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Finance (No. 2) Bill

My right hon. Friend the Paymaster General has heard my hon. Friend’s suggestion, so I am sure that she will take it into account. There is second, equally sharp divide between the Government and the Opposition. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer introduced the climate change levy in 2000. It is not something that he thought up in the summer as part of a leadership election campaign. It is not something that he thought up after the manifesto for the 2005 election was written, only to reject it because he thought he had to appeal to a different audience. In contrast to the Leader of the Opposition, he embraced such policies at the beginning of the century by introducing a measure that, year on year, has helped us to meet the Kyoto targets. If the Opposition abolished the climate change levy I do not know how they would make good the deficiency. They criticise us for not making progress on climate change, but I have yet to hear how they would do so. The levy is an extremely effective measure that is responsible for removing 28 tonnes of CO2 emissions a year, so I am delighted that it is uprated in the Bill. Record numbers of my constituents are in work, and their wages are higher than they were when we came to power. More of my constituents own their own homes than was the case in 1997. The Bill introduces green and social measures, as well as fiscal responsibility, fair taxation and business-friendly measures. My constituents will benefit from it, as they have done in previous years from previous Finance Bills.