Treasury and Work and Pensions

That is a sensible question, and if the hon. Gentleman had been present for previous debates, he would already know the answer. I have told the Chancellor many times that I aim to report in the summer of 2007. I am delighted that the Chancellor already knows what will be in my report. He is ahead of me, as I have not yet decided what I and my committee will recommend on school choice, patient choice, health spending and the other issues that he thinks we will cover—we may or may not. I have already published a few ideas on the problems of this economy and why it is not as competitive as it should be. Let us begin with the issue that always fascinates the Government most: taxation. The Chancellor is right that I gave a presentation a long time ago saying that Britain was still fairly tax-competitive. I went on to say that it was going in the wrong direction and becoming less tax-competitive. Were I giving such a presentation today, I would conclude that we are now not tax-competitive enough. How many more companies need to say that they are thinking of going offshore before the Chancellor and the Economic Secretary will do something? Have they considered what has happened in the case of Shell, which has decided to put everything into Holland? Do they realise that Holland, let alone Ireland, is now more tax-competitive than Britain? Will they understand that Ireland has been growing three times as quickly as the United Kingdom on this Chancellor’s watch? The main reason for that, which he does not wish to accept, is that Ireland has set much lower business tax rates, which have acted as a phenomenal magnet for inward investment into Ireland.