Finance Bill

Aidan Burley Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd July 2014 Commons Chamber

[Helen Goodman]

I think it must be a matter of regret to everybody in the House that DCMS has taken 36% cuts. Of course, the question whether they can be restored is, as the hon. Gentleman knows, a completely separate one. I am just pointing out that the tax relief, if the legislation is properly drafted, will not cancel out the effect of those cuts. I am hoping that no one on the Government side is trying, through some sleight of hand, to give such an impression.

To return to the point that my hon. Friend the Member for Darlington (Jenny Chapman) raised, it is my understanding that in Darlington, the theatre is what is called a receiving house. That means that new plays are not being made in Darlington. Companies come on tour to Darlington and their productions are shown for several days. There are many very good producing houses in the regions as well; one good example would be the Nottingham Playhouse, where they make plays and tour them, and sometimes they tour them to London—they have just had something on at the Almeida.

A receiving house will not get the benefit of this tax relief; it is the producing company that gets the benefit. Of course, it may be that if they get the tax relief or the tax credit, they could offer the production to the receiving house for slightly less money, which might ease the situation in a place like Darlington, but there will not be a direct benefit, as I understand it.

My next question is whether the definition of touring is the right one and whether the measure will address the regional imbalance. As my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North pointed out, it is completely sensible to say that the extra relief is given if the play is taken to more than six places, but we must question whether 14 productions in two places is an appropriate definition of touring. Some of those who responded to the Government’s consultation said it would be a good idea to have a geographical definition of touring, and I do not understand why the Minister has not done that. I think he is risking some revenue leakage on this point. To give a concrete example, a play could be on on one side of Shaftesbury avenue for 14 nights, then move to the other side of Shaftesbury avenue for 15 or 25 nights and it would benefit, but the Government would not have achieved their policy objective of ensuring that the theatrical experience took in a new, wider audience.

I think there is a problem and I am disappointed by the way the Minister has drafted the provision; it is a weak spot. On the other hand, he might be being too restrictive in the number of production companies that can benefit, although we do not yet know how the guidelines will operate. In principle, of course it is a good idea to support British theatre. It is a great industry, we are very good at it and we have some of the best actors and theatre companies in the world, so in principle, it is a good idea to have a theatre tax relief, but I do have those two questions about those two parts of the new clause and the schedule.

[Mr Aidan Burley (Cannock Chase) (Con)]

I have a couple of questions for the Minister about the accelerated payment of tax and avoidance cases. I have written to him about this and received a letter from him, and also met him subsequently. Others have mentioned this issue, which has caused a lot of concern, especially within the accounting community. Many of my constituents who are accountants and who run businesses have written to me and met me to voice their concern about what they believe is retrospective legislation, with no right of independent appeal. I hope the Minister will be able to reassure my constituents and those of other Members.

The first question is about the oft-quoted 80% success rate in tax avoidance cases tried at court. The Minister has quoted that statistic, and HMRC has quoted similar figures, but we have yet to discover the source of that statistic, nor do we have a list of the cases on which it is based. Many of those who have contacted me feel that the figure is unsubstantiated. Will the Minister tell us the source of that 80% success rate statistic?

Secondly, there is a strong view that this law is being implemented retrospectively, with no right of independent appeal. I know the Minister has said it is not retrospective legislation, but he knows that that opinion is not shared by the accountancy profession, the legal profession, the CBI or even the Treasury Select Committee. Will he comment on that?

It is predicted that the legislation will result in some 150,000 redundancies, and the loss of future tax revenues from companies going to the wall, including some in my constituency, is estimated to be £50 billion, all to collect a mere £4 billion in unpaid revenues over the next five years. That seems to me to be a very bad bang for your buck. Does the Minister believe it is worth such loss and unemployment?

[Mr Gauke]

We have had, unsurprisingly, a wide ranging debate. I shall try to respond to the points raised by hon. Members in our debate, starting with those relating to new clause 1 and new schedule 1 on oil and gas. I outlined the measure in my opening remarks, and a number of questions have been raised. The question that gets to the heart of the matter concerns the impact on drilling activity and how that affects the UK’s competitiveness.

The Government’s support for the sector over the past few years through field allowances and decommissioning relief certainly has helped to encourage record levels of investment—£14.4 billion in 2013 alone—and supported the market for rigs in the UK continental shelf, where rates are driven by demand. Rig rates in the UK are among the highest globally, so we are not convinced that this measure will drive rigs from the UK continental shelf. In fact, recent press coverage indicates that rigs continue to be attracted to the UK continental shelf after the measure’s introduction.

In addition, the Government do not accept that they should seek to address the issue of rising costs by accepting an unfair tax system where a small group of companies are able to pay almost no UK tax. The new oil and gas authority which the Government announced as part of their implementation of Sir Ian Wood’s recommendations will aim to identify ways to ensure that Government and industry can work together to address cost escalation.