Clause 7
Finance Bill
1:45 pm
Jeremy Browne (Shadow Chief Secretary To the Treasury, Treasury; Taunton, Liberal Democrat)
As this is the first time I have spoken this afternoon, other than to intervene, may I say what a pleasure it is to serve under your chairmanship again, Mr. Cook? I shall speak briefly because hon. Members may wish to make broader points on clause stand part.
Amendments Nos. 4, 8, 9 and 10 are a response to a number of representations that we have received expressing concern that the Government’s £1 million lifetime limit on entrepreneurs’ relief will discourage investment and reinvestment by serial entrepreneurs in new businesses. My party and, I am sure, many hon. Members in the Committee are keen to encourage entrepreneurship and enterprise, and not to put tax barriers in the way of people creating wealth.
Amendment No. 4 asks the Government to undertake a review of the new proposal to assess the impact on serial entrepreneurs of the measures that they are introducing. Amendments Nos. 8, 9 and 10 refer to a slightly different topic, and would index the £1 million limit. This morning, we discussed how inflation can erode amounts over time, so the amendments suggest a mechanism by which to allow the £1 million to rise in line with inflation, rounded to a practical figure so that it does not become difficult for people to remember.
That would be the effect of our proposals. They are probing amendments, particularly amendment No. 4, to draw out the concerns that have been expressed about the potentially disadvantageous effects of the Government’s measures on serial entrepreneurs.