Finance Bill

They could apply to married couples, but there is a social imperative, to which I referred in a sort of pop sociology way, in the context of why society does what it does, and its being comfortable with what it does. In the case that we are considering, and in trying to square the circle, I am content with the exemption for spouses and civil partners. Perhaps it would be best to have an open-ended period—things depend on the age difference between the siblings, the health of the older one, the one who dies first, and so on—but it could be up to 30 years, in which the inheritance tax bill is deferred until the second sibling dies or sells the house, perhaps to move into a sheltered bungalow. I urge my right hon. and hon. Friends on the Treasury Bench—I imagine that they will not accept the amendments—to consider some alternative arrangements to lessen the pressure on siblings such as Sibyl and Joyce Burden, but not to change the basic idea that exemptions apply to spouses and civil partners.