---

Finance Bill

: I am trying to understand the nature of the hon. Gentleman’s proposal. In the case of Bank of England, we decided that independence was the right thing. In the end, with the support of Opposition Members—it took a little time—we decided that it was right to hand over the power to take month-by-month interest rate decisions to a group of independent experts. There is a material difference, however, between making monetary policy decisions with a single instrument and a single target and tax policy decisions. The hon. Gentleman is proposing to move tax policy decision making away from the House of Commons and elected Members of Parliament and instead asking independent experts to make policy decisions about tax. Is he proposing that Parliament should give up power in that way, not merely to unelected Members of the other place but to entirely unelected individuals?