Finance Bill
10:30 am
Dawn Primarolo (Paymaster General, HM Treasury; Bristol South, Labour)
On a point of order, Sir Nicholas. I wish to clarify the Hansard record of our sitting last Thursday, which could be capable of a wider interpretation than I had intended. I fear that the problem is down to me, not the Hansard reporters. I stress that point. We were debating Opposition amendment No. 38 and controlled foreign companies. I referred to companies that have been unable to pass any of the exemptions under the controlled foreign company provisions and thus would be caught by the CFC legislation. I regret that, during what was quite a long day, the sentence
“In any case, there can be no justification for treating a CFC, which is by definition set up for tax avoidance purposes, more favourably than other companies”—[Official Report, Standing Committee B, 23 June 2005; c.141.]
potentially has a much wider interpretation.
I apologise to the Committee. I was not concentrating as much as I should have been on matters under discussion. I hope that the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond) will accept that that one tiny sentence does not fundamentally change a huge piece of legislation on controlled foreign companies. I am grateful to you, Sir Nicholas, for giving me the opportunity to put the record straight. I apologise to the Committee for my inadvertent slip.