I am broadly sympathetic to the proposal, which could stimulate the economy significantly, but VAT brings in about £100 billion a year, so the question the right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr Redwood) asks is valid. Does “strong growth” mean consistently positive growth and, if so, at what level and for how long, or would it require a return to trend growth of about 2.5% and, if so, for how long, or would it require above-trend growth and, if so, for how long? To have an open-ended commitment to lose potentially £10 million a year for some years would be quite a serious and significant thing, irrespective of the positive impact it might have.
Finance (No. 2) Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Stewart Hosie
(Scottish National Party)
in the House of Commons on Thursday, 18 April 2013.
It occurred during Debate on bills
and
Committee of the Whole House (HC) on Finance (No. 2) Bill.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
561 c542 
Session
2012-13
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
Librarians' tools
Timestamp
2014-03-31 12:20:53 +0100
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