§ Mr. Cyril Smithasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to exempt building societies from paying all or part of the tax paid to their shareholders and, at the same time, cancel relief given on mortgage interest paid to building societies; and if he will estimate the savings in staff that would be caused by such action.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonThis would not be fair for either investors or borrowers. Implementation of the first part of the proposal would save few if any staff. Implementation of the second part of the proposal would save something of the order of 500 staff as compared with present arrangements.