Finance Bill

I would like to open the debate by discussing amendments 31 to 70. As announced in the Public Bil...

The Minister will be aware that the very late tabling of new clause 4 might have disconcerted and...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for letting me know earlier today about his constituency case. It...

I am extremely grateful to the Minister for those assurances. Am I right in thinking that there w...

My hon. Friend draws me more into the specifics, but I hope he will be satisfied if I ask him to ...

While I support the robust way in which the Minister is protecting the public purse, he will also...

I can tell my right hon. Friend, who is a tireless defender of the interests of the taxpayer, tha...

Will the Minister give us an indication of the amount of consultation that has taken place on the...

It certainly is the case that there has been no shortage of representations received by the Treas...

How will the roads fund work when applied to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with the duty ...

I can assure the hon. Gentleman that the Government are talking to the devolved Administrations a...

It is an honour for me to speak from the Dispatch Box for the first time under your chairmanship,...

I congratulate the hon. Lady on her debut at the Dispatch Box, and I hope she will be looking acr...

I welcome the right hon. Gentleman’s comments. He is certainly a silver-tongued fox, and I look f...

rose—

I wish to make a little progress before I take any further interventions.

Let me cite an ex...

I rise to support new clause 3, tabled in my name and those of my hon. Friends. I also welcome th...

Does the hon. Gentleman recognise that the concept of carried interest is integral to the way tha...

I thank the right hon. Gentleman. I do not think I accused anyone of being engaged in a con. It i...

I do not want to get involved in a philosophical debate about fairness or otherwise in relation t...

I agree with much of what the right hon. Gentleman says, but I would go wider. Our whole tax syst...

Is that not the most important point? Provided the tax change does not impact upon the ability of...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. I point out that, as I am sure he fully underst...

I think that there is merit in what is proposed in new clause 3, at a time when the tax system is...

The average car currently emits 128 grams of CO₂ per kilometre, which is actually in t...

Order. I fully appreciate that it is the hon. Lady’s first time at the Dispatch Box, but—I am not...

I accept that the provisions would not be retrospective. Nevertheless, older cars tend to more po...

I want to make a brief contribution on new clause 3. The Minister, elegantly as he does, fobbed u...

Let me respond to what has been an eclectic debate. I welcome the hon. Member for Salford and Ecc...

If there is any evidence in future years of significant behavioural changes, which some of us are...

The Government and the Treasury keep all taxes under review, and were contrary evidence to emerge...

I appreciate that the current regime for vehicle excise duty reflects carbon emissions, but I men...

The view we have taken about NOx is that it is best addressed through regulation, rather than thr...

Order. I know that the Minister is concluding, but the points he is making are very important and...

I am very grateful for your injunction, Madam Deputy Speaker. The Chamber is no place for people ...

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

Amendment 89, page 4, line 20, le...

It is pleasure, almost 15 years after I was first elected to this place, finally to make it to th...

I am sure the hon. Gentleman will want to qualify what he said by region. In some areas, such as ...

The hon. Lady is right, of course, that it varies around the country and that there is a much gre...

I congratulate my hon. Friend on his promotion to the Front Bench. Does he agree that these Tory ...

I certainly agree with my hon. Friend. We already have enough geographic and regional divisions i...

Does my hon. Friend agree that the policy will further escalate the inequality between the people...

My hon. Friend is right. In the constituency that I have the honour to represent, and in which I ...

Does my hon. Friend share my concern that the Government have been unable to drive forward the ec...

I agree with my hon. Friend, and if I can catch the Speaker’s eye on Third Reading I will be maki...

Does my hon. Friend agree that we cannot afford this measure in this Parliament, not least becaus...

It is difficult to tell what we can afford as the Conservative party, in government since 2010, h...

On the question of equality in our nation, we have seen the Government deliver huge tax cuts for ...

I agree that it sometimes seems that the policies of this Government are not only to shrink the s...

The hon. Gentleman has been inviting interventions on this issue. On new clause 9, why has he tie...

That is in the interests of having some clarity as to when this should kick-in. The Government co...

On the issue of inheritance tax, does my hon. Friend recognise that it is odd that the Government...

My hon. Friend is quite right. If I may be so bold, in this context, the word “child” means peopl...

I accept the point that the hon. Gentleman is making, but will he explain why he believes that we...

