Dr Oonagh McDonald: The Chief Secretary cannot be allowed to get away with that sort of nonsense. He knows that it is nonsense. We have made our priorities clear inside and outside the House. We have made it clear that our priority is to raise child benefit and pensions, and, indeed, the tax burden on those on well above average incomes will be increased. That is only fair and we are looking for fairness. To...
Dr Oonagh McDonald: The figures that I used were the Treasury's own figures taken over the years 1979 to 1986. The 21 per cent. increase was for the highest decile only. The Treasury must make up its mind which are the true figures and which are the false figures. It is clear that the true figures are the ones that the Government find most uncomfortable. The right hon. Gentleman made his little joke about the...
Dr Oonagh McDonald: What is it then?
Dr Oonagh McDonald: I beg to move, To leave out Clause 20. Congratulations are in order on the way in which you conducted the Committee stage, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I do not know how many words per minute you uttered, but I am sure that the speed exceeds most records and perhaps it should be checked for the "Guinness Book of Records". We went rather quickly through many technical or unexceptional clauses in the...
Dr Oonagh McDonald: I do not think that the hon. Gentleman has been following the argument. The point is that even the changes proposed in the Finance Bill, which we are now finally considering and voting on, will make virtually no difference to the proportion of income taken in tax and national insurance contributions last year and this year. To help the hon. Gentleman, I shall give those figures. Before the...
Dr Oonagh McDonald: No, I would like to continue my argument. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will have plenty of time to study the matter.
Dr Oonagh McDonald: No, I shall not give way. I wish to continue. I have already made it perfectly clear that if one is talking about the proportion of earnings taken in income tax and national insurance contributions, the figures are all there.
Dr Oonagh McDonald: I was going to consider such matters, so I shall incorporate my answer to the hon. Gentleman into that. The question I was asked just now—
Dr Oonagh McDonald: The hon. Gentleman should not be so impatient. The point that I was making was that withdrawing the 2p cut, or abandoning the changes that the Government have proposed, would make little difference to most earners who pay tax and national insurance contributions. If one makes those changes, and especially if one requires the higher rate taxpayer to make a fairer contribution to the Exchequer...
Dr Oonagh McDonald: If the hon. Gentleman does not understand, I suggest that he goes away and does some homework on that matter. On tax, a Conservative Member mentioned from a sedentary position the increase in earnings after tax and national insurance. I should like to point out to Conservative Members that the poorest wage earners have seen only a 2·9 per cent. increase in their real earnings between April...
Dr Oonagh McDonald: The evidence is the Treasury's own analysis. I think that the average is about 8 per cent. However, it is an extremely distorted average figure—[Interruption.] The average is certainly not 21 per cent. The Financial Secretary had better study the tables that are provided by the Treasury. Perhaps he simply put his name to them, or glanced at them without giving them any consideration. The...
Dr Oonagh McDonald: No, I have given way two or three times already and I do not want to prolong this debate. I have just explained to the hon. Gentleman—
Dr Oonagh McDonald: No, I shall not give way. I shall tell the hon. Gentleman all over again in case he does not understand the point. If one considers those earning anything from 700 per cent. to 2,000 per cent. of average male earnings, one finds a substantial drop in the proportion of tax and national insurance that is taken from their gross earnings.
Dr Oonagh McDonald: No, I shall not give way. I have discussed the proportions and spelled out the tables. I suggest that before the election, the hon. Gentleman goes away and reads the appropriate columns from the Official Report of Friday 27 March. Perhaps then, unusually, the hon. Gentleman will tell his constituents the truth about taxation under the Tories. I can assure the House that Ministers and other...
Dr Oonagh McDonald: The hon. Gentleman is perfectly well aware that I am replying. We have taken the opportunity of this debate to show the public that they have been paying from their pockets for the benefit of the few. The Government will squander billions of pounds, as they already have done, to benefit those on £1,000 or £2,000 a week, while those who have little more than that to live on a year are...
Dr Oonagh McDonald: Is the Minister aware that, to ensure good recruitment to the Civil Service, the Government must appear to be a good employer? Is he further aware that after eight years of mismanagement including the dismantling of the pay research unit, low pay and under-staffing, and capped by the abolition of trade union rights at GCHQ, the Government cannot convince anyone that they will be a good...
Dr Oonagh McDonald: I do not wish to oppose the amendment. Nevertheless, it is somewhat surprising to find legal obstacles to the introduction of EFTPOS being dealt with at this stage of the Bill, and, as the hon. Gentleman has just said, in advance of a full review of banking services. He will no doubt be aware that consumer associations and consumers in general may have certain anxieties about the way in which...
Dr Oonagh McDonald: I rise, not to comment on the amendment, but to thank the Minister for his remarks and to say that Opposition Members, both here and in another place, have been glad of the opportunity to improve the legislation. Members of all parties have an interest in seeing that banks are properly supervised, and the legislation which will shortly be on the statute book provides much of the necessary...
Dr Oonagh McDonald: My remarks will be even briefer on amendment No. 23. I thank the Economic Secretary for ensuring that the amendment that I proposed in Committee has been put forward in the other place and is now part of the Bill.
Dr Oonagh McDonald: The Minister will know that we welcomed these amendments when they were moved in the other place, but we note that they go pretty wide. It is proper that an investigation should be thoroughly carried out and should include related companies as well. The Minister will know that companies may, for one reason or another, find themselves over 20 per cent. owned by an authorised institution,...