Finance (No. 4) Bill

Debate between Barry Gardiner and Anne McGuire

Monday 16th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Anne McGuire (Stirling) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Dover (Charlie Elphicke). I am always interested to hear people say that they are a poacher turned gamekeeper, because I always want to know what they did when they were a poacher. The hon. Gentleman laudably admitted that he was a tax lawyer, and it would be interesting to know whether, in giving people professional advice, he ever recommended that they set up tax-efficient systems for managing their taxes. I point out to him that, in more than 15 years in this House, I never once heard a Conservative Member ask the Labour Government to do anything about tax avoidance rules. There is too much piety among Government Members as they try to suggest that we wilfully ignored the matter of tax avoidance. I hope the hon. Gentleman will reflect on what his party was doing during those 15 years, while he was being a poacher, not a gamekeeper.

[Barry Gardiner]

If my right hon. Friend looks at all the Budget measures put through by the Labour Government, she will see that the average figure achieved by each measure to clamp down on tax avoidance was £1.8 billion. The most that this Government have managed is £0.8 billion.

[Mrs McGuire]

My hon. Friend the Member for Leeds West (Rachel Reeves) dealt ably with that point earlier today, and I am delighted that my hon. Friend the Member for Brent North (Barry Gardiner) has echoed her comments.