Finance Bill

Jim Dickson Excerpts

Report stage
Monday 3rd March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Daisy Cooper]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for adding his support. I hope that he will join us in the Lobby later.

Finally, I will touch briefly on the Government amendments. The Chartered Institute of Taxation has provided a comprehensive briefing to all MPs on the 57 amendments to part 2 of the Bill. It is fair to say that the Government’s proposals on non-doms have been a little hodgepodge. The chartered institute is now strongly advocating for proper consultation. It warns that “uncertainty” that has been introduced through these measures and that the drafting of some amendments may inadvertently achieve the opposite of what the Government seek. On that note, I encourage Ministers to meet the Chartered Institute of Taxation and heed its warnings to ensure that measures are properly drafted and that no uncertainty is introduced through them.

The Liberal Democrats have tabled a number of new clauses, and we hope that colleagues will join us as we press them to the vote.

[Jim Dickson (Dartford) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to contribute once again to a debate on this important piece of legislation. A number of amendments have been tabled by hon. Members from across the House and, while I do not have time to cover them all, I will address the key ones.

As I said in Committee of the whole House, this is a crucial Bill that underpins the new Government’s aim of fixing a tax system that has become less fair and less sustainable over the last 14 years of Conservative government. I am conscious of the need to confine my remarks to the amendments rather than speaking to the Bill itself, but I remind everyone that the Bill was necessary because of the dire economic inheritance that the Government found on entering office last year.

[Graham Stuart]

The hon. Gentleman said that the tax system had become less fair over those 14 years. Does he oppose the increase in the tax burden paid by the higher paid? That is what happened over those 14 years. Does he not see it as fair that those on lower and average earnings saw their share of the tax take go down? Is he opposed to that? In what way precisely, from his deep understanding of the tax system, has he concluded that it has become less fair over the last 14 years?

[Jim Dickson]

When the last Government left office, taxes were at their highest level for 70 years. Thresholds have been frozen, bringing more workers into higher tax rates than was fair on them. The Labour Government are dedicated to trying to ensure that taxes are paid by those with the broadest shoulders and those best able to pay them.

[Graham Stuart]

rose—

[Jim Dickson]

If I might make a little progress before the right hon. Gentleman intervenes once more, that would be lovely.

Opposition Front-Benchers have tabled new clauses 1 to 8, which would require the Government to undertake a number of reviews of the impact of measures in the Bill, ranging from a requirement for the Chancellor to commission and publish an assessment of the expected impact of changes to energy, oil and gas profits levy on domestic energy production, the UK’s energy security, energy prices and the UK economy to a requirement on the Chancellor to publish an assessment of the impact of the changes in the Bill on the finances of households at a range of income levels. I gently remind Opposition Members that much of the information requested is already available. Details on tax liabilities are published by HMRC, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Office for Budget Responsibility, and the impacts of the changes set out in the autumn Budget are published in documents including the tax information and impact notes and the “Impact on households” report.

[Dr Luke Evans]

While we as politicians can read and scrutinise those real impacts, when pensioners who will have to pay tax on their state pension come to the hon. Gentleman’s surgeries—they will have to do a tax self-assessment or pay it back—how will he explain to them exactly what is going on? They will not have the technical ability—many will, but some will not—to understand why they are being taxed.

[Jim Dickson]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. He seems remarkably well informed already about the impact of the changes in the Budget, and I imagine that hon. Members across the House will be similarly well informed.

The Leader of the Opposition has outlined her desire for a British equivalent of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. I wonder how she can square that desire with the new clauses, which, if passed, would seem to duplicate work already done by the Government. That is hardly a model of efficiency—more like playing politics.

[Daisy Cooper]

In the Liberal Democrats’ new clause 8 on alcohol pricing, the hon. Member will see that we are asking not just for an impact assessment of the taxation raised, but for an assessment and estimation of the administrative and operational costs for the preceding 12 months already incurred by this fantastic part of our industry. Does he agree that an impact assessment of the red tape is important as well as the tax take for the Treasury?

[Jim Dickson]

I thank the hon. Member for that intervention. It seems to me that by writing to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and tabling parliamentary questions requesting that information, it would be more than possible for her to gain the data she requires and therefore, no doubt, make her case across the House.

New clause 2 refers to the Government’s changes to the oil and gas profits levy. Those crucial changes, which will see an increase in the rate of the levy to 38% from 35% and will raise in total £6 billion to underpin investment in delivering on our missions—getting the NHS back on its feet and supporting growth across the country—are laudable. I would not want to support any amendments that would put those benefits at risk.

New clause 4, tabled by the hon. Member for St Albans (Daisy Cooper), would require the Chancellor to conduct an impact assessment of the Bill on small and medium-sized enterprises. I am sympathetic to her desire to support small businesses, but I am unpersuaded that her new clause is the best way to do it. All the measures in the Budget had tax information and impact notes for them published with the Budget, and I remind everyone listening that it was a good Budget for small businesses.

As the Federation of Small Businesses said on the day,

“Against a challenging backdrop, today’s Budget shows a clear direction”—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

Order. We are debating the Finance Bill and the amendments to it, not the Budget.

[Jim Dickson]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I simply intend to illustrate why the changes proposed in the amendments do not help what the Government are attempting to achieve via the Finance Bill. The FSB said that the Budget

“shows a clear direction in business policy now for the whole of this Parliament to target support at small businesses, rather than big corporates”.

As hon. Members have stated, the Government are supporting SMEs by more than doubling the employment allowance, keeping the small profits rate stable, maintaining the annual investment allowance and freezing the small business rates multiplier. I ask hon. Members not to forget that this is an important piece of legislation underpinning measures announced at the Budget that will help fix the NHS, improve public services, incentivise capital investment and rebuild Britain.

[Sir Ashley Fox (Bridgwater) (Con)]

This Finance Bill implements the 2024 autumn Budget. That was a bad budget and this is a bad Bill. It punishes businesses, discourages entrepreneurship and raises taxes on those trying to make a living. It will lead to job losses, reduced investment and higher prices. It will lead to higher interest rates and higher Government debt, which will lead to lower growth. If we wanted to make a list of things that our economy did not need, this Finance Bill would be a good starting point.

The Bill is built on broken promises. The amendments tabled try to help the Government to keep their manifesto promises. During the election, Labour told the public that its plans were fully costed and fully funded. Its manifesto said that it would increase spending by £11 billion, so how can the Government now justify an increase in spending of £70 billion a year funded by an extra £40 billion in taxes and £30 billion in borrowing? Even if people believe the fairy story of the black hole told by Labour Members—I do not—£11 billion plus £22 billion does not equal £70 billion.

Is not the truth that the Labour party always planned a large increase in taxes and borrowing but did not have the courage to tell the British people in advance? The Chancellor and the Prime Minister insisted that working people would be protected, but it is now clear either that they were wrong or that they do not consider small business owners, publicans or farmers to be working people.