Pre-Budget Report

My Lords, I let the first reference to my right honourable friend Kenneth Clarke go by without rising to my feet. I explain for the record that my right honourable friend said before the Pre-Budget Report that he favoured a reduction in VAT. When he saw the horrifying figures revealed by the PBR he made it clear that he dissociated himself from the VAT-cut element. That is on the record of the other place and I hope it can be on the record of this House.