HC Deb 02 May 1961 vol 639 cc1103-4
7 and 8. Mr. Bollard

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how much foreign currency he estimates will be lost annually to this country by the recent decision of the United States Government to disallow the sale of British cars on United States bases and the closing of the PX scheme for permitting United States service personnel to acquire British cars on the export quota free of Purchase Tax;

(2) whether, with a view to earning foreign currency, he will ask Customs and Excise to devise a scheme to allow United States service personnel to buy British cars free of Purchase Tax for a period of more than one year prior to export.

Mr. Selwyn Lloyd

The figure for which my hon. Friend asks might be as high at £1½ million. It would depend of course, whether U.S. Service men continued to buy British cars by other means. On the general question, I have written to my hon. Friend on this matter at some length.

Mr. Bullard

I thank my right hon. and learned Friend for his letter, but does he not think that this loss of currency is a very serious matter? I understand that one Midland manufacturer says that these orders constitute his seventh largest export order. Will my right hon. and learned Friend also bear in mind the interests of those traders in the North and elsewhere who have built up this sort of business? Will he further represent to the American authorities that communities have to live together and that arbitrarily to cease business in this way is a very serious matter from the relations point of view?

Mr. Lloyd

I am aware of the considerations to which my hon. Friend has drawn attention, and we are discussing these aspects with the American authorities.

Mr. H. Wilson

Since the Chancellor of the Exchequer has taken the trouble to write to his hon. Friend the Member for King's Lynn (Mr. Bullard)—at some length, as he says—in view of the general interest there is in this matter, would not the Chancellor circulate a copy of that letter in the OFFICIAL REPORT, so that we can all see it?

Mr. Lloyd

If the right hon. Gentleman looks at the supplementary answer given yesterday by my hon. Friend the Economic Secretary, he will see there a good deal of the contents of the letter.

Mr. P. Williams

Will my right hon. and learned Friend say whether or not, if American Service men buy American cars for delivery in this country, they are subject to import duty and Purchase Tax?

Mr. Lloyd

Not without notice.