Finance Bill

I have already acknowledged the benefit of gift aid as having an ameliorating impact on the consequences of irrecoverable VAT for charities; that reasonable point has already been acknowledged. At the end of the day, this issue needs to be addressed, but I do not want to go back to a Second Reading debate on how we get the proper balance of measures. I would have thought that, across the Committee, the balance of Members would agree, as I do, with what the Chancellor announced on Budget day—that those most capable of making a contribution should pay most and the vulnerable should be protected. The VAT rise raises questions about whether the vulnerable are sufficiently protected by the range of measures in the Budget as a whole.