Naturally, and perhaps inevitably—I am not blaming anybody— the Economy Crisis of nearly two years ago put on top the first class of people who do not wish to spend anything on anything.

If the Bill is not adequate to its limited purposes, the purpose itself is much less adequate to the Crisis in Our Economy.

I fit becomes impossible for wages to be paid because of a great increase in money incomes, and a shortage of notes of that kind arises, we should have a Crisis in the Whole Economy of the country.

As was pointed out in the Daily Telegraph some monthsago, the reason for the Crisis in Our Economy is really a simple one and the approach to it is equally simple.

At this moment of Crisis in Our Economy, when our very existence depends on hard work, it would be a calamity if the Government legalised such a waste of manpower, time and resources as would be necessary if the Bill became law.

The reason for the Crisis in Our Economy is a very simple one and the approach is equally simple.

I turn from the immediate effects of these policies to the Crisis in the Economy.

My right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition has done what every Opposition Leader would do in his place when faced with a Crisis in Our Economy.

It is crystal clear that one of British Leyland's problems, as with so much of Scottish and British industry, is a simple lack of demand because of the general Crisis in the Economy brought about by the Conservative Government.

That virtual threefold increase is not unconnected with the current Crisis of the Economy, disadvantage and unemployment.

In the past year 1,000 businesses a month have gone bankrupt because of the Crisis in the Economy, which is exacerbated by the Government's measures.

The answer is that it is part of the Government's overall attack on services, which has been brought about by the Crisis in the Economy and which bears a direct relationship to the attack on local authorities, on civil servants' jobs and pay, and on coal, steel, shipping and other nationalised industries.

I can well recall the Leader of the Opposition, six months before the last general election, referring to the impending Crisis in the Economy, which never happened, much to the chagrin of Opposition Members, but to the gratification of the electorate.

There is a Crisis in the Economy of the hills and uplands.

There are non-existent products and a Crisis in the Economy.

Will the Secretary of State persuade his right hon. Friend the Prime Minister in the coming round of inevitable cuts following the Crisis in Our Economy not to cut our aid programme or to reduce support, in particular for the aid work that is going on not only in Bosnia but in Iraq, which I shall come to later, and certainly not in Somalia?

The right hon. Member for South Norfolk was right to identify that major Crisis in the Economy.

Is that not indicative of a real Crisis in the Economy with a buoyant consumer demand largely being met by imports and our own manufacturing sector, together with productivity and capital investment, being in the doldrums?

Let me be clear: I shall not be arguing that there is a Crisis in Our Economy.

The Chancellor and the Prime Minister have performed admirably and impressively over the last couple of days, but the real test will be how they respond to the Crisis in the Real Economy.

Do I gather that the shadow Chancellor would not support in an emergency some temporary adjustment to the remit of the Bank of England to allow it to set aside the strength of its commitment to inflation targets, and to allow the interest rate to be set to deal more with the Crisis in the Economy?

The Crisis in the Economy is, above all, a credit crisis, and we are implementing packages designed to address that problem directly by offering specific solutions.

Above all, we need to give everyone in this country a sense of urgency and of hope that we are going to solve the Crisis in Our Economy and in our politics as well.

The increase in the financial risk led to greater increases in Government debt, corporate leverage and personal borrowing, which in turn led not only to imbalances in our economic system but to the present Crisis in Our Economy.

That last Labour Government ended with a miserable winter, and a Crisis in the Economy and in the public finances, so we have been here before.

The first was that the next Parliament, whoever forms the Government, will be wholly preoccupied with dealing with the current Crisis in the Economy.

Because of a temporary Crisis in Our Economy, we may well find ourselves regretting that in 10 or 15 years' time-or even at, say, the Olympics.

They need to answer the question whether it is fair to target public sector workers once more to pick up the bill for a Crisis in Our Economy that they did not cause.

The Crisis in the Economy was not caused by over-expenditure by the previous Government.