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Planning Bill

moved Amendment No. 21: 21: Clause 209, page 121, line 39, leave out ““(1) or”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, I took the amendment proposed by the noble Lord, Lord Shutt, which we have just voted on, as being the front-line position and perhaps even as being in no man’s land between the opposing forces, as it were. I still believe that Amendment No. 21 and the subsequent Amendment No. 25 are a reasonable last-ditch defensive position for registered charities, bearing in mind that we in this House will have no control over the regulations when they come in. I should like to comment on the remarks made by the noble Baronesses, Lady Ford and Lady Whitaker, on state aid. I have made these points before, although I have not made them today. Charities in this country are exempt from income tax and they are exempt from capital gains tax, which are huge sums of money hundredfold times greater than the exemption that we are trying to get today. Stamp duty land tax recently gave a full exemption for charities, and I cannot understand why the Government have changed their mind on this particular levy. Council tax has an 80 per cent exemption, and most local authorities give the other 20 per cent. Virtually every other country in Europe, with the notable exception of Sweden, gives roughly similar exemptions to its charities. I do not believe the EU Commission would be politically so insensitive or bring down on its head the wrath of all the charities in Europe, and all those who support them—which may amount to as much as 50 per cent of the population—by attacking such a small exemption from what is only a local levy, when it has long ignored all the other much larger exemptions. With that in mind, I beg leave to test the opinion of the House. On Question, Whether the said amendment (No. 21) shall be agreed to? Their Lordships divided: Contents, 89; Not-Contents, 138.