TRADE UNIONS (Hansard, 16 July 1974)

§ The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. Joel Barnett)
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

§ Mr. Deputy Speaker
With the new clause we are to discuss Government Amendments Nos. 58A and 58B.

§ Mr. Barnett
The object of the clause is to provide that trade unions entered in the list to be maintained under the Trade Union and Labour Relations Bill, which is at present passing through Parliament, will be entitled to provident benefit income relief under Section 338 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1970. It has no retrospective effect, and will operate from the enactment of the Trade Union and Labour Relations Bill.
As the law stands, "registered trade unions" are entitled to provident benefit relief under Section 338. Until 1971 the term "registered trade unions" covered unions registered under the Trade Union Acts. Those Acts were repealed for Great Britain by the Industrial Relations Act 1971. The word "registered" then denoted entry on the register maintained under that Act. That register, together with the Act, is now being repealed by the Trade Union and Labour Relations Bill. Thereafter, outside Northern Ireland, where the Trade Union Acts will still apply, there will be no meaning to the words "registered trade union", and no peg on which the relief can hang. That is why the other two amendments, No. 58A and No. 58B are required.
The Trade Union and Labour Relations Bill provides for trade unions to be entered on a list maintained under that 296 measure. Under the clause, "listed" unions will be regarded as registered for the purposes of the tax relief. As the clause is needed merely as a matter of mechanics, I hope that it will be acceptable to the House, as I know it is to the right hon. Member for Carshalton (Mr. Carr), who never intended that such relief should be withdrawn.
It will be well known to the House that the provident benefits include payments, under the registered rules of the union, to a member during sickness or incapacity from personal injury while out of work—this does not include strike pay or lockout pay; to a member by way of superannuation; to a member who has met with an accident; to a member who has lost his tools by fire or theft; and payment of funeral expenses on the death of a member or his wife or as provision for the children of a deceased member. I am sure that it is acceptable to the House, as it was for a very long time, that all those benefits should be eligible for tax relief.
As we have had long debates on these matters, perhaps I may leave it at that.

§ Mr. R. Carr
The Opposition have no objection to the clause. Indeed, we are happy to see it go through in this form, given the wider context in which it is introduced.
The Government have been very sensible to resile from the original desire to make the provision retrospective, and I welcome the fact that they have bowed to the decision of the House when we discussed their original new Clause 4. I am grateful to them for taking that view.