Finance Bill

The Minister is rather gratuitously missing the point. The Government have never made that clear when they proclaim that the Budget is progressive. I can make their sums add up to that conclusion only by including the March measures of the Labour Government. That is an astonishing thing to do. Will the Minister agree to desist from claiming that this Budget has those effects? Does he agree with the Treasury Select Committee that a proper analysis of the income redistribution effects of measures announced this year should include the public expenditure cuts and that they should be looked at together? The noble Lord, Lord Razzall, and I persistently have asked these questions. This is an opportunity for answers. They are serious questions and they need serious answers.