Finance Bill

I am grateful, Mr. Deputy Speaker. The second phase was the extremely successful rebellion that the right hon. Member for Birkenhead led. We must give him great credit for being the architect of much Government fiscal policy. The third phase was the climbdown, with the right hon. Gentleman rightly apologising for some of the more personal elements of his comments about the Prime Minister. He also expressed his great gratitude because the problem had been resolved and put to bed, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer had found a solution. Of course, there was a problem with the solution: the Chancellor was spending £2.7 billion that he did not have—£2 billion of which was going to people who were already net beneficiaries of the tax changes. Nevertheless, there was a sense that peace had broken out on the Labour Back Benches and that the issue had been resolved.