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Finance Bill

That will be a problem and I am not reassured by the Paymaster General’s response that the Inland Revenue will make substantial checks to ensure that that does not happen. Under existing provisions, people could buy a second home—I see the hon. Member for Grantham and Stamford (Mr. Davies) perk up at this prospect—on the Côte d’Azur or somewhere in Croatia, for example. It beggars belief to imagine that Inland Revenue inspectors are going to be hopping on easyJet to check out whether people have used those homes themselves or are letting them out properly, which is the purpose of the exemption. The obvious solution is not to undermine the principle of a SIPP, but to exclude the more exotic assets and to postpone the inclusion of residential property until properly constituted and regulated real estate investment trusts are available. That would allow pension funds to continue to invest in residential property, but on a similar basis to the way in which most institutional investors invest in residential property, which it is rare for them to do directly because of management issues. That is a way to close the loophole.