Finance Bill

I am grateful for that intervention, because it allows me to point out that the Minister keeps saying that the Government are open to suggestions, but we have been making suggestions ever since they got us into this mess by abolishing the 10p rate. The most obvious way to bring justice without having to eat humble pie and reintroduce the 10p rate would be to raise tax allowances by the amount that made sure that there were no losers earning less than £18,000 and claw back that increase from the rest of us by adjusting national insurance. Such a measure would be targeted and effective, and it could be done this year. The trouble is that when such suggestions are made, they are not ones that the Government favour and so they reject them. That is fair enough, but they cannot then keep saying that they are open to suggestions.