National Insurance Contributions Bill

We seem to have touched a rather raw nerve there, Madam Deputy Speaker, do we not? The Minister will, of course, have plenty of time this afternoon. We have two or three hours to go before we are forced by the Government’s wicked programming and timetabling to curtail our remarks. I look forward to hearing what the Minister has to say. Perhaps she and my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend, East can get together afterwards and have a quiet word about morality. I have simply tried to lay the groundwork for a short debate on these matters. I have tried briefly to outline why we should introduce the commissioners into this part of the process and why a distinction should be made between expediency and reasonableness. I very much hope that my right hon. and hon. Friends will be able to support me in this. I hope, too, that in spite of the Minister’s prickliness, when she comes to reply, she will able to see the strength of our argument and, who knows, perhaps even accept one, if not both, of those amendments.