Debate on bill on Tuesday, 6 July 2010, in the House of Commons, led by Danny Alexander. The answering member was Liam Byrne.

Finance Bill

Finance Bill. Second reading debate. Agreed on division (332 to 230). Bill committed to a Committee of the Whole House. Agreed on question.

Secondary information

Type: Parliamentary proceeding
Reference: 513 c194-342
Session: 2010-12
Department: Treasury
Legislative stage: Second reading
Chamber / Committee: House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions: Danny Alexander | 513 c197 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that intervention. I am sure that my hon. Friend will have the chance to raise tha...; Angus Brendan MacNeil | 513 c198 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman mentioned fairness and businesses, and I would like to draw his attention t...; Danny Alexander | 513 c198 (Link to this contribution) I will make some progress and give way to the hon. Gentleman later. The Bill shows how the Governme...; Andrew Love | 513 c198 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?; Danny Alexander | 513 c198 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is clearly not as much of an apprentice in this House as he claims to be. The gap...; Danny Alexander | 513 c198 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful for that intervention. The hon. Gentleman knows that we are investigating a rural...; Stewart Hosie | 513 c199 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?; Danny Alexander | 513 c196 (Link to this contribution) I give way to the right hon. Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper), who tr...; Danny Alexander | 513 c196-7 (Link to this contribution) There were a lot of questions there but not a single apology for the record of the previous Governme...; Yvette Cooper | 513 c196 (Link to this contribution) I am rushing to get to the ballot box—[Interruption.] The right hon. Gentleman is welcome to come to...; Danny Alexander | 513 c197 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the hon. Gentleman. It is a bit rich coming from the Opposition, given that we have set...; Matt Hancock | 513 c197 (Link to this contribution) Does not the Minister, like me, find it a bit rich that Opposition Members look only at part of the ...; Danny Alexander | 513 c197 (Link to this contribution) I wish to respond fully to the intervention. I will come to the right hon. Gentleman in a little whi...; Liam Byrne | 513 c197 (Link to this contribution) Will the Chief Secretary give way?; Liam Byrne | 513 c197 (Link to this contribution) I wish to pursue the question asked by my right hon. Friend the Member for Normanton, Pontefract and...; Danny Alexander | 513 c197 (Link to this contribution) As I understand it, the House of Commons analysis does not include the impact of all the measures in...; Viscount Thurso | 513 c197 (Link to this contribution) I commend my right hon. Friend on the fairness that he has ensured runs right through the Budget, es...; Danny Alexander | 513 c195-6 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, but I do not accept the figures that the hon. Lady set out. If she looks at the informat...; Helen Jones | 513 c195 (Link to this contribution) On fairness, it is clear that the measures that the right hon. Gentleman is enacting mean that the p...; Danny Alexander | 513 c195 (Link to this contribution) I would like to make progress. We have considered the plans of the previous Government and it is cl...; Danny Alexander | 513 c195 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure that that power ever rested in the hands of the Chief Secretary but, as the hon. Gentl...; Danny Alexander | 513 c196 (Link to this contribution) I ask the hon. Gentleman to look at the tables on page 67 of the Red Book. I draw his attention to c...; Danny Alexander | 513 c196 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the hon. Gentleman and then to the right hon. Lady.; Lord Beamish | 513 c196 (Link to this contribution) I know that the right hon. Gentleman is doing his apprenticeship, but does he not understand the dif...; Danny Alexander | 513 c194 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. The emergency Budget takes tough action at ...; Danny Alexander | 513 c194 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that intervention. Of course the hon. Gentleman will know that the Bill includes s...; Kelvin Hopkins | 513 c194 (Link to this contribution) Would not a better plan be for the Government to try to collect some of the taxes that are not paid,...; Chris Leslie | 513 c195 (Link to this contribution) Sir Alan Budd is leaving the Office for Budget Responsibility, so to ensure that that organisation i...; Lord Beamish | 513 c194 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman just told the House that the previous Government's plans for a reduction we...; Danny Alexander | 513 c194 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that intervention. As the OBR set out both in its pre-Budget forecast and in the f...; Clive Efford | 513 c194-5 (Link to this contribution) In light of that answer, what are we to make of Sir Alan Budd's resignation today? The right hon. Ge...; Danny Alexander | 513 c195 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving me the opportunity to place on the record my thanks a...; Lord Redwood | 513 c235 (Link to this contribution) That is what I have been explaining to the right hon. Gentleman. We are in this position because eve...; Michael Meacher | 513 c235 (Link to this contribution) How can the right hon. Gentleman believe that private investment will remotely compensate for this e...; Owen Smith | 513 c235 (Link to this contribution) In the light of what the right hon. Gentleman suggests about manufacturing, is he not worried when h...; Lord Redwood | 513 c235 (Link to this contribution) A shift in the relative position predicted by someone else does not necessarily mean that manufactur...; Lord Redwood | 513 c235-6 (Link to this contribution) I am going to conclude, because many people wish to participate in this debate. Labour Members may w...; Lord Redwood | 513 c234 (Link to this contribution) Those are Labour's figures for the public sector. I have just told the House that I am talking about...; Lord Redwood | 513 c233 (Link to this contribution) The point that I have been making for the Labour party's benefit is that I think it is possible to g...; Owen Smith | 513 c234 (Link to this contribution) Is the right hon. Gentleman worried in any way by the remarks, made during the radio discussion that...; Lord Redwood | 513 c233-4 (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Gentleman should be aware, the outgoing Government's capital spending plans have not bee...; Grahame Morris | 513 c233 (Link to this contribution) Two simple decisions arose from the Budget: the new £464 million hospital north of the Tees and the ...; Lord Redwood | 513 c233 (Link to this contribution) I should like to finish my point. At the moment, there are worries, reflected in the comments made ...; Michael Meacher | 513 c234 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman's fantasy that there will be a continuation of or an increase in capital in...; Lord Redwood | 513 c234 (Link to this contribution) Once again, the hon. Gentleman is not listening. I was explaining that the coalition Government have...; Stewart Hosie | 513 c241 (Link to this contribution) They are absolutely not a luxury. Insurance not only on cars but on homes and foreign travel, partic...; Lord Beamish | 513 c241 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the proposals in the Bill for insurance premium tax will affect m...; Angus Brendan MacNeil | 513 c241-2 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend mentioned the rural fuel derogation. It is important that the House understands exact...; Stewart Hosie | 513 c240 (Link to this contribution) As my hon. Friend says, it will mean £26 million extra on the bill to the NHS in Scotland alone. We ...; Angus Brendan MacNeil | 513 c239 (Link to this contribution) Such as £26 million on health.; Stewart Hosie | 513 c240-1 (Link to this contribution) I suffer from the advantage of tabling many new clauses and new schedules to the Fiscal Responsibili...; Andrew George | 513 c240 (Link to this contribution) By and large, I must commend the hon. Gentleman for a constructive contribution to the debate—we hav...; Stewart Hosie | 513 c239 (Link to this contribution) That is absolutely correct. It is a pity that there is merely one Liberal left in his place to hear ...; Lord Beamish | 513 c239 (Link to this contribution) I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman read The Herald of Scotland this morning. He knows that I read t...; Stewart Hosie | 513 c239 (Link to this contribution) That is absolutely right, and VAT will not just hit building and the purchasing of supplies for the ...; Angus Brendan MacNeil | 513 c239 (Link to this contribution) One of the fig leaves that the Liberal Democrats have used to accept the VAT increase has been the a...; Stewart Hosie | 513 c238-9 (Link to this contribution) I certainly agree that long-term, sustained and sustainable above-trend growth is the real answer, b...; Kelvin Hopkins | 513 c238 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman mentioned deficit reduction. Does he recall that in the post-war era successive G...; Stewart Hosie | 513 c238 (Link to this contribution) I think that was certainly a consequence of the actions that were taken, but the reason I say that t...; Lord Beamish | 513 c238 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman mentions the Canadian model, but does he agree that what we are seeing today is v...; Lord Redwood | 513 c237 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman and I made common cause against the previous Government for not adjusting for the...; Stewart Hosie | 513 c236-7 (Link to this contribution) I intend to finish my remarks by talking about the performance of the Chief Secretary, but I will st...; David Lammy | 513 c262 (Link to this contribution) I commend the hon. Gentleman for his defence of his hon. Friend, who, let us face it, is having a ba...; Lord Beamish | 513 c262 (Link to this contribution) It will not only be private sector tenants who are affected. If a cap is introduced either in London...; David Lammy | 513 c262-3 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. There will be a significant increase in evictions as a result of...; Jacob Rees-Mogg | 513 c263 (Link to this contribution) May I begin by congratulating hon. Members on a series of excellent maiden speeches? My hon. Friend ...; David Lammy | 513 c261 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a good point, which I hope he will have an opportunity to develop later. I want...; Speaker | 513 c261 (Link to this contribution) Has the hon. Member finished his speech?; David Lammy | 513 c261 (Link to this contribution) No. I am giving way.; Martin Horwood | 513 c262 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that if my hon. Friend the Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Lynne Featherstone), who is ...; Jacob Rees-Mogg | 513 c263 (Link to this contribution) It will be an honour to give way.; Helen Goodman | 513 c263 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?; Helen