---

Finance Bill

If I were to choose a word to describe the report produced by my noble Friend, it would not be ““mad””. I would describe it as ““extremely interesting and very helpful””. Some of the proposals are clearly ones that we will wish to adopt. Others might fall into the category of things that we would love to adopt while recognising that we would be unable to do so because of the mess that the public finances are in and the chaos that we are likely to inherit. It is also fair to say that other proposals do not resonate with my colleagues on the Front Bench. We do not need to be coy about this. The job of a party in opposition aspiring to government is to do the work. That involves asking people—including experts and outsiders—to look at issues and to report on them. If we were to create an environment in which, every time the Government or the Opposition asked a third-party organisation or outside body to look at an issue and put forward proposals, and if our political opponents were able to present those proposals as though they were adopted policy, we would simply shut down the debate. I urge the hon. Gentleman not to go down that route.