It's very fortunate, is it not, that the Tories are not in charge of Welsh Government finances? I just wanted to pick up on this fundamental mistake that the Conservatives have made in the second part of their motion, because it indicates that they have simply no grasp of the status of the Welsh Government or the purposes of the taxes that they are now so deriding. It's just lamentable really that you've been unable to check the accuracy of your own assertions before you submitted the motion.

There can be no sensible suggestion of the Welsh Government seeking to avoid land transaction tax because the tax implications of both the stamp duty land tax and land transaction tax are exactly the same: nil. There is no tax liable where a purchase is made by the Crown, and that includes Welsh Ministers. So, I think to suggest that Welsh Ministers were trying to engage in the deliberate act of tax avoidance only months after we, the Assembly, considered legislation in which anti-avoidance rules formed a prominent part of the debate is pretty desperate.

The exemption is clear on the face of the legislation. In Schedule 3 to the Act, entitled 'Transactions Exempt From Charge', under 'Acquisitions by the Crown', it states that paragraph 2 lists Government bodies that are exempt. This is consistent with the exact same rules of the stamp duty tax that preceded the land transaction tax.