I plead with the Chief Secretary to reconsider his decision not to accept Amendment No. 70. I believe that the Clause is nonsense in its present form, and if I go on to explain why I take that view I hope that it will help the right hon. Gentleman to reconsider his position.

It has been made clear by the right hon. Member for Down, South (Mr. Powell) that we are seeking to help industrial companies with a cash flow difficulty. However, the Government have started at the end of the calculation by asking themselves how much money they have and which is the best way to find a formula for its distribution. The formula that they have chosen is not a very happy one.

Looking at the effect of these proposals, we find that we shall reduce the relief—and I call it "relief", though perhaps a better word would be "deferral"—by 10 per cent. of trading income. That means that the more trading profits a company makes, the more corporation tax it is likely to pay, and the more the reduction in the relief that it will be given. That is the consequence of that calculation.

Another and even more curious feature is that we find that we are to make an adjustment for capital investment. What is more, the very companies that we want to go on investing in industry will have their reduction in the relief increased by the amount that they are investing. That is nonsense. I cannot comprehend that if it is our clear policy to try to help industry. It is nothing other than a piece of very sharp mathematics.

There is another anomaly. If we look at stocks as a means of calculating the relief, we are choosing an arbitrary date, which always appeals to accountants—and I have to admit to being one myself. We are choosing the year-end as the date for doing this. Many companies have seasonally high stock levels which do not coincide with their year-ends. If we try to support the increased cost of stock levels due to inflation and we choose the year-end, we are not always choosing the appropriate date at which to make that judgment.

To confuse the issue by grasping at the straw of the report of the Sandilands Committee and prejudging it presumably to decide what choice to make between replacement cost accounting and current purchasing power seems to be a surprising decision to have taken without giving a full explanation to the Committee.

I hope that the Chief Secretary will take this opportunity of reconsidering the matter by accepting this amendment and perhaps redoing his homework on the way that the relief should be given.