Work and Families Bill

Not at all—far from it. I did not think that I was wrongly quoted in the Financial Times; I thought that it was a well-balanced explanation of the situation, although I admit that I have not yet read it, so I will have to check it very soon. I am utterly consistent with everything that my hon. Friends and I said in Committee. We entirely back the principle of the Bill. The hon. Member for Hastings and Rye (Michael Jabez Foster) asked me a pertinent question: if a regulation is to be brought in, which one would we take out? As I said, all this is a question of balance. We are asking small businesses to take on extra burdens, and it is the Government’s responsibility to help them with those burdens. It is simply not fair to expect small businesses to do the Government’s work of collecting taxes and paying out benefits. That is what the civil service is for.