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AMENDMENT OF THE LAW

I agree with my hon. Friend; that is exactly what is happening. It has been estimated that the tax take for families will increase by about £110. We have learned enough from past Budgets to know that we need to read through all the details. I have here all the details that we are supposed to look through to find out exactly what is happening. For future Budgets, if we are going to be green, perhaps we could reduce the amount of garbage that we have to pick up from the Vote Office. We could put most of it on the internet. We need only the small section that shows us the increases and decreases; we could go to the net for all the other changes. My hon. Friend’s point about tax increases is absolutely right. Tax freedom day is the day of the year on which we finally start earning money for ourselves, and it is now 1 June. Only after that date can we start to earn money for ourselves. We have to work for the Government from 1 January to 1 June. That period has increased by a whole week over the past four years. We now have to work a whole week longer for the Government instead of earning money for ourselves. Given the sensibilities and constraints within which a future Conservative Government will have to operate—we shall obviously have to clear up the mess left by this Government—I hope that when we can, we shall roll back tax freedom day so that people can earn more money for themselves and spend it on whatever they think is in the best interests of themselves and their families. The hon. Member for Wolverhampton, South-West (Rob Marris) mentioned brewing, and I shall do the same, as I am the vice-chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on beer. Some rubbish has been talked today. The hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (John Thurso) was absolutely right to say that the increases are being dressed up as measures to tackle binge drinking. When we see where they are targeted, we realise that they will not help to tackle binge drinking at all. There was no mention in the Budget of strong cider or of alcopops. The 4p increase on beer will not do anything to dissuade binge drinkers. I suspect that most of the problem is not caused by beer in any event. Other alcohols are at the root of the problem. In its representation to the Government before the budget, the British Beer and Pub Association said:"““The current closure rate””" of pubs"““is seven times faster than in 2006 and 14 times faster than in 2005.””" Last year, 1,409 pubs closed. The pub closure rate is now accelerating towards 30 a week. I am sure that we will all know of pubs in our constituencies—rural or urban—that have closed with no chance of reopening. Pubs are part of the social fabric of our society, particularly in villages where there is only one pub. In one village in my constituency, the pub is closed and we are waiting to see whether it will reopen. There are real problems, and the increase announced today will only accelerate the pub closures in this country. That will mean not only job losses but damage to the fabric of society. Pubs are a place where people meet and talk—they are a great British tradition, for goodness’ sake—and we do not want to lose them. Pubs are, of course, places where people drink communally. Part of the problem with binge drinking is that people can go into supermarkets, pick up cans of strong lager or whatever else and drink not in a licensed and supervised area but in the streets, at home or in other places. If the Government want to tackle the problem of binge drinking, they must do it in a far more targeted way than they have. This measure is everything to do with revenue raising, but it has been dressed up as an attack on binge drinking. The Government are wide of the mark, and will have to think again.