Amendment of the Law

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 4:55 pm on 21 March 2012.

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Photo of John Healey John Healey Labour, Wentworth and Dearne 4:55, 21 March 2012

It is a pleasure to follow Chris Heaton-Harris, and I think that the whole House is glad that he had more than three minutes and 52 seconds in which to speak today, because that allowed us to hear for the first time about his days as a fruit and veg man in Covent Garden and the speed of his e-mail downloads in Daventry. I have to say that we did not hear much that was new from the Chancellor, who spent an hour telling us what we have been reading in the newspapers for the past week. It makes me think how times have changed since Hugh Dalton was required to resign in 1947 over the leak of a single duty rate change. Nevertheless, in my experience announcements that look clever on Budget day often look less certain and more complex in the days that follow, and what often follows is that the economics behind the politics becomes much clearer. It seems valuable to recall the warning that Winston Churchill gave:

“We shall not be judged by the criticisms of our opponents, but by the consequences of our actions.”