Finance Bill

I want to make a little progress for now, and say the following to my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead, for whom I have great respect. I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent, Central (Mark Fisher) that my right hon. Friend and those who have worked with him have achieved a very substantial amount through their pursuit of this matter over the past couple of years. The terms of this new clause are, however, impossible for the Government to comply with. We could only do so by announcing large sums of extra spending—£2.6 billion this year if this was to be done by increasing the personal allowance further—and the imperative of fiscal consolidation rules that out. Alternatively, we could come up with some very complex means-testing arrangement, which would reduce the cost somewhat but also introduce unmanageable new processes. With the best will in the world, that would take a considerable period of time, and in the meantime we would be unable to collect income tax. That is not to say that there is nothing we can do. I and my colleagues would be very happy to discuss any ideas my right hon. Friend or others might want us to consider before the pre-Budget report, and to see if we can help further. My hon. Friend the Member for Northampton, North (Ms Keeble) and others highlighted concerns about women who retired at 60 after a lifetime of work and who will now pay more tax than they had expected until the age of 65, and there are also other concerns about the particular circumstances that some people face. We will be happy to look at those, too.