HC Deb 05 July 1960 vol 626 cc278-9
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. Anthony Barber)

I beg to move, in page 16, line 12, after "thereto" to insert: and the said sale was not of all the issued shares". The Committee will be pleased to know that this Amendment relates to a series of precise observations made by the hon. Member for Glasgow, Craigton (Mr. Millan), who put forward a suggestion in Committee which I agreed to consider. Although he will be fully aware of the implications of this, perhaps I should tell the Committee the way the sale of the shares is caught by this Clause. The notional profit of the company is derived, where the sale is of shares in the company all of one class, from the consideration received for the sale of those shares. Complications arise where there are different classes of shares, and in that case provision was made for an alternative basis of computation by reference to the company's trading stock.

The point which the hon. Member for Craigton made in Committee was that there was no reason for proceeding with this alternative basis where there was a sale of all the shares of every class, even though there are different classes of shares. We have considered this and, although I think that it is unlikely to have much practical effect, I am sure that on reflection what the hon. Gentleman said is right and that there is much to be said for the view that the basic scheme of the Clause should be followed wherever possible. That is the purpose of this Amendment.

Mr. Bruce Milian (Glasgow, Craigton)

I wish merely to thank the Economic Secretary for accepting the point which I raised earlier.

Mr. Mitchison

The Committee also appreciates the character of the Amendment. It follows exactly, but for the insertion of the word "said", an Amendment put down in the names of two of my hon. Friends. What it comes to is that, naturally, if one is to take the proper consideration for the purposes of this Clause one would take the actual consideration.

The only case where any difficulty arises is where there is a part sale and there are various kinds of shares in the company. Accordingly there is a proviso to meet that case. But it was absurd to suppose for one moment that the proviso ought to have been applied to a case where all the shares are sold whatever the respective rights of the shares may have been. This was the point which my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Craigton (Mr. Millan) raised in Committee. While we congratulate the Government on having accepted the point, we commiserate with them in having been unable to think of it first themselves.

Amendment agreed to.

Clause, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.