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AMENDMENT OF THE LAW

No, I shall not, because I have only four minutes left. I was with the chief executive of the Taxpayers Alliance, Matthew Elliot, last night. He is a tremendous guy who is doing an awful lot to expose how taxpayers’ money is wasted. Part of the problem is that we have seen a huge increase in stealth taxes over the past 10 or 11 years, and this Budget will be no different. I want a future Government—even this Government, if they are brave enough—to ensure that on every product on which tax is paid, that tax is made visible and transparent so that people know when they buy a pint of beer that 73p of the price goes on taxation, or when they buy a litre of petrol that three quarters of the price is taxation. That would mean that people would know exactly how much they were paying in stealth taxes. If people knew the level to which they pay taxes, they would think long and hard about how much money is raised from them and their families, and would take more care about how that money is spent. I have one more plea for a future Budget, which is about youngsters who go to school and have a badged uniform. Such uniforms are exempt from VAT only for sizes up to the age of 13. We know that another problem in this country is obesity and that some youngsters tend to be larger than others. Perhaps the Government could consider the problem of VAT charged to those who are large for their age, particularly as they have raised the school leaving age to 18. The VAT for those who go to institutions with badged uniforms should at least be reduced to 5 per cent. That would cost only £4 million. The Government love to make big announcements that do not cost much money; this is perfect for them, and would help many families throughout the UK afford to buy badged uniforms for the schools that their children go to without being ripped off by VAT.