Schedule 26
Finance (No. 2) Bill
5:45 pm

Dawn Primarolo (Paymaster General, HM Treasury; Bristol South, Labour)

On a point of order, Sir John. Before we conclude the business, I would like to put on the record my thanks, on behalf of the Committee and all the Ministers, for the excellent way in which you, Sir John, as well as Mr. O’Hara, and Mr. Benton have stewarded, assisted and ably guided the Committee through our complex debates. I would like also to thank the Clerks, the Hansard writers and the Doorkeepers for their help and assured touch in making the business of the Committee run smoothly.

I congratulate the hon. Member for Chipping Barnet; speaking for the Opposition on the Finance Bill is a huge challenge, and this was her first time doing so. She was ably assisted by the hon. Members for Rayleigh (Mr. Francois), for Wycombe (Mr. Goodman) and for Fareham (Mr. Hoban)—her Front Bench team.

I congratulate also the hon. Member for Falmouth and Camborne who, too, was in her first Finance Bill and supported by her colleague, the hon. Member for South-East Cornwall (Mr. Breed). I congratulate all the other Opposition Members on their—I do not want to make anyone laugh—patience and skill in contributing  to a thorough and high-quality debate, despite the competing demands of other issues, particularly the World cup.

I thank my hon. Friends the Financial Secretary, and especially the Economic Secretary—it was his first Finance Bill too—for some new concepts. We now know what “straddling” means—not always in terms of the legislation, but certainly the posture of Ministers. We were greatly encouraged by the Economic Secretary’s observations today on philosophy, and I think that all of us are assured that tax legislation will be safe in his hands.

I congratulate the right hon. Member for North-West Hampshire (Sir George Young) on attending a Finance Bill after 10 years. He said that he will not come back for another 10 years. All I can say is, “Good luck”: being in Opposition will be just as unpleasant to him then as it is now. I thank Mrs. Gauke, who at times I thought was a Committee member. I do not know what we would have done without her. Actually, I do know but I am not unkind enough to say.

I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton, South-West. I do not think that he realises this, but he makes many officials in HMRC happy because, as they slave over explanatory notes and regulations, they know that there are at least some in this world who read those notes and regulations intently and have questions to ask of them. I am not sure that Ministers always welcome those questions; none the less my hon. Friend has played his part.

I thank all my hon. Friends who have participated for all the hard work that, I am sure, they have done and for participating in the Committee. I am eternally grateful—I really am—for their support and assistance in ensuring proper discussion of the Bill.

I thank all those from the professional bodies who brief us and who have supported all Members on the Committee and, dare I say it, my officials.

I know it is inappropriate but I thank the Whips. Normally they are not referred to in Committee but they have done a splendid job in ensuring that we have timely discussion, not for too long but of appropriate length.

I look forward to the remaining stages of the Bill. Again, I put on record our thanks to you, Sir John., in what is, I think, your 16th Finance Bill.

John Butterfill (Bournemouth West, Conservative)

Or 17th.

Dawn Primarolo (Paymaster General, HM Treasury; Bristol South, Labour)

Or 17th. I hope that you do many more.

Theresa Villiers (Shadow Chief Secretary To the Treasury, Treasury; Chipping Barnet, Conservative)

Further to that point of order, Sir John. After what seems like several years, we are at the end of the Committee. We had the thrills and spills of snagging, straggling, probing, turbo-charging, recycled reheated turbo-charging and pre-emptive reversed multiple turbo-charging. That was just this morning. Both the Economic Secretary and I demonstrated our inability to pronounce Arabic financial instruments. We had a lively discussion on whether the age of financial capability and responsibility was appropriately 18, 25 or, in the case of the hon. Member for Wolverhampton, South-West, 52.

As the temperature climbed, I felt that the Committee lost the will to live but our sentence is nearly up, or at least we are on day release until Report in a couple of weeks. I echo the thanks of the Paymaster General to our three Chairmen—to you, Sir John, and to your co-Chairmen, Mr. O’Hara and Mr. Benton—for the exceptionally patient and skilful way in which you guided our deliberations in Committee. Like the Minister, I give my grateful thanks to the Doorkeepers and to the Hansard reporters for their hard work and assistance.