Goodman | 513 c263-4 (Link to this contribution) I am trying, but I am having great difficulty following the hon. Gentleman's train of thought. On th...; Jacob Rees-Mogg | 513 c264 (Link to this contribution) Of course I will give way.; Chris Leslie | 513 c264 (Link to this contribution) But surely the hon. Gentleman, as a sensible and grounded individual, will recognise that there is a...; Jacob Rees-Mogg | 513 c264 (Link to this contribution) I do not believe that I had mentioned Greece in the few words that I had spoken. I would say, howeve...; Jacob Rees-Mogg | 513 c264 (Link to this contribution) It would be a privilege.; Jacob Rees-Mogg | 513 c264 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry to say that the hon. Lady left my train of thought at the wrong station. The point I was ...; Chris Leslie | 513 c264 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?; Kate Green | 513 c264 (Link to this contribution) I am following the hon. Gentleman's argument, I think, thanks to the probing questions of my hon. Fr...; Stewart Hosie | 513 c242 (Link to this contribution) Given that the Bill's Committee stage is three days on the Floor of the House, it is impossible to a...; Michael Meacher | 513 c252-3 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend helpfully assists my argument. I want to be fair and point out the Government's prop...; Michael Meacher | 513 c250-1 (Link to this contribution) I pay tribute to the three maiden speakers whom we have just listened to: the hon. Members for Ipswi...; Richard Graham | 513 c251 (Link to this contribution) Given the strength of the right hon. Gentleman's views on the neo-Keynesian economics that effective...; Michael Meacher | 513 c251-2 (Link to this contribution) The opposite conclusion should be drawn from the Irish economy. The Irish Government made huge, swin...; Helen Goodman | 513 c252 (Link to this contribution) I support my right hon. Friend's interpretation of what has been going on in Ireland. The constructi...; Michael Meacher | 513 c254 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. The hon. Gentleman is wrong on the figure; the last figure available for when Labour were st...; Charlie Elphicke | 513 c254 (Link to this contribution) I am interested to hear the right hon. Gentleman raise the issue of child poverty. Can he explain wh...; Justine Greening | 513 c253 (Link to this contribution) Can the right hon. Gentleman explain why his Government failed to narrow the gap between rich and po...; Michael Meacher | 513 c253 (Link to this contribution) I have never believed what some Laffer economists say, which is that increasing taxes on the rich re...; Michael Meacher | 513 c254-5 (Link to this contribution) No, time is going on and I want to conclude. The fact that those people make no sacrifice while eve...; Michael Meacher | 513 c254 (Link to this contribution) I think I must move on—and we must move on—from debating poverty between the parties. Since I have t...; Andrew Bridgen | 513 c254 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?; Kate Green | 513 c254 (Link to this contribution) I have no idea what statistics the hon. Member for Dover (Charlie Elphicke) is looking at. Over the ...; David Lammy | 513 c257 (Link to this contribution) Let me begin by congratulating the new hon. Member for Weaver Vale (Graham Evans) and expressing som...; David Lammy | 513 c257-8 (Link to this contribution) Unemployment at that time in my constituency was running at 20%, and in some communities, particular...; Richard Graham | 513 c257 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that, in that context, it is particularly regrettable that the G...; David Lammy | 513 c258 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman paints a fantasy picture of history, and takes the banks out of context. I will r...; Richard Graham | 513 c258 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is very generous in giving way. Given his experience in the early 1990s, is...; Lord Wilson of Sedgefield | 513 c258 (Link to this contribution) I agree with 100% of what my right hon. Friend is saying. Back in the 1990s, 11% of young people wer...; David Lammy | 513 c258 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. That is why Members on the Government Benches should be reminded...; Andrew Bridgen | 513 c258 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is speaking passionately about his opposition to unemployment. Surely he mu...; David Lammy | 513 c259 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. In the midst of a growth in unemployment, which has been predict...; Lord Beamish | 513 c259 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that the VAT increases that are in the Budget will make it worse for...; David Lammy | 513 c260-1 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman knows that this is robbing Peter to pay Paul—I am sure that his mother said that ...; Martin Horwood | 513 c260 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman think that taking nearly 1 million people out of income tax altogether...; David Lammy | 513 c259-60 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way at this moment. Politically one has to applaud, in some senses, the Government ...; Gavin Shuker | 513 c261 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that beyond metropolitan areas such as London the Government's decis...; Speaker | 513 c261 (Link to this contribution) Order. That was wide of the mark. May I ask hon. Members from time to time at least to mention thing...; Tom Blenkinsop | 513 c274 (Link to this contribution) In my constituency, I recently met representatives of the North East Federation of Small Business, w...; Lord Beamish | 513 c274 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate the hon. Member who raised the matter earlier. Someone obviously had to scurry away a...; Lord Beamish | 513 c273 (Link to this contribution) Yes, they will, and there is something else that they will do. Interestingly, the hon. Member for Ip...; Angela Eagle | 513 c274 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making a perfectly good point and an extremely good speech. I should like to updat...; Lord Beamish | 513 c273-4 (Link to this contribution) The increase is going to affect every single organisation that provides public services, including l...; Lord Beamish | 513 c272 (Link to this contribution) Yes, we did, and that was the responsible thing to do. My right hon. Friend the shadow Chancellor se...; Anne McGuire | 513 c272 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that, given the scenario he has painted and the fact that the previous Gov...; Lord Beamish | 513 c273 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is right as usual: the Government's plan has nothing to do with that, but is be...; Lord Wilson of Sedgefield | 513 c273 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for giving way again, and he is absolutely right. The Government have an obje...; Lord Wilson of Sedgefield | 513 c272 (Link to this contribution) On the 3G licences, is my hon. Friend also aware that we paid back more debt then than all the Gover...; Lord Beamish | 513 c272 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman misunderstands. No one is suggesting that we do not need to reduce the debt: the ...; Sajid Javid | 513 c271 (Link to this contribution) While what the hon. Gentleman says about the duration of the Government's debt is correct, what is o...; Lord Beamish | 513 c271 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that point. A Bank of International Settlements report t...; Helen Goodman | 513 c270 (Link to this contribution) I am sure my hon. Friend is aware that a large proportion of British Government debt is bought by do...; Lord Beamish | 513 c270 (Link to this contribution) How many sales were there? We were rightly trying to raise money, but to give the impression that UK...; Lord Beamish | 513 c270 (Link to this contribution) The financial markets obviously and clearly got it wrong, so I am not sure what point the hon. Gentl...; Jacob Rees-Mogg | 513 c270 (Link to this contribution) The financial markets in February had the intelligence to work out that there was an election in May...; Clive Efford | 513 c269 (Link to this contribution) I am interested in my hon. Friend's argument, particularly his comparison of the consultation that i...; Lord Beamish | 513 c268-9 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure that it is, because the Chief Secretary knows what he has signed up to. With his great...; Anne McGuire | 513 c269 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that some of the leaks that apparently came out of the Government in the p...; Lord Beamish | 513 c269-70 (Link to this contribution) As a former trade union negotiator, I can tell my right hon. Friend that that is an old trick. Peopl...; Lord Beamish | 513 c270 (Link to this contribution) To somehow attribute that decline to— [Interruption.] From a sedentary position, the hon. Member for...; Lord Beamish | 513 c268 (Link to this contribution) It will, and I shall refer to that later. It will affect many people in my constituency, including s...; Helen Goodman | 513 c268 (Link to this contribution) It is cruel.; Andrew Love | 513 c268 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that all the damage that we know will be done will come in this Finance Bi...; Lord Beamish | 513 c267-8 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate the hon. Member for North East Somerset (Jacob Rees-Mogg) on his contribution. I am r...; Jacob Rees-Mogg | 513 c267 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman ought to bear in mind that we will achieve growth if we leave some money for busi...; Tom Blenkinsop | 513 c267 (Link to this contribution) I know that the hon. Gentleman keeps quoting the figure of 36.4% of GDP, but is that not dependent u...; Lord Beamish | 513 c268 (Link to this contribution) He did. We are now to have all stages on the Floor of the House, which I greatly welcome. I look for...; Barry Gardiner | 513 c268 (Link to this contribution) He used to take notes.; Lord Beamish | 513 c268 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend says it is a shame that that is no longer the case. I know that when he was a Back Be...; Jacob Rees-Mogg | 513 c267 (Link to this contribution) There were political reasons, I think it might be said, for supporting those spending plans. I was n...; Jacob Rees-Mogg | 513 c266 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has promoted me, but I will give way for the flattery.; Adrian Bailey | 513 c266 (Link to this contribution) I am sure it is only a matter of time. Does the hon. Gentleman acknowledge that the diminution in u...; Jacob Rees-Mogg | 513 c266 (Link to this contribution) I think that Neville Chamberlain managed to balance the budget, so we had a Chancellor who was a Con...; Jacob Rees-Mogg | 513 c266 (Link to this contribution) I do not believe that the hon. Gentleman is accurate about the recovery in the 1930s. There is a com...; Gregg McClymont | 513 c266 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for that answer. However, my understanding is that we had mass unemployme...; Jacob Rees-Mogg | 513 c266 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right about