SELDOM does a week go by without a meeting or discussion that gives me genuine pause for thought. Last Friday, a passionate and well-informed group of local Christian Aid supporters put the case for transparency in corporate tax affairs.

I have previously met with the Minister on this issue and our country is leading the world in promoting transparency and is working with other leading countries to force companies trading here to declare the registration of assets and activities elsewhere in the world.

However, we also discussed the need to consider whether unilateral transparency would have a negative effect on our economy, encouraging companies to relocate to countries with less rigorous tax transparency regimes.

I have nothing but admiration for the principles of fairness espoused by Christian Aid but I do not believe a responsible government should inadvertently damage its own economy and impoverish its citizens to the gain of no one. We must pursue points of principle while also being ready to come to terms with and account for unintended consequences.

This week, High Speed 2 is coming back to the Commons. This is a controversial piece of legislation and, as with all major infrastructure projects, the true balance of cost versus benefit can only be known through a combination of reasonably assured projections and some measure of speculation.

But what resonates with me are the words of the excellent new Archbishop of Canterbury, who recently said that coming to London from Durham felt like moving to another country.

HS2 has the potential to bring north and south significantly closer together.

The value for money argument needs to be clarified and more widely understood before we commit to a project that appears to take such a bite out of the renewal budget for the rest of the rail network.

On Friday I head off early to speak at a south-west housing conference in Plymouth, but I look forward to returning in time to support the Mayor of Wilton at the opening of the town’s business expo on Saturday morning. I am also pleased to be able to return to Salisbury for the public meeting at the Guildhall next Wednesday promoting Salisbury’s new Sixth Form College.