§ Mr. Matthew BanksTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the intends to bring into force the new stamp duty and stamp duty reserve tax reliefs for intermediaries and for stock borrowing and repo arrangements. [21822]
§ Mrs. Angela KnightSections 97, 98, 102 and 103 of the Finance Act 1997 provide for the new regime to be brought into force from a date to be appointed by the Treasury. Our current planning assumption is that the new regime will be brought into force in September. The precise start date will depend on how soon all the necessary practical arrangements can be put in place. In particular CREST will have to adapt its present system for administering the present reliefs in order to cater for the new reliefs instead. It will take a little time to design and test the new system, and we are grateful to CREST for fitting this change into its programme over the next few months. Market participants will also need to adapt their systems accordingly.