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Finance Bill

It is an honour to follow the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Mr Byrne). Having spoken a couple of times in the debates on this Bill as it has passed through the House, I wanted today to consider the economic evidence. We have heard an awful lot about the importance of what we need to do, and we have heard an awful lot from the Labour party complaining about every measure put forward, but it is also important to consider the economic evidence. Listening to his speech, it struck me that he thinks that nothing that the previous Labour Government did was wrong. It also strikes me that, so long as he and his party continue with that approach, nobody will listen to them when they make other points. It is clear to all of us who went through the election campaign that the previous Government did many things wrong, and a little bit of an apology, or perhaps a suggestion of individual things that went wrong, might be appreciated in this debate.