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Finance Bill

The hon. Gentleman makes half the point. The date could have been left as 1 December, as the original legislation provided, without the intervention of clause 9. This is a practical point. There is no party politics involved and it is not an issue of great principle. It is the kind of point that the House of Commons ought to be able to sort out in a Committee's considerations of such a Bill. It means listening to what practitioners in the outside world are saying, and finding a practical solution. There is a more substantive question that I would like to put to the Chief Secretary. If, despite the horrendous fiscal position that the country is facing, the Government are determined to borrow and spend the extra £7 billion or so that the scheme will cost between now and 31 December, does she, in her heart, believe that at a time of impending price deflation, a VAT cut is the best way of transmitting that sum into the economy? The hon. Member for Chorley (Mr. Hoyle), the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field), the hon. Member for Taunton (Mr. Browne) and the right hon. Member for North Tyneside do not believe it. I am fascinated to know whether the right hon. Lady genuinely believes that that is the best way of using a given sum of money. Clause 11 brings in the increased duties on alcohol, but in the form of an across-the-board hike. Since the last Budget, tax is up on beer by 8p a pint, on wine by 28p a bottle—and as almost all wine consumed in this country is imported, Labour's devaluation has added a 30 per cent. premium on top of that—and on a bottle of spirits by 47p. During the Bill's Committee stage, we shall attempt to force the Government again at least to consider and evaluate a smart alcohol taxation regime, focusing on the greatest burden associated with problem drinking, such as alcopops, high-strength beers and ciders, and using the proceeds to reduce duties—[Interruption]. I appreciate that the hon. Member for Taunton represents a constituency where any attack on cider may be unwelcome, but perhaps he should look at what has happened in Australia and Germany, where that approach has been used to good effect. The Government should seriously consider introducing such a system here, instead of using health concerns as a cover for a blanket tax rise on responsible drinkers. Clauses 15 and 16, which the Chief Secretary did not mention, set the fuel duty rates for this year, with a two-stage increase—[Interruption.] I am sorry; the right hon. Lady did mention them, but she did not give them the kind of prominence that she afforded to the increased taxes on higher earners. Perhaps that is not surprising because, according to the polls, the fuel duty increase was the single most unpopular measure in a generally pretty unpopular Budget. Oil prices are significantly lower now than they were at their peak, and we believe that the Government have missed an opportunity not just to impose an extra tax on motorists, but to consider a fair fuel stabiliser, as proposed by my hon. Friend the shadow Chancellor. The Government are proposing to increase taxes now, when oil prices are somewhat lower. They have presented no mechanism for protecting the motorist against the effects of pump price increases if oil prices rise again. [Interruption.] I do not know why the hon. Member for Wolverhampton, South-West (Rob Marris) finds this so amusing. Instead of a flat increase, as the Government propose, it is a perfectly sensible proposal to introduce an increase now that is linked to a set baseline price of oil, so that as the price of oil increases the Government moderate the level of tax and mitigate the increase in price at the pump that the motorist and the business user pay—changed perhaps every six months. [Interruption.] I do not think that the Chief Secretary is in a position to start talking about regular increases in fuel duty, when she has two pencilled in for the next six months in her Budget. On the other side of the coin, the Government would receive higher revenues from North sea oil taxation as the price of oil rose. That is a mechanism for stability—less volatility in the price of petrol at the pump, less volatility in Government revenues as oil prices fluctuate.