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Finance Bill

That would have been good advice for the Chief Secretary, so perhaps my hon. Friend should have proffered it to her. Perhaps he will be able to do so later in the debate. The Chief Secretary's approach belied her political antennae, which were clearly telling her that she should adopt attack as the best form of defence in any form of political debate. Her attack was intrinsically political and focused on attempts to wrongfoot her political opponents rather than to recognise the reality, acknowledge the scale of the problems that our economy has been driven into by the Government and seek to introduce measures to help address them. What the meant for me was the end of aspiration under new Labour. There were no signals that Britain is a competitive place in which to do business, that individuals find Britain an attractive place in which to build their careers or that the Government understand how this economy can compete. This Finance Bill exposes the political truth of this Government under the present Prime Minister. We heard calls earlier today for him to reveal his vision for this country. Well, I have seen his vision—in the Budget, in the Finance Bill and in his Chief Secretary's speech. It is not aspirational; it is not new Labour; it tears up the manifesto commitment not to raise income tax; and it tears up the fiscal rules with nothing to replace them. It rips out the heart of new Labour. The vision is bleak: it is for a prolonged period of debt-burdened darkness. It is back to old Labour, lurching rudderless from crisis to crisis as dole queues lengthen.