Amendments in committee and on report

36.45Amendments in committee on the Finance Bill and other bills founded upon Ways and Means resolutions are governed in the first place by the ordinary rules applicable to bills generally (see paras 28.103 –28.105 ); but in addition there are other considerations which arise from the special procedural characteristics of the Finance Bill. When one of the resolutions on which a Finance Bill is founded is the ‘Amendment of the law’ resolution, no instruction is needed to enable the committee to receive new clauses for the remission of taxes in force which are not dealt with by the bill. Where, however, there is no ‘Amendment of the law’ resolution, no amendment may be moved unless the relief proposed is covered by one of the Ways and Means resolutions on which the bill is founded. Nor may an amendment so covered exceed any figure prescribed in the relevant resolution.1

When the ‘Amendment of the law’ resolution had been agreed to by the House in a restricted form so as to exclude the consideration of import duties imposed by another Act of the same session, amendments for the remission of those duties were not in order.2 The restrictions now regularly incorporated in the ‘Amendment of the law’ resolution have a similar effect in relation to amendments proposing partial remissions of value added tax.3