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Finance Bill

We have set out a series of tax changes that should be in the Bill. They are largely designed to move the burden that we are asking people to weather away from those on lower incomes. To pay for that, we would ask the more privileged on higher incomes to sacrifice some of their allowances, which I have never thought fair in any case. For example, we would deal with the distortion created by the tax reliefs on pensions that give more support to those on the highest incomes than people on the lowest, especially because we know that those on the lowest incomes are the people who struggle the most to have sufficient pensions. The Conservatives propose a series of measures that are effectively tax cuts, but we do not believe that that is right either, because we need to prioritise maintaining economic growth and targeting those areas that require more support, especially education and giving those from the poorest backgrounds the opportunity to come out of the circumstances in which they were born.