VEHICLE EXCISE DUTY—DISABLED PERSONS (Hansard, 22 July 1974)

§ Mr. Higgins
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
As the Finance Secretary has said, the object of the clause is to give relief from vehicle excise duty to a wider group of people than has previously been covered—in particular, disabled people, sometimes known as disabled passengers, who travel in vehicles not conspicuously adapted. We debated the matter earlier on Report, and, as the hon. Gentleman mentioned, he felt that the form of words now proposed would be more effective than our original clause. I thank the Government for their acceptance of the principle and for the clause.

§ Mr. Robert Carr
I shall keep the House for only a moment, but I do not think that we ought to come to the end of our debates on the Finance Bill without my saying a few words. The Bill will make history in one respect, in that it must be the most amended Finance Bill in my lifetime.
I feel that it is appropriate for me to thank, first, all my right hon. and hon. Friends who, both in Standing Committee upstairs and in Committee and on Report on the Floor of the House, have done an enormous amount of work on what is in parts a complicated measure. In spite of certain passages of arms from time to time, I am sure that my hon. Friends would wish me to thank the Chief Secretary and the Financial Secretary for their patience, for the good temper that they have shown and, indeed, for their flexibility. We know that at times they were under an irresistable force to be flexible, but they were flexible, and we are grateful for that.
I think that everybody would wish to thank the many officials and staff who, because of certain printing difficulties, have had an enormous task to keep us serviced with papers. These have not always been easy to follow, but it is miraculous 1255 that in the circumstances we have had documents which we have been able to use and thus conduct our proceedings. I am sure that those thanks should be on the record.

§ Mr. Joel Barnett
I never thought that we would reach this stage. I thank the right hon. Member for Carshalton (Mr. Carr) for his kind remarks about my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary and myself. I think that we sometimes surprised ourselves that we managed to retain our good humour in all the circumstances over the last few weeks.
I thank my hon. Friends, not forgetting the Whips, for the support that they have given us during these long days.
I join the right hon. Gentleman in paying tribute to the officials of the House, which includes yourself, Mr. Deputy Speaker and Mr. Speaker. Perhaps I might be allowed to thank the Inland Revenue for all the work that it has done over these difficult weeks and months. We on the Government benches are most grateful to the Inland Revenue staff. I conclude by again saying thanks to all concerned.