The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Peter Thomeycroft)With your permission, Mr. Speaker, and that of the House, I wish to make a statement on travel in the dollar area.
I have decided that the ordinary travel allowance, at present £100 a year, will be available in future for travel to the dollar area in the same manner as for travel in the transferable account area. For the present travel year, from November to October, the whole £100, or such balance as may not have been spent already, can be used in the dollar area from now to the end of October.
Dollars have not been made available for travel to North America, including Canada, for the last ten years. This has erected an unnatural barrier between the English-speaking peoples which should not be allowed to continue any longer than is necessary.
§ Mr. Gordon WalkerCould the Chancellor tell us what estimate he has made of the dollar cost in a full year of this relaxation?
§ Mr. ThorneycroftIt is impossible to make an estimate of a cost of this kind, but I am assured that it will be very small indeed.