Part of Finance Bill – in a Public Bill Committee am 6:15 pm ar 19 Mehefin 2012.
I will more politely answer the hon. Member for Easington, who is one of the two who has tabled amendments. He asked what the numbers add up to over five years. For one thing, he will be aware that the increases depend on the level of inflation. Secondly, he will of course wish to ask his own Front Bench team what they were doing in 2008 and 2010 to get those figures. As I said, the revenue from the increases was included in the public finance projections at that time, hence my suggestion about where he should direct that question.
Hon. Members will be aware that sticking with revenue plans as set out is vital for the economy. As the previous Government had already accounted for the revenue before it had been received, cancelling the increase would mean that we would have to raise other taxes to stay in the same position. I humbly suggest to the Committee that leaving a hole in the public finances would help nobody—not landlords, not pub drinkers nor anybody else in the UK economy—so we have decided to go no further than the policy we inherited from our predecessors and we have sought to safeguard revenue.