the problem of unemployment in the 1930s, although the ...; Adrian Bailey | 513 c266 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?; Jacob Rees-Mogg | 513 c266 (Link to this contribution) I know that I am accused of being old-fashioned, but I do not want to conduct the whole debate in th...; Grahame Morris | 513 c267 (Link to this contribution) If that is the case, why did the Conservatives support the Labour Government's spending plans until ...; Owen Smith | 513 c265 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?; Jacob Rees-Mogg | 513 c265 (Link to this contribution) Of course—with pleasure.; Lord Beamish | 513 c265 (Link to this contribution) Is it not the case that the average maturity of UK debt is some 14 years, as opposed to two years in...; Jacob Rees-Mogg | 513 c265 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. That is why, as I was saying, it is right to address the pro...; Jacob Rees-Mogg | 513 c265 (Link to this contribution) However, I do not believe that it would have been impossible, purely because of our strong history, ...; Jacob Rees-Mogg | 513 c264 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady ought to allow me to get over-dramatic before accusing me of being so. Her point is to...; Gregg McClymont | 513 c265 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman asked whether it was possible to name any recession in which there has been such ...; Owen Smith | 513 c265 (Link to this contribution) Given the manifest command of economic history that the hon. Gentleman is showing, will he answer a ...; Jacob Rees-Mogg | 513 c265 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman asks the wrong question, for a very straightforward reason. I would happily ask a...; Barry Gardiner | 513 c277-8 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has been most generous in giving way. Before he moves on from VAT, has he had the opp...; Nadhim Zahawi | 513 c278 (Link to this contribution) On that point, I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman protested as much when the previous Government ra...; Lord Beamish | 513 c278 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a good point. There will be a cost not only to large businesses but to small bu...; Nadhim Zahawi | 513 c278 (Link to this contribution) For a long time.; Lord Beamish | 513 c278 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has to realise that these are his Government's proposals. I have the luxury of be...; Helen Goodman | 513 c278 (Link to this contribution) Has my hon. Friend noticed with respect to charities that the Government have now proposed to let we...; Lord Beamish | 513 c278 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman says, "For a long time" but the way the Government are going with this Budget, I ...; Lord Beamish | 513 c279 (Link to this contribution) Exactly, and if these bodies are then to be burdened by this VAT increase, that will severely affect...; Chris Leslie | 513 c279 (Link to this contribution) It is a stealth tax.; Lord Beamish | 513 c279 (Link to this contribution) From a sedentary position, my hon. Friend rightly says that this is a stealth tax, and again, it wil...; Lord Beamish | 513 c280 (Link to this contribution) What this proposal will lead to—this is my fear—is an increase in the number of uninsured drivers in...; Speaker | 513 c279 (Link to this contribution) Order. I apologise for interrupting the hon. Gentleman, but a very large number of private conversat...; Lord Beamish | 513 c279 (Link to this contribution) Well, it is. In a constituency such as mine, driving is an essential tool for young people in gettin...; Helen Goodman | 513 c279 (Link to this contribution) On that point, does my hon. Friend agree that this will inhibit young people from learning to drive?...; Lord Beamish | 513 c280-1 (Link to this contribution) Yes. For many of my constituents a holiday is one of their largest annual expenditures. So if an ext...; Chris Leslie | 513 c280 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. Often the taxpayer is lumbered with having to rescue people abroad who have...; Andrew George | 513 c282-3 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for North Durham (Mr Jones). If I pick my way through the...; Lord Beamish | 513 c275 (Link to this contribution) That will be a double whammy for those new families. Something like 30,000 children in the north-eas...; Anne McGuire | 513 c274 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend said that we needed to look at the whole package. Will he reflect on the fact, linked...; Lord Beamish | 513 c275 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a very good point. Unlike the hon. Member for North East Somerset, who might be...; Kate Green | 513 c275 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the reason why the poor are hit so particularly hard is that for them...; Lord Beamish | 513 c274 (Link to this contribution) I will come to that in a moment. Let me be honest—I have never considered shopping a leisure activit...; Angus Brendan MacNeil | 513 c275 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for letting me into the debate. The reason I often hear from the...; Lord Beamish | 513 c275 (Link to this contribution) What I am going to say to the hon. Gentleman in response might come as a bigger shock to him than wh...; Angus Brendan MacNeil | 513 c276 (Link to this contribution) What?; Lord Beamish | 513 c276-7 (Link to this contribution) That is a very good point. The Budget offers no help whatsoever for the small businesses to which my...; Chris Leslie | 513 c276 (Link to this contribution) Are not small businesses doubly affected because of the cash-flow problems that they may experience?...; Lord Beamish | 513 c276 (Link to this contribution) Yes, another myth that people have been peddling is that development agencies like One NorthEast wer...; Barry Gardiner | 513 c276 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making a tremendous speech and I hope he goes on making it for a good deal longer....; Lord Beamish | 513 c276 (Link to this contribution) Yes, we have been asked directly whether this came suddenly as a shock. The hon. Member for Na h-Eil...; Andrew Love | 513 c276 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the biggest shock of all was the statements made by the Chancellor im...; Grahame Morris | 513 c277 (Link to this contribution) The VAT increase will have an impact not only on small businesses and enterprises, but on working me...; Lord Beamish | 513 c277 (Link to this contribution) As a member of the Sacriston workmen's club, I have to concur with my hon. Friend. As he knows, foll...; Lilian Greenwood | 513 c277 (Link to this contribution) Will not many of the poorest families be doubly hard hit? Not only will they face rising prices as a...; Lord Beamish | 513 c277 (Link to this contribution) There will indeed be a double effect on those families. It is all very well saying that people can s...; Danny Alexander | 513 c204 (Link to this contribution) I think it was irresponsible to make commitments to those sorts of projects, which could not be fund...; Danny Alexander | 513 c204 (Link to this contribution) I will press on, if I may. As my right hon. Friend the Chancellor said, this is a progressive Budge...; Jonathan Edwards | 513 c204 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister give way?; Danny Alexander | 513 c203 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the hon. Gentleman is right to exhort people to take out travel insurance. As he will...; Danny Alexander | 513 c203 (Link to this contribution) I hope that the hon. Gentleman will admit that fact.; Derek Twigg | 513 c203-4 (Link to this contribution) As regards fairness, is it fair to my constituents and to the construction industry that the Chief S...; Chris Leslie | 513 c203 (Link to this contribution) Is it fair to increase the higher rate of insurance premium tax to 20% on travel insurance, which is...; Danny Alexander | 513 c203 (Link to this contribution) I give way on insurance premium tax.; Ian Lucas | 513 c205 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman tell me how many standard rate taxpayers paid capital gains tax in the...; Jonathan Edwards | 513 c204-5 (Link to this contribution) On geographical fairness, does the right hon. Gentleman agree with the recommendations of the final ...; Danny Alexander | 513 c205 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that intervention. I have not yet had a chance to read the second Holtham report, ...; Speaker | 513 c204 (Link to this contribution) That is not a point of order. If the hon. Gentleman wants to intervene, it is up to the Minister to ...; Danny Alexander | 513 c204 (Link to this contribution) I have given way a great deal, and I now give way to the hon. Member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr...; Danny Alexander | 513 c204 (Link to this contribution) I am going to finish this section, and then I will give way to both hon. Gentlemen. These changes—; Derek Twigg | 513 c204 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. The Chief Secretary hinted a few moments ago that the money ...; Derek Twigg | 513 c204 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?; Danny Alexander | 513 c204 (Link to this contribution) I am going to make some progress, but I will give way to the hon. Gentleman in a moment. The Budget...; Danny Alexander | 513 c205-6 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure that that analysis was carried out under the previous Government. We are the first Gov...; Stewart Hosie | 513 c206 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the age increase to 77 to allow flexibility, but a constituency query regarding that matte...; Danny Alexander | 513 c206 (Link to this contribution) If the matter that the hon. Gentleman mentions is a constituency case, I suggest that he write to my...; Andrew Love | 513 c206 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?; Danny Alexander | 513 c206 (Link to this contribution) I will, on grounds of fairness.; Andrew Love | 513 c206 (Link to this contribution) I thank the right hon. Gentleman. With regard to the triple lock, does he accept that under the rule...; Ian Lucas | 513 c205 (Link to this contribution) How many?; Danny Alexander | 513 c205 (Link to this contribution) Approximately half the people who paid capital gains tax in the past year were basic rate taxpayers—...; Yvette Cooper | 513 c205 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Chief Secretary for his generosity in giving way. I will give him one more chance to ans...; Danny Alexander | 513 c205 (Link to this contribution) I do not have the figure to hand, but I will happily let the hon. Gentleman know at a future date or...; Kate Green | 513 c207 (Link to this contribution) How will the welcome measures to reduce tax avoidance be squared with job cuts in HM Revenue and Cus...; Danny Alexander | 513 c207 (Link to this contribution) On the plans for HM Revenue and Customs, I am confident that the anti-avoidance measures are deliver...; Iain Wright | 513 c207 (Link to this contribution) Will the Chief Secretary give way?; Danny Alexander | 513 c207 (Link to this contribution) No, I am going to make some progress. I have given way a great deal and an awful lot of questions