HL Deb 14 March 1983 vol 440 cc542-4

7.35 p.m.

The Earl of Gowrie rose to move, That the draft order laid before the House on 16th February be approved.

The noble Earl said: My Lords, the main purpose of this order is to allow a wide range of duty-free goods such as cigars, cigarettes, alcohol, perfumes, watches and jewellery, to be sold at any time to departing international passengers in the licensed premises within the duty-free area of designated airports in Northern Ireland. The order will also allow sales of non-duty-free alcoholic drinks for consumption in such premises provided other kinds of beverages are available at the same time.

The facilities I have mentioned will be available only to bona fide international passengers departing from Northern Ireland. The order brings the law in Northern Ireland in this respect into line with that applying throughout the rest of the United Kingdom. I beg to move.

Moved, That the draft order laid before the House on 16th February be approved.—(The Earl of Gowrie.)

Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede

My Lords, may I thank the noble Earl for so briefly moving this particular order. I understand that one of the reasons why this particular order has been moved is to enable additional revenues to be generated at Aldergrove Airport, which will enable the landing charges at that airport to be kept down and so to alleviate from increased charges those flying into Aldergrove from such destinations as London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Manchester, Glasgow and the Isle of Man. But we all realise that those particular passengers on domestic routes will not themselves be customers in the duty-free areas and that the only customers in the duty-free areas will be those who are making international trips. I understand that the amount of international traffic at Aldergrove has substantially increased over the past few years and that this would include traffic to Dublin.

We are aware that the sale of duty-free goods overall has managed to keep down the air fares by about £100 million a year through the profits generated by these concessions. I think one has some concern at this point of time as to whether the situation with regard to duty-free goods will continue in the same way as it has been in the past. We know that the European Economic Community commissioners have made emphatic statements about retaining the rights to buy duty-free, but I wonder whether the noble Earl had any information about the attitude of the European Court to the sale of duty-free goods within the Community as a whole.

I should be interested to know whether the noble Earl would have any figures with regard to the proportion of international passengers using Aldergrove who are passengers from within the Community and those who are passengers from outside the Community; because, as noble Lords will recall from when we have been discussing previous orders concerning duty-free goods, different regulations apply to goods which are manufactured outside the Community and bought within the Community from goods which are bought within the Community and manufactured within the Community itself. It seems that unless one is very certain about all these things, the establishment of these duty-free facilities at Aldergrove may not be as easily and as readily justified as one would hope. Certainly, in a general sense, one welcomes this order because it will provide an additional subsidy to the running costs of the airport which will enable landing fees to be reduced.

Lord Hampton

My Lords, I should like to thank the noble Earl for his brief introduction. I see no reason to oppose the order. Perhaps I might put two questions. Reference is made to international airports in Northern Ireland such as Aldergrove. Are other airports planned? Secondly, what is the meaning of the qualification in the explanatory blurb in the words, "so that to all intents and purposes" international passengers departing from a recognised airport in any part of the UK will be subject to the same treatment under the law?

The Earl of Gowrie

My Lords, I have always felt that the phrase "to all intents and purposes" was a kind of "legislativese" for covering one's bets. I shall look into the point that the noble Lord makes. I cannot give him an off-the-cuff answer on the latter issue. I think that it is only sensible, since there are other airports in Northern Ireland—there is an airport at Enniskillen, and in Belfast itself at Sydenham—that the order should cover contingencies at all airports there. But obviously in practical and immediate terms this applies to Aldergrove, which is where the vast bulk of international traffic takes place. I am grateful for the way that the order has been received.

I am a little bemused by the reception of the noble Lord, Lord Ponsonby. As a spokesman for a party committed to taking us out of Europe, he feels that we should skulk in the wings until Europe has okayed every suggestion of a sensible kind that we should make. That would seem to be rather a contradiction. I think that we can go ahead without recourse to Europe on such a sensible matter. I know of no objections which are likely to be made for providing facilities for international travellers which are common in all other parts of the United Kingdom. I shall look at the anxieties which the noble Lord has raised. I hope that he will not feel that we should not go ahead with the order until every jot and tittle is cleared up, as otherwise we shall have to wait in this country for a very long time.

On Question, Motion agreed to.