Corporation Tax Bill

My Lords, if there was an award to be given for Members of your Lordships’ House who have sat through every debate on tax rewrites since their inception, I would win it. However, I would not deserve it; the only people who deserve anything from this process are those who have worked very hard on it over the years. We are deeply indebted to them, although we are not as deeply indebted as the people who will now use the legislation in their day-to-day business. It is a tremendous piece of work and those who have done it are to be congratulated on it. I do not intend to open a debate on tax competitiveness on the basis of this Bill, although I say to the noble Baroness that, if she thinks that the tax competitiveness of the UK will be substantially improved by the Conservative Party’s proposals, she is living in a dream world. However, at this time of night, that is not the kind of dream world that I wish to contemplate. Therefore, I wish the Bill godspeed.