Finance Bill

I was not going to raise that, but there is an issue about the accessibility of rural areas. Of course, there has to be that balance. Given that vehicle excise duty takes account of the emissions of different vehicles, why is it more complicated to extend that principle to aviation? That is a common-sense approach. If we are serious about tackling emissions in one of the areas where they are growing fastest, we must think about taking painful decisions. The general theme of this year’s Finance Bill is that there is not much of a strategic approach. The primary motivation for the issues we have discussed so far has been to grab headlines, which leads to unintended consequences. There is more than meets the eye to the so-called simplification measures. Once again, we are seeing an incremental build-up on previous legislation, changing it slightly and then changing it slightly again, often with little consultation with industry—or if there is consultation, actively ignoring the comments that come back from it. The Government can be seen to be building up trouble for themselves on a whole series of issues. Thankfully for my biceps, this year’s Finance Bill is considerably shorter than last year’s and I have fewer volumes to try to carry around with me. Perhaps that is a recognition that last year’s Bill went too far. However, there are still plenty of clauses that build on previous legislation—although I accept that that may be necessary in some cases. To echo the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, North, what is the Finance Bill actually for? Should it deal with our tax and spending policy in strategically changing the balance of taxation, or is it an annual opportunity to include any tinkering by the Treasury and representations that might have been made to it? Unfortunately, it is sometimes the latter, and provisions are included whereby if the Treasury had taken a step or two back, and a more strategic approach, there would not be these endless changes. A classic example has been that of anti-avoidance legislation, which in this Bill comprises 10 clauses and four schedules.