Sir Julian Lewis: I am disappointed that the Minister does not know of the example of the Chancellor who resigned from Attlee’s Government for inadvertently or otherwise leaking details of the Budget. Does he at least appreciate that there is a difference between speculating about the contents of a Budget and leaking a Budget, and does he think that there should be any punishment for people who leak a Budget, irrespective of whatever the details were?

[The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (James Murray): I repeat what I said about the approach of Ministers – every Minister in the Government takes their responsibility to the House seriously – and I will not engage in further speculation about the contents of the Budget.]