Clause 4
Finance Bill
6:00 pm
Jeremy Browne (Shadow Chief Secretary To the Treasury, Treasury; Taunton, Liberal Democrat)
We are discussing a Conservative amendment, too, so I am not going to go into a detailed discussion about that. I have made it quite clear that my party and I are sympathetic to proposals to simplify the system and reduce the array of relief and credits so that the headline rate can be decreased. We are sympathetic to what the hon. Gentleman’s party is putting forward, and we could have an interesting discussion. However, I am trying to draw to the attention of his Front Bench team, to him as Whip, to his party and, indeed to the Committee as a whole, the fact that the purpose of the Conservative party in tabling the amendment was to paint themselves as being more instinctively pro-business that the Labour Government. What we have just found out, interestingly, is that the Conservative party is committed to exactly the same level of overall taxation on British business as the Labour party.