Finance Bill

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention. He might have missed some of our earlier exchanges on these amendments, but it is fair to say that concerns have been raised about the way in which the Budget gets the balance right, and the way in which we might achieve circumstances in which those who did the most to drop the country into this mess were seen to be doing the most to pull it out again. This has been a theme throughout our debate. I reflected earlier on news that was reported today. I was not at the British Bankers Association dinner last night when the Financial Secretary to the Treasury proposed certain new measures that were not in the Budget. They would result in additional taxation of the banks' bonuses and profits. That would be over and above the banking levy, which Liberal Democrat Members were particularly pleased to see incorporated in the Budget. I do not wish to stray beyond the subject matter of the amendments, Mr Hancock, but if we are talking about removing the capacity of the Budget to increase the tax yield in a particular area, it is important to indicate where we might recover that tax from. For example, we should perhaps be looking at a banking levy of 0.04%, going up to 0.07%, possibly with a view to increasing it. I welcome last night's announcement by the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, however, and I hope that we shall hear more about that matter, because I think that it is taking the policy in the right direction.