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Finance (No. 2) Bill

I understand why the Paymaster General is being so defensive. I may have inferred something slightly different from what she meant. According to the standard English that I was taught at school, however, a change in the blended oil regime means a change in North sea taxation. I suspect that we shall have to agree to differ. This Finance Bill follows the Chancellor’s 10th Budget, and like others it has failed to rise to the challenges facing not just the United Kingdom economy in general but the Scottish economy specifically. I say that not least because we have experienced three full quarters of falling manufacturing growth. That recession in Scottish manufacturing—the loss of 100,000 Scottish manufacturing jobs—and the loss of 1 million manufacturing jobs in the UK have not been addressed to any significant degree in the Budget, or in the Bill. There has not been a single measure designed to give Scotland a much-needed competitive edge, and indeed the tax proposals will leave thousands of small Scottish businesses worse off. In the small print of the Bill are an additional £33 million in taxes on the profits of Scotland’s small and medium-sized businesses, which leave them lagging further behind competitors elsewhere in Europe. The modest changes in research and development provision, although welcome, do nothing to reverse a fundamental imbalance. While the UK spends some 1.1 per cent. of gross domestic product on R and D, the figure in Scotland is half that. Given that our major competitors spend more than 2.5 per cent., our position is terrible. The Bill was designed to bail out the Chancellor once again. It contains new laws to put into effect the £2 billion raid on the North sea that was announced in the pre-Budget report and an additional £200 million through the change in the blended oil regime, and it will leave future jobs, new exploration and new development in the North sea sector hanging in the balance. Let me make a final point about fuel. The high cost of fuel that is being paid by our businesses is forcing companies in my constituency to add surcharges of 25, 26 and 27 per cent. on goods as they leave the factory gate. People in my constituency on low and modest wages are paying gas and electricity increases many times the official rate of inflation. In short, when it comes to fuel, the Chancellor has grabbed more money from the North sea. The Government have made some attempt to deal with climate change through the change in vehicle excise duty, but they are doing absolutely nothing to defend business by moderating the cost of energy, and doing nothing to assist those on low and modest wages through the—