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Donate to our crowdfunderPaul Goodman: Can the Economic Secretary confirm for the record that no Government Minister has ever publicly opposed a planning application in his or her constituency?
Paul Goodman: I beg to move amendment No. 6, page 14, line 9, leave out sub-paragraph (a).
Paul Goodman: First, we welcome Government amendment No. 1, on the regulations referred to in the clause. The Economic Secretary wrote about them to my hon. Friend the shadow Chief Secretary and the hon. Gentleman will doubtless address them in a moment. Our amendment No. 6 makes a relatively minor inquiry about a small part of the clause. It is not entirely clear why it is necessary to write it in the...
Paul Goodman: Certainly, the interest groups, whether house builders or green groups, have on the whole been pretty unenthusiastic in their responses to the proposals. Perhaps the Economic Secretary will be able to enlighten us on that point. In Committee, the Economic Secretary said: "He asked me what my forecast was for 2012. We do not have a forecast". He also said: "the build-up will not be linear, or...
Paul Goodman: My right hon. Friend makes a vital point about the stability and certainty that any such scheme could reasonably be expected to provide and that those who might seek to invest in it would surely look for. I shall return to that in a moment. The Economic Secretary also said: "It may well be that the target will be reached faster than in that non-linear projection; it may well be that that...
Paul Goodman: Will the hon. Gentleman state for the record that he would be happy for the Financial Secretary to come to the House next year with a scheme whose regulations the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues will not have an opportunity to amend?
Paul Goodman: In all honesty, should not the Financial Secretary thank the Liberals for proposing that he have the power to bring forward, within a year, regulations that they would not be able to amend?
Paul Goodman: In so far as is practicable, can the hon. Lady explain why her vehicle excise duty proposal, about which her hon. Friends spoke so passionately last year, has not been retabled?
Paul Goodman: I want to pay two compliments to the hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Danny Alexander). First, he undoubtedly spoke from the heart on behalf of his constituents. Secondly, in putting the proposal together, his party has made some attempt to listen to some of the criticisms that were ventilated in relation to last year's proposals, which he mentioned, and to which I...
Paul Goodman: I am sure that the hon. Gentleman is correct, and I think that he made that point in the same debate last year. Last year, the hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey attempted to alleviate such problems by proposing lower rates of fuel duty in remote areas. The Liberals also tabled an amendment to raise band G vehicle excise duty rates in general, but in some areas to cut...
Paul Goodman: The hon. Gentleman did make that point, but that is not in the proposal that is before us to vote on. He proposes giving the Minister power to define such matters in regulations; I shall return to that point later. There are further questions. What are the qualifying criteria for retail outlets? How is the identity of the person claiming the rebate to be verified? Should the proposal be met...
Paul Goodman: I am grateful to the Financial Secretary for that information. I am not saying that all these questions are incapable of resolution; plainly they are, or at least might be, capable of resolution. None the less, the terms of the new clause, on which the House will presumably be asked to vote, are, like last year's proposals, not a workable solution. I want to explain why.
Paul Goodman: I am tempted to reply that when we get a workable solution, rather than three unworkable proposals, we will respond with our own; my answer, however, is that I will come to that precise point in a moment, and explain why we might have been able to support the new clause had it been formed in a slightly different way. A Bill is amendable, but regulations are not. Under the new clause, before...
Paul Goodman: The debate has demonstrated the widespread concern throughout the House about creeping retrospection, as was evident from the comments made by my right hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood) and my hon. Friend the Member for Braintree (Mr. Newmark). The hon. Member for Falmouth and Camborne (Julia Goldsworthy) reminded the House of a point that I omitted to make: the issue of...
Paul Goodman: The Financial Secretary cannot argue that a tax is not retrospective just because it was pre-announced. The rise was voted on as part of the Budget resolutions, and will be voted on again during the course of this Finance Bill, but it is backdated to February.
Paul Goodman: I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
Paul Goodman: We have been proceeding so far on the amiable basis of consensus. I hope that we can go further and hear shortly that the Financial Secretary accepts the new clause. It aims to forestall and prevent creeping retrospection from polluting the Government's finance legislation. I intend to speak to it, as well as to the amendments tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Mr. Chope)...
Paul Goodman: On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. You may have seen that Mr. Ijaz-ul-Haq, the religious affairs Minister of Pakistan, is reported to have said the following about the award of a knighthood to Salman Rushdie: "If someone exploded a bomb on his body he would be right to do so, unless the British Government...withdraws the 'sir' title." The Minister then went on to praise suicide...
Paul Goodman: The point of order is this, Madam Deputy Speaker. Those remarks can reasonably be read as incitement to terrorism in Britain. Have you had any notice that Ministers are prepared to come before the House to say whether they have demanded that the Government of Pakistan disassociate themselves from Mr. Ijaz-ul-Haq's pro-terror remarks, and have condemned them unreservedly?
Paul Goodman: The Minister did not mention equality in his original answer, so may I ask him this about the Chancellor's legacy: has the ratio of incomes of the top 20 per cent. compared with the bottom 20 per cent. risen or fallen since the Chancellor took office in 1997?