division_name: Bill Presented &#8212; Constitutional Convention (No. 2) Bill &#8212; Finance Bill
motion: <p class="" pid="a.1387.3/1" pwmotiontext="yes">I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.</p>
  
  <p class="" pid="a.1387.3/2" pwmotiontext="yes">As my right hon. Friend the Chancellor set out in the recent Budget, the British economy is fundamentally stronger than it was five years ago. The deficit has been halved as a percentage of GDP; for the first time since 2001-02 debt as a share of GDP is falling; the UK was the fastest growing economy in the G7 in 2014, and we are expected to repeat that in 2015, too. We have more individuals in work than ever before, and wages continue to rise above inflation.</p>
  
  <p class="" pid="a.1405.4/1" pwmotiontext="yes">I beg to move an amendment, to leave out from &#8220;That&#8221; to the end of the Question and add:</p>
  
  <p class="" pid="a.1405.4/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;this House declines to give a Second Reading to the Finance Bill because it fails to address the real economic needs of the country, continues to deepen the social divide between those who have and those who have not, restricts the financial discretion of the Scottish Government over its resources, fails to tackle the iniquity of the Scottish Police and Fire and Rescue Services being unable to reclaim VAT, creates unintended consequences for small challenger banks and building societies whose capital comes from retained profits, removes the exemption from the climate change levy of renewable energy resources and, in combination with welfare changes announced in the Summer Budget 2015 and inheritance tax changes, takes from people on low and middle incomes and gives to the very richest.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p pid="a.1452.4/1" pwmotiontext="yes"><i>Question put, </i>That the amendment be made.</p>
  
  <p class="italic" pid="a.1452.4/2" pwmotiontext="yes">The House divided:</p>
  
  <p pid="a.1452.4/3" pwmotiontext="yes">Ayes 61, Noes 307.</p>