Clause 1
Planning-gain Supplement (Preparations) Bill
10:45 am
Mark Francois (Shadow Minister, Treasury; Rayleigh, Conservative)
I thank my hon. Friend for bringing her considerable Select Committee experience to bear on the issue, and she is right that the Bill’s drafting makes it something of an open-ended cheque book. She mentioned a comparative study, and I hope to come to that issue later, when we examine why the Government have carried out only a thin, partial regulatory impact assessment of the implications of the PGS. My hon. Friend’s point is well made, and she may wish to intervene on me again when we reach that issue in our deliberations.
In the light of the issues that I have described, amendment No. 1 proposes a limit of £25 million, which is just under half the estimated cost in the Treasury’s explanatory notes. Such a limit would still allow the Treasury to undertake some preparatory work, but it would place a finite limit on that work, at least until the Treasury takes a firm decision in principle to proceed with the PGS. As the Minister intimated, that decision would require primary legislation in the form of a separate Bill or provisions in a subsequent Finance Bill. Such legislation could provide for additional expenditure to facilitate the introduction of the tax, but, crucially, only once a decision had been taken in principle to go ahead.
For the moment, we are in limbo, because the Government have asked for the money, but the decision to proceed has not been taken. In the meantime, the amendment would limit the United Kingdom taxpayer’s exposure until the Treasury can finally make up its mind up about what it intends to do. On that basis, I am happy to recommend the amendment to the Committee.