosper.

We have called this debate because of the growing Crisis of Confidence in the Government's handling of the health service and the Conservatives' NHS reorganisation, and a growing lack of confidence among independent experts, professional bodies and patients groups.

Now is the time to listen to the chorus of criticism and concern, and to recognise the growing Crisis of Confidence in the Government's handling of the health service.

Those events caused profound grief among affected families, outrage amongst the public and a Crisis of Confidence.

In truth, the Health Secretary is here only because there is a growing Crisis of Confidence over the far-reaching changes that the Government are making to the NHS.

He was forced to do so because of the growing criticism, confusion and Crisis of Confidence over the Government's NHS reorganisation.

I accept that there is a Crisis of Confidence, but it is a crisis of confidence not in institutions but in politicians.

There is a Crisis of Confidence in his role and we still need convincing that he remains ready to stand up for these principles.

The Crisis of Confidence in the ability of eurozone countries to pay their debts has spread from the periphery to major economies such as Italy and Spain.

The Crisis of Confidence in the ability of eurozone countries to pay their debts has spread, as many feared, from the periphery to major economies such as Italy and Spain.

My Lords, my noble friend goes really to the heart of the matter and brings out a very important point, which was stated clearly by my noble friend Lord Patten in his speech on Sunday, in which he said that the suggestion that a possible solution to the current Crisis in Confidence in the media today, which seems to be present as well in your Lordships' House, would be a form of the Hippocratic oath, "a watermark to distinguish proper, ethical journalism from the mass of intrusive and unregulated material".

Financial stability is the foundation that every economy requires for sustainable growth, so it is critical that we rebuild trust in the financial system and address the continuing Crisis of Confidence surrounding it.

As we know, there is a complete Crisis of Confidence in the financial institutions and in the ability of vehicles such as pensions adequately to provide for people or to provide any certainty for future years.

One newspaper last week, I forget whether it was the Times or the Guardian, talked about a Crisis of Confidence in public elites-that is to say, in politicians, journalists, media proprietors, bankers, hedge funders and the like.

I know that it can be difficult to challenge the ideas of people who are depressed, but I think it important to present them with challenges and encouragement at some level, because depression is sometimes followed by a Crisis of Confidence, and getting back to work is part of the road to recovery from depression, however difficult it may feel.

Following the phone-hacking affair and the failure, yet again, by certain aggressive tabloids to put their own house in order, there is now a Crisis of Confidence in the press in this country.

There is a huge Crisis of Confidence in the people set in authority over us.

Landowners and communities would have a Crisis of Confidence in the policy if clause 6 was passed unamended.

That is bad for them, obviously, but it also sucks demand out of the economy and creates a Crisis of Confidence.

We tied ourselves to the wrong club with a Crisis of Confidence in the 1960s and 1970s.

Given what we have heard, it is perhaps not surprising that there is a Crisis of Confidence in politics in this country.

It does not rise to the challenges that we face, it will not restore confidence in the Government, it will not help those who need help most, and it reminds us why this coalition, as it ekes out its remaining two years in increasing disharmony, was not the answer to the Crisis of Confidence in the first place.

No wonder there is a Crisis of Confidence in our public services.

There is clearly a Crisis in Confidence in the police and, more particularly, in police integrity.

Britain is currently facing a mutual Crisis of Confidence in small business lending, and in the relationship between banks and businesses more widely.

They warn of a Crisis of Confidence and highlight the fact that much of the work of central Government is being contracted out to firms such as Serco, with a contract of £1.

There was a similar Crisis of Confidence as far back as 1918-19 after the police strikes of those years, the first of which was called during wartime and caused a similar low perception of the standing of the police.

The Crisis of Confidence - the trauma of trust - that we inherited was a natural reaction to the failures of the Labour Government, and threatened to damage wider belief in prospects throughout the market economy itself.

Last week, he eventually accepted that the market over which he and his predecessor have presided for the past four years is not fit for purpose, does not work for consumers and does not work for the industry, in which there is a Crisis of Confidence and a deficit of trust.

This is therefore very urgent, and I welcome that the Government, in recognition of the Crisis of Confidence, have instituted a six-month pause.

Then there is the failing Work programme - with overpayments to providers totalling £11 million, and getting just 7% of employment and support allowance claimants into work - coupled with the Crisis of Confidence in the work capability assessment that has been presided over by this Government.

Despite the brief and the impressive statistics, the FCA is still failing to address the issue of confidence; there remains a Crisis of Confidence in the banking industry.

I do not know whether the hon. Members are experiencing a personal Crisis of Confidence in their own representative capabilities, but they might be interested to know that 29.

Above all, the UK was afflicted with a Crisis of Confidence.

In the Bills that the Government intend to introduce, nowhere is there any sense of the public Crisis in Confidence in our constitutional arrangements.

That is extremely dangerous because it leads to transferring risk from the banking system to a sovereign Government and when taken beyond a certain point, as happened dramatically in the case of Ireland just a few years ago, can produce a Crisis of Confidence in the credit rating of the sovereign state itself.

I think the hon. Lady would agree - my hon. Friend the Member for Hazel Grove certainly would - that there is still a huge Crisis in Confidence in the major banks, and the last thing a lot of small businesses want to do is ask for a loan, because they are worried about the rug being pulled from underneath them.

The Crisis of Confidence caused by an ill-advised and unjustifiable adventure in Iraq in the last decade has led to what the London School of Economics diplomacy commission - possibly the most distinguished body of former diplomats in existence - has termed a crisis of confidence on the part of the United Kingdom.

The pensions industry and sector has suffered a real Crisis of Confidence over recent decades because people have not seen adequate rewards from the process and do not believe that that is the best way to protect themselves for the future.

The school has had a difficult time owing to a Crisis of Confidence in the chief executive.

I argue that the process that has been adopted, the clear conflicts of interest of the panel of so-called experts deployed to deliberate on these matters and the biased presentation of the findings have left a Crisis of Confidence in the new CMO guidelines among consumers, the media and industry.

Our report noted the root causes of this Crisis of Confidence.

We are not alone in Europe in having a Crisis of Confidence in globalisation and to some extent in the institutions of the European Union.