Finance Bill

I rise to speak to amendments 35, 36, 37 and 58, tabled in my name and the names of my hon. Friends. This debate has already shed a great deal of light on the impact of this hasty rise in VAT. Over the course of the afternoon we have heard about the impact of the rise on a number of groups about which we are all concerned. We heard about the impact on jobs, the economic recovery, the low-paid and pensioners, and this group of amendments offers us an excellent chance to examine the impact of this rapid rise in VAT on Britain's charities. I will not speak at length, but I want to make a few quick points. Amendments 35, 36 and 37 seek, in essence, to stop the VAT increase applying to the goods charities buy in to deliver what is called their "charitable non-business activities", and for which they cannot then charge VAT. I know about the difficulties of protecting charities from VAT altogether, and I am sure that the Exchequer Secretary will return to that point, but this is an important debate that we have been pursuing for some time. I know that many charities want to be classified like, for example, local authorities, which do not have to pay VAT in the same way. Many groups, including the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations, have been arguing for some time that in the competitive provision of services, especially in the public sector, local authorities are often at an advantage compared with charities and third-sector organisations.