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Finance (No. 2) Bill

I find it best to answer one question at a time, and I shall come to those organisations and the hon. Lady’s opening remarks shortly. To suggest that the way in which the Government prevent the trusts from being misused somehow damages women’s rights is breathtaking, and I shall deal with that shortly. The hon. Member for Ludlow need only read The Sunday Telegraph of 16 April or The Sunday Times of 23 April, which make it clear that those trusts were being used to avoid inheritance tax by retaining control. The hon. Member for Chipping Barnet (Mrs. Villiers) mentioned transfer to the spouse. What could be more damaging to a spouse than to be told that a trust had been created that transferred the interest to her, only for her to find that she had no access to the capital and that, in three months, her interest was terminated and had passed on to somebody else, when she had been used as the shield to establish the trust, with the very purpose of avoiding inheritance tax? Even to suggest that using spouse relief in that way strikes a blow for women’s independence is rather odd.