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Finance (No. 2) Bill

It is not a matter of apologising for the action that the Government have taken. It is clear that there is a tax regime in place for discretionary trusts and the changes being made are intended to bring two remaining types of trust in line with that. As the consultation document made clear, the Government are asserting that there should not be artificial tax incentives for using trusts—people should not be driven in that direction—although we accept, as I am sure my hon. Friend does, that, in a number of areas, which I will cover, trusts are appropriate structures that many people use to plan their affairs. The Government do not take issue with that in our proposals. These clauses have a narrow focus, and hon. Members have touched on their revenue implications. I made it clear in Committee that it is not always possible to consult on matters to do with avoidance because there is always a risk of large-scale forestalling, particularly in this area. That was the case under Conservative Governments, as well as under this Government. Appearing before the Lords Economics Affairs Committee on 10 May, a leading member of the accountancy profession said that, in his opinion, there would be large-scale forestalling if there were consultation in this case. The Government have a fine record of consulting on our legislation, including drafts, wherever we can before it is incorporated in a Finance Bill, but there are still some points at which that is not possible, given the worries about forestalling.