Clause 78
Finance (No. 2) Bill
5:30 pm
David Gauke (South West Hertfordshire, Conservative)
I am grateful for the Paymaster General’s comments and particularly her comment that the controlled foreign companies law is constantly under attack from those seeking to undermine Parliament’s will. She will be aware of an attack on that law in the current Cadbury Schweppes case, which is proceeding through the European Court of Justice. The Advocate-General has already determined against the Government. I merely ask whether anything in the clause anticipates a judgment in that case and, if not, what is the likelihood of the legislation having to be reformed next year or the year after in consequence of an adverse judgment from the ECJ. Has the Treasury reached an estimate of the likely cost of the Cadbury Schweppes case if the ECJ finds against the Government?