Finance Bill

There was a lot of conflicting evidence. I well remember the director of the budgetary process coming before the Committee. He was asked how many losers there would be. Was the total 5.3 million? We asked him that question many times, and at last he responded by saying that that might be the ballpark figure. It was all conjecture, but we want certainty. The Government must bear that in mind in future. The Committee's report also emphasises the benefits of proper consultation about personal tax measures. We return to a theme that we have identified before—that the Government can and must use the PBR more as a tool for consultation. The outcome would have been better if that approach had been adopted in respect of capital gains tax, inheritance tax and the non-doms—and I could list more examples. The Government should not use the PBR as an early Budget. They should not spring surprises on us: instead, they should use the PBR for consultation purposes, as it was intended. Then, people will not be surprised or disappointed by the content of the Budget when it is announced, because the appropriate the consultation will have taken place. That is an extremely important lesson for the Government to learn. I hope that the Government will learn the lessons set out in the report, and that our experience of what happened with the abolition of the 10p tax rate will not be repeated.