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Finance (No. 2) Bill

The hon. Gentleman will be aware, because it has been explained before in the House, that not only have this Government been significantly more generous in supporting local government than his party was at any time when it was in power—indeed, his party cut the support that it gave to local government—but we found additional support across Government for this year and next year, too. I was involved in that. As he will remember, the £200 was announced in two stages, in the previous pre-Budget report and the previous Budget. It was made clear that that payment was for 2005. I want to mention not only competitiveness and productivity, but fairness, too. If Britain is to lead in the global economy, we must be not only a prosperous but a just society. That means helping those who can excel and offering a fair chance of a bright future to everyone. The Bill supports our sporting potential, but it also supports our giving potential. We are introducing measures, which are welcomed by charity representatives, to protect the integrity of reliefs for charitable giving and to assist greater collaboration by charities in trading companies. This is all about fairness. On that theme, and following the Paymaster General’s statement last July, the Bill also legislates to ensure that compensation payments paid by foreign banks to holocaust victims or their heirs are exempt from tax. Fairness is important in our society, so the Bill also legislates to clamp down further on tax avoidance and tax fraud—two activities that cheat the majority of our people, who pay their fair share.