ha...; Kelvin Hopkins | 513 c207 (Link to this contribution) Will the Chief Secretary give way?; Danny Alexander | 513 c206 (Link to this contribution) No, I do not accept that. In fact, the increase next year will be protected. According to the foreca...; Danny Alexander | 513 c206 (Link to this contribution) I have looked at the figures, and I stand by my previous answer.; Andrew Love | 513 c206 (Link to this contribution) May I urge the right hon. Gentleman to look at the figures? I understand that under RPI, in both yea...; Danny Alexander | 513 c206 (Link to this contribution) Once more, then I will press on.; Andrew Love | 513 c206 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?; Danny Alexander | 513 c208 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way. Clause 7 amends the tax rules for the expenses incurred by Members of Parliame...; Danny Alexander | 513 c208-9 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way on that. The hon. Gentleman can make his points in the debate. The emergency Bu...; Danny Alexander | 513 c207-8 (Link to this contribution) It is good to see the right hon. Gentleman in his place; I welcome him back to the House after the e...; Stephen Timms | 513 c208 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Chief Secretary for his kind remarks. I think the precedent was set in 1984, when the n...; Danny Alexander | 513 c208 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the further intervention and it is interesting to hear the right hon. Gentleman ci...; Stephen Timms | 513 c207 (Link to this contribution) Why does the Bill legislate for only one of those changes, not all four?; Liam Byrne | 513 c210-1 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to withdraw comments published in the Daily Mail. The point that I was about to make was...; Liam Byrne | 513 c210 (Link to this contribution) Well, that rather proves my point—[Interruption.]; Lord Redwood | 513 c210 (Link to this contribution) The Daily Mail withdrew the article from its website because it was untrue.; Liam Byrne | 513 c210 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman has today put out a number of very constructive suggestions—for example, ur...; Speaker | 513 c210 (Link to this contribution) Order. Obviously the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Mr Byrne) used the Daily Mail. I ...; Liam Byrne | 513 c209-10 (Link to this contribution) May I begin by putting on record the Opposition's thanks to Sir Alan Budd for his excellent work in ...; Speaker | 513 c209 (Link to this contribution) Order. I should inform the House that Mr Speaker has not selected the amendment.; Liam Byrne | 513 c212-3 (Link to this contribution) I note that the hon. Gentleman was so eager to participate in this debate that he missed the beginni...; Charlie Elphicke | 513 c212 (Link to this contribution) I enjoy the right hon. Gentleman's thirst for talking down the economy, but how many independent eco...; Lord Beamish | 513 c211 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that one of the important sectors in the economy is the service sect...; Liam Byrne | 513 c211 (Link to this contribution) That news was somehow absent from the Chief Secretary's remarks. He and the Chancellor may now think...; Barry Gardiner | 513 c211 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend confirm that the real point is that if we should slip back into a double-d...; Liam Byrne | 513 c211 (Link to this contribution) That is precisely right and I will have more to say on that in a moment. I promised a ray of good n...; Derek Twigg | 513 c211 (Link to this contribution) In Halton, £168 million of the Building Schools for the Future project was cut yesterday. The Mersey...; Liam Byrne | 513 c211-2 (Link to this contribution) One of the great flaws in the Budget is that the Government are relying on a bounce-back in private ...; Liam Byrne | 513 c212 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. One reason the British supply chain is now so worried about the Government'...; Liam Byrne | 513 c214 (Link to this contribution) No, I am going to make another important point, on which the hon. Gentleman might want to comment. T...; Liam Byrne | 513 c213 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Like so many words that we heard during the election from those ...; Lord Brennan of Canton | 513 c213 (Link to this contribution) Was my right hon. Friend surprised when he saw the Deputy Prime Minister in Germany—he is obviously ...; Liam Byrne | 513 c213 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely. Jim O'Neill is a very respected economist, he is chief economist at Goldman Sachs, and h...; Lord Wilson of Sedgefield | 513 c213 (Link to this contribution) We have to accept that the Prime Minister has kept one promise. He said that the cuts would affect t...; Stewart Hosie | 513 c214 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?; Liam Byrne | 513 c213 (Link to this contribution) Precisely. We need the German Government to contribute to growth right across the European area. One...; Stewart Hosie | 513 c214 (Link to this contribution) Although the right hon. Gentleman's excoriating attack on the coalition Government is pretty accurat...; Simon Hughes | 513 c216 (Link to this contribution) I respect the right hon. Gentleman for his constituency commitment to dealing with the poor. Over th...; Liam Byrne | 513 c215-6 (Link to this contribution) I was empathising with the hon. Gentleman until his final sentence. As he will know, over the past 1...; Simon Hughes | 513 c215 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman accept that his attacks might just begin to be credible if Labour's re...; Liam Byrne | 513 c215 (Link to this contribution) Of course—I shall talk about that at length in a moment.; Stephen Hammond | 513 c215 (Link to this contribution) We know from the note that the right hon. Gentleman left for the Chief Secretary that it clearly wou...; Liam Byrne | 513 c215 (Link to this contribution) I look forward to hearing the hon. Gentleman's contribution to the debate a little later. It was not...; Angus Brendan MacNeil | 513 c215 (Link to this contribution) For the past five years, the poorest in my constituency were paying the highest level of tax per lit...; Liam Byrne | 513 c214-5 (Link to this contribution) It would be, but it appears to be absent from the Bill. The economic gamble that the Chancellor has...; Stephen Hammond | 513 c214 (Link to this contribution) The business community are not gamblers. In this Budget, they will see encouragement for the bedrock...; Simon Hughes | 513 c217 (Link to this contribution) Sir John Major.; Liam Byrne | 513 c217 (Link to this contribution) I will cling on to my image of the hon. Gentleman's integrity and await his contribution a little la...; Liam Byrne | 513 c217 (Link to this contribution) Quite right. Sir John Major told us:""If it isn't hurting, it isn't working"." This Bill, and this ...; Simon Hughes | 513 c216 (Link to this contribution) : We all believe in redemption.; Simon Hughes | 513 c216-7 (Link to this contribution) May I say to the right hon. Gentleman and the hon. Member for Chesterfield (Toby Perkins) that the f...; Speaker | 513 c216 (Link to this contribution) Order. I hope that we can stick to the Bill. We are getting carried off in many directions, and I am...; Liam Byrne | 513 c216 (Link to this contribution) I look forward to the hon. Gentleman telling us later how the increase in VAT is going to support th...; Liam Byrne | 513 c216 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Some Front-Bench Labour Members believe in redemption, and we ha...; Toby Perkins | 513 c216 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Liberal Democrats' comments would have more credibility if ...; Liam Byrne | 513 c218 (Link to this contribution) In a moment. He will know, too, that in only one year since 1966—which is when the Library started t...; Liam Byrne | 513 c218-9 (Link to this contribution) It is not a great triumph for unemployment to fall as an economy returns to growth. The point that I...; Anne McGuire | 513 c219 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend share the astonishment of the 87% of the electorate in the Chief Secretary...; Liam Byrne | 513 c219 (Link to this contribution) I will in a moment. If Members go to the Deputy Prime Minister's website—for those who do not have ...; Liam Byrne | 513 c218 (Link to this contribution) In a moment. In only one year, 2005, did business investment grow by 1.7%.; Danny Alexander | 513 c218 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman accept that it is the independent Office for Budget Responsibility—whi...; Liam Byrne | 513 c218 (Link to this contribution) I ask the Chief Secretary to be patient for a moment. The last year in which exports grew as a perce...; Charlie Elphicke | 513 c217 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps I am just confused, but I am looking at the OBR table C.2 and it seems that ILO unemployment...; Liam Byrne | 513 c218 (Link to this contribution) The Chief Secretary is a politician who is paid to go to work to make his own judgments in his and t...; Danny Alexander | 513 c218 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman began, quite rightly, by paying tribute to the Office for Budget Responsibi...; Liam Byrne | 513 c218 (Link to this contribution) I refer to the question of fairness, about which the Chief Secretary will perhaps say a word.; Liam Byrne | 513 c217 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Very few people in the country believe the Budget's forecasts fo...; Lord Beamish | 513 c217 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development not only m...; Liam Byrne | 513 c217 (Link to this contribution) In preparation for this debate, the hon. Gentleman will have compared those employment forecasts wit...; Kate Green | 513 c223 (Link to this contribution) It is clear that this is the story that we are going to hear again and again: we are going to be tol...; Baroness Burt of Solihull | 513 c223 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady misunderstands me. I understand that people have to buy all those capital items, and I...; Lord Cryer | 513 c223 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady says that the VAT increase is the least worst option. Could she list the worst options...; Baroness Burt of Solihull | 513 c223-4 (Link to this contribution) Well, we could have some further job cuts; that would not help. We could just not stimulate business...; Iain Wright | 513 c224 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady think that the coalition Government's policy on personal allowances for the over-...; Baroness Burt of Solihull | 513 c223 (Link to this contribution) I have given way previously, so I ask hon. Members to allow me to make a little progress. A lot of p...; Baroness Burt of Solihull | 513 c223 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Lady answers her own question, although I was just coming on to this subject. When I ...; Baroness Burt of Solihull | 513 c223 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. The other point that I want to make is that the purchases that represe...; Speaker | 513 c223 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Lady is not giving way.; Angus