HC Deb 11 June 1953 vol 516 cc442-3
35. Mr. Stokes

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will place an export tax on whisky, in view of the fact that barley has gone up from £4 10s. to £21 a ton since 1939, and the export price of whisky only from 3s. 9d. to 7s. 2d. a bottle, whereas a bottle of whisky now sells in the United States of America at $6.01 compared with $3.28 in 1939.

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

No, Sir.

Mr. Stokes

Am I to understand that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has no comment whatever to make on the extraordinary position that the import cost of barley has gone up so much and the export cost of whisky is still so low? Has the hon. Gentleman even taken the trouble to examine the marginal profits made in America by the distributors of Scotch whisky? Has the matter been examined?

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

The Question asked not for comment but for an export tax. My right hon. Friend feels that this is the type of topic on which the judgment of the trade as to what the market will most conveniently bear is of great importance and relevance, and that the trade are at least as capable as anybody else of forming a proper view of what is a fair and sensible price, bearing in mind, of course, that excessive exploitation of a temporary shortage often has a very bad effect indeed on long-term markets.

Mr. Stokes

Is the Financial Secretary aware that I have listened to all that sort of "baloney" for a long time and that it is not an answer to the question? Is he further aware that this is by far the most important export to America and that every competent business man outside the whisky trade considers that we are a set of fools. Will he not do something about it?

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

I am sorry if the right hon. Gentleman has heard it before and that the manifest common sense of this answer has not conveyed a proper impression to him. I can assure the right hon. Gentleman that this matter has been looked at most carefully and that we have seen no reason whatever to take the measure he suggests or to override the considered judgment of people who know this business and have known it for many years.

Mr. Emrys Hughes

Is the Minister aware that consumers of Scotch whisky will now know that he has added insult to injury, in so far as he is now trying to explain the fact that consumers of Scotch whisky who think the charge is too high are being asked to subsidise the American consumer?

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

I am casting no reflection on any consumers of that agreeable beverage.

Mr. Stokes

Will the Financial Secretary ask the Chancellor to make quite sure that he really has examined the method of merchandising this commodity because, so far as I have examined it, it is in the hands of competitors in America and there is no sense in leaving our chief export in the hands of competitors on the other side?

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

As the right hon. Gentleman is aware, questions of the method of merchandising are for my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade. The Question related to a separate matter of taxation.