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Finance Bill

My hon. Friend makes a powerful point. I would be delighted to accept an invitation to go to Braintree. I feel from looking at the statistics that I mentioned earlier that it is likely that the picture that he paints is being repeated all over the country. According to the industry, publicans spend an average of eight hours a week dealing with paperwork. One in five blamed it for their becoming uncompetitive—it represents 51 per cent. of turnover. Employment costs have increased by almost 59 per cent. over the past decade and ALMR is calling for the 0.5 per cent. rise in national insurance contributions next year to be scrapped—