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Finance Bill

I repeat that the hon. Gentleman misses the point. First, we raised the threshold up to £350,000 from 2010-11, and made the commitment that it will continue to rise with inflation, including house price inflation. Secondly, we made it absolutely clear that the zero relief could be transferred when the second parent died. As I said, that is a different point. The interesting thing that came out of the discussion on the pre-Budget report, as the hon. Gentleman has just confirmed, is that the Conservatives would raise the limit to £1 million. I am absolutely clear that that is not a good use of taxpayers' resources. I am not sure where he would find the money to pay for it. Effectively, the proposal would take at least £1 billion and give it to people whose assets already make them millionaires. When a certain amount of public money is available, it is right to spend it on something that benefits genuinely average families, not millionaire estates as he proposes.