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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 am now totally baffled, because the hon. Member for Amber Valley (Nigel Mills) returned to the simplification issue, but what we heard earlier, when he perhaps was not in the Chamber, was an impassioned ex post facto rationalisation for this change given by the hon. Member for Ipswich (Ben Gummer) and, to a lesser extent, by the hon. Member for Stourbridge (Margot James). They sought to assure us that this really was not about simplification, and that it was all part of a master plan to deal with the problems of an ageing population and make the pensions system better for people. So I am now baffled as to which it is. Is it about tax simplification only or is it about a very thoughtful plan, which had not previously been mentioned? This is where I was also puzzled by what the hon. Member for Ipswich said, because nothing of what he said was said by the Chancellor; no obvious rationale on those terms was given by the Chancellor when he introduced this measure in his Budget speech, as he slipped it in as being ““simplification””. This is not part of dealing with the problem of an ageing population; there are other ways of doing that. If the money raised was to be used to help with pensions, it would be a different matter. If it were to be used to help people in my constituency who are struggling with increased care costs and who are not getting assistance with care because they do not meet the extremely high thresholds that are now being imposed, we would have to listen to the suggestion. However, the provision is about finding some extra money to fund the big tax cut that has been given to people with high incomes.