Hansard

The Conservatives gave careful thought at all stages to whether to support the bill. There are strong arguments from across the sectors on its flaws and dangers, but on balance I take the view that the risk of inaction is marginally greater than the risk of action. On that basis, we supported the bill at stage 1 and we will support it at decision time.

Malcolm Chisholm raised a particularly interesting question, as he often does in these debates. He asked what would happen if the UK Government, for whatever reason, decided to delay the implementation of its similar tax through its bill. I have no inside information, but if there were a delay of any sort by the UK Government on its stamp duty supplement legislation, I would argue that we ought to delay the implementation of this bill in Scotland. The primary reason for the bill would be removed, at least temporarily, until such time as the stamp duty supplement was implemented south of the border. Such a delay is unlikely, but the Scottish Government ought to remain open to the possibility and if it happens it should act accordingly.

There are calls from any number of constituents and organisations who are looking for as much guidance and advice as possible from the Scottish Government directly and from Revenue Scotland. The supplement will go live in a couple of weeks, and huge numbers of people are wondering about the detail and about all except for the most basic scenarios. I urge the Government, once the bill has been passed, to publish as quickly as possible all guidance and extra regulations—everything that it possibly can to give the public and the public’s agents as much notice as possible of how things will work in practice.

Jackie Baillie pointed out some other arguments. If the bill affects the buy-to-let market too savagely, it could have an impact on the number of properties that are available to rent. We should be careful, as it may have a negative impact on people who do not want to purchase—particularly if it leads to an increase in rents.

The bill could have some impact on smaller house builders, who are more reliant on what is called selling “off plan” the houses and flats that they build; that is, selling the property in advance of it being built. It is very difficult and less likely—although not impossible—for a first-time buyer to purchase a property off plan, long before it is built. Such purchases are much more likely to be made by somebody who is involved in a buy to let. If the bill starts to damage smaller house builders, I hope that the Scottish Government will take careful recognition of what is going on and take action.

My biggest concern was outlined in the stage 1 debate, at stage 2 and when we discussed my amendment today. At this late stage, I still urge the Scottish Government to give careful consideration to a grace period. A host of organisations have argued for that, not least those that advised the cabinet secretary on this bill and on the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Scotland) Bill. This bill will create a genuine unfairness for those buying houses. None of us wants that to happen, but it is pretty obvious that it will happen in a huge number of cases. The cabinet secretary said that he was not closed minded about a grace period, but thus far he appears to have been. I urge him to keep his mind open and liaise closely with stakeholders, in particular the Law Society of Scotland and those who will have to implement the bill on the ground.

It is obvious to me that we will have to revisit the bill pretty quickly—certainly long before six months have passed, given the number of transactions that will be involved. I ask the cabinet secretary to say something further about that in his closing speech.