Finance Bill

Yes—but it depends for how long the candle exists before it is blown out. That is the issue. I fear that the candles have been blown out already. In terms of child poverty, the Liberals have signed up for eradication in 2020. The Minister stood at that Dispatch Box last week and said that there are four criteria to the Child Poverty Act 2012. But the Government have given their commitment to one of those criteria only for the next two years and ignored the other three. If I have one criticism of my colleagues on the Treasury Committee for their June 2010 Budget, it is that there was no mention of child poverty. I hope this mild statement here will propel them to ensure that child poverty is taken into account. I am being followed by the noble Lord, Lord Skidelsky, the expert on Keynes. Keynes did not believe in deficits for the sake of it. Sam Brittan said that the Government’s approach is not like that of households. When households and businesses do not spend, the Government step it. That is why we have had quantitative easing. There is an awful lot in this Budget that we still need to look at. I hope if recovery stalls that the Government will listen and that it will not be too late. Finally, I note that the Brokeback utterances mentioned at the weekend by my good friend in the Commons, David Davis, took place in the Boot & Flogger pub in London. I would suggest to you that the Liberals will get the boot if they are insufficiently authoritative with their influence and that the Tories, if their PR strategy fails and their narrative is rejected, will be flogging a dead manifesto and will have to live with the consequences. Dealing with those generalities not specific to the Budget, I am delighted to contribute to this debate.