Finance Bill

I am grateful to you, Mr Hood, for your guidance. I should like to concentrate my brief remarks in this debate on amendment 55, which is in my name. It is similar to amendment 22, tabled by the hon. Member for Nottingham East (Chris Leslie), which introduces the concept of a sunset clause. I am particularly grateful to the hon. Member for Foyle (Mark Durkan) for highlighting the approach taken by the Treasury in bringing forward tax policy, and particularly for his reference to paragraph 3.17 of the Treasury document, which states that""the Government will consider greater use of sunset clauses or a trigger for an evaluation in legislation."" I welcome the Government's approach in that respect. This is an emergency Budget with emergency measures being brought forward, one of the most dramatic of which, and the one that has perhaps been the focus of more significant debate than any other, is on VAT. In those circumstances, it is reasonable to argue that an emergency measure should be subject to some time-limiting once the emergency can be considered to have passed. I have made my assessment on the basis of no special ability beyond that of anyone else in the Chamber—although perhaps the hon. Member for Nottingham East has greater insight into how long emergencies last. My amendment 55 would provide for a two-year emergency period. I think it a reasonable assumption that the provision should at least contain a sunset clause, so that the Government can assess the impact of the measure on the economy, and recognise that it is an emergency measure brought forward in an emergency Budget in an emergency situation, and that we should have a knife and a time after which the situation can be reviewed.