HC Deb 30 April 1984 vol 59 c165

3.1 am

The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. John Moore)

I beg to move,

That for the purposes of—

  1. (a) initial allowances under section 1 of the Capital Allowances Act 1968 or paragraph 1 of Schedule 12 to the Finance Act 1982, and
  2. (b) first-year allowances under section 41 of the Finance Act 1971,
provision may be made with respect to expenditure incurred on or after 1st April 1984 under certain contracts.

I apologise for the need to detain the House at this hour. Unfortunately, the existing resolutions which deal with the capital allowance changes do not fully cover these provisions. The resolution which deals with the financial year 1984 covers only the main reductions in rates of allowance for that year. The future year resolution, which is drafted in more general terms, does not cover 1984, so that an additional resolution is required to provide for a reduction in allowances in 1984 arising from the spreading of expenditure into a later year. The provision that it is to cover was announced on Budget day, and thus does not involve any new policy development.

Mr. Jeff Rooker (Birmingham, Perry Barr)

That having been the straightest speech that we have heard from a Minister at this day's Sitting, we are happy to accept it.

Question put and agreed to.