false illusion that it was creditworthy. A major spending cut of €65 billion followed in July 2012, including a VAT rise from 18% to 21% which the PP itself had opposed during its time in opposition, after the previous Socialist government had already raised the VAT to 18%. At this time, incumbent Finance Minister Cristóbal Montoro came under public scrutiny after being accused of telling other opposition MPs, back in 2010, to "let Spain fall, we will get it up", in reference to a PP political opportunist attempt at forcing the fall of Zapatero's cabinet in order to have an early election, which the PP would have presumably won. Montoro later recognized this fact, but justified himself in that he "was working in an alternative. If Zapatero had shortened the legislature, he would have saved much suffering to all Spaniards". New spending cuts and legal reforms followed throughout 2012 and 2013, including cuts in budget credit lines for the health care and education systems, the implementation of a pharmaceutical copayment, a reform of the pension system which stopped guaranteeing the increase of pensioners' purchasing power accordingly to the consumer price index, the suppression of the bonus for public employees, or the withdrawal of public subsidies to the dependent people care system. Other measures, such as a fiscal amnesty in 2012 allowing tax evaders to regularize their situation by paying a 10% tax—later reduced to 3%—and no criminal penalty, had been previously rejected by the PP during its time in opposition. Additionally, public funding to rescue the Spanish banking system from bankruptcy amounted to €61 billion by late 2013, despite Rajoy having stated during the 2011 campaign that he "would never give public money to help banks". Most of these measures were not included in the PP 2011 election manifesto and, inversely, many of the pledges included within were not fulfilled. Rajoy argued that "reality" prevented him from fulfilling his programme, and that he had been forced to adapt to the new economic situation he found upon his accession to government. The impact of the government's economic reforms on the Spanish economy was mixed. Unemployment, which peaked in Q1 2013 at 6,202,700 and an unprecedented unemployment rate of 27.16%, had decreased to 2011 levels by late 2015, with 4,850,800 unemployed and 21.18%. This fall was largely attributed by critics and economists to a decrease in the labour force—resulting from many Spaniards