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Finance Bill

You are, of course, quite right, Sir Michael. I shall thus discuss the clause itself, on which I do not propose to speak for as long as I did on the amendments. After all, it is well past closing time—or at least the old-style 11 pm closing time. However, we must at least briefly examine the devastating impact of the Government's approach to pubs, breweries and other industries across the UK. I know that that is felt keenly by Members from across this House in terms of the pubs, clubs and jobs in their constituencies. As I said, duty levels are not the only answer. We propose changes to the duty regime as part of a package of wider measures aimed at tackling binge and under-age drinking, which we need to look at. The Committee needs to register its opposition to the Government's approach of penalising all drinkers, and we therefore call on the Committee to oppose clause 11.