Brendan MacNeil | 513 c224 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Lady give way?; Baroness Burt of Solihull | 513 c224 (Link to this contribution) I am not going to indulge the hon. Gentleman again, I am afraid. We also welcome the postponement t...; Angus Brendan MacNeil | 513 c224 (Link to this contribution) I have listened to the hon. Lady's arguments for accepting the VAT increase, but over the financial ...; Baroness Burt of Solihull | 513 c224 (Link to this contribution) Yes, the hon. Gentleman is right in saying that, but at the same time we have since discovered that ...; Baroness Burt of Solihull | 513 c224 (Link to this contribution) As I understand it, they are unaffected. I wish to say a word about pensions: is it not strange that...; Baroness Burt of Solihull | 513 c224 (Link to this contribution) I have given way to the right hon. Lady already, so I shall give way to the hon. Gentleman.; Baroness Burt of Solihull | 513 c224 (Link to this contribution) I am going to make a bit of progress. Before Labour Members leap to their feet to criticise, they sh...; Baroness Burt of Solihull | 513 c221 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. I am dealing with entrepreneurs relief at...; Lord Beamish | 513 c221 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Lady answer the question put by my right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hodge ...; Baroness Burt of Solihull | 513 c221 (Link to this contribution) I am glad that the hon. Gentleman raised that point, and that I gave way to him. This is a commitmen...; Baroness Burt of Solihull | 513 c220 (Link to this contribution) There wasn't any detail.; Liam Byrne | 513 c220 (Link to this contribution) I hear what the hon. Lady says, but she has of course read chapter 6 of the Budget of March 2010 and...; Baroness Burt of Solihull | 513 c220-1 (Link to this contribution) The Bill is short, and I will keep my remarks short in keeping with the Bill's size. This is a coali...; Liam Byrne | 513 c219 (Link to this contribution) Yes, and the electorate will hold the Chief Secretary to account at the next election.; Liam Byrne | 513 c220 (Link to this contribution) Let me come to that point in a moment because—[Interruption.] I will answer the right hon. Gentleman...; Lord Redwood | 513 c219 (Link to this contribution) Can the right hon. Gentleman explain why putting VAT up by 2.5% before the recession was scarcely ov...; Baroness Burt of Solihull | 513 c222-3 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the hon. Gentleman would allow me to make a little progress first. [Interruption.] I am not ...; Speaker | 513 c222 (Link to this contribution) If I had seen anything out of order, I would have called hon. Members to order myself.; Baroness Burt of Solihull | 513 c222 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. The hon. Member for North Durham (Mr Jones) has intervened on me twice...; Simon Hughes | 513 c222 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. I just wish to say to the hon. Member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr (Jona...; Lord Beamish | 513 c222 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. Is it in order that the Liberal Democrats should now have tw...; Baroness Burt of Solihull | 513 c222 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman asked me about the regionalisation of corporation tax, but these are UK taxes so ...; Jonathan Edwards | 513 c222 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady agree that the regionalisation of corporation tax would be a more helpful way to ...; Baroness Burt of Solihull | 513 c221 (Link to this contribution) The four-year commitment is in the Budget itself. As the Chief Secretary said, the normal way of doi...; Lord Beamish | 513 c221 (Link to this contribution) One year.; Baroness Brown of Silvertown | 513 c230 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that it is not cost-effective to split up families and treat them in that ...; David Wright | 513 c228 (Link to this contribution) The problem with the Bill is that it is coupled with the total destruction of regional economic poli...; Helen Jones | 513 c228-9 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. The Bill goes with the destruction of the regional development agencies, wh...; Simon Hughes | 513 c229 (Link to this contribution) As one of the three MPs representing the borough of Del Boy, may I say to the hon. Lady that we on t...; Helen Jones | 513 c229 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to hon. Gentleman for intervening, because I want to say to him that his party is in g...; Lord Beamish | 513 c229 (Link to this contribution) Is my hon. Friend also aware of the fact—unannounced, I think, because it did not get many headlines...; Helen Jones | 513 c229 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, and if my hon. Friend will permit me I shall come on to that issue in a moment. Before I mo...; Helen Goodman | 513 c229 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right to point out the devastating impact on families. Has she looked a...; Helen Jones | 513 c229-30 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right, because some of the nastiest, meanest cuts in the Budget are to housing ben...; Helen Jones | 513 c228 (Link to this contribution) Indeed—that is correct. What is more worrying is that linked with that is the Government's failure t...; Lord Beamish | 513 c231 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend provides the example of London, but on Friday I met the chief executive of a local ho...; Helen Jones | 513 c231 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. It will also cause huge damage to social housing providers, who will face m...; Andrew Bridgen | 513 c230 (Link to this contribution) I hate to bring the hon. Lady back to reality, but the previous Government halved the amount of manu...; Helen Jones | 513 c230-1 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman ought to be wary of making jokes about mental health. I entered this House from a...; Lord Redwood | 513 c232 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is making my case for me; I am saying that the 1.3 million forecast figure was an...; Owen Smith | 513 c232 (Link to this contribution) Given the right hon. Gentleman's admission that the OBR's forecast on job losses may be wrong—[Inter...; Lord Redwood | 513 c231-2 (Link to this contribution) I remind the House that in the Register of Members' Financial Interests I have declared that I offer...; Kelvin Hopkins | 513 c232 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman has paid a glowing tribute to the Treasury. Was it not the Treasury that ad...; Helen Jones | 513 c230 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. If families have to be split up, put into emergency accommodation or are tr...; Helen Jones | 513 c226 (Link to this contribution) I could not have put the point better than my hon. Friend has.; Clive Efford | 513 c226 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has moved on from investment in the construction industry, but I wanted to point out ...; Simon Hughes | 513 c226 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Lady give way?; Anne McGuire | 513 c225 (Link to this contribution) Given what my hon. Friend has said, and what my hon. Friend the Member for North Durham (Mr Jones) s...; Helen Jones | 513 c225-6 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. That serves to show us the ignorance on the Government Ben...; Lord Beamish | 513 c226 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the problem with the cuts announced yesterday in Building Schools for...; Helen Jones | 513 c226 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. The Treasury's own forecast shows a huge loss of private as well as public ...; Helen Jones | 513 c225 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to be able to speak in this House again after several years of being allowed to say...; Lord Beamish | 513 c225 (Link to this contribution) Has my hon. Friend seen the excellent Library note on VAT? Does she agree that the lowest 10% of hou...; Helen Jones | 513 c225 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. It is often forgotten in the discussion on VAT that much of the spending of...; Lord Beamish | 513 c228 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that those same banks are continuing to build up their balance sheets by n...; Helen Jones | 513 c227-8 (Link to this contribution) I want to finish my point first. We are talking about an attempt by the Government to switch lane by...; Helen Jones | 513 c227 (Link to this contribution) I am extremely confused and rather surprised that, although the Chancellor said that he would make s...; Lord Redwood | 513 c227 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Lady give way on that point?; Helen Jones | 513 c227 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman is so confident about that, perhaps he will get his right hon. Friend the Chan...; Clive Efford | 513 c227 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend find it as curious as I do that the figures leaked from the Treasury are produce...; Helen Jones | 513 c227 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and I shall talk about the effect after giving way to the hon. G...; Simon Hughes | 513 c227 (Link to this contribution) I did not want to lose the hon. Lady's point about jobs. She is being neither entirely fair nor enti...; Helen Jones | 513 c226-7 (Link to this contribution) In a moment—I will make a little progress first. Something interesting is happening on the Governme...; Lord Wilson of Sedgefield | 513 c227 (Link to this contribution) In the March Budget, the then Chancellor offered reform of housing benefit that would have saved abo...; Gavin Shuker | 513 c313 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for his characteristically timely intervention, rightly making the case that ...; Lord Beamish | 513 c313 (Link to this contribution) One of the economic drivers in Luton is the success story of Luton airport. Does my hon. Friend agre...; Barry Gardiner | 513 c313-4 (Link to this contribution) Albus Dumbledore in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" said:""You see, Harry, it is not our a...; Gavin Shuker | 513 c313 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Speaker. In conclusion—; Lord Beamish | 513 c313 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend give way?; Gavin Shuker | 513 c313 (Link to this contribution) Of course.; Baroness Coffey | 513 c312 (Link to this contribution) Speaking as a fellow Member from the east of England representing Suffolk Coastal, I am finding it d...; Gavin Shuker | 513 c312 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention. I do not want to do a geography lesson here, but the poi...; Gavin Shuker | 513 c311-2 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. I represent the east of England in my constituency of...; Jim Fitzpatrick | 513 c311 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes the good point that those on the Government Benches are offering an alternative...; Gavin Shuker | 513 c310-1 (Link to this contribution) Thank you for calling me, Mr Speaker. I am constantly amazed by this Chamber. I had had ambitions to...; Helen