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Finance Bill

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. I shall turn in detail to the office of tax simplification, but I have to say that his intervention was as predictable as it was, perhaps, wrong-headed. Had he read the excellent speech that my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition made yesterday, he would have seen that it set out the reasons why it is necessary and desirable to have some organisations that bring technical expertise to an area or provide a degree of transparency as to how matters are dealt with. Such matters are better dealt with outside government rather than inside government. I will make the case that the office of tax simplification meets all those criteria.