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Finance Bill

With all due respect, I say that it is far simpler and more straightforward for an across-the-board, blanket reduction to be introduced. Objective analysis tends to suggest that the kind of approach that the former Labour Government had in ensuring that that reduction in VAT was part of a coherent fiscal stimulus was certainly effective. I also ask the Committee to bear in mind that we are now talking about a VAT increase that takes us a great deal beyond the rates that we were talking about only a few months ago. In conclusion, this is a profoundly regressive Budget. One of its most negative elements is the VAT increase. There is undoubtedly objective evidence to show that it will hit the poorest and most vulnerable members of society hardest, and at the very least the Government should accept that there is a need for a full-scale study into this, as it applies to children, especially, and to elderly people. I respectfully ask the Government to consider their position carefully.