Goodman | 513 c310 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The major cuts in benefits—in housing benefits, tax credits and ...; Helen Goodman | 513 c309-10 (Link to this contribution) The Minister shakes his head. They clearly do not know the answer. The Conservative-Liberal coaliti...; Angela Eagle | 513 c310 (Link to this contribution) Has my hon. Friend also noticed that, mysteriously, the tables in the Red Book to which she has refe...; Helen Goodman | 513 c308-9 (Link to this contribution) In order to achieve that difference in the debt to GDP ratio four years hence, we will see cuts of 2...; David Gauke | 513 c309 (Link to this contribution) indicated dissent.; Speaker | 513 c308 (Link to this contribution) Order. May I gently say to the hon. Gentleman that I do not have a party? Some people have known tha...; Liam Byrne | 513 c287 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way—the House has been following his remarks with som...; Andrew George | 513 c287 (Link to this contribution) I am going to draw my remarks to a close, so I will take no further interventions. My proposal was p...; Angus Brendan MacNeil | 513 c287 (Link to this contribution) While awaiting the big answer to why the hon. Gentleman is supporting the VAT increase, I ask him wh...; Andrew George | 513 c287 (Link to this contribution) How can I possibly resist?; Andrew George | 513 c287 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. I remain agnostic about the process whereby the goal is achie...; Andrew Love | 513 c287 (Link to this contribution) You haven't said anything yet.; Andrew George | 513 c287 (Link to this contribution) I want to draw my remarks to a close.; Andrew George | 513 c287 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has obviously not been listening. He is incapable of listening to anything. We r...; Andrew George | 513 c287-8 (Link to this contribution) If the right hon. Gentleman does not mind, I will move on. That is part of the debate that he will n...; Madeleine Moon | 513 c290 (Link to this contribution) Is my hon. Friend, like me, going back to his constituency and finding a high level of concern, fear...; Clive Efford | 513 c289-90 (Link to this contribution) Well, I am sorry, but the hon. Lady will hear it again and again, because it happens to be true. Du...; Baroness Burt of Solihull | 513 c289 (Link to this contribution) That's an old phrase!; Toby Perkins | 513 c289 (Link to this contribution) Was my hon. Friend as surprised as I was that during the Budget debate the hon. Member for Bromsgrov...; Clive Efford | 513 c289 (Link to this contribution) What we have heard in several debates is so much hand wringing that I have almost started to feel so...; Lord Beamish | 513 c289 (Link to this contribution) In fact, the hon. Member for Solihull (Lorely Burt) not only did not make excuses for the increase, ...; Stephen Williams | 513 c288 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman appears to be lamenting the fact that capital gains tax was not increased by more...; Clive Efford | 513 c288 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Scunthorpe (Nic Dakin), and the hon. Members for North ...; Clive Efford | 513 c284 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?; Andrew George | 513 c284 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the right hon. Lady for that intervention. She has come to the nub of the dilemma i...; Andrew George | 513 c284 (Link to this contribution) I will just make this point, if I may. There are very significant questions to be asked about this ...; Andrew George | 513 c283 (Link to this contribution) May I make this point about the ideologically driven element of the debate? I strongly endorse an el...; Anne McGuire | 513 c283-4 (Link to this contribution) I fully understand some of the hon. Gentleman's comments about matters of judgment. I also understan...; Andrew George | 513 c283 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to the right hon. Lady, but I want my contribution to be short.; Andrew George | 513 c286 (Link to this contribution) I think that we are all competing in sentence length—perhaps the hour is causing us to use sub-claus...; Speaker | 513 c286 (Link to this contribution) Order. May I just say to the hon. Lady that I could listen to her, almost without interruption, for ...; Glenda Jackson | 513 c286 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way, and I admire his mea culpa—is it St Sebasti...; Andrew George | 513 c284-5 (Link to this contribution) I will take more interventions when I have responded to the right hon. Member for Stirling (Mrs McGu...; Andrew George | 513 c284 (Link to this contribution) I am going to finish making this point about VAT, if the hon. Gentleman does not mind. The best sou...; Andrew George | 513 c285-6 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to the hon. Lady, and we will have to compete on sentence lengths in future. Give...; Kate Green | 513 c285 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way, and I hope that my sentences will be a litt...; Andrew George | 513 c285 (Link to this contribution) Just let me finish my sentence. When I have made this point, I will give way to the hon. Member for ...; Gregg McClymont | 513 c300-1 (Link to this contribution) Keynes famously said that, in the long run, we are all dead. To be fair to the hon. Gentleman, there...; Sammy Wilson | 513 c299-300 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. Does he accept that debt and the ability to borrow are ...; Gregg McClymont | 513 c301 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, they assent. My own view is that the political rhetoric is at odds with the economic reality...; Theresa Villiers | 513 c301 (Link to this contribution) Yes.; Speaker | 513 c301 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am listening to the speech by the hon. Gentleman with the closest interest, and it certainl...; Gregg McClymont | 513 c301-2 (Link to this contribution) Thank you for that guidance, Mr Speaker. As I suggested at the outset, everything in the Finance Bil...; Rushanara Ali | 513 c302-3 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to speak in this debate. I should like first to...; Baroness Coffey | 513 c303 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady not accept that under the last Government the gap between the richest and the poo...; Speaker | 513 c306 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am genuinely trying to be helpful to individual Members and to the House. It is open to the...; Ian Lavery | 513 c306 (Link to this contribution) Thank you very much for that, Mr Speaker —I understand. Whether or not health and safety and other s...; Speaker | 513 c306 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Gentleman is addressing the House with great force and eloquence. A few moments ago,...; Ian Lavery | 513 c305-6 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Speaker, for allowing me to participate in this debate on the Second Reading of the Fi...; Rushanara Ali | 513 c304 (Link to this contribution) I agree completely. My constituency is situated between the City and Canary Wharf, and although I an...; David Morris | 513 c307-8 (Link to this contribution) I have been sat here now for an hour and a half listening to this passionate debate and one thing ha...; Ian Lavery | 513 c307 (Link to this contribution) Once again, Mr Speaker, thank you very much for your indulgence. I conclude not by mentioning VAT or...; Helen Goodman | 513 c307 (Link to this contribution) In considering the Bill, we need to address three basic questions. First, does it raise the right am...; Ian Lavery | 513 c306-7 (Link to this contribution) Thanks for that, Mr Speaker. Every Member who has sat in the Chamber for as long as I have today is ...; Speaker | 513 c307 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am extremely grateful to the hon. Gentleman and I know he is doing his best to heed my advi...; Daniel Byles | 513 c290 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has given us an interesting list of quotes and dates. Will he point to the date o...; Clive Efford | 513 c290 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. That applies not just to individuals but to businesses. Many people are exp...; Clive Efford | 513 c290-1 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is new to the House—and he might well be new to politics—but I am sure that, if h...; David Wright | 513 c291-2 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that, on the basis of the growth figures and cutbacks in public spending t...; Clive Efford | 513 c292 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend. There are plenty of eminent economists saying that this is not the time...; Lord Beamish | 513 c292 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the VAT rise will have an effect on new house starts in the construct...; Clive Efford | 513 c292-3 (Link to this contribution) It will indeed; my hon. Friend is absolutely right. The Guardian website on Sunday 4 July stated:""...; Stephen Williams | 513 c293 (Link to this contribution) I am enjoying the hon. Gentleman's oral press cutting service. I was listening, enraptured, and wait...; Clive Efford | 513 c293 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend—; Liam Byrne | 513 c293 (Link to this contribution) Was my hon. Friend alarmed, as I was, that the Finance Bill says nothing about preserving either zer...; Clive Efford | 513 c295-6 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the hon. Gentleman would like to intervene. I think he was shouting about the 10p tax rate. ...; Andrew George | 513 c295 (Link to this contribution) What about the 10p tax rate?; Clive Efford | 513 c293-5 (Link to this contribution) We have seen so many unexpected changes from the parties opposite, and my right hon. Friend is absol...; Baroness Berger | 513 c297 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman is so concerned about housing, how does he feel about his Government's decisio...; Charlie Elphicke | 513 c297-8 (Link to this contribution) I point out to the hon. Lady that the number of affordable houses built in 1995-96 was 74,530, where...; Speaker | 513 c296 (Link to this contribution) Order. I think that I should say to the House that, although I cannot possibly predict such matters,...; Charlie Elphicke | 513 c296-7 (Link to this contribution) I, too, congratulate the hon. Member for Scunthorpe (Nic Dakin) and my hon. Friends the Members for ...; Gregg McClymont | 513 c299 (Link to this contribution) "Fair" and "unavoidable" are the two adjectives that have been attached to the Budget by the Governm...; Chris Leslie | 513 c298 (Link to this contribution) I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman recalls what the so-called "independent" Office for Budget Respo...; Charlie Elphicke | 513 c298 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will know that the OBR itself said that that was misleading. He will also know th...; Stephen Pound | 513 c318 (Link to this contribution) On that exact point about the Canadian experiment, does my hon. Friend agree that the conditions tha...; Owen Smith | 513 c318 (Link to this contribution) I have plenty to say. [Interruption.]; Speaker | 513 c318 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am