The Labour Government faced the well-documented Crisis of the British Economy - the crisis of industrialisation, import penetration and so on - at a time when the traditional mechanism of devaluation would not work to correct unequal competition.
The Chancellor's statement fails to face up to the Crisis in the British Economy.
Without North sea oil revenue, the continuing Crisis in the British Economy would have become a calamity of proportions not seen in Europe since the 1930s.