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Column 872

year, which were the arrangements whereby removal expenses were previously exempt from tax. It is only by allowing the Bill to be passed in its present form that the transitional provisions would reach the statute book. Although the right hon. Gentleman may have preferred a longer transitional period, I hope that he will recognise that the effect of the amendment would be not to lengthen but to abolish the transitional arrangements proposed by the Government. Against that background, I hope that he will feel able to withdraw the amendment.

Mr. Beith : I do not accept the Minister's technical argument. We know that the matter proceeded on the basis that the extra statutory concession was withdrawn after a decision by Ministers. The extra statutory concession could have been used and could still be used as a vehicle for concession.

I do not accept the Minister's rather cavalier approach to grossing up. In this context, as in most others, grossing up is a device to ensure that what the employee and the employer--in this case, the employer being the Government--think might reasonably be a tax-free payment is still treated as if it were a tax-free payment and that the sum that the person involved receives in his hand is the same as if the payment had been tax free. It is a device, and one that should not be commended by the Treasury. The fact that the Treasury commends it suggests that the Treasury recognises internally that it has gone too far in setting the £8,000 limit.

For the Minister to argue that the issue should be dealt with in a tax- neutral way, and that it is wrong to treat relocation as a public good and therefore to allow any sort of concession, is an argument against having even a £8,000 limit. The logic of his case is that there should be no concession at all.

Ministers should be cautious about using the public good argument in matters of mobility. As they are transported to work in their chauffeur- driven cars on journeys on which they pay no tax, unlike other people, I hope that they will recline in their leather-covered seats--if they qualify for cars that have such seats--and ask themselves whether there is really any public good in their journeys being tax free. They should realise that other people have been told by their employers that if they want to keep their jobs they must move to the other end of the country, when the most that employers can put together to make such a move feasible, and without their paying tax, is £8,000. Otherwise, all the costs that employers find it necessary to subsidise, such as the cost of keeping two houses going until one can be sold, will be treated as a taxable benefit and the person involved will be taxed on it. That is not reasonable, and it is a perfectly sound argument for carrying the protest to a vote. Question put, That the amendment be made :--

The House divided : Ayes 38, Noes 300.

Division No. 329] [6.13 pm

AYES

Alton, David

Ashdown, Rt Hon Paddy

Barnes, Harry

Beith, Rt Hon A. J.

Bennett, Andrew F.

Bruce, Malcolm (Gordon)

Campbell, Menzies (Fife NE)

Campbell, Ronnie (Blyth V)

Canavan, Dennis

Carlile, Alexander (Montgomry)

Connarty, Michael

Corbyn, Jeremy

Cryer, Bob

Ewing, Mrs Margaret

Graham, Thomas

Harvey, Nick

Hoey, Kate

Hughes, Simon (Southwark)

Johnston, Sir Russell

Jones, Ieuan Wyn (Ynys Mo n)

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Column 873

Jones, Nigel (Cheltenham)

Kennedy, Charles (Ross,C&S)

Llwyd, Elfyn

Loyden, Eddie

Lynne, Ms Liz

Macdonald, Calum

Mahon, Alice

Marshall, Jim (Leicester, S)

Martlew, Eric

Michie, Mrs Ray (Argyll Bute)

Rendel, David

Salmond, Alex

Sheldon, Rt Hon Robert

Skinner, Dennis

Steel, Rt Hon Sir David

Steinberg, Gerry

Welsh, Andrew

Wigley, Dafydd

Tellers for the Ayes :

Mr. Don Foster and

Mr. Archy Kirkwood.

