Finance Bill

The hon. Gentleman raises an awful lot of issues in that intervention. Scottish small companies are in the same position as small companies in other parts of the country. I come back to my point: if the economy is in a good state, they generally prosper. That is the case in Scotland as well. If, in this election period in Scotland, the hon. Gentleman proposes complete fiscal independence, he must accept the consequences of that for the revenue-raising powers and the revenues that would be available for Scottish public expenditure. If the Scottish people look at the figures, they will not be very keen on that. My constituents in Newcastle are not overwhelmed by the present division of the cake. The Scottish cake would be significantly smaller, were it not part of the United Kingdom. One thing Governments can do on regional policy is spread public investment. Why, for example, is all the military located in the south-west? Why are all research institutes located in the Oxford-Cambridge area? One could continue with Government offices of all kinds. Government could do a lot in that regard. The present Government have done a great deal, but they need to do more. I think that I have said enough. I commend the Bill to the House. It tackles the major issues of macro-economic policy and puts us in a position to take on the global challenge. It faces up to some of the major decisions that need to be made on climate change and other issues. All the detail of the arguments about fiscal regimes for freelancers and for small companies can be explored further in Committee. I do not say that every dot and comma of the Bill should remain unchanged after it has completed its parliamentary stages, but I endorse the general thrust. By opposing the Bill, hon. Members would threaten to undermine the success of our economy and the importance of that to the various enterprises, big and small, in their constituencies.