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Finance Bill

As ever, the hon. Gentleman is on the money. If departmental cuts, particularly to the Cabinet Office, are between 25% and 40%, the impact on public funding for third sector organisations in this country will be devastating. We can all see this coming ahead of us—we can all see this train coming—so these amendments seek to ensure that a report is set out by the Treasury before the VAT hike is introduced. I hope that a bit of good old-fashioned common sense will prevail this evening, and that we will be able to agree to them. I understand that this measure is being introduced at haste. It is perfectly plausible to suggest that the Treasury did not foresee it, and there is something we can all do this evening to ensure that charities are protected from unintended consequences. We ask the most unreasonable things of Governments—we cannot expect them to have the power of omniscience—but we can agree this measure in a way that protects charities. The final point that I wish to make relates to amendment 58, which touches on one particular group of charities—mountain rescue charities—and on which some expectations have been set.