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AMENDMENT OF THE LAW

I am well aware of the regional imbalance in spending in England. I welcome the hon. Gentleman’s demand for more money for his region, but because every penny spent in Scotland has been raised in Scotland, he should not expect Scotland to subsidise the east midlands. In the next three years, the Budget will take some £2 billion extra from business and about £200 million from business in Scotland, but notwithstanding the fact that he is taking the cash, the Chancellor has done nothing fundamental to address many of the concerns of businesses in Scotland and throughout the UK. He has failed to reverse the damaging impact of capital gains tax and has failed even to freeze the increase in the small companies corporation tax rate. We have heard a lot about CGT, but we have not heard in any detail what impact it will have. When businesses are trying to raise cash from a private investor or a business angel—call them what you will—if that person expects the same cash return with the changes as they would have had with the taper relief in place, there will be far less money available, perhaps, for a proprietor-manager. They might say that it is not worth a jot. If they were only going to get the same cash but were going to have to pay the tax that they would not have paid under taper relief, the private investor might say, ““I’ll put my money elsewhere””. The tax will take £700 million in yield, according to the Government. I suspect that the damage to business through lost opportunity and lost investment will be significantly higher than that £700 million.