The Prime Minister And The Budget

EDM number 741 in 1991-92, proposed by Terry Lewis on 25/02/1992.

That this House recalls that the Prime Minister in the Today newspaper of 21st October 1991 acknowledged pressure from his own backbenchers to 'bribe' the electorate with a pre-election budget; notes that he said then that this would be possible but unwise; recalls further that he described such a move as 'fool's gold, which would be terribly unfair to the people who would be hurt by it'; agrees with his observation that in such a move 'you would only stimulate a mini-boom and at the end of that mini-boom you would create the problems we have had'; welcomes his Autumn undertaking of 'not (going) to manipulate the economy just for short-term purposes'; and therefore looks forward to a budget which puts the interests of the nation before those of the Conservative Party.

This motion has been signed by a total of 44 MPs.