Finance Bill

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, for calling me to make a few closing remarks at the end of what has been a legislative marathon and, on many occasions, an oratorical feast, as we have just heard from the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond). According to him, not a single calculation that the Government have made has not been a cynical calculation, not a single principle that he holds is not a deeply held principle, not a single climb-down performed by the Government has not been a humiliating climb-down, and every single policy brought forward by Ministers has, at one stage or another, unravelled. An amazing array of oratorical treats has been laid before us. Most of all, we have heard on many occasions that the Government should have fixed the roof while the sun was shining—an entirely appropriate policy from the party of Thatcher, showing how much the Conservatives remain in hock to their heroine. The process has been a bit like being in a ““Big Brother”” household. I pay tribute to the Ministers—the Financial Secretary, the Exchequer Secretary and the Economic Secretary—and, because one gets used to the character and strengths and weaknesses of all the others performing on the Committee, to the hon. Members for Runnymede and Weybridge, for Fareham (Mr. Hoban), for Putney (Justine Greening) and for South-West Hertfordshire (Mr. Gauke). Of course, I should not forget my hon. Friend the Member for South-East Cornwall (Mr. Breed), who was good enough to allow me to return for a constituency engagement on the final day of the Committee, when I told him that it was due to wrap up by about 4 o'clock and found out the next day that it had finished at 9.15 in the evening. I am still indebted to him, but perhaps the fact that I have been in the Chamber for the past eight hours has gone some way towards paying back that debt. This Budget has represented an extraordinary series of difficulties and disasters for the Government, and the Finance Bill has impinged on the national consciousness and mainstream opinions in a way that I suspect most do not. My constituents, and I am sure those of all hon. Members, have taken an active interest in the 10p tax saga, vehicle excise duty retrospection, and even items that are slightly more obscure for some people, such as the confusion over non-dom taxation. What is extraordinary is that this has been a moving feast throughout the Bill's passage. The Government have been bringing in emergency announcements and new clauses, but these matters are still not resolved. It feels as though we are bringing the whole matter to a conclusion—that is the parliamentary ritual that we are performing—but the Government have still left open the issue of the 1.1 million outstanding net losers as a result of the doubling of the 10p tax rate. We also heard this afternoon that there is more ongoing unfinished business over non-doms, further deliberation about vehicle excise duty being retrospective, and the issue of the 2p on fuel duty has been postponed until the autumn. This is moving from one Finance Bill to another, one pre-Budget report to another, and one Budget statement to another—a rolling programme of confusion. During this period, the Prime Minister has overseen a collapse in the Government's reputation, and I am afraid that the proposals that have been put before us in this Bill are unlikely to rescue the reputation of him personally or of his Government. On that basis, Liberal Democrat Members will also be in the Lobby voting against its Third Reading.