Clause 43 - Land transactions

Part of Finance Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 10:45 am on 3 June 2003.

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Photo of Norman Lamb Norman Lamb Shadow Spokesperson (Treasury), Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Treasury) 10:45, 3 June 2003

Welcome to the Chair, Mr. Gale. I, too, declare an interest. I am a member of the Law Society and shall refer at various stages to its submissions on these provisions.

We share the concerns expressed by the hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford. The scope of the provisions seems very wide, and there is a clear over-reliance on regulation to be tabled in due course, which leads to inadequate scrutiny of the detailed provisions. That is not good law making. It is not the right way to proceed with a substantial new body of law that introduces new obligations on taxpayers. Moreover, the language used in this and other clauses is vague in a number of ways, which again does not give the citizen certainty.

Several professional bodies have said that the Bill contains an incomplete set of provisions. Substantial areas remain to be dealt with, such as subsale relief, the treatment of leases, the transfer of land into partnership and complex commercial transactions. It seems extraordinary that the Government are introducing so many incomplete provisions, leaving so much of the detail still to be fleshed out. We hear from other hon. Members about the extent to which consultation has restarted, and the position has been described as one of shifting sands, which does not make for good law.

I urge the Chief Secretary to respond to those concerns and to give us specific examples of what the phrase ''by operation of law'' covers. There is a great deal of concern, not only in this Room but among professional bodies that deal with this law all the time, and it is incumbent on the Government to try to address that concern.