§ Order for Second Reading read.
§ 10.32 p.m.
§ The Solicitor-General (Major Sir Frank Soskice)I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."
This is an annual Bill to confirm Customs Resolutions of the Manx Legislature. The last Isle of Man Customs Act received the Royal Assent on 20th December last year, after the autumn Finance Act. The Isle of Man has its own separate financial existence and levies its own Customs and Excise, but its Customs Resolutions are subject to confirmation by Acts of the Imperial Parliament. Certain Customs duties in the Isle of Man under certain Acts are imposed by the Governor, but others are proposed by Resolutions of the Tynwald, and the 2014 Customs in question are those which have been so proposed. The first Resolution with which the Bill is concerned was passed on 16th April, to bring the duties on coffee extract, etc., into line with the Imperial Customs. Clause I is intended to confirm that Resolution. On 25th June, a second Tynwald Resolution was passed which continued existing duties on various classes of goods set out in Clause 2, which is therefore designed to confirm those duties. The only question before the House is whether there is any reason to disagree with Resolutions which the Isle of Man have passed of their own volition. All that I ask the House to do is, by giving the Bill a Second Reading, to confirm those Resolutions passed for reasons which seemed good to the inhabitants of the Isle of Man. I therefore ask the House to pass the Bill without further inquiry, and give a blessing and confirmation to the desires of the Isle of Man. Similar Measures have been passed from year to year and have not often been the subject of discussion, and I ask the House to say that there is nothing in this Bill which calls for further consideration.
§ Bill accordingly read a Second time.
§ Bill committed to a Committee of the Whole House for Tomorrow.—[Mr. Pearson.]