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6.15 pm
Mr. Jack: The speech of the hon. Member for Bristol, South (Ms Primarolo) was a tired speech, from a tired Opposition. We ran Opposition Members hard in this Finance Bill, and they are now staggering exhausted from the Chamber because of the excellence of our arguments.
I thank my hon. Friends the Members for Ludlow(Mr. Gill) and for Beaconsfield (Mr. Smith) and my right hon. Friend the Member for Wirral, West (Mr. Hunt) for their kind words and felicitations to my right hon. and hon. Friends and myself on how we dealt with the Bill. We enjoyed working with them on it. We also enjoyed the speech of the hon. Member for Sherwood(Mr. Tipping), who has taken such an interest in bingo, except that my bingo hall's call for No. 10 is "Major's there", and they all shout, "And he's going to stay there for a long time."
The hon. Member for Bristol, South concluded the proceedings for the Opposition by chastising us on jobs. I am sorry that she has not, while preparing her lengthy oration today, had an opportunity to read my remarks of yesterday in more detail, when I put on record the excellence of what we have done in the sphere of job creation and work, and how our policies in the Finance Bill will deliver even more.
I have posted a copy of "The UK at Work: Key Facts" to the hon. Member for Oxford, East (Mr. Smith), and I shall do the same for the hon. Member for Bristol, South. To save her a little reading time, however, I shall remind her that
I am glad that we are down towards the bottom of the European unemployment league. That is a proud record of fact that the Government will stand on and defend in any court that the hon. Lady chooses.
If we are as bad as the hon. Lady said, how does she account for the fact that we are No. 1 for inward investment in Europe? That investment is still growing, and it will be sustained by this Finance Bill. The Bill makes into law a Budget for confident growth, for the long-term prosperity of this country.
My right hon. Friend the Member for Wirral, West pointed out one of the missing facts about Labour in relation to the Finance Bill. Its performance was lamentable. One year ago, my right hon. Friend the then Financial Secretary asked Labour Members these questions:
Labour Members have had a year to think of answers to those questions, and they have failed so to do. We teased that fact out in the debate on this Finance Bill.
I thought that we might soon be able to get those answers, because the right hon. Member for Sedgefield (Mr. Blair) is to hold a ballot on his party's manifesto.As a result, 365,000 party members will be consulted on all the Labour party policies, but when it comes to tax and spending, what will those members decide on? Nothing, because those facts and figures will be missing, just as they were during the Opposition's deliberations on the Finance Bill.
The Opposition's policy on the Finance Bill was, "When in doubt, ask the Government for a report.We don't have any ideas, but we'd love to have some assistance from the quality side of the House with the facts." They proposed reports on Customs and Excise simplification, lower taxation of savings vehicles, charitable events, the environment, shipping and employment. They were all a substitute for any ideas of their own. Their paucity of contribution was lamentable.
When the Opposition did contribute, what did they do with their time? They did not scrutinise any of the Bill's content on stamp duty. No, they saved their allocation of time to spend well over an hour and a quarter arguing about a simple and beneficial change to keep Britain's motoring heritage on our roads. Such were the Opposition's priorities in Committee. Instead of putting to the test of debate their proposals for a 10p tax and a windfall tax, they evaporated against the searing heat of debate from my right hon. and hon. Friends. I am delighted that the Opposition have now seen the error of their ways.
The Finance Bill dealt adequately with self-assessment and revealed the depth of our preparations for it.On fairness, the Bill took three more steps towards the introduction of the 20p tax. The Bill's efforts to improve
investment are borne out by the most recent survey conducted by the Confederation of British Industry, which showed investment intentions up 9 per cent. in January. We have more than adequately justified our record on jobs.
As for the Opposition's false accusation about the tax decrease being equivalent to 1p down and 7p up, let us remember the dishonesty of the Opposition when they published their previous borrowing policies. They disguised tax increases to the tune of 10p on the basic rate. The Opposition failed to address that policy proposal. We have addressed the issue of the £850 million in the Red Book. There will be no double tax hit as a result of self-assessment, which will be well administered when it is introduced.
The Opposition failed in all their attempts to convince the Government of any of their ideas--in fact, they put few ideas before us.
The Finance Bill takes forward the long-term strategy of my right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor for the prosperity and growth of the country. The country will be well rewarded when the House passes the Bill into law tonight.
Question put and agreed to.
Bill accordingly read the Third time, and passed.
Motion made, and Question put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 101(6) (Standing Committees on Delegated Legislation).
Question agreed to.
Motion made, and Question put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 101(6) (Standing Committees on Delegated Legislation).
Question agreed to.
Motion made, and Question put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 102(9) (European Standing Committees).
Question agreed to.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.--[Dr. Liam Fox.]
Mr. Deputy Speaker (Sir Geoffrey Lofthouse):
Before I call the Minister, I must inform the House that Madam Speaker has placed a 10-minute limit on the speeches of all Back Benchers.
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Mr. Douglas Hogg):
On 20 March, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and I came to the House to inform right hon. and hon. Members of the latest advice that we had received from the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee regarding bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle and its possible link with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.
Our statements addressed three issues: first, the possible relationship between BSE and CJD; secondly, the assessment of the safety of British beef; and, thirdly, the steps that we propose to take further to ensure the safety of British beef.
I would summarise what my right hon. Friend and I said as follows. First, the most likely explanation of the 10 tragic cases of CJD was exposure to beef before 1989. Secondly, in order to reinforce the already very tough restrictions on the disposal of offal, certain additional steps should be taken--for example, a requirement that all meat from older cattle should be deboned and a ban on the feeding of mammalian feed to all farm animals. Thirdly, provided the controls were vigorously implemented and enforced, the risk of eating British beef was extremely small: or, to use normal language, British beef was safe.
Last weekend SEAC met again and on Monday it presented further advice to Government. That further advice was reflected in two further statements that my right hon. Friend and I made on 25 March.
The substance of the further advice that we received was that, first, SEAC confirmed its previous opinion regarding the relationship between CJD and BSE. Secondly, it reaffirmed its opinion that, provided the controls were rigorously adhered to, the risks involved in eating beef were very low. Lastly, in its opinion, the risks to children were no greater than the risks to others.In addition, SEAC made some further recommendations regarding the disposal of offal, which we accept.
"Workforce in employment has increased by 2.0 million since March 1983.
1.3 million more self-employed than in 1979.
UK unemployment is lower than EC average . . . Spain (22.2 per cent.), Ireland (14.67 per cent.), France (11.6 per cent.) and Italy (12.6 per cent.)"
"Will they spend more or less than a Conservative Government? Will they tax more or less than a Conservative Government?Will they borrow more or less than a Conservative Government?"--[Official Report, 4 April 1995; Vol. 257, c. 1616.]
That the draft Sheriffdoms (Alteration of Boundaries) Order 1996, which was laid before this House on 8th March, be approved.--[Dr. Liam Fox.]
That the draft Employment Protection (Continuity of Employment of National Health Service Employees) (Modification) Order 1996, which was laid before this House on 8th March, be approved.--[Dr. Liam Fox.]
That this House takes note of European Community Document No. 9674/95, relating to controls at the internal frontiers of the Community; agrees that the United Kingdom's frontier controls on the movement of persons are essential for controlling immigration and to help combat terrorism, drug trafficking and other serious crime; agrees that the Government should take whatever steps are necessary to ensure the maintenance of controls at the United Kingdom's frontiers with other member states of the European Union; and therefore supports the Government's opposition to the Commission's proposals.--[Dr. Liam Fox.]
6.22 pm
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