Schedule 1
Finance (No. 2) Bill
11:30 am
Stephen Hesford (PPS (Rt Hon Baroness Amos, President of the Council), Privy Council Office; Wirral West, Labour)
With respect to the hon. Gentleman, it seems that he wants to have his cake and eat it. If he accepts that the Marks & Spencer judgment has to be made clear in the Bill, how can he argue on one hand that we have to implement it—that is, in favour of Marks & Spencer and the wider regime for tax relief for groups of companies throughout the European Union, which I understand is the essence of the judgment—and also argue that it is wrong of the UK Government to narrow the proposal as far as possible so that Marks & Spencer does not take over-advantage of that situation? Is the hon. Gentleman in favour of Marks & Spencer getting away with it or is he in favour of narrowing down to the bare minimum? Which is it?