(Except clauses 1, 3, 7, 8, 12, 20, 21, 25, 67 and 81 to 84, schedules 1, 18, 22 and 23, and new clauses relating to microgeneration) - Clause 27
Finance Bill
1:00 pm
Mark Hoban (Shadow Minister, Treasury; Fareham, Conservative)
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair this afternoon, Mr. Gale. I am sure that Mrs. Hoban and I will find something much more interesting than the guidance to read, regardless of what is on television during the recess. However, I thank the Economic Secretary for his comments on the guidance, because it had crossed my mind that it would be helpful for the guidance to be available before Report, so that if we felt that it was still not quite right, we would have the opportunity to probe further on Report. In a sense, the withdrawal of my amendments this morning was predicated on the adequacy of the guidance, so the present approach is an appropriate way to try to resolve the problems before Report. It will give us and the representative bodies the opportunity to think again and consider whether there are further areas of doubt or ambiguity about which we want to probe the Government’s intentions.
The debate on “main purpose” had some interesting elements. I had always thought that there could only be one “main purpose” until I got involved in Finance Bills. However, the Economic Secretary mentioned earlier that there can be many main purposes. Clearly, therefore, the rules of grammar and of English usage are suspended somewhat when it comes to finance legislation.
The Economic Secretary said also that he did not wish there to be any ambiguity in the drafting of legislation. That is a fair comment, but it is important that ambiguity is not introduced in the guidance either, so we want to ensure that that guidance is clear. In mentioning the avoidance of tax liability, he made a point that had eluded me in my remarks on the earlier amendments; he mentioned schemes that would give rise to repayment, and his argument was I think correct.
In the eager expectation of the revised guidance becoming available, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.