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Mr. Peter Viggers (Gosport): Further to that point of order, Madam Speaker. I am the hon. Member who asked the question. I specifically asked about ACT and foreign dividends.
Mrs. Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham): On a point of order, Madam Speaker.
Madam Speaker: Is it related to the previous matter, which was not a point of order but a point of information? I will take only points of order.
Mrs. Gillan: It is a point of order of which I gave you notice earlier. It relates to the abuse by the President of the Board of Trade of the Standing Orders of the House. In the 1997 edition, under Standing Order No. 22(4), a Minister is required to give an answer on a named day. Earlier this week, I tabled six simple questions on matters of fact. I received six answers on the board yesterday which read:
- "I will reply to the hon. Member as soon as possible."
Mr. Dale Campbell-Savours (Workington): On a point of order, Madam Speaker.
Madam Speaker: Order. I am on my feet.
Mr. Campbell-Savours: It is on this matter.
Madam Speaker: I am on this matter. The hon. Lady may not like the answers that she has received, but they are in compliance with the Standing Orders of the House.
BILL PRESENTED
Education (Student Loans)
Mr. Secretary Blunkett, supported by the Prime Minister, Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Secretary Dewar, Secretary Marjorie Mowlam and Dr. Kim Howells, presented a Bill to make further provision with respect to public sector student loans: And the same was read the First time; and ordered to be read a Second time tomorrow, and to be printed [Bill 44].
Orders of the Day
Finance Bill
Order for Second Reading read.
4.36 pm
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. Alistair Darling): I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.
This is a further day of debate on this year's Finance Bill. We have had a four-day Budget debate. We had a day's debate yesterday effectively on the Finance Bill, in Opposition time, and today is the Second Reading debate. We have a further two full days on the Floor of the House next week and thereafter the Bill will go into Committee.
I spoke at some length on Monday evening and yesterday. I hope to be comparatively brief today, consistent, of course, with my obligations to introduce the Bill in the House. The Finance Bill implements the Budget introduced by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor last week, which set out the priorities for the Government and the people of Britain. The Finance Bill is designed to equip Britain for a long-term future and to ensure that everyone can share in higher living standards and greater job opportunities. It implements a Budget which looks to the long term rather than to the short-term interests that have been pursued in the recent past.
In the 10 weeks since we came to power, we have set out a clear strategy for achieving a prosperous and secure future for everyone. The Budget implements several measures that are a key part of that strategy. It is a Budget for economic stability. First and foremost, we wish to put an end to the repeated cycles of boom and bust. As we said earlier this afternoon in Question Time, we have inherited a fundamental weakness in the British economy. The Budget and other measures seek to put the country on a stable footing. We have tightened fiscal policy. We have set tough new rules on public borrowing and debt which build on other changes such as setting up the Monetary Policy Committee under the Bank of England to help enable us to meet our inflation target of 2.5 per cent.
This is also a Budget for investment. Along with stability, investment is a key to our economic success. It needs to be long-term investment. As my right hon. Friend the Chancellor has said before, at this stage in the economic cycle, investment levels ought to be far higher. They are lower than in many competitor countries. So the Budget and the Finance Bill include fundamental changes to the tax system, as well as targeted measures aimed at encouraging investment in business.
Our future depends not only on investment in business but investment in the people of our country as well as its infrastructure. My hon. Friend the Paymaster General has made major and far-reaching reforms to the private finance initiative, the fruits of which we are already beginning to see.
In particular, the Finance Bill introduces measures and programmes to get the young unemployed, the long-term unemployed and lone parents back into work. That is a fundamental part of our Budget strategy and part I of the Finance Bill implements it. Both measures are aimed at modernising the welfare state. If we are to have a stable
and prosperous future that is shared by everyone, we need to do far more to get people from welfare into work and to change the culture of the country.
The Budget is also about fairness, to which we are committed. The decisions that we have taken in the past few weeks, not least to reduce VAT on domestic fuel, which will help many poor people as well as many of the elderly, will demonstrate to people that this is a fair Budget. Part of the finance to pay for that cut has come from the abolition of tax-favoured treatment of private medical insurance, which benefited just a few people.
The Budget also protects the environment. High and stable levels of growth and employment must be achieved by environmentally sustainable means. The protection of the environment is at the core of the Government's tax objectives announced in the Budget.
My right hon. Friend the Chancellor has set out a strategy for stability, long-term investment, modernisation of the welfare state and a fair tax system. The Bill implements that strategy.
Before I discuss the Bill in detail, I should just like to say a word about the procedure that will be followed, about which there was much comment during business questions, which have just ended. My comments are directed not only to the House but to those who follow our proceedings and read accounts of them, because it is important that they, too, appreciate the position.
The length of the Budget debate was agreed through the usual channels, as was the start date for the Committee stage. We also agreed to the Opposition's request for a Committee of 35 members, which is quite large. Unfortunately, it was not possible to agree to an end date for the Committee. For that reason, we had no choice but to table a guillotine motion. It is in no one's interests that uncertainty should continue beyond the summer recess, and it is in everyone's interests that the Finance Bill should become law by August.
The Bill is short--less than half the length of the one produced last year. I acknowledge that it contains some controversial measures, but there is ample time for the Standing Committee and the House to consider amendments next week, although I am not aware that any amendments have been tabled so far.
The Standing Committee will meet for five days and have up to 10 sittings. Last year, it had 14 sittings, but the Bill was double the size of the current one. We have been more generous in our allocation of time than the previous Government. It may not have been apparent to Conservative Members as they sat in their ministerial offices, but, having endured 10 years in opposition, I am not aware that the then Government ever extended to us, the then Opposition, the courtesies that we are now extending to the current Opposition. We have endeavoured to co-operate at every single stage. It is a matter of regret that the Treasury Whip has been unable to pursue discussions with his opposite number about the timetable during the Committee stage. That, after all, would enable Conservative Members to discuss the very issues that I know that they and outside interests want to discuss.
We have seen what happened to our provisions to scrap the assisted places scheme and our proposals to allow a referendum on Scottish devolution: Conservative
Members used the tactic of filibustering. We therefore have every right to be concerned that if we do not take action to ensure orderly debate, many of the controversial measures that concern people inside and outside the House may not receive the scrutiny that they deserve.
Some of us remember the Finance Bill of 1992, when the then Government imposed a guillotine at a similarly early stage in the proceedings. They did so to ensure that we did not reach the new clauses and our motion to reduce the rate of VAT. There is therefore a precedent for our action.
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