NOES

Ainsworth, Peter (East Surrey)

Aitken, Jonathan

Alexander, Richard

Alison, Rt Hon Michael (Selby)

Allason, Rupert (Torbay)

Amess, David

Ancram, Michael

Arbuthnot, James

Arnold, Jacques (Gravesham)

Arnold, Sir Thomas (Hazel Grv)

Ashby, David

Aspinwall, Jack

Atkins, Robert

Atkinson, David (Bour'mouth E)

Atkinson, Peter (Hexham)

Baker, Nicholas (Dorset North)

Baldry, Tony

Banks, Matthew (Southport)

Banks, Robert (Harrogate)

Batiste, Spencer

Bellingham, Henry

Bendall, Vivian

Beresford, Sir Paul

Biffen, Rt Hon John

Blackburn, Dr John G.

Body, Sir Richard

Bonsor, Sir Nicholas

Booth, Hartley

Boswell, Tim

Bottomley, Rt Hon Virginia

Bowden, Andrew

Bowis, John

Boyson, Rt Hon Sir Rhodes

Brandreth, Gyles

Brazier, Julian

Bright, Graham

Brooke, Rt Hon Peter

Brown, M. (Brigg & Cl'thorpes)

Browning, Mrs. Angela

Bruce, Ian (S Dorset)

Budgen, Nicholas

Burns, Simon

Burt, Alistair

Butcher, John

Butler, Peter

Carlisle, Kenneth (Lincoln)

Carrington, Matthew

Cash, William

Channon, Rt Hon Paul

Chapman, Sydney

Churchill, Mr

Clappison, James

Clark, Dr Michael (Rochford)

Clarke, Rt Hon Kenneth (Ruclif)

Clifton-Brown, Geoffrey

Coe, Sebastian

Colvin, Michael

Congdon, David

Conway, Derek

Coombs, Anthony (Wyre For'st)

Coombs, Simon (Swindon)

Cope, Rt Hon Sir John

Couchman, James

Cran, James

Currie, Mrs Edwina (S D'by'ire)

Curry, David (Skipton & Ripon)

Davies, Quentin (Stamford)

Davis, David (Boothferry)

Day, Stephen

Deva, Nirj Joseph

Devlin, Tim

Dickens, Geoffrey

Dorrell, Stephen

Douglas-Hamilton, Lord James

Dover, Den

Duncan, Alan

Duncan-Smith, Iain

Dunn, Bob

Durant, Sir Anthony

Dykes, Hugh

Eggar, Tim

Elletson, Harold

Emery, Rt Hon Sir Peter

Evans, David (Welwyn Hatfield)

Evans, Jonathan (Brecon)

Evans, Nigel (Ribble Valley)

Evans, Roger (Monmouth)

Evennett, David

Faber, David

Fabricant, Michael

Fairbairn, Sir Nicholas

Fenner, Dame Peggy

Field, Barry (Isle of Wight)

Fishburn, Dudley

Forman, Nigel

Forsyth, Michael (Stirling)

Forsythe, Clifford (Antrim S)

Forth, Eric

Fowler, Rt Hon Sir Norman

Fox, Dr Liam (Woodspring)

Fox, Sir Marcus (Shipley)

Freeman, Rt Hon Roger

French, Douglas

Fry, Peter

Gale, Roger

Gardiner, Sir George

Garnier, Edward

Gill, Christopher

Gillan, Cheryl

Goodlad, Rt Hon Alastair

Goodson-Wickes, Dr Charles

Gorman, Mrs Teresa

Gorst, John

Grant, Sir Anthony (Cambs SW)

Greenway, John (Ryedale)

Griffiths, Peter (Portsmouth, N)

Grylls, Sir Michael

Gummer, Rt Hon John Selwyn

Hague, William

Hamilton, Rt Hon Archie (Epsom)

Hamilton, Neil (Tatton)

Hampson, Dr Keith

Hanley, Jeremy

Hannam, Sir John

Hargreaves, Andrew

Harris, David

Haselhurst, Alan

Hawkins, Nick

Hawksley, Warren

Hayes, Jerry

Heathcoat-Amory, David

Hendry, Charles

Hicks, Robert

Higgins, Rt Hon Sir Terence L.

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