Finance Bill

I am a novice in Finance Bill debates and have not generally spoken in them in the past—I tend to go off and do international development, DEFRA issues and housing. I therefore do not necessarily feel qualified to make judgments about what type of measures—harsh or otherwise—are likely to have the most satisfactory impact on the markets. Others in the House will perhaps have more experience of how to satisfy the markets. My starting point is an assumption that, in its entirety, the bundle of proposed tax rises and public spending cuts in the Budget is at about the right level. The question that we should be debating is: have we got the measures right within that overall figure? That brings us to whether we have addressed the option of a VAT rise as opposed to, for example, an increase in the banking levy, or a further increase in capital gains tax or corporation tax.