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Finance (No. 2) Bill

Having spent the past nine hours supporting my right hon. Friends the Paymaster General and the Financial Secretary, it is a great relief to have the opportunity to speak in the debate. I hope that the hon. Member for Rayleigh (Mr. Francois) will sit opposite me in Committee during the next few weeks. After the local election results, it might well be the Leader of the Opposition who will be carrying out a fundamental reshuffle of the Opposition Front-Bench team. I shall respond to the issues and challenges set out by Opposition Members in the debate. The amendments and the contributions have been constructive. There is a significant consensus about the importance of getting on with a UK real estate investment trust. I shall do my best to address in detail some of the questions that have been raised. The hon. Member for Rayleigh asked when the regulations would be ready. I can assure him that it is our intention to have draft regulations ready by the time the clauses are debated in Committee. I will do my best to ensure that that happens.