§ Mr. Colvinasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the average total of excise duties on spirits 355W and imported wines which traders have paid to the Revenue at any given time but which they have not yet been able to recover from the consumer.
§ Mr. Peter Rees[pursuant to his reply, 6 March 1980]: I understand from representatives of the trade that the period between payment of excise duties and retail sale is typically six to eight weeks for both spirits and imported wines. On this basis it is estimated that at current rates the duty involved is probably in the range £160 million to £220 million.