Loan Charge

Jonathan Edwards Excerpts

Thursday 4th April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Ross Thomson]

I will make some progress, but I will take some more interventions before I finish.

I receive stories from constituents every day detailing the pain that they and their families are enduring with the threat of the loan charge hanging over them. That is why we are here today, because it is about real people and real lives, not just lines on a spreadsheet.

One of my constituents recently wrote to me:

“The Loan Charge has very likely cost me my marriage and I stand to lose everything. I cannot believe that this is happening.”

That is far from an isolated case, and I am sure Members on both sides of the House have had similar stories from their constituents. The loan charge is breaking apart families before us, yet HMRC has remained both intransigent and tin-eared.

I have a simple request today: the Government should place the loan charge on hold to investigate the true impact these changes will have on countless families across the country. I have heard from colleagues who believe that those involved in such schemes are somehow devious, mega-wealthy people, but one constituent, at the end of a career working in health and social care, recently attended my surgery and told me of his guilt because he feels he has let his family down.

[Jonathan Edwards (Carmarthen East and Dinefwr) (PC)]

I am deeply aware of this. The all-party group took evidence from a family whose father had committed suicide. If the House will indulge me, I received this email from a constituent:

“I find all this massively worrying and stressful and I try not to discuss with my wife otherwise she would feel the same. At times I have considered suicide but realise that that will help no one and impact my family most.”

The loan charge is having a terrible effect on people’s mental health, isn’t it?

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

Order. A lot of people want to speak this afternoon, and I am sure the hon. Member for Aberdeen South (Ross Thomson) will bear that in mind.