Finance Bill

Indeed, closed by the Tories. Those countries also had an impact on the Shelton Bar steelworks, which were just outside my constituency before they were closed under the previous Administration, and on the Michelin factory, which employs many thousands fewer workers than it did 20 or so years ago and has changed the emphasis of its work. However, it is still a very valued employer in the constituency. Furthermore, the pottery industry employs a fraction of the people it once did. None of those job changes was the result of the Finance Bill. Let us consider specifically the situation at Trentham Lakes, the site of what was the Hem Health colliery. More people are now employed on the site, albeit in completely different jobs, than when it was a colliery. Many people who work in the distribution centres used to be employed in the pottery industry and have acquired different skills. The reasoned amendment asserts that the Bill’s complexity will somehow kill off or stifle the opportunity for businesses to grow. A few years ago, I did some work with the United States tax code and advised and assisted employees from the US working in the UK and employees from the UK going to work in the US. The US tax code is horrendously complicated. Indeed, one could almost say that ours is an open, brief and simple tax code by comparison. However, has the US suffered for years from a crippled economy that is unable to compete on a global stage? Are its businesses unable to do well? The facts on that speak for themselves.