No; I disagree with the hon. Gentleman. We want to achieve economic stability—something that has ...

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on reaching the Front Bench after far too long a wait. I can te...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that. We shall shortly be having a discussion about the mechanics ...

Some of us do have a certain amount to say about it. These are weasel words. The Opposition know ...

I wish no disrespect to the hon. Gentleman, but I am not going to get into a big debate about thi...

If the new clause were passed this evening, as it should be, it would be interesting if it became...

It would be a welcome development. As I have indicated—

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

No, I will not give way—

Why not?

I will not give way for two reasons. First, the hon. Gentleman can seek to catch the Deputy Speak...

I hope my hon. Friend will indulge me further on the question of equality. Not everybody can go i...

I agree with my hon. Friend on that. It is no coincidence that my hon. Friend the Member for Walt...

I can scarcely believe my ears. I think that the hon. Gentleman is congratulating the hon. Member...

In that particular respect, the hon. Gentleman has heard me correctly. However, if he had heard m...

Does my hon. Friend agree that a Government who voted three times against a cap on the cost of cr...

I agree that progress can be pitifully slow under Conservative-led Governments, and that sometime...

This whole issue cannot be divorced from carbon capture and storage and the need for the Governme...

It is a tragedy what is happening to steel production around the country, and energy prices are p...

Does the hon. Gentleman not see the contradiction in saying that the Government should be looking...

I disagree with the hon. Gentleman. The difficulty is that we have high energy prices because we ...

The short response to what the hon. Gentleman is saying is that massive subsidies deployed in oth...

The hon. Gentleman is right that the European energy market and the production of energy within t...

I should have declared that I was chair of the all-party group on carbon capture and storage, and...

I did not know that my hon. Friend had gathered so many accolades, but I thank him for the work h...

My hon. Friend may be surprised to learn that I spent 17 years of my career in the gas industry, ...

I quite agree with my hon. Friend. We want those highly skilled jobs and we want the cheaper ener...

I do not think new clause 7 is strong enough. It just asks for progress. We are not doing enough....

I note with pleasure the hon. Gentleman’s support for the idea that tampons, as they are called, ...

I am not going to say that I did, but I put through an Act of Parliament, the International Devel...

I have raised the issue over a number of years, and I am pleased that we are debating it tonight....

I entirely agree with the hon. Lady’s last remark, for the reasons that she has given. We need to...

I am pleased to hear the hon. Gentleman talk about his concern for global gender inequality, and ...

If there were a cat in hell’s chance that we would get this through the European Union, I would e...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way again. I do not want to pursue this, not least because ...

My final remarks on the issue are these: that is wishful thinking. What is needed is not a report...

New clause 7 is tabled in my name and supported both by my hon. Friends and by a number of Member...

My hon. Friend refers to the plight of the homeless. As I am sure she is aware, homeless shelters...

I completely agree that homeless women face enough challenges without the added burden of periods...

The hon. Lady refers to people across Europe, no doubt meaning the European Union. The only probl...

I am not sure whether the hon. Gentleman is suggesting that we should do absolutely nothing about...

I am pleased to have an opportunity to discuss this matter, because we need to examine why we can...

Perhaps this will help the Minister. Does the hon. Lady agree with the point the Chancellor made ...

I agree, and I am pleased that there are hon. Gentlemen who are not too cowed to take part in thi...

I remind the hon. Lady that under the sixth directive, which sets out the tax rules in the EU, th...

The Minister may well explain that to the hon. Gentleman, but I personally do not want to have to...

Members may have seen the images circulating on the internet of groups of world leaders with the ...

Can the hon. Lady explain—I am genuinely curious—whether these matters have been raised in the Sc...

As I suspect the hon. Gentleman well knows, the Scottish Parliament does not have jurisdiction ov...

This debate is like history coming back to me, because not only does the hon. Member for Glasgow ...

My hon. Friend is making a powerful speech. If we were to negotiate and were met with an immovabl...

That is absolutely correct. Having observed the history of 40 years of membership of the European...

I agree with everything my hon. Friend is saying, although I am slightly alarmed by his statement...

My hon. Friend makes an interesting point and raises the spectre of a case to bring before the co...

I am glad the hon. Gentleman has admitted to his own shame, because it seems somewhat shameful to...

