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Finance (No. 4) Bill

Perhaps the hon. Lady could remind us whether it was 48 days before the election, or just before that, when her party talked about the VAT bombshell that it would stop when it came into government. Was it 48 days? I am not sure. We have made the argument about why we introduced the 50p rate, and we do not intend to make it once more. The reality is that the Government are entirely out of touch. Both Government parties—the one down there below the Gangway and the one up here opposite me —are completely out of touch with the reality of working people in this country. [Interruption.] The Chief Secretary tells me from a sedentary position to answer the question. I have answered it, and I will answer it again on Wednesday when we debate the 50p rate. It was introduced in a period of recession to ensure that the people with the broadest shoulders paid the most. We would have stuck by that decision and not, in the midst of a continuing period of austerity, asked the most vulnerable to pay. That is a desperately bad choice. If there was ever any doubt that the Government were out of touch, hon. Members should have come in earlier and listened to the Chief Secretary, a Liberal Democrat, parrot the Government line on working family tax credits that all people need to do is go out there and earn a little bit more by working an extra eight hours a week. Let me put him and the Chancellor, who is sitting next to him, in touch with the reality for working people in this country. In my constituency of Pontypridd, Mr Chancellor, a new supermarket is opening. It will create 200 jobs. A fortnight ago, 2,500 people queued 600 yards down the main road and across a bus station to try to secure jobs in a supermarket. Those people need a Chancellor who will deliver growth and jobs. They need a Government who give a damn about working people. That is why we needed a Budget for growth. We did not get it and that is why the Opposition will vote against this bad Budget.