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Income Tax

I am very grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for that intervention, not least because I know of no instance when my party has been against the publication of, or transparency of, financial or other information. The provision of such information by the Treasury would certainly be a step forward. In broadly welcoming this approach, I ask the Minister to respond not only to the points that I have raised but to that raised by my hon. Friend the Member for St. Ives (Andrew George). In fact, he did not ask the Minister how many people were likely to be brought within the curtilage—I believe that he used that splendid phrase—of this regulation; rather, he asked how many people were likely to be taxpayers in those territories. That information is not given in the explanatory memorandum and I would not expect the Minister to have it at his fingertips, but perhaps he could inform my hon. Friend in due course about the number of potential taxpayers who will be affected by the agreements before the House. Although I am broadly supportive of the measures, I would like the Minister to provide a brief update on the progress made on information exchange between the United States and Switzerland—