It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this morning, Ms Primarolo—[Interruption]. We have just made it into the afternoon. It is also a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North (Catherine McKinnell), who made such a strong case for the Opposition’s amendment to clause 1. It is to clause 1 in the main that I wish to address my remarks.
This week and in the days leading up to the funeral of Baroness Thatcher, Government Members have been proud to proclaim themselves as Thatcherites—no more talk of one nation Conservatives or how “We’re all in it together”. I was pleased that my hon. Friend spoke about the impact of this Government’s choices. That is what we are talking about today: their choices and priorities. Proportionately, they are hitting women so much harder than men, while the benefits they are seeking to give—reducing the 50p tax rate to 45p—will disproportionately benefit men.
That was certainly my experience as a woman at home caring for my children through the Thatcher years. I find it almost incomprehensible when I hear people talk about how much she did for women, because that was not my experience, as I genuinely struggled to put food on the table for my children and keep a roof over their heads. For me, the difference we saw in 1997, with the birth of a new Labour Government—new in every way—was predominantly in the increase in child benefit. That is what changed my ability as a mother to care for my children—to provide for them and give them a better life than I had had. This Government have chosen to freeze child benefit, while at the same time giving a tax break to 13,000 millionaires and 267,000 people earning more than £150,000. I would be interested to hear from the Minister—or from other Government Members, if it is not just the Minister who is going to speak on this issue—how many people earning more than £150,000 have come to his surgery or
contacted his office to say that times are so tough that they need a tax break. How many people have contacted the Treasury to say that?