trying to help the hon. Member for Pontypridd and other hon. Members. I feel sure that i...; Owen Smith | 513 c318 (Link to this contribution) I welcome your guidance, Mr Speaker. Many Labour Members have tried to say this key thing today, but...; Speaker | 513 c318 (Link to this contribution) Order. I have set the hon. Gentleman a bit of a test, and I want to hear him.; Owen Smith | 513 c319 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. He is entirely correct that my Pontypridd constituency...; Lord Beamish | 513 c318-9 (Link to this contribution) Pontypridd is not dissimilar to North Durham, both being ex-mining communities with rural areas and,...; Owen Smith | 513 c320 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Speaker.; Speaker | 513 c319-20 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am sorry to have to interrupt the hon. Gentleman. I know that the hour is relatively late—n...; Stephen Pound | 513 c320 (Link to this contribution) On the exact point that my hon. Friend was so tellingly making, he will be aware that in clause 4 we...; Chris Williamson | 513 c321-2 (Link to this contribution) There has been a degree of hysteria from Members on the Con-Dem Benches this evening. It might be th...; Owen Smith | 513 c320-1 (Link to this contribution) Again, I wholeheartedly agree. I am not sure what is worse, that measure or the suggestion—the rehas...; Jim Fitzpatrick | 513 c320 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way. He is being most generous to Opposition colleag...; Owen Smith | 513 c320 (Link to this contribution) I cannot but agree wholeheartedly. I am sure that that is an apposite intervention. Throughout the B...; Chris Williamson | 513 c322-3 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. Conservative Members are reverting to type. We saw what they did—I have out...; Lord Walney | 513 c322 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that this is not just about the double whammy facing Rolls-Royce? I agree ...; Chris Williamson | 513 c322 (Link to this contribution) I am very proud to have Rolls-Royce in the constituency adjacent to mine, Derby South. Indeed, many ...; Stephen Pound | 513 c322 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend's constituency is rightly known and admired far and wide for the quality of its Rolls...; Chris Williamson | 513 c323 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Speaker. I merely wanted to make a brief reference to President Obama's letter. I thin...; Speaker | 513 c323 (Link to this contribution) Order. May I gently say to the hon. Gentleman that we cannot have a general discourse on the merits ...; Lord Beamish | 513 c323 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that, in his constituency, the VAT increases in the Finance Bill will have...; Chris Williamson | 513 c324 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend. We have seen a retail-led regeneration of the city centre in Derby, and...; Speaker | 513 c324 (Link to this contribution) Order.; Speaker | 513 c324-5 (Link to this contribution) Order. A rather unseemly exchange is going on between the hon. Member for Nottingham East (Chris Les...; Lilian Greenwood | 513 c323 (Link to this contribution) Has the growth of the retail sector in Derby made a significant contribution to the city? I know tha...; Chris Williamson | 513 c323 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend. Certainly the increases will impoverish countless people living on ...; Lilian Greenwood | 513 c324 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend share my concern about the impact that the VAT increase will have on the retail ...; Speaker | 513 c324 (Link to this contribution) Order. Members are not helping the hon. Lady. May I say to her that it is entirely understandable th...; David Morris | 513 c325 (Link to this contribution) A debate that goes on till 12 minutes past one is an oddity so early in the Parliament. Call me cyni...; Chris Williamson | 513 c325 (Link to this contribution) I agree—[Interruption.]; Speaker | 513 c325 (Link to this contribution) Order. The fact that there is a generally convivial spirit is good, but the House must come to order...; Angela Eagle | 513 c329 (Link to this contribution) These are issues to which I am sure we will return when the Bill establishing the OBR on a statutory...; Chris Leslie | 513 c329 (Link to this contribution) It would certainly be interesting if the Minister could cast some light on that, but would it not al...; Angela Eagle | 513 c328-9 (Link to this contribution) Time will tell, although there is not widespread acknowledgment in the economic profession that some...; Kelvin Hopkins | 513 c328 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend talks about the judgments and forecasts. I remember, some 20 years ago, the Tories' f...; Angela Eagle | 513 c327-8 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I was just mentioning the speech by my hon. Friend the Member for Cumb...; Angela Eagle | 513 c325-7 (Link to this contribution) We have had an interesting debate. We just heard from the hon. Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale (D...; Chris Williamson | 513 c325 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the hon. Gentleman that he is cynical. How is it fair to increase VAT when the Chief S...; Kelvin Hopkins | 513 c329 (Link to this contribution) I have a suggestion: might it not be a good idea to appoint Professor David Blanchflower as the head...; Angus Brendan MacNeil | 513 c329 (Link to this contribution) I am listening to the hon. Lady talking about transparency. In the spirit of transparency, will she ...; Angela Eagle | 513 c329 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has certainly made an intriguing suggestion, but we have to establish that this House...; Angela Eagle | 513 c329 (Link to this contribution) I have—and had—a great deal of sympathy for the issues that the hon. Gentleman had raised, which are...; Charlie Elphicke | 513 c330 (Link to this contribution) May I ask the hon. Lady to which clause in the Bill she is referring?; Angela Eagle | 513 c330 (Link to this contribution) Mr Deputy Speaker, it looks like someone is applying for your job. Every clause in the Bill hinges o...; Lord McCabe | 513 c330 (Link to this contribution) I appreciate my hon. Friend's point that we can only speculate on this matter, but it is none the le...; Angela Eagle | 513 c330-1 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the newly elected Chair of the Treasury Select Committee will make his own mind up ab...; Angela Eagle | 513 c331-2 (Link to this contribution) There is certainly a respectable mainstream economic argument that synchronised austerity is worse f...; Speaker | 513 c333 (Link to this contribution) Order. The House must come to order. Members are obviously coming near to the end. If we have a bit ...; Angela Eagle | 513 c332-3 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I am trying to put the idea of well-refreshed ejaculations firmly out ...; Speaker | 513 c332 (Link to this contribution) I do not think I need to deal with that point of order.; Stephen Pound | 513 c332 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I would never presume to teach you your job, but some of us ...; Liam Byrne | 513 c334 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. May I ask for your guidance under Standing Order No. 15(1)(a...; Angela Eagle | 513 c333-4 (Link to this contribution) If those two parties were so confident that these measures are progressive, they would commit the Go...; Lord McLoughlin | 513 c334 (Link to this contribution) claimed to move the closure (Standing Order No. 36), but the Deputy Speaker withheld his assent and ...; Speaker | 513 c334 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Member is quite entitled to move the closure motion. It is the decision of the Chair ...; Angela Eagle | 513 c334-5 (Link to this contribution) I was talking about the sneaky little move from the retail prices index to the much lower consumer p...; Hugh Bayley | 513 c336 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister give way?; David Gauke | 513 c337 (Link to this contribution) If Opposition Members do not want to engage in this debate, that is fair enough, but the fact is tha...; David Gauke | 513 c335-6 (Link to this contribution) We have had nine and a half hours of debate, we have heard many speeches from Labour Members—to be p...; Hugh Bayley | 513 c337 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister give way?; Speaker | 513 c337 (Link to this contribution) Order. If the Minister wanted to give way, he would do so. The hon. Gentleman has been in the House ...; Barry Gardiner | 513 c315 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is entirely right. That is a real problem for clubs and small businesses that are not...; Barry Gardiner | 513 c315 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Speaker. I am tempted to take up the length of time that the hon. Lady mentioned, but ...; Lord Walney | 513 c315 (Link to this contribution) With regard to my hon. Friend's list of all the people who will not be able to avoid paying the incr...; Speaker | 513 c314-5 (Link to this contribution) Order. Before the hon. Gentleman responds to that intervention and resumes his speech, I remind him ...; Barry Gardiner | 513 c314 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has made some damning comments ...; Sarah Wollaston | 513 c314 (Link to this contribution) I would like to ask the hon. Gentleman whether he realises why all these very sad cases are unavoida...; Barry Gardiner | 513 c314 (Link to this contribution) Not only has my hon. Friend made a perfectly apposite point, but she has made it better than I could...; Jim Fitzpatrick | 513 c314 (Link to this contribution) If my hon. Friend is going to be so complimentary to those who intervene, how can I resist? Will he ...; Ann McKechin | 513 c314 (Link to this contribution) Is it not ironic that one of the main beneficiaries of this particular Budget will be our banks, whi...; Owen Smith | 513 c316-7 (Link to this contribution) It is""A coalition of the heartless, the clueless and the confused"." Those are not my words—as a M...; Stephen Pound | 513 c317 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that implicit within the Budget, the decapitation of Building Schools for ...; Speaker | 513 c317 (Link to this contribution) Order. I would not want the hon. Member for Pontypridd (Owen Smith), who has made an auspicious star...; Owen Smith | 513 c317-8 (Link to this contribution) In this instance, I beg to differ. [Hon. Members: "Oh!"] My hon. Friend's intervention absolutely sp...; Lord Beamish | 513 c316 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Mr Randall) is chuntering from a sedentary pos...; Barry Gardiner | 513 c316 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is entirely correct. I believe that the point may have been made earlier. [Interrupti...; Speaker | 513 c316 (Link to this contribution) Order. Before the hon. Gentleman continues, may I gently say to the right hon. Member for Uxbridge a...; Barry Gardiner | 513 c316 (Link to this contribution) Mr Speaker, I will forgo that offer, tempting though it may be. However, I will try to respond to my...; Angela