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Finance (No. 2) Bill

: I intend to speak briefly because I want to make only two points. First, although the hon. Member for Chipping Barnet (Mrs. Villiers) sounded reasonable, she exaggerated the need for any changes to the Government’s proposals. Indeed, the hon. Member for Ludlow (Mr. Dunne), who perhaps owns property that far exceeds the expectations of any of my constituents, gave the game away when he said that half of all properties in Britain will soon—in a matter of a few years—go over the threshold. Not a single property in the Rhondda sells at £300,000. The idea that 50 per cent. of estates in the next few years will reach £325,000 is extraordinary. The hon. Gentleman’s mathematics need to be better because between 94 and 96 per cent. of estates do not reach that threshold today and will not do so with the increases in the threshold that the Bill proposes.