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HM Treasury

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. People on every income scale will pay more tax, but those at the very bottom are least capable of doing so. They are already living week by week, and sometimes day by day, waiting for the next pay cheque. This will be a huge burden on them, and it is a burden that all parties in this House have a duty to ease sooner rather than later. The taxpayer will be paying more income tax, but there is also a great danger, owing to the fact that the Icelandic banks went bust, that the taxpayer will also pay more council tax. We really must wonder what the rating agencies were doing to earn their money. In Hertfordshire, £28 million of taxpayers' money has potentially been lost as a result of the failings of the Icelandic banks, and I know that Hertfordshire took advice from rating agencies and that the agencies said, ““Well, we did downgrade the Icelandic banks,”” but they downgraded them from AAA ratings to AA ratings. As local authorities seek to rebuild their reserves, that will, of course, result in either work not being done in the affected counties or the tax base of council tax payers having to rise in the short to medium term. This is another way in which taxpayers will be forced to pay for regulatory failings and the failings of this Government. Members should not be in any doubt as we sign off this £42.2 billion that a huge amount of pain is in store over the next few years for a fair number of people. I wish that was not going to be the case, but it is. Good businesses will go to the wall; families will lose their homes; men and women are going to lose their jobs. There will be a huge, and somewhat unnecessary, amount of pain. It is hugely refreshing that we are having this debate about the Government's record and the failings of the regulatory system and the rating agencies, because that is the very essence of democracy. I was amazed that a number of colleagues and commentators in the newspapers sneered at what went on in the House of Representatives a few weeks ago, because that was the essence of democracy, too—the Executive were being held to account. At a time when Members of Parliament are held in such low esteem, we must not let these opportunities to hold the Executive to account pass. I am therefore disappointed that so few colleagues are present to take advantage of this opportunity—and I was also disappointed that so few were present to take advantage of the opportunity afforded by yesterday's debate on the Banking Bill. We have heard a lot of talk about consensus politics, but I do not like consensus politics because we live in a multi-party democracy. If we want consensus politics, we should go and live in China. What we want is constructive politics, which centres on robust debate and forensic examination of what is before the House. I therefore ask for less consensus politics and more robust and constructive politics because, after all, that is why we are sent here by our constituents. We must rise to the challenge at this important moment in our history.