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Finance (No. 2) Bill

No. This is another area in which the hon. Member for Chipping Barnet exaggerated earlier. She seemed to suggest that spouses and civil partners were suddenly going to face a new problem in relation to inheritance tax. I do not believe that to be true; it is an exaggeration. However, the Paymaster General might want to clarify the one genuine point that the hon. Lady raised when she described the situation of someone who remarries and wants to ensure that some of their property goes to the children of their first marriage, and that the second wife is happy with that arrangement, as is often the case. Perhaps the Paymaster General could clarify precisely how that will still be possible. To return to the question that the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (John Thurso) asked me, of course there should be exemptions, and the most important are those for spouses and civil partners.