HC Deb 05 February 1953 vol 510 cc2022-3
56. Mr. Jay

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in view of underemployment and short-time in the motor industry which has increased during January due to uncertainty over Purchase Tax, he will state definitely whether or not he proposes to reduce the tax.

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

I would refer the right hon. Gentleman to the reply which my right hon. Friend gave the hon. Member for Aston (Mr. Wyatt) yesterday.

Mr. Jay

Although I appreciate that the doctrine that the Chancellor cannot anticipate his Budget statement is hallowed by tradition, may I ask whether the hon. Gentleman thinks that this is a very special case, as there is serious underemployment and dislocation in the Midlands caused by this uncertainty? Will he ask the Chancellor to reconsider the matter from that point of view?

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

I have nothing to add to the answer to which I have referred the right hon. Gentleman.

Mr. Edelman

Since the Chancellor's reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Aston (Mr. Wyatt), has he given consideration to the resolution passed by the Birmingham and Coventry District Committees of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions, with the support of many Midland Members of Parliament, drawing attention to the deterioration in the situation in the motor car industry and urging that Purchase Tax should be reduced?

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

There is a Question for Written reply on the Order Paper today in the name of the hon. Member for Coventry, North (Mr. Edelman).

Mr. Wyatt

Will the hon. Gentleman consider abandoning this rigid doctrinaire view about the date on which announcements are made about Purchase Tax, because we now have a situation in which two or three months before each Budget the motor car industry in particular lapses into complete stagnation because no one knows what is going to happen? Surely there is no need to be tied to a fixed date for announcing any alteration in Purchase Tax.

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

The hon. Gentleman is unduly pessimistic, but, in any event, the general issue which he has raised is far too big to deal with in question and answer.