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Corporation Tax Bill

My Lords, I trust that my noble friend will forgive me if, as chairman of the steering committee, I do not follow him too far down the path. While I shall look forward to the Minister’s no doubt carefully phrased reply to the remarks that have just been made, as a former Minister myself—although not a Treasury Minister—I accept that there is a big difference between clarifying the existing law and simplification, which inevitably involves policy decisions and political consequences in terms of gainers and losers that, frankly, no Government would wish to put into commission to the sort of accelerated procedure that applies to these Bills. Nevertheless, it is fair to acknowledge also—and I am sure that the Minister will—that there is quite a demand among practitioners for the sort of simplification for which my noble friend has called, even though it is not the business of the committee that I chair or of the tax law rewrite project to deliver it. I shall speak only briefly, not least because, although chair of the steering committee, I was indisposed at the time of the Joint Committee meeting and unable to attend it. I thank the Government, through the Minister, for bringing forward the Bill. I also thank my colleagues on both the steering committee and the consultative committee for their labours, to which the Minister rightly paid tribute, taking into account the volume of paper that they had to wade through. The weight of the documents—even the weight of the Explanatory Memorandum—is such that I have not strained myself by bringing them into the Chamber. I also congratulate the band of dedicated officials led by Dr Steve Batterby, and the parliamentary draftsmen, whose diligence needs no demonstration beyond the size of the papers that we are discussing. Even the Explanatory Memorandum must be among the longest ever seen. I hope that the House will support what I believe—notwithstanding the reservations expressed by my noble friend Lord Trenchard—has been a very worthwhile and certainly substantial effort.