Finance (No. 4) Bill

Ben Wallace Excerpts

Wednesday 18th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Cathy Jamieson]

The hon. Lady makes a good point, and it will be interesting to see how she votes at the end of the debate.

If I were to go back to Brownings, my local baker, and purchase two vegan Killie pies, one to eat there and then and one to take home for another day, would one or both be VATable, to use the term the Chancellor used before the Select Committee?

[Mr Ben Wallace (Wyre and Preston North) (Con)]

rose—

[Cathy Jamieson]

I will give way—I was going to say “to my hon. Friend”, but he is actually my former colleague from another place.

[Mr Wallace]

The hon. Lady will know that Kilmarnock has some of the best fish and chip shops in Scotland. If she were not a vegan, she would certainly know that. Is she really saying that her party wants to maintain the competitive disadvantage that her local fish and chip shops have? Is she really supporting the big supermarkets and chains that will put those small chip shops out of business by ensuring that that loophole is exploited?

[Cathy Jamieson]

I am sure that the hon. Gentleman patronises many of those chip shops on his regular visits to my part of the world—and sometimes to my constituency. I hope that he will go to Brownings the bakers and have a Killie pie, if he has not already had one. The point that he makes does not negate the fact that it is primarily the smaller bakers—the so-called artisan bakeries and those that produce traditional products—that are going to have a problem as a result of this tax.

I want to return to my point about whether one or both of my two vegan Killie pies would be VATable. I am unsure whether “to VAT” is actually a verb that would provide us with the word “VATable”. I am, however, aware that the word “ambient” has its roots in the Latin word for “going round”. The Chancellor’s reputation, if not his ambitions for the future, seems to be going round in ever-decreasing circles as a result of this furore.

The Treasury Committee employed its usual straightforward way with words when it stated:

“We recommend that, where changes to complex areas of taxation are proposed, the greatest possible supporting material be published to allow for greater scrutiny of the possibility of unintended consequences.”

Those are extremely wise words—[Interruption.] I am happy to take an intervention from those Government Members who are mocking the wise words of the Treasury Committee.