HC Deb 06 February 1951 vol 483 cc1539-40
68. Mr. Macdonald

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he proposes to rectify the present hardship on owners of cars manufactured prior to 1946 by granting them the same registration fee as for cars manufactured since that date.

Mr. Gaitskell

I cannot anticipate my Budget statement.

Mr. Macdonald

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that, with the ever-decreasing number of new cars available to the home market, this piece of legislation is causing increasing hardship to people forced to use old cars for business and private purposes?

Mr. Gaitskell

I will take note of the hon. Member's opinion.

Mr. S. Silverman

In considering this question, will my right hon. Friend bear in mind the answer which his predecessor gave me some time ago to the effect that the inequity could be easily removed by adding only a few shillings—I think it was a pound—to the £10 charged on new cars and making it in that way a slightly increased flat rate on all cars?