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Finance (No. 2) Bill

I, too, would like draw attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Interests. In common with my right hon. Friend the Member for North-West Hampshire (Sir George Young) and the Economic Secretary, I was also a member of the Oxford University Conservative Association. I hope that hon. Members will forgive me for not registering that interest before. The objectives are quite simple—they are first, to stimulate an onshore REIT market, and secondly, to achieve the Government’s and the Chancellor’s aim of having a REIT market that stimulates residential housing. Those are the two aims that we want to achieve. When I read that Paul Herrington, head of UK property investment at Foreign and Colonial, believes that the Chancellor’s proposals for REITs are welcome, it has to be a good thing. He thinks that the proposals "““confirm property’s position as the main alternative asset class to equities and bonds””" and that changes need to be made to the Finance Bill. He recognised REITs’ importance as an alternative asset class and went on to argue:"““There are other types of property investment vehicles that are currently outside the Reit regime. These include offshore investment trusts, limited partnerships and some very successful companies listed on Aim, which are likely to stay outside of it under currently proposed rules””." He continued:"““By excluding Aim, we might end up with a two-tier market like a Premier League and a Division One.””"