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Finance Bill

I entirely understand and accept the point you make, Madam Deputy Speaker. I also have to say that I am talking very realistically and in a practical way about the fact that the Finance Bill simply does not fill the gap created by the massive debt that has been accumulated. If the truth is not being told about the true level of the debt, it affects the Finance Bill and every provision in it. I regard this Second Reading as a kind of massive omnibus stand part discussion. This is the only opportunity to debate the issue, if I may say so, given that every single clause coming to its Committee stage will not be subjected to the clause stand part debates that normally take place with a Finance Bill. In addition, no amendments have been tabled—or, at least, none has been selected—from anyone other than the Government. The Committee stage will not take long, for the simple reason that there is no real opportunity to look at the context in which this massive deficit and massive gap in public expenditure can be filled. There is another real problem here. If we look for a second at the level of unemployment that needs to be paid for, we see that the figures we have been given are themselves unrealistic. I believe that, according to the economic indicators in a House of Commons research paper, the International Labour Organisation has said that 2.6 million people are unemployed, but there are about 1,600,000 job claimants. Given the effective unemployment level that results if those figures are added together, and given all the revenue that must be raised, the Bill will have to fund the payment of 4.1 million people. As I said earlier, not one penny of public expenditure will come from any source other than private enterprise unless we simply go to the printing presses and print the money off. Not a single penny to pay for the public services that people need—and we advocate that, but on a rational basis—will come from any other source. If a Government do not get growth and enterprise right, which means putting the cart and the horse in the right order, they will not be able to provide for public expenditure. That is the one thing that this Government—in fact, all Labour Governments—totally fail to understand.