James Murray

Of course they are. If the hon. Member wants to talk about defending the indefensible, I wonder how he ever stands up in this place to talk about the previous Conservative Government because that must be an insurmountable challenge. I hope that he would welcome what the Chancellor announced at the Budget to give breathing space to businesses because it will mean that more than 70,000 small retail, hospitality and leisure properties are taken out of paying business rates altogether, that pubs will have a 20% cut in their business rates from next April and that business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure premises of all sizes will either fall or be frozen in real terms. In addition to business rates, many firms will benefit from our freeze on red diesel duty and from the reduction in energy bills by up to 25% for more than 10,000 eligible businesses from next April through the British industrial competitiveness scheme. That is what breathing space for businesses looks like, alongside the breathing space for families. As I said earlier, the bedrock of our approach—our lodestar—to the public finances is fiscal discipline. That is why the Budget set out how we will fully fund all new policy and breathing space measures for families and businesses. In deciding his approach, the Chancellor rejected broad-based tax rises, instead taking decisions about tax changes that are fair, proportionate and targeted. That included having banks help pay for the energy help for households this winter through a temporary increase to the bank surcharge and an increase in machine games duty for higher-stakes machines to help fund cuts for business rates.