Public Bill Committee debates the Finance Bill

After the usual house-keeping messages about switching off phones and putting devices into silent mode – and no tea or coffee during the sittings – members of the Public Bill Committee were invited to consider the Finance Bill 2023-24 line by line. The chair Ian Paisley said MPs who wished to speak should ‘bob’ to obtain his attention. ‘Variety is the spice of life ’ he said. ‘We do not want to hear just the ministers and shadow ministers.’

Media

Clause 3 and Sch 2 of the Bill were first for consideration. These replace the tax reliefs for film high-end television children’s TV animation and video games with refundable credits. Financial secretary to the Treasury Nigel Huddleston explained that the film and high-end TV productions will receive a credit of 34% children’s TV and animated TV and film will receive a credit of 39%...