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Finance Bill

That is absolutely right, and the same argument applies to the new annual allowance. That is why we in Scotland are delighted that the Scottish National party Government have either slashed or removed the business rates for 150,000 small companies. That is something that we wish could be done down here to benefit similar businesses. The Finance Bill also offers us the extraordinary decision to put 59p on a bottle of whisky. That decision has the potential to damage one of the most successful industries at home. It is an industry that generates £2.5 billion surplus to the UK balance of trade. It is one of the few success stories in terms of real exports and real balance of trade surplus. The decision might also damage the industry abroad. When whisky manufacturers, companies, marketers and wholesalers go abroad to argue the case that another country has a discriminatory regime against Scotch, those other countries could turn round and say, ““So what? Your Government are doing the same thing.”” I hope that the Government will consider undertaking a proper review of this matter, not necessarily to exempt Scotch from the duty rises this year—although that would be most welcome—but to look again at whether alcohol could be taxed on an equitable basis across the board. The tax, whether it be on wine, beer, cider or spirits, should be levied on the basis of the alcohol content. That would create an absolutely level playing field, irrespective of the type of alcoholic drink.