Capital Gains Tax (Hansard, 25 April 1972)

§ 6. Mr. David Mitchell
asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will consider publishing a Green Paper on alternative forms of capital gains tax.

§ Mr. Nott
I have noted my hon. Friend's suggestion.

§ Mr. Mitchell
Would not my hon. Friend agree—[Interruption.]

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I cannot have that said. I ask the hon. Member for Manchester, Ardwick (Mr. Kaufman) to withdraw from the Chamber. [Hon. Members: "Shame."] I cannot have an hon. Member describing a decision of the Chair as intolerable.

Several Hon. Members rose
——

§ Mr. Healey
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I well understand that in disallowing a supplementary question by my hon. Friend to a Question which he had put on the Order Paper it may have been your intention to accelerate the pace at which questions were taken. I think you will accept, however, that your action on this occasion has led to the loss of five minutes of Question Time. I wonder whether on reflection, you will not accept that, my hon. Friend having 1255 risen to a point of order, he would in normal circumstances have been allowed to put a supplementary question on the Question he had on the Order Paper, which you yourself pointed out that the Minister, without referring to it, was answering.

§ Mr. Speaker
I quite realise that whenever the Chair tries to accelerate the rate of answering Questions the usual result is that it takes longer, because the House will not accept the discipline of being short. What I usually try to do if I have to curtail a question is to work in the hon. Gentleman concerned on a similar Question later, which I would try to do on this occasion. What I cannot allow, and I do not think any occupant of the Chair could allow, is the Chair's conduct to be described as intolerable.

§ Mr. Healey
I am grateful for what you have said, Mr. Speaker. But I think if you have read the Order Paper, you will accept there is no similar later Question on which you could call my hon. Friend. If the HANSARD reporter can confirm that my hon. Friend rose on a point of order, would not you accept that it was most unusual for Mr. Speaker not to call him for a supplementary question to a Question he has on the Order Paper, and the presence of which on the Order Paper and its relevance to the Minister's answer was pointed out by yourself?

§ Mr. Speaker
The Chair is very ready to admit that it may have made a mistake. It would be impossible for even the Chair to command perfection. I thought that in all the circumstances the Question had been sufficiently discussed. It was developing into a debate, and no hon. Member has a prescriptive right to ask a supplementary question. In making that statement I am speaking in accordance with the Report of the Select Committee on Procedure which was accepted by the House. If we are to have more Questions asked and answered, it must be accepted that an hon. Member does not have any prescriptive or other right automatically to be called for a supplementary question.

§ Mr. Arthur Lewis
On another point of order. When this incident happened, Mr. Speaker, you told the House that you never heard my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Ardwick (Mr. Kaufman) rise to a point of order. May 1256 I point out, with great respect, that you could not have heard that he was saying to a Conservative Member on the benches opposite "Intolerable. I am going to put down a Motion of censure", for which you have now made him withdraw. That remark was not addressed to the Chair. Had you heard the first comment and what followed, with respect, perhaps you would not have asked my hon. Friend to withdraw. He was making the comment with regard to hon. Members opposite that he would put down a Motion of censure.

§ Mr. Speaker
I am prepared to disregard the incident and allow the hon. Member for Manchester, Ardwick (Mr. Kaufman) to come back, provided we can get on. Mr. Mitchell, to ask his supplementary question.

§ Mr. Mitchell
Would not my hon. Friend agree that capital gains tax has also become a tax on inflation and paper gains and as such has fulfilled the fears expressed in 1965 by not only my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister but also my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury when he proposed an Amendment regarding tapering the tax?

§ Mr. Nott
I can assure my hon. Friend that we shall continue our examination of the problem, but I remind him that the pernicious effects of inflation are not confined to capital gains tax: I have my hon. Friend's point in mind, and we are continuing to consider it.