I point out to the hon. Lady that my name is on new clause 7. I support it, but I will wait to he...

Surely what this really boils down to is that the European institutions intend to—and actually do...

Our problem with the EU’s VAT directives is that they are a one-way street. Once the EU has adopt...

I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman recognises all of the good things the European Union has done...

I certainly acknowledge that what has happened in other member states has influenced what has hap...

Does my hon. Friend agree that this tax is very unfair because it is not about the equality of se...

I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. It is a deeply discriminatory and unfair tax.

rose—

I am not going to give way again.

I congratulate the hon. Member for Dewsbury (Paula Sherri...

I feel the need to make all sorts of declarations of interest in this debate, having used sanitar...

Does my hon. Friend agree that VAT is a very unequal tax and that it hits the poorest women in ou...

I totally agree. When you have no money left, having fed your kids and paid your bills, the cost ...

This problem of taxation on tampons and other sanitary products is one that, quite rightly, excit...

Will the hon. Gentleman clarify why he thinks that purchase tax, which was also applied to tampon...

Of course that tax was similarly egregious to women. I am happy to say that I was born in 1971, s...

I am just trying to help my hon. Friend. He was not old enough to have voted at that time. Actual...

Indeed. That is precisely the point. It is not because we are spinning-eyed nutcases that we wish...

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. In the other place not two minutes ago, their Lordships v...

Sir Edward, as you well know, it takes both Houses to agree. The subject has come before this Hou...

Further to that point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. The very fact that the hon. Member for Gainsbo...

Order. I am not getting into a debate on the merits or not of the subject. I have given my answer...

In ascending order of difficulty, there are another four things the Government could do. The firs...

I imagined that the hon. Gentleman and some of his colleagues would welcome the Government’s bein...

I remind the hon. Lady that I have added my name to the new clause. My point is that this situati...

It is genuinely a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Wycombe (Mr Baker). However he got to su...

In 1993 we were conducting the entire Maastricht referendum in order to get the results that the ...

The idea that if we do not ask a question we shall never find out the answer is an issue that is ...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

Go on then.

The International Development (Gender Equality) Act 2014 was nothing to do with the European Unio...

I will come on to issues of gender and equality on an international level, but I give the hon. Ge...

rose—

I will of course give way to the hon. Gentleman. It is like 20 years ago.

I do not remember the hon. Lady giving way 20 years ago. She was at the very fine Colchester coun...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for mentioning the school that I attended. I was incredibly lucky to g...

rose—

I have been very clear with the hon. Gentleman. Unless he is prepared to talk about the actual pr...

With respect to the question of sanitary towels and tampons, may I simply make this point? I reco...

And people say that progress cannot be made in this Chamber or that there cannot be cross-party a...

May I give my respects to the hon. Member for Dewsbury (Paula Sherriff) for bringing this debate ...

Order. The hon. Gentleman must remember that he is speaking through the Chair. I have made no pro...

My sincere apologies, Madam Deputy. [Interruption.] You have taken me way off track now.

In...

The Prime Minister has been traipsing around Europe of late begging and pleading with European le...

I certainly hope his visits around various European capitals have an awful lot on their agenda. F...

In response to the hon. Lady’s intervention, is not the point that there are so many issues we wa...

I agree with my hon. Friend. I hope progress can be made on very many areas, not least on this on...

I rise to speak to new clause 1, which also relates to VAT. I pay tribute to everyone who partici...

I was not going to speak in this debate, but I have decided to join in because it is a vital matt...

This debate is in great contrast to that taking place in the House of Lords. Here we are debating...

My hon. Friend mentions his environmental credentials, which I share, and also mentions sanitary ...

In this as in other respects, I have always favoured a woman’s right to choose. It is, of course,...

I do not know about the hon. Gentleman, but I am here because I had to stand in an election and m...

Well, we have the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, which are accountable to thei...

I welcome new clause 7 and hope that everyone can unite in supporting it. I do not think it goes ...

It is a pleasure to respond to the debate. Let me begin by congratulating the hon. Member for Wol...

It is not a question of inheritance tax being a “cash cow”; it is a question of whether we mainta...

The regime as it stands will affect more properties than it did under any of the Labour years. Th...

I put my name to this amendment because I have long thought that this is a bizarre and discrimina...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her remarks, and I will address that point in a moment.