Finance Bill

About six weeks ago, I was sitting in the front room of a retired miner who had a relatively low retirement income. I would guess that he was about 70 or 71 years old, and he was certain—he had rung me up in high dudgeon, so I dashed the two miles from my office to where he was—that the Chancellor's abolition of the 10p tax rate had left him with a higher tax burden. However, he was wrong, and I pointed out why. His British Coal superannuation scheme had been slow to implement the much higher personal allowance that the 2007 Budget had provided for from 6 April 2008 precisely to cater for the abolition of the 10p rate, among other things. So my hon. Friend is right: more people felt that they had been adversely affected than had actually been in practice. There has been more concern, hostility and disapproval among not only those who have lost out themselves, but those who have observed our party for a generation and more and believe that what we did at that time did not sit easily with the objectives for which we have fought and will continue to fight. I have about two more sentences to say. My requirements are that we should have a copper-bottomed guarantee that the Treasury team will focus on the 1.1 million people still affected, that those people will get full and precise compensation—£66 million is trivial in Treasury terms—and that that compensation will be delivered as rapidly as is humanly possible, ideally within the 2008-09 tax year. Let us hear what the response will be when we get to the pre-Budget report, but the guarantee has to be copper-bottomed, otherwise we will be in the position highlighted by my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field). After a successful party conference that has boosted our morale and narrowed the gap with the Conservative party, and after we have gone from minus 18 to plus 3, or something like it, we will want to take advantage of the situation and soar into the stratosphere. We will not want to be encumbered by having the Chancellor come back to the Dispatch Box having hatched a deal for the 1.1 million people that is not adequate. I want to hear from the Minister words that will satisfy me; otherwise, I shall press new clause 20 to a Division.