HC Deb 03 July 1961 vol 643 cc1200-2
Mr. Barber

I beg to move, in page 4, line 12, at the end to insert: (8) Subsection (2) of this section shall not apply to any oils if the Commissioners are satisfied by such evidence as they see fit to require that the following conditions are fulfilled, that is to say—

  1. (a) that at the time of the removal of the oils from the site referred to in that subsection, the site was in the sole occupation of a person using it wholly or mainly for the storage of hydrocarbon oils for himself as a user of such oils (companies of which one controls the other, or which are under common control, being regarded as one person for the purposes of this and the two following paragraphs, if they together occupied the site); and
  2. (b) that the oils in question have been or are to be applied by him to his own purposes as such a user; and
  3. (c) that not more than one-quarter of the heavy oils delivered to him in the twelve months preceding the relevant time has been or will be applied otherwise than as aforesaid:
Provided that where the oils in question have not been applied as aforesaid before the time when the repayment of rebate would fall to be made, rebate shall be repayable in respect of them unless the person liable for the repayment undertakes, if so required by the Commissioners, to satisfy the Commissioners of their being so applied or, in default, to pay the amount for which he would have been liable in respect of those oils apart from this subsection, and gives such security in that behalf as the Commissioners require. This Amendment exempts certain holders of stocks of heavy oils who are primarily users of oils and not dealers in oils, from the liability to pay, in effect, the new duty of 2d. per gallon on oils which they had in unbonded storage on Budget day. When the matter was considered in Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Preston, South (Mr. Green) moved a series of Amendments to omit altogether the provisions of Clause 2 so far as they related to the repayment of rebate on stocks of heavy oil. My right hon. and learned Friend, while not accepting my hon. Friend's case for complete exemption of all stocks, agreed that there was merit in the case so far as it related to stocks purchased by and delivered to consumers for their own use, and undertook to re-examine the matter before Report.

I think that the Amendment is self-explanatory. There are three conditions and a proviso. I do not think that any words of mine could better explain the matter than those that appear on the Notice Paper.

Sir Henry d'Avigdor-Goldsmid (Walsall, South)

Were he able to do so, my hon. Friend the Member for Preston, South (Mr. Green) would wish to express his thanks to my hon. Friend for the concession he has made on this important point. I extend thanks to the Economic Secretary on my hon. Friend's behalf.

Mr. Mitchison

This seems to relate to a person who is a user of oils for his own purposes. I do not understand paragraph (c). Why should there be an exception if up to one-quarter of the oils delivered to him in the twelve months preceding the relevant time has been or will be applied otherwise than as aforesaid"? There appears to include not only the type of oil which the hon. Gentleman referred to in moving the Amendment but also what can be a quite considerable quantity of oil—we are dealing with fairly large quantities here, as I understand it—which would not fall within the intention of the Amendment. Perhaps, with the leave of the House, the hon. Gentleman could explain why paragraph (c) is required.

Mr. Barber

If I may, by leave of the House, speak again, the explanation is this. We did not want to put to the House a provision which would be too restrictive and too rigid. As the hon. and learned Member will note from paragraph (c), the Amendment does not require the user to use for his own purposes 100 per cent. of the oils which he holds in stock. It requires that evidence should be given to the Commissioners of Customs and Excise relating to the year preceding Budget day that the person concerned is mainly a user and not a dealer. When I say "mainly", I mean to the extent of 75 per cent. This is really to cover the case where a person is obviously, in normal parlance, a user of oil, not a dealer, but he may not, in fact, use part of the oil himself.

1.0 a.m.

I think that the important point is that the Amendment is so worded that it relieves the user of the repayment liability only on such oils as he does use himself. In other words, paragraph (c) prescribes a criterion which, if satisfied, brings the person within the ambit of the Amendment; but, that having happened, the person concerned is relieved of liability only in respect of such oils as are in the end used by himself.

Amendment agreed to.