§ 24. Mr. Boydenasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will seek to modify the selective employment tax to give the building and construction industry a financial incentive to employ winter building techniques to the full.
§ Mr. William RodgersNo, Sir.
§ Mr. BoydenDoes not my hon. Friend agree that it is in the national interest that as many building firms as possible should use the latest techniques in winter building with a view to getting the maximum production, but that individual firms are reluctant to do it because they look at the costs? Would it not be desirable to modify S.E.T. to encourage builders to do this?
§ Mr. RodgersI know my hon. Friend's close interest in and knowledge of the problem, but he is in error if he feels that any remission of S.E.T. would necessarily lead firms to invest in the sort of equipment required for building in the winter.
§ Mr. HefferIs it not clear that in the building industry S.E.T. has a very bad effect on employment? Is it not also clear that building is not a service industry and that it is high time this ludicrous tax on it was abolished—the quicker, the better—in the interests of employment?
§ Mr. RodgersI am afraid that I cannot agree with any of those propositions.