Phil Brickell

The hon. Member would do well to listen to what I have to say, and I will come to wealth taxation shortly, but I would appreciate it if she did not take that very condescending tone with me—I spent more than a decade working in the financial services industry myself. These measures have been taken because it is simply the right thing to do. When a nurse in Bolton hospital is paying a higher effective tax rate than someone making millions on property or shares, the system is not just broken; it is unfair. Thirdly, the Government have cracked down on tax-dodging, with more funding for HMRC to go after tax evaders and bring down the stubbornly high tax gap. That gap—the difference between what the Government are owed and what they actually collect—currently stands at almost £50 billion. That figure—50,000 times £1 million—is almost the size of the entire defence budget in 2023-24. Unlike the dearth of policy proposals from the Conservative party, I constructively implore the Government to continue tackling the enablers of dodgy tax schemes. Firms that promote aggressive tax avoidance schemes will now be held to account with fines of up to £1 million. I welcome that measure in particular.