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Finance Bill

It is a great pleasure to follow that passionate speech by my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth, East (Mr. Ellwood). I would like to start my remarks by reflecting a little bit on the comments that he and other hon. Friends have made about the nature of the Chief Secretary's opening speech earlier today. I listened carefully to what she had to say, and I regret to say that I found it entirely characteristic of her approach to the House and her present role. The Chief Secretary's speech was focused not really on her own proposals, but on a smokescreen. She sought to conjure up a smokescreen from thin air to camouflage the Government's disastrous conduct of the economy, while at the same time seeking to paint a fantasy picture of Conservative plans. Her speech betrayed the whole approach of this beleaguered Government: "When you are lying at the bottom of a hole that you have dug for yourself, you bear your teeth, start gnashing and try to claw your way out of a dugout." In the way the right hon. Lady conducted herself, she was really the chief terrier of the Treasury rather than its Chief Secretary.