Eagle | 513 c315 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend share my astonishment that Members on the Government Front Bench seem to be igno...; Barry Gardiner | 513 c315-6 (Link to this contribution) Not in the slightest. Why should I be surprised? It is what I would expect of Government Front Bench...; Kate Green | 513 c202 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Chief Secretary for explaining his approach to fairness. Can he explain why it ...; Charlie Elphicke | 513 c202 (Link to this contribution) Will the Chief Secretary give way?; Stewart Hosie | 513 c237-8 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. It is worth making the point, though, that on paper there is a rigidity about this. I remain...; Michael Meacher | 513 c253-4 (Link to this contribution) I regret that the Labour Government did not succeed in narrowing the gap between rich and poor. Howe...; David Lammy | 513 c259 (Link to this contribution) That is patent nonsense, which is why so many hon. Members are shouting from a sedentary position. ...; Grahame Morris | 513 c273 (Link to this contribution) On the point raised by Government Members about the impact assessment, will my hon. Friend comment o...; Chris Leslie | 513 c268 (Link to this contribution) It's a shame.; Chris Leslie | 513 c266 (Link to this contribution) Can I ask one last question on the 1930s?; Lord Beamish | 513 c276 (Link to this contribution) The Liberal Democrats do say one thing and do another. As I say, that will come as a great shock to ...; Lord Redwood | 513 c210 (Link to this contribution) The previous Labour Government said that they would halve the deficit in four years. What spending c...; Jim Cunningham | 513 c212 (Link to this contribution) Do the recent figures for the motor car industry not show that the previous Government were on the r...; Ben Gummer | 513 c213 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman confirm whether it was Goldman Sachs or the chief economist at Goldman...; Anne McGuire | 513 c223 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Lady seriously recommending that to mitigate the impact of the VAT increase to 20%, cons...; Lord Beamish | 513 c221 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady agree with the Deputy Prime Minister, who before the election, on the Radio 4 "To...; Speaker | 513 c312 (Link to this contribution) Order. Before he continues, let me say to the hon. Gentleman that the issue of regional similarities...; Rushanara Ali | 513 c303-4 (Link to this contribution) We all know that income inequality rises in periods of boom. It is not acceptable, and personally I ...; Toby Perkins | 513 c304 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making a powerful case. Does she share my view that any Budget that is supposed to...; Kelvin Hopkins | 513 c331 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right to warn against the dangers of deflation, which are much more wor...; David Gauke | 513 c336-7 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman had nine and a half hours to take part in this debate. I am not going to give way...; Hugh Bayley | 513 c337 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister give way?; David Gauke | 513 c337-8 (Link to this contribution) We are not going to take any lectures from the Opposition. Remember, theirs is the party that double...; Clive Efford | 513 c288-9 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman misses the point. The point is what the Liberal Democrats said about capital gain...; Chris Williamson | 513 c325 (Link to this contribution) There is an even bigger difference between those privileged former Bullingdon club members and the p...; Speaker | 513 c327 (Link to this contribution) Order. There are too many private conversations going on and it is difficult to hear. We are getting...; Martin Horwood | 513 c253 (Link to this contribution) I have some sympathy with what the right hon. Gentleman is saying, because the Liberal Democrats wer...; Andrew Bridgen | 513 c270 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman seems to have the impression that the world has an insatiable appetite to buy UK ...; Lord Beamish | 513 c269 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right, but in Canada people fell for the trick, because they cut back and did not ...; Danny Alexander | 513 c207 (Link to this contribution) No, I have given way nearly 30 times already. Thirdly, the emergency Budget stands for freedom becau...; Liam Byrne | 513 c210 (Link to this contribution) I will learn never to trust a word I read in the Daily Mail ever again—; Liam Byrne | 513 c214 (Link to this contribution) I have not brought those figures with me to the Chamber, but the hon. Gentleman will know that expor...; Lord Redwood | 513 c219 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?; Speaker | 513 c210 (Link to this contribution) Order. The right hon. Gentleman should withdraw that comment if it has been withdrawn from the websi...; Steve Barclay | 513 c242-4 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for the opportunity to make my maiden speech. If hon. Members googled...; Ben Gummer | 513 c247-50 (Link to this contribution) I should first of all pay tribute to the hon. Member for Scunthorpe (Nic Dakin), who showed in his m...; Nicholas Dakin | 513 c244-7 (Link to this contribution) I compliment the hon. Member for North East Cambridgeshire (Stephen Barclay) on an excellent maiden ...; Lord Evans of Rainow | 513 c255-7 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for this opportunity to make my maiden speech, and I offer you my belated congratulati...; Ben Gummer | 513 c198 (Link to this contribution) Opposition Members like talking about apprenticeships. I am a relative newcomer to the House so can ...; Danny Alexander | 513 c197-8 (Link to this contribution) I can confirm that we have carried out an analysis of the Budget across the income distribution to e...; Barry Gardiner | 513 c197 (Link to this contribution) Has the Chief Secretary analysed the impact of the Budget measures on women? If not, will he commit ...; Angus Brendan MacNeil | 513 c199-200 (Link to this contribution) I ask the Chief Secretary to consider this question. With rural fuel priced between £1.30 and £1.35 ...; Danny Alexander | 513 c199 (Link to this contribution) I want to say a word or two about the process of the Finance Bill.; Danny Alexander | 513 c199 (Link to this contribution) I hesitate to take further interventions, as we are somewhat outwith the scope of the Bill, but I wi...; Angela Eagle | 513 c199 (Link to this contribution) I was involved when the Treasury last looked at that idea. As the hon. Member for Na h-Eileanan an I...; Danny Alexander | 513 c199 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady says she was sympathetic—I attended a meeting where she expressed that sympathy—but no...; Chris Bryant | 513 c199 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman says that he is thinking about a derogation for rural areas in relation to ...; Danny Alexander | 513 c199 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has misunderstood what is being discussed, which is no surprise, given the previo...; Chris Bryant | 513 c199 (Link to this contribution) Will the Chief Secretary give way?; Danny Alexander | 513 c199 (Link to this contribution) No, I want to make some progress. The Finance Bill before the House today seeks to ensure that the ...; Danny Alexander | 513 c201 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure that the right hon. Gentleman can do anything to help me, given that he left the note ...; Owen Smith | 513 c201 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?; Liam Byrne | 513 c201 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps I can help the Chief Secretary. There is a precedent for business investment matching the fi...; Danny Alexander | 513 c201 (Link to this contribution) My point is that that forecast was made by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility. In the ...; Derek Twigg | 513 c201 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way on that point?; Danny Alexander | 513 c201 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way once more and then make some progress.; Owen Smith | 513 c201 (Link to this contribution) Precisely further to my right hon. Friend's point, can the Chief Secretary point to any five-year pe...; Danny Alexander | 513 c202 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to the hon. Gentleman, as I did not do so earlier.; Danny Alexander | 513 c201-2 (Link to this contribution) No, I am going to move on. Let me turn to the first of the measures in the Bill. Given that the str...; Danny Alexander | 513 c200 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the intervention, in both senses. Returning to the Bill, I should say that our pl...; Michael Meacher | 513 c200 (Link to this contribution) If the Budget is to meet the objectives that the right hon. Gentleman has in mind, where exactly doe...; Stewart Hosie | 513 c200 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?; Danny Alexander | 513 c200 (Link to this contribution) I shall, as I have not yet given way to the hon. Gentleman.; Stewart Hosie | 513 c200-1 (Link to this contribution) The Chief Secretary to the Treasury makes the point about growth, but he has not really answered the...; Danny Alexander | 513 c201 (Link to this contribution) Those are not my figures; those are the figures that the independent Office for Budget Responsibilit...; Danny Alexander | 513 c200 (Link to this contribution) I draw the right hon. Gentleman's attention to the Budget measures forecast, which the OBR published...; Danny Alexander | 513 c200 (Link to this contribution) I am going to press on.; Barry Gardiner | 513 c200 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?; Danny Alexander | 513 c200 (Link to this contribution) I have given way already to the hon. Gentleman. Let me turn to the first of the measures in the Bil...; Andrew Love | 513 c202 (Link to this contribution) Can the right hon. Gentleman point to any indication in the manifesto of either coalition party that...; Danny Alexander | 513 c202 (Link to this contribution) No party proposed an increase in VAT at the election, and no party ruled one out. The Liberal Democr...; Danny Alexander | 513 c202 (Link to this contribution) In a way, the hon. Lady makes my point for me. The point that I just made is that given the addition...; Danny Alexander | 513 c202-3 (Link to this contribution) I am going to make progress for a few moments, or the former Chief Secretary will never get a chance...; Chris Leslie | 513 c203 (Link to this contribution) On insurance premium tax?; Danny Alexander | 513 c203 (Link to this contribution) I am going to make some progress.
Subjects: Poverty Children Corporation tax Exports Excise duties Fuels Private sector Insurance premium tax Economic growth Forecasts Low incomes Pensions Public expenditure Unemployment Rural areas Public sector debt Tax avoidance VAT Resignations Tax evasion Tax burden Building schools for the future programme Office for Budget Responsibility Budd, Alan
Legislation: Finance Bill 2010-12
Link: View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk

Finance Bill

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