National Insurance Contributions Bill

In many ways, these amendments bring us to the core of the Bill. I shall leave my right hon. and hon. Friends perhaps to concentrate on other aspects of the measure, but the matters in clause 1(1) that attracted my attention relate to subsections (4) and (5) of proposed new section 4B of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, which I seek effectively to delete from the Bill. I shall look first at proposed new subsection (4), which says:"““It does not matter whether the retrospective tax provision in question was passed or made before the day on which the National Insurance Contributions Act 2006 was passed.””" That is blatant beyond all belief. The Government now no longer even attempt to conceal what they are up to or to divert our attention from it. I suppose that I grudgingly give them almost a degree of credit for the fact that they are being perfectly blatant in what they are saying. We now have a Bill, for which the Government have aspirations of its becoming an Act on the statute book, that says, ““It does not matter. We can do pretty much what we want, whether or not it was passed now or at some other time—who cares?””