§ Mr. WakehamI beg to move amendment No. 1, in page 2, line 23, at end insert—
§ '(8A) The excise duty payable in respect of wines derived from vines growing in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland shall, in respect of amounts chargeable as a result of deliveries made from such vineyards, after 1st June 1977, be payable not later than 90 days after the end of the month in which the delivery is made'.
§ In Committee the amendment resulted in a tied vote. Its purpose is to obtain a deferment of Excise duty from about 30 days to 105 days on wines made from English vines—in other words, an increase of credit.
§ The cost to the Revenue would be very small. The reason why it is necessary to help English wine producers in this way is that they are especially hard hit as a result of our becoming a member of the European Community, because we cannot discriminate in favour of them as this would be against our commitment.
§ There is no way in which I seek to change that commitment. Nevertheless, this is a new and struggling industry in agriculture paying taxation at the rate of about£2,500 per acre. No agricultural producer in this country or in Europe pays tax on his product at that rate.
969§ This modest amendment would give producers some small help with their cash flow in these early stages.
§ Since the tied vote in Committee, I have had a number of letters from and seen a number of English wine producers. They feel that acceptance of this amendment would be a recognition by the Government that they take this industry, small though it is, seriously.
§ I make no apology for raising this matter again. One of my reasons for doing so is to give the Minister an opportunity to make a better answer on this occasion than he did in Committee. His argument that to give this modest concession would be to infringe our Common Market commitment was somewhat unconvincing. But the hon. Gentleman undertook in Committee to look at this matter again with a view to seeing whether he could, some time next year, make some proposal to meet the problems that we raised.
§ Mr. David MitchellI agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Maldon (Mr. Wakeham) that the Government should reconsider their attitude.
Until about 1913 there were commercial vineyards in this country which had been producing wine since Roman times, and the re-emergence of a new, small industry which is beginning to grow entitles my hon. Friend to seek some help for it.
The case is a little stronger than my hon. Friend put it. It rests on the fact that the firms with which the English wine growers are in competition do not have the disadvantage of having to sell their products to customers who have to pay very large sums in duty at the time that they take the products. One way to establish the British wine-growing industry would be to put it in a position in which it was no longer at a fiscal disadvantage compared with its Continental competitors in the Common Market. Therefore, I hope that the Minister will give serious consideration to the amendment.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonThis short debate echoes fairly closely the debate in Standing Committee when we had an interesting description of the history of the wine-growing industry. There is not a 970 great deal that I can add to what I said on that occasion. I said that I would be watching the position for next year, and that indeed is my intention.
Let me deal with the comparison with Community countries. There is now a deferment of the relevant date if the wine is made from British-grown grapes. If we were to increase this deferment there would be a clear infringement of our Community obligation if we did not extend it to the larger quantities of imported wine.
I am anxious to see the wine industry expand in accordance with the quality of its products—products which have increased and improved regularly. That was why I gave an undertaking to examine the matter. However, I can say no more at this stage. Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will understand the reasons why at this time I am unable to go further.
§ Mr. WakehamI wish to give the Financial Secretary notice that we shall raise this matter again, but in view of his reply, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.