The Government will publish its final proposals for Capital Gains Tax (CGT) in the next three weeks, and said it is still listening to business arguments against the plans.

Speaking at the Confederation of Business Industry (CBI) Conference, Chancellor Alistair Darling acknowledged his proposals to overhaul CGT had caused controversy within the business community but said the Government would press ahead with plans for a simplified tax system. He said simplification was not the easy option but was the right one to do wherever possible.

The Chancellor also defended his actions with regard to Northern Rock saying the consequences for the banking system and wider economy of not rescuing the lender would have been extremely damaging. He said: “I believe it was right to intervene; that it was right to put in place guarantee arrangements to savers. And it is right to see it through.”