Finance Bill

Did my hon. Friend spot an apparent—and I think a real—paradox in the position expressed by the hon. Member for Hornchurch (James Brokenshire)? He said that the tax changes in the Bill might have an adverse impact on small businesses, but then went on to talk about skills. As a generalisation, small businesses in the UK are not very good at training people or spending money on skills training. Therefore, that has to be done by the state, and the state needs tax revenue to pay for it. That tax revenue has to come from somewhere, and one place from which it will come will be small businesses.