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Finance Bill

My hon. Friend is most inventive in his excuses for the Government trying to account for the cut in VAT by linking it to increases in economic activity. The Government make great claims regarding their green credentials, few of which come to pass and even fewer of which are put into practice in their Budget measures. I shall try to move beyond mere retail sales to other things that may account for the improvement in economic activity apart from the VAT cut. I shall quote Mr. Robertson again:""Following a tough winter, there's some pent up demand, but there's no reason to think that customers suddenly feel flush or eager to spend. With unemployment set to grow through the rest of the year, mounting job worries will hold back spending for some time. The historically weak performance of the last 12 months is behind us, but we shouldn't celebrate yet."" I think he is quite right—it is too early to see the green shoots of economic recovery, and certainly too early to put that down to the VAT cut.