Exiting the European Union (Value Added Tax)

Peter Grant Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Peter Grant (Glenrothes) (SNP) [V]]

The SNP will not oppose these motions either, because, as with most statutory instruments, the choice is to approve or reject them in their entirety, and rejecting them in their entirety would mean failing to address some serious gaps in legislation left by the Government’s shambolic handling of Brexit.

Most of the first set of regulations, SI No. 1312, is non-contentious. In fact, if we are honest, most of it is necessary to put right yet another great British Brexit blunder. The now Foreign Secretary and former Brexit Secretary did not realise that we needed lots of boats at Dover to do cross-channel trade. Now we find that Treasury Ministers knew they had to legislate for goods crossing the channel on planes and boats but forgot that goods could also get across the channel in the channel tunnel on a train. Regulations 2 to 8—most of this SI —are almost entirely about correcting that blunder.

Regulation 10, which the Opposition spokesperson mentioned, concerns me. I hope that the Minister will be able to give some reassurances about who it will affect and how much it will affect them. The regulation removes the VAT exemption on fees charged for the management of qualifying pension funds established in an EU member state. The explanatory notes say that the change is necessary as a consequence of withdrawal from the European Union. Will the Minister expand on exactly why it is a necessary consequence? Surely the exemption could have been retained as part of the trade deal the Government are so proud of. Did the Government actively seek to end the exemption, did they try to retain it but have to negotiate it away during the negotiations, or did they just completely forget about it, as they seem to have completely forgotten about so much else? Is it necessary because the Government want to do it or because they have sleepwalked into a situation where they are, in effect, forced to do it? What assessment have they made of the impact of the removal of this exemption? Do they know how many people in the UK have their pensions managed by EU-based funds, possibly without the pension holder even realising it? What is the total value of such funds? How much additional tax does the Treasury expect will become due as a result of this proposal?

Pension holders affected by this change went into a long-term relationship with their pension fund based on the VAT rules that applied at the time. They had a reasonable expectation that the rules would not be significantly changed during the term of their pension, but they are now being told that the rules have been changed and it is up to their pension fund to cough up the tax that becomes due. It may not technically fit the definition of “retrospective legislation”, but that is what it will feel like to those people.

As well as the impact on UK residents whose pensions are managed by EU-based funds, what happens in the converse situation? Presumably, it will also be necessary for every EU member state to now start charging VAT on the management fees for every pension fund that an EU resident holds with a UK pension manager. I imagine that this will be a bigger issue. So what assessment have the Government made of the value to the UK economy of the big financial centres, such as Edinburgh and London, selling their pension management expertise to the European Union? What assessment have the Government made of the impact on the competitiveness of that part of our financial services industry if its customers are to start paying VAT and its competitors do not?

I turn to the second of the statutory instruments, the Value Added Tax (Miscellaneous Amendments to the Value Added Tax Act 1994 and Revocation) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020. All the amendments to legislation proposed here appear reasonable and necessary for the smooth operation of the Northern Ireland protocol. In that regard, may I urge those calling for the protocol to be completely scrapped to ask themselves: whose interests would be served by the British Government welching on such an important international agreement almost before the ink has even dried on it? The protocol is flawed, for two reasons: it attempts to resolve an almost insoluble contradiction, which the Government have continuously refused to acknowledge; and, like almost everything else of critical importance to Northern Ireland during the Brexit process, it was thrown together at the last minute.

This statutory instrument is needed because we saw exactly the same kind of last-minute rush job just before Christmas with the Taxation (Post-transition Period) Act 2020. That Act passed its entire proceedings in this House in about four and a half hours. Under the rules of the House at that time, virtual participation in debate was not allowed, so inevitably the number of Members who could take part was reduced and the degree of scrutiny afforded to the Bill was affected. The scrutiny was so affected that the day after that Act had received Royal Assent the Government had already had to table this statutory instrument to correct mistakes in their own legislation. Provisions that were essential to allow the economy in Northern Ireland to continue to operate were thrown together at the last minute. We should never forget that the unique concessions the Government have made to Northern Ireland in the Brexit process were not made out of any respect for the will of the people there; they were made because the Government’s original intended solution of acting unlawfully and tearing up international treaties eventually became a step too far even for some of their own most loyal supporters. Although we welcome the fact that the Government have been forced to give some recognition to the will of the people of Northern Ireland, who never voted for this Brexit chaos, surely they deserve better than to be continually treated as an afterthought.

These two sets of regulations are necessary to make up for the incompetence of the Government of a wannabe global power, who did not realise that boats were a useful way for people on an island to trade across its sea borders. This Government also then forgot there was a tunnel so that people could also cross a sea border on a train, and they still continually forget that 1.8 million of their own citizens do not need to cross the sea to get to the EU; they have only to cross the road. My final question to the Minister is: how many more pieces of additional legislation are we going to have to approve in order to clear up after this Government’s incompetence?