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Finance (No. 2) Bill

I answered that question on Second Reading. The point is that 18 is the age of majority. People can get married or serve their country at that age; they can do all the things that adults can do. People might want to write trusts in which the beneficiaries do not get control of the assets until they are 25, 35, 45 or even 52—that seems a good age today—but this is not about when the individuals get control of the assets, it is about when they come into tax. That is the point that is being made. The hon. Gentleman also knows that, with certain trusts, the beneficiary never materialises. The trusts go on in perpetuity. This relates to situations in which a spouse has the use of a property, for example, and on their death, the property transfers to the children of the first marriage. We need to discuss that matter further. We are not talking about when trusts end but when they never end, control remains and the beneficiary does not have access. That is the problem with which we are trying to deal.