Finance Bill

I think that I have made my point. I am reluctant, in this time of difficult financial circumstances, to write a blank cheque to the Conservatives so that they can keep coming up with expensive quangos that I fear we cannot afford. The hon. Member for Wolverhampton, South-West (Rob Marris) has already mentioned the inconsistency in their argument. For example, we have just had a vote on a new clause tabled by the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field) that would have meant that we had to rejig thresholds, which would have been very hard to do and would have made the tax system more complicated, yet the Conservatives voted for that. On the other hand, the shadow Chancellor has a history of being enthusiastic about flat-rate taxes. He came into office saying that he would consider their introduction, but it was only when he did so that he realised how foolish his initial proposal was. At one moment he seems to be in favour of an extreme form of simplification, but earlier this evening he seemed to be in favour of greater complexity.