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(Clauses 1, 4, 8, 189 and 209, Schedules 1, 23 and 33, and new Clauses and new Schedules relating to value added tax)

I pay tribute to my hon. Friends the Members for Stourbridge (Margot James) and for Ipswich (Ben Gummer), who have eloquently made many of the points that I intended to make. I do not want to repeat them. First and foremost, the Bill makes it clear that the Government are sticking to the plan to deal with the mess left by Labour and eliminate the structural deficit. That is essential for market confidence in the future of our economy and wealth creation. Secondly, the Bill is clearly on the side of working people and pensioners. It is pro-business and helps people who want to do better for themselves and their families. It cuts tax for 24 million ordinary families across the country, including 2.5 million in the north-west. Thanks to the Budget, most basic rate taxpayers will keep an extra £220 of their salary every year. That represents the largest real personal tax cut for people on average earnings in more than a decade. I appreciate that £220 might not seem like that much to the Labour leader, sat in his multi-million pound home in Primrose Hill, but for people struggling to get by in Cheshire, £220 is a real help. The Bill therefore helps working people.