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Finance (No. 4) Bill

It regularly seems to be my lot to follow the hon. Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Mark Field). Perhaps that is appropriate in some respects, as he represents a constituency at the other end of the spectrum from mine. He made a typically thoughtful speech, although he set out a couple of priorities that I would not share, and that he would not expect me to share—namely supporting the banking industry, for example through the tax system. However, one thing that I take issue with is the hon. Gentleman's assertion about the rights of people in employment in this country compared with those elsewhere. When I speak to employers, as I am sure we all do in our constituencies, one of the questions I often ask is: ““To what extent do employment laws have on impact on you? Do you feel they put you at a disadvantage?”” Sometimes they will say, ““Yes, they do,”” but at the margin, if at all. If I ask employers to list their hierarchy of concerns, they put employment rights very low down, while concerns about our macro-economic direction and the way the economy is being run are very much at the top.