I also thank the Clerks of the Committee—Malcolm Jack for his work on the Committee of the Whole House and Frank Cranmer for his incredible patience and hard work in assisting all Members of the Committee on the difficult task of taking a Finance Bill through the scrutiny process. It was certainly a challenge to take on the Finance Bill as my first Standing Committee and to lead for the Opposition on it. I am grateful for the assistance given to me by Mr. Cranmer and the Clerks of the Committee.

I am also grateful to my Front-Bench team—my hon. Friends the Members for Rayleigh, for Wycombe and for Fareham—for their hard work. They all worked exceptionally hard, as did the Back-Bench team. I see that some of the latter have retired hurt, but they endured the lengthy deliberations with great application and diligence.

In his absence, I apologise to my hon. Friend the Member for South-West Hertfordshire (Mr. Gauke) for getting in trouble for passing notes in class. I repeat my apologies to the Committee for getting that wrong. I note that my hon. Friend has fled the country, but I am sure that it is not because of anxiety about contempt of Parliament. I also pay tribute to Mrs. Gauke, who was ever present in our discussions, if not in fact.

I acknowledge the civilised approach taken by those on the Government Front Bench in almost all the Standing Committee debates. We had some lively exchanges and some constructive ones. I am grateful for the movement we saw from the Paymaster General on schedule 20. I also thank the Liberal Democrat Members for their occasional guest appearances. I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Dundee, East (Stewart Hosie) who made some thoughtful contributions on film and on oil.

Lastly, I put formally on the record my thanks to the many professionals, experts and organisations that provided a wealth of commentary and advice on the Finance Bill. A particular “thank you” should go to PriceWaterhouseCoopers for the advice and assistance given to the whole Opposition Front-Bench team. We owe it a large debt of gratitude for its assistance. In similar vein, I should like to express my thanks to KPMG for similar assistance and advice. It is impossible to run through all the individuals and groups on whose briefings I and my colleagues have relied, but they certainly include the Society of Trust and Estate  Practitioners, the Chartered Institute of Taxation, the Law Society and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. Without their assistance, it would have been simply impossible to provide the effective scrutiny necessary for so important a piece of legislation. Lastly, I thank the Whips for, as the Paymaster General outlined, managing the whole process in a very civilised and effective manner.

Julia Goldsworthy (Shadow Chief Secretary To the Treasury, Treasury; Falmouth and Camborne, Liberal Democrat)

Further to that point of order. Sir John. I shall keep my remarks short in case it degenerates into an Oscar-style ceremony of thank yous. I should like to add my thanks to you, Sir John, for chairing the sittings so skilfully. I also thank the other Chairmen, Mr. O’Hara and Mr. Benton. With so many Finance Bill virgins—I suppose one might put it that way—on the Committee, it must have been difficult to ensure that we all remained in order.

I would also like to thank the Paymaster General for her very kind words, and I congratulate the hon. Member for Chipping Barnet on doing such a sterling job on her first time. I would also like to thank my colleagues and the professional bodies who made my life a lot easier during my first Finance Bill. It has been a baptism of fire, but I have enjoyed it, and I am sure that I shall many happy memories, once I am looking back at it. I am sure that that will be the same for the remaining stages. Finally, I forgot to thank the Clerks for all their help, because so much of the procedure was new, and their patience and guidance was much appreciated.

Stewart Hosie (Spokesperson (Chancellor of the Exchequer; Home Secretary); Dundee East, Scottish National Party)

May I, Sir John, thank you for your chairmanship, as well as that of Mr. O’Hara and Mr. Benton? This was my first Finance Bill Committee, and I have learned a great deal from it. I would like to be in a position to thank my hon. Friends for all their help and assistance, but such is the lot of a small party. I thank all the staff. Sadly, I fear that, like the hon. Member for Wolverhampton, South-West, I am looking forward to next year already.

John Butterfill (Bournemouth West, Conservative)

I will certainly report to Mr. O’Hara and Mr. Benton hon. Members’ thanks, and I am very grateful to them for those kind words. It has been an excellent Committee, which has conducted its proceedings with courtesy and extraordinarily good humour—at times, a little ribald for the Chair, but there we are. With my usual masochism, I have to say that I have enjoyed it greatly.