Finance (No. 3) Bill

I do not wish to delay the House, but I must ask the right hon. Gentleman: when did the Labour Government of 1997-98, when I had some responsibility for sounding out and consulting the industry, make any mistake such as has been made by this Government? We simply did not do so. We talked to the industry; I met John Browne and he explained the situation. Although we were prepared to do so, we did not even get into any formal consultation because he convinced us in the initial soundings that it would be the wrong move to make.