Finance Bill

We will all agree that the whole area of charity taxation needs serious examination in this debate, and perhaps the Government will review it in future. However, perhaps the right hon. Gentleman will remind us whether, in the 13 years in which the Labour Government were in office, they exempted the charities from the proposed increase in national insurance. In fact, it cost charities a lot. During consideration in Committee of what became the Finance (No. 2) Act 2005—it was the first Finance Bill Committee I served on—charities complained a lot about the Labour Government restricting the scope of gift aid. They did not help charities out then. When income tax was reduced, they did not allow charities to recover the difference. This enthusiasm for protecting charities from tax changes is therefore somewhat new-found on Labour's part.