Foreign Travel Allowance (Hansard, 15 October 1968)

§ 18. Mr. Hunt
asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will now 188 announce the amount of the foreign travel allowance for 1969.

§ Mr. Roy Jenkins
The basic allowance for the 12 months beginning on 1st November will remain at £50. The arrangements for special allowances for business, education, etc., will continue as at present.

§ Mr. Hunt
Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that that Answer will cause dismay and despair? Is he further aware that the present £50 allowance is regarded by most people as a petty, irksome and totally unnecessary restriction which is being increasingly evaded by many British tourists? Why will the right hon. Gentleman not end this farce?

§ Mr. Jenkins
This is not a restriction which I like or which I would wish to keep on for a moment longer than is necessary. However, in present circumstances, with our present problems and with the sacrifices we are having to impose elsewhere, I do not believe that it would be right to take it off until we move into surplus. As for the other points raised by the hon. Gentleman, there is certainly no legal means of evasion; and I hope that illegal evasion is on a small scale. This is certainly not a negligible matter. Our best estimates, which are bound to be based on projections about the trend and growth of foreign travel and expenditure, are that this represents a saving of between £25 million and £30 million a year, so that this is not a negligible matter, particularly in present circumstances.

§ Mr. Bessell
Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the allowance was fixed before devaluation? Will he consider increasing the allowance to compensate for the effects which devaluation has had on it?

§ Mr. Jenkins
It might possibly be said that such a case could be made out, but devaluation has involved certain other sacrifices. I do not think that it is unreasonable that the foreign travel allowance should bear a small measure of the sacrifice. Looking at the matter—and I assure the hon. Gentleman that I have looked at it closely—it seems that a small adjustment would be costly without giving any great benefit. I would, therefore, prefer to wait until it is safe to abolish the restriction altogether.