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Finance (No. 2) Bill

I am not questioning that that occurred; I am saying that in this instance VAT receipts have fallen and the Government’s explanation for that is fraud. I want to press the Paymaster General on the exact extent of the fraud in a moment. On 30 May The Guardian estimated that the cost to the UK alone of MTIC fraud is now running at about £5 billion a year. Nicholas Watt wrote the following:"““The Guardian recently reported that carousel fraud jumped by 50 per cent. in the first quarter of the year—and has swollen by more than 500 per cent. in the past 12 months. Tax losses in Britain alone are more than £5bn this year.””" On 11 June, in an article in The Sunday Telegraph, Jasper Copping and Robert Watts, under the headline ““Carousel gangs cheat UK out of billions””, said:"““The alarming scale of carousel fraud indicates that the scam is spiralling and this year will far exceed the Government’s estimate that it cost £1.9 billion in 2004-05.””" This seems a suitable opportunity to ask the Paymaster General to update the record. Given that her figures relate to 2004-05, and we are now in 2005-06, and in the financial year 2006-07, can the right hon. Lady provide an official updated estimate of the scale of the fraud as the Treasury now understands it to be? All the signs are that the scale of the fraud is rising, so we would believe it to be in excess of £1.9 billion a year. The Guardian is talking about £5 billion and The Sunday Telegraph is talking about some billions of pounds. To clear up the confusion, will the Paymaster General tell the House the latest Government estimate of the scale of MTIC fraud and its cost to the Exchequer? Part of their argument for the powers that are being sought, and the amendments, is that they are needed to combat the fraud. Therefore, the House will want to know how bad the Government think that the problem is and what the trend-line is.