Finance Bill

I will not because we are short of time. According to the amendment, the new beer escalator—in effect a reverse of Labour's current RPI plus 2 per cent. escalator—would go on for ever. Nor is it clear whether the annual 2 per cent. reduction in duty would mean 2 per cent. off today's figure of £16.47 in the original clause or 2 per cent. off the figure as amended. In other words, are the 2 per cent. reductions linear or cumulative? In the second year, would the figure be 98 per cent. of the original figure, or 98 per cent. of the 98 per cent. that was affected the previous year? If the reductions are linear, the Lib Dem amendment implies that beer duty would be eliminated entirely in 50 years' time; it might even imply that beer duty would go negative from the year 2060. That raises the tantalising prospect of the Liberal Democrats paying people to drink beer. That gives a new twist to their populist policies; they are like a desperate candidate in a student union election in their efforts to court the popular and youth votes. It appears, at least from amendment 38, that they are already reaching out to my grandchildren with an offer of booze not only free of tax, but subsidised by the state from 2060. Here we have it: the Liberal Democrats seemingly proposing that the state should pay people to drink beer. That cannot make any sense, and that is why we cannot support amendment 38.