Clause 6
Finance Bill
6:45 pm
Jeremy Browne (Taunton, Liberal Democrat)
I have had very few. Indeed, I am not sure that I have had any, but my point is about the ability to break the promises made in a party manifesto on which a candidate stood at the general election. The honour or otherwise of holding to one’s commitments to the electorate cannot be measured by the number of letters one receives. Had the hon. Gentleman received 50 letters, would he feel a degree of guilt about not abiding by the Labour party commitment? Had he received 100 letters, would he feel totally ashamed? Had he received 150, would he resign as a member of the Committee, and had he received 200, would he resign as a Member of Parliament? The idea that the number of letters one receives is the measure by which one can judge whether it is appropriate to break one’s promises seems to me to be an entirely new concept, and one I suspect the electorate are less enthusiastic about than he is.