Finance Bill

The Economy Secretary knows that the distributional impact of the proposals is, as I have said, to spread the £3.6 billion burden from the top 2% to 10%. It is as simple as that. She knows that that is the case, and there is no way that she can wriggle out of that political and economic fact. Before the election, there was a promise that million pound estates would avoid inheritance tax—the top 5,000 households. At the last moment, the Chancellor stepped back and said, ““Oh no, at such difficult times, we won't give billions of pounds to the top few thousand households. Don't worry. Vote Tory.”” However, their secret plan was to have a word behind the scenes with their rich mates, telling them, ““Don't worry, we'll reverse the Labour party's old plan to make sure that the top 2% pay most.””