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in the companies for which people work. I know that I am not alone in this. The Government have done some work in this area, and I pay tribute to Opposition Members for their work on it in Committee and elsewhere ; and to Liberal Members, who have had a long-term interest in it.

It is vital that people be given this interest, because, apart from living in a property, the most important other aspect of their lives is the work that they do, usually but not exclusively in a corporate organisation. A stake in the success of such a company brings with it more than the mere ownership of shares : it gives people a share in any increase in the company's capital--without destroying someone else's wealth to give them that capital. That is the beauty of shareholding. When the value of a company increases, everybody's stake in it rises in value and that gets away from the redistribution that was so often typified by Opposition policies. That is a constructive and worthwhile way to help people and give them the confidence that comes with an increasing amount of capital. Secretaries in many of the companies that started share ownership schemes now have a capital stake in them that they could never have had before. Such a stake has given employees at all levels a better belief in the capitalist system and its importance and has also given them capital that they could not otherwise have expected. The Bill encourages employee share ownership because it contains roll-over relief on capital gains tax for sales of shares by owners of a private company to an employee ownership trust. Hon. Members will agree that in previous Budgets the Government rightly made significant gestures to the employee share ownership movement. However, there was still not a level playing field and that was a disincentive for owners of private companies to sell to an employee trust. If they took the other route and sold for shares in a publicly quoted company, they could obtain roll-over relief. The issue caused considerable concern more than a year ago, and I pay tribute to the Chief Secretary for forcing through the regulations for roll-over relief. I hope that that will encourage many more advisers, practitioners and companies to make employee share ownership one of the dominant themes of the 1990s in the way that the pensions movement dominated previous decades.

Pensions are a diversified portfolio of mainly shares and are therefore immune from the risks that can arise from owning shares in the company in which one works. I should like to see employee share ownership operate alongside pensions because there is a direct relationship between effort in a company and the benefit that flows from that effort. In many cases there is opportunity for capital leverage. Roll-over relief is one of the major achievements of the Bill, and I hope that the Government will now take it further. We have several successes on which to build, the most recent being the Companies Act 1989, and previous Finance Acts introduced important measures. We must ensure that any Government Department that is contemplating a share issue should have a significant element of employee share ownership, preferably in an employee share ownership trust. It should not just sell a few shares and offer no continuing structure.

The Bill had a successful ride in Committee and was well steered. It is a key part of the Government's overall policy on the economy. We want to see as many people as

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possible participating in Britain's increasing wealth. The Bill achieves that, and I urge hon. Members to vote for its Third Reading.

Question put, That the Bill be now read the Third time : The House divided : Ayes 258, Noes 207.

Divison No. 299] [9.59 pm

AYES

Alexander, Richard

Alison, Rt Hon Michael

Amos, Alan

Arnold, Jacques (Gravesham)

Arnold, Sir Thomas

Aspinwall, Jack

Atkins, Robert

Atkinson, David

Baker, Rt Hon K. (Mole Valley)

Batiste, Spencer

Beaumont-Dark, Anthony

Bellingham, Henry

Bennett, Nicholas (Pembroke)

Benyon, W.

Bevan, David Gilroy

Blackburn, Dr John G.

Blaker, Rt Hon Sir Peter

Body, Sir Richard

Bonsor, Sir Nicholas

Boscawen, Hon Robert

Boswell, Tim

Bowden, A (Brighton K'pto'n)

Bowden, Gerald (Dulwich)

Bowis, John

Boyson, Rt Hon Dr Sir Rhodes

Braine, Rt Hon Sir Bernard

Brandon-Bravo, Martin

Bright, Graham

Brooke, Rt Hon Peter

Brown, Michael (Brigg & Cl't's)

Bruce, Ian (Dorset South)

Buchanan-Smith, Rt Hon Alick

Buck, Sir Antony

Budgen, Nicholas

Burns, Simon

Burt, Alistair

Butcher, John

Butler, Chris

Butterfill, John

Carlisle, John, (Luton N)

Carlisle, Kenneth (Lincoln)

Carrington, Matthew

Carttiss, Michael

Cash, William

Chapman, Sydney

Chope, Christopher

Clark, Dr Michael (Rochford)

Clark, Sir W. (Croydon S)

Clarke, Rt Hon K. (Rushcliffe)

Conway, Derek

Coombs, Anthony (Wyre F'rest)

Couchman, James

Cran, James

Critchley, Julian

Currie, Mrs Edwina

Curry, David

Davies, Q. (Stamf'd & Spald'g)

Davis, David (Boothferry)

Day, Stephen

Devlin, Tim

Dickens, Geoffrey

Dicks, Terry

Dorrell, Stephen

Douglas-Hamilton, Lord James

Dover, Den

Dunn, Bob

Durant, Tony

Eggar, Tim

Emery, Sir Peter

Evans, David (Welwyn Hatf'd)

Evennett, David

Fairbairn, Sir Nicholas

Fallon, Michael

Favell, Tony

Fenner, Dame Peggy

Field, Barry (Isle of Wight)

Finsberg, Sir Geoffrey

Fishburn, John Dudley

Fookes, Dame Janet

Forman, Nigel

Forsyth, Michael (Stirling)

Forth, Eric

Fowler, Rt Hon Sir Norman

Fox, Sir Marcus

Franks, Cecil

Freeman, Roger

French, Douglas

Fry, Peter

Gale, Roger

Gardiner, George

Garel-Jones, Tristan

Gill, Christopher

Glyn, Dr Sir Alan

Goodlad, Alastair

Goodson-Wickes, Dr Charles

Gorman, Mrs Teresa

Gow, Ian

Grant, Sir Anthony (CambsSW)

Greenway, Harry (Ealing N)

Greenway, John (Ryedale)

Gregory, Conal

Griffiths, Peter (Portsmouth N)

Grist, Ian

Grylls, Michael

Hague, William

Hamilton, Hon Archie (Epsom)

Hamilton, Neil (Tatton)

Hampson, Dr Keith

Hannam, John

Hargreaves, Ken (Hyndburn)

Harris, David

Haselhurst, Alan

Hawkins, Christopher

Hayes, Jerry

Hayhoe, Rt Hon Sir Barney

Hayward, Robert

Heathcoat-Amory, David

Hicks, Robert (Cornwall SE)

Higgins, Rt Hon Terence L.

Hill, James

Hind, Kenneth

Hogg, Hon Douglas (Gr'th'm)

Hordern, Sir Peter

Howard, Rt Hon Michael

Howarth, G. (Cannock & B'wd)

Howell, Rt Hon David (G'dford)

Howell, Ralph (North Norfolk)

Hughes, Robert G. (Harrow W)

Hunter, Andrew

Irvine, Michael

Irving, Sir Charles

Jack, Michael

Janman, Tim

Jessel, Toby

Johnson Smith, Sir Geoffrey

Jones, Gwilym (Cardiff N)

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