1. PROFIT-RELATED PAY (Hansard, 1 July 1987)

§ Sir Brandon Rhys Williams (Kensington)
Without wishing to detain the House I would like to comment briefly on the rather unfamiliar procedure that we have before us. We find that no fewer than 31 Ways and Means resolutions have been put before the House to be moved formally by my right hon. Friend the Financial Secretary.
I believe that we understand the reason for this procedure, it is because it is the intention of my right hon. Friends—[Interruption.]

§ Mr. Speaker
Order.

§ Sir Brandon Rhys Williams
It is well understood by the House that my right hon. Friends intend to reintroduce many of the clauses contained in the Finance Bill that was not completely proceeded with at the time the general election was called. I think that the House has a special responsibility where methods of taxation are concerned, and I feel some anxiety at the enormous latitude that the House will be giving to the Treasury if we allow—[Interruption.] —all these resolutions to be passed without any comment.

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. If the hon. Members standing at the Bar of the House do not wish to come into the Chamber, will they kindly leave?

§ Sir Brandon Rhys Williams
I think, Mr. Speaker, that when such resolutions are before the House it is appropriate to draw attention to anxieties which I feel, and which I know are shared by right hon. and hon. Members on both sides of the House. In resolutions Nos. 2 and 3, for instance, we find the expression including provisions having retrospective effect". I feel that, if that constitutes a precedent, it is a bad one, and if it is normal practice, it is bad practice. I think that it would be wrong for the House to pass on the nod a resolution that permits taxation to have retrospective effect without drawing attention to the fact that this is normally regarded by the House as very undesirable.
I should like to make two other brief comments. Resolution No. 13 refers again to Lloyd's underwriters. I have no interests to declare in this connection, but many of my constituents have been extremely anxious about the provisions included in the Finance Bill which received a Second Reading a few weeks ago. We hope that the Department has taken note of the substantial objections that were raised to the proposals originally included in the Finance Bill, and that when the Bill comes before us again, it will be amended to take account of those objections. I hope that my right hon. Friend the Financial Secretary, with the leave of the House, will be able to give us an assurance on that aspect before we proceed to pass the resolution tonight.
Finally, I should like to draw attention to resolution No. 17 of these 31 resolutions, dealing with companies' chargeable gains. I think that this resolution will give latitude to the Department to reintroduce the highly controversial clauses affecting life insurance companies 595 and their funds, which were received with great hostility before. I trust that the Department will not think that if the house passes these resolutions now, it constitutes facit acceptance of the orginal proposals which aroused so much adverse comment before.
I do not wish to say more, but I hope that, before we leave this topic, my right hon. Friend will be able to give some assurances that, when the Finance Bill comes before the House again, we shall be allowed to debate all these matters very fully, and it will not be thought that we have sold the pass by approving the resolutions tonight.

§ The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. Norman Lamont)
There is, of course, nothing unfamiliar or unusual about bringing forward Ways and Means resolutions for a Finance Bill. That is the normal thing to do. Indeed, a Finance Bill cannot be introduced without the Ways and Means resolutions and if the resolutions were voted out, the Government would be unable to bring forward the Finance Bill. The Bill will be published in a few days' time. My hon. Friend the Member for Kensington (Sir B. Rhys Williams) will know that, before the Dissolution of the last Parliament, we said that we intended to bring back the parts of the Finance Bill that were not carried before the Dissolution. That was announced by means of a Written Answer. The Ways and Means resolutions are the same as those that we had with the previous Finance Bill.
My hon. Friend referred to resolutions Nos. 2 and 3, and the reference to retrospective effect. In those resolutions, the phrase "retrospective effect" refers to the provisions of the Bill, when it is published, being backdated to Budget day. That, too, was made clear before Parliament was dissolved.
My hon. Friend referred to the resolution concerning Lloyd's. Discussions are continuing with Lloyd's. The chairman has said that he hopes that it will be possible for the Government' and Lloyd's to reach an agreed view on the problem.
My hon. Friend also referred to chargeable gains and how they apply to the policy holders of life assurance. We have listened to what has been said. I cannot anticipate the Finance Bill. The resolution does not commit either my hon. Friend or the House to whatever the Finance Bill contains. The resolution is there so that the Finace Bill can be presented. I commend the resolution to the House.