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Finance (No. 2) Bill

When one wants a constructive debate to take place, one starts by providing information. It would not have been difficult for the Liberal Democrats to ask questions, table questions to Ministers, seek the advice of civil servants and ask their research assistants to do some work in the Library to formulate a range of options, as my local authority did when we took control from the Liberal Democrats and introduced a 50p bus fare for every person under the age of 19 on the island to travel anywhere on the island. That was done before we took control. The Liberal Democrats have ample facilities, as have all of us in the House—I can see, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that you want me to shut up—to undertake that work. I wish they had done so, because they would be taken more seriously.