Schedule 17
Finance Bill
5:30 pm
Mark Hoban (Shadow Minister, Treasury; Fareham, Conservative)
I did not expect to provoke such hilarity on our side. I am surprised at the Minister. After last week’s announcement of a £2.7 billion reduction in tax allowances, which will be funded from borrowing, she is not in a position to talk about anyone’s black holes. I thought that she might have held back from making that sort of comment in the light of her Department’s predicament.
I do not want the Minister to think that we condone the scheme. From my perspective, I can see where the problems arise. If I thought that the scheme was acceptable, I would have tabled a very different amendment, which would delete paragraph (5) entirely. I think that the Minister has drawn the wrong lesson from the Rees rules, which talk about outlawing a process, or a tax avoidance scheme, from the day that the rules are announced. What we have is a situation in which the expenses incurred are based on the tax law at the time. I would expect the Rees rules to apply to expenses incurred from the date of the PBR to the date of Royal Assent. I do not think that the rules should necessarily apply to expenses incurred before that period. The Minister’s brief on the Rees rules is very different from my reading of them, so I cannot have purloined that document over the lunch break. As we spent some of the lunch break together, it would have been difficult for me to find out about it. I do not agree with the Minister’s interpretation of the Rees rules. [Interruption.] The Minister and I had a very enjoyable time at the financial services lawyers’ AGM. I do not think that the Minister’s interpretation of the Rees rules is correct, but I do not particularly want to press the amendment to a vote. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.