Finance Bill

I, too, oppose the amendments. They are uncosted and my hunch is that they would cost billions of pounds to implement. The Conservatives also oppose the amendments. However, I agree that it is strange that the hon. Member for Chipping Barnet (Mrs. Villiers) talked about higher rate tax relief and the capital gains tax regime, both of which principally benefit the rich in our society—although it is not as if the Conservatives have ever cared about the poor. She completely overlooks the minimum wage and the fact that child poverty and pensioner poverty rose massively when the Conservatives were last in office. However, although the amendments are uncosted, I associate myself with the remarks of my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field) and my hon. Friend the Member for Newport, West (Paul Flynn) about the abolition of the 10 per cent. starting rate proposed for next year’s Finance Bill by the Chancellor in his Budget this year. The measure will adversely affect a group that has not been mentioned—I have some in my constituency, some of whom have written to me: people who have taken early retirement, often on grounds of ill health, who will therefore not benefit from the rise in personal allowances for pensioners and are not eligible for tax credits because they are not working. I urge my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary and his team to look again at the proposals for next year. They should reject the proposals in the Liberal Democrat amendments before us, but they should look again at the abolition of the 10 per cent. starting rate, because it will have some unintended consequences which are beginning to be teased out.