Short bill, long debate

MPs debated the 30-page Finance Bill for nine and a half hours on 6 July before the Bill completed its second reading in the House of Commons. The Bill published on 1 July which has 11 clauses and five schedules was set for detailed examination by a Committee of the Whole House on 12 13 and 15 July. The summer recess is scheduled to begin on 28 July. The Bill ‘seeks to ensure that the Government’s key tax priorities as set out in the emergency Budget are put on the statute book as swiftly as possible’. Danny Alexander Chief Secretary to the Treasury told MPs. ‘There remain a number of minor and technical measures that we inherited from the previous Government and which must be legislated for before 2011. We shall therefore introduce those measures in a further Finance Bill in the autumn. Consistent with...