Clause 1 - Amendment of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988
Pension Annuities (Amendment) Bill
9:00 am
Mr David Curry (Skipton and Ripon, Conservative)
I fear that if I were to enter into too great a discursive debate on the Bill, you would call me to order, Mr. Stevenson, as that was the purpose of Second Reading. As I understand it, the Committee stage is focused on amendments tabled.
We are discussing definitions. As I said, the Government's amendments would destroy the Bill. There is no point pretending otherwise. This is the definitional phase. I merely want to know whether this is the hors d'oeuvres to the feast that the Minister will have later or, as she said, an exclusively technical amendment to enable my Bill—whether she likes it or later destroys it—to work more effectively. If that is the case, I will take her word for it because I believe that that is the correct way to behave in Committee. If it is not, I depend on her to tell me if my interpretation is right. I should like her reassurance that amendment No. 16 would not remove the supervisory framework from the Bill, as my colleagues and I believe would happen.
I need clarification of where amendment No. 15 applies because I have not yet managed to clag it into the Bill—to use an expression that you might understand, Mr. Stevenson. Amendment No. 16 would remove the concept of retirement income fund and simply transfer that appellation to an existing mechanism. Those are my concerns.