Finance Bill

Is not the hon. Gentleman's point an illustration of the Government's approach in the Budget? The purpose of the Budget as a whole is to restore confidence, but it will do so only if harsh measures are implemented right across the board. Therefore, trying to unpick any of those harsh measures will undermine that confidence, as well as the objective that the Government have set themselves, which is to satisfy the financial markets. That is the difficulty with the Government's approach: it is all or nothing, because the measures have to be harsh enough to